The Extinction Trials(97)

Owen quickened his pace and Maya rushed to keep up. When they reached the smaller object, Maya realized it was a submersible. The larger object seemed to have no end—when Maya shined her flashlight to the left and right, it simply kept going like a giant building rising from the seafloor.

A sense of pride surged through Maya. She had been right: there was something down here. Would it be their salvation? Or another dead end?

Owen rounded the submersible and took a few paces back, shining his flashlight along the length of it. The beam settled on a hatch at the top, which stood open. Moving slowly, he traced his light across the vessel until he found a vertical ladder of footholds that led to the hatch.

Using hand motions, he urged Maya to stay but shine her light on the ladder as he waded forward and climbed up it, dragging the oxygen tank with him, his flashlight off.

At the top of the submersible, he once again activated his flashlight and moved to the hatch and peered inside. He studied whatever he saw for a long moment, then motioned for Maya to climb the ladder.

He held his light on the rungs as she ascended, and on top of the submersible, she joined him in glancing down through the hatch at the cramped compartment with a pile of dirt around the open hatch. Dark computer screens covered the walls, and there was no sign of the crew. Maya wondered if one of the bodies they had seen had come from the vessel. If so, it meant this might, in fact, be a dead end.

Owen switched off his light and lifted his oxygen tank into the hatch, and then he descended, shining his light up for Maya when he had reached the inside of the submersible.

When she was through the airlock, she shined her light over the interior of the vessel. It looked like some sort of small research submersible, perhaps one launched from a larger ship.

At the end of the vessel was another hatch that also stood open. Pulling his tank with him, Owen paddled and pushed toward it, Maya following close behind.

The submersible had clearly docked with this facility—or ship—here on the seafloor. What they saw beyond the hatch was what looked like an outer door to the massive creation. There was a small, oblong window, and when Owen shined his light into it, Maya saw only an inner airlock that was empty.

Running her flashlight across the outer wall, Maya saw no handle for the airlock door, no wheel to spin, and no emergency release lever. There was, however, a number pad.

Owen cocked his head as he studied it. Maya could also see the wheels turning in his head. She hoped he had figured it out, because as they stood in the submersible, she felt oxygen in her line growing thin.





Chapter Seventy-Seven





At the number pad on the airlock, Owen typed the GPS coordinates of the containership. The code made sense to him—it was proof that whoever was entering had come through the waypoint at sea and had followed ARC’s other directions.

The door opened with a pop and swung inward. Luckily, the chamber beyond was filled with water, allowing Owen and Maya to drift inside with ease instead of being forced in with a wave of water.

They had found the large structure here on the seafloor in just the nick of time—Owen’s oxygen tank was practically empty.

He closed the door and waited as the water drained from the chamber. And as it did, he studied the walls and design. It was, to his great relief, very ARC-like: white paint, tubing above with nozzles, benches beneath alcoves that were empty but could hold suits, and an inner airlock door ahead with a small window that revealed only darkness beyond.

When the water was gone, Maya let her tank drop to the floor as she took a deep breath and began shivering. Owen wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tight, letting his body heat infuse into hers.

The nozzles above hissed and sprayed a milky white liquid that, unfortunately, was frigid. Owen hoped there were blankets beyond the inner airlock.

It opened with a swooshing sound and Owen felt only more cold air rushing out. If anyone lived here, they liked it cold. He didn’t voice it, but he counted the temperature down here as a bad sign.

Maya peered up at him, a smile on her face despite her shaking.

“We made it,” she whispered.

“Thanks to you.”

She shook her head. “Thanks to all of us. You. Cara. Alister. Will.”

Owen released her from the hug, and he took Maya’s hand as they stepped through the inner airlock door into a narrow corridor with gray metal walls, floor, and ceiling. Beady lights overhead snapped on as he walked forward.

The corridor ended in a room that was roughly the size of one of the observation rooms from Station 17. And what Owen saw there was just as strange as that first meeting in the observation room: three bodies lay on the floor, unmoving. Ahead was a single locked door. There was no window, no keypad, and no handle.





In the crew quarters of the containership, Cara found an empty bunk room and lay down on the bottom bunk. It was fitting. The narrow bed and small room reminded her of the on-call room where Parrish had first recruited her to The Extinction Trials. It was a sort of thematic end to the beginning of it all.

Outside, the fighting raged. Gunfire pelted the ship and metal containers, dinging the outer walls of the crew quarters. Explosions cried out overhead, and the crashing of aircraft into the ship got louder by the moment.

Cara closed her eyes and listened, knowing sleep wouldn’t come. Her mind knew what was next.

She clutched the tubes of Owen and Maya’s blood to her chest and slowed her breathing. She barely felt a thing when the floor above came crashing down on her.