“Dammit. Let’s go before it comes back.”
We hustled up the slope, leaving more dead behind us. I had no idea if it was mortally wounded, pissed off, or just toying with us some more. Whichever was the case, I wanted to get out of here as fast as possible.
My unit—the half of them that were still breathing—climbed for the surface in a near-panic. No more urging to speed was needed by me or anyone else.
When one man slipped and fell, the rest were as likely to tramp over his back as lift him up and set him on his feet. It was a battle for time, now. We were low on air, power and nerves.
I tried to keep discipline, of course. I shouted at the worst offenders and threatened to toss men off the tracks and into oblivion. This had an effect, but it was muted. In order to keep them from losing it entirely, I kept them moving, rushing uphill.
A lot of us were on all-fours in the steep areas. Climbing over rocks and weeds with churning hands. I—”
“Hey!” I shouted. “That’s a weed! I saw seaweed! Look, troops! We’re almost there!”
With blank faces, they stared upward and panted. It was true. Patches of underwater growths were everywhere now. Each meter we struggled upward showed us more of them.
“But it’s still dark above us,” Harris complained, staring up and gaping.
“Sure is. Check your tapper. It’s damn near midnight.”
“Holy shit…” he said, “you mean we’ve been climbing all night long?”
“Yep,” Leeson told him. “You got a problem with that, Harris? If you want, we could set you up with a nice sandy spot to curl up and take a nap.”
“Shut up. We’re getting out of here. Come on, boys, we’re less than a kilometer from the surface!”
It was true, but there was still a long way to go. Another ten minutes passed, and that stretched into a half-hour. We were all taking stims and those who had run out of power were begging for others to let them leech. Somehow, we all made it to the point where the waves were just overhead.
There, I stopped and paused, sides heaving. All my troops passed me by. They were clapping me on the shoulder, grinning tiredly.
“You got us the hell out of that hellhole, McGill,” Leeson said. “I hereby thank all that’s holy and your mama too for whelping your giant ass.”
“Thanks, Leeson.”
The group slogged the final hundred steps, but I lingered behind. I was looking downslope. Looking for something special.
I stood there for a long time. In fact, I was the very last man to walk out of the sea.
But behind me, way down there at the edge of darkness, another being lingered. He was watching me, just as I was watching him.
He was big, impossibly big, but he had some respect for us now. He was staying well back, just watching.
What was so interesting to this monster? Why had he followed us into the shadows without attacking? Was it because he was afraid… or was it something else?
Thinking about it, I became concerned.
Maybe—just maybe—he’d let us go. Maybe he’d toyed with us all along, then decided to follow us, to see where we went.
To see where we’d come from.
With a shudder, I turned and walked out of the water, into the surf, and up onto a rocky beach. The stars were out overhead, and I opened my visor to catch a fresh breeze. I didn’t think simple sea air could taste so good.
-46-
Graves was all frowns and grumbles, but he couldn’t argue that we hadn’t given it our all during our undersea adventure.
“So you never got a real look at the thing chasing you? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“That’s right, Primus, sir. The damned thing was big, and smart, and natural to water. It had gray and pink skin—I think. There were hints of suckers and maybe some tentacles, or arms… or something like that.”
Graves gave me his patented stare of disgust. I was so happy to be back on dry land I barely cared. No wait, I don’t like to lie to myself: the cold truth was I didn’t care at all. Not one whit.
“So we have an unknown enemy capable of driving off a full unit single-handedly. That’s just great. What a waste of time.”
“Hold on now, Primus, I’d say we learned a great deal of critical info. For one thing, I’d say that creature is water-bound. He can’t come up here and mess with us. The pressure change alone would probably kill him.”
“Maybe, and maybe not. My xeno people are telling me that some creatures evolve their own biological systems for dealing with massive pressure changes. Such animals exist on Earth.”
I shrugged. I was already bored with the conversation. All I could think about was a hot shower and some hot food.
Playing dumb was one of the keys to keeping a debriefing short, and I employed this tactic to the fullest. Eventually, Graves figured out he wasn’t going to get anything else useful out of me, and he let me go.
The legion had decided to camp heavily on local islands, having nowhere better to go. Three full cohorts had landed and deployed from an equal number of lifters. This was good news for me, as they’d had plenty of time to set up some prefab amenities. Less than an hour after climbing out of that cold, dark green sea, I’d showered up and found the mess tent.
Gathering up my customary two plates of chow and adding one more because I was hungry, I dug in with a happy sigh. Carlos showed up before I’d finished my first plate. He had wet hair, but it wasn’t from sweat or from the
