Evie clung to Dad with every ounce of panicked strength she had left. Behind them, Mr. Striker and Miss DiVazzo were still battling it out. Evie heard another rapid string of gunshots after she lost sight of the main room, and after that, silence. She didn’t know what became of them. The last thing she saw before they rounded the corner was a streak of soil from a potted plant that had been knocked over. Dead plants and dead people.
Dad said nothing. Instead, he kept looking at the device on his wrist, shaking it. The thing came to life, sputtered, and came to life again.
“Scott!” Dad yelled into it. “Are you there?”
Static. Ahead of them, the hallway branched in three separate directions. Red lights were flashing and all the doors were shut. Dad hurled himself to the right and skidded up to a door with yellow-and-black striped trim. A sign beside it said ‘Hangar 06.’ He banged on it.
“Scott!” Dad shouted.
More static. “Lan…. Trouble… hatch is… there’s…”
“I can’t hear you,” Dad yelled. “Just unlock the door!”
“…gone…” Scott said on the other end.
Dad smashed the door with his fist. “I’m here! Just unlock the door!”
Dad’s voice was so strained it was almost-high pitched. His eyes were wild and—though it took her a second to realize it, having never seen any semblance of that emotion in her father’s eyes before—terrified. Evie began to tremble. Dad turned his back on the door and stared at the hallway, panting. Doing his best to keep Evie balanced, he adjusted some dials on his wrist device.
“Abel,” Dad said. “Can you hear me?”
Roaring static. A few glitchy words.
“D…. Dad are… there?”
“Abel’s here?” Evie sputtered.
“Abel, we’re on our way back,” Dad said. “Are you ready?”
“Well I’m—”
Scott's voice broke in. "Lance! There, I got out of the scrambler zone. Now listen, the doors to the hangar are closed off—I had to fight some guards and they locked it down—but there’s another way. Take the center hall door and then the first corridor to the right. It’ll bring you around the side. I’m in there.”
“Got it,” Dad said. He clicked the communicator again. “Abel, listen, you need to be ready to leave in approximately one minute. Evie and I are on our way back to you. Repeat, be ready to leave in one minute.”
Dad took off running, tightening his grasp around Evie, although she couldn’t feel the real caliber of the pain anymore. Hearing Abel’s voice calmed and petrified her at the same time. If Dad had brought her brothers, the whole situation might not be as dangerous as she thought. But if it was…
“Do you have Evie?” Abel asked.
“Yes, be ready.”
“Is she okay?”
“Yes, just—I need you to focus right now.”
“I… I can’t get you out yet,” Abel said, sounding young and frightened over the radio waves. “Don’t go back to the hatch. I’m not there.”
“What? What happened? Are you okay?” Dad asked, slowing.
“I’m fine, just stay away from there. They have it blocked from the outside.”
Dad stopped. “Where are you now?”
“I’m still by the station. I don’t know where another hatch is, or how to dock again. Could you walk me through it?”
“No… there’s no time,” Dad said. “We’ll have to think of something else.”
Dad picked up the pace again and reached the center door the Scott person had mentioned. This one was unlocked and slid away as Dad approached. Nobody was on the other side, but Dad jogged through and headed for the first door on the right.
“Dad?” Abel asked. “What should I do?”
“Just let me think a minute,” Dad said.
A figure stepped from the shadows up ahead. “Lance?”
“Scott,” Dad said. “There’s a problem.”
“I heard.” Scott looked behind them. “Where’s Samir and Vida?”
Dad shook his head, trying to catch his breath. Scott stared, the ready expression draining from his face.
At last, Scott broke the silence. “We have to do something. DiVazzo’s people are going to break those codes any second now. The decks above and below us are crawling with them.”
“What about… escape pods?” Dad panted.
Scott pulled another device off his belt. “Uh… this vessel has thirty of them. Several on each deck.”
“Good. Find a way to the ones closest to us. Abel?” Dad spoke into the earpiece again. “I think I have something.”
“What?”
“Your ship has an escape pod in it. If you get in it and set the coordinates for home, you should launch and end up somewhere familiar. If you’re lucky, you’ll be close enough for someone on my team to come get you quickly.”
“B-but what about you and Evie?” Abel stammered.
“I’ll find this ship’s escape pods and do the same thing.”
Two gunshots went off, and some laser blasts took a chunk out of the wall beside Dad’s head. Evie screamed, and Dad and Scott cursed before diving behind some crates to their left.
“What’s going on?” Abel asked.
“Just get in the escape pod now!” Dad barked. “Enter our city into the screen beside the hatch before you get in. And for God’s sake, make sure you buckle all the straps and put on the helmet. It’s going to be hell when you impact.”
“Dad, I don’t know if—”
“It’s your only chance, Abel. I will follow and find you when we’re all back on Earth. Now go. And be safe.”
Scott popped his head over the crates and sent a few shots back. There were more screams. Scott ducked again.
“We’ve got four,” Scott said. “Armed with laser blasters and that weird armor.”
“It’s not armor,” Dad said. “It’s bio-metal. That’s why they’re so hard to drop.”
Scott cursed. “I guess we’ll have to go for head-shots.”
Evie gulped.
“How far to the escape pods?” Dad asked.
“Fifteen feet from the main hallway. If we can get past those guards, that is.”
“Then we’ll do that.”
Evie’s voice quivered. “Will Abel be okay?”
“Yes,” Dad said without looking at her.
Evie gulped. She thought of Abel alone out there in space. Of crashing into Earth.
“On three,” Dad said.
He released Evie and she slid to the floor, unable to support herself except by the elbows. She knew she couldn’t run. Her legs had been numb ever since they’d left the planet, but for the moment, she wasn’t thinking about it. There were more immediate things demanding her attention.
Dad and Scott went up at the same time and unleashed a wall of lasers before ducking again. Streaks of red and yellow screeched over their heads and punctured the wall, sending bits flying. Evie shielded her face with one arm.
“Two more,” Dad said through his teeth. “Ready?”
“Ready,” Scott said.
They went up again, fired, and ducked. Only one laser returned, but struck the crate above them. Splinters exploded downward. Pain erupted down Evie’s neck and peppered her arms.
“Augh!” Scott shrieked.
Evie looked up to see a large, wooden sliver sticking from his eye, blood running down his cheek. She looked away again in a hurry, stomach heaving. There was blood seeping through Dad’s shirt, too, but he stood back up again and fired three rapid shots at their attacker.
A thump. Silence.
“Got him,” Dad said. “Come on.”
Scott struggled to his feet with Dad’s help, sucking rapid breaths through his lips. Dad scooped up Evie and they all darted for the doorway. The bodies of the guards blocked the doorway, but Dad and Scott jumped over them and kept running. Scott motioned to the right and they went through another door. Ahead of them, a sign appeared.
‘Escape Pods 13-16.’
“Here,” Dad said.
He smashed a button with his fist and a door shot upward to reveal a cramped cabin space with two seats. Dad wormed his way in and plunked into a chair, keeping Evie on his lap. Scott squeezed through the door and shut it behind him. He began entering information into a small screen. Blood still dripped from his chin.
“Hold on tight,” Dad said.
He picked up a helmet from beside his chair and put it on Evie’s head, tightening the straps until it was snug.
“What about you?” Evie asked.
“I’ll be fine. Just hold on to me.”
Scott dropped into his seat and fumbled with the buckles. A rapid beeping had started somewhere.
“Launch in twenty seconds,” a computerized voice said.
Dad was buckling himself and Evie into the same chair. Scott gingerly put on his helmet. There was one, small window in the escape pod through which Evie could see the black velvetiness of space on one half, and the blue-green expanse of Earth’s surface on the other. It looked so far away. The pod began to shake.
“Launch in ten seconds.”
“Abel?” Evie asked, unable to say anything else.
“He’ll be fine,” Dad said. “We’ll find him when we get back.”
“Hang onto something,” Scott said.
“Try not to be afraid,” Dad said.
Evie opened her mouth to answer, but the breath rushed out of her lungs and her head flew back. Everything outside the window streaked into one, long blur of blue, green, and black, and then red and orange.
After that, Evie didn’t remember much except the feeling of her stomach in her throat, the sound of the escape pod roaring toward the surface, and Dad’s arms clamped around her waist.
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