Aurora Rising (The Aurora Cycle #1)(79)

The ultrasaur roars, slavering, spitting, bellowing as it scrabbles across the enclosure. It leaves huge gouges through the earth, ripping trees up in its wake as it struggles to get closer to Tyler’s abandoned uniglass. Its teeth are bared, eyes flashing, great clods of shrubbery ripped free as it disappears into the thick foliage.

“It seems more … annoyed than excited?” O’Malley says.

“You’d be annoyed, too, if you thought there was another male in your house, cruising for ladysaurs.” Tyler nods toward the office. “Come on.”

Ty pushes himself hard off the nearest tree, moving quick now. I dart behind him, O’Malley bringing up the rear, waves of ridiculous tulle floating around her in the zero gee. Ty slows his dive with a handful of thick vines as he draws close to the silicon barrier, catching me as I come sailing in. O’Malley lands beside us, her mismatched eyes alight, seemingly energized at the thought of being so close to the prize. There’s some metal under the earth here—brackets for the wall, I’m guessing, and Ty activates his magboots, heels clomping on the turf.

“How we getting through this?” I hiss, thumping my fist on the glass.

“When all else fails, just blast it.” He shrugs.

He pulls out the disruptor he took from Bianchi’s guards, sets it to kill, and gives me a nod. I do the same, cranking the power up to max, and we both unload on the glass. There’s a bright flash of light, a searing sound. The shots melt the wall’s surface, leaving a black, charred scorch mark a few centimeters deep.

Problem is, this sucker is at least half a meter thick.

“Um,” Tyler says. “Okay.”

“ ‘Um, okay’?” I say, incredulous.

“Is there an echo in here?” Ty asks.

I hear a small electronic beep from O’Malley’s breast pocket.

“If I may venture an opinion—”

“No you bloody can’t!” I snap. “Silent mode!”

We hear a distant roar, the sound of towering trees being torn out of the earth by claws as big as swords. I glance over my shoulder, back to Tyler.

“Please tell me ‘When all else fails, just blast it’ wasn’t your only play?”

Tyler blasts the wall again, melting another couple of centimeters. He frowns, blows his mop of hair out of his eyes. “I really thought that’d work. …”

“Great Maker.” I flail. “This from Mr. One Hundred Percent On My Military Tactics Exam?”

Ty raises his scarred eyebrow. “Cat, I hate to shatter your opinion of me, but this is probably as good a point as any to confess I’ve been pretty much making this up as I go since the Bellerophon.”

Another roar shakes the foliage.

“Mothercustard,” O’Malley whispers.

We turn and see it.

See it seeing us.

Its mouth is open, showcasing row upon row of razor-sharp fangs. Its breath is like a blast furnace, its claws are dug deep into the ground, ruptured earth and shredded plant life floating in the zero grav around it. Its five eyes flash with rage, a forked tongue flicking the air as it drags itself closer to us. I look up, see glass above me. Glass behind me. Monster in front of me.

We’re boned.

“Cat, break left, take Auri,” Ty whispers, killing his magboots and gently lifting off the ground. “We work our way b—”

Whatever Ty’s command was going to be, he never gets a chance to finish it. The ultrasaur tenses its muscles and springs, the zero grav letting it sail right at us like a fang torpedo.

I grab O’Malley’s hand and the pair of us kick off the wall, hear the sound of its massive body colliding with the polarized silicon behind me.

The ultrasaur roars, claws scrabbling on the glass, and I risk a glance over my shoulder. Tyler has kicked off the ground, up to the ceiling high overhead. He hits the roof hard, shoulder crunching into the glass. But he’s moving again, lunging back toward the ground just as the ultrasaur crashes claws-first into the spot he’d been floating a moment before.

“Tyler!” O’Malley screams.

I know it probably won’t make a difference, but I crack off a shot with my disruptor anyway, rewarded with a satisfying sizzle as the blast burns a hole in the ultrasaur’s side. The shot doesn’t do any real damage, but it gives Ty a few seconds to gather himself and take another spring, back in the direction of the feeding hatch.

Except now I’ve got beastieboy’s attention.

It roars and lunges at us, and I’m barely fast enough to leap aside, dragging O’Malley with me as I hook my fingers around an outstretched tree branch and shift our momentum. I feel the talons slice through the air behind me, just a breath from my back. I kick off the tree, bring us up through a tangle of branches, crack off another shot over my shoulder. I hear beastieboy roar, smell sizzling flesh. O’Malley beside me. Heart hammering. Mouth dry.

I’m back in the flight simulator. The day we graduated into our streams. Fellow cadets gathered around me. Instructors watching dumbfounded as I weave and roll. Cheers growing louder as the kill shot notifications keep flashing, as I keep firing, the weapons an extension of my fist, the ship an extension of my body, as the final miss tally flashes up on the screen and they cheer my new name.

Zero

Zero

Zero

Something big hits us from behind, sends us both pinwheeling into the office wall. I realize it’s a tree, that this thing is smart enough to be able to throw. I guess you don’t get to be the last surviving member of your species by being a dunce. I hit hard, O’Malley crashes into me, cracks her head hard on the glass, leaving a bright smudge of red behind her. I bite my tongue, the breath driven from my lungs in a spray of spit and blood as I lose my grip on my disruptor.