'Insects do have the capacity to increase over a hundredfold in size from birth.'
Diego shot Rex a sideways look. 'It's not an insect,' he said. 'Even if we are referring to it as a mantid.'
'So given that you people are all such tree huggers,' Szabla said, 'why do you think Frank hunted these eight down and killed them?'
'I can't imagine,' Rex said.
'He must have realized they were a threat to him, a threat to the peo-ple on this island,' Justin said.
Something dripped from one of the corpse's legs. Cameron ran a hand lightly over her head to make sure nothing had landed in her hair.
Rex snapped his fingers. 'In Frank's notebook, he tallied a nine count, meaning, I think, that he'd located nine of the ten offspring that had hatched and made it into the wilderness.' His eyes clouded. 'He must have kept one alive to observe, and it mated with the tenth one that he didn't find.'
'So, the million-dollar question is: What did the one he kept look like?' Szabla asked, eyeing the empty hook over by Cameron. 'Why did he keep it alive?'
The freezer door banged loudly behind them with the wind and they all jumped, the air thick with bodies. The larva cooed and squirmed in Derek's arms. When the door swung open again, they could see Savage's silhouette crouching just outside on the grass. They watched him through the corpses. Steam rose off his body in the mist.
'Why did God make puppies cute?' his outline grumbled.
They watched him expectantly.
He spit once to the side and wiped his mouth. 'So we don't kill 'em.'
Chapter 47
Wordlessly, Derek handed the larva off to Diego and split off from the others. 'I'm gonna check out the purse seine,' he called over his shoulder. 'Which farmhouse?'
'It's got a healthy tear,' Justin said. 'Plus the rope is old and cracking.'
Derek stopped but did not turn around. 'Which farmhouse?' he repeated.
Justin was silent for a moment before answering. 'Last one down on the west side of the road.'
Derek started walking again. Cameron followed him a few steps toward the road, but when Derek still didn't turn around, she realized he wanted to be alone and fell back.
Rex walked by her side, several feet behind the others. 'Something is going on with your squad,' he said softly. 'And things on this island are going to get more complicated.'
Cameron looked dead ahead, her face blank.
'I'd like to know I can count on you,' Rex continued.
'You can count on me to uphold my orders, and to act in the best interests of my-'
Rex waved her off, his arm painting a short, angry stroke in the night air. He pulled ahead, leaving her to walk alone.
They reached base exhausted. Justin collected an armful of wood, sticking close to the tents, then dumped it next to the fire and tried to wipe the grime off the front of his shirt. Tank stoked the flame with the freezer bolt. He raised a branch in front of him, gripping it tightly at the ends, and snapped it in half with a grunt. He added the two pieces to the fire.
They all tried to ignore the enormous corpse to the side of the logs. Somewhere inside it were the mangled remains of Tucker.
The larva cooed in Diego's arms as he set it down near the fire. 'It's getting heavier,' he said quietly.
When he straightened up, Szabla was standing right beside him, tap-ping the spike in her hands, her eyes gleaming. Aside from Cameron, the others didn't yet notice; they clustered around the far log, talking in hushed voices.
Diego eyed the spike, taking a step back. Szabla stepped toward the larva and Diego snatched it quickly away. He tried to sidestep Szabla, but suddenly Savage was there in his way.
Cameron looked at Savage's eyes, gone dull in the night, and was alarmed by what was lacking in them. She walked over, the others fol-lowing.
'I'm not dealing with another one of those.' Szabla pivoted and pointed the spike at the large body.
Diego stood quietly for a long time, holding the larva and staring off into space. It pulsed in his arms, squirming through the crook of his elbow. Its true legs pinwheeled in the air, searching for footing, and he turned it to his chest, the soft prolegs clinging to his shirt.
'Even your boy Frank judged the offspring to be dangerous,' Szabla continued, more calmly. 'He was picking them off one by one. But he didn't kill one because it was cute, because it appealed to him and amused him. That's a benefit of its appearance. You coddle it until it metamorphoses. Why do you think it was so easy to spot? It doesn't hold us to be a threat.'
Diego set the larva behind him on the grass and stood before it pro-tectively. His face had the hard, grim cast of a statue's. Rex shifted on his feet, intense discomfort clouding his features. Diego made a noise of disgust from deep down in his throat.
'A lot of animals exist in symbiotic and parasitic relationships in nature,' Rex said. 'Flying in under the radar, taking advantage of other species' needs and weaknesses.'
'Like those feeder fish that hang out on sharks?' Justin asked.
'Or like cuckoo birds,' Rex added softly. 'Cuckoo birds lay their eggs in other birds' nests. The parasite egg usually requires less incubation and hatches first. Then the chick throws the other eggs out of the nest so it can get the foster parents' full attention.'
'And the mom takes care of that motherfucker since she doesn't know it's not hers,' Szabla said. 'I was bio queen undergrad, so don't be pullin' no wool on my ass.'
'You don't understand the full workings…' Diego's throat was dry, so he paused to lick his lips. He looked down at the larva, lying peace-fully in the grass, its prolegs wide and momentarily unflexed.
'A lot of animals persist because they inspire a foolish protectiveness in others,' Rex said.
Diego glared at Rex, his eyes flickering with the light from the fire. 'Don't you dare side with her,' he growled.
'I'm not siding with anyone,' Rex said. 'I'm merely attempting to analyze the situation from all sides. We need to be able to discuss this reasonably. Let's start by demystifying the phenomena. The larvae are appealing because of specific, definable attributes-large heads, large eyes, a capacity for attention. They're fascinating. These characteristics conventionally enhance parental investment; here, they serve to increase other species'-most notably humans'-tolerance, favoritism or identi-fication…take your pick. Let's be aware of this and act accordingly. We can't be victim to our softer instincts when dealing with these creatures.'
'This isn't about 'softer instincts,'' Diego barked. 'Goddamnit, don't you see?! This has nothing to do with sentimentality. The larvae shouldn't be protected because of affinity or compassion, but they also shouldn't be killed because of fear. Who knows what benefits we can derive from studying them?' His eyes moist, he pounded a fist into his open palm. 'We need to know more. We need to discover more. We can't stop this amazing process now. We have no idea where this is headed.'
'That's exactly my fucking point,' Szabla said.
The larva squirmed in the grass. A seam had opened up in its cuticle, just behind the head.
Diego snapped the band from his ponytail, ran his hand through his hair, pulling hard, then banded it again. When he spoke, his voice was shaking. 'Do you really want to turn this incredible thing into a dead end?'
'It might be incredible if we had guns and boats and the luxury of a little fucking distance,' Szabla said. 'But we don't. We're stuck on an island, weaponless, with no extraction set, and people are dying.' She raised a hand to scratch her cheek, her arm crossing her chest so her biceps stood out like a tennis ball. 'This ain't no science project. It's us versus it. And guess whose side I'm on.'
A ripping sound drew their attention back to the larva. It had pulled itself free of its old cuticle, squirming out of the shell of its former self. It rippled forward, its new skin moist and an even more vibrant green.
Taking a deep, sorrowful breath, Tank pulled himself to his feet. He walked slowly over and stood behind
