Blink. There was the dog—more or less true—with shark-like teeth and a bloody mouth. Blink. An alien dog. Blink. Though I’d seen the carnage from them, I almost thought they weren’t real. None had been wandering around in the streets, the screaming had stopped from how it sounded earlier. Blink. But here it was, right in front of me. Lunging at me, and there was no time to think.

Its massive paws landed on my chest and pushed me down, causing me to yelp as my ankle took on my weight. I hit the pavement hard, the crushing weight of the animal settling on top of me. The baseball bat slipped from my hand as I reached up and tried to push the massive creature away. My fingers slipped through the warm, wet mat of hair, and I nearly gagged at the idea of what it could be. Cassian was screaming beside me, a loud, bone-chilling sound, but it was nearly drown out by the panting of the dog over me. Its snout was near my face, its hot breath like a wave over my nose, a low growl coming from the depths of its throat.

But while its weight crushed me, its jaws never opened; it never tried to bite me.

The dog threw its head back and let out one lone howl, almost like a clicking, mechanical sound. With my heart pounding in my throat, I almost couldn’t understand what it was doing—my mental process was shunted by the fact that I literally had an alien dog with a bloody mouth practically sitting on top of me. But then I realized that its howl was it throwing out a signal. I found her.

“Get off!” I yelled at it, shoving at its neck, but it didn’t move an inch. Its nails dug into my shoulders, tearing the fabric there, and sparks of pain lit up on my skin. Panic started to claw at my throat just imagining those four aliens turning around, coming back to Fletching, finding me, finding Cassian… “Cassian, you have to—”

Suddenly, the bat that had fallen from my grasp came down over the top of the creature’s head, eliciting a sharp yelp from the dog and a loud ding from the bat. The crushing weight disappeared from my chest as the dog fell off to the side, its legs stumbling to keep itself upright. “Jojo!” a voice gasped, and two arms grabbed ahold of mine. “We have to move!”

“Wait—Kelsey?” I blinked at the fiery hair of my friend, taking in her appearance. She, too, was wearing her server uniform, but hers was far less dirty than mine—she hadn’t had garbage smeared all over her. Her hair, though, had come undone from its bun and hung wildly in her face. “What are you—”

“Not now,” she said, shaking her head, and handing me the bat. She looked frantic herself, drawing in breath after shallow breath to try and speak normal. “Those things are like machines—they won’t stop until their in pieces. I...I know.“

I glanced back at the demon dog, who was stumbling in a circle around in the roadway, as if malfunctioning. My own chest heaved as my breath came in short gasps, everything in me trembling. Both of my shoulders ached from where its nails had dug in. We were too close to that thing for comfort. “Beck’s place. We need to get to the apartment.”

Cassian grabbed ahold of my hand, eyes never leaving the dog. “I thought you were dead for sure.”

Me too, I thought with an almost disarming wave of panic crashed through me. I was shaking, trembling like I’d been plunged in a bath of ice water, unable to think straight. “It’s this way,” I told them both, surprised at how even my voice truly sounded. I glanced towards my friend, who walked with her hands pressed to her chest. “Kelsey, how did you get inside the dome?”

“I was already inside,” she told me, keeping close at my heels. I saw that her expression resembled something of shock; wide, vacant eyes, pale face, tense lips. “I was on my way to work. My shift didn’t start til four—I-I should’ve dragged my feet a little bit l-longer, I guess.”

I felt the same way. If only I’d dragged my feet a little longer. If only I’d told Mrs. Michaels that I couldn’t babysit. I could've been at home with Beck right now. If only I'd dragged my feet, just a little bit, so we'd be on the other side of the dome. I'd be with him. He'd tell me everything would be okay. Take care of me. It was something he always did best. And sure, I never needed him to take care of me. I was so not a damsel in distress, a princess needing saving. That wasn't me. I was a survivor. But with him, I could be vulnerable. I could let my guard down. He made me feel safe. If only none of this had never happened. If only, if only.

My eyes fell to the boy that stood clutching my right hand, gripping my fingers as if he were trying to break the bones. No, I was exactly where I needed to be, as much as I hated it. I just wished I hadn't shoved Beck away at the last second. Yeah, I would never stop kicking myself for that.

A punching relief nearly made my knees give out. “It’s that apartment building up there—with the dormers.”

The memory of last night came over me—it felt like so long ago. Us together watching Criminal Minds on TV. Me complaining about the heat. Beck’s mouth on mine, his hands skimming their way up my thighs, the amount of love in that apartment reaching its peak. It seemed like so long ago. A different world. I’d felt that way before, back when I found out about Beck’s secret. I remember thinking about how things were so different, but there was no going back. I could never go back.

This moment in time felt starkly different from last night, but it left me with a chilling thought. Could we ever go back?

My mind ached as I thought about what the Luyians’ plan was supposed to be. Take humans from Earth back to their world to get them pregnant? To use them to get others pregnant? It felt like I was locked in a stupid scifi movie. Beck would never be a part of that. He would never advocate for that. Right?

“Thank God,” I heard Cassian say under his breath as we approached the front of the apartment complex, and his fingers fell from mine.

Kelsey pried the outer door open, and at the exact same time the door swung wide a demon dog emerged, teeth bared. It moved past Kelsey, who was half-hidden by the door, and locked onto Cassian. I swung the bat immediately, but the creature ducked underneath my swing. I saw its legs bend a little as it prepared to jump, but at the last minute, I kicked my leg out and clipped it in the head, the snapping sound almost sounding mechanical as its snout turned to the side. But my kick, which I’d hoped would be enough to stun it long enough so we could get inside, didn’t even keep the dog occupied for more than a second.

Its snout turned back towards me, and in a split second, it had its massive jaws around my leg. A crunching sound filled the air as red passed over my vision.

“You two are weird, you know that?”

My parents slipped their coats on, winding their scarfs around their throats. Their actions seemed to be in unison almost, their smiles stretching at the same time. “Your mother likes to listen to the rain on the roof of the car,” Dad said to me, voice soft. “She’s the weird one.”

“We’ll be back soon,” she assured me, reaching out and giving me a tight squeeze. A squeeze so tight that it crushed the breath from my lungs. I hugged her back, frowning a little. “I love you, Jonas.”

I gasped as the sharpness of pain increased, her palms against my back feeling as stiff as stone. “Mom.”

“Remember that, okay? Remember that I love you, Jonas. That we love you.”

Dad took a step forward, laying a hand on Mom’s shoulder. “It will be okay. It will all be okay.”

I gasped, loudly, shakingly, everything in me shuddering and shaking. “Mom.”

The dog was still latched onto my leg, and tore its head from side to side as if to rip it off. Strangely enough, I couldn’t feel it—all I could feel was the flat cold of the pavement underneath me. My eyes shifted to the blue sky.

At least Kelsey and Cassian got to the apartment building. They’d be safe. They’d be safe.

Almost as if out of my body, I watched as Cassian picked up the metal bat and began swinging. It made a hollow clanging noise several times, but he didn’t stop. His hair flung free of the ponytail I’d secured it into. I felt hands slip underneath my arms and pull me backwards. I didn’t feel the pavement bite at my exposed skin, but I knew it had to have. The pain at my shoulders had died down, almost completely numb.

I glanced down at my leg curiously, not sure if it was still there or not. But it was, and I shouldn’t have looked.

There was so. Much. Blood. And as I looked at my mangled leg, my brain seemed to realize that this was real—that the white poking out from around all the red and pink was actually bone, and the red was blood, and the pink was flesh—and the pain set in. It was nothing like my shoulders or my ankle. Nothing like breaking my wrist. I hadn’t cried or screamed when I broke my wrist, but this…this was not like that. It was fire, it was razor-sharp, it was acid-burning. It was everywhere.

I couldn’t help it when my head fell back against Kelsey. I couldn’t help but scream and scream and scream.