The Spawning (38 page)

As had become her habit, Miranda carried her knife in her right hand and the

device in the left as they left the compound. The other women, who hadn’t been fortunate enough to get a knife as a gift, had made crude spears for themselves. Glancing at the group as they paused just beyond the walls to decide which direction to take, she felt a flicker of amusement.

They all looked like wild women, she didn’t doubt.

“You look a bit perkier today,” Deborah observed sourly. “Share the joke.”

Miranda shrugged. “I was just wondering what people who used to know us

would think if they could see us now.”

“Ok! We look like shit! Don’t rub it in.”

Miranda glanced at the women and then studied them a little harder. “Actually, THE SPAWNING Kaitlyn O’Connor 170

you don’t like shit—any of you. You look pretty damned good. Can it be that camp savage has actually been good for us? Here we are all toned and tanned, looking like a tribe of Amazon women with our ratty dresses and spears.”

The women looked surprised, and then doubtful, but they looked around at each

other. “I think it’s the high protein diet and working our asses off,” Deborah said after a moment. “Not nearly enough body fat—not for pregnant ladies. If we were shooting for gymnasts, we’re in great shape, though.”

Miranda shrugged. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing to lose a little extra fat and put on some muscle. I’m pretty sure my caboose is still there.”

Deborah slapped her on the ass. “And a damned fine one it is,” she said leering.

“At the rate we’re going it’s starting to look a lot better to me than it should.”

Miranda laughed. “Don’t even go there. I’m strictly a sausage girl. If I can’t have pig, I don’t want anything.”

The retort had everyone chuckling. “So which way today?”

Miranda frowned. “I think we’re going to have to go a little further. I think we’ve pretty well cleaned out everything really close. We might as well start here, though, checking with the scanner and work our way out since we haven’t tried the scanner before.”

Crossing the clearing near the gate, she stopped at the first plant she came to and did a scan on the leaves and branches and then knelt down to see it she could pick up anything on the roots. “This one would be good if anybody’s constipated,” she announced. “Guaranteed to clean you out from both ends.”

Everyone studied the poison plant thoroughly to make sure they could identify it the next time and they moved on. Reaching a patch of plants bearing berries that she’d studied several times, Miranda scanned them a little hopefully. “
Definitely
poison,” she said, dismissing the plant since the fruit was highly toxic.

“The leaves or roots might be edible,” Stacy pointed out.

Shrugging, Miranda stepped back and checked them. “Nope. They’ve got even

higher concentrations of digitalis. We can name this one the heart attack bush.”

“What about the other one?”

“Poison oak.”

They stumbled upon some ‘potato vines’ they’d missed and stopped to dig up the roots before moving on. Miranda paused after about thirty minutes, checking their location in relation to the gate. Deciding she didn’t want to go any further away from the compound, she began moving horizontal to the walls. She remembered having seen a patch of lower growing shrubs that had berries and wanted to check them.

Fruit was something completely absent from their diet. Of course thoughts of

berries made her think of muffins and pies and there was no flour for anything like that.

Still—berries would be a nice change, especially if they were naturally sweet. She hadn’t tasted anything even vaguely sweet in forever.

Her distraction cost them. She was so focused on locating the patch of berries that she wasn’t focused on looking for possible threats. The entire group had waded into the shrubs filled with berries before any of them noticed the animal that had already beat them to the patch.

They all froze as the thing lifted its head and stared straight at them. On all fours, it was easily as big as a very large dog. When it abruptly stood on its hind legs, it was THE SPAWNING Kaitlyn O’Connor 171

taller than a Hirachi. It issued a challenging growl.

“Don’t move,” Miranda said in a low voice.

That was when they discovered the beast wasn’t alone. A second, as big or

maybe bigger than the first rose up to their left—between them and the gates. Miranda flicked her gaze to the right and left, trying to decide how far they were from the gates without turning her head.

She didn’t dare try any movement, fearful the beast or both of them, would take it as a challenge and charge. At the very least she didn’t want to
not
be looking directly at it when and if it charged. She hadn’t seen one before. She didn’t know how fast they could move.

They had a lot of fucking teeth, though—sharp teeth. They might like the berries, but they were
also
meat eaters. A cold sweat washed over her. She could feel a rivulet trickle between her breasts.

The moment she saw the beasts begin to drop to all fours, she let out the loud, high pitched whistle she used to signal the women in the compound to get ready to slam the gates.

She hoped they heard her. She couldn’t use either hand and she couldn’t whistle nearly as loudly without her fingers.

The whistle was also the signal to the others to run like hell. The instant they did, the animals charged. Screaming, the women pitched their spears at the two charging animals. Miranda wasn’t about to pitch either her knife or the scanner. She screamed, though, swiping the knife through the air threateningly even as she backed away. The animal skidded to a halt, obviously confused that she not only hadn’t run, but was waving something at it.

Miranda didn’t dare take her eyes off the thing, but she tried to see where the other beast was out of her peripheral sight. There was no sign of it, but she couldn’t decide whether it had chased the other women or if it had circled around behind her.

She didn’t know if the others had managed to get to safety or the damned thing was mauling them.

She didn’t know, even if she could reach the gates, if she would be able to get in.

Feinting with her blade, she cast a quick look for the other beast as the one facing her jumped back. Relief surged through her when she caught a flash of golden skin.

They were coming to help her. All she had to do was keep the thing at bay until they could reach her. Screaming at the thing again when it jumped at her, she slashed the air several times in quick succession.

Abruptly, it stood up, bellowing another challenge. She took a step back, swiping at the huge paw it aimed at her head. The blade connected with the paw, nearly paralyzing her arm. She almost dropped the knife, but it had slipped in her grip and when she tightened her hand again, she felt the blade bite into her palm.

Someone grabbed her from behind, snatching her off her feet and slinging her

away from the beast. Khan, she realized in the split second that she glimpsed him before she fell back against a wall of flesh and felt two hands clamp on her. Lifting her off her feet, the second man swung her around behind him.

Dizzy and disoriented, she staggered slightly, but managed to keep her feet under her.

Khan had his knife in his hand. Uttering a bellow that made her ears ring, he THE SPAWNING Kaitlyn O’Connor 172

slashed at the paw she’d already cut, cleaving it off. The beast howled. Lurching away, it shook its head.

Khan and the other man bellowed almost in unison that time. Her ears rattled.

Blood spurted from the beast’s ears, nose, mouth, and eyes.

Miranda stared at the thing as it wobbled and went to its knees.

The moment it dropped, both men moved in and stabbed it with their knifes until it stopped moving. Their chests heaving at the exertion, both men finally turned to look at her. She stared at Khan and Teron blankly, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that they’d just killed the thing … with their voices.

Sound waves, she realized. Khan had said that, out of the water, they needed the tubes to focus the sound waves they could emit to make them powerful enough to cook food. Obviously, even without the tubes to focus the waves, even without water to carry them, they could still emit a pitch strong enough to debilitate if not kill outright.

They seemed as frozen as she was. Abruptly, Khan surged toward her, grabbed

her shoulders and jerked her up against him hard enough it rattled her brain in her skull when she slammed into his unyielding chest. His arms tightened around her nearly crushingly.

He didn’t seem to realize it.

It dawned on her as the shock began to wear off that he was shaking.

“You’ll hurt her, Khan,” Teron said gruffly.

Heaving a shaky breath, he eased his hold on her, finally released her altogether.

“Gods damn it to hell, Miranda!” he roared at her. “What did you think you were doing?”

Miranda’s chin wobbled. “Picking berries,” she said weakly.

THE SPAWNING Kaitlyn O’Connor 173

Chapter Twenty One

Teron surged toward her, sweeping her up into his arms and turning to glare at Khan. “Quit bellowing at her!” he snarled. “She’s been through enough.”

Looping her arms around Teron’s neck, she peered at Khan over his shoulder,

shuddered at the look of contemplated mayhem in his expression and burrowed her face against Teron’s neck. “I dropped my knife,” she muttered shakily. “And the scanner.”

“Khan can get them,” Teron tossed over his shoulder with barely a pause.

Khan uttered a bellow of frustrated rage.

Miranda peered at him again, saw he was still glaring at Teron’s back and

tightened her hold on Teron. After a moment, however, she lifted her head to look around for the others.

She didn’t know whether to be relieved or unnerved when she didn’t see anybody else. “Where are the others?”

“Inside … where you should’ve been,” Teron said tightly.

Ok. He was pissed off, too. He just hadn’t
seemed
pissed off like Khan had. She wanted to get down, but she didn’t think there was much chance of putting a more comfortable distance between herself and Teron.

He didn’t set her on her feet, even when they’d entered the compound. Instead, he headed for her habitat. She discovered her partners in crime were already there waiting, wide eyed and still shaking with shock—or maybe because of the enraged Hirachi males standing over them.

Teron routed the other males as soon as he’d settled her on her bunk. Wordlessly, he checked her for injury. He didn’t meet her gaze until he’d opened her palm and studied the cut.

“The knife slipped when I hit the thing,” Miranda explained when she saw the

accusing look in his eyes.

He examined it again. “It doesn’t seem too deep. I think a bandage will do.” He examined her wrist and then her elbow and shoulder.

Miranda ground her teeth, trying not to wince.

He noticed.

He checked each joint more carefully. Apparently satisfied, he grasped her

shoulders and pushed her flat on the bunk, grabbed the hem of her gown and tossed it up and examined her exposed belly. Miranda glared at him, but looked away when she saw him begin to lift his head.

Obviously, he was satisfied with that, as well. He got up and moved to Deborah, examining her just as carefully. Her palms were abraded, as if she’d had her spear ripped from her hands. She had a nasty scratch running almost the length of her thigh, as well.

When Teron had moved from her to Stacy, Miranda lifted her brows

questioningly, but Deborah merely shook her head, sliding a glance at Teron. When he’d made the rounds, he stopped at the door and swept a taut look at the entire group. “I don’t have my medicines with me. Stay put until I get back.”

THE SPAWNING Kaitlyn O’Connor 174

“What happened?” Miranda whispered the minute Teron disappeared.

“That thing, the second one, was cutting off our retreat. I stabbed at it with my spear, trying to shoo it off, but the thing had lurched toward me. It sort of fell on the spear and then when it reared back, tore the spear out of my hands. I don’t know how I got the scratch. I was in such hurry to outrun the thing I guess I fell over a bush or something ….”

She stopped speaking when she noticed movement at the door.

Miranda glanced in that direction sharply, her mind leaping to the fury on Khan’s face the last time she’d seen him. It unnerved her to discover it
was
Khan.

It didn’t make her feel a lot better to see that his expression was now carefully guarded. The question she saw in his eyes, though, caught her attention, held it while it slowly sank in that he’d come to make peace but wasn’t certain of his welcome. Sitting up on her bunk, she patted the mattress beside her in invitation and looked at him questioningly.

His gaze flickered from her face to her hand and back again. He pushed away

from the door and crossed the floor. Crouching by her bunk, he took her hand, studied the cut on it, and met her gaze. She couldn’t read his expression any better than before, but she saw his eyes were tumultuous. Lifting her free hand she touched his cheek lightly. “Don’t be angry with me. I know I wasn’t as careful as I should’ve been.”

His throat worked. She heard him swallow. He looked down at her hand a

moment more and finally surged toward her. Climbing onto her bunk, he wedged himself between her and the wall, arranging her against his length with such care that she realized he thought he’d hurt her before, maybe frightened her.

She supposed she
might
have given him that impression when she’d peered at him over Teron’s shoulder. She realized she hadn’t been afraid of him, though. Unnerved, yes, mostly surprised and confused, though, and part of that was because she was still reeling from shock at her brush with death.

She shuddered at the thought, pressing herself more tightly against him,

comforted when she felt his arms coil tighter to hold her as closely as she seemed to need.