I skidded to a halt. My heart thumped in my ears.
Julian stopped and jabbed at the tablet. He pointed across the field, directing the scrabs.
They galloped straight for Edan, Gage, and Dorsey.
“Julian, no!” I sprinted toward them. Madison’s and Laila’s footsteps were right behind me.
All three boys drew their weapons as the scrabs lunged at them. Archer and Zoe darted out from behind the barn.
I swung my machete as soon as I was close enough to hit flesh. The scrab turned on me, teeth bared. I slashed my blade across its throat.
Archer leapt for a scrab with his weapon, but it skidded away. It headed straight for Julian. He punched at his tablet. Nothing happened.
“You said these stupid scrabs or SACs or whatever were trained!” He reached into his waistband and pulled out a gun. He held it straight in front of him, waiting until the scrab was close enough for a good shot. The bang echoed across the field. The scrab collapsed, twitching.
“Julian!” Webb dashed out the back door of the house. “Julian, no, put that—”
Julian shot the scrab again, drowning out the rest of Webb’s words. It stopped twitching.
“Stop!” Webb yelled. “Gunfire confuses them, we haven’t figured out—”
Two of the scrabs who’d been headed for us cut left, making a beeline for Webb, and he abruptly stopped talking. He pulled a Taser from his belt and aimed it at the scrab. It convulsed as it went down.
Edan yanked his machete out of a scrab as it fell to the ground. His chest heaved up and down, blood streaking his arms.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
The noise came from the large container next to the big barn.
You can’t just throw them in there, Webb had said.
The container tipped over. A claw ripped apart the metal door.
Scrabs poured out. Webb still had his Taser, and he stuck a couple scrabs with it. They went down twitching.
“Julian! A little help here?” he yelled.
Julian had his back to Webb. He was staring at me.
Two scrabs slammed into Webb at once. He screamed as he disappeared beneath them.
Julian began slamming his finger repeatedly into the tablet. Most of the scrabs stiffened. A couple kept running and disappeared into the trees behind Julian. From somewhere nearby, Priya screamed. Dorsey and Laila immediately took off in the direction of the sound.
Grayson sprinted away from the truck parked in the grass, sidestepping Webb’s body.
The container on the truck exploded. Grayson covered his head with his arms as flaming pieces of it went everywhere.
He hurled something at the scrabs standing rigid near the trees. It sailed through the air and landed on the ground, bouncing once.
It exploded.
Both Edan and I jumped. Scrab parts went flying. Julian hit the ground, covering his head with his hands.
Grayson cut right, jumping in to help Dorsey fight a scrab that was on fire. Laila and Priya were standing over three dead ones nearby.
I heard yelling, and I turned to see a few guys running toward the road. MDG guys, probably. I squinted, searching for Julian.
He appeared from behind the house, his stride quick and even. His eyes caught on something, and fury flashed in them. It was Noah, adjusting his uniform camera so it was aimed straight at Julian.
Julian took off toward the barn. He wrenched the door open.
“Julian, no!” I yelled.
He ignored me, disappearing inside the barn. Dorsey and Gage were right behind him.
They both shot out of the barn as quickly as they’d gone in. A scrab burst out of the door behind them. More poured out after it, teeth bared, silent except for the thud of their paws on the ground.
“Hey!” Noah sprinted toward the scrabs, frantically waving his arms. Patrick and the rest of the team followed close behind him. “Over here!” Several of the scrabs veered in their direction.
Dorsey reeled around to fight the closest scrab. He tripped on something I couldn’t see, his machete flying out of his hand. The scrab lunged.
Gage shot in front of Dorsey, swinging his spiked knuckles at the scrab. They lodged in its throat.
The scrab opened its mouth in a silent scream. It drove all ten of its claws into Gage’s chest.
Dorsey yelled something. I clapped a hand over my mouth, squeezing my eyes shut. When I opened them a moment later, I saw Gage crumpled on the ground and Dorsey a few steps away, desperately fighting off another scrab. Every member of the team was engaged in all-out battle.
I ran forward, catching a glimpse of Julian out of the corner of my eye. He was in front of the barn with his tablet. Grayson was inching closer to him, taking down scrab after scrab, but Julian kept releasing a new one every few seconds.
A second scrab was headed straight for Zoe, and I cut it off, using my machete to whack it across the face. I sliced my blade across its neck and it fell to the ground.
I turned to find Zoe letting out a relieved sigh as her scrab went down. She gave me a half-smile as she wiped a hand across her brow. I gasped as I caught movement behind her.
“Zoe, look—”
The scrab behind her took her off her feet as it sank its teeth into her neck. I dove forward, sticking my machete into its side, but it was too late. Zoe’s eyes were blank as she hit the ground.
A strangled cry caught in my throat. I whirled around, desperately searching for the rest of the team. Most of them were still fighting, but I didn’t see Noah or Madison.
A blur of movement caught my eye. It was Edan, shooting across the field. He sidestepped a scrab and slammed into Julian, knocking him into the barn door. Julian ducked away, throwing a punch so hard it knocked Edan off his feet. He hit the dirt.
Julian stepped into the barn for only a second. A scrab roared out; this one’s vocal cords still worked perfectly well. It grabbed ahold of
