No matter how many times they had prepared for this moment, it still caused a rush of adrenaline, but despite the stress and danger, they worked in a cool, confident, and organized manner. Bailey collected the medical supplies, while the others packed up the few remaining weapons as well as their personal items.

“Here you go,” Mirela said, tossing a laser rifle to Gail.

Mirela turned toward Edge with another one in her hand. “This is for you,” she said, holding it out.

Edge looked at the rifle before taking it and slinging it over his shoulder. Lina saw that he had grabbed the bag she kept packed and ready to go. Biting her lip, she stiffly walked over to the pistols lying on the crate. She picked up two of them before glancing around.

“Let’s go,” she said, refocusing on the small group. “Andy, how long do you anticipate it will take them to reach this section?”

Andy slung her backpack over her shoulder and gripped her rifle. “Gail shorted out the lift down here. I set off the charges on the doors to the stairs on the various levels. Each door all the way down is sealed. They’ll have to break through each one,” she said.

“Those things, whatever in the hell they were, looked like they wouldn’t have much trouble doing that,” Gail replied with a shudder.

“What did they look like?” Edge asked.

“They looked like most aliens until they shape-shifted. They had these tentacle things, six eyes, and a circular mouth with rows of teeth. They scared the shit out of both of us,” Andy said.

“And they smelled like roadkill after a week in the Georgia sun,” Gail added.

Lina saw Edge stiffen as the two women described the creatures. “They are called Drethulans. They evolved in a desert climate, living and breeding underground. That is their natural form, and in that form they are the deadliest. If they are here, it means they are working with the Waxians,” Edge grimly replied. “We need to leave now.”

Lina stood back from the group. Her teeth worried her bottom lip as she thought of what they could do to delay those searching the access tunnel. Her eyes lit on the cases of explosives they had found shortly after they discovered this section of the Spaceport. She suspected the explosives were left over from the Spaceport construction. If they could use them, it was possible to get to the spaceship which was another two miles away through winding tunnels. The only way to give them a chance was to seal off this section of the tunnel.

She turned and looked at the others with a determined expression. “I can delay them. I’ll give you as long as I can before I set off the explosives,” Lina said.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Gail demanded, turning to glare at Lina.

Andy shook her head. “Don’t start talking bullshit, Lina. We all go or we all stay,” she said.

Lina shook her head. “I’m about ready to collapse right now. There is no way I can make it two miles. There are enough explosives here to collapse this section of the underground. I can detonate them and give you all enough time to take off,” she explained with a wan smile.

“There’s no guarantee the spaceship will even power up, much less fly,” Mechelle pointed out.

“All the more reason to give you additional time,” Lina replied, sinking down on a crate. She lifted a shaking hand. The pistol shook from the effort. “Go. That’s an order.”

“Fuck that,” Mirela replied, folding her arms across her chest. “I’ve decided I don’t like your orders anymore, boss lady.”

“Lina’s right. You need to go,” Edge instructed.

“What?!” a chorus of startled voices sounded through the room.

“I said go. We will catch up with you,” he repeated.

Gail gave Edge a skeptical look. “What are you going to do?” she demanded.

“Lina is correct. We need to stop the Waxians and Drethulans. I will wire the explosives to go off, then pick up Lina and run,” he replied. “I am very fast when I know there is going to be an explosion.”

Soft, relieved chuckles trickled through the air. “I’ll bet on that,” Mirela replied. She turned toward Edge. “Don’t make me lose, Trivator. I hate losing.”

Lina caught the silent message that passed between Edge and Mirela. Gritting her teeth, she decided arguing would just waste more precious time. She slowly rose to her feet, and walked over to the crates of explosives. She pushed off one of the lids.

“Andy, you go with Mirela, Mechelle, and Bailey,” Gail said. “I’ll stay here and help Edge and Lina.”

The grin on Andy’s face faded and she nodded. “Let’s go,” she said, pulling the door open and checking the outer corridor. In the distance, they could hear banging.

“Whatever you do, hurry,” Andy instructed before she and the other women disappeared in the opposite direction of the lift.

“What do you want me to do?” Gail asked.

“I’ll stack the cases of explosives around the main support beams and near the entrances. Once they detonate, there will be no turning back,” Edge explained, picking up two of the cases.

Gail nodded. “I worked for the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit in the Army for six years and on the bomb squad with the police force for another eight years. I can set up some remote detonators,” she said.

“I’ll help,” Lina replied.

They worked as a team. Edge carried the crates of explosives and set them up while Lina and Gail worked on the timers and detonators for each one. Gail figured they would only need a handful. Once the first explosions began, it would create a chain reaction.

“That’s it,” Gail said twenty minutes later. She lifted a hand and wiped her brow. “I guess my time in the EOD unit and the Trivator invasion came in handy after all.”

“They are getting closer,” Lina replied, listening to the sounds of explosions.

Edge came in and nodded to Gail. Lina raised her arm when he bent over to sweep her up into his arms. Gail held out one of the remotes. Lina took it and held it against her chest.

The timers were set to go off in fifteen minutes. Just in case they didn’t have that much time, Gail had added a remote that would be good for about five hundred yards. That didn’t give them much of a head start when they would have several tons of moon rock and metal construction materials coming down all at once.

The echo of something heavy hitting metal rang out along the corridor. Gail was ahead of them by several yards. Lina clung to Edge, trying not to cry out from the pain in her side.

“What was…?” she tried to ask.

“A Drethulan. One of them must have dropped down the lift shaft. It will tear through the metal of the lift, then open the doors. When I tell you, press the detonator,” Edge ordered through gritted teeth.

“You need to…,” she hissed.

“Don’t argue, Lina. The Drethulans aren’t easy to kill and they won’t hesitate to kill the other women,” Edge warned.

Lina started to nod before horror struck her. Coming straight at them from out of the darkness were twin beams of light moving at a rapid speed. Gail slid to a stop and dropped down onto one knee. She slid her backpack off and raised her rifle to her shoulder.

“Don’t shoot!” a voice yelled out as the lights veered to the side when the vehicle turned at a sharp angle.

“Mirela?” Gail exclaimed, rising back to her feet and grabbing the backpack. “Where in the hell did you get that thing?”

“She can tell us later. We are about to have company,” Lina urgently said, looking over Edge’s shoulder.

The screeching sound of metal as it was ripped apart made Lina grimace. Her eyes widened when she saw the tip of what looked like a tentacle protruding between the doors of the lift. Edge climbed into the back of the cargo vehicle and placed her onto the seat. Gail slid into the front passenger seat.

“Mirela, get us out of here,” Edge instructed.

“No shit,” Mirela muttered, seeing the Drethulan’s limb.

Edge and Gail both raised their rifles and aimed at the pale, wiggling mass even as Mirela was turning the vehicle around in a tight circle. They fired at the same time, and the visible part of the tentacle exploded. A loud howl of fury resounded from the lift.

“The doors are buckling,” Lina warned.

“Blow the charges,” Edge ordered.

“Not yet,” Lina and Gail replied at the same time.

Lina silently counted as Mirela increased the speed of the cargo transport. The doors of the lift began to contort before they were ripped open. One of the most bizarre creatures Lina had ever seen squeezed through the opening. Blood from the stump of the severed tentacle left grotesque smears on the doors and wall.

“Now,” Gail said.

Together, the two women pressed their detonators. A brilliant flash of white temporarily blinded Lina before they turned a corner and out of sight of the lift doors. Edge wrapped his arm around her, holding her protectively against his body as Mirela swung close enough to the wall that their vehicle scraped against it.

“Brace for the concussion,” Edge warned, turning so that he covered as much of her as he could.

Lina felt the heat a moment before the shockwave hit them. Mirela struggled to keep the vehicle from smashing into the walls. A rolling ball of flames rushed at them before the backdraft grabbed it. The shaft of the lift opened up, pulling the flames back to the top like a chimney that had suddenly been cleared. A second later, the entire tunnel trembled before the section behind them also began to collapse.

“Well, that was fun—not,” Mirela stated, regaining control of the vehicle and pressing the accelerator.

“Where are the others?” Lina asked, leaning heavily against Edge.

Mirela glanced over her shoulder before refocusing on the dark tunnel. “They were heading for the spaceship. We should meet up with them before too long,” she said.

“I hope to God that spaceship still works,” Gail muttered.

“Me, too,” Lina murmured, her hand moving down to her side.

She felt Edge move his hand over hers. He tightened his arm around her when he felt the same warm dampness that she did. She was bleeding again.

“How bad is it?” he quietly asked.

Lina closed her eyes. “Bailey can patch me up while you get us out of here,” she replied.

As her adrenaline subsided, so did her remaining strength. She was still weak from her earlier blood loss and her side hurt like hell. She would close her eyes for just a little while and recharge herself a bit. They were still in a lot of danger, perhaps more so than before now that the Waxians and those other creatures knew they were down here. Lina could only hope that they had killed a bunch of the bastards.

“There are the others,” Gail said.

Lina tried to open her eyes, but it felt like someone had placed lead weights on her eyelids. Instead, she listened as Mechelle, Bailey, and Andy climbed onto the back. A ghost of a smile crossed her lips when she heard them excitedly talking about the ‘big bang’.

Nothing like a nice explosion to lift the spirits, she thought.