"Why aren't they firing?" Sarah gasped, her face pale and drawn with pain as she cradled her injured arm.

  "Maybe they don't want to risk hitting the apartment blocks," Malik suggested, his brow furrowed in thought.

  “Maybe they aren’t total monsters,” Jackson agreed.

  Alex’s mind raced. The enemy's restraint bought them a little time, but he knew it wouldn't last. There was only one place they could go, and the invaders would quickly surround the exits, boxing them in like rats in a trap.

  "We need to do something they won’t expect,” he said, his voice tight with urgency. "We can't just run blindly. They'll cut us off."

  "Like what?" Jackson asked, his rifle held at the ready. "We're kind of low on options here, Gunny."

  Diego cleared his throat, drawing their attention. "There's an underground connection," he said hesitantly. "From the dome's substation to the hydroelectric plant that powers the settlement. It's in the jungle, about three klicks away."

  "Underground?" Jackson repeated, a glimmer of hope in his voice.

  "We can go under them instead of through," Alex said, the plan already propagating in his mind. "Diego, you're a goddamn genius."

  The Corporal shrugged, a faint smile on his lips. "My girl's an electrical engineer. She mentioned it once."

  "Well, you can thank her for us once we make it out of this," he said, clapping him on the shoulder, a silent show of support. "Because that's our plan."

  Then his gaze fell on a trio of abandoned scooters, their owners having fled in a panic when the attack began.

  “We need some speed,” he said, moving towards the nearest scooter. ”Pair up.”

  Alex helped Sarah onto the back of his. She wrapped her good arm tightly around his waist. Zoe rode with Malik while Diego had one to himself.

  “There’s a substation inside the dome,” he said, more confidently this time. “On the east side, behind the apartment blocks. My girl gave me a tour of the place.”

  “You went on a date at an electrical substation?” Malik asked.

  “Sparks flew,” Diego deadpanned, drawing a laugh from the others that helped relieve some of the tension.

  Behind them, the sound of pursuit grew louder, the heavy tread of powered boots spurring them on. Alex risked a glance over his shoulder, his heart sinking when he saw the enemy soldiers gaining on them, their weapons raised and ready.

  “We've got company, children! Let’s move it!” he yelled, gunning the throttle.

  The scooters sped forward, their frames shuddering under the strain. Alex and Sarah ducked their heads as a burst of gunfire whizzed so close by them that they felt a brush of heat.

  Above them, the dropship maintained its menacing presence as more enemy soldiers dropped from it. They landed on top of the dome in perfect unison, their powered armor absorbing the impact..

  "They're trying to box us in!" Malik shouted as they moved to block off potential escape routes

  With the scooters’ speed already maxed out and the engines whining in protest, they reached the end of the connector and raced into the dome. Cutting to the left, they shot down the street toward a block of apartments.

  “My girl lives up there!” Alvarez shouted, pointing to one of the top-floor windows.

  Alex didn’t look. Couldn’t look. Alvarez had to know they couldn’t stop to ensure her safety right now, even though his concern was palpable. Alex’s attention was on the closest connecting passageway, where enemy soldiers were pouring into the dome, trying to cut them off. The noose was tightening, their window of escape rapidly closing.

  He made a hard right turn at the last street on the east side of the dome, nearly throwing Sarah off the seat in the process.

  “That’s the substation up ahead!” Alvarez shouted.

  Alex noted the small, squat building behind one of the apartments, unmarked and unremarkable. He never would have guessed its purpose on his own.

  Desperate to reach the substation, he opened the throttle, accelerating as quickly as possible. Another glance up revealed the dropship sweeping overhead once more. The lack of Marine starfighters putting up any resistance suggested the planet was all but lost.

  Scorpion Squad was on their own.

  The heavy beat of gunfire erupted behind them, bullets whizzing past their heads and pinging off the metal of the scooters. Alex didn’t slow or change his course. He didn’t dare. They had nothing but the luck of the draw left, and he had to put all of his eggs in that basket while they covered the last hundred meters.

  “Sarah, hold on!” he shouted, switching from throttle to brake and turned the front wheel away from the turn he was leaning into. The scooter skidded, fishtailing along the metal floor of the dome, threatening to throw them both off. Alex held the ride steady until they could leap off the moment the scooter settled to a stop. He pulled Sarah with him as he made for the door in a low crouch, bullets digging into the outside of the building just above them and showering them with pulverized synthcrete.

  The others were right behind them, catching up when they reached the entrance. Alex fumbled in his pocket for his DA to crack the security, only to have Diego cut in front of him and type in the entry code. The door unlocked, and Alex kicked it open, holding it as the others poured through.

  Pulling the door shut behind him, his last glimpse was of a unit of enemy soldiers charging down the street towards them, their powered armor carrying them faster than any human could typically run. They seemed far away, but they would reach the station soon enough.

  They had piled into a small antechamber ahead of the batteries, capacitors, transformers and other machinery. Diego had already unlocked the interior door, urging them through.

  “Your girlfriend gave you the access code to this place?” Jackson asked as he hurried into the next room.

  “Gave? Not exactly,” Alvarez replied. “I might have peeked over her shoulder.”

  “Good man,” Malik said.

  “The tunnel entrance is on the other side of the equipment,” Diego said. “A hatch on the floor.”

  ”Go!” Alex shouted, intent on getting everyone out. A sharp clang rattled the building and dented the outer door as the enemy soldiers attempted to batter it open with their armor-clad bodies. “Hurry!”

  Diego turned to enter the equipment room, stumbling as the entire building shuddered again. Behind them, the door crumpled off its hinges, and an enemy soldier’s helmet came into view, followed by the muzzle of his rifle.

  Without thinking, Alex acted on pure instinct, tackling Diego as rounds punched the air over their heads, the reports deafening in the enclosed space. Alex rolled them both to the side just as bullets sank into the metal floor. Seeing the door swinging closed to cut him off, the enemy fighter charged forward, and in three quick steps, he blocked it with his body. He swung his rifle toward Alex, who looked up at the man, dead to rights.

  Then Jackson was there, wrapping an arm around the soldier’s neck. He pulled the man’s helmet to the side, opening a space for him to shove the pistol in and fire a round through his neck, blood spurting over the inside of his faceplate from his ruptured aorta. Rather than let the body fall, Jackson strained to keep it propped in the doorway as the soldier’s rifle clattered to the floor.

  Alex scooped it up as he slid between the dead man’s legs and fired from his stomach at the two enemies who had moved in behind him. The rounds ripped through the thinner armor at their knees, bringing them both down.

  Without hesitation, Alex passed the weapon back to Jackson, who let his first kill drop to fire on the second and third targets from a better angle. At such close range, the rounds went right through their helmets.

  “Come on, Diego…up!” Alex said, leaping up and grabbing the man by the wrist to yank him to his feet. “Thanks for the save, Three,” he added to Jackson.

  “Any time, boss-man,” Jackson replied, grinning.

  Together, they raced to the hatch, which was already open. Sarah and Malik had already gone down through the hatch while Zoe waited at the edge.

  “About time,” she said, disappearing as they approached.

  Alex reached the hatch and looked down. The ladder dropped about six meters, and the tunnel was visible and well-lit below. “Go, go, go!” he snapped, rushing Jackson and Alvarez onto the ladder. He picked up vibrations through his boots and looked back towards the entrance, certain more invaders had arrived.

  They were too late.

  He pivoted onto the ladder, grabbed the hatch handle and descended, pulling the hatch closed behind him. There was no way to lock it from the inside, but it didn’t matter. Their pursuers wouldn’t fit through the opening with their power armor on, and if they decided to remove it to keep up the chase…

  He would see that they didn’t survive for very long.

  CHAPTER 21

  Alex and the others sprinted down the tunnel, which moved in a slight curve away from the substation, away from Hut, and away from the enemy trying so hard to kill them.

  The sequence of events leading up to this moment swirled through his mind like a maelstrom, his subconscious fighting to assemble the pieces that would make the attack make sense. Simultaneously, a niggling question wormed its way through the twisting chaos, settling in the forefront of his thoughts.

  Were this attack and Dana’s disappearance related?

  It seemed likely, but Alex wasn’t ready to admit it to himself. Because if it was related, then Dana was most likely dead.

  “Gunny, I’ve been thinking,” Zoe said, interrupting his internal contemplation. “Jungle is a classified installation, right?”

  “That’s right,” Alex agreed.

  “I mean, even the civilians at Hut were brought in under stasis, so they wouldn’t know exactly where they were.”

  “True.”

  “But the enemy not only knows about this place, they knew exactly where to set their jump coordinates so they’d pop up ready to slam us from the get-go. And they knew exactly what to target and where to find it.”

  “No arguments from me there, Zee, but what’s your point?”

  “What do you think the odds are that they know about the hydroelectric plant?”

  Alex put up his hand, signaling the unit to a sudden stop. He turned to face Zoe. “Go on.”

  “They might not know about the tunnel. Well, now they probably know about the tunnel because they were inside the substation and saw the hatch. But they might know about the dam, even if it’s hidden by the canopy. They’ve done their homework, or maybe someone sold us out. Or both. But…” She trailed off.

  “Alvarez,” Alex said, turning to the Marine. “What do you think?”

  He bit his lower lip before nodding. “It sounds logical to me. If they figure out the tunnel goes from point A to point B⁠—”

  “They’ll have us caught in a crossfire,” Malik said. “Damn. We should have thought of that sooner.”

  “And done what, instead?” Sarah asked. “We’re making this whole thing up as we go along.”

  “That’s what us Scorpions do,” Jackson said. “Personally, I’m pretty happy with our performance so far.”

  Alex turned to Alvarez. “Tell me there’s another way out.”

  “I don’t know, Gunny. I’ve never been down here before. My girl told me about it; she didn’t show it to me.”

  “So, do we go forward or back?” Sarah asked.

  “Forward,” Alex replied decisively. “There may be an emergency exit at the halfway point. If there isn’t, maybe we can shoot our way through and get lost in the dam or sneak out. The domes are crawling with tangoes, and will be secured by the time we get back to start.”

  “You’re the boss,” Jackson said. “Whatever you say, Gunny.”

  “We keep moving.”

  They pushed on, the tunnel walls pressing in around them like the sides of a coffin. Thankfully, there were no echoes of footsteps except their own. It seemed the enemy had chosen to let them decide their fate. Death or capture at the settlement, or death or capture at the power plant.

  Alex almost laughed at the dark thought.

  “I think we’ve gone more than half the distance,” Malik announced a short time later. “I feel like I’ve already done a 5k.”

  “If there was another way out of this tunnel, I think we would have found it already,” Jackson agreed. “Sorry, Sarge. It seems this wager won’t pay out.”

  “You can think what you want,” Alex answered. “I’m not ready to give up yet.”

  “I knew you would say that,” Malik groaned.

  Another couple of minutes passed before something up ahead split the corridor. A grin began on Alex’s face, growing to full size when the ladder came fully into view.

  “Oh ye of little faith,” he said, glancing at Malik.

  “Yeah, you were hoping real hard on this one, Gunny,” Malik replied. “Lucky bastard.”

  "Lucky for all of us,” Sarah said.

  Alex reached the ladder first, climbing up and activating the release mechanism. With a grunt of effort, he heaved the hatch open, displacing layers of dirt and debris gathered over the bolt hole. The sudden influx of fresh air and natural light momentarily blinded him.

  One by one, the Marines clambered out of the tunnel, emerging into the thick jungle foliage. They closed the hatch quietly behind them and stayed low, not taking anything for granted.

  Alex gave his squad a minute to catch their breath. The jungle stretched out around them, an endless sea of green and brown.

  Alex raised a hand, signaling for silence. In the distance, he could hear movement, the telltale rustle of something pushing through the undergrowth. Using hand signals, he ordered the others to take cover in the brush. The Scorpions disappeared from view like the ghosts they had been trained to be, Diego following their examples.

  A heartbeat passed, then another. Slowly, a pair of enemy soldiers came into view. They moved cautiously, rifles at the ready as they scanned the jungle for any sign of their quarry. That they were so close suggested they knew about the emergency hatch. They just hadn’t been able to locate it precisely. Yet.

  Alex held his breath, every muscle coiled tight with tension. Beside him, he could feel the others doing the same, their presence like a physical force in the stillness.

  The soldiers drew closer, footsteps heavy on the jungle floor. Alex's finger tightened on the trigger of his rifle, ready to explode into action at the slightest provocation. But the soldiers passed by, oblivious to the Scorpions hidden so close.

  Slowly, the sound of their passage faded into the distance, swallowed by the endless green. Alex released a soft breath, the tension draining from his body in a rush. They had made it. They were alive, and for now, at least, they were safe. He emerged from the brush, followed by his team and Alvarez. He couldn’t ignore that if he had left the Marine behind, they would never have gotten this far.

  “Alvarez, nice work,” he said, lowering his voice. “You’re an honorary Scorpion now.”

  “Scorpion Point Five,” Jackson agreed.

  “Scorpion Zero,” Sarah countered.

  “Thank you, Gunny,” Alvarez said. “I’m glad I could help.”

  “Your girlfriend is a full member,” Malik quipped.

  “She earned it,” Alvarez answered. “I hope she’s alright.”

  Alex allowed himself a small smile. The banter felt good after their narrow escape. “We’ll check on her, if and when we can.”

  The fight was far from over. They had escaped the jaws of the trap, but they were still deep in what now had to be considered enemy territory, cut off from support and surrounded on all sides.

  They would have to rely on all of their training and skill to survive. They were going to have to be smart, fast, and utterly ruthless. Because right now, there was no room for error. No second chances.

  Alex squared his shoulders. He met the eyes of each of his Marines in turn, seeing in them the same determination and unbreakable will that had already carried them through so much.

  "Alright, Scorpions," he said, his voice low and fierce. "We're not out of the woods yet, not by a long shot. But we're alive, and as long as we're breathing, we're still in this fight. We're going to find out who these bastards are, and we're going to make them pay for what they've done. And when we do, we're going to show them what it means to go up against the best of the best."

  "Oorah," the squad replied quietly, their voices blending into one.

  “Let’s move out.”

  CHAPTER 22

  The rest of Scorpion Squad and Alvarez followed Alex through the jungle like phantoms, their footsteps nearly silent on the soft cover of the jungle floor. They stuck to the densest parts of the undergrowth, using the natural cover to conceal their passage as they put distance between themselves and the enemy-controlled settlement.

  Alex took point, the jungle—a living, breathing entity that seemed to swallow all sound—pressing in around them. He held his rifle at the ready, scanning the foliage for any sign of a threat. Behind him, the others fanned out in a loose formation, each Marine covering a different sector, sweat pouring off them as they moved through air heavy with the smell of rotting vegetation and the sharper tang of destruction.

  They’d left the sounds of battle behind. The only sounds now, beyond their movement through the foliage, came from alien birds calling to one another in haunting, unfamiliar voices. Their cries echoed through the trees like the wails of lost souls.

  “This place is spooky as hell,” Alverez said as he swiped away the sweat stinging his eyes and soaking through his uniform. “Why the hell does it have to be so hot?”

  “That’s like asking why it snows on Ice,” Zoe responded, referring to one of the other training planets.

  “And who the hell ever heard of a jungle that isn’t hot?” Jackson added.

  “That doesn’t mean I have to like it.”