“It’s an addiction?” Jeremy looked up to see the alarmed look on Dr. Rice’s face after she asked her question.
“Sort of,” Kira said. She looked around, studying them compound, then turned back to them. “I don’t know what it is or how it works, I just know how I feel. That and after we saved some other people who crashed after we did, they brought a bunch of their food from their ship. Some of us tried it and it made us sick. Everything on this planet is built to survive, even the planet itself.”
Dr. Rice frowned. “Hurry up Jer, I need to get to my lab.”
“You’re lab looks a little flat right now,” Jeremy pointed to the building with the science labs in it. The megasaur had stepped on it or done something to cave in a few walls and a roof here and there.
“Congratulations, you killed it.” Kira pointed past the science building to where they could see the top of the tail of the megasaur laying on the ground.
“We didn’t kill it, we ran like babies,” Jeremy muttered.
Kira ignored him. Dr. Rice gestured for him to stand again, finally convincing him. He had to admit, he felt better than he had any right to. A quick stretch of his back and he felt ready for another hike across the plain. He hoped the next time it wouldn’t require a passenger on his back though.
Kira kept her bow partially drawn as they hobbled through the wreckage. Broken sections of walls, machinery, weapons, vehicles, and even people lay scattered about. Already the insects had gathered and were feasting on some of the tastier pieces. Jeremy stumbled, drawing a cry of pain from Synnamon, when he saw a massive insect that looked like a cross between a centipede and a scorpion feasting on a hand. The worst part was the hand was only a little bit smaller than the bugs head.
A few moments later they used the manual override to get into the science building. Inside it looked only slightly less desolate. Some sections were largely untouched while others lay with gaping holes in the walls or ceiling. A few times Jeremy and Kira had to work together to force the wreckage out of the way so Synnamon could get through, earning a “This better be worth it,” glare from Kira. Jeremy felt the same way, but he needed friends, not enemies.
Dr. Rice’s lab was exposed to the outside, courtesy of a gaping hole in one wall. Through it the body of the megasaur lay exposed. Or at least a portion of its back and flank could be seen. It was unnaturally still, lending credence to the belief that the Marines had done enough damage to kill it at last. More surprising was that several pieces of equipment in the lab remained powered up.
“Hurry,” Kira snapped. “Something’s not right.”
“What, you smell something?” Jeremy quipped.
She snapped her head around to look at him. His grin faded when her deadly calm eyes met his. “Yes.”
Synnamon let go of him and hopped over to each workstation, calling up the reports and scanning through them. Jeremy watched her for a moment, his skin itching with his need to move. “She’s right!”
Kira looked harshly at the sudden and loud outburst from the biologist. She looked away just as quickly, returning to keep watch through the hole in the wall. “Good, can we go now?”
“Right about what?” Jeremy asked. He moved closer to look at the charts on the display Synnamon was looking at.
“I’ve been analyzing our blood samples. I didn’t pay much attention to it, I was looking for increases in white blood cells and other signs of disease or infections. I missed the benign changes.” Her voice rose with excitement.
“Changes like what?”
“I’m not sure, that would take longer. Some fundamental differences but without studying them I’m not sure. I’d have to guess the changes might allow for superior bonding and delivery of compounds. Nutrients, minerals, glucose…everything! I’d need to do some biopsies to be sure.”
Jeremy stared at the screen, suddenly interested. “A biopsy?”
“Not now. Now we need to leave.” Kira’s voice cut through their budding interest like a laser scalpel.
“The megasaur is dead, why does it matter so much?” Synnamon protested.
“Because your Marines didn’t kill it.”
“What?” Jeremy noticed Kira was still staring out of the room. “If they didn’t, what did?”
“Something I’ve never seen before. Pick up the doctor, it’s time to go!”
Chapter 12
Kira pulled her bow back to a ready position. The tension was minimal while she watched through the gap in the wall. She cursed and stepped through it, pulling the bow back fully and releasing in a smooth motion. Jeremy couldn’t see her target but a shriek reassured him that her target was real and that she’d hit it.
“Go! Back through the building. I’ll pull them away and meet you at the tree!” Kira hissed even as she fitted another arrow to the bowstring. She stepped away, the muscles displayed in her legs flexing.
“Them?” Synnamon asked.
“Come on!” Jeremy said, reaching for her arm. She resisted for a moment, craning her neck to try and peer outside. A more insistent grip convinced her to turn to him so he could slide her arm around his shoulders and help her back through the base. Another animal scream hastened their progress.
Down the hall Synnamon pulled on Jeremy, slowing him. “In here!” She insisted, gesturing towards a room with an open door. It had once been the office of Taylor Warren, the legal expert assigned to the mission. What drew Dr. Rice in was the window in the outside wall.
Giving in to his own curiosity, Jeremy helped her in to the office. Outside the window they saw Kira slip her bow back over her shoulder and draw the long knife at her waist free. Three small animals lay on the ground, the last still twisting and rolling. Four others rushed at her, moving along multi-segmented legs and dragging tails behind. They were small and black, measuring no longer than a foot in length, but even from a distance they could see the mandibles on their heads.
“Insects?” Synnamon asked.
“I think so,” Jeremy said. Not enough legs, plus the addition of a tail defied the classical insect body type. Then again, nothing on Vitalis adhered to the animal kingdom as humanity knew it. A noise in the distance behind them made them both jerk. Something had fallen in the building.
“Let’s go!” Synammon whispered.
Jeremy nodded and helped her move back to the hallway. They turned towards the entrance before Jeremy thought to grab the rifle slung on his back and hold it in his free hand. A hiss from Dr. Rice brought his attention from the gun to the scene in the hallway.
Two of the creatures pulled up short from the direction of the lab. They hissed, mandibles stretched wide to reveal sharp teeth in a mouth that seemed so large it was out of proportion for the head of the bugs. Above the mouth each had four eyes spread evenly along the front and side of the head. A segmented black chitin shell covered their bodies, swelling and contracting with each breath they took.
“They’ve got lungs!” Synnamon gasped.
“That’s great, can we go now?”
“We’re trapped!”
Jeremy looked the other way and see there was another of the bugs approaching from the opening in the hallway. He raised the rifle and fired. Acrid smoke curled up from the bubbling industrial plastic of the wall beside and above the bug. He adjusted the rifle and pulled the trigger again, then ground his teeth when the gun didn’t react.
“Jeremy!”
He looked back in time to see one of the two bugs pounce, followed a second later by the other one. He fell back into the room, pulling Synnamon with him. Her twisted ankle caused her to stumble, bringing both of them down.
Jeremy pulled free of his former boss, scrambling to put more distance to the doorway. He snatched up his dropped rifle, sparing enough time to note that it was ready to fire again. He had a target a moment later when the first of the bugs leapt into the doorway. Synnamon screamed even as Jeremy yanked the trigger and watched
