Rush The Game

help make certain that they don’t get the chance, then that’s what I’ll do. My grandfather taught me all about loyalty and bravery and honor. If Sofu were standing here right now, he would fight.
    A boy tears across the open space of the empty office and drops down to skid across the floor like he’s sliding into first base. A streak of light follows him, and I see the Drau’s weapon—fluid and jellylike, metallic, smooth, deadly. My own weapon is deadly, too, cold in my hand. I will it to fire. I shoot. I miss. The Drau’s attention shifts to me.
    Terror clawing at me, I aim, I fire—
    The Drau is pulled into the darkness.
    The boy who was running is on the floor at my feet now, panting, his black hair slicked to his skull, his expression grim. He doesn’t look at me. He doesn’t thank me for saving his life. He doesn’t need to. Any second now, the tables could turn and he could be the one saving me. He keeps his gaze on our surroundings, ready to take out any threat while he reaches down and feels for the fallen girl’s pulse. I don’t say anything, even though I could tell him there’s nothing to find. The way he came tearing in this direction, risking so much, tells me that this girl was part of his team. Maybe she was something more to him.
    Like Jackson is to me.
    I wonder again if he’s here somewhere. On another floor of this building, facing the wave of Drau.
    Or maybe his trade worked. Maybe the Committee set him free.
    I want to believe that because I don’t want him anywhere near this. I want him safe. I want him free.
    But he’s not. In my soul, I know it.
    He wouldn’t still be talking in my head if he were free.
    Beside me, the boy keeps his hand on the dead girl’s throat, like he believes that if he just waits long enough, her heart will start to beat again. Another streak of light comes at us. I surge to my feet, aim, shoot. Miss. Something big and solid flies toward me: a broken chunk of desk. It slams against my leg. Pain blossoms, a poisonous flower.
    I gasp and stagger, my injured muscles betraying me.
    The Drau keeps coming. I bolt forward with a kiai shout, taking my weight on my good leg, my gait lumbering and uneven. I’m firing and firing, the recoil slamming my shoulder like a sledgehammer, the force of my will sending black death at the Drau. It’s gone, but not before the points of light that spewed from its weapon lodge in my flesh, burning like acid. And not before I hear its tortured scream.
    Biting back a groan, I lurch away and sink back to the ground, grateful for the wall at my back protecting me and offering support.
    That’s when I notice the quiet. I can hear my own panting breaths, melding with those around me.
    My team is close enough that I can call to them. My team. Like I’m some sort of leader. I remember all the times Jackson told me he didn’t want me to be a team player. No. Of course not. He needed me to be a team leader. The thought makes me want to laugh like I did that day on the driveway with Luka. Instead, I focus on what needs to get done. I need to know how many Drau are left on this floor, and how many humans.
    “Luka. Tyrone.” When they look my way, I jerk my head to the left. “Recon.” They move off in that direction.
    “Kendra. Lien.” I jerk my head to the right, sending them to scout on the far side of the wall.
    I push to my feet so I can offer cover to both pairs as they check to see if the floor’s clear. My thigh screams in agony. I glance down. No blood. That’ll have to do for now. Beside me, the boy with the black hair, the one I saved earlier, struggles to stand. His face is streaked with sweat, or maybe tears. But his features are set with determination. He moves to stand at my side, so we’re two instead of one, strangers united by a common foe, a common goal.
    “This floor’s clear,” Tyrone says as he and Luka return.
    A minute later, Kendra and Lien offer the same report.
    “We go up,” I say.
    “Which stairs?” Luka asks.
    “Were there stairs at that end of the corridor?”
    He nods.
    I glance at Lien. “And at the end you checked?”
    She nods as well.
    With the stairs we took to get here, that makes three sets.
    “We should split into teams and each take a set,” Luka says, his gaze sliding curiously to the silent boy at my side.
    “We should stay together,” Lien argues, reminding me of the caves and the way I said that to Jackson. I remember the way he acted, like he wanted me to figure