Rush The Game

. . . the Soviets launched Sputnik, and that drove the race to the moon. . . .”
    “Are you saying the Drau are like humans?” Jackson asks, and there’s something in his voice that makes me think my answer is enormously important.
    “I don’t know. I don’t know much about the Drau.” I give him a look that says, And whose fault is that? “I think some people are predatory. Some people are competitive.” I pause. “And some people are just secretive, uninformative, reticent—”
    “—assholes,” Jackson finishes for me with a tight smile. “Got it. Let’s go.” He heads off down the tunnel.
    Tyrone’s brows shoot up. Luka looks back and forth between Jackson and me, his jaw slack. I shrug and start walking. I can’t explain Jackson’s actions any better than they can, and trying to figure him out just makes my brain hurt. On the one hand, I feel like he’s trying to let me get to know him a little. On the other, I feel like he’s put up this solid metal wall between us that even a tank couldn’t break through.
    Tyrone moves ahead, with Luka and me bringing up the rear.
    “Luka, what happens to the Drau after we fire our weapons? I mean, they’re there and then they’re gone, and I have this horrible thought that it’s like the amoebas we learned about in bio. That the Drau get engulfed and digested by the black stuff.”
    He glances at me, his expression somber. “I’m sorry, Miki. I don’t know what happens to them. But I’ve had similar thoughts to yours.” He pauses, looking faintly ill. “So I try not to think about it.”
    Before I can say anything else, Jackson holds up a hand to halt our progress. “Weapons.”
    I pull mine out, my adrenaline rush so forceful it actually makes my head spin. I would have thought it would start to get easier. But it doesn’t; it isn’t. I’m still terrified. Jackson grabs my arm and hauls me back so we’re side by side against the tunnel’s wall. Tyrone and Luka fall back on the opposite side. My entire body feels like it’s a spring compressed until it’s ready to explode. We wait in tense silence, each second an eternity.
    I get this weird feeling in my gut, telling me to close my eyes a millisecond before Jackson orders, “Close your eyes.”
    The light that explodes in front of me is so bright it pierces my closed lids and feels like it’s burning clear through my eyelids and pupils to my retinas.
    My gut clenches and I’m already dropping to the ground when Jackson barks, “Down.” His hand is on my shoulder, a light pressure silently telling me to stay down.
    “Now,” Jackson says.
    Cracking my lids, I squint and see the shapes of two aliens coming at me from far down the now-bright tunnel. They’re fast and fluid, bright white, their skin like glass, their features almost human. Jackson’s already on his feet, in front of me and a little to my right. I come up on my knees and aim. Inhale. On the exhale, I force my will into the cylinder and feel gratified when it releases its greasy, powerful surge.
    But life’s not that easy. The two aliens veer apart, and my shot misses completely. They’re faster than the last two. Not so easy to take down.
    Luka said there were sentinels, specialists, leaders, commanders. What are these? What were the ones we encountered earlier? How can I tell?
    I push to my feet, familiar kendo patterns taking hold. Okuri-ashi : basic stance. Zenshin kotai : forward backward. Hiraki-ashi : pivot. I need to make sure I’m not where I was a second ago, because if I am, their shots will get me. I’m quick and sure as I evade them because I’ve defended myself in practice and competition so many times I don’t even need to think. Terror only makes me faster.
    Two more come at us, and from an offshoot tunnel, at least three more. I lose count. All I know is pivot, aim, shoot. The metal of my weapon cylinder is icy cold in my hand. My arm jerks from each recoil, but I force it to hold steady. Kendo’s trained me to bear up under the strain. There’s no time to think, to plan. There’s only me, or them.
    I don’t look in their eyes. But that doesn’t keep me safe from their weapons. More than once, I feel the acid burn of thousands of needle points of light digging deep. I drop, roll, fire, evade, push to my feet and fire again. I don’t allow myself to process my fear. I just move. But on some level, I sense something off. They’re definitely faster than the two we encountered earlier,