"Get inside," he says, his voice low and urgent. "Now."
He pulls us toward the entrance, the other guards closing in around us, their faces grim, their weapons at the ready. The compound is in chaos, people running back and forth, their voices a panicked murmur in the night.
Arden leads us into the main hall, where a small group of people has gathered. Anna, the cook, her face pale with worry. A few others I recognize from around the base, their expressions a mixture of fear and confusion.
"What's going on?" Anna asks, her eyes wide.
"The mission failed," Arden says, his voice grim. "Sarah and Hestia are the only ones who made it back. The others are dead, and the aliens are coming."
A collective gasp goes through the crowd.
"Mia and Eric... they betrayed us," I say, my voice trembling. "They're going to lead them right to us."
Anna stares at me, her face a mask of disbelief. "No. Not Mia. Not Eric. They wouldn't..."
"I saw it," I say, my voice breaking. "I saw Eric shoot Ivan. I saw Mia with him. They're not... they're not our friends anymore."
The words hang in the air, a chilling testament to the betrayal that has shattered our fragile hope. The others stare at me, their faces pale, their eyes wide with a dawning horror.
"We have to get out of here," Arden says, his voice firm, cutting through the panic. "We can't stay here. They'll be here soon, and we're not prepared for a siege. We have to run."
"Run where?" a man in the back asks, his voice trembling. "There's nowhere to go."
Hestia tugs my arm and points...west? I think.
West is mountains. Jagged. Uninviting. And... far.
"Hestia's right," I say, the words coming out before I can fully process them. "The caves. In the mountains. Ivan said... he said they'd be a last resort."
Arden looks at me, then at Hestia, a flicker of understanding in his eyes. "You're right. The caves. They're our only chance."
He turns to the others, his voice ringing with an authority I haven't heard from him before. "Listen up! We're evacuating. Grab what you can carry, but travel light. Water, food, weapons. That's it. We're heading for the mountains. We move out in five minutes. Anyone who falls behind will be lucky to get Ivan's fate." His eyes are hard, and I realize he's not just being cruel. He's being realistic.
The next few minutes are a blur of frantic activity. People run back and forth, grabbing supplies, their faces pale with fear. Anna shoves a small pack into my hands, filled with what little food she could grab. Arden presses a small energy pistol into my other hand, the metal cold and heavy in my palm.
"Use it if you have to," he says, his voice grim. "Don't hesitate."
I nod, my throat too tight to speak.
Hestia is already at the door, her small body vibrating with a desperate urgency. She's been to the mountains with the scouts, I realize. She knows the way. She's not just pointing. She's leading.
"Hestia," I say, my voice soft. "You know the way, don't you?"
She nods, her eyes wide, and gestures for us to follow.
A small group of us gather at the entrance.
The others are still assembling when we hear it. A low, rumbling hum that vibrates through the soles of our shoes, a sound I've come to associate with the aliens and their technology.
They're here.
"Move out!" Arden yells, his voice cutting through the rising panic. "Now! Run!"
We pour out of the compound, a ragged, terrified mob. The night is lit by the searchlights of an alien ship, its beam sweeping across the sand, a predatory eye in the darkness.
Hestia leads us, a small, determined figure darting between the rocks, her purple hair a fleeting beacon in the gloom. We follow, our footsteps pounding a frantic rhythm on the sand, our hearts hammering in our chests.
The desert landscape, once a monotonous sea of sameness, now becomes a treacherous obstacle course. We scramble over rocks, our breath coming in ragged gasps, our bodies screaming in protest.
A laser blast hits the sand behind us, sending a plume of superheated grit into the air. A collective cry of fear goes through our group, but we don't stop. We can't.
I look back, just for a moment, and I see them. Mia and Eric. They're standing at the edge of the searchlight, their faces impassive, their expressions cold and empty. Mia is talking to one of the tall, grey aliens, her gestures precise, her voice calm. Eric stands beside her, a weapon in his hand, his gaze sweeping across the desert, searching for us.
They're surrounding the compound, making its so that those who lagged behind are being taken. Some of them are being shot with a different weapon. A gun that fires a blue beam of light that doesn't kill, doesn't even seem to injure - but makes them stop moving entirely, their bodies going slack, their eyes glazing over. They stand like statues, frozen in place, their faces frozen in expressions of shock and terror.
The sight is horrifying, a chilling display of alien technology and human helplessness.
It's a net. They're not just killing us. They're recapturing.
The thought sends a wave of nausea through me.
It's worse than death waiting for us.
Arden grabs my shoulder as he runs by. "Don't look." His voice is a harsh whisper, a command, short and to the point, because he can't afford anymore than two words.
I turn away, my gaze fixed on Hestia's bobbing form ahead of me. She's small and fast, her knowledge of this terrain the only reason any of us have a chance of making it. She runs with a purpose I've never seen in her before, a desperate, fierce determination that makes my own faltering steps feel clumsy and inadequate.
I'm not leading her now. She's leading us all. Into whatever dark uncertainty might grant us another day's breath.
The mountains rise up before us, their jagged peaks like broken teeth against the starlit sky. They look like a place of death, a place of no return.
But they're our only hope.
Not that I'm really sure hope is a thing, anymore.