seen inside the Preserve.”
“Looks like your brother was right. Whatever is going on in there is starting to affect the wildlife.”
“Insects evolve rapidly. It makes sense that they would be among the first creatures to respond to the changes in the environment.”
“But that monster is outside the fence,” Alice said. “I thought nothing inside the Preserve could get out.”
“Humans and dust bunnies come and go through the fence all the time.”
“Yes, but we’re different. That . . . That thing evolved inside the Preserve in a very hot environment. How can it live out here on the beach?”
“Just taking a wild guess here—I’m no biologist—but I think it’s safe to say that the energy of the fog provides enough psi for it to come outside the fence at night to hunt.”
The glowing ultraviolet eyes moved toward them with the quick, sharp movements typical of a creature with a jointed exoskeleton. It hesitated, probably because it didn’t like the fire, Drake thought. Then, as if it had come to some decision regarding prey, the monster skittered forward swiftly.
Houdini hissed.
Drake waited until the giant insect was within range. He aimed the fire-starter at one of the compound eyes and released the device at full power. The narrow blowtorch beam struck one of the insect’s eyes. There was a loud crackling noise and then a pop when the creature’s exoskeleton exploded under the fiery impact.
The smell of torched insect drifted through the fog.
Houdini chortled exultantly.
There was a short silence. Drake could feel Alice’s tension.
“You know,” Alice said, “in my experience, whenever you come across one insect, you can usually expect to find more in the vicinity.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
The second set of glittering eyes appeared from the far end of the cove. Drake waited until it got within range and ignited the fire-starter again. The big insect exploded in a flash of black smoke that quickly faded. Houdini chortled again, getting into the game now.
“Did you say you had a second fire-starter?” Alice asked.
“I did say that.” He pulled it out of the pack and gave it to her. “Just press this button. Maximum range is only about twenty feet, so you have to wait until the target gets as close as that pile of rocks over there.”
She examined the fire-starter in her hand. “Got it.”
“We’ll sit back-to-back on this log,” Drake said. “That way we’ll still have physical contact, but I’ll be able to keep watch in one direction while you keep an eye out for anything coming up from the opposite end of the beach.”
“Works for me.”
She put one jean-clad leg over the log, sitting astride. He did the same. They pressed their backs together, and energy shivered around them as they both jacked up their talents.
For a time the strange night was silent except for the muffled lapping of the waves in the cove. Drake savored the feel of Alice’s sleek back. She was warm and smelled good. It was ridiculous under the circumstances but it felt right to be here like this together.
Houdini made an eager, chittering sound.
Alice stiffened. “My three-o’clock position. Here goes.”
Drake turned his head and saw a monstrous beetle. “Aim for the biggest part of the thing.”
Alice rezzed the fire-starter. The beetle disintegrated into a smoky ruin.
Houdini went wild and did a victory lap around the fire.
Alice sighed. “Maybe he thinks we’re in the middle of some kind of game.”
Drake zapped another insect.
“I do realize that, as honeymoons go, this one is probably not going to make any woman’s top-ten list,” he said.
“Now, see, there’s where you’re wrong,” Alice said. “It’s all a matter of perspective. I can promise you that this honeymoon is a lot more fun than my last one.”
“Yeah?”
“Hey, this time my husband isn’t trying to murder me. He’s saving me from giant cockroaches.”
“I like your glass-half-full attitude.”
Chapter 12
THE TERRIBLE FOG BEGAN TO RETREAT A COUPLE OF hours later. Alice could not be sure of the time because her watch and Drake’s had both stopped, victims of the heavy psi in the area.
The war with the oversized insects ended shortly thereafter as the surviving monsters retreated back through the fence into the Preserve. The first faint light of dawn appeared.
Drake swung one leg back over the log so that he was no longer sitting astride and took his mirrored sunglasses out of his jacket.
“They’re gone,” he said as he put on his glasses. “I was right, they can’t live outside the Preserve during the day. They need the fog to survive.”
“Thank goodness,” Alice said. “The thought of hiking to Shadow Bay and zapping mutant insects along the way was a little daunting.”
Houdini chortled a cheerful greeting and looked hopefully at the remaining camp meals.
“Hungry?” Drake asked. He got to his feet, reached down, and opened the pack. “So am I. Let’s see what we’ve got for breakfast.”
Alice rose slowly from the driftwood log, stretching to work out some stiff muscles. She watched Drake open the pack, intensely aware that, in spite of everything, she missed the feel of his warm, strong back pressed up against her. She missed the psychic connection that had bound them so intimately through the long, dangerous night.
She studied the scene on the beach in the low light of a sullen gray dawn. There were a handful of charred insect carcasses scattered about on the sand. One of them was way too close for comfort.
“Yuck,” Alice said. She turned away from the sight of the dead monster, shuddering.
Drake held up three meal packets. “Looks like stew and pear crisp for breakfast or stew and pear crisp.”
“Choices, choices,” Alice said. “I think I’ll have stew and pear crisp.”
“Excellent decision.”
Drake rezzed three meals. Alice dropped down on the log again to eat her breakfast. Drake sat beside her. They watched Houdini go through the same dithering process that he had gone through the night before, eventually choosing to eat the pear crisp first.
Alice realized that Drake was smiling a little, not so much in amusement but more like satisfaction, she decided.
“What?” she asked around a mouthful of stew.
“Just thinking that we made a good team last night, you, me, and the dust bunny.”
She thought about that. “Yes, we did, didn’t we?”
“That said, we need to get to Shadow Bay today. I don’t think we want to spend another night out in the open.”
Alice froze as a horrible thought struck her. “You said you hadn’t heard from your brother in several days. What if—?”
“Shadow Bay has been overrun by giant insects?” Drake shook his head. “I don’t think that’s very likely, not on that sector of the island.”
