"Wait," Sike whispered urgently. He wasn't looking at the scanner anymore. It was probably the creature’s aura. Dorian growled, his fangs peeking out from his mouth.
"I feel its presence now," Dorian confirmed. It was all the validation I needed to push forward. If someone was hurt, this was our chance to help them. After dark, there would be no hope. "There are other auras too, but not as big."
I rested my hand against my weapons belt. This might be more of a fight than we’d anticipated. “We’ll have to strategize.”
"Lyra," Dorian said as I tried to push my way through a narrow passage of vines. I turned to see him and the rest of my crew looking at me grimly. Resignation was written all over their faces. But we were so close!
Bryce bowed his head apologetically. "It's late. We can't fight off multiple creatures if it comes down to it, and with the way the scanners are acting, I'm not sure our night goggles can be trusted. The victim is probably dead by now. We don’t know what’s out there, and now’s not a good time to find out."
I searched Dorian's face in the last remaining light. He nodded reluctantly. "Bryce is right. The creatures here will be more active at night," he explained. "I assume the mortal sun is unnatural to them."
I faced my team, trying to figure out how I could get them to understand. Then Sike gasped and shook the scanner. "What? It's gone!"
Cold water poured over my white-hot motivation. “What?”
Sike growled in frustration, showing me a screen blank but for tiny blips that I guessed were ratlike creatures.
“Could it be the scanner?” Dorian asked. “I still don’t hear anything.”
Sike shook his head. “If it were malfunctioning, we wouldn’t see any of these blips. It’s only the large signature. It just… disappeared.”
“But it was out there,” Dorian said, glaring out into the darkness. “We both felt it.”
A cold weight settled in my stomach. There wouldn't be a rescue. Whatever this was, it went beyond our current understanding, and night would make our odds worse. I couldn't risk my team’s lives on a wild goose chase through this territory just because there was a chance of a human survivor. All afternoon, we hadn't heard a single cry beside the small rodents.
I heaved a sigh of disappointment but accepted the facts. "You’re right. It’s probably best not to continue."
Dorian put his hand on my shoulder in sympathy. As we turned back, I tried to shirk the feeling of failing the unknown person. They’re probably already dead.
A storm cloud of frustration seemed to consume me as we made our way back to the ghost town. I quelled the brewing emotions, trying to remind myself that it wasn't practical, but insidious thoughts wound their way into my brain as I stared around the dimming underbrush, searching for danger at every turn. What if it’s one of my parents out there?
No, I couldn't go down that path. If the knife actually belonged to that survivor—and the rust made it doubtful—his name had been Joey. None of my parents’ possessions had been in the barricaded room. Perhaps the laptop had a name on it, and we could check when we got back. The intact room had suggested that there had been only one person still around.
Worry filled me, the kind of worry that went beyond that of a soldier. I was a daughter, worried for my parents. I’d seen their quarters, and they weren't here. I had to remind myself of that. That person out there, if they were alive, probably wasn't my mom or dad. We would do our best to find them tomorrow, but... I had to keep myself mentally strong on this mission.
The shadows fell longer and longer until darkness overtook us as we reached the destroyed barracks. The rodent creatures had vanished completely into the underbrush.
Bryce and Cam barricaded the intact room once more to protect its evidence before we headed to the carrier plane to sleep for the night. They worked in silence; maybe Bryce couldn't find anything to criticize Cam over. I joined Dorian, keeping watch in an open doorway. Sike was already going over the data he’d collected today. He worked in a notebook by a solar-powered light clipped to his uniform jacket; we would translate his notes to digital format later. Dorian looked especially dashing in our slate gray uniforms, although he insisted on wearing our optional cloak at all times. I felt better without mine and planned to save it for hardier environments, but Dorian had worn one basically since the day I met him.
I still had the laptop recovered from the barracks room tucked away in my pack. We needed to see if we could learn its secrets. I had a sinking feeling that the person who owned it wouldn't be coming back for it.
Dorian's hand gently pressed against my back. It was all I needed for him to remind me that he was here, as my husband and partner, on this mission.
The situation was as dire as we’d expected, but we had to deal with the reality that the meld had left behind. I only wished that we had come across more promising signs.
Still, there was tomorrow. I focused on that.
4
Roxy
How I’d managed to find myself in this situation was beyond me at this point. My attention had been split these past few days, and that had landed me in this vinyl booth seat.
"So, was your Valentine's Day as crappy as mine?" the guy across from me asked. His name was Luke, and he had brown hair that managed to seem scruffy despite how short it was. Behind my companion, a neon
