The halls of the hub were full of smoke now, with Team B at a dead standstill. The fire, which had started in the kitchen, made reaching the sick bay impossible. Fortunately, the system had locked all the kitchen doors containing the fire, but the firewall prevented them from going any further. Currently, all five students stood defeated in the research lab.

  "There's literally no one here," Kai said. "The adults didn't waste a second leaving us behind."

  "They think we're in the pod, remember?" Trevor said.

  Kai shook his head, although it was hard to tell if he agreed with what Trevor had just said or if he just thought the adults were assholes.

  "What's up with all this medical equipment?" Alex asked. "Are people getting infusions up here? Reminds me of the stuff hospice brought to my Grandma."

  "What was wrong with your Grandma?" Lilly asked.

  "Cancer. I mean, she was old as hell, too," Alex replied.

  "Dude, that's your Grandma," Kai said. "Have some respect."

  "Was my Grandma. She's pushing up dasises now."

  "Cancer has something to do with why we're here. Stone has many files named 'cancer' on his desktop. Actually, Commander Mitchell has cancer."

  "How do you know that?" Mia asked

  "I saw her file when I was trying to find the code earlier."

  "What did it say?" Kai asked. "Why would anyone come to Mars if they're sick?"

  "That's fucking weird," Alex said. "What else did you see?"

  "Nothing. The file just said she had Martian cancer and was currently receiving treatment. I ran out of time to keep reading."

  "Martian cancer?" repeated Trevor.

  "Yeah. Martian cancer."

  "Maybe you read it wrong," Alex said. "That's not a thing."

  "How many cancer files did you see?" Kai asked.

  "I dunno know, maybe twenty".

  "As fascinating as this is, we need to work on getting out of here," Trevor said. Everything in here is flammable, including us. I bet Edward found Camden by now."

  "What if you're wrong?" Mia asked.

  "Then, I'm wrong," Trevor said. "But we're all gonna die if we wait much longer."

  "Let's dip," Alex said, brushing past the group who fell in line behind him.

  Smoke made exiting the hub extremely arduous. Mia kept a hand on Trevor's shoulder as they pushed forward, her head down. They walked like this for almost ten minutes until she heard Trevor yell, "Wait," and then they crashed into him like blind dominoes.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  ?"Just let us by you. We're trying to get out."

  Mia couldn't see who Trevor was talking to, but she felt the tension in his shoulders growing.

  "Who is it?" she asked, hoping it was Peyton with Camden in a wheelchair or something.

  But instead of answering, Trevor stepped away, pushing Mia's hand off his shoulder.

  "You don't want me angry," Trevor said, almost in a growl.

  Mia paused, waving at the smoke, squinting to make out who was causing the delay. But nothing was helping, and the figure continued walking towards them, seemingly unafraid.

  "Your choice," Trevor said, looking up as a person slowly rose above his head like a magic trick.

  "What are you doing?" Mia said. "That's a terrible idea."

  But Trevor ignored Mia completely, fixated on the floating human above him before yelling, "Run!"

  "Wait," Alex said. "Does he have a guy up in the air?"

  "Or a girl," Lilly said, casually.

  "Who cares? Just go!" Kai screeched, frantically pushing past Trevor. Mia kept looking back, but there was nothing to see through the smoke, and before she knew it, the entirety of Team B minus Trevor was safely outside the hub.

  "Team A isn't back yet," Alex said, surprised, making eye contact with Lillly, who also looked alarmed.

  "How long do we wait?" she asked somberly.

  "As long as it takes," Kai replied softly.

  Meanwhile, inside the hub, Trevor was struggling to stay in control. He'd never levitated anything before, much less someone. His hands shook with effort until finally his body collapsed, the floating human crashing down beside him. Smoke billowed over both the bodies, which lay feet from the hub's entrance, as minute by minute their chances of survival decreased.

  Mia waited patiently outside the hub, counting to 100 and then starting over again. She looked out into the night sky, hoping to see her friends emerge from the shadows with Camden and Trevor. But no matter how hopeful she was, no one came, and she began to cry and speak hysterically. "Something's wrong, you guys. He's not coming. Let go of me, Kai!"

  "No," Alex said. "No one goes back in. We stay put. We agreed to that."

  "Agreed to what?" Max asked. "Where's Trevor?"

  And just like that, Team A was back, Sloan walking sluggishly toward them with Mary Jane and Max.

  "Thank God," Alex said, hugging Max.

  "Dude, don't make it weird."

  "Where's Edward?" Lilly said.

  Slowly, the members of both teams realized that now, three crew members were missing.

  "I never signed up for this," Kai said, crouching to steady himself.

  "They'll make it out," Sloan said.

  "Or they'll die, right?" Mary Jane said. "Not all of us are making it home."

  "I'm glad to see someone other than me realizes life isn't all rainbows and unicorns," Sloan smirked, unrattled by Mary Jane's comment.

  No one noticed Presley walk back into the hub because no one tried to stop her. She stood over Trevor and General Stone, who looked dead but continued to light up the breathing sensors on their helmets. Presley pushed on them with her space boot, but neither moved. She stood with her hands on her hips for a long time, as if considering what to do next.

  "This one's on me, Cam," Presley said, grabbing one of Trevor's heavy legs. It took five minutes to move his body to the threshold of the hub. It took twelve more to get General Stone the same distance. By the time she was done, her helmet was filled with smoke, and she was coughing profusely.

  "How dumb," she said aloud. "Dying to save other people."

  But it wasn't lost on Presley that firefighters did it all the time. Smoke inhalation was the number one cause of death in fires. Was it common knowledge, or had she learned it in Girl Scouts? If humans inhaled too much smoke, toxic gas in their lungs would bind to the hemoglobin in their blood, blocking oxygen absorption before making them dizzy and pass out. Presley decided to sit down. Standing up had suddenly become way too hard.

  But then voices echoed down the hall, and those voices belonged miraculously to Edward and Ms. Lawrence, who were walking on either side of Camden's limp body.

  "Camden!" Presley screamed, forgetting she was dying from smoke inhalation..

  "OMG, you made it! Cam, are you okay? Please, tell me he's okay."

  "We got him," Edward said, scooping Camden up in his arms as Ms. Lawrence pushed open the doors to the hub after stepping over Trevor and General Stone.

  "What happened here?" Peyton asked, looking down anxiously at two unknown astronauts.

  "Nothing we can't handle," said Presley as she grabbed Trevor's boot again and motioned for Ms. Lawrence to prop the door open.