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CHAPTER FOUR

Dani

She sat on the bench next to her locker, white-knuckling the helmet in her lap. Damp hair pressed to her temples as she stared at the wall, at the sign above.

NEXACOR. REBUILDING WORLDS.

She closed her eyes and tried not to shake, taking deep breaths. Her crew was in the storage dock packing the batteries and metal sheets away. Security was checking around the ship and the outside perimeter for anything suspicious.

She must have checked her garometer a dozen times in the last minute. Ever since the smog had disappeared, the energy levels had been all over the place. Ranging from three all the way to nine.

There were things on this world that had been hiding, but they were hiding no longer. Whether it had been from the ship landing scaring them off or something else, it didn’t matter. They weren’t afraid anymore. Outside she heard another shrieking howl.

But that didn’t really bother her. What bothered her was that sometimes her garometer jumped to fifteen.

Whatever the monstrous creature that she saw was, it had followed them out, and it was close by.

Her hands shook in her lap. She envisioned the monster again in her head. Mostly she just remembered it towering over her, but she saw the twisted horns that crowned its head, saw the large red eyes that shined in the light. Its tail—which she knew now must have been the thing that had been slithering over her body—had whipped around behind it.

She’d never seen anything like it. And yet, at the same time, it seemed oddly familiar to her. How the hell could that be?

It didn’t matter. It was the freakiest thing she’d ever seen. And the way it had mimicked her and Garret’s voices had made her heart drop to her stomach.

She took another deep breath. Okay. It was okay. The doors were shut tight, and security was checking the area. She heard their guns go off a few times. The thing couldn’t get in.

The lights flickered above her, making her flinch.

Damn it, she couldn’t lose it now. A job needed to be done. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen creepy things before. This one just scared her real good, but it hadn’t technically hurt her. And it sure as shit could have. It could have grabbed her and took a chunk out of her. Instead it had…

It had…toyed with her.

That somehow made it way more terrifying.

She stood and shook out her arms, trying to ease the tension.

No. No, she was good. It was fine. Everything was fine. The soldiers could deal with it. They could still get this done.

A door nearby opened and her team piled in.

“I’m telling you,” Tom said to Myrell. “Sometimes certain chemical compounds in the air can cause hallucinations and—”

Myrell elbowed him in the chest, and he went quiet. “You okay, Dani?”

Dani eyed them each, then cleared her throat. “Fine. I’m fine.” She tried to smile. “Just had an... encounter.” She turned back to her locker, pretending to change out her gloves, not wanting them to see the fear still on her face. “It just caught me by surprise. But I’m good. We’re good.”

“Are we?” Lex said. “I mean, if there’s something out there, we should worry about…”

“What’s the game plan?” Myrell asked. “Do we let security handle it?”

“Do I get to use the flamethrower now?” Phen chimed in.

“Phen, we don’t even know what we are dealing with,” Lex said.

“Maybe we should let the heads know,” Sheek suggested. “Return early until we know what’s going on.”

Myrell snorted. “Yeah, right. They expect us to deal with these situations.”

“I say we hang out and let security do their thing until it’s taken care of,” said Lex.

“I second this,” said Tom.

Dani turned back to them. “I’ll talk to security. We’ll take a short break while I do. I’m sure…I’m sure they can figure something out.”

As they took their moment to relax, Dani went in search of the security team.

She started with the ones nearest the ship. The one with the X on his helmet introduced himself as Saul, a slightly older man with a greying beard. He seemed to be the leader of the group. While the one who had stayed behind with him—with the black star on his helmet—was Tristan. A heavier set man, judging by the fit of his suit, with a scarred lip and striking gray eyes.

“The ship is clean,” Saul assured. “But we’re still checking the outside. Seems there’s a few nasty things lurking. What did you say this thing looked like again?”

She repeated to him what she had seen. Saul glanced at Tristan before moving back to the ship entrance.

“We have some traps in storage and a few MR-83’s—special blasters,” he said. “Tristan, get Ryatt and Garret. We’ll switch out and start setting up.”

Dani followed them back inside. She drank some water and took a moment with the others, assuring them again about what she’d seen.

“Did you notice anything else about it?” Lex asked.

“Was it one of those Reacher Bugs?” Tom asked. “They grab you from the vents, they say.”

Dani shook her head. She didn’t want to scare the others, even if the thing looked like something out of a nightmare. “I didn’t get a great look at it. It was just big and didn’t look friendly.”

“It didn’t attack you though?” Lex asked.

“No. Not exactly. But it reached for me.”

“That sounds like a Reacher—” Tom started again.

“It wasn’t.”

Saul and his team came back through to the dock entrance, this time carrying a different sort of gun—puffs of what looked like steam flowed from the ends. Garret and Ryatt also carried two large packs and a couple of wiry nets. They each nodded their way, Garret slowing to look directly at her.

“We’ll take care of it, don’t worry,” he said before joining the others.

She watched the door close behind them, then checked her watch. Still several hours before daybreak. They had time, but they needed to get back out there soon. She checked her garometer again. The levels were still all over the place.

They sat in silence for a moment until Myrell shot up. “I’m going to check the control room. There’s a camera system in there, so we can see what’s going on outside.”

“Ooh, I’ll join you.” Tom stood.

Everyone else got up.

“Wait.” Dani rose with them. “We need to stay together.”

“That’s why we’ll all go to the control room.” Myrell pointed.

“I want to see too,” said Phen. “Maybe one of them will get eaten.”

“So you can watch like last time?” Lex said.

Phen’s antenna flicked. “Yes.”

Lex shook their head. “You’re so morbid.”

“If they do, we can record it and show it to the heads so they know we couldn’t complete our run,” Tom suggested.

“We will complete it,” Dani said. Her gaze drifted over to the stairs which led to the control room. “Just keep close.”

They marched upstairs and crowded into the control room. From there, Dani pulled up the cameras along the ship.

The men were circling the area, their nets now placed in various spots around the perimeter. They had their guns relaxed at first, until one of them signaled to the others and aimed his weapon into the dark.

“There!” Phen pointed.

Dani saw it. Something big lurked in the corner of the screen in the dark, only seen sparingly by the light of gunfire that now went off like fireworks. Whatever the thing was, it crawled down the side of a wall with long, spindly legs.

The soldiers backed up as if the creature might be coming toward them. The crew drew closer to the screen, waiting to see, listening to the gunfire outside.

There was a loud clicking noise followed by a low groan. The screen went gray then black.

The lights flickered above them. Then everything went dark.

Someone gasped beside her. “What the fuck?”

Dani turned her suit lights on. The others did the same, barely piercing the darkness with dull white light.

“Everyone okay?” she called.

“Yes,” they answered.

Tom directed his light to the door. “The ship’s power just went down…”

“What do you think could have caused that?” said Myrell.

“Don’t know…” said Tom.

“Could be a fuse, right, Morse?” Dani asked.

Morse, who had the most mechanical expertise of the crew, seemed to consider it. “Maybe,” he mumbled. “Could be many things.” He sniffed toward the door, and she saw the hairs on his head stand on end. “It could be a power supply or the connectors. Would have to go down to the engine room to see…”

Dani stared at the blackness beyond the door.

“I’ll go,” she said even as her heart hammered in her chest.

“Not alone,” Myrell said.

“Morse will come with me to show me what the problem might be. But I want the rest of you to stay together.” She checked that she still had her stunner at her side. “Stay in here and lock the door. Bar it if you have to.”

Morse followed her reluctantly out. She heard the door shut and lock into place behind them. Gunfire continued to ring out beyond the ship walls as they cautiously made their way below deck, her garometer crackling softly the farther they went.

Bugs. Just bugs.

They made it down and turned for the engine room. At the door, they paused. It was open halfway.

Someone just forgot to close it all the way, that’s all.

Not sure if this was the logical part of her brain talking or the delusional one, she unlatched her stunner from her belt and gripped it tight.

She checked her garometer. The readings were as high as nine. But that could be any number of things, from the crew in the ship to those outside.

She hesitated by the door. “Morse, stay close behind me.”

He grunted in agreement.

They slipped inside. She could smell the faintest odor of something burning within. She aimed her light across the room and saw the giant double engines. There was a soft red light blinking somewhere behind them.

Morse checked the engines while Dani watched his back.

“Nothing wrong that I can see,” he said. “Might be the power supply or the generators.”

They moved past the engines. The red light went off and on just a few feet ahead. Dani slowed as she peered across, her eyes widening.

The power box at the back had been ripped open.

Dani rushed for it to get a better look. Wires were tangled and torn, little bites of electricity zapping from them along with wisps of smoke.

Someone had sliced them.

“Morse.” She tried to keep her voice steady. “We need to go. Get back to the control room. We’ll wait for the—”

She looked behind her. Morse was gone.

She whirled around, stunner at the ready. “Morse?” she called out. She was alone. Nothing but the red light and the dark.

Frozen, she stood staring into the shadows. Then she shuddered. There it was again, hitting her senses like a slap in the face. The smell of coffee. Her garometer spiked, crackling.

“Over here,” came Morse’s soft voice in the dark somewhere to her right.

Not Morse. She didn’t believe it for one second.

Run . But her damn legs wouldn’t move. She couldn’t move.

She took several deep breaths. Maybe she could stun it again. Then she could make a run for the door.

She took one step then another. Bracing herself, she prepared to bolt, still trailing her gaze across the room.

Then she saw it. One red eye peeked out from behind one of the engines.

It watched her, its eye dilating as it realized she saw it.

She watched it back for one long second before she moved, lunging over to the other side of the room as far away from it as she could get. She rushed around one of the engines, back to the wall, then halted to peer over.

The door was clear. But it might be guarding close by. She hugged the wall, closing the distance between her and the door.

Only a few more feet. She pointed her gun into the dark, ready to fire as she went to slip out.

Carefully, she stepped past the door, her hand shaking. She just needed to race up the stairs then lock herself in somewhere and—

A long arm shot out and grabbed her. Dani shrieked, firing off her gun. The electricity danced across the arm and up the monster’s shoulder, along its face, ending at its horns.

It bared its teeth at her. There was a low guttural sound. It almost sounded like… laughter . The thing had her by the collar as it pulled her back inside.

Her feet left the ground, gun dropping from her hand as she instinctually grabbed hold of the arm to try to force it to let go. The monstrous face grew closer until it was only inches from her own.

A little whimper slipped past her lips as she was unable to free herself from its steel grip.

That low guttural laugh came again. “ Xi sara ka dunnn na ,” it growled.

She trembled as she stared at the face of a demon, its fangs curling like a snake’s as its mouth widened.

What could she do?

Her gun was gone. She had no other weapon.

The monster’s nostrils flared. It bent it’s head and pressed its face into the center of her chest, inhaling deep.

What the hell?

Out of instinct, she kicked out her leg, hitting it in the chest. It hardly moved. She freed herself enough to twist her head down and bite its hand.

It drew back as she bit down hard, only to find its skin was like biting down on smooth but extremely hard leather. Her jaw hurt, forcing her to let go.

She glanced up and saw it staring at her, its eyes wide, expression gone. It kind of looked…stunned.

It set her on her feet and released her. She stumbled away from it and still managed to trip over something, making her fall back.

“ Iska ni virashi, ” it said in a slow, venomous voice. “ Mimni lillak .”

She tried to crawl away, but it was on her in a second, its long stride like a predator’s, catching up to her with ease. Its tail whipped out from behind it and grabbed her ankle, sliding her right back to it. It crouched over her, tilting its head as it stared down at her. It sized her up then puffed out its chest before letting out a low snarl.

She shut her eyes and turned her head away, cowering. She braced again for its teeth on her when she felt something sharp brush against her cheek.

Her eyes shot open, and she gasped as its talon trailed over her face and caught a lock of her hair, feeling it through long fingers. Then it set her hair behind her ear to touch at her lobe, thumb caressing over it before brushing its talon along her lips as if curious.

Dani remained frozen, stunned. The point of its nail pressed against her bottom lip then slipped between her teeth. Once more out of instinct, she bit down before flinching away. Coming to her senses, she turned her head and swatted its hand.

The creature grunted as if mystified by her. Then it knelt on top of her, pinning her. It leaned down and opened its mouth.

At first, she thought it was two dark eels coming out of its mouth until she realized they were its tongues.

Oh, please no.

It licked her neck up to her face, one tongue curling under her jaw, the other along her lips.

She turned her head away again, grimacing. As it tilted its head back, she brought up her arm to block her face.

“ Mimni lillak, eshika esia varisss ,” it purred. It pressed itself against her, a hard body with sharp features that she feared would tear her suit.

Don’t move, Dani. Just let it do its thing, don’t think about its teeth so close to your throat or what it’s pressing against your thigh. No, no. It hasn’t killed you yet. There’s still hope.

“Dani!” someone called from nearby.

The thing stilled then growled as if in annoyance. Its heavy weight on her lifted.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed down, but eventually the voice got closer.

“Dani! Dani!”

A light spilled into the dark and a hand grabbed her, lifting her to her feet. She opened her eyes and saw it was Garret. “Hey, you okay?”

She looked wildly around him, but the thing was gone. She licked her lips and tried to speak but couldn’t. He kept her steady beside him as he aimed his gun around the room.

“M—Morse,” she finally spat out. “He was with me.”

“Morse?”

Out from the corner of the room, Morse appeared, his face scrunched up, one hand rubbing at his head where a large bump was now forming.

“What happened?” Garret asked.

“Don’t know,” Morse said.

“It was here.” Dani looked around, even up at the ceiling. No sign of it.

“What was?”

She looked back at Garret, frowning. “The monster.”

He let her go. She and Morse stayed by the door as he searched around—and came back with nothing.

“I’ll get the others,” he said, leading them back through the door. “Lock yourselves back into the room with the rest of the team, and don’t come out until we tell you.”