The Extinction Trials(92)

“What are you doing?” Cara asked.

“Looking for the emergency release. All Genesis Bio airlocks had them—in case the computers failed.”

“Oh,” Owen muttered. Why didn’t he think of that? He should have. His entire existence since waking up after the Fall had been one emergency escape after another.

Maya pulled a panel off the wall and reached in and twisted a handle. The hatch popped but didn’t open.

Owen surged forward and ripped it backward. Maya and Cara raced into the airlock, moving quickly to the small window where they peered out, their heads close together.

“We have a problem,” Maya whispered.

“How big of a problem?” Owen asked.

“A storm-sized problem,” Maya said.

Owen came up beside her and peered through the window. Above the steps outside, the storm’s winds blew through the forest, carrying leaves with it and laying down sheets of rain. If it was the same type of storm that had been on the island and the containership, it was deadly to them now. They had mesh. They wouldn’t survive out there, not without suits.

Maya glanced at the five suits in the alcove. “I don’t know if we’ll have enough oxygen to get clear of the storm. And now that we have the mesh, the storm—or the drone directing it—will probably track us. Even if we escape, we can’t outrun the storm.”

Cara was already moving to the suits. “Leave it to me. I... have a plan.”

Quickly, the three of them began putting on the suits.

Outside, the wind howled against the outer airlock door. Even if they didn’t run out of oxygen, avoiding a fall—and a rip in the suits—would be a challenge.

In the corridor beyond the airlock, Owen heard a door open.

“They’re here!” he yelled as he grabbed a helmet from the shelf above.

Maya eyed the two remaining suits, seeming to contemplate their dilemma.

“We could disable them—” Cara began, but Maya held up a hand. “There’s no time.” To Owen, she said, “Close the door.”

He pulled the inner airlock door closed and spun the wheel.

Maya and Cara affixed their helmets and Owen followed suit.

On the wall beside the outer airlock door, Maya once again searched for the emergency release and found it just in time. She turned the handle and opened the outer hatch just as faces filled the small window in the inner airlock door.

Owen felt the outside air from the storm tugging at his suit as he looked back and saw Darius Aldridge glaring at them through the small window, his mouth moving, the sound muted. The man reached down and tapped a panel by the door and his voice came over the suit speaker.

“You don’t have to do this, Owen. Close the airlock, and we’ll sort this out.” Darius stared at Owen. “If you stay, you can be part of something.”

Owen locked eyes with Maya. “I’m already part of something.”

She reached down, grabbed one of the empty suits, and charged through the open airlock. Owen saw her plan then. He grabbed the other empty suit and followed Cara out.

He didn’t know how long it would take Darius to get more suits to the airlock, but Owen knew he would, and when he did, someone would come after them.





Chapter Seventy





Outside the airlock, there was a set of concrete steps similar to the ones at the airlock where they had entered The Colony.

Maya raced up them, dragging the suit. The forest was dark, either from the time of night or the storm. The wind nudged her, and the trees shed their leaves in blankets as though they were weeping for what was to come.

Maya was about to activate her suit radio, but she felt Owen grab her arm. He shook his head and looked over at Cara, who saw the action too. Her stare at Maya and Owen showed confidence—her eyes silently reiterating what she had said in the airlock: I have a plan.

She bent down and gripped her lower leg and held it for a long moment.

Maya didn’t understand what it meant. Owen didn’t seem to either. His gaze drifted over to Maya, and she shrugged.

Without a word, Cara stood and motioned them away from the entrance to the airlock.

They ran single-file through the woods, Cara leading the way, moving methodically but not hastily.

The suit Maya was wearing weighed her down, and so did the one she was dragging through the woods. Twice it caught on branches and logs, slowing her. But she tugged it free and kept barreling through the dark forest and storm.

At a clearing ahead, Maya spotted a shadow in the sky, moving right above the tree line.

The grass in the field was tall and swaying in the wind and rain. It parted as the object in the sky dove for the ground. To Maya’s shock, it was a helicopter. It was unmarked, and her first instinct was to turn and run, but Cara charged toward it.

Owen followed her and Maya tried to keep pace, her muscles screaming from the exertion.

When they reached the helicopter, Maya realized there was no one inside—it was either operated remotely or autonomously.

Cara climbed into the cockpit, Maya and Owen in the back, and Cara hit a button on the dashboard, and it lifted off, shuddering as the wind battered it.

The motors overhead roared as the aircraft powered through the storm. Cara’s hands danced over the digital display and the helo banked left, throwing Maya into Owen. He grabbed a handle next to the sliding door and wrapped an arm around her, holding tight.