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The passengers screamed even louder.
I wasn’t the only one who had the idea to escape whatever was happening in this place.
But I was the only one who heard the heavy thumping footsteps ahead of us.
It didn’t take much imagination to figure out that the creatures making those loud stomping noises might be the same that carried those blaster pistols and shot plasma at the ceiling.
I threw myself down and lay on the floor behind an open pod. Each thumping footstep sent a tremor through me as the creatures stepped into view, plasma rifles aimed at the passengers who hadn’t been so quick to hide.
They raised their hands.
“Please,” the sheep said. “Don’t shoot us.”
“Back!” the creatures said. “I won’t tell you again.”
They pumped their rifles, what was meant as a threat.
It worked. The passengers turned and headed back toward the escape pod room.
I lay perfectly still, praying the creatures wouldn’t turn to look at me.
They looked like something from a bad B horror movie. Their limbs were long and skinny and coated with what looked like a hard shell. Their antennae almost grazed the ceiling. They looked like giant insects.
Giant insects from hell.
Whatever these creatures were, they were dangerous and I had no intention of being held captive by them.
Their footsteps shook the gangway as they maneuvered the passengers back.
I sank back and slipped into the nearest empty pod. I lay on my front, waiting to see what would happen next. It was the best hiding place I could find.
At least, for now.
Everywhere else, I was exposed.
I would leap out the moment the creatures had moved away.
In the escape pod room, I heard the passengers groaning with terror.
A voice, carried by a megaphone or similar device, exploded over them.
“Quiet!” the voice bellowed. “You are now under our control. We are the Changelings and so long as you cause us no trouble, we will not harm you.”
Changelings.
Where had I heard that before?
“You will return to your pods and go back to sleep,” the voice yelled. “Do not fear. So long as your loved ones pay your ransom, you’ll be home before you know it.”
As the heavy footsteps thudded back up the gangway again, I knew I had run out of time.
I slipped out of the pod and took off in the opposite direction. I couldn’t be there when they discovered my pod was empty.
I needed to escape this place.
I needed to find a way back to Dyrel’s planet.
I needed a miracle.
