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A stage took up the front of the room where a makeshift command center had been set up with a large blank monitor. A timer projected on the wall above it.

Thirty-six minutes and counting.

That’s how long it had been from the start of the attack to now.

It felt like it had been hours.

I waited while Hunter walked Brooke over to a group of medics setting up a station behind the stage. My stomach felt sick knowing the station would be full of wounded soldiers and civilians within a few hours, if the high-speed chase we’d just endured was any indication of what was to come.

“She’s in shock,” Hunter said to one of the medics, leading Brooke to a cot. “Please, keep her here for now.”

Shock was putting Brooke’s condition mildly. I would have thought her dead if it wasn’t for the tears streaming down her face; her face the gray of a corpse.

The commander of Fort Gray walked to the front of the stage, her shoulders pinned back and eyes alert. “Please take a seat if you haven’t already,” she directed, picking up a remote from a nearby table. “We don’t have much time to debrief.”

Hunter squeezed Brooke’s hand gently before letting go, and silently took a seat next to me and our group in one of the back rows.

“Here’s everything we know so far.” The commander clicked the remote in her hand, turning on the monitor behind her. “About forty minutes ago, there were ten confirmed attacks in our time zone from an unknown species. The Guard has identified them as extraterrestrial.” A map of our country popped up with areas marked in red, the city of Gray among them. “Their origin is unknown, along with the reason for their attack. They do not appear to communicate on an intellectual level, and we are to treat them as animalistic in nature.”

An image taken from one of the base’s perimeter cameras replaced the map, and only the years of training kept the soldiers inside the room quiet and composed. Two creatures had been captured mid-stride on all fours, their bony limbs and arched spines even more grotesque on film. One had its head thrown back toward the sky; the phantom sound of its piercing shriek echoing in my ears.

From the angle of the photo, I could see one of its faces clearly: an eerie resemblance to the skull of the extinct saber-tooth tiger, with two upper canine teeth dropping down inches below its lower jawbone, not an ounce of fat or fullness to be found, only sunken eye sockets and bone.

“Your mission,” the commander spoke on, “is to exterminate what we are calling ET-1s. Four have been eliminated so far, but our cameras picked up a total of thirty entering the city from the mountainside.”

I glanced at Hunter. I would’ve been at home if he hadn’t called me. Sitting on our front porch, unable to sleep. A sitting duck for fucking ET-1s.

Hunter squeezed my knee, sensing my discomfort.

“The ET-1s have shown weakness in their cranial region, or in simple terms, a bullet to the head will do the trick. Explosives are also a guaranteed kill.” The screen changed again, displaying a map of the city with Fort Gray positioned in front of the mountain, the river and perimeter wall separating the two. “You will be split into roughly twenty teams of ten. Fifteen teams are to deploy into the city. The remaining five teams will disperse throughout base to thwart any potential breach. Squad leaders and their teams are listed on the board to the right of me. If you do not see your name, please report to the stage immediately, and we will assign you to a team.”

I looked at my friends, then to Kyle, and finally to the board that held the list of names.

None of us would be on there. We’d all had the night off.

The commander took a deep breath, her only tell she was nervous. “We’ll have eyes in the sky. Squad leaders, maintain contact with command for updates. Everyone . . .”—she paused—“Stay safe out there.”

CHAPTER SIX

BRYN

The last tank exited the base’s side gate, driving away from the lights of the base and into the darkness of night.

I wished more than anything I was in it.

Fort Gray’s commander had assigned Niall and me to the same team that was to remain on base. Everyone else had been placed on active teams currently making their way into the city.

The only thing worse than going to war was waiting on the sidelines while your friends, and in my case—family—risked their lives.

Thankfully, Sarah was on a team with Hunter, where Hunter would be able to look after her.

I knew Sarah could hold her own, but I still worried for her; it was a woman thing. As hard as we tried to stand tall among men, there was always that little echo of self-doubt embedded in us from a long history of tyrannical men telling women we weren’t good enough. That we weren’t worthy of a weapon in our hands to fight off our enemies.

Niall nudged my shoulder as the last tank rolled out of view. “Hunter will be okay, Bryn. They all will.”

I nodded, trying to still my nerves.

“Team, gather around!” our squad leader shouted, a stocky man with a no-nonsense attitude.