AARON I couldn't look away from one machine. The others were just motion, but this one’s movement held a terrible logic. A pattern only my gut understood. Its head turned toward our mobile hauler with a sharp, mechanical purpose. I knew then. We were going to die. Nathan must have seen it in the same instant. The first shots from his rifle cracked the air, punching holes in the wall behind where it had been. The machine was already in motion, a low, darting run. It shifted position with each of his shots, making most of them miss. In the space of three breaths it was airborne. Metal hands caught the window frame. It swung its entire lower body into the cabin. Nathan tried to get clear. He wasn’t fast enough. One of those unyielding feet connected with his shoulder. The impact sent him spinning across the floor. My body moved before my mind could. I stepped back, turned, and my hands found Elena and Lucas. I pulled them to their feet. Sound was flooding back into my ears. Marcus was screaming, a raw sound of pain and fury. Elena was at the bedroom door, pulling at the handle. It wouldn’t budge. The damage from the crash had jammed it shut. I looked back into the main cabin. The machine drove its fist into Marcus’s face. I saw his nose shatter, blood erupting. It fell forward as Nathan, from the floor, wrapped his arms around its shins and wrenched backwards. The machine’s arms swung out for balance. One hand slapped the rifle from Seraphina’s grip. It was the same weapon I had dropped.I pushed Elena to the side. My mind showed me the only path. I braced myself and drove my heel into the door beside the handle. The wood splintered. The door tore free from its hinges and crashed into the bedroom. "Out the escape window!" I shouted the words directly into her ear. She didn’t hesitate. She grabbed Lucas and vanished into the dark space. I turned back. Nathan was on the machine’s back now. He hammered at its head and neck with his bare fists, blows that would have shattered bone. The machine ignored him. It pressed its torso up with those powerful arms. One leg planted, then the other. It stood, lifting Nathan’s full weight into the air as he clung on. Marcus, choking, made a weak attempt to hit its side. It caught his swinging hand, pulled him close, and drove its other fist straight into his windpipe. Marcus collapsed onto the couch, his hands flying to his crushed throat, desperate for air. Seraphina was on her knees, scrambling for the rifle. The machine reached both arms over its shoulders. It gripped Nathan by the shoulders. I heard the crunch of pressure, and Nathan let out a roar of agony. The machine took one quick step forward, dropped into a kneel, and hurled him from its back. Nathan flew through the air and crashed down on top of Seraphina. His mass pinned her, her outstretched fingers just inches from the rifle’s stock. I lunged forward and grabbed the weapon. The metal felt cold and wrong. The barrel was visibly bent. The machine had already seized Nathan’s ankles. With one powerful motion, it dragged the howling man backward across the floor. Seraphina looked up at me from under Nathan’s weight. Pure terror was in her eyes. "Shoot it!" she screamed. I looked at the ruined rifle in my hands. If I pulled the trigger, it might not fire. Or it might explode. Nathan managed to roll onto his back. The machine stepped over him, planting a foot on either side of his chest. It reached down for his head. Nathan’s hands shot up and locked around its forearm. Every muscle in his arms stood out, corded and shaking, his skin flushed dark red with the strain. "Shoot it!" Seraphina’s scream was ragged. I glanced back. Elena had the escape window open. She was looking out, judging the drop to the ground. I looked at Seraphina and Nathan. The rifle was a question. But they were an answer. They would slow it down. They were buying seconds right now. "I’m sorry." I turned and ran into the bedroom as her screams to come back chased me. I passed the bed. Elliot lay there, utterly still, his skin the color of ash. The fact he hadn’t stirred through all the noise and violence said everything. I forced the sight away and ran to Elena at the window. "You go first," I said, my voice tight. "I’ll hand Lucas out to you." "Got it!" she yelled. She swung one leg, then the other, over the sill. I grabbed her forearms, holding her weight as she lowered herself. She slipped her body out of the vehicle and onto the smooth, glossy paint of the hauler’s rear end.