She turned and limped a few steps farther down the tube; when she glanced behind her, the creature was gone. What appeared to be bur-rows potholed the ground, worn into the rock from the unremitting drip of water from overhead. Her shoulder brushed a fragile stalactite, sending it crashing to the ground.
She walked a few more steps, surrounded by the echo of her breathing and dripping water. A trickle of dirt landed on her shoulder. She thought at first that it was an earthquake coming on, and she was sure she'd be buried here, beneath the earth's surface, but the trickling dirt stopped. She took another step and felt a tiny vibration, then another trickle of dirt fell from the roof, clouding into dust around her head.
The mantid was shadowing her overhead, sensing Cameron's move-ments with her delicate antennae, even through the earth.
Cameron stepped and paused, and sure enough, a moment later, another thin stream of dirt dropped from the ceiling. She leaned against a wall, the lava moist and claylike against her back. Sobs rose in her chest, but she choked them down. She dropped to all fours, wincing as her ten-der knee struck lava, and crawled forward as quietly as she could. She froze, waiting to sense the small vibration overhead.
There was none.
She continued at that tedious pace for what seemed days, crawling slowly forward and pausing, listening for the vibration of footsteps overhead.
It was pitch black now that she was a good distance from the north-ern entrance; for all she knew, the lava tube would drop off at any point into a bottomless cavern. The humidity made it difficult to breathe, but she fought to control herself, inching forward, regulating her inhalations and exhalations.
Finally, she rounded a corner and saw a dot of light ahead. Another endless stretch of time as she pulled herself, slowly crawling, to the northern opening. She saw the ootheca overhead, the shriveled cords still dangling from it like wood shavings. When she stood, her legs immediately cramped and she took a few silent moments to get the blood running back through them.
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!"