I don’t know which side has it worse.
Them or us.
So I force my gaze ahead, my eyes glazing over with unshed tears.
I cannot do anything to help Mina, but I can be strong.
I can be strong for her.
Through my blurred vision, I think I see something, and I frown a little as I force the tears away.
With the back of my free hand, I wipe my eyes and squint for I…I think I see movement in the distance.
Something black, moving toward us through the sky.
It’s dusk and I haven’t seen any sort of bird in so long.
I blink again and my vision clears, but the bird is still there.
Bigger now.
For a moment, I don’t know what I’m seeing.
It seems to be getting bigger the closer it comes.
Out of nowhere, a bright light erupts in front of me. Far too bright. As bright as the sun.
The sudden brightness blinds me and I hiss as I shield my eyes.
Something moves over my skin like an invisible web. I feel it move all the way through me and it’s such a strange sensation that I let go of Mina’s hand to clutch at myself.
There’s nothing there.
As if whatever I feel is invisible.
Like…energy.
Pure. Raw. Energy.
And as the light dims and my eyes begin to adjust once more, there’s a loud boom.
The air vibrates.
It’s the same sound I’d heard on that first day and it sends a chill down my spine that has everything within me falling.
I know what that sound means now.
It means the orb is about to attack something.
“What’s happening?!” Sam’s voice is high, panicked, but I can’t even look her way because all I can see is that bird still approaching.
Something moves in my peripheral vision. It’s on the outside. One of the machine’s walking arms. But before it can do anything, the entire orb jerks.
We’ve been…hit.
The blast is so strong, it sends us hurtling to the side.
Sam screams. My eyes widen.
There is a pain in my shoulder from where I connect with the smooth interior, but my gaze somehow finds the bird again.
My heart skips a beat.
For the first time in weeks, hope flares within me.
For what I’m looking at isn’t a bird.
It’s a ship.
And it’s firing at the machine.
Chapter Five
ADIRA
There’s no time to prepare for what happens next.
We’re thrown upside down, gravity disturbed.
Like ping pong balls in a glass jar, our bodies slam against each other.
Screams pierce my ears. I do not know whether they are my own.
All I know is that chaos has suddenly erupted.
I try to grab and hold on to something.
Anything.
But nothing is there to hold on to in this smooth, featureless prison.
Something collides with the machine once more and it shudders hard, swaying wildly.
It feels like my bones crack each time my body slams against the inside of the orb and then, the swaying stops.
There is another jerk, as if something heavy lands on the orb and as I struggle to right myself, I see movement.
Something black.
A man.
A man on the orb?!
He’s so fast, I barely glimpse him and I wonder if I imagined it.
I try to rise but the machine is suddenly moving again.
Correction: we’re falling.
Fast.
Fast enough for me to feel the pull of gravity as my blood rushes into my head.
I clutch on to Sam and Mina both, gritting my teeth with the force of the pull.
And then it hits me.
Something is happening that I didn’t know was possible.
The machine is going down.
The calm water of the lake below is approaching fast and hope has my heart in my throat.
Help has finally come.
Somewhere, somehow, humans have found a way.
The fight isn’t over yet.
But beneath me, the surface of the water is approaching and a new terror fills my veins.
Two things become clear.
1. The indestructible machine isn’t indestructible after all. It is falling. It is being destroyed; and 2. It’s going down and we’re stuck inside of it.
A shout leaves my lips as determination I thought I’d lost flares.
Slamming my fists on the metal orb, I pray it breaks. But of course, nothing happens.
Sam and Mina are scrambling, trying to do the same, even though we know we can’t break it.
We’d tried many times before.
But right before the orb slams into the water, that man appears again.
I cannot see his face and it’s all happening so fast, I’m not sure I’m even seeing him for real at all.
His fist lights up and it smashes into our compartment. The glass-metal, the barrier to the outside world…cracks.
And then he’s gone. Thrown off the orb as it smashes into the lake.
“There!” Sam shouts, her gaze on the crack.
I wonder if she saw the brave man too but there’s no time to ask her. I’m already moving.
I slam my fist at the crack and pain tears through me. I’m pretty sure I just broke my wrist. But the crack splits and then…it gives!
Somehow, I’ve punched a hole in it.
“Adira!” Sam’s shout is almost drowned out by my own blood rushing into my ears.
I made a hole in it!
But my elation is short-lived. For as soon as the orb hits the water, it begins to sink and I am faced with a whole new terror.
Water rushes in through the hole I just made, desperate to fill the space.
It’s coming in so fast, it hits me hard and I’m thrown back.
Sam scrambles to take hold of Mina, who’s gone limp, and she screams. Or maybe I do.
Mina isn’t moving.
Unconscious.
I pray she isn’t dead.
I do not know.
I slip as I try to rise again.
The water is cold and the ripped dress I’d found in someone’s house is now soaked.
Still, I manage to push myself forward.
“Help Mina!” I shout back. “I’ll get us out!”
I hope I can.
Pressing forward against the sudden torrent feels like I’m fighting against every law of physics, but somehow, I reach the hole I made.
Maybe the weakened area will yield to my fist again. And so I try.
I punch it, fighting the pressure of the water as the orb fills up.
Pain explodes in my fist again and I inhale sharply.
The glass seemed to be even harder than before.
Each time I slam my fist against it, more pain ricochets up my arm, but the fear of what will happen if we don’t get out is worse.
So I keep going.
I don’t stop, even when the water reaches my knees…my waist…my shoulders.
It reaches my lips in no time and I take a deep breath, hoping it won’t be my last as I continue hitting my fist against the orb.
The water is murky, I can hardly see, but I don’t stop.
I can’t stop, even when the most likely scenario is staring me right in the face.
Is this how we die?
Behind me, Sam is trying to keep Mina’s head above the water. High above me, she swims, fighting her own waning energy to save the woman she’s pulling upward with her.
But the air pocket above me is barely big enough for them both.