The Other Side

Without a real sense of direction, all I could do was try to weave and wind through the curves and forks.

All the while, the Echo screamed after me. I imagined I could feel its hot breath on the back of my neck, but wasn't even sure if it breathed in the traditional sense. They didn't seem to take issue with the ship's atmosphere or the mountain's.

But I ran—kicking myself all the while. I kept telling myself that I couldn't do much when up against a monster four or five times my size. I was so small, and all I had was one slashing melee weapon.

I was fast, though. Small enough to navigate the halls. The Echo kept slamming into things. Kept slowing down. However, I seemed to pass an invisible threshold where things in the ship still worked.

Working red lights became intermittent. Some were off, others flickered—until I was completely in darkness and running blind, hardly able to see three feet in front of me.

Part of me wanted to slow down, play it safe. But if I slowed down, even a little, the Echo might be right on top of me in an instant.

Unlike me, it could see in the pitch black.

Instead, I held my free hand out to my side, dragging my fingertips along the side of the corridors. I was trying to give myself at least a fair bit of warning before I ran into something. For the most part, I could see the walls about three seconds before I hit them and alter course instead of breaking my nose.

Wolf was in pursuit as well, but he wasn't firing his weapon. Had to save the ammunition and use it sparingly, I presumed.

Around one sharp corner, maybe two minutes into running for my life, I couldn't turn fast enough and bounced into the next stretch, almost losing my footing. I scrambled to stay upright and managed somehow, still losing a few precious seconds.

The echolocation pulses assaulted my ears.

Then the world fell out from underneath me.

This time, I didn't have the grace to hold in a scream as I went plummeting down. There were only a few seconds of free fall before I landed on the inclined floor and skidded the rest of the way down.

All I could see was darkness below, so I had no idea where the end was. If there was one.

I slid maybe five feet before I hit the bottom and collapsed in a heap on the ground, face down. I recovered as fast as I could and looked around on my hands and knees. I couldn't keep running forever—I was on my last legs, lungs burning and muscles shuddering in protest.

The fall had knocked the wind out of me again and I wasn't sure how much longer I could go.

Somehow the ship had been snapped in half, and it had left an electrical mess on the inside. Everything was folded in and tangled in wires and jagged metal.

I scrambled over to the nearest wall, still clinging to my weapon, and shoved myself inside the first hole I found. I had to push wires and tubing out of the way and squeeze between metal panels, but I did it.

Jammed in good, I backed the rest of the way in as far as I thought I could go and held my weapon in front of me. I didn't have much maneuverability, but I could still jab if I needed to.

Seconds later, the Echo went rushing passed, screeching all the while. I held my breath and ceased all movement, afraid that even the slightest shift would bring it back for me.

It passed by without incident, though, and I allowed myself a brief sigh of relief. I started to wiggle my way free so I could meet Wolf before he ran ahead without me.

I grunted and tried to push a panel out of my way, and something above me clanked against metal. First I was taken by surprise, then I froze. My breath stuck in my throat, but after a second it seemed the sound had gone unnoticed and I went back to freeing myself.

When I turned my head to check my progress, something moved at the entrance. I stopped to watch, hoping it was Wolf.

All that was there was black, and then it moved.

Lips peeled back over teeth and I let out a shriek of surprise, crawling back into the hole I'd been working so hard to get out of.

The Echo used its powerful forelimbs to pull the wall apart, using each structural flaw to pry pieces away and make the entrance wider.

I worked double-time to shimmy through the tiny breach, doing my best to ignore the sounds it made. In the small space, I thought my eardrums might shatter if it went on any longer.

Somehow I was making better progress than the Echo. I managed to find a wide enough space to turn around in and buried myself deeper into the inner machinations of the ship.

At some point, a change happened in the cries, but I pushed everything away except the thoughts that drove me onward.

/Escape. Get away. Deeper, deeper./

When the sounds petered out and were replaced by silence—save for the sound of me rooting around like a rat—I finally paused. It wasn't trying to burrow after me anymore. Nothing shifted in the small tunnel I had made.

I counted to ten.

Then started over and went up to fifteen.

Again—to twenty.

There was nothing, and then there was the encouraging chittering from Wolf. My fear melted away to an almost incapacitating relief. I relaxed to the point where I was lying on my face on the floor.

Taking in a deep, shuddering breath, I started to crawl back out.

Something stopped me. A small tickle on my face, down my partially zipped jacket. My eyes widened and I held my hand out, twisting it around until I felt it again.

A breeze.

Cold air. The outside world.

Wolf called out to me. I was maybe thirty feet into the hull of the ship, and I looked over my shoulder to see if I could spot him, but all I saw was broken bits of metal and circuitry.

I contemplated for a moment, chewing on my lip, then turned back and continued toward the breeze.

I had to try.

I had to know.

Behind me, Wolf still chattered and called out. I forced myself to ignore him, if only for a few more minutes. All I needed to do was check it out. That's all. It would be okay, everything would be okay if I could just know. Know that—that—

"I'll be back," I said, unsure if he could actually hear me.

It took a lot of doing, a lot of squeezing. I tore my jacket more, but it was just a thing. A material that could be replaced.

Eventually, I saw a light. A dim light, a gray light, but it was there. It wasn't the ambient red of the hallways and rooms. The cool breeze washed over me and excitement had me giddy. I choked back a jubilant squeal.

The hole was right there. The cold breeze turned into a frozen chill and snow drifted in, making a light dust. I grabbed at it greedily and pulled myself out from under a chunk of metal like a desperate cat and popped out on the other side.

For a few minutes, the blinding light from outside left me blind. I squinted against the glare of the outside world, but eventually my eyes adjusted and I was able to gather my wits.

I still wasn't completely outside, just in front of a small breach in the hull that would lead there. It was so small, but I could at least peak out of it.

Dawn had almost passed. I worked to pull out my phone but grimaced when I twisted my arm the wrong way and sent a shrill pain through my burned skin.

It took a moment to recover, then I used my other arm to retrieve my cell and check the time. I was awash with another bout of emotion when I realized it was Jess' phone in my hand.

That all seemed so far away, like it had happened to someone else. I'd forgotten I'd traded my phone for hers.

When I was emotionally stable, I checked the time. 5:53 a.m. Seven minutes until they would realize we were in trouble.

Then all there would be was the time before they arrived. The nearest base was in Colorado Springs, a little more than two hours away by car.

If I could get out, though, I could go somewhere they'd find me. I could go home.

There was no way I could fit through the hole as it was. Maybe if I was five years younger it wouldn't be a problem, but it was too small now.

Without thinking, I dove into the task of making it bigger. I tugged at the edges of the hole, trying to find a loose section, and managed to find a side that had some wiggle to it.

I flipped over so I could kick it with both feet—over and over and over again until it popped free.

Though I had to pull off some contortionist shit and nearly cut my side wide open, I was out. I fell into a shallow pile of snow and rolled a few feet down the hill.

For a moment I didn't get up. I just reveled in the cold snow. I laughed for several seconds before I sat up and looked around.

Trees. Tall mountain peaks above them. The wind made the leaves sway and dance, whistling a faint tune as it wound through their branches.

Over my head, the sky was gray with clouds and small flakes of snow fell on my face. I closed my eyes and drank it all in, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

After a moment, I opened my eyes again and looked over at the massive ship. I stood and walked backward, trying to see where the top of the ship was.

It had to be bigger than a cruise liner, maybe even two. From the angle of the ship, it seemed as though it had rammed nose-first into the hill and then snapped in the middle. The bow of the ship was embedded in the hill, and a small section hung down the side.

Everything else was resting against the

slope, as level as it was going to get. Navigating that part would be a lot of sloping passages.

Once I was over the scale of the ship, I whirled around to search for danger. There was nothing but quiet pine trees and the wind whipping around me. For the moment, the cold was a welcome sensation compared to the stifling heat of the ship.

Snow had been falling all night and was up to my ankles. Had none of this happened, had we been wandering around the woods all night looking for something that didn't exist, my classmates and I very well could have been caught out.

Lost and turned around while we tried to see in the dark and in a snow storm. If it wasn't the aliens, it would've been Mother Nature.

None of that mattered. The sun was on its way up and I could see. The storm had died down to a gentle snowfall. I could work with that. Maybe I didn't have a shirt on, but I still had my jacket and pants. I could zip up.

After the night I'd been through, I could handle some cold seeping through the tears and nipping my skin. I could walk back. Down the hill, that would be where I started. Or, or I could—

When I went to look at Jess' phone, I realized it wasn't in my pocket. There was a moment of panic, and I fought my way up the distance I'd fallen, searching the snow along the way.

I found it right at the entrance, buried a bit with a pile of IDs. I brushed the flakes away, put the IDs back in my pocket, and turned on the cracked phone screen.

It had 20 percent life.

One bar of signal.

My breathing deepened and my hands shook. How was I going to unlock the screen? I didn't know Jess' code—wait, the emergency call button! I

Once that screen was up, I dialed nine-one-one. The call screen started, and it announced that it was dialing.

Dialing . . .

Dialing . . .

Dialing . . .

Teeth grinding, I shook the phone and put it to my ear. There was no ringing. No dialing tone. There wasn't enough service to send a call out.

It brought frustrated tears to my eyes, but I wiped them away and tried my hand at pulling down the settings to turn on GPS, but it wanted me to unlock the phone.

She had a pattern, not a PIN.

"Fuck," I muttered. I wasn't going to bother trying. What good would the GPS do if I didn't have internet to run the Maps app?

Panting turned into hyperventilating and I had to force myself to calm down. Nothing had changed, so there was no reason for me to freak out.

All I had to do was start walking. Head down the hill, find my bearings and figure out if I recognized anything that could lead me home.

Or I could walk up the hill and see if I could pick up a better signal at high ground.

Eyes closed, I sat in the snow and tried to catch my breath. Up. Climb up and see if I could find reception. That's what I would do.

/Make a plan, and stick to it./

Moments into the climb uphill, I heard a screech that had me right back on the defensive. It came from further downhill, and I threw myself prone, slowly raising my head to see what was there, but there was nothing.

No drones. No Echo. Just more hill and snow and trees. The cry must have come from inside the ship, farther down.

All at once I remembered Wolf. Still inside, fighting to avenge his friends and kill off a growing infection. A fight I'd resolved to be a part of. I had told him I'd be back.

Now what was I doing? I'd taken the first chance that presented itself out of that hellhole. I had hidden away when danger came at me.

I'd run.

At last the cold surpassed my threshold and I zipped my jacket up to my neck—but it stuck. I looked down to free the catch and found the dog tag chains bunched up under the horrible trinket Wolf had so thoughtfully made me.

He had recognized me, on some level, as being worth his time.

And what had I done?

Thrown it his face and retreated with my tail between my legs.

I looked over my shoulder at the woods. So quiet, so peaceful, while inside aliens killed each other and were hunted down. It would be so easy to walk away—to try and forget. But what waited for me?

Chances are I'd wind up lost and die from exposure.

Maybe another drone would find me and I'd wind up back at square one.

/"Nichole wait!"/

The memory was like a punch in the gut. Jess' desperate voice, begging me to help Michelle.

My lip trembled and I stood up, grabbing the chestburster skull in my fist.

Was I going to run away from another friend? Was I going to leave another person behind to die while I fled to safety?

Whether or not Wolf understood the concept, he was kind of a friend. A comrade, a companion. Someone I was slowly starting to look up to and admire.

Maybe running was the "correct" choice, but I didn't feel like it was the "right" choice. Not after everything. It didn't sit well in my heart, and I didn't want to take the easy path anymore.

Once already I had abandoned someone I cared about. Maybe Wolf wasn't my best friend, maybe I hadn't known him for forever, but he'd been there for me. Out of convenience at first, sure.

Maybe he'd seen something in me I hadn't. Maybe he'd just wanted the company. I didn't fully understand his motivations, but he'd been there.

After staring at Jess' phone for a second or two, I shut it off to conserve battery.

With a new sense of resolve, I stuffed it back into my pocket with the other stuff shoved there. I started down the hill, trudging through the ankle-deep snow and backtracking the short distance I'd gone.

/When the first drone found you in that egg chamber, he was there./

Faced with the hole back into the ship, I crawled in before I could talk myself out of it. I left the forest behind in exchange for the dark alien ship. I left the cold behind in exchange for the wet heat of the interior.

This time, I was careful of the jagged pieces that had nearly sliced me open on the way out. I had a clearer head on me.

My blade was abandoned inside, but it was still close enough to the escape hole that I was able to find it with the light. I made a mental promise to never drop it again.

With it in hand, I began my journey to the ship proper.

/After another drone attacked you and Simmons, he was there./

Navigating the path I'd made was easier now that I wasn't scared out of my mind. I was able to wiggle my way around until the light from outside faded back into the pitch.

There was nothing waiting for me at the entrance, now shredded wide open by the Echo. No calls from Wolf, no shuffling or searching.

I didn't let it bother me, certain that I could find him. After all, he would have gone after the Echo, so he probably didn't climb up the drop I'd fallen from.

/When I found my friends and begged him to lead them out, he'd been there./

Finally, I broke out into the hallway, no worse for the wear. I shivered as a glob of snow melted and slid down my back, but already the overwhelming humidity had chased away the chill from being outside.

I stood on slightly unsteady feet, then took off at a jog down the hallway.

/Every time you suffered a major injury, he was there./

It was my turn to be there. It was my turn to go back and make sure a friend was okay. It was my turn to show a little integrity and loyalty. If anything, I just wished I could have been there for Jess when it had really mattered. That I could have found this side of me when it had counted.

The smallest of voices told me I was being ridiculous. Told me that I should follow my instincts and run, run, run and never look back.

But the outside world would still be there when this was over. It wasn't going anywhere.

I had to prove—to myself and to Wolf—that I was the warrior he thought I was. That I was worth the praise he'd given me. That I was greater than the sum of my parts.

No more running. No more fear. I could do it. I had to do it, so I went trudging through with a purpose again.

At first, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find Wolf again. I trotted down the halls blind as a bat, using my fingertips against the walls for guides yet again. I can't imagine he would have waited long for me.

Had he figured out I'd found an escape? Maybe he thought I'd gotten stuck and couldn't get out. Who knew if he'd even gone in the direction I was headed.

I didn't think he would have scaled the drop, though, not when we'd been traveling the way I'd fled in the first place. Even if he had, I never would have been able to climb back up.

When I was certain that I couldn't hear the Echo, I started calling for him.

"Wolf? Wolf!" I kept my voice down to a harsh whisper and waited for several beats between calls to make sure I heard a reply.

My bravado was starting to wear out the longer I went without finding him.

As I'd thought, the ship was slanted and I was finding it more and more difficult to continue at a brisk pace. I had to slow down to ensure that I didn't keep falling down.

At a long stretch of hallway, I caught distinct movement. It was a shadow within a shadow, and I froze to watch it, afraid that it was maybe one of the parasitic aliens. The Echo, a drone . . .

My eyes were wide open, trying their hardest to pick up any light. I resisted the urge when my fingers twisted to grab my phone. I wanted to use the flashlight so bad.

What harm would it do, though? I had enough battery life and what else was I going to use the phone for? So long as I was careful, I just needed a small burst of light.

So I pulled it out, turned it on, waited a minute for it to warm up, then quickly flashed the light down the hall. It illuminated almost the entire passageway and I flinched at the sudden brightness, but I sure enough spotted the familiar humanoid form of Wolf.

I sighed with relief and jogged toward him at an angle, bracing myself against the wall.

"Wolf! Wolf there you are. I got stuck, and—"

My words were met with an unfamiliar growl and I stopped short. Almost instantly my heart was in my throat, beating a mile a minute. The color drained from my face.

The alien turned toward me and a set of three dots appeared on my chest.

As I held up my sword with trembling hands, I took a step back. The guy in front of me advanced again, and I found my voice.

"You're not Wolf!"