Zod stared at the backs of the guards running toward the cafeteria. “Those MG offs haven’t found the Xenosapian yet. That means it just mutated and the host body inside hasn’t been eaten.” His eyes lit up. “I heard seeing the host body of a mutated Xenosapian gives you good luck.”

  Everyone knew the host inside a Xenosapian was long dead. It was the creature’s food source, the fuel for its rapid growth. When that food ran out, the hunt for human flesh began.

  Tee held back from telling Zod to become a mortician and bolted down another corridor.

  “Hey! Where are you going?” Kie shouted, running after her. “Isn’t the Xenosapian that way?”

  Zod said nothing. He ran after Miko and Saeda, who had already followed Tee.

  Tee didn’t respond. She heard nothing—she had switched on her foreseeing ability. They had passed the grille shutters, which meant there was another route to the cafeteria from inside.

  They dashed along a long, curving corridor that looped halfway around the compound. Tee knew that, but she kept it to herself.

  Kie watched her, impressed that she could use her eye ability while sprinting so fast. The thought made him wonder if he could master his mind-linking ability and make it useful in combat somehow.

  Speed—that was all Tee needed. The sight of the surroundings she already knew barely mattered. She sensed the distance of the walls and adjusted her stride through the curve. Reaching the cafeteria to find the Xenosapian gone wasn’t an option. She moved like her life depended on it.

  They arrived before the guards. Tee’s knees went weak with laughter. It was clear she and her comrades all had some level of superspeed.

  Kie stepped forward, his boot landing in front of hers. “We still have a Xenosapian to kill,” he reminded her.

  Tee straightened, face turning serious. “It’s in the kitchen. There’s a two-fold doorway on the right once we’re inside—keep your eyes open.”

  With swords in hand, they slipped through the teacher’s entrance. The cafeteria stretched wide, lined with long tables bolted to the floor.

  Only two exits—one behind them, one through the kitchen leading to the student cafeteria.

  Why was she focused on exits? Maybe because she’d never killed a Xenosapian. She had never tried to kill something she could become herself. Her fate was twisted that way.

  The sounds from the kitchen—metal clattering, objects tossed aside—tightened their chests. Xenosapians only ate human meat. Tee always knew there was something evil about the food she’d eaten at that Academy. That moment confirmed it.

  With her team close, she switched her vision again, trying to locate the monster inside. It dashed out from the kitchen doorway at the same moment. The vibration of rapid footsteps made her blink several times. All color drained from her face when her normal vision returned.

  The others threw their spinning swords, aiming to take off its head—but every blade missed the creature they expected to be six feet tall and was unnervingly fast.

  “Freck!” Zod yelled, seeing the thing crawl low on all fours, tentacles writhing from its back.

  The Xenosapian made a sharp turn and lunged toward the nearest target. Its mouth split wide before it leaped.

  “Move!” Tee shouted. She spun around, one sword in each hand, and unleashed a razor spin.

  The monster yanked itself back by its tentacles, grabbing the doorframe for leverage. The gum-like mana on its body peeled as it dodged her blades, but the host inside still felt the cut and blood sprayed from the torn parts that Tee’s swords grazed.

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  Her teammates avoided its limbs—they knew better. Limbs could regenerate. The head was the key. The brain was the only part not fully ingested. The Xenogene needed it to maintain consciousness, not a heart.

  The Xenosapian dodged with terrifying precision, black eyes fixed and unblinking. The body inside must’ve liquefied, allowing it to move so fluidly. Its mouth stayed open, the only sound the clash of blades hitting debris.

  It couldn’t get close enough to bite, not with the flurry of attacks. It tore down the kitchen door to use as a shield just as a spinning sword severed its tentacles. The door hadn’t even hit the ground when it happened—feet-long spikes erupted through every part of the Xenosapian in the split second before its head could be sliced off.

  Gasps escaped the teenagers as they jumped back—missing the sharp points that almost pierced them.

  The Xenosapian was growing, its surface area expanding by the second. It didn’t give the young humans time to breathe. The spikes retracted into its slick body before it lunged at another target.

  Saeda screamed, stumbling into a table as the Xenosapian sprang at her. Its two front limbs elongated like daggers, aiming straight for her chest.

  Her teammates’ swords sliced only the tentacles on its back. Saeda managed to swing her sword through the narrow space between her and the beast. Blue energy burst from the blade, blasting the creature backward.

  The dark figure skimmed across a table’s surface before tumbling off the edge and crashing to the floor. Saeda’s chest heaved—eyes wide, fixed on the sword in her hand as its glow faded.

  The others froze, torn between staring at the fallen Xenosapian and gawking at Saeda.

  “Wow!” Zod shouted.

  Kie snapped back to focus, launching his sword to decapitate the monster as it rose from behind the table.

  “What the—!”

  A metallic clang rang out. His sword had been struck midair by something faster—another projectile. The teens glimpsed it—a boomerang blade from a blade thrower, now buried in the wall.

  The monster bolted, ignoring the five young fighters and charging toward the MG guards fleeing through the teacher’s entrance.

  “It’s going for the easier prey,” Kie said, sprinting toward the exit.

  Tee’s teeth clenched. “Why go for worms when it can have real meat!”

  “Gross—it’s moving!” Miko shrieked, pointing her sword at a dark blob on the ground.

  Zod and Saeda stopped to look near her feet. The goo slid off a severed limb, revealing a pale hand beneath.

  “The host body hasn’t been eaten yet,” Zod said, rushing to rejoin Tee and Kie. “We’re cutting away its food!”

  Saeda followed, grinning. “What a greedy sucker!” She couldn’t hide her excitement. Her sword’s sudden glow earlier—finally, something her power could do had filled her with energy.

  Miko zipped past them and nearly slammed into a rolled-down grille shutter.

  Kie cursed, rising from his knees after trying—and failing—to slide under. “Damn pieces of metal!” He summoned a sword.

  Tee glanced through the bars. The Xenosapian was still chasing the guards. The shutters were being lowered from the surveillance room, but too slowly to separate the monster from its prey.

  “Why won’t those tools get out of our way?” she spat.

  Tee and Kie positioned themselves several feet apart, striking at the grille in synchronized arcs. The metal split, forming a triangular gap. Before the piece even hit the floor, they dashed through and moved on to the next one.

  Saeda followed through the gap. “Guys, maybe try not to destroy the Academy’s resources?”

  “Shut up!” Tee snapped.

  Saeda blinked, then fell silent, deciding it was best to follow without another word.

  They stopped near a wall branching into two corridors. Both hallways were littered with metal blades—some jammed into lockers, others scattered across the floor. They couldn’t tell which direction to take. The MG guards and the Xenosapian had to be on one side. Both paths ended in dead-ends.

  “Why is it so quiet?” Zod muttered, straining to hear any sound that could lead them to the creature.

  Miko darted to the first classroom on the right, peeking inside. She didn’t scream—just turned, scanning the other side of the hall to check another room.

  Zod and Saeda split off toward classrooms on the left corridor.

  “At this rate, we’ll get separated,” Kie said, uncertain where to start. Miko was fast, but could she kill a Xenosapian alone if cornered? She might run—and the longer that monster lived, the stronger it would get.

  “Should I?” Tee asked quietly. “What if it attacks me before I move?”

  “You won’t have to move,” Kie said. “Stay here and start scanning. I’ll never let anything bad happen to you.”

  Tee turned toward him. His dark red eyes glowed—steady, certain. Unlike the last time he said something like that, she heard him clearly. He meant it. Did he want her to find that Xenosapian that bad?