Screams from North Hall alerted Tameka to the darkness outside the Med Lab door. Before she could even ask what was wrong, Dr. Jones pushed two lab tables against the jam, barricading them in.

“Get behind the incinerator!”

Med Lab was the size of three regular classrooms. Rows of desks made up the front third of the space, and chunky black lab tables comprised the middle of the room. The last third contained stainless steel gurneys. Upper and lower cabinets consumed the wall space and hugged the incinerator, which divided the medical space with a large glass door, resembling a massive microwave oven.

Tameka stood and found the rest of the class frozen in terror. She shouted, “Go!”

Pablo jumped up first and nudged the student next to him, saying, “C’mon. Let’s move!”

Lynn spared Tameka a concerned glance before rushing back with the rest. The only person who didn’t move was Rayne. She stared at the inky darkness outside the door with her eyes so wide a tear fell out of them.

Dr. Jones crouched until her eyes were level with Rayne’s. “I know it’s terrifying, but you need to get back with the rest. I’ll hold them off for as long as I can.”

Tameka whispered in Rayne’s ear, “We have to move. Talk to me, Callahan.”

“Nox.”

The word hit Tameka as if Rayne had slapped her. Tameka cried, “Are you fucking kidding me?!”

Another tear spilled from Rayne’s lashes as she said, “He’s here. I can feel him.”

Dr. Jones looked between them, concerned and confused, before asking, “Do you know the terrorists?”

This was it.

Tameka shivered before kicking it into high gear. As she rushed to look out the door, she said, “They’re aliens, and they’re invading Earth.”

Some gasps followed, but the teacher frowned. “Please. This isn’t a game. Get behind the incinerator with the others—”

Glass shattered from the window along the ceiling—the only source of natural light in the sunken room. Closer to it, behind the incinerator, the students shrieked as massive claws swiped for them through the window. More screams echoed their panic from deeper in the school as other classes opened and spilled out into the hallway.

“Back this way—No! Don’t run out!” Tameka cursed. This was so out of hand. She turned to Dr. Jones and said, “I don’t have time to explain everything to you, but that is an alien monster attacking the window. And bet your ass, it’s intentional. They want us to flee the classrooms.”

Pablo, Lynn, and the others huddled together in the center of the room, far from the window and the door. But nowhere was truly safe. Tameka scanned outside the door, barely able to see anything for the pitch darkness. Bodies stampeded by to the chorus of shrill cries—

A face appeared in the small window, with angles chiseled from gray stone and eyes the bright yellow of a citrine. He assessed Tameka in equal measure before hissing in her face, revealing elongated canines.

She recoiled an entire step back, and he dismissed his interest in her by marching for the emergency exit.

“Get back from the door,” Rayne ordered, her bright blue eyes clear once more. “You’re right. They want us afraid.” She faced the class of frightened students and one confounded teacher, who looked more convinced with every passing minute.

When Rayne took a steadying breath, Tameka knew she’d donned the leadership hat. Rayne addressed the class, “You will survive this. Tameka and I will see to it, but you have to listen to everything we say.”

Dr. Jones glanced back at the broken windows, muttering, “The entire school knows you’re involved in something, Rayne. No one fights the way you do at such a young age without excellent cause. Is this it?” She turned and met Rayne’s eyes. “Is this what you’ve been preparing for?”

Rayne and Tameka shared a glance before nodding simultaneously.

Dr. Jones shored herself and joined the students in the center of the room. “Then we’ll listen.”

The nod from Rayne gave Tameka the floor. She took out her cell phone, saying, “Try calling anyone for help—Yes, I know we aren’t allowed to have our phones, but maybe they’ll save our lives today. So everyone, call.” She tried her parents first—

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No dial tone.

No signal.

Tameka tried to move around the classroom, searching for a signal, and almost ran into Lynn, who was doing the same. Her dark brown eyes were grim as she shook her head.

“I got nothing.”

“Same.”

“Me, too. No signal.”

All the students with cell phones agreed, there was nothing.

Another scream tore through the hall, closer, followed by gurgling wet sounds—

“Rayne, what’re you doing?” Dr. Jones stayed with the students, calling after the martyr.

She was scouting the broken window with half her head in the sunlight.

Tameka ran over, chiding, “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Those things might eat you—”

“They’re gone.” Rayne hopped out of the window. “I think they meant for those monsters to scare everyone into the hallways.” She explained to the huddle of classmates, “The aliens can’t go into the sunlight. They’re like vampires. You’ll be safe outside, but just in case those things are guarding the perimeter, wait for us at the football field.”

Dr. Jones glanced at her charges before asking, “What about you two?”

Tameka looked toward the door where the Icarus had glared at her. “We have work to do.”

Lynn held up a hand, saying, “One minute.” She opened the nearest cabinet and grabbed some gauze, wound packing, and antiseptic. “Like Chris showed us. You two might need this out there.”

Rayne clasped Lynn’s shoulder. “Great thinking. Actually, we could use some volunteers to stay in the Med Lab in case we send anyone needing medical help. You can tell the survivors to hide at the football field.”

“I’m your girl.” Lynn stomped on a table leg at the joint, breaking it off. She inspected the sharp shiv before flipping it in her hand. “Nineteen years of survival training might finally come in handy.”

Of all the times for Rayne to smile, of course it was amid the apocalypse.

Tameka raised her brows, impressed. So the Progeny weren’t the only ones with a doomsday plan. Setting that story aside for later, she said, “You’ll need someone to stay with you.”

Pablo licked his lips nervously, fight or flight warring in his warm brown eyes. He looked ready to haul his ass through that window to the football field, but also like he needed a nudge to volunteer and help Lynn.

Tameka gave him that nudge. “Pablo, do you think you can handle this?”

He glanced from Tameka to Lynn, and wet his lips before nodding anxiously. “I want to help.”

Rayne beamed. “Good. Make do with what you can.”

Lynn gave him a considering look, but shrugged with her arms full of supplies. “C’mon. We need wound packing.”

Pablo’s rich brown complexion paled, but he did as she’d asked.

Tameka kept her eyes on the window in the door as she muttered to Rayne, “We need to get to our caches.”

“You’re right, but what about the Icarus outside?”

With a crack of her knuckles and a stretch to loosen the tension in her neck, Tameka said, “Leave it to me.”

A chorus of screams from the hall prompted Dr. Jones to say, “This is impossible. You can’t expect me to let my students defend this class from an alien invasion.”

As Rayne cleared the tables from the door, Tameka snatched two giant bottles of peroxide out of Pablo’s arms and loaded them into her messenger bag. “Watch me.” She tested the swing of the heavy parcel. Ready or not.

At Tameka’s nod, Rayne opened the door and stepped out, calling, “Hey, lemon eyes. Looking for me?”

It was a risk using Rayne as bait, but Tameka trusted Xelan’s training. Sure enough, Rayne darted inside, and Tameka wound up the bag as the soldier’s heavy boots ran closer. She timed it just right and swung the improvised weapon into the Icarean warrior’s face.

He stumbled back into the hallway with a snarl as Dr. Jones and the class drew in a collective gasp.

Rayne went to work with a solid roundhouse kick to the Icarus’ diaphragm.

While he was unsteady, Tameka didn’t waste time and swung to take out his knees.

“Lynn!” Rayne called.

Their friend tossed her the makeshift stake, and Rayne stabbed up through his ribcage into his chest until he fell still.

Pablo breathed, “Just like a vampire.”

Tameka stared at the cerulean blood welling around the puncture site. “Well, not exactly. Their brains and hearts are switched from ours, but most everything else checks out.”

“Come on, class. Let’s get to the football field.” Dr. Jones led her charges to the window, peered out, and gave a boost to the first student.

Tameka glanced at Rayne, who nodded her approval. This was a nightmare, but at least they’d saved a few students today. Tameka knelt and helped Rayne search the Icarus’ cloak and pants for anything useful.

Pablo and Lynn helped Dr. Jones out of the classroom. She spared one last glance at Rayne and Tameka. “Are you sure you’re prepared for this?”

Honestly, Tameka didn’t know. All this time, Xelan told them the Icari couldn’t withstand the radiation from their sun during the day. While she’d stashed weapons in her locker, Tameka had never truly expected the invasion to happen at school.

But there was something about Rayne—a shift in her behavior since the invasion started.

Purpose.

There was almost an eagerness to her which left Tameka unnerved.

With that fervor gleaming in her eyes, Rayne said, “We’re ready.”

Tameka supposed they’d need to be, or this was the end of everything. “Rayne, are you—”

A deafening roar thundered through the building and rocked Tameka unsteady. Horrific shrills followed the disruption. Structural debris—glass, beams, ceiling panels, duct work, cinder blocks—spattered and echoed from deeper within the school. An acrid smell filled the air.

Tameka and Rayne steadied each other. Pablo hit the floor, tangled in a pile of gauze. Lynn ducked under a lab table, as one should during an explosion.

An explosion.

It went off in South Hall. Goosebumps rose along Tameka’s skin, her heart pounded in her chest, and the adrenaline unfocused her eyesight for a few seconds. The invasion was really happening, people they knew were dying, and Xelan wasn’t around to help them.

For one heartbeat, Tameka allowed herself to feel the fear. To experience trauma in the making. She muttered, “What do we do?”

Rayne unsheathed a sword from the Icarus’ gear and gazed at the Pretiosum Cruor emblem on the pommel. With enough confidence for the both of them, she said, “We send them back to Cinder.”

Get to the weapons caches.

Find Sagan and Kyle.

Stop the invasion.

Tameka’s faith was restored. “We got this.”