The Unknown

ELEVEN | decision.

After she saved Matt and the others, Jade sent Tess back to the city. It was another mission, this time to a cancer treatment center at the edge of the city. Tess suspected these last three missions were Jade's ploy to convince her how good the Species was. With their help, she could free the imprisoned kids, save her old friends, and cure cancer.

She pressed the signaler button once again, watching the light overtake the patient's weakened bodies through a small window. The next time they stepped foot on Earth, they would be healthy, and they could spend precious time with their families.

But would their families notice the deeper change in them?

Later that night, sneaking through the streets alone, she spotted lights from fighter jets barreling across the sky. With an ear splitting boom, they fired missiles at the Species' ship. She held her breath, watching closely.

When the smoke cleared, she could see the chrome dot in the sky, shining faintly in the moonlight. A chunk of it was damaged and aflame at the edges. But within minutes, it stitched itself back together just like she had after the fight with Matthew.

They were unstoppable.

***

In the lull between missions, Tess managed to meet up with Kyle again, in a city skyscraper the soldiers had already searched. They got a room together, and there wasn't much talking this time.

After, she finally met up with Rosalie and Jade again. She was surprised to find the meeting place—the basement of a towering skyscraper on the edge of downtown—crawling with new faces.

"You're our heroes!" a girl exclaimed, curly hair bouncing as she wrapped Tess in a big hug, knocking the air from her lungs.

"This is Tanya," Rosalie explained, smiling brightly. "She's one of the ones we saved from the basement. They just got back to Earth yesterday."

Tess stepped back and glanced at the girl the with unmasked shock. She looked unrecognizable, in a good way. Days ago, the kids had all looked near death, like ghosts. The girl before her was a healthy teenager with bright eyes and a lively flush under her tawny skin.

"What are they all going to do?"

Jade turned, jet black hair swinging. "Help us, of course. We'll spread through the city more than twice as fast now. Just like you wanted, so you and Kyle can reunite." There was an icy edge to her voice when she said his name. Tess's hair stood on end. "Your missions went well?" Jade stared.

"Yes," Tess answered plainly.

"Good." Jade gave Rosalie a glance of dismissal. She smiled at Tess when Rose was out of hearing range. "You know, if you keep disobeying orders...we have your parents."

"Is that a threat?" Tess asked slowly.

She felt her face spill with anger she couldn't hide. This was about her meetings with Kyle? How did Jade know?

"Just a reminder. Everything you've been given is a gift, and they will take it away if you take it for granted."

Disgust crawled up Tess's spine and into her throat, but she stormed away before she could speak the vicious words forming there. Stumbling past the staring kids, she found a bathroom and propped herself up against the sink, staring deeply into her own eyes. They were burning with fury. She sucked in deep breaths through her nose and out her mouth until she was somewhere near calm.

She was being torn in a dozen different directions. Part of her wanted to convert the entire city, another wanted to forget the primary mission and destroy Jade, solely for threatening her parents.

She didn't know what she was going to do when she walked back out into the main room. But her anger overcame her when she saw the back of Jade's head. Then her eyes drifted to the communicator clipped on her belt.

Tess moved in. She pretended to be meeting the new kids, exchanging quick greetings and learning names. But her focus was locked on the communicator at all times. She inched closer until she could smell the shampoo in Jade's hair. Then, when no one was looking, she placed two fingers on the device and gently lifted it up. It came loose and she tucked it immediately in a pocket, then beelined for the exit she'd came in from.

Just before turning a corner, she swiveled her head and saw Jade reaching for her belt, her eyes darting all around.

All was calm for a minute or so, but Tess was sprinting the second she was out of sight. She'd need a head start to pull this off.

Moments later, an inhuman growl echoed through the corridors, "Find her! Now!"

She poured more gas into her run, willing her muscles to move faster than ever before. They were already after her; she could hear the patter of dozens of footsteps, eager to please their saviors.

She burst through the exit and into the dawn. There was no time to think or catch her breath; she turned the nearest corner, putting obstacles between herself and the kids on her tail. The more she could break their line of sight, the better.

She darted into a cluster of small trees and hauled herself up into the branches. Then she pulled Jade's communicator out, fingers fumbling, and squinted at the screen, keeping it dim.

This device had far more features than her own, she discovered.

There was a GPS map with dozens of dots, some moving and some static. When she pressed one with her finger, a name appeared. It was Tanya. Two others, right next to each other, were Shaun and Jessie.

So Jade's communicator recorded the location of every single one of the Species' recruits.

Even worse, when she selected each name, audio began to play. She heard someone's breathing.

This meant all of the communicators they'd been given contained a location tracker and a live microphone to secretly record everything they did. With horror, she spotted her own name, and Kyle's.