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That was exactly what Darien did. As the line rang, he clutched the stab wound in his side, his head spinning so rapidly it felt like he was stuck in a hurricane.

“Come on, Tanner,” Darien whispered. A wave of nausea threatened to engulf him. He swallowed bile. “Pick up, pick up, pick up.”

Was the building shaking, or was it just him? Everything was vibrating, and he swore he heard the sound of distant screaming?—

Tanner picked up on the fourth ring. “Who is this?”

“Tanner, it’s me.”

A loaded pause. And then: “Holy shit—Darien? Are you okay?”

“No,” he admitted around a blood-thickened sob. “I need you to get me through to Travis.”

Tanner swore. Keys clacked in the background.

Darien lifted his hand off the stab wound. Looked down?—

The bleeding was getting worse.

Another sob rose in his throat. He swallowed it down and said, “Hurry, Tanner.Hurry.”

112

Lucent Enterprises

YVESWICH, STATE OF KER

Deep in Lucent Enterprises,Travis hung on tight to Jewels’s hand, his other wrapped firmly around Dallas’s, as they picked their way blindly through the dark.

It was suffocating, this blackness. Travis could honestly say he had never been more afraid in all his life. A few minutes ago, Tanner had hung up to take another call. He hadn’t called back yet.

They’d tried tracking on their own to navigate the darkness, but there were two problems with that. One: Whoever was tracking was not able to multi-task; holding the Sight required too much focus, so it was impossible to do something like walk while tracking. So every time they tracked for a short distance, they had to pause, then pick up walking again once they navigated one hallway. Two: After taking turns charging the warhead, they were drained.

Travis had tried getting a hold of the others, but they hadn’t answered—still in the process of moving that heavy missile, probably.

They would just have to keep moving. Keep moving—and try to find their way out of here on their own.

He could smell the monsters moving about. Had he been able to see, he knew the sight of this place would have shocked him. More than once, he’d nearly tripped over the telltale lump of a corpse, his boots sticky. His throat hadn’t stopped burning with bile since the minute they’d left the lab.

Jewels’s hand was trembling in his. He gave that hand a soft, comforting squeeze. She squeezed back.

His headset beeped with an incoming call.

Everyone paused. Travis let go of Dallas’s hand, just for two seconds—just long enough to flick the button that would answer the call.

“Hello?” he whispered.

“Travis, it’s Darien.”

Murmurs rippled through the group.

“Darien, holy shit, are you okay?”

“Never mind that right now—I’m going to get you out of there.” He was talking the same way he always did: firmly and confidently, as if nothing was wrong.

Travis knew that was far from true.

Darien said, “You passed the stairwell. Turn around.”