All these thoughts went through Colonel J. Christopher Wayne’s head in one second. It took him another second to realize that Big Mama Lizard was heading straight for the center of town. Unholstering his nine-millimeter sidearm, the colonel ran toward the town. Bateman, Ellway, Movita, and the others were on his heels.
As he ran, he whipped out his PRC. Under any other circumstances, he would trust his people not to panic. But the Corps trained you for dealing with normal-sized human foes, not forty-foot reptilian ones. So he barked the order that would otherwise have been redundant: “No one fires till I give the order!”
Damn, damn, damn, he thought as he saw the sheer panic in the streets as Malauans and tourists all scurried through the streets, some gawking at the monster as it came closer, others running in blind panic. I should’ve evac’d the island the minute I got here.
Finally, he was close enough to get a good look at Big Mama. His theory about the legs were almost right—the arms were a bit shorter than the legs, but not much. And she was definitely forty feet from head to tail, though she only stood about twenty-five feet above the ground thanks to being all leaned forward. Actually, she’s leaning more than a T. rex would.
He shook his head. Let Ellway handle the analysis. Right now, his concerns were more immediate.
Wayne noticed that Big Mama was moving slowly and deliberately. Unlike the movie monsters of his youth, she didn’t seem interested in crushing buildings or people—indeed, she was going out of her way not to step on anything other than solid ground.
Taking up position behind Manny’s Fine Food and Spirits, Wayne noted that his own people had moved into position within weapons range of Big Mama, but not actually in her path. He silently praised the company commanders. Maybe we’ll be lucky and she’ll just walk across the island and go back into the sea.
Big Mama ambled casually through the center of town, for all the world like a tourist checking out the sites—except, of course, that most of the sites only came up to her middle.
She got close to where Roman and Zimmerman had taken up position, near a small grocery store. They both had their fifty-calibres out and ready. Guess it’s not too weird to be real, huh, Roman? Wayne thought at his subordinate.
For some reason, Big Mama changed direction. Now she was headed in the general direction of the two privates.
Wayne looked at the pair—and his heart froze.
They didn’t look like Marines. They looked like a couple of scared kids—like the grunts back in ’Nam who would lose it and start shooting at bushes that rustled. They looked like they were about to panic.
Marines weren’t supposed to panic.
Even as Wayne raised the PRC to his lips, Roman started firing.
“Hold your fire!” Wayne screamed even as Zimmerman followed suit and also unloaded his machine gun.
The colonel wasn’t sure what depressed him more—that Roman and Zimmerman disregarded the order and kept firing, or that the bullets seemed to have no effect on Big Mama whatsoever. She swatted the air like she was being menaced by mosquitoes—and, Wayne realized, mosquitoes would have about as much impact—then turned on her attackers. She slashed at Roman, who was literally cut in two by Big Mama’s talons.
Zimmerman continued firing, now screaming, looking for all the world like Rambo. Colonel Wayne hated Rambo even more than he hated the tropics.
Big Mama stumbled for a moment, but steadied herself with her tail. Unfortunately, that action brought the tail smashing down into the one-story grocery store. Wayne heard screams from inside it.
Then Big Mama brought one massive claw down on Zimmerman, crushing him in one fluid motion.
An old man ran out of what was left of the grocery store and tried to get away. Wayne couldn’t tell if Big Mama stepped on him deliberately, or if he was just in the way as she moved forward, and ultimately it didn’t matter.
That did it. The gloves were off. His people had more fifty-calibres, eighty-one-millimeter mortars, and three one-oh-ones on Hummers. It was going to take all of them to bring this thing down—and it needed to be brought down, Ellway’s concerns notwithstanding. Big Mama was now a killer and needed to be dealt with.
“Weapons free,” he said into the PRC, “say again, weapons free.”
The air filled with the sound of explosions.
Unfortunately, all that weaponry, some of which had been used effectively as anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons since the Second World War, had precisely no effect as anti-big-lizard weapons. They were doing a number on the local flora, fauna, and buildings, but all they served to do was drive Big Mama toward the coast.
Within minutes, she had retreated through a couple of trees and buildings and back into the water.
His people immediately moved into action, assisted by Chief Movita’s people, getting the people to safety and the fires under control.
As Wayne surveyed the action, Ellway approached, along with President Moki, Chief Movita, Hale, and Bateman. Ellway’s kid was there, too, but he hung back.
“This wasn’t necessary,” Ellway said without preamble. “None of this was necessary.”
Just at the moment, Wayne had absolutely no patience for Ellway’s self-righteous bullshit. “I just lost two men, Mister Ellway, not to mention dozens of injured civilians.”
“I’m sorry,” he said, and to Wayne’s surprise, he sounded like he meant it, “I’m really sorry, but the creature wasn’t attacking. It was defending itself.”
Bateman said, “This all could’ve been averted if people had been informed—”
“Please,” the president interrupted before Wayne could respond to Bateman’s idiotic comment, “there is no time for this.”
“Exactly,” the colonel said. “It could come back at any moment. First thing I’m doing is ordering the evacuation of all civilians.”
Hale’s jaw fell open, something Wayne had never actually seen anyone do in real life before. “You’re gonna have boats out there with that giant creature loose?”
“No, we’ll use helicopters,” Wayne said, wondering if Hale really thought the colonel was that stupid.
Movita said, “There are a thousand people—”
“That’s why we’ve gotta start now,” Wayne interrupted. “If the creature attacks again—”
Ellway then interrupted Wayne. “We can prevent another attack.”
“You said that before,” Wayne said, hoping he sounded as dubious as he felt.
“And I would’ve been right, if the nine-footer hadn’t gotten loose. But there’s another one, a baby. If we find it, we can use it as a lure.”
Hale added, “Colonel, these creatures are an extraordinary scientific discovery.”
Wayne thought about it. He also thought about the fact that Big Mama hadn’t actually done any damage until after Roman fired on her. Pity he and Zimmerman are dead, otherwise I would’ve had them in Leavenworth so fast their heads would’ve spun. And he. thought about those old monster movies, and how they always had a bloodthirsty military guy in them who came across as a complete moron.
He sighed. “And I don’t want to be remembered as the guy who destroyed them.” He looked at the two scientists. “Do whatever you can to prevent that thing from coming back. Because if it attacks again, I may have no choice but to kill it.”
Waiting an hour to bring Naru in to the clinic worked out better than Derek could possibly have hoped. As he was pulling the trawler into its usual dock, he caught sight of the super-giant economy-size version of the nine-footer tramping through the island. Within five minutes, the sounds of a small war could be heard from the center of town, and then the monstrosity retreated to the sea.
“C’mon,” he said to Kikko, “let’s get him up to the clinic.”
“Oh, now you give a damn?” Kikko said harshly.
“Look, mate, if we took him in when he got hurt, we’d be in Movita’s cell right now. But who’s gonna question somebody torn up by a big lizard now, yeah?”
“Fine, whatever,” Kikko said, gingerly picking the now-bandaged Naru up off the deck into a firefighter’s carry.
They made a beeline for the clinic—or as much of a beeline as they could, given all the people scurrying about. Where the hell did all these troops come from? Derek wondered. He hadn’t been on shore since that morning when he left that clapped-out old truck of his for Kikko to blow up by the beach. Looks like Manny called in the Marines. Christ almighty, that’s just what we need—more bleedin’ yanks stickin’ their nose in our business.
When they got to the clinic, they found that the place was already pretty full. People with pressure bandages, people wearing casts, people with bruises—and that was just in the waiting room. Most of them, however, gasped at the sight of Naru, who was now covered in first-aid bandages that barely did the job of staunching the bleeding.
Doctor Hart came out to see what all the fuss was about. She looked somewhat taken aback by the severity of Naru’s injuries. “My God,” she said, “what happened to Naru?”
Derek had spent the past ten minutes rehearsing the speech. “It was all so fast, with the big monster stomping around and people carrying on. I don’t know, suddenly Naru was screaming, and—”
“Never mind,” Hart interrupted, motioning for her nurse to bring in a gurney. “Let’s get him onto the examination table.”
The nurse wheeled the gurney in. Kikko gently put his friend down on it, then the nurse and Hart brought him into the exam room. Kikko tried to follow, but Hart held him back. “We’ll let you know how he’s doing, okay?”
Kikko looked disappointed, but nodded and said, “Okay.”
Derek couldn’t find a seat in the waiting room, and besides, he felt a sudden urge for a cigarette. Since he couldn’t smoke in the clinic anyhow, he went out onto the verandah.
Kikko came out as he lit the cigarette. “Nice job. Covered your ass real good.”
“Both our arses, mate.”
“Don’t ‘mate’ me, Derek,” Kikko snapped. This took Derek aback—he’d known Kikko for years, and he’d never snapped at anyone in all that time that Derek could remember. “If he dies—”
“He won’t die. He’s in good hands.”
Kikko seemed to deflate. “I hope so.” Then he turned and sat on one of the verandah chairs.
Derek stared out at the chaos of the island. He heard helicopters, then looked up and saw a great number of them.
One of the military blokes walked by. “Hey, soldier,” he called out, “what’s goin’ on?”
“Evac,” the man said. “We’re gettin’ all civilians off the island as fast as possible.” He looked at Derek. “You got family in the clinic?”
“Kinda, yeah.”
“Well, as soon as the doc gives the okay, we’ll be moving all the patients outta there. They’ll be put in the hospital on Kalor. You two should get over to the airfield.”
“We’re not leaving till we know what happened to Naru,” Kikko said.
“I’m kinda responsible for him, so we need to stick around,” Derek said.
“Suit yourselves. Your funeral if Ma Gator comes back, though.” And with that, the Marine walked off.
Bleedin’ idiot, Derek thought as he took a drag on the cigarette. Like we’re goin’ anywhere. He wasn’t going to leave until he knew that Naru would live. He owed his employee that much.
It pained him to see Kikko’s concern—pained him mainly because he didn’t share it to anything like the same degree. Oh, he liked Naru well enough, and the three of them made a good team and all that, but Kikko and Naru were best friends. They had a bond Derek had never had with anyone.
After almost an hour and several more cigarettes, Hart came out.
Kikko almost flew out of his chair. “Is Naru gonna be all right? Good as new?”
Hart sighed. “Good as new I can’t promise. But he’ll pull through, that’s the main thing.”
“Poor bloke,” Derek muttered, wondering if perhaps Naru could have been “as good as new” if Derek hadn’t insisted on waiting before bringing him in. All my fault, he thought.
“Why would you say that?” Hart asked.
Damn, didn’t realize I’d said that out loud. He thought quickly. “That’s the way I am,” he said with what he hoped was a casual shrug, “taking responsibility for everything.”
The doctor looked like she was going to say something, but Kikko, bless him, spoke up. “Can I look in on Naru?”
“Sure,” Hart said with a nod. “He’s sedated, so he won’t know you’re there,” she added as she led him inside.
“He’ll know,” Kikko said, sounding very sure of himself.
Derek flicked his cigarette onto the verandah. “Stuffed,” he muttered, “it’s all stuffed. Dammit.”
Jack had to admit to being impressed with Colonel Wayne. He had created an image in his head of a cigar-chomping luantic who would view Jack as a weak-kneed scientist who didn’t know how to get things done. Of course, that image was of a white guy, too, he thought with no small embarrassment. But Wayne had been very reasonable—he didn’t listen to everything Jack said, of course, and had his own agenda, but he took Jack seriously as a consultant, which was frankly more than he was expecting.
He was saying to Wayne: “It’s unlikely the giant creature would return to this part of the island where it was attacked.”
“Agreed—up to a point, anyhow. Let’s face it, we don’t have much of a basis to form a behavior pattern.”
“True,” Jack conceded.
“In any case, we’ll reposition to the more secluded beach areas and wait.”
Brandon arrived then, armed with a bag of cheese puffs. Apparently the baby creature really loved the junk food, a fact Jack found terminally depressing. Bad enough Brandon eats that crap. The hope was that the puffs would serve as a lure.
“All set?” Jack asked. At Brandon’s nod, he said, “Let’s go find your little friend.” He was about to set off when something occurred to him. They still didn’t know the final fate of the adolescent—the one Jack had thought of as Superlizard, a name that no longer seemed applicable. He turned back to the colonel. “I don’t know whether the nine-footer is back in the water or still on the island. Can you spare a couple of men?”
Wayne considered this. “All right,” he said after a moment. He turned to one of his people—a sergeant, based on the stripes on his arm. “Get Radysh and Schleiben over here. And get Ellway a radio.” As the sergeant moved off, presumably to fetch the two people, Wayne turned to Jack and said very slowly and clearly, “Keep me informed.”
“Thank you for letting me try this,” Jack said, meaning it.
“I’m hoping you succeed. I hope it very much,” Wayne said, sounding like he meant it, too.
Within minutes, two Marines had arrived, one of them providing a radio for Jack. He collected Paul and Doctor Hale, and then the five of them followed Brandon into the jungle.
In addition to a pair of rifles, Privates Radysh and Schleiben carried large flashlights.
Jack had been somewhat distracted the last time he came into the jungle at night, so it wasn’t until now that he appreciated how loud the place was when the sun went down. The noise was matched only by the sounds of mortar fire from when the Marines went after the mother lizard.
Unlike their two fellow privates, Radysh and Schleiben didn’t panic, nor seem overly jumpy. Wish I could say the same, Jack thought. I’m half expecting the nine-footer to come leaping out at me. Next to him, Paul and Doctor Hale looked equally apprehensive.
But Brandon, bless his little heart, didn’t look at all fazed by the jungle noises or the very real danger. He looked more worried than scared, and Jack suspected that it was on behalf of the baby lizard. Casey, he remembered. He named it after that puppy we got him—Lordy, that was six years ago. While he was mildly annoyed with Brandon for keeping Casey’s existence a secret, it may have turned out to be a blessing in disguise. If they’d known about it sooner, it pro
bably would have wound up in a cage next to the nine-footer, and whoever released the one would have released the other. Now that little guy may be the only way to keep the mother from crushing Malau under her big feet.
Suddenly, Brandon stopped, motioning the adults to stop as well. The two Marines stood with perfect posture, rifles down but ready to go at a moment’s notice. Hale and Paul just stopped and looked at Brandon, as did Jack.
Brandon seemed to be listening for something. Then he must have heard it, because he reacted to a particular noise, though how he could distinguish one noise from another in this cacophany was beyond Jack. Then he looked around at the jungle floor, peering into various bushes and things—then he found something and moved toward it, cheese puffs in hand.
Radysh and Schleiben moved in time with Jack right behind him. Schleiben shined his flashlight at the area in front of Brandon.
Jack peered into the beam, and saw a miniature version of the creature that stomped across Malau earlier that evening. The eyes were proportionately bigger and the scales smoother, but it looked just like Big Mama, as Colonel Wayne had taken to calling her.
However, Jack only got the briefest of gazes at Casey, for a second after the light hit him, he dashed off into the underbrush.
Brandon turned angrily on Schleiben and Radysh. “You scared him! Stay back!”
Jack was worried that the two men would take umbrage at being given orders by a twelve-year-old, but they simply nodded and stood back, lowering their flashlights.
Satisfied that the Marines were out of the way, Brandon got down into a crouch, clutching the bag of cheese puffs for dear life, and moved into the foliage where Casey had slipped off. He rustled the bag a couple of times, then gripped it by both sides and pulled it open. Reaching in, he took out a handful of the vile foodstuff—his hands are going to get all orange, Jack thought with an internal sigh—and held them out expectantly.
Part of Jack Ellway refused to believe that any marine creature could possibly be interested in eating food that was laced with more preservatives and chemicals than the average pesticide.
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