After travelling across the stars for so long, seeing the Scrit made us thrum with rage pent up for what felt like eons.

The scourge we had chased across the galaxy was here.

And…we were late.

The planet was already destroyed.

Even as I think about the Scrit sinking below me, my arms tighten around the being I’m holding as anger floods through me.

My ba’clan writhe, sensing the rising emotion but I cannot help it.

We left Edooria with a sole purpose.

To reach the next target before the Gryken did.

To warn them.

To save them.

To stop the same thing that happened to us…to Edooria…from happening to them.

But…we failed before we even had the chance to begin.

Neither had we known the Scrit had passengers on board. If we had known, would we still have attacked?

But what feels like eons in the cosmos, travelling across the stars to get here, had only created a burning need to destroy the Gryken…as they had destroyed us.

It is possible we acted too quickly. Frustration can do that to a Vullan.

But the satisfaction of seeing the Scrit fall was worth it.

I grip the being to me as I rise through the water.

I can feel the liquid even though not an inch of my skin is touching it. I can feel their reaction to it—my ba’clan. They are as happy to see it as I am and there is an urge to decompress and feel it against my bare skin.

When was the last time that I felt pure water like this?

The next thought slams into me hard.

Water.

There is still water here.

Maybe we are not too late after all.

My legs sink into soft earth as I bring the being to shore.

It’s still limp, its head hanging back to reveal the soft, pale skin of its neck.

I climb away from the water and set it down on the damp earth.

Behind me, I’m aware of my brethren moving toward the Scrit’s wreckage. Above us, our ship camouflages, blending into this planet’s strange blue sky.

The being is still limp as I set it down and for the first time, I get a good look at it.

Brown filaments cling to its head. Its face is smooth with a narrow nose perched above strangely plump lips.

Its lips are cracked and bruised and I can already see the beginnings of other dark bruises forming on the being’s face.

My gaze slips down and I pause.

It is so…small.

Frail.

Weak.

Its body is so thin that I cannot tell whether it is male or…

Its strange suit is ripped in several places revealing more soft skin underneath.

Round mounds settle on its chest, and one of the pert buds peek through its suit.

I am no fool…

It is obvious what I am looking at.

I have no doubt the being before me is female.

A female.

I kreen, the sound vibrating from my throat to culminate in a roar.

A female.

My brothers respond to my kreen; I hear their clicks when they hear my message.

We have found a female.

All is certainly not lost.

This world, this species, still has a chance.

ADIRA

I regain consciousness with a violent heave of my body.

I can’t see anything. My vision is blurry and everything burns.

I choke, coughing up water as I fight for air.

What’s happened?

Where am I?

And then it all comes rushing back.

The machine.

It fell.

We were drowning.

How did we escape—

The eyes.

Molten lava.

I cough again, pulling huge breaths into my lungs, but it feels like my airway is blocked even though I’m fighting to breathe.

As the tears in my eyes finally recede a little, fear grips me instead.

All I see is black.

It’s over my mouth, in my nose…

The dark suit.

The man covered in black.

He’s here.

He’s real.

My gaze locks with those fire pits of his and I forget to breathe.

They’re abnormal.

Slitted.

Like a reptile’s.

Alien.

A scream barrels through my throat, rocking my body and I realize the black thing that’s in my nose, my mouth—it’s coming from him.

It retracts like ferrofluid back onto his body and my eyes widen as I scramble backward.

Alien. Alien.

It’s all that repeats in my mind as I scramble to get away.

The alien doesn’t move.

Those slitted eyes are trained on me.

Vaguely, I am aware of more of them rising from the water. They have Mina and Sam—both limp. Both unresponsive.

At the sight of me, one of the alien’s lips pulls back to display sharp fangs.

For a moment, I’m caught between not wanting to leave Sam and Mina but all I can think of is that I need to run.

And so I do.

My body feels like a sorry excuse of flesh and bones but somehow I rise on my feet and begin to run.

It’s strange using my limbs after being stuck in the machine for so long and I stumble a few times before my legs finally begin to cooperate.

I have no idea where I’m going. All I know is that I have to get away from here.

There is chaos.

It’s like my mind is a frazzled wreck.

I cannot understand what is happening. All I can concentrate on is the emotions going through me.

My lungs are burning.

And so is the water.

I am dimly aware of this as my feet take me over the rocks and toward the only place in this barren wasteland that I have a chance of being safe.

A copse of trees that was spared from the destruction around us.

There’s another larger forest off to the side but if I change direction now, I don’t think I’ll make it.

I glance behind me and more terror fills my soul.

The red-eyed alien is looking at me as he rises to his feet. There are sharp blades on his arms now and his lips are pulled back to display vicious-looking fangs too.

Shit.

He doesn’t move and, for a moment, I think he is not going to chase me.

But then he puts one foot before the other, and another…and then he is running.

Terror fills me so much I can’t even scream.

Instead, I choke on my own fear as I pick up the pace.

Those vicious teeth of his is the last image I see before I slip beneath the cover of the trees, terror making my whole body quake.

I run and stumble, sharp rocks and branches tearing at my skin.

I am weak. Tired. But I continue on until I spot a tree.

It has a hole big enough for me to climb into and even as I run toward it, fear makes me question myself.

It’s not a good hiding spot.

It really isn’t.

But do I have a choice?

My breath hitches in my throat as I slip inside the tree and I don’t dare to even breathe.

If I make a sound…he’ll hear me.

A scream echoes through the air and I gulp down a sob.

It’s coming from near the lake and I wonder if it’s Mina or Sam.

As another sob jerks through me, I slam my hand over my mouth, my eyes wide as I stare ahead through the gap in the tree.

It’s quiet for a few moments, the only sound being my breath in my own ears.

And then I hear it.

A twig snapping.

My breath stops.

I know it’s not an animal.

I just know.

Another twig snaps and I press my hand down harder over my mouth.

He’s going to find me.

Chapter Seven

FER’RO

I stare at the female as she runs away.

For a moment, I cannot move.

All I can see before me is a replay of the war…images of our species dying…our females dying.

The memories are fresh, possibly because it’s like it happened yesterday.

To my mind, to my ba’clan, it was like yesterday. For even though it took many moons to get to this new world, I had been sleeping all along.