Beowulf's Children

Linda's, the one with no hat. There was a tiny bloodstain under the rock.

"No blood," Aaron said. "Little spots like this, but no blood! How long since—the attack started?"

"Twenty-eight minutes since we heard the skeeter alarm," Justin said.

Aaron looked around warily, rifle at the ready, but there was nothing to shoot at. "And it was all over before we got here."

Jessica couldn't move her eyes away from the three skeletons. The bones were stripped bare of clothing and of meat, but all were in place, as when an archeologist opens a grave. Nothing had broken or scattered the bones. She picked up Joe's hat and rubbed it in her fingers. Inside the brim it looked etched, or chewed.

Bones stripped of cloth, of meat, of sinew, ready to be mounted for biology class. Eyeless sockets glared up at her. Something gleamed. "Linda's chain," Jessica said. She pointed. A chain of tiny gold links encircled the neck of one of the skeletons. The next thing she knew she was bent over, stomach contracting violently. She felt it squeeze and pump, heard her own gagging sounds as from a distance, as if that other part of her were above the glade, watching as the tall blond woman tried to turn herself inside out. Aaron laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. She very nearly hit him. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. No time for emotions, you sniveling bitch.

"Cadzie," she whispered.

"What?"

"He's got to be here somewhere. Whatever did this was in a feeding frenzy. It wouldn't have taken him somewhere else."

Stripped clean. Plucked bare.

"Where's the other dog?"

"Hope to God it ran away. Ran far enough." They headed toward the mining shack.

Her collar buzzed. It was Justin. "What do you see?"

"It's Linda and Joe and one dog."

Aaron's voice was flat. "We're going over to the processing plant. The... door's open. Still no sign of the baby. Continue to record."

"Be careful," Justin said.

"Right."

Jessica was ahead of him, rifle at the ready. The ground was bare, not even dust. Jessica stopped short and pointed.

"Another small skeleton," Aaron said carefully. "Probably an immature Joey."

Jessica reached the processing plant. The door was open. There was an aroma of burnt plastic within, and an ancient, oily musk. The door creaked on its hinges as she pushed it back.

The interior was deeply shadowed. Slivers of light slanted through holes in the roof. Her breath sounded like slow thunder.

"Nothing," she reported. "There isn't any sign of..." She spun at a sudden clatter behind her. Wind against the corrugated steel door. There was nothing, nothing here at all. She heard Aaron's voice from outside. "You had better come here."

Her heart was a stone in her chest. She went outside, dreading what she was about to find.

Aaron closed the door. Behind it was the skeleton of the missing dog. Next to it was a bundle in a blue blanket. It made a coughing sound, and began to cry.

Jessica watched motionless as a tiny pink fist thrust out of the blanket and waved, more fiercely now, crying, calling for a mother who would never come. "He's alive!" she shouted. She touched the collar button, then changed her mind. Instead she ran to pick up the baby.

Cadzie clutched at her. She dropped his deep blue blanket in the dust and held him at arm's length. Cadzie was furious. Cadzie was—

She hugged him with her left arm so she could touch her collar button.

"Cadzie is alive! Dad, you hear? He isn't even marked!"

"We have found the baby," Aaron said. "He is apparently unharmed."

"Tragon, this is Weyland." Her father's voice, flat and unemotional, came from her collar tab. "Would you repeat that?"

"Yes, sir. We have found the baby. Jessica is holding him. He appears to be alive and unharmed." ‘

"Thank you. Advice."

"Yes, sir."

"Jessica, get the baby into the skeeter and stand by. Aaron, we've got good photographs. Grab anything you think might help us understand this and get out of there."

"Sounds good to me." Aaron nudged Jessica. "Go to the skeeter. I'll cover you," he said. "Get inside and close the doors."

She nodded vigorously. She wanted to run, but she was afraid she would drop Cadzie. It felt good to be in the familiar skeeter seat.

"Justin, do you see anything?" Aaron asked.

"Nothing on either side of the pass."

"Then I'll chance gathering the bodies," Aaron said. "But I don't get it. Something hit this camp. Fast and hard. Killed everything. Except a baby. It couldn't find a child wrapped in a blanket."

"Maybe it wasn't hungry by the time it got to Cadzie."

"No, that's not it," Aaron said. "It stripped a dog next to him, right down to the bones."

"Aaron, this is Zack. We think you should get out of there. You can gather evidence later."

"Agreed." Aaron ran across the dry ground to the skeeter and leaned in. "Give me five minutes, Jessica. Freeze Zack---I've got something important to do."

Chapter 13

EVACUATION

A monster fearful and hideous, vast and eyeless.

VIRGIL, Aeneid

Carey Lou was afraid. There was something wrong, and no one would talk about it. They were all calm. Too calm, so calm that their very lack of emotional expression terrified him.

Each skeeter could carry three children and one adult pilot, and under three guards, the children were escorted back up. Carey Lou was in the third group, and maybe six times he asked the same question. "What's wrong? Is something wrong?" And received no answer. Finally Aaron Tragon, big Aaron, his buddy, looked at him, his eyes like glass. Carey Lou almost felt afraid in that moment. Not of grendels or of some other bogey being out in the jungle, but of Aaron himself.

That, of course, was crazy.

So he asked no more questions as they carried load after load of children back up the mountain, and when it was his turn he didn't question, had run out of questions, and wanted only to squeeze into his seat, and make himself small.

Justin piloted the skeeter, for which Carey Lou was grateful. Whatever was going on, Justin knew about it. He could tell in the rigid set of his shoulders.

The skeeter spiraled into the air. Ordinarily he loved flying. But this time there was no joy. There was nothing but fear.

Why won't they tell us...

What's wrong...

They circled Robor. There were two pairs of guards on each side, facing away from the craft, grendel guns at the ready.

Their expressions just about froze his heart.

He had thought that Robor looked fu

Again he was struck with the contrast. Jessica and Justin looked scared. Aaron looked... intrigued?

They ushered him up the gangplank, and into the hold, and he went to the nearest knot of kids and lowered his voice, asking, "Does anyone know what's going on?"

He found Heather, who tried to smile in memory of a magic evening. She looked as frightened as he felt. "Something's wrong," she whispered. "Somebody's dead."

Carey Lou went to the front window and pressed his palms against the glass. Who? Who was dead...

He remembered who had stayed behind. With her baby. The room swam.

"What in the hell was it? I won't believe in invisible grendels!" Cadma