MOTHERS

◙fourteen◙

Huddled in the darkened corner between the stairs up and the thick, stone wall, Elle held her breath. And held her breath. Again. And again.

Smoke filled her lungs and she did her damndest to not cough, to not draw attention.

Rivo's door shook, sending cracks through the walls holding it up. The ground shook too, messing with Elle's footing. Dr. Price squeezed beside her, hand pressed to the wall, nails digging into the surface to hold on. To not fall. If either of them fell forward, they'd have seconds to scramble back into their corner before their presence was perceived.

The door blew apart, thousands of tiny pieces rushing through the smoke, lodging into the facade, plunging into the tiles, shattering them. Sparks flew and sizzled, and a loud grunt came from the doorway. Through the developing haze, Elle saw a large, shadowy figure step out, gripping both sides of the door-frame for support. He scanned the vicinity, his only discernible feature being his eyes, yellow as lamplights shining through a thick tempest.

"He's out!" someone yelled from farther down the corridor.

Elle cringed, and sensed Dr. Price tensing beside her.

Idiot—now Rivo is going to find you and who knows what he'll do to you.

Rivo took three heavy steps out from the threshold, marching in the direction the yell had come from. Elle could no longer see him, as the stairwell's wall blocked her view. But she detected a distinct zap, like an electric shock, slice through the air, followed by the unmistakable thud of a body hitting the ground. Or so she imagined; she didn't want to think any bodies would be collapsing, but who knew?

Though she'd been expecting violence, she hadn't anticipated death. That thud had sounded like death. Limbs colliding with a hard, tiled floor, becoming limp as they drained of life.

Elle opened her mouth, readying to unleash a scream, but Dr. Price slapped his hand over her lips. The smack onto her skin, the stinging sensation, brought her back to reality and reminded her that any noise, any noise would draw Rivo to them, instead.

And she wasn't ready to die.

She'd known the children—the aliens, more like—were ferocious. They'd shown her as much that very morning. Their furious attempts to tear down their walls and break loose had proven to her they were volatile and not as friendly as she'd thought. But would they go as far as killing humans? Humans who'd been feeding them, keeping them safe for all these months?

They might not see it as safety.

She gulped, gritting her teeth as the area filled with more zaps followed by more thuds, more bodies smacking to the ground. Who knew how many guards Rivo had confronted by now? If that was what he was doing. Elle imagined none were left to protect her and Dr. Price if they were found. She had no weapons, and doubted Dr. Price had anything that'd help them in his lab-coat. Their human fists wouldn't defend them against alien powers, if that was what those zaps were.

It was ever more essential for them to lie low and be still.

Elle still thought they should have fled at the first sign of trouble. They should have hurried upstairs before Rivo made progress in destroying his door. They'd have been safe, safer, by then, enacting real emergency protocols. Because Dr. Price was lying, right? There had to have been something in place for urgent situations. There had to be a way to brace for the worst.

But down there, in that musky little corner choked by smoke, they were far from safe, and the worst was yet to come.

And there was the matter of Elle's bracelet, which was flaring yellow, showing signs of soon switching to the life-threatening red that would sound a chirp that would resonate through the landing—and alert Rivo.