Julia crouched on the edge of the rock as Sawyer climbed, his forearms bulging with the effort. Suddenly, a dark shadow surged, absorbing all the light beneath him.

It’s a trick of the light.

No.

The Chittrix propelled itself high in a lethal thrust, its muscular tail driving it to a formidable height. Its clawed forelimbs locked onto Sawyer’s leg.

Julia screamed, helpless.

The talons flexed, ripping Sawyer’s hands from the rope. Tendons in his neck strained as he snatched to regain his grasp, but the weight of the Chittrix was too much. His hands closed on empty air as he tumbled backward, his shocked face pale against the dark silty water before it closed over his head, and his outstretched fingers disappeared.

Julia hung over the rock edge, her fingernails grinding into the dirt in stunned horror.

Foster rolled back rubbing his hands furiously across the top of his shaved head. “Fuck, no.”

Julia shook her head.

NO.

She loved him.

Below, widening circles of ripples were the only sign of Sawyer or the Chittrix.

This was not going to happen again. Before, as a child, when she had broken free of the water, her lungs burning, her legs like lead weights, her father had screamed at her. Where was her sister? She had left her sister. Her father dove past her, and cold water had swamped her, weeds pressing in a suffocating blanket against her nose and mouth. When he had surfaced his gaze had been stony and accusatory.

I’m not that child anymore. I was only nine.

I’m tired of being alone.

Julia dragged the Sweeper around to the front of her body, and flipped open the safety straps. She’d put everything she had into this device for one reason only. To protect those she loved and she loved Sawyer.

She stepped to the edge, ignoring the flash of horror on Anna’s face. “We’ve rigged all the charges.” Julia glanced at her watch. “Anna, you’ve got less than ten minutes left.” She bent and kissed Anna on the cheek. “Get the fuck out of here.”

Then she turned before Anna or Foster could try and stop her and stepped off the edge into the void of air.

Blackness rushed to meet her, and she slammed feet-first into the water, plunging deep. The Sweeper fought her grasp, but she held on, her fingers aching. Water pressure finally slowed her descent, pressing against her lungs and brain.

There was no going back.

Julia kicked her legs and opened her eyes. The water was muddy, thick with sediment and suffused with a weird green light. She clutched the Sweeper close and used her other hand to spin in the water, scanning for any clue to Sawyer’s location.

There. Just as she completed a full circle, a trail of silver bubbles lazily spiraled in front of her. And there, trapped in the bubbles was her sister. Maria’s arms were outstretched, her face smooth and white, a solitary bead of air trapped at the corner of her mouth, distorted by the omnipresent press of the lake. Her father ripped at the weeds ensnaring her sister in a futile battle.

Julie started as a plant caressed her arm.

She shook her head, dispelling shreds of the waking nightmare and made her choice. This time, she was leaving her sister far below in the green water forever. She couldn’t save Maria; she was gone.

But she wasn’t giving up on Sawyer. He’d believed in her when she’d given up on herself. She wasn’t little anymore. She was a grown woman who was choosing to leave the past behind and she was willing to fight for her future.

The fully charged Sweeper glowed in her arms like a protective force. She had made this specifically to blow the shit out of whatever was trying to hurt Sawyer, and she was going to use it.

Ducking, she dove in the direction of the air trail.

She kicked hard, swimming like a woman possessed, ignoring the stinging air wanting to escape her lungs.

Where was he? Green, sludgy weeds obscured her view in every direction, giving her only glimpses of bubbles through the waving vegetation. A flash of skin caught her eye between two fronds. Julia powered forward, frantically pulling weeds out of the way.

She burst through the grass strands. A dismembered arm. Bile rose bitterly in her throat at the torn flesh undulating in the current. Nausea roiled in her stomach, even as she realized the arm didn’t belong to Sawyer. It wore a cheap digital watch, not the battered black and silver Tag Sawyer owned.

The whoomp of a gun fired under water came from her left. She thrust up, breaking the greasy surface of the water to grab another gulp of air before diving again.

There. The red light of Sawyer’s headlamp beckoned to her through the gloom.

His body was contorted, the Chittrix still holding his foot as he bucked and twisted. He fired his SIG again, but the Chittrix easily dodged the water-slowed bullet. Out of ammunition, Sawyer let go of the pistol.

Julia held the Sweeper close to her chest, swimming slightly to the right to get a clear aim. Sawyer rolled into her line of sight, blocking her view of the Chittrix.

Move, damn you.

One. Two. Three. She counted off the beats in her head. The last few precious seconds of oxygen she had in her lungs were for him.

Now! His tangled body shifted, giving her clear access to the Chittrix.

She depressed the trigger, the water in front of her shimmering as the Sweeper fired a pulse of concentrated sound.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Her world trembled on the brink of complete obliteration. If she couldn’t save Sawyer, she was dead.

High-pitched sounds touched the limit of her hearing, distorted under the pressure of the filthy water. Then the Sweeper zeroed in on the correct frequency, and the Chittrix released Sawyer’s foot. The alien curled reflexively into a ball, convulsing as the sound pulse disassembled it at an atomic level. Yellow fluid bloomed from its joints, shrouding it in an ochre cloud.

Sawyer bucked in the water, his face tortured from the lack of oxygen. Realizing his leg was free, he pushed toward the air above. Julia followed, clinging to the last vestiges of oxygen in her own body. His hand found hers, and he dragged her with him.

She exploded from the confines of the water, drawing in sweet lungfuls of air. Sawyer spluttered beside her, then took a deep breath, diving back under the surface, taking her with him. She resisted. What was he doing? He was pulling her down, not up. She fought him, trying to free her wrist.

He tugged her arm and pointed at his watch. They were running out of time. He stabbed two fingers toward the bottom of the cavern, far from the dead Chittrix drifting above their heads.

Shadows flitted at the edge of Julia’s vision.

The Sweeper had woken the entire nest.

Time had run out.