When Earth is conquered by the sinister Greys and the alien who killed Evie's husband returns seeking her help, she must find a way to enact her revenge and fight the growing feelings for the creature who is an exact replica of the man she loved.
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After plans for the raid were discussed and Mr. Warren and Mr. Evan returned – I still had no idea if they were first names or surnames – Levi's crew loaded their downpayment into their backpacks, having clearly come prepared to take whatever they could manage. Levi bid us his farewell, holding one huge hand aloft bunched into a fist like a triumphant salute and still with that smile on his face that made the anger burn deep.
We watched him disappear back into the tunnels, the darkness swallowing him and his people, dissolving their forms into nothing and yet his presence seemed to remain, a residue of something oppressive and ominous. The air was thick and tainted with him. The taste of it soured on my tongue.
We should have been jubilant. Happy that we had secured the much-needed help. Glad that finally we survivors had started to unite and fight back. Instead, I could sense the dread pervading through everyone, a black creeping rot sinking under our skin.
Once we'd scoured the tunnels and ensured all of Levi's men had gone, we left sentries on the platform to ensure they didn't come back, and Taj called us to all convene in the main communal room. A dark silence had come down on the group like a shroud, an intense quiet that felt louder than the vocal anger of before.
I took a place next to Ivy, who had pulled up a chair, her skin looking greyer and sallower than it had the last time I had seen her. She gripped my hand warmly, hers feeling small and bird-like in mine and the dread only seemed to deepen.
'Missed you, girl,' she said, her voice brittle. She cleared her throat, which soon transformed into one of the hacking coughs that seemed to plague her more often than not these days. Holding a handkerchief over her mouth, she coughed into it and quickly balled it into her first, secreting it into her cardigan pocket. 'Thought you and that man of yours were done for.' She smiled. 'Or maybe you just found yourselves a better place than this God-forsaken hole.'
'Better than the rat-infested tunnels? Better than the stench of the toilets? As if.' I rolled my eyes and gently squeezed her hand, loving the way her eyes crinkled at the corners when she laughed and hating that I could see the small spot of blood tagging the corner of her mouth.
'Oh well,' she replied with a shrug. Why did she look so much smaller than she had before? It was warm down here, but Ivy had a shawl wrapped around her neck, and I could see her collarbone jutting out from under the tassles knotted at the ends of the wool. 'I can't hardly blame you, child.' She leaned forward and gave a distinctly solicitous nod towards Tom. 'If I had the chance to get a bit of alone time with my husband again, I would ditch you all and never spend one damn minute regretting it.'
I snorted and desperately tried to repress it. Now really wasn't the time for laughter, but the image of dear old Ivy running off into the ruins of London with her husband and sticking two fingers up at the rest of us was too much.
'I don't believe for a second that you would ditch us,' I said.
Ivy raised an eyebrow at me and pursed her lips in an almost coquettish manner. 'Then you're a damn fool, girl. You shoulda seen my husband. I'm telling you now, one look at that man and you'd understand what I'm saying, but then again, maybe you do get it. He was a bigger man than yours there.' She jutted her chin in Tom's direction. 'But he had that same look in his eye.'
