Page 115 of Bound By Stars

The crowd expands, sending people stumbling down the stairs toward Weslie. I pop up, leaning out like I could grab her, but there’s too much distance.

A man falls down the steps, tumbling toward her.

Before Wes can shift her weight to the safe side, he knocks her off balance. Her body falls back over the rail, toward the open drop.

I grip my hair with both hands.

Her body slams into the lower bar of the railing, arms and legs still wrapped around the top. Holding tight, she hangs over the long drop.

On the platform below, the man rolls into the wall with a heavythwack.

“I’m all right.” She unhooks her ankle, finding the outer edge of the stairs again, and heaves herself over. Turning back, she leans out and reaches out her hand. “Come on. Your turn.”

I glance at the landing, still packed with too many people, shouting and fighting and pushing to get through. Still blocked. Shaking my head, I step over.

“Good, good. Now lower down and reach across. It’s not as far as it looks.”

When I grab the bar next to her, she locks her hands around my forearm.

“Now your feet.”

Loud clanking footsteps beat against the stairs above and behind me. I freeze, suspended over the dark void. I clench my fingers tighter. More people pour into the congested stairwell. A couple whispers to each other, eyeing our escape route like they’re waiting to see if I survive.

“Hurry.” Weslie squeezes my arm.

I jump down and pull myself across, slamming my chest against the handrail. Weslie grabs hold of my shirt as I scramble over as fast as I can move.

Behind me, two people step over the guardrail to follow.

A tremor rolls through the ship, rattling the steel under our feet. Weslie and I both grip the railing and huddle together. The wail of tearing metal cuts through a chorus of panicked cries. A thunderousboomrips through the stairwell, vibrating deep in my chest.

Something slams into the bars next to us. Weslie recoils, losing her balance, but I catch her and tuck her against my shoulder.

A descending scream is cut short by a sickening crack. Increasingly quieter thuds and clunks echo up through the stairwell as the sounds of the crumbling vessel go quiet. When the shaking stops, I look back. Only one person clings to the outside of the railing where two stood before.

The crowd behind us grows louder. More yelling. More fighting.

“We have to move,” Weslie whispers, eyeing the angry herd.

We hurry down the stairs, stepping over the unconscious man on the landing, and descend the next flight. A bright red splatter on the outer edge of the middle step makes my insides twist. I avert my eyes and move faster, following Weslie to the empty level below.

Ahead of me, Wes slaps the door button.

Inside, a smaller crowd of people dressed in worn clothing is piled into the second escape pod bay past a row of red lights over sealed doors. Dark space and stars fill the windows in between. All the pods are gone, aside from one. The single green light glows over the unmoving pack.

I scan the faces. Sun-stained and tired. Second-class passengers. Our friends aren’t here. Maybe they got out.

“Back up, all of you!”

“Gianna?” I rise onto my toes and find the familiar face, blotchy and beaded with sweat like she’s had to fight her way here. Blocking the open door to the last pod, she meets my gaze over the crowd, holding a gun steady in her grip.

Chapter Forty-Three

Jupiter

Six days to Mars

“Step aside and let him through.” Gianna waves her weapon, parting the crowd.

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