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For just one moment the tableau was stable.
Then the calf tried to bolt. It strained at the tether, pulled until the plastic line was as taut as a bowstring: vibrating, singing against the spike in the ground.
"Don't see anything..."Cadma
Ernst nudged his elbow, and pointed south. Cadma
It slowly changed from an indistinct blob to a real shape: oblong, rear portion low to the ground, upper body more erect. "Komodo dragon," Cadma
"Jesus Christ. The bastard must weigh two hundred kilos, easy."
The calf strained against the noose until he was gagging. His swollen tongue bulged from his mouth. The legs were as rigid as iron pipes, and the eyes protruded whitely, rimmed with red.
The thing stalked out of the south. It waddled toward them, toward the trembling calf, moving with confident slowness, stopping for a moment to survey the plateau, even pausing to stare at the blind.
"It knows we're here," Cadma
"Well insulated. Not giving off much heat. Hard to get details." Cadma
Cadma
"Aye aye, Colonel."
Was Ernst remembering? No time to think of that. Wait. Come on, baby, come on, further from the edge, out onto the plateau. I don't know what you're made of, but ten rounds of this ought to finish you.
"Parasites," Ernst whispered. "Careful. And maybe it has young—"
"Good thinking." Parasites. Like fleas on a dying rabbit. They can be dangerous once we've killed it. He is remembering. Adrenaline? The creature had moved closer. Come on, come on...
The creature was within fifteen meters of the calf. It continued slowly, paused often to sweep its head around. "I think it can see in the IR," Cadma
The calf was bleeding from the neck as the nylon braids rubbed and cut, but adrenaline drove him on. Just an instant now—
The thing moved like a boneless crocodile, each step, though apparently clumsy, rippling back through its body like rhythm through the legs of a millipede. It was hypnotic to watch, and now that he could see it more clearly, he could see and sense the raw animal power of the thing. "It's smart. As smart as a dolphin, maybe. Give it enough time, it might evolve intelligence." He felt a fleeting moment of sadness.
Then the tether snapped, and Joshua bolted. The creature rippled after it.
Ernst fired first. Cadma
Shock piled upon shock. The infrared goggles flared as if a thermite bomb had ignited in the creature's bowels. The rangefinders couldn't adjust fast enough as the creature dashed toward them. Its image remained out of focus but flared until he saw nothing but a bright glare. Ernst fired three times more. It was impossible to tell whether he had hit the creature. It screamed, in pain or defiance or challenge, or all three, and it hissed like a steam engine. Suddenly it was upon them.
Ernst stood. He had removed his goggles and was firing blind into the blood-tinged darkness. The dragon hit the thorn barrier. Branches bent, split, splintered. Thorns and bark exploded into the interior as the monster slid sideways into them. It thrashed its tail and a section of the wall fractured and slammed into Cadma
Less than five seconds had passed since the first shot.
The creature screamed again. The thorn branches flew again as it lashed its tail. Cadma
Cadma
Ernst fired once more. The creature screamed, whether in agony or rage Cadma
"Get back."' Cadma
Everything was moving in slow motion—everything except the monster.
Its speed was impossible, and Cadma
The monster had torn the fence to shreds. The great tail lashed back and forth. Each time it struck branches and splinters flew at them. It knows, Cadma
The world was a blur. There just wasn't enough light. His left eye was blood-blinded, useless, and his right wasn't in much better shape.
Exactly eight seconds after the first shot was fired, the thorn barrier was a mass of splintered ruin. Faster than a cheetah ever ran, than a cobra ever struck, something that was all dark mouth and glistening teeth wiggled through the opening, and Ernst screamed.
It was a sound that Cadma
The monster's head jutted through the jagged opening. The jaws clamped savagely into Ernst's thigh. Arterial blood spurted. Ernst thrashed and flailed. His arms flopped like a rag doll's. He struck at the creature's head with the rifle, then with great mallet fists that made no more impression than snowflakes on an anvil.
The jaws snapped again, clamping more deeply. The scream arced higher, wavered, began to fade. The monster backed out of the hole, dragging Ernst with it.
Cadma
Outside now, Ernst was still whimpering as the thing crawled up his body, looking into his eyes. Its paws were locked onto his front shoulders, huge face so close that it looked as if it might kiss him. Ernst's own blood drizzled out of its mouth and onto his cheek.