She peered cautiously around the entrance of the lava tube, but there were no signs of danger. Tentatively, she stepped through the partial curtain of ferns into the forest. There was nothing waiting for her.
She glanced quickly behind her just as the mantid pivoted atop the lava tube's opening, seemingly surprised that Cameron had emerged behind her. The mantid scrambled down from her perch, the wind from her snapping legs rushing across Cameron's face. Because of her pierced eye, the mantid's strikes were slightly imprecise.
Cameron screamed, adrenaline shooting through her body, and hit a dead sprint in four steps, heading for camp. The mantid pursued, leaves and branches shushing around her cuticle. Her remaining eye was still acutely sensitive; it wouldn't be long before she adjusted her movements.
The knotting in Cameron's legs intensified, and just when she was sure she could sprint no longer, she burst through a line of trees onto the field about fifty yards west of the road, her feet skidding on a wash of rocks. A few scattered Scalesias still studded the ground, and together with the tall balsas that lined the road, they provided irregular shade.
She barely had time to look back at the forest's edge before the man-tid flew into sight, a whirlwind of legs and spikes and mandibles screaming down on her. Cameron got her feet under her just as the mantid slid on the rocks, and she was two paces toward base camp when the mantid lost her footing, screaming and flailing.
When Cameron saw her husband stumbling up the road toward her, bare-chested, weak, and bleeding, she thought at first that she was hallu-cinating. Her chest heaved as if her heart had flipped over in her ribcage, and she sprinted toward him, wanting to fall into him with an embrace. But there would be no time for that, no time for relief or joy or affection.
Justin leaned heavily on the trunk of a balsa at the road's edge, almost falling over. A thick stream of blood ran from his shoulder, crusting across his chest and abdomen. His mouth moved weakly and she knew, somehow, that he was trying to say her name. He was still a good thirty yards away, though Cameron was running to him as fast as she could.
Behind Cameron, the mantid popped up, her head rocking on her long neck. She started after Cameron. Lowering her head, she closed the space quickly, turning the ground over beneath her legs.
Cameron had not even reached her husband when she realized there was no way, in his weakened state, that he could possibly escape. Perhaps she could outrun the creature if she only had herself to worry about, but she could see even from a distance that Justin was barely holding on. He didn't stand a chance.
Behind her, the mantid was picking up speed. Cameron reached back and yanked out Savage's knife, twirling it once so the butt protruded from her fist. She closed in on Justin and he stretched out an arm to her, his eyes loose and rolling. He managed to call her name once before she shoved him, spinning him face-first into the tree trunk. She brought the butt of the knife down squarely on the back of his skull, and he crum-pled to the ground. The mantid was no less than ten yards away from her and moving fast.
Shoving off Justin's body, Cameron sprinted up the road. She felt the creature bearing down, sensed the spikes only feet, then inches from her back, and she pumped her arms as hard as she could, sprinting for the watchtower and panting so hard the air almost choked her. She broke from the shadow of the trees, then the mantid screeched and Cameron ran toward the watchtower screaming and swinging her arms wildly, knowing the creature was upon her.
But she wasn't.
Cameron turned and saw the mantid watching her from the edge of the shade, her legs snapping reflexively. The dirt felt hot even through Cameron's boots.
Cameron sank to her knees, throwing her arms wide and looking up at the sun. As Rex had said, the mantid wouldn't expose herself directly to the baking sun during the day; it would dry out her cuticle. Though she owned the whole island at night, she was limited to the forest's cover during the brightest daytime hours, needing the protective cover of the canopy.
Justin's body lay in the road just behind the creature. Cameron had swung the butt of the knife so that it would strike him between the ear and the back of the head, a region where the skull plate was solid, so it wouldn't crack, and strong enough to absorb a blow that could knock a man unconscious. The mantid only attacked moving prey; she'd left Sav-age in the ditch earlier when he was unconscious.
The mantid turned and examined Justin's body, lying still in the shade provided by the balsas that lined the east side of the road.
'Don't you touch him!' Cameron screamed. 'Don't you fucking touch him!'
The mantid leaned over Justin, scanning his body with her massive head, the spear stock sticking up like a black feather. She paused over his face, her mouth inches from his cheek. Justin's eyes remained closed, but Cameron noticed one of his fingers twitching. The mantid's legs snapped, as if she were debating picking him up for a closer look.
'Oh, Jesus,' Cameron whispered. 'Don't wake up. Oh, baby, please don't wake up.' She shook her head, her lips moving quickly, as if in prayer.
Justin's hand rose an inch above the ground, then fell. The mantid was too intent on his face to notice.
Cameron stood up, waving her hands to get the creature's attention. The mantid raised her head to Cameron as Justin stirred on the ground beneath her. 'Justin!' Cameron yelled. 'Just stay perfectly still! Play dead and she'll leave you alone!'
She thought she saw the flash of Justin's eyes, and then he seemed to be agitated, fighting off panic. His body trembled, his head rocked side to side.
'Don't fucking move!' Cameron screamed.
The mantid's head snapped down, but Justin lay perfectly still. Cameron felt herself go limp with terror, and she collapsed on the ground. She'd never felt so helpless.
'Stay still, baby! God, please stay still!' Justin wasn't stirring; either he was still out cold or had registered what she was shouting to him. The wound on his shoulder glittered.
Cameron sat on the road, her legs curled beneath her, the sun blazing down, and watched the mantid at the edge of the shadows. The mantid met her stare. As the sun rose, shortening the shadows the balsa trees threw across the road, the mantid was forced to step back off Justin's body. Cameron began to sob with relief, continuing to call to her hus-band, reassuring him and telling him not to move.
Every few minutes, the mantid had to step back to remain in the shade. Her front legs remained just at the edge of the shadows, and she moved back only when forced to by the sun, her remaining eye never leaving its focus on Cameron.
Finally, when the heat grew too intense, the creature turned and scur-ried back to the edge of the forest proper.
Cameron ran forward to her husband. He stirred under her touch.
'The speargun,' Justin said. 'I lost the speargun.' He was trembling and sweating. The wound on his shoulder was deep and bleeding freely.
'That's okay,' Cameron said. She pressed her cheek to his, helping him sit up.
When the mantid saw Justin move, she stepped forward into the sun-light, air issuing from her spiracles, but quickly withdrew again from the heat.
Cameron looped Justin's good arm around her neck and half-carried, half-dragged him across the eastern field to base camp. To the north, the creature shadowed them, moving among the trees at the edge of the forest.
Justin was delirious, mumbling to himself. 'Gotta go into the forest,' he muttered. 'Gotta find my wife.'
'It's okay, baby. I'm here. I'm right here.'
When they neared the tents, Cameron's legs gave out. Justin grunted in pain when he hit the ground, then he passed out.
The mantid watched them from among the waving trees, then turned and lumbered back out of sight. Cameron collapsed on top of Justin.
They had survived the night.
Chapter 69
They were down to their last fuel can when the Zodiac puttered up to the blue-and-white painted dock behind
