We’d only walked a short distance when the beam of my lantern caught something in the darkness. Whatever it was, it was huge, twice as tall as me and just as wide. It seemed to take up the entire width of the tunnel. We slowed but kept moving, creeping at a hesitant pace. The men had their claws up and ready, and I couldn’t stop scanning the darkness as I waited for more bugs to come running. But none did. The only movement came from the massive silhouette in front of us.
When it finally came into view, I could hardly believe my eyes. It was definitely a queen, but it only resembled the other bugs a little. It had the same black exoskeleton, and six legs that each ended in a claw. The front ones were as long as my arm, and when the queen opened her mouth, three inch teeth that ended in deadly sharp points glinted back at us. She had no wings, and her body was longer, stretching out behind her where the black exoskeleton ended and the tentacle began, extending out in one thick tendril that moved past us and up into the hive.
“Let’s take her down,” Anderson said, snapping us out of it.
He stepped toward the tentacle and raised the claw, his eyes focused on the queen like he wanted to see her reaction when he delivered the blow. He brought the claw down so hard that it sliced halfway through the tentacle. The queen screamed and swung one of her front legs around so fast that it whistled when it cut through the air. The claw made contact with Anderson’s torso before anyone could react, slicing through him and cutting him in two.
Blood sprayed across the tunnel and my scream caught in my throat as his body dropped to the ground. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think or look away. Anderson’s mouth opened and closed, his eyes were wide. He reached for something, what I didn’t know, but before he’d had the chance to grab it, the queen slammed her claw into his head.
“Shit,” Tyler said, backing up.
But it was too late. We’d already started this, and the queen had no intention of letting us go. She yanked the claw from Anderson’s head and swung her legs around, this time sinking both of her front claws into the ground so she could pull herself forward. She moved faster than I would have thought possible considering her size and the tentacle hanging from her, and I wasn’t the only one caught off guard. Bryan stumbled back and the man from the militia tried to run, but he didn’t even make it one step before the queen had her mouth open and was leaning forward. When she chomped down on his head, I could hear the sickening sound of his skull crushing between her jaws.
With the queen momentarily focused on the man she’d just killed, Tyler took the opportunity to slam the blade of his claw into her neck. It sank in, releasing a spray of black blood, but all it seemed to do was make her angrier. She shoved the body she’d been feasting on aside and reeled toward Tyler, her claw up and ready. He jumped just as she brought it down, missing the brunt of her anger by inches. The razor sharp claw sliced across his leg, and even without being able to see the cut, it I knew that the wound would be serious.
Tyler went down and the queen screamed again.
Bryan spun to face me. “Run, Diana,” he hissed. “Go!”
“I won’t leave you.”
He shook his head before spinning back to face the queen. She was ready to strike, but he was slightly out of range, meaning she had to once again sink her claws into the ground and pull herself forward. The tentacle that Anderson had cut into ripped in half, which elicited another scream from the queen. She pulled herself forward again, only this time Bryan was ready for her. While her claws were still in the ground, he slammed his own claw into one of her front legs.
The cut was clean, severing the leg off. The scream she let out was louder than the others had been. She twisted her head, bringing it through the air and smashing it into Bryan, sending him flying. I watched in horror as his body slammed into the wall and he dropped to the ground. He didn’t move.
The queen let out yet another scream, this one so loud that I instinctively dropped the lantern so I could cover my ears. My injured shoulder screamed at me and I remembered too late that I wasn’t supposed to lift it. I expected it to pop out of the socket, but all it did was throb, and when I lowered my arm it still obeyed me.
I’d gotten lucky, but it wouldn’t last long if I didn’t do something. The queen was retreating into the tunnel, pulling herself back with her remaining legs. Behind her the darkness stretched on for what seemed like forever, and I realized that she was trying to make an escape. That if I didn’t do something she was going to get away.
The lantern I’d dropped was on its side but fortunately hadn’t gone out. The beam illuminated Bryan’s motionless form as well as Anderson’s lifeless upper half. His face looked so pale that it sent a shiver moving through me, and I thought about Tyler and how he was injured and possibly running out of time. Just like we all were if I didn’t end this now.
I ripped the sling off my bad arm and tossed it aside, ignoring the throb that had now reached what should have been blinding proportions. It only grew more intense when I pulled the queen’s severed leg out of the ground. She was still backing away, still focused on her retreat when I charged her. She didn’t see me coming until the last minute, and by that point it was too late.
The leg seemed to weigh fifty pounds when I lifted it. I kept it straight out in front of me, holding onto it as tight as I could as I ran. Keeping it steady even as my shoulder cried out in pain.
The point made contact with her torso and she screamed yet again, and the power of the impact was so great that it sent a jolt up my arms and through my body. I felt the pop when my shoulder was forced out of the socket once again. The blinding pain sent me to the ground, made it impossible to focus or remember what I’d been doing. I writhed as agony radiated down my arm and back, but no matter which way I moved there was no relief. The light from the lantern began to fade as the blackness from the tunnel took over, and I knew there was no way to stop it from happening.
The pain in my shoulder pulled me out of the darkness more than the voices around me did. Waking up to the throbbing ache would have felt like déjà vu if the person calling my name had been Bryan, only it wasn’t.
I forced my eyes to open. At first there was nothing but blackness, but then I blinked and things began to come into focus. Roots and vines hung from the dirt above me, and light danced at the edges of my vision. When I turned my head to the left the red tentacle came into view, its color starkly vibrant against the brown earth and green vegetation surrounding it. I shifted, hissing when the throb in my shoulder reminded me that I was hurt, but froze when the twisted remains of the queen came into view. The talon I’d stabbed her with still stuck from her stomach and black liquid oozed from the wound, leaving a puddle on the ground below her lifeless body.
“Diana.”
I turned toward the voice and found Daisy kneeling at my side. The expression of concern on her face made her look like a different person. I was so used to seeing her smiling and carefree, flirting with the soldiers that came in. This Daisy didn’t fit with the impression I’d created of her over the years.
I swallowed. “What happened?”
It was a silly question because I basically knew what had happened, but I didn’t know how long I’d been out or what had gone on while I was unconscious. I also didn’t know why my shoulder wasn’t throbbing in agony when I was fairly certain I’d dislocated it again.
“The queen’s dead, so are most of the bugs. The rest ran away.” I tried to sit up, but Daisy stopped me by gently pressing her hand against my good shoulder. “Don’t move. Alex just popped your shoulder back in. You need to stay still for a little bit.”
So that’s why the pain wasn’t blinding. I must have really been out of it if I hadn’t felt Alex work his magic. After being awake the last time, I was grateful for small favors.
“Bryan?” I had to work to stay still because I desperately wanted to sit up so I could look for him.
“He’s fine.” Daisy glanced over her shoulder and I tried to follow her gaze, but all
I could see were beams of light bobbing through the darkness. “He banged his head, but he’s up and talking. He and Tyler are getting patched up right now.”
I’d forgotten about Tyler. The cut on his leg had looked pretty bad, but it could have been worse. I shuddered when I remembered the way the queen’s claw had sliced Anderson in half. I doubted he was the only casualty.
“What about everyone else? Did we lose a lot of people?”
Daisy shook her head, but the solemn expression on her face told me it wasn’t good. “We don’t have the numbers yet, but most of us are still standing.”
Shouts echoed through the tunnel and were followed closely by the sound of gunfire. Once again I tried to crane my neck so I could see around Daisy, but from my position on the ground I couldn’t see a damn thing.
I cradled my bad arm against my chest and pushed myself up, ignoring Daisy when she urged me to stay down. “If I’m going to do nothing, I at least want to be able to see what’s going on.”
Instead of trying to stop me, Daisy relented and helped me up. “Okay, as long as you promise to stay still and watch. You can let someone else be the hero this time.”
The throbbing in my shoulder was worse than it had been the first time around, and I remembered Alex’s warning about how dislocating it could do damage to the ligaments and muscles. I was sure that yanking my shoulder out of the socket twice within a month would lead to some long-term damage, but I couldn’t regret what I’d done. Not when the queen was dead.
“I promise not to do anything unless it means the difference between life and death.”
Daisy helped me stand and I was finally able to get a good look at the tunnel. The ground beneath the opening of the crater was littered with dozens of dead bugs. The rain still hadn’t slowed, and it dropped down on the bodies and twisted vines in steady sheets while all around the inside of the crater men and women worked to pick through the remains. They carried bodies of our fallen comrades, sawed more claws off the dead bugs, and I even spotted a few scaling the vines so they could climb higher into the hive.
“What are they doing?” I asked Daisy.
“We wanted to make sure all the people up there are dead.” She shook her head. “We can’t leave them like that.”
“No,” I whispered.
Part of me wanted to stay where I was, because the thought of seeing the bodies hanging from the walls of the hive again made me sick. But I found it impossible to stay still, so even before I’d really had time to think about it I found myself moving toward the crater.
“Dammit, Diana.” Alex’s voice bounced off the walls of the tunnel. “Is it that difficult for you to sit still?”
It took me a moment to figure out where he was, but then I spotted him next to the wall. He was in the middle of stitching up Tyler’s leg, and even in the limited light of the tunnel I could see the expression of agony on the big man’s face. Bryan was sitting next to them, conscious but looking dazed.
“I’m just walking,” I said as I changed courses and headed their way. “I don’t plan on running off to fight any more bugs today, and hopefully not any other day either.”
Alex rolled his eyes, which I barely saw since he was focused on Tyler. “There’s not a doubt in my mind that if there’s trouble, you’ll find it.”
“Lay off her.” Bryan’s voice sounded more ragged than usual, but I told myself it was just the echo of the tunnel. “She’s a hero.” He turned his gaze on me. “I can’t believe you took her out.”
“I told you I didn’t need a big strong man to take care of me.” Our eyes were locked when I knelt in front of him. “How’s your head?”
“Hurts like hell,” he said. “How’s your shoulder?”
“Worse than ever,” I replied.
Bryan smiled, but it was slow and lazy. He must have had a concussion. “Not only are you the first person to escape a hive, but you had to go and be a big shot and take the queen down too.”
“She wasn’t alone in escaping the hive you know,” Daisy chimed in from behind me.
“It was a group effort,” I said as I ran my hand down the side of Bryan’s head. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, maybe blood or a bump or something to indicate where he’d gotten hurt. But there was nothing.
Behind me, Daisy sighed. “I can’t tell a lie. It was her idea, I just helped.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you.” I glanced back at my best friend long enough to give her a smile, but then my focus was once again on Bryan. “She was trying to get away. I had to do it.”
“You’re tough as shit, you know that?”
“I don’t feel tough right now,” I said.
Bryan smiled. “Well, you look it.”
“As tough as you are, you are going to have to promise to take it easy this time,” Alex said from behind me.
I turned when he stood and found him frowning down at me with the sling I’d tossed aside in his hands. Tyler was stitched up, but he’d lost quite a bit of his color and I could only assume he’d need a blood transfusion. Daisy was already fawning over him. It looked like she was going to have a chance to play Florence Nightingale again, something that I was sure both of them were going to enjoy.
“I don’t think I’m going to have a choice,” I said as I allowed Alex to help me put the sling back on. “I’m going to be honest, I feel like shit right now.”
I discovered that I wasn’t alone when Alex hurried off to help patch up some other people. Tyler, Bryan, and I weren’t the only injuries, and I couldn’t help wondering how in the hell we were going to make it the fifteen miles back to the city through the tunnel, let alone climb out of here. It was going to take us an entire day to get back, or more. Especially considering how exhausted I suddenly felt.
I dropped to the ground next to Bryan. He had to be even more exhausted than I was, but he didn’t protest when I leaned my head against his shoulder.
“When I came to and saw you laying on the ground, I thought for sure you were dead,” he whispered. “I almost lost it.”
“I’m okay,” I said. “We’re all going to be okay.”
Bryan pressed his lips against the top of my head. “I know.”
As much as I usually hated not being able to pitch in, at that moment I was more than happy to sit on the ground next to Bryan. It was depressing enough watching the bodies be hauled to the opening of the tunnel, I couldn’t imagine being the one who had to do it. Daisy had been right, most of us were still standing, but we’d still lost too many. Thirty at least, which considering how small the human population was now, was too many.
A pretty big group stayed to finish up in the hive while those of us who were wounded started back. Just like I’d thought, it took forever to get home. It actually felt like forever, too. With my shoulder throbbing and Bryan acting like it was difficult to put one foot in front of the other. Daisy had to help Tyler, which would have been comical considering how much bigger he was than her if it hadn’t been for the fact that I could tell every step hurt him. We constantly had to stop to rest, and each time we did Bryan would sit down and almost fall asleep. Alex had warned me not to let him sleep, but it got increasingly more difficult as the night wore on, and every time I had to wake him I felt guilty because I knew the concussion was only part of his problem. He was exhausted, just like we all were.
By the time we reached the crater at the end of our street I felt like my legs were going to give out. It wasn’t until we got there that I realized climbing with only one arm was going to be a hell of a lot more challenging than rappelling into the crater had been. In fact, after watching the first couple people go up, I as pretty sure I wasn’t going to be able to do it. Even with the help of the experienced climbers who had come back to the crater with us, because they were just as hurt as everyone else was.
Daisy must have seen the concern on my face because she patted my arm. “We’ll get you up.”
“How?” I asked, still staring up into the crater, w
hich had never looked so deep before.
“Tyler and I can go up first. When we’re up there you can tie the rope around you and we’ll pull you up.”
I looked toward Tyler doubtfully. He looked ready to fall over and was still deathly pale.
“Daisy, I don’t know—”
“It’s okay.” Tyler pushed himself off the wall and practically stumbled to the rope that was waiting for him. “I can do it.”
Bryan and Tyler went up side by side. I was almost as worried about them getting to the top as I was about me getting there, but in no time at all they had disappeared from sight, squeezing between the vines, and not too long after that the rope dropped back down.
Daisy went next, and when she was safely up I found the rope once again in front of me. A man from the Oakwood militia, who was nursing a pretty nasty cut on his leg, was at the bottom with me. He helped me climb into the harness and made sure the rope was tied securely. While he did it he talked about how climbing had been a favorite hobby of his before the aliens came, and having someone who knew what they were doing was a huge relief.
When I was good he pulled on the rope. A few seconds later it pulled taut and my feet left the ground. I kept my bad arm tight against my chest while holding onto the rope as tight as I could with my good one, terrified that I’d fall even though I knew that me holding the rope wasn’t what was keeping me safe. Up and up I went, higher and higher until I reached the point where I knew that if I fell now I would be seriously injured, maybe even killed. Around me the vines twisted into one another as drops of water dripped from them and fell to the earth below. I got closer to where the vegetation had been cut away and hugged the rope tighter. The gap had closed a little, leaving a much smaller hole than had been here when we’d come down, and when I was pulled through my back scraped against the vines.
Once I’d cleared the vines, the top of the crater came into view. I was still a good twenty feet down, but I could see a few faces peeking over the edge and I could hear Tyler’s grunts as he pulled me up. When I was only a few feet away, Daisy’s head popped into view. She held her hand out and I let go of the rope so I could reach up to grab it. Someone else stood beside her, and the second my hand closed over hers the other person reached down and grabbed my wrist. Together they pulled and my body slid over the edge of the crater. The jagged asphalt scratched my arm up pretty good and my shoulder got jostled enough that I let out a curse, but when I reached solid ground I was still in one piece.
The Blood Will Dry Page 26