The Extinction Switch: Book three of the Kato's War series by Andrew C. Broderick Page A

Antonio, that’s stealing stuff. It might come back tonight.”
    “My God, you’re right!” David said. “At the very least, we might be able to steal from it. Tony, you and I should lie in wait.”
    Antonio nodded. “I wish I could have caught it last night. It may not know what happened out there today, so it may think it’s still safe to go out.”
    “It could be our only chance,” David said.
    “Yes,” Annabelle said. “Otherwise, I really don’t know what we’ll do. Although, we could just go out and surrender…”
    “We could end up dead if we do that,” Kassandra said. “You saw what they were like.”
    David nodded. “Well, let’s try and catch the thing tonight. I doubt it could do much damage to two grown men. If it can’t lead us to food and water, we’ll go out and give ourselves up tomorrow.”
    ----
    The corridor was silent. The door to the rear room, in which they were camped, was closed, and everybody had been instructed to remain absolutely quiet. David crouched behind the doorway to the front room, leading out into the corridor, ready to spring forward at a moment’s notice. He would have been visible through the window in any other position. Antonio was poised similarly in the doorway on the opposite side of the passage, one room closer to the exit out to the dock, ready to pounce if the enigma managed to slip past David.
    David checked the time. One AM. Etienne began to whimper again. The sound carried easily out to the corridor. “Shut up!” David growled to himself. He half rose and turned to go back into the rear room, then stopped and returned to his squat by the exit to the corridor.
    “She needs to be quiet,” came Antonio’s whisper, from three meters to David’s right.
    “So do you!” No more was said. The minutes ticked by. Then they became hours. Etienne’s crying stopped again. David rubbed his eyes, and then began to stand slowly, in order to stretch. There came a soft click from around the corner, to his left. David crouched again as quickly as he dared. Then, he craned his neck up just far enough to see anything of even half-human height out in the corridor.
    Silence again. Then: there it was! A blur came dashing past. “Yarrrrgh!” David simultaneously yelled and lunged. He missed. He sprawled into the opposite room. The confusing shape turned and flattened itself against the wall two meters to David’s right. It was human in outline, if not color. It then spun and made to flee. Antonio sprang from his doorway and caught it in a full tackle. He and it crashed to the ground. David immediately jumped on them both, and pressed down with all his weight. Neither of them was going anywhere.
    “I can’t breathe!” A pair of small, frightened human eyes looked at them through holes in the strange gray and black static pattern. David let up part of his weight. “Who are you?” A moan was the only answer. “Lift up a bit, Tony.” The thing breathed in deeply, and exhaled. David grabbed at its head, and yanked off what appeared to be a ski mask. They were looking into the face of a blonde-haired boy. “I’m dead! I’m dead!” he whimpered.
    “No you’re not,” David said. “Who are you, and where did you come from?”
    “If I tell you they’ll kill me!”
    “Who will?”
    “Uhh…”
    “Put it this way. If you don’t lead us to food and water, I’ll kill you,” David said. Antonio turned and looked at David, wide-eyed, but stayed silent. The boy’s terrified eyes moved from David’s face to Antonio’s, and back again. He stayed silent. A long, tense moment went by. Then, David turned to Antonio. “Get a knife.”
    Antonio nodded, slid out from underneath David, got up, and headed to the back room. David shifted his weight so he was astride the boy, and grabbed both his arms, pinning them out to the side. Antonio came back. “They’re in the cart, outside…”
    “Crap. Then I’m going to have to use my bare hands.” David slowly and