'Sorry,' Tank said.
'That's okay. Let's check on Savage. Then we should get ahold of the explosives and figure out somewhere to hole up for the night. The forest has the most cover, but the mantid's also got the advantage there.' Cameron thought about how she had rested her arm right across the creature's back without noticing her. 'The forest is definitely her habitat. Hopefully, she went back there with her kill.' She ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek, pushing it out. 'Ready?'
Tank nodded. 'I'll take point,' she said. She headed for the road, taking five paces before Tank followed, sliding to her right.
They eased slowly through the lines of balsas into the eastern field.
The remaining torch near the hole came into view, the last flickering spot of light in the darkness. At one point, it disappeared for a moment, as if some large body had passed before it, but Cameron couldn't be sure.
They crossed the field at a laborious pace. Cameron tried to feel the ground before every step, knowing that the slightest noise, even the overturning of a small rock, could be sensed by the mantid's antennae were she anywhere near. Tank was so quiet behind her she could barely hear him. Cameron sidestepped two giant tortoises that had bedded down for the night, twinning shadows rising before her.
She had been on more missions than she could count on both hands: missions where death surely awaited several members of her platoon. And she had gone into them unshaking, unflappable. But enemy soldiers killed cleanly and swiftly. A blade across the throat, a bullet through the back of the neck, even a frag grenade in the gut and you died on the spot. If there was any, the pain was typical. If it was excruciating, at least she'd known to expect it.
What waited for them now, up ahead or in the forest, between torch-lit tents or trunks of trees, was unlike anything she'd ever thought she'd have to contend with. A clawing, biting, grasping death, an awareness even as something began to feed on your skull.
She thought about Szabla twisted in the arms of the creature-her mouth open in a scream, her eyes rolling, her arms dangling from her hunched shoulders like those of a mannequin.
The three remaining tents quivered in the wind. The dark curve in the ground where they had built the fire looked like a crater. When Tank passed the log near the fire ashes, he picked up the spike that was leaning against it. She was glad to see him with a weapon back in his hands. With cautious steps, Cameron circled the base camp once. No sign of the mantid. With two fingers, she signaled to Tank that she was moving for-ward. They eased along the grass toward the vesicle on their toes, the heels of their boots never touching the ground.
The torch waned, flickering dimly across the yawning mouth of the hole. A few broken branches protruded, flared like the feathers of a pea-cock. The torchlight played sharply off the woven mat of leaves and fronds that had covered the hole, outlining the waving foliage on the field. The shadows bounced and dipped on the grass like puppets.
Leaning forward, Cameron inched to the edge. She peeked over, pulling back quickly in case the mantid was waiting there. Among the broken branches and fronds, Savage lay, his arms and legs bent at unnat-ural angles, one hand still tightly gripping his knife. The whites of his eyes flashed as he blinked. She knew right away that he was paralyzed. He did not cry out.
There was a mound of fresh rock at the base of the northern wall. Cameron signaled Tank to stand guard and used the knotted rope to climb down. Tank stayed close to the edge, his head and shoulders visi-ble from the bottom of the hole.
The ground was moist on the far side. In the corner, there appeared to be a pile of clothing, but Cameron couldn't quite make it out in the darkness. When she realized that it was a heap of Szabla's bowels, she almost retched, her stomach rising until she felt a pushing at the back of her throat.
Savage's eyes followed her as she approached him.
'Hey there, soldier,' she said.
He smiled but it turned into a grimace. Cords stood out along his neck as he tried desperately to move his limbs. Cameron watched him and felt her breathing intensify.
Savage relaxed, then cracked a smile. 'Ain't life a bitch?' he said.
Cameron started to talk, but her throat was gummed up with mucus, so she cleared it and tried again. 'You're gonna be okay. We're gonna get you out of here.'
The red blocks of TNT peeked out from beneath his stiffened leg. He shook his head, nearly imperceptibly. 'No, you're not. You're not gonna do that to me.'
'I can-'
He laughed quietly, but it ended like a sob. 'I done a lot of shit,' he said.
Cameron crouched, then stood again.
'I done a lot of shit, but I never left a man down.' His eyes mois-tened. 'I never left a goddamn man down.'
Cameron had to wait a moment before speaking. 'I was responsible for Tank and Justin. I had to make a choice.'
'Well, now you have to see that choice through.' His eyes were nei-ther angry nor accusatory; they were pitiless.
She glanced up the steep wall of the hole. 'We can make a stretcher, maybe haul you up with rope.' Her voice sounded hollow, even to her.
Savage's snicker tangled in his throat. 'Yeah. Good thinking. Sit around and nursemaid me so we all die.'
They faced each other, breathing together, though even this was a struggle.
'I was knocked out, so I didn't see where the bitch went,' Savage said. He tried to turn his head to the mound of rock the mantid had left when she'd scrambled out, but he couldn't. 'I'd bet back up to the forest.' Cameron nodded. 'You're gonna kill her,' he said. It was not a question.
'Yes,' she said. 'I know.'
He faced her, unflinching. 'Take my knife.'
She shook her head. 'I can't.'
'My knife.' He gazed at the knife still clutched in his useless hand. 'Take my knife.'
She felt her face trembling.
'You're not gonna leave me down again,' he said. A drop of sweat rolled from his temple and lost itself in his beard. Another clung to his ear, stubbornly refusing to fall. 'Come on. Let's get this done.' He licked his lips. 'Take my knife.'
Cameron felt her eyes moistening. 'I can't. I don't…I can't.' She looked back to Tank, as if in appeal, but he held his ground, his eyes scanning the dark outskirts of the field.
Savage's forehead wrinkled with his scowl. 'No, goddamnit,' he said, the veins on his neck standing out. 'Don't look to him. You. You need to do this.'
Her face felt hot. She raised a hand and brushed a wisp of hair from her eyes.
'Take my knife.'
'I can't.'
'Cameron. Take my knife.'
She stared at him for a long time, until she felt something inside her die down. As she leaned over Savage, she pressed her lips together to keep them from shaking. He held the knife in a death grip; it took all her strength to pry it from his hand. She stood and faced him. Without his knife, he seemed naked. He lay there, sprawled and broken.
He looked up at the dark figure towering over him. 'You sure you want this?' it asked.
He strained with all his might to nod his head. The figure stood there, tall and unmoving. 'What the fuck,' he rasped. 'You gonna take all night?'
The figure bent, crouching over him. He refused to close his eyes.
Tank took a few steps away from the edge of the hole and waited patiently, keeping his eyes on the forest. After a few minutes, Cameron emerged holding the blocks of TNT, Savage's knife sheathed and stuck in the back of her pants.
'All right,' she said, moving slowly next to Tank. Her voice was husky, her hands stained to the wrists with fresh blood. 'Let's hit base, grab the flares and some more of the explosives.'
Her stride was different as she led across the field toward base camp-more purposeful. She set the blocks of
