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I grab Natalie around her waist, lifting her onto her feet

"I can’t leave her!" she wails

"She’s dead!" I say, dragging Natalie kicking and screao of her until we reach the hangar deck

The place is in chaos Bodies are strewn across the floor, their blood pooling around our feet Most of the Transporters are on fire There’s a burst of gunfire as a group of Sentry guards spot us Roach and General Buchanan take them doith their se toward a Transporter nearest the exit It’s one of the few aircrafts that isn’t ablaze yet

We sprint across the hangar

Pop-pop-pop

Garrick grunts and stu over He clutches his stoers I wheel around Sebastian is standing in the control rooar

"I knew you’d coun at us

"Sebastian, son, please don’t do this! Think about what you’re doing!" Dr Craven says

Sebastian’s silver eyes narrow A snarl crosses over his lips "I knohat I’ the world of Irazes Dr Craven’s ar his jacket The doctor is so stunned, he doesn’t ain I knock the man out of the way just in ti my skin

General Buchanan and Beetle shoot at Sebastian, covering us, while we race toward the Transporter Natalie’s mom punches a button on the outside of the aircraft, and the hatch opens Lucinda and Elijah help Garrick onto the aircraft He gri his stomach He’s left a bread-crumb trail of blood in his wake We all stumble onto the aircraft and quickly close the hatch behind us

"Can you fly the ship?" General Buchanan asks Garrick

Thehis head His skin is slick with sweat

"Don’t you kno to fly it? You’re in the military," I say

"I’m army, not air force," General Buchanan replies

Bullets hit the outside of the aircraft, thwa anything, Day places the glass jar containing Theora’s heart on one of the metal benches and marches over to the pilot’s seat She sits down and turns on the engines They whir into life She mutters under her breath as she flips a feitches and buttons, running through the commands

"Buckle up," she calls over her shoulder

We all take out seats, hurriedly putting on the harnesses as Day takes the controls Lucinda grabs the glass jar, holding it close against her There’s a thunk ofjolt as the Transporter jerks forward We speed through the access tunnel, accelerating at an alarrips rins The others mutter a prayer under their breath

Day yanks on the controls and the aircraft lurches upward so fast, my ears pop There’s darkness, darkness, darkness, and then brilliant light as we burst out into the blue skies We’re going so fast, I think we’re going to crash into the Destroyer Ships hovering a few hundred feet above the co and painted white with a red rose on the side: the e the windscreen, so close I can see the screws holding the ether

"Day!" Natalie screaht, and the aircraft tilts We zooap between two of the Destroyer Ships, darting between the, fragg, fragg! I clutch on to the bench Day punches a few buttons and unloads the missiles into the sides of the ships as we pass Fire blooh force to push the airships apart a few h She pulls up on the controls again and the aircraft rockets up, up, up, so high that pressure balls behindabove the Destroyer Ships We’re soon sed by the clouds Good luck finding us, I think I suspect this aircraft can’t be easily detected on radar

"Nice flying, babe!" Beetle shouts

Day doesn’t say anything, but I know she’s grinning

General Buchanan unfastens his seat belt and gets up, pressing a hand against the metal wall to brace hih air

"Is everyone all right?" he says

Dr Craven clings to hissick from the turbulence or because his son just tried to murder him

"His eyes were silver," Dr Craven mutters "Did you see? He’s not my boy anymore, Jonathan, he’she’s--" The doctor buries his face in his hands

Elijah is sitting opposite me, his eyes shut Tears slide down his bloodstained cheeks I look away, unable to take any more pain My heart feels bruised froainst es on her cheeks

"I’ht she was my friend But she just wanted to retrieve you and the Ora, then get us all back into one place so she could blow us up" She looks up atnothing I have no idea

Dr Craven wipes his red-ri and tends to Garrick’s wounds

"Where are we going?" Day calls from the pilot’s seat

"Centrum," Mother says "I have friends there ill hide us"