The Final Six (The Final Six #1) - Alexandra Monir Page 0,55

RRB. And besides, I need this. I need to be one of the Final Six. If the serum is helping me excel and get to Europa, then I don’t care what’s in it.”

My mouth falls open. I can’t be hearing him correctly.

“You can honestly say that? After last night, after Suki, you can really be so—so callous?”

He winces.

“I’m not being callous—you know how terrible I feel about what happened to her. But if Suki were here right now, she would say the same thing. She would tell me not to jeopardize my chances when things are going well.”

“Yeah, and it was that attitude that put her in the hospital,” I retort. “Whatever is in the RRB has proven to be both powerful and dangerous. This isn’t just about Suki or you or me. All of us who take it are vulnerable.”

We’re nearing the elevator bay now, just steps away from the others. Leo stops in his tracks.

“What do you want from me? I can’t help the fact that I want this mission, that I need it. Just like I can’t help the fact that you don’t.”

His words catch me off guard.

“I—well, we’re friends, right?”

A funny expression crosses his face as he nods.

“And friends look out for each other,” I continue. “I don’t want to see you end up in a situation anywhere close to what happened to Suki. So I need to find out if what I suspect is true—and I need you to trust me.”

Leo hesitates before replying.

“Fine. Just as long as your sleuthing doesn’t get either of us in trouble.”

“Come on, you two!” Lark’s voice calls out, and Leo and I quicken our pace to join the rest of the team.

As we step into the elevator, I feel someone’s eyes on us. It’s Beckett, his expression cold and calculating as he stares at Leo. A shiver runs through me, and I wonder just how much of a target Leo has on his back . . . and if his performance today might cost him.

Returning to the Hab after our training day, we again step into a scene of chaos. Finalists from two other teams are swarming the halls, their faces red and stricken, their bodies racked with sobs, while the team leaders try in vain to calm them. Leo and I turn to each other in fear, and I grab his hand on instinct as I brace myself. What is happening?

Lark pushes through the crowd, trying to get answers, while I catch snippets of conversation through the pandemonium. “Callum.” “Submersible.” “ . . . went mad.” “Dead.”

I recoil in horror. I heard wrong—I must have.

I spot Ana Martinez from arrival day crying in Dev Khanna’s arms, and I rush toward them.

“What’s wrong, Ana? What’s going on?”

She breaks away from Dev and looks at me with wild, panicky eyes. “It’s Callum. He—he’s dead. It happened right in front of us. G-gone, just like that.”

Bile rises in my throat. My mind flashes back to the Australian finalist sitting beside me during Dr. Takumi’s welcome speech. And I can’t breathe.

“How?” Leo whispers.

“We were doing the submersible drills. Our team was last in the diving pool today,” Dev says shakily. “Everything was going fine, and then when it was Callum’s turn . . . It was the craziest thing.”

“What happened?”

“He turned on the thrust-booster, just like he was supposed to—but then he suddenly climbed out of the submersible while everything was still running. And he . . . he swam right under the propellers.” Dev squeezes his eyes shut, shaking his head, as if to rid himself of the image. “Lieutenant Barnes was screaming at him to stop, he jumped in the water after him, but it was too late. The submersible cut him up in seconds.”

I stare at Dev, struggling to comprehend the gruesome story.

“Why—why would he do that?”

“That’s what makes no sense,” Ana wails. “He was happy; he was doing so well here, and he was excited about the mission. But then today, from the start, something was different about him. It was almost like he was . . .” She shrugs helplessly, and Dev finishes her sentence.

“Possessed.”

My heart hammers in my chest. I turn to Leo, and I can see in his eyes that he knows what I’m thinking. The RRB.

Footsteps come thundering toward us, and we step back as Dr. Takumi and General Sokolov enter the hall, their faces grave.

“Everyone into the library,” Dr. Takumi directs us, and we fall into step, shuffling numbly behind our leaders. Once