United as One Read Online Free

I’m done with sentiment. Done with grieving. Starting today, we kill until we win.”

CHAPTER TWO
    TWISTED METAL SHRIEKS BY OVERHEAD. CLUMPS of dirt and ash batter my face, the wind whips at what feels like one hundred miles per hour, and I throw everything I have into it. Blaster fire sears across my legs. I ignore it. A jagged strut from an exploded Mogadorian Skimmer crashes into the dirt next to me. Only a few feet closer and I would have been impaled.
    I ignore that too. I’ll die here, if that’s what it takes.
    Across an empty pit where the Sanctuary used to stand, Setrákus Ra staggers up the ramp of his warship. I can’t let him make it back on board the Anubis . I shove out with my telekinesis, and I don’t care about the consequences. I hurl every goddamn thing at him, and he pushes back. I feel his power strain against mine like two invisible tidal waves crashing together, sending up a spray of metal parts and dirt and stone.
    â€œDie, die, die . . .”
    Sarah Hart is next to me. She screams something into my ear that I can’t hear over the roar of the battle. She grabs my shoulder and starts to shake me.
    â€œDie, die, die . . .”
    â€œSix!”
    I gasp and wake up. It isn’t Sarah shaking my shoulder. It’s Lexa, our pilot, seated behind the controls. Through the windshield, I can barely make out the peaceful countryside zipping by underneath us. In the glow of the control panel, I can see a look of concern on Lexa’s face.
    â€œWhat is it?” I ask, still groggy as I gently push her hand away.
    â€œYou were talking in your sleep,” Lexa replies, and goes back to looking straight ahead, our flight path mapped out on the screen before her.
    My feet are up on the dashboard, my knees tucked in close to my chest. My toes are all pins and needles. I set my feet down on the floor and sit up straight, then strain my eyes into the darkness outside. Just as I do, the countryside drops away and is replaced by the blue-black water of Lake Erie.
    â€œHow close are we to the coordinates Malcolm sent us?” I ask Lexa.
    â€œClose,” she replies. “About ten minutes out.”
    â€œAnd you’re sure we lost them?”
    â€œI’m sure, Six. I ditched the last of the Skimmers over Texas. The Anubis broke off before that. Seemed like thewarship didn’t want to keep up the chase.”
    I rub my hands across my face and through my sticky tangle of hair. The Anubis stopped chasing us. Why? Because they had to rush Setrákus Ra somewhere? Because he was dying? Or maybe already dead?
    I know I hurt him. I saw that metal bar pierce that bastard’s chest. Not many could survive that injury. But this is Setrákus Ra. There’s no telling how fast he heals or what technology he’s got at his disposal to nurse him back to health. It went straight into his heart, though. I saw it. I know I got him.
    â€œHe has to be dead,” I say quietly. “He has to be.”
    I unstrap from the copilot’s seat and stand up. Lexa grabs hold of my forearm before I can leave the cockpit.
    â€œSix, you did what you had to do,” she says firmly. “What you thought was best. No matter what happens, if Setrákus Ra is dead or alive . . .”
    â€œIf he’s alive, then Sarah died for nothing,” I reply.
    â€œNot for nothing,” Lexa says. “She pulled you out of there. She saved you.”
    â€œShe should’ve saved herself.”
    â€œShe didn’t think so. She— Look, I hardly knew the girl. But it seemed to me that she knew what was at stake. She knew that we’re fighting a war. And in war there are sacrifices. Casualties.”
    â€œEasy for us to say. We’re alive.” I bite my lip and pull my arm away from Lexa. “You think— Shit, Lexa. Youthink any of that cold-ass pragmatic talk is going to make it easier for the others? For John?”
    â€œHas anything ever