Chapter 76

Chapter Seventy-Six

The retreat was a blur to Connor. His brain ached, and the air became a choking, strangling mass. Their guide took them to where the hallway turned upslope, then into a room, then into another, then they were outside, sprinting uphill.

Overhead, black forms circled in the gray sky. The incessant buzz of the huge wings drowned out everything else, and sulfur filled the air.

Somewhere past the building where they’d lost Drew and Rudy, Kalpana’s rifle finally boomed.

A headless bug staggered from behind the uphill wall.

More gunfire followed: Vicente’s machine-gun, Selen’s assault rifle.

Connor pounded ahead, stopping only to dispatch any bugs that came for his team. The things led with their tails, leaving them vulnerable to someone quick and armed with a stinging weapon of his own.

Then they reached Kalpana’s position. She fired a last shot and dropped to the ground to run with them.