Slither - Edward Lee [40]
The question totally confounded her, and she knew it was doing the same to Loren. I can't wait to get those samples back to the college, she thought. If she told any of her peers she'd found a motile ova that big, they'd laugh at her.
But now they'd be able to see for themselves.
Let it rest there, she decided. For now she knew she needed to concentrate on the task at hand: finding a scarlet bristleworm for this smart-ass blond photographer.
Nora blanked her mind on the subject of Annabelle. It was like at school. Sometimes you had to work with someone you didn't like, and that's just the way things were. Nora had never had a problem with clashing personalities.
So why now?
Something felt ticking inside her. She turned the lantern all the way down, to draw fewer bugs, and to think about anything but Annabelle ...
That's when she realized her eyes were focused on something ...
With the lantern off, darkness reclaimed the cove.
So ... what the hell is that light?
It wasn't coming from the first head shack that she and Loren were using as a lab. One of those down there...
She kept the light off, and walked quickly down the row of old missile units. She kept her eye trained, thinking it would go away as she approached, that it was just an odd reflection of moonlight, or some foxfire. But no ...
A thin beam of light seemed to be leaking out of the roof of the head shack at the very end of the row.
She walked right up to the long brick building and stared upward. Yeah. That's definitely light. Electric light. The building's roof of corrugated metal was arch shaped, and there was very clearly a hole in it. The beam of light shot up into the trees.
Why would the inside lights be on? None of these head shacks had been used in years.
Then the obvious answer came to her. Trent checks these places every month for signs of squatters and vandalism. He probably forgot to turn the lights off last time he checked.
No big mystery.
But when she turned to leave, something else caught her eye.
More light.
At the very edge of the next building's roof, where the metal met the brick, she saw the faintest line of light leaking out.
Hmm.
She checked the rest of the head shacks and found no further evidence of lights on inside. Then she checked the doors and found them all locked.
I'll have to remember to tell him tomorrow...
She looked around and realized she was suddenly ill at ease. She supposed this was a creepy place to be alone in. Earlier, when she'd been studying the ova, she thought she'd heard voices outside, even a shriek, but she knew it was either her imagination or a night bird somewhere.
She strode hastily back to the campsite, or so she thought when she realized she'd taken the wrong trail.
She was about to turn the lantern back on when-
A voice fluttered.
"God, that's good ..."
A woman's voice.
In another small cove, she saw pale shapes moving. She kept the lantern off, squinting as the moonlight brought out details. At first she wasn't sure, then-
I don't believe what I'm seeing.-. .
It was Trent and Annabelle, both naked.
How tacky, Nora thought. They're doing it standing up.
Evidently Trent was stronger than he looked. Annabelle's arms and legs were wrapped around him as Trent's pelvis stroked her in an almost machinelike rhythm. Her breasts squashed against his chest, her ankles locked; she was hanging on to him-a monkey on a tree, only Trent was the tree. Judging the noises that came from Annabelle, it was apparent she was enjoying it, but-
Nora was aghast. This was making love? This was a physical gesture of passion? Nora's mind broke it down to bare parts: They're just standing there, screwing. They don't really even know each other! It was true, they'd only met this morning, and here they were, two animals in the woods.
Is that what it's all about? Nora wondered dismally. I guess that's just the way some people are ...
Eventually, Trent lowered the blonde to the ground, to continue, and then she broke into a new round of gasps and moans, Trent's hips pounding onward, a mindless derrick.