Lena's body crumpled to the floor with a heavy thud, her dead eyes still staring wide as if even in death she couldn't quite believe what had just happened.

Hell, I didn't know what had just happened and from the stunned reaction of the Greys, nor did they. There was a silence, an awful, deafening silence where time seemed to freeze and then they all screamed in unison – high-pitched, terrifying and full of incandescent fury. High above, the orbs shook and pulsated like living organs and the network of tributaries that ran across their surface burned brighter than ever.

'Move,' shouted Tom, fighting to be heard above the screeching noise of the Greys.

The whole group mobilised, all withdrawing guns and weapons they had concealed under their clothing and firing off shots at any creatures closest to them, ripping apart flesh and spraying blood.

They were all armed. Every single one.

My mind raced with the magnitude of what that meant.

Tom had known they were armed. He'd lied to Lena. Betrayed her.

This whole thing had been a charade. An act.

And yet, I knew that what Lena had said was the truth. I knew what he was, and I knew what I was. So, why all of this? Why the pretence? None of it made any sense. Had he lied to the group about us? Did they know of our connection previous to Tom and Evie?

My head swam with it all, but I had no choice but to cast it all aside as the Greys began to swarm down the walls of the cavernous chamber towards us. I stared wide-eyed at them all with a fast-growing dread. Together with Levi's group, there was a fair number of us, but it was nothing in the face of them.

A Grey scuttled down the wall and launched itself at us and Tom deftly fired off a shot, catching the creature directly in the throat. It tumbled to the floor in a mess of flailing arms and legs, allowing Tom to get close enough to use his knife, which he did with a grunt of effort, plunging the blade into its skull.

'Here,' he said, pulling me close and handing me another pistol and I stared at it in my hand, like he'd just given me a scorpion. What the Hell was he doing? What was this? I was starting to feel like I understood Lena's death mask completely.

'What the...'

Tom stared into my eyes for the briefest of moments. 'I'll explain everything, I will, but first, I have to get you up there.' He pointed upwards to the orbs. 'I need you to disable the Hive's conduit.'

'The what?'

A Grey came screeching through the air, a spider jumping to attack and we both turned at once, firing at it and it hurtled to the floor mid-flight, twisting and thrashing as blood pumped from its chest.

The air was thick with the acrid stench of gunfire and blood, and with the sound of piercing insectoid screams and shouts of the group as they fought to hold their position and keep the Greys at bay.

One managed to get too close and it reached out with one strong, spindly arm and grabbed at Mali's leg, the girl from Levi's group, yanking her off her feet and dragging her across the floor like a doll, as she desperately kicked and struggled against it. With a speed that belied his size, Levi ran after his crew mate and her assailant, firing off a lucky shot that hit the creature square in the shoulder, only resulting in it releasing Mali and turning on Levi himself.

The big man lay on his back, scrambling backwards as the Grey advanced on him, spewing thick dark blood from its wound, but it was so fixated on Levi that it didn't spot Taj sweeping in from the left until it was too late. Point blank range, Taj pulled the trigger and the creature slumped lifeless to the floor. Pulling Levi up, they continued in battle, side by side.

The white noise rushed into my head again, relentlessly, and I felt something pulling at me – pulling inside of me. I looked up at the bristling orbs, their brilliance dazzling me. Whatever I was experiencing, it was somehow connected to them, but I still had no idea what. All I knew that whatever I felt so keenly then, was not my emotions, but theirs. The thundering rush of emotions of the Greys almost floored me – anger, pain and fear.

God, so much fear.

It seemed to ripple through me, wave after wave, and my legs weakened. Muscle and bone crumpled like crepe paper and I stumbled, feeling the frantic pounding of my heart and the adrenalin speeding through my veins.

'Evie!' Tom said, catching hold of me. I could feel his arms around my waist, his body against mine and I wanted to recoil from it. From him.

'Eve,' he said again, as my strength slowly began to seep back in and I pushed against him, struggling to break free of his hold. 'Eve, please.'

'You betrayed me. You betrayed us all.' I gasped, looking over his shoulder and seeing the Grey crawling fast towards him, its thin cruel mouth open-wide, believing it had cornered its prey. Without thinking, I raised my arm and fired. Once. Twice. The second bullet tore into its face and brought it to a stop instantly, half its head mutilated by the shot.

Why had I done that? Why had I defended him?

He was the reason my parents had died. He was the reason I had run for so very long. He was the reason I had become too much like them. Taking and killing just to survive.

You're more like us than you care to admit.

Momentarily stunned by my action, Tom hesitated, and I took the chance to try and get away from him, only for him to grab at me before I could get out of reach. Clutching a handful of my shirt, he tugged me back and I tried to push against him, but he just held on tighter.

'Evie, listen to me,' he said, his eyes pleading. 'I lied to you, yes. But I swear I never betrayed you. I needed to get you here and I knew if I told you the truth, you would run.'

'You could have tried,' I said, through gritted teeth, firing off another shot as a Grey advanced from the shadows. 'You could have fucking tried.'

'You think I haven't before?' he shouted above the noise, twisting his body to shoot a creature that was about to jump and having to move out of the way quickly as its body tumbled between us, until I was on one side and he the other.

I grabbed at the knife in his hand which was still sticky and wet with Lena's blood and forced it into the Grey's throat, relishing the resistance of its flesh and pushing it in deeper until the monster was still.

'What the Hell are you talking about?' I screamed at him.

'Your last life,' he said, staring at the knife in my hand. 'I tried. I tried to speak to you. But then you tried to kill me and left me for dead, and then you ran. You always run, Evie. You've been running for fifty years.'

A shot rang out close by – too close – and the rush of air had me spinning around to see a Grey drop dead near to where I was standing.

Jace expelled his empty cartridge and replaced it. 'If you guys could have this marital tiff later, that would be great.' He grinned, looking ever so slightly mad with the blood running down the side of his face. 'Tom, any news on the charges because I'm getting a bit claustrophobic with all your friends in here?'

'Any time...' Tom started, when the whole chamber began to shake, almost knocking us off our feet.

A series of explosions resounded from somewhere within the craft, each one making the whole place tremble and judder. The Greys hissed and screeched at the force of the blasts and a large number of them began streaming from the chamber, fleeing god knows where. The ones that were left behind seemed disorientated, gathering in groups, their advances wary and slower as they spat and hissed.

'What is it?' I asked. 'What's happening?'

The whole ship was still juddering as mini explosions followed, shaking the floor beneath my feet.

'I set charges to go off in other areas of the ship,' Tom said, eyeing the rest of the Greys left behind. 'They've gone to deal with it. They're panicking. They Hive has never had a ship attacked before, especially not from the inside and definitely not instigated by one of their own. They have no idea what to do, but they'll work it out fast. We don't have much time.'

'You heard the man, Lara, go do your thing.' Jace urged, gesturing to the orbs above our heads.

My thing? What was he talking about?

Tom grabbed my hand. Instinctively, I yanked it free, staring wildly at him. How could he even think to touch me? How could he even pretend that nothing had changed?

'Evie, please,' he said. 'I know you have no reason to trust me now, but I swear to you this isn't a trick. You're the only one who can do this.'

'Do what?' I snapped. 'What is this thing you're expecting me to do?'

'Up there, above the orbs is the conduit,' he said, gesturing upwards. 'There's one on every ship. It allows the Hive to stay connected to us all when we're far from home. Hack into the conduit and you can sever the connection. You can end this.'

'Hack into it? Christ, I'm not a tech wizard. I can barely work an iPad.'

He shook his head, his dark curls tumbling onto his forehead. 'It's not a computer. It's a living, breathing thing. Look, you'll see when we get up there, but it has to be you. I should know. You're the reason I spent fifty years on this planet hunting hybrids.'

I'm a hair-line fracture.

'You're the key, Eve. Please.'

'They're coming again!' Abby screamed out and I whipped my head round to see the Greys streaming down the walls again, breaking off into smaller groups so they could attack us from all sides.

I'm a hair-line fucking fracture.

I was. I knew it to be the truth. As much as I hated the idea of putting any faith in what he said, I knew what I really was. I remembered it all. I wasn't Evie Morgan. I was the child of a Grey and a human and I was a threat to the Hive.

I turned back to Tom. 'How do we do this?'

He grinned, but, this time, didn't reach for my hand. 'Quick, this way,' he said, moving over to the wall of the chamber. I noticed how the group moved back with us, forming a barrier between us and the Greys, picking off any that got too close. The faint smell of burning was drifting through the doorway now and I wondered just how near the explosions were and how much time we had.

'Come on.' Tom placed his foot onto the wall, and reached up, grabbing hold of a small outcrop on the surface, pulling himself up until he was off the floor.

I stared at him in disbelief. 'Please tell me you don't expect me to climb up there?'

'It's the only way, unless you've discovered how to fly?'

A Grey came screeching along the wall, its inky black eyes glinting with hatred and glee as it drew closer, only for it to take a direct hit to the chest from Levi who eyeballed me as the Grey fell to the floor.

'What in the Lord's name are you waiting for, Evie my girl, get your arse up there now before these ugly face-kissers turn us all into nothing but a damn memory.'

Tom, who'd made remarkable progress already, looked down at me. 'Eve, you can do this, I swear you can! You're half-Grey. You can climb. You've done it before.'

He was right. I had done it before.

I remembered climbing the stairs on all fours at home when I was a kid. Crawling up actual walls for the first time like Spider-Man and my father forbidding me to ever do it again, shouting at me with a fear in his eyes that I didn't understand. I remembered vaulting the fence in the alleyway, attempting to escape the fake General who'd ordered my mother's death and who was desperate for mine also. I remembered so many times after that, thrust back into similar situations with the same monster, always running, always using these strange abilities to escape and always recalling the fear in my father's eyes, every time I did.

Run, the Devil said. Run now.

Taking a deep breath, and barely able to comprehend what I was doing, I lifted my leg, placing my foot on a ridge running along the wall and reached up to find a hold. Gripping the outcrop, I used the power in my arms to pull myself up, expecting to instantly lose my hold on the strangely slick surface, and instead I soon realised I really could climb.

Spurred on by this discovery, and the sight of the Greys creeping ever closer, I began to match Tom's speed, moving up the wall until the floor seemed so far below us. Another explosion rocked the chamber, and I lost my grip, just about managing to grab hold of the wall before I plummeted.

'Just how many bloody charges did you set?' I said to him, trying to catch my breath. 'Should I expect any more surprises?'

'Think of me as a never-ending surprise,' he replied, 'and you won't ever be caught off-guard.'

I shot him a sidelong glance as I continued to climb. 'No offence, but I'm not sure surprise is the word I'd use to describe you. Surprises are meant to be pleasant and fun. You're sadly neither of the two.'

'Well, at least I'm never predictable.' He frowned, before glancing over my shoulder, his scowl deepening. 'Against the wall, now!' Clutching onto the wall with one arm, he swung his other out, holding onto his handgun and pulled the trigger.

I shrank back with a shriek as the Grey that had been creeping down almost took me with it when the bullet exploded into its chest and it fell free of the wall, its hand outstretched as if trying to grab me as it tumbled to the floor of the chamber.

Far below, the battle still raged, the shouts and screams of Jace and the others, the thunderous burst of gunfire, the screeching of the creatures as they kept up their constant volley of attack.

I looked up.

Not far to go.

'Hate to break it to you,' I said, as I picked up my pace, soon passing Tom. 'But you were clearly always predictable.'

'Oh yeah?' He sounded irritated, like he was trying to force the words out between his teeth. 'How do you work that one out?'

'Easy,' I called down to him. 'You'd have caught me long before now.' I grinned humourlessly to myself as I climbed, pleased at the way he was glowering and muttering under his breath.

Up here close to the top of the chamber, the strange stalactite formations hung down from the ceiling, jutting out in varying shapes and sizes. They were so closely packed together, that it was impossible to see how we'd be able to navigate our way through them.

'Onto the first orb,' Tom said, moving close to my side before reaching out and clinging on to one of the outcrops, using one leg to propel himself over and dropping down onto the top of the huge orb. I followed his moves, dropping down into his waiting arms. He tightened his grip, pulling me against him.

'I've caught you now,' he said, gruffly, his eyes drifting over my face, the touch of them on my skin sending a whisper of goosebumps up the back of my neck. 'You always said I was good at playing the long game.'

I swallowed, my gaze coveting his face – the face I knew she loved still, and the face I wished I could hate. 'Evie said that. I didn't.'

A tinge of something close to hurt flickered in his expression, and his cheek muscles twitched lightly as if he was biting the inside of his mouth like he always did whenever he was troubled by something.

Not him. Tom. Like Tom always did.

Underneath our feet, the orb tremored, and I broke free from his hold to look closer at the surface, crouching down to touch a hand to it.

'Oh my god,' I gasped, as I felt it pulsing under my palm. I pressed both hands to it, the sensation vibrating over my skin, and up my arms. It really did feel alive, and I was sure that if I rested my head onto it, I would be able to hear it breathing. In fact, the urge to do just that was so strong, I could barely stop myself.

In and out. In and out.

'What is that?' I whispered. 'What the Hell is that?'

'It's the Hive,' Tom said, his voice almost reverent with awe. 'Your body – the Grey in you – is trying to make a connection. It's what we all yearn for. It's what it makes us yearn for.'

'It's so... so...' I strived to find the right word, but nothing even felt like it could come close to what I was feeling then. 'Overwhelming,' I finally said, knowing that fell so short of the mark.

'I know.' He tugged me to my feet. 'Come on, we need to get up to the top.'

A scream tore through the air – a human scream – and I looked down, holding onto Tom to stop myself from slipping off the edge, desperately searching for the source. More screams rang out, full of terror and I watched as Iza was dragged by two Greys out through the entrance to the chamber, disappearing into the darkness beyond.

'They got Iza!' I gasped in horror as Gav screamed her name, firing off shots and giving chase, following them out the doorway and fading from view. 'Oh god, Gav, no!' I tugged away from Tom, and tried to jump back across, but he held onto me tight, as I wriggled to break free.

'Stop!' he croaked. 'Stop it, Evie!'

'I have to do something,' I said, pummelling at his arms with my fists. 'I have to help them. They're my friends. They need me. Let me go!' Panic rampaged through me. Panic. Fear. Guilt. I'd brought them here; this was my fault and I had to fix it. 'I have to do something, damn it.'

'Listen to me,' he shouted, taking my face in his hands and forcing me to focus. 'Eve, listen to me. You can't help them now, okay? They chose this, don't you get it? I told them everything. Everything. They could have turned their backs on you to save their own skin. I gave them that choice. I told them that I could get them off the ship to safety or they could help you and they chose you, Evie. You.'

The sob built in my throat, hard and sharp. 'Then they shouldn't have done. I lied to them. I betrayed them. They should despise me just as much as they despise the Greys. As much as they should despise you.'

Tom pulled back, a flicker of darkness passing across his features. 'You hate me. I understand. This whole thing must seem like insanity. I have given you zero reason to trust me.'

'Zero?' I scoffed. God, it hurt. My father had been lost in my head for so long, and yet it still hurt.

Tom swallowed hard. 'There is nothing more I want than to tell you everything. There is nothing more I want than to have you trust me. But right now, you just need to trust yourself. Trust in Evie.'

'I am not Evie.'

'You are. Don't you see? She is you. You are her. She gave you everything. If you give up now and let yourself believe you are like them, you betray everything she gave you.'

'You said I was like them.'

He looked pained then, his eyes widening. 'I never meant any of that. It was a show, nothing more, I swear it.'

I rolled my eyes scornfully. 'I feel like everything you do, everything you've ever done is just for show. What about you is actually real? Do you even know?'

His shoulders dropped, a sudden exhaustion dragging him down. When he looked at me, I wanted to look away. I was desperate not to be caught in the weight of his gaze and be pulled down with him. It was too much. He was too much.

'I know what's real,' he said, his gaze shifting sharply to something behind me.

A violent hissing erupted behind me. I turned quickly, seeing the Grey slink out from between the stalactites, moving quickly across the ceiling towards us. It eyed us with pure hostility, its movements predatory and terrifying.

'Evie... go... now!' Tom whispered in my ear, manoeuvring himself so he was in front.

I scanned the ceiling, seeing more dark eyes glinting at me, more Greys creeping through the rock-like structures, getting closer and closer.

'Fuck,' I said, as Tom pulled the trigger on the one closest to us before it could make the jump, and it feel screeching to the bottom of the chamber. The others began to move closer, clinging deftly to the ceiling.

I raised my arm and shot another, it's high-pitched pained shrieks making me wince as it too tumbled to the floor below.

'You have to go now,' Tom urged, firing again. 'I'll keep them back.'

'But...'

'Go, Evie! I've got this.'

Without another word, I turned and ran across the surface of the orb, and with a silent prayer to whoever might be listening, I leapt into the air, grabbing onto one of the thick, fibrous membranes that connects the orbs. It felt tough and gristly to touch, a sensation that made me feel slightly nauseous, but I gritted my teeth and began to climb, reaching the next orb with ease. This one was slightly smaller than the last, and harder to navigate, but I dug my fingers into the oily, paper-thin flesh and reached the top in no time.

I glanced back down, feeling torn as I watched Tom below. I shouldn't have felt the need to go back and help him. It felt like a betrayal to my parents and to every life I'd claimed in my efforts to get away from the Grey that had haunted me for so long. And yet, I did, and I hated myself for it.

I hated him. Didn't I?

'Fuck,' I hissed under my breath, staring up into the last remaining orbs. He was right. I had to do this. I hadn't come this far to give up, even though the thought of what was up there scared the shit out of me. It was a living, breathing thing, Tom had said. What the Hell did that even mean?

I did my best to bury all the horrible, nightmarish images my imagination was throwing at me, counted to three and climbed to the next orb, crying out as the chamber juddered violently again, almost making me lose my footing. Everything shook around me, like I was in the middle of an earthquake that was going to rip the craft apart and send it flying up into the eye of a monstrous tornado.

'Shit, shit,' I gasped, as my foot did slip, almost sending me crashing back down, but I held as steady as I could, trying to balance. With a grunt of effort that made my muscles shriek, I managed to grab hold of the next fibrous tendon, scrambling up as quickly as I could to the next orb.

As I carefully climbed to my feet, my mouth dropped open at what lay before me.

At the top of the network, the orbs formed a full circle of pulsating spheres, all connected by the strange, gristly material, only here it was more concentrated, seemingly made of layer upon layer of stringy membrane, which had the appearance of thickened scar tissue. It criss-crossed between the orbs, back and forth in an intricate design that reminded me of a spider's web, and, in the centre, was, what could only be the conduit that Tom had said was here.

He'd been right to describe the conduit as a living, breathing thing, but it was a living, breathing thing like nothing I had ever seen.

The conduit was vaguely humanoid in appearance, it's elongated face resembling a Grey, but it was there any likeness ended. It had eight limbs, long, segmented appendages that stretched out on both sides of its bulbous body and from the end of each limb, the fibrous tissue connected the conduit to the orbs. I realised then just why the orbs pulsated the way they did. This whole thing – the orbs, the web-like connectors, the conduit itself – was all one sentient being, a creature installed here to amplify the Hive's connection with the entire Grey species, while on Earth. It might have looked like some horrific genetic experiment gone wrong, but it was alive and powerful... god, so powerful.

I could feel it then, like nothing I'd ever felt in my entire existence.

Except... for back then. After my parents had died. I'd felt something close to this, when I'd somehow connected to what I know realised had been the Hive. I'd seen the orbs, I'd known something else was up here... something that knew I was here too, just as it knew now.

I stared, wide-eyed with growing horror, as the conduit's head turned ever so slightly, tugging on the tendons that stretched out from the back of its skull. Its huge, inky black eyes surveyed me, strangely not with the malice I had expected, but with interest and something that made me want to take a step closer. What the Hell was that? Its Grey-like mouth – that awful, thin lipless mouth – opened and shut, opened and shut, as if it wanted to speak, and yet no sound would come out.

Both mesmerised and appalled, I was overwhelmed by this urge to run and yet yearned to get closer. The pull was strong and tempting, but I knew I had to work out what I was meant to do. Tom had told me to sever the connection, but how did I even go about doing that when I had no idea where to start? I looked everywhere for a sign, something that would show me how I could do this thing that apparently only a hybrid could do, and I could see nothing. Nothing at all. Just this strange, terrifying creature caught in a web.

The despair crept into my chest, cold and unyielding.

The chamber quaked again, and screams filled the air, ballooning upwards. Thinking I heard Tom cry out in pain, I turned abruptly, only succeeding in losing my footing and I slipped, tumbling down from the orb, desperately trying to grab hold of something and landing in a heap on the edge of the membrane web.

On my back, I tried to scramble up, but a hand grasped mine – or at least, what felt like a hand.

The conduit's long, thin digits were curled around my own. There were just three on the end of each limb and as its fingers touched mine, white noise rushed into my ears, raced through my veins, filling me completely. The relentless sound buzzed inside my head, like static inside my skull and I found myself frozen in place, my head turning to one side so I could look directly into the eyes of the conduit, which had turned its head fully to look at me.

Its mouth opened again, cruel, thin and this time, as it moved its lips, I heard its voice deep inside the recesses of my head, deep down in the places where I'd caged my memories, the places where I'd kept so much hidden for so many years.

The conduit's presence filled me completely and all at once I knew it was the Hive that was inside me. The Hive was speaking to me. The Hive was a part of me.

Its insidious touch was consuming. Terrifying. Nauseating.

Wonderful.

I gasped out loud, as I felt the utter magnitude of it. Its power. Its supreme authority. How it could bend the entire species to its will. Its beauty. Its pure, unadulterated splendour. It was everything. The connection to the Hive was like nothing I'd ever experienced, and not just to the Hive but to them all. Every single Grey. Every single mind.

I closed my eyes and learned to just breathe with it.

In and out. In and out.

It really was just that simple. It really could have been just that simple. And I would have welcomed it. I wanted to. I wanted to forget everything. Forget Zero. Forget the feel of the soft, crushed bone of my mother's shattered skull. Forget the sound of the Doctor's muffled screams as I claimed him. Forget all the lives I'd taken. Forget the Grey that had hounded me relentlessly. Forget them all.

Forget Evie. Forget Tom.

Yes. Yes. Forget.

I'm not Evie Morgan.

I was falling then. Tumbling, tumbling down the rabbit hole. I'm scared, disorientated, confused. I've been tumbling for so long that I want it to stop. I want to slow down, just for a while. To stop running until I can catch my breath.

The canal waters are thick and sluggish. Someone has thrown a bike in, and the wheel pokes up from the surface, caught on a hook that juts from the wall. Rust has crept over the spokes like brown, congealed fungus.

A woman stands at the edge, looking down into the waters, clutching a small cardboard box to her chest. Her face is pale and tired, dark rings encircle her eyes. I watch her as she wipes a tear away, an almost angry gesture that seems to exhaust her even more, unable to feed off the energy that I know anger can provide. I'm momentarily floored by how lost she looks. How alone she looks, standing there with that sad little cardboard box. I don't know then what the box contains, but she just lets it go, watching as it goes tumbling, tumbling into the water.

I don't want to do this. I don't want to take this one. I feel a touch of empathy for her, which is rare for me, because I've taught myself that empathy will get me killed.

No. I don't want to take her, but I've got no choice.

She turns to leave, and I do it then. Where it's dark. Where the sound of the waters gurgling in the canal will muffle the sound of her gurgled screams. I tell her I'm sorry. Practically scream it at her. Beg for her forgiveness as I claim her, feeling her abrupt, violent death bring me new life.

As soon as I am her, I realise I was wrong.

Completely and utterly wrong.

Evie Morgan is not lost, and she is definitely not alone.

She has him. And all at once, I am calm.

Calmer than I've felt in a long time. Maybe more than I've ever been.

I am Evie Morgan.

I am Evie Morgan and I'm a hair-line fracture.

I am a threat.

I am the end of them all.

I opened my eyes with a judder that rocked me down to the core. The creature's mouth was wide, stretched across its face in horror and fear. The terror in its eyes was real and I realised instinctively what I needed to do. It began to flail, struggling weakly against the membranes that held it there and I pulled myself up, crawling on top of it. Its skin was similar to the Greys, slick and oily to touch and I grimaced as I straddled it on all fours, leaning my head down to cover its mouth with my own, just like I'd done so many times before and always hating it, because I'd known it was what they did.

This time, however, was different.

This time I wasn't claiming a life. I was taking them all. I was reaching into that hairline fracture and breaking it apart, splintering the connection. Severing them all from the Hive. Cutting off its fucking power so it could no longer control its soldiers. Without the Hive, the Greys were nothing. Incapable of thinking. Incapable of feeling.

Incapable of living.

Spurred on by the truth of what they were, I let the white noise rush in again, only this time, I relished it, allowing it to lead me where I wanted to go. I felt everything they felt and knew that everything they felt, was what the Hive felt. Terrified. Violated. Infected.

They'd been right about humanity. We were a virus, but never quite as how they imagined us to be. We weren't just vermin, only fit to be wiped out. We were strong. Virulent. And the Hive was scared of us because it knew just how powerful we really were. It knew what a threat we could become.

I let the web reach out, feeling my way along it, reaching into every part of the Hive, every mind. I raced into their veins, infecting every part of them. The pain was incredible, agonising, as the Hive sought to disconnect me, but I was holding on too hard for them to shake me off.

The fracture deepened, widened. I could feel the split. The raw, savage pain of it.

The creature struggled beneath me, but still I held on.

Just a little more... just a little more and I would kill them all.

I would kill them all.

Tom's face swam into my head.

Thomas Morgan. My love. My calm.

I would kill them all.

No. No. I couldn't. I couldn't do it.

I knew then. I knew that if I did this, I would most likely kill him too and the thought of it had me reeling, the connection quavering. The creature's struggles were getting stronger again and I could feel my hold shifting, sliding, tumbling, tumbling down the rabbit hole. It was going to dislodge me. Fuck, I was going to dislodge myself. I had to.

Hands fell heavy on mine, linking with my fingers, holding me there.

A body, warm and firm, pressed against my back.

And a voice in my ear, breath caressing my neck.

'Don't you do it, Eve. Don't you fucking let go now,' Tom said.

I tried to push against him. Tried to push him off, but he held firm. His heart resounded hard against my spine and I felt my traitorous heart echo its beat.

Thump, thump, thump.

How could I do this? I could I do it if it meant the end of him? How could I tear Evie and Tom apart?

'You have to do this,' he said, his voice hard. 'I know what you're thinking. We're connected now so you can't hide it from me. I'm not going to let you do it. You're not going to let go, no matter what, do you hear me? You are the only one who can do this. You're the only one who can end it. You can forget me, but you don't ever forget her, okay? You owe her this. You owe her everything. You are Evie Morgan, and you are the end of them all. Do it, Eve!'

He buried his face into my neck as I sobbed. He was right. Of course, he was right. I had no choice. If I didn't do this, then everything we had done, everything my friends had sacrificed would have been for nothing. As my own heart broke into pieces, I reached in again, this time, forcing apart the fracture I had created, with everything I had. I pushed and pushed and finally, I felt it give, splintering apart completely, ripping away the Hive from every single Grey on Earth.

The pain was unbearable as I tore through their heads, cleaving them apart, crushing their minds and rupturing the connection they had not only with the Hive, but with each other. It was agonising and terrifying, feeling their fear and distress as the panic overtook them, their minds imploding, their bodies starting to fail them.

They were dying. All of them. I felt their lifeforce blinking away, one by one. They were nothing without the Hive. Nothing without that connection that held them all together.

Another explosion rocked through the craft, probably the biggest one yet and I felt the sudden shift in direction, as the whole chamber seemed to tilt at an angle. Beneath me, the conduit creature was now still, and I wrenched my mouth away, looking into its dead eyes.

Tom's face was still buried in my neck, and I tried to move, the panic rising at how heavy he was against my back. How still. How quiet.

'Tom?' I said. 'Tom, answer me!'

There was a loud screeching sound, like metal upon metal, and the chamber began to tilt again, this time a gradual shifting that wouldn't stop. My stomach flipped.

The ship was falling.

It was going to fall out of the skies over London.

'Tom,' I urged. 'Tom, please, we have to go! Wake up!'

With a grunt of effort, I pushed myself up, feeling Tom's body slide off my back and slump to my side. Scrambling onto my knees beside him, I grabbed hold of him, shaking him, slapping his face, doing anything to get him to wake up.

I was sure I hadn't felt the connection with him snap. Was sure of it.

'Please... oh god, please wake up, Tom.'

Tears blurred my vision. The ship shifted further, the noise deafening, and I began to slide down the web, unable to stop myself, until I hit the side of one of the orbs, one of my legs dangling precariously through a gap. Tom's motionless body fell by my side and I grabbed hold of him, desperately trying to keep him from falling. I felt seasick, the motion of the falling ship churning my insides into knots.

With Tom still motionless, I pulled him against me, sobbing as I lay my head on his chest, not knowing what else to do, only that I needed to hold him now and keep him close. I wanted him to wake up. To put his arms around me for the last time. To tell me everything was going to be alright, even though it clearly fucking wasn't.

If he did that, it would be okay. This would all be okay.

We could fall from the skies and it wouldn't matter, because I'd have him to keep me calm.

I felt it then.

Faint. So faint that at first I wasn't even sure if I'd heard it.

Then, again. Again, again, again.

Butterfly wings fluttering inside his chest.

I cried then. Cried as I held onto him tight. Cried as the ship creaked and groaned.

The orbs began to crack apart, the strange vein-like tributaries that ran over the surface bursting open, pieces flaking away and dissolving into dust. Stalactites splintered away from the ceiling, crashing down, a landslide of black rock, slowing peeling away the layers of the Greys mothership.

All around us the storm raged and, as we began to fall from the skies, I held onto Thomas Morgan, and marvelled at it all.

I marvelled at how a species as powerful as the Greys could be shattered by an abomination like me. I marvelled at the strength of those I knew and at how complete strangers had come to be my family.

I marvelled at Tom and Evie and everything they had been and everything they were.

But most of all, more than anything, I marvelled at how butterflies could survive hurricanes.

Even if just for a short while.