Day of the Predator - Alex Scarrow [130]
‘L-like we’re not already?’ muttered Laura, lashing out at one of the smaller creatures bobbing too close.
Liam watched the leader, moving around the rear of his pack, those yellow eyes no longer on him but flitting across the ground, looking for something.
Looking for another spear to throw?
‘Information.’ Becks’s voice suddenly cut across the clacking and mewling. ‘I am detecting a burst of precursor particles.’
‘Is … is that good?’ asked Jasmine.
Liam nodded. ‘Yes! Oh Jay-zus, yes!’ He turned to Becks. ‘That’s a window, right? Tell me it’s a window and not another probe?’
‘Affirmative. The configuration suggests an imminent window.’
‘YES! Oh yes!’ He grinned breathlessly.
‘We must move out of this space,’ said Becks. ‘They will not open the window until it is completely clear.’
‘Right. Together,’ said Liam. ‘Keep together, back to back … move towards the fire!’
The five of them backed up towards each other, until they were almost bumping together. Then Becks stepped a little ahead, swiping and spinning a hatchet in each hand with ballet-like precision at the creatures. They wisely backed away from her, creating a path for them to shuffle along in her wake.
‘Enough!’ barked Becks after they’d moved half a dozen yards across the clearing towards the increasing heat and flickering light of the campfire. She turned round to face them. ‘The extraction area is now unobstruct–’
It was then a sharpened tip of bamboo erupted through her abdomen, ripping through her flesh and the tattered material of her black crop top. Becks glanced casually down at the bloody tip.
‘Becks!’ gasped Liam.
With a blur of movement, she reached round and grabbed the creature that had skewered her from behind. She flipped it over her shoulder on to the ground in front of her. Its claws viciously flailed at her, shredding the skin on her forearm into tatty red ribbons. With a savage jerk she twisted its long head. The creature’s yellow eyes and leathery black tongue bulged under the sudden tension in its slender neck. They heard a crackling sound and then the thing stopped squirming.
‘Becks! You OK?’ cried Liam.
‘Negative. The damage is significant,’ she replied, looking down at the point of the spear, still protruding from her waist. One of her legs wobbled beneath her and she dropped to her knees.
‘BECKS! Hang in there!’ yelled Liam.
Then they all felt it, the solid push of displaced air. Liam looked behind him and saw a shimmering sphere: the faint, dancing pattern of a reassuringly familiar place – the archway. ‘LOOK! That’s it! THAT’S THE WINDOW!’
Right now, in this instant, there were no creatures between them and their way home. ‘GO!’ Liam yelled.
For a moment the two remaining girls and Edward stared at him, unsure what he meant by that.
‘NOW!’ he screamed, his voice breaking. ‘THERE! … RUN FOR IT! GO, GO, GO!’
Laura nodded, more than happy to obey. She turned on her heels and sprinted for the window. Jasmine followed suit. Edward lingered. ‘What about –?’
‘NOW!’ screamed Liam.
Edward turned and sprinted after the girls. Liam turned to Becks. ‘Come on!’
She struggled to her feet unsteadily. ‘Information: I have lost significant levels of blood –’
‘Just shuddup!’ he snapped, sliding his hands under her armpits and hefting her up. She staggered to her feet. ‘Leave, Liam!’ she ordered him. ‘Protect Edward Chan!’
Liam shot a glance over his shoulder. He could see Laura hovering just outside the spherical boundary of the window, hesitating to step in. Between her and them, Edward and Jasmine sprinting.
‘GODDAMMIT GO THROUGH!’ he shouted. ‘GO THR– … AGHHhhhh!’
He suddenly felt a searing pain through his leg and saw that one of the smaller creatures had grasped his shin; the razor-sharp edge of its claws sliced through his shorts, through his skin and now grated against his shin bone.
Becks swiped with the hatchet still in her left hand, and cut through the creature’s thin wrist. Its claws and its hand were still attached to Liam’s lower leg like the