Override (Glitch)

created the otherworldly net to catch us, except this time it expanded outward. Before the orb could encompass the entire transport, a Regulator came from nowhere and leapt toward the still open door. Xona was reloading and couldn’t fire. Cole threw himself in front of her as red light exploded from the charging Reg’s laser weapon.
    The instant before it hit, Saminsa’s blue orb expanded and made a shield. The laser fire hit the barrier just an inch from Cole’s face and dissipated harmlessly, absorbed by the blue light. Xona stared up at Cole in disbelief as Rand slammed the back of the transport shut.
    “Go, Henk, get us out of here,” Tyryn said, looking out the window. “Two more armada ships are flying in from the north.”
    My muscles started shuddering again. I was on the edge of consciousness, darkness threatening to swoop in. Tyryn’s face was suddenly over mine. “We brought another epi infuser,” he said, pushing my hair back from my face.
    I felt a bite of fire in my chest. I jerked away from the hands holding me down as the blaze spread through my whole body. I wheezed and clutched my heart, and for the first time in who knows how many minutes, air whooshed through the small space that had opened in my throat and into my lungs.
    Tyryn helped me lean back. I gasped and finally got a full breath. The transport jarred beneath us as we launched off the ground.
    “There’s three of ’em now!” Henk shouted.
    I felt the momentum as our transport rose straight up into the air. Nausea and dizziness swarmed me, but I managed to keep my eyes open. As we lifted past the top of the buildings, I saw three fully loaded armada transports waiting in the air. They launched another volley of laser fire. The lasers rippled harmlessly into the blue orb still surrounding our vehicle.
    “This one’s disintegrating,” Saminsa yelled from where she stood in the center aisle.
    “Attack as soon as she releases it!” Henk said.
    City and Rand lined up shoulder to shoulder and lowered the long window running along the side of the transport. Air rushed in as soon as it was open.
    “Now!” Saminsa called, shifting her body forward. The blue orb expanded like a spherical wave outward. City sent a giant spiral of electricity in its wake. Right as the blue orb dissipated, City’s electricity circled around one of the attack transports, slowly weaving into a web. Sparks and explosions crackled through the air.
    Rand held out his arms too, and the air wavered like water as he sent out an intense wave of heat. The outer hull of the attack transport closest to us began to melt.
    Saminsa launched a small burning blue orb toward the third transport, and it hit with an explosion that rocked the whole thing backward. It toppled into the transport Rand was working on, sending them both spiraling into the buildings below. The next moment, the transport City attacked dropped from the air like a dead weight too.
    Bright explosions burst from below us where the transports had hit, but Henk already had us speeding toward the horizon before I could even get a good look.
    City closed the window, letting out a loud whoop. “Did you see that?”
    Ginni laughed and hugged her. Rand grinned and clapped Saminsa on the back. “That was amazing!”
    My mind was clearing a little now that the epi had taken effect. I pulled my tired body over to where Adrien was buckled in near the front of the transport.
    I hugged him hard, fat tears seeping out of my swollen eyes as I thought about General Taylor and how close we’d all come to suffering the same fate. “We’re safe.” I clung to his skinny frame. “We made it.”
    He didn’t hug me back.
    “Adrien?” I pulled away.
    That was when I finally looked into his eyes.
    And knew something was horribly wrong.
    His eyes had no vibrancy. Even the normal bright blue-green hue seemed leeched out of them.
    “Adrien?” Even though he was looking straight at me, I wasn’t sure he saw me at all.
    “Adrien?” My voice raised to a hysterical pitch. “Adrien, you’re scaring me.”
    He continued to stare ahead dumbly.
    I grabbed his hand and put it to my beating heart. “It’s Zoe, talk to me.”
    “Zoe,” he echoed, his voice hollow and lifeless. “Why didn’t you save me?”

Chapter 29
    ADRIEN SAT ON JILIA’S MED TABLE as she finished her diagnostic. His mother sat beside him, squeezing his hand. Deep brown circles ringed his eyes, and I couldn’t look away from the barely