CROSS FIRE by Fonda Lee

Author:Fonda Lee [Lee, Fonda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Scholastic
Published: 2018-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

As the sun rose, they traveled in three skimmercars behind the scrambling Rii vehicle as it led them back toward the center of the Round. The familiar silhouette of the Towers was marred by the deflated shape of the alien spore vessel clinging like a gooey, sagging bubble to the side of the tallest spire.

“They’re designed to conform to whatever surface they land on,” Soldier Wylt said, noticing Donovan, Cass, and the third human in the car, Zachariah, staring out the window at the remains of the thing. “Spores spread the invading footprint as wide as possible. Makes it difficult to intercept all the exiting troops. They only have basic navigation and transmission—no engines, no life support—and once they land, they disintegrate. The Hunters inside know they’re on a one-way trip.”

“Leave the humans alone, Wylt.” Soldier Wiest held the skimmercar to a crawl behind the scrambler. “I doubt they want to hear you blather any more than we do, but they can’t tell you to break your fins.”

“We don’t mind,” Donovan said. He, Cass, and Zach were sitting on the floor at the back of the skimmercar. There were no seats; unlike SecPac’s vehicles, this one wasn’t designed for humans. Donovan glanced back out the window. The spore looked as if it had melted further in just a few minutes.

“Hunters taking the Towers.” Wiv, the third Soldier in the car, whistled and made a profane fin movement.

The skimmercar stopped. In the light of morning, the scene of carnage in the streets around the Towers was even worse to behold than it had been in the dark. Donovan saw human and zhree bloodstains, chunks of debris, twisted metal remains of skimmercars, and scattered corpses and body parts of both species. The Soldiers and the soldiers-in-erze fell silent in the car. Donovan was struck by the overwhelming desire not to open the door. Cass gripped his hand in mutual support.

Wiest opened the skimmercar and began unrolling wide body bags on the street. “These should fit humans as well.”

Still holding Cass’s hand, Donovan made himself get out of the car. As the three Soldiers moved off, Donovan glanced toward the Rii scrambler parked by the entrance of the Towers. The Hunters were disembarking, jumping fifteen feet from the carrier platform and landing as if it were nothing. Amid the mottled hulls, Donovan caught a glimpse of several striped ones. The Hunters escorted Soldier Gur and his retinue inside the Towers and they disappeared from view.

What was going to happen in there? What would Soldier Gur and the leader of the Rii Hunters talk about? Donovan turned away; it seemed pointless to speculate. He had always thought of his father as a powerful man who wielded a position of global influence. That seemed almost laughable now; Prime Liaison Angela DeGarmo was nowhere to be seen. The other individuals who had always held highest authority in Donovan’s world—Administrator Seir, Soldier Werth, Commander Tate—they were not here either. The fate of the planet was being decided by outside forces far beyond anything he’d ever known.

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