Page 34 of Stardusted

Three people dressed in military fatigues, armed, unconscious, and pale, had been crammed into the single-stall bathroom like discarded mannequins. The closest, a young man not much older than me, had a gash above his eyebrow. Blood smeared his temple.

From that single, horrified glimpse, I hadn’t been able to tell if any of them were breathing.

What if theyweren’t?

Oh God. Had I just stumbled onto a murder scene?

My stomach pitched and rolled. For a long second, I thought I might throw up.

Breathe.In through the nose. Out through the mouth.I clung to the action, forcing the nausea down. Forcing my brain to work. To process.

They weren’t campus security. The uniforms were all wrong. Campus security wasn’t in need of camoanything. I didn’t even think they carried real guns.

My unconscious friends had to be the military guards Bob had mentioned. The ones Landon had hinted at. Here because of whatever project Professor Stern was working on.

So who the hell haddonethis to them?

And why stuff them in abathroom?

I glanced around, gulping air. Sweat broke out on my forehead as I eyed the closed door. I needed to know if they were alive. Needed to know I hadn’t just found dead guys in this college basement.

Using the wall for support, I hauled myself upright. My legs felt strangely weak, and a rock settled itself low in my gut. The idea of seeing those pale, bloody faces again made me lightheaded, but I forced myself to move.

I gripped the handle. Opened the door.

Another scream tried to rise, but I swallowed it, crouching beside the first guard. My arm shook as I reached for his neck.

Please, please…

Warm skin met the pads of my fingers, and my shoulders slumped, a sigh of relief escaping. He had a pulse.A strong one.He was alive.

I rocked back and balanced my elbows on my thighs, examining the others. They were all alive. Their chests rose and fell with shallow, steady breaths.

I hadn’t found a pile of dead bodies. Thank God.

But Ihadfound bodies. Someone had still attacked them and stuffed them in there. I’d seen a dark figure running, but I hadn’t come across a single other soul. Hell, I hadn’t gotten a clear look at whoever was booking it in the hall, either.

Which didn’t matter. What mattered was the fact I needed to get help. Pronto.

Digging my phone from my back pocket with trembling hands, I raised it.

No signal.

A strangled sound lodged in my throat, half sob, half curse. Of course I didn’t have signal. Reception in the anthro basement was crap on agoodday. A daywithoutmysterious electromagnetic interference.

Plan B.Get out. Get help.

I glanced at the bathroom. No way could I drag them upstairs by myself. Not quickly. Not safely. But leaving them didn’t sit right, either. What if whoever did this came back?

Or…or what if they werestill here?

I stiffened. That cold ripple of apprehension ran through me again, and common sense finally broke past the shock—along with the urge torun. If they were still there, then I was also in danger of being knocked out and stuffed into some basement crevice.

I had to get the hell out of here. I turned on jelly legs and staggered back toward the lab entrance.

Only to stop short as something crashed just beyond the double doors.

Thump.