Slither - Edward Lee [84]
"Nope. Full charge. All I get is that same static that wavers in and out."
"I kept getting the same thing on my cell phone just a few minutes ago. I even went out to the far end of the beach facing the mainland."
"Like I said before," he told her. "It sounds like a military jammer. What do you make of that?"
Trent distracted her. She wanted to continue with her dissection. "Why would the army jam this island?"
"There's no reason that I can imagine, and that's what bothers me. I just have this funny feeling that something's going on here-that-they didn't tell me."
Nora thought about it. "You know, it could simply be some other kind of interference." She pointed to the door. "Or maybe there's some naval ship out in the gulf, testing its jammers."
"That's an idea," he agreed. "Or it could be the air force base in Tampa, or the National Guard on maneuvers somewhere."
These were logical explanations, so ...
Why is he paranoid? she wondered.
"What's this?" he asked next, spying the dead possum in the box.
"I found a nest of them, all dead. And-well--I guess I should tell you this now-but they were killed by the same parasite that was in Annabelle's lobster. And it's the same species of worm that she found in the shower yesterday."
The information jolted him. "But that thing was as long as my forearm. The worms from the lobster were tiny."
"They grow fast," was all she could say, and when she looked back in the microscope, she saw that the ova had doubled in size. "We could have a bit of a problem here. These worms can infect mammals, and..."
"We're mammals," Trent said very dryly. He stared off through his next contemplation. "And we don't have any way to get off the island, and to make matters worse-"
"No way to call out to someone," Nora realized. "But we shouldn't overreact. Small mammals are one thing, but humans are much more sophisticated, not to mention we have much more efficient immune systems." It seemed an appropriate thing to say, but there still wasn't much consolation. "But we'll still have to safeguard ourselves."
"What do you mean?"
Her eye was back at the microscope. "We don't know what this is, but if it's anything like what we think it is we shouldn't take chances." The ova continued to grow under the microscope, a shimmering, yellow spectacle.
"What's the worst-case scenario?" 'Dent asked. "What are the chances of these things actually being able to kill humans?"
A lanky shadow crossed the room. "They may have already done that ..."
It was Loren who'd come in.
Nora was almost shocked by his appearance: dripping wet and trembling.
"You look like you've just seen a ghost," Trent said.
"Not a ghost, a corpse," Loren replied.
"What?"
Loren dropped his gear. "I went back out to the bristleworm nest. The parasite's infected everything-I couldn't believe how fast it tore through the area. Then I found a dead body."
Trent squinted. "Are you sure? The three of us were out there an hour ago. There was no body."
"It was in the trench."
Nora stood up and faced him. "Loren, this is very important. Was the body infected by the parasite we've found?"
He sat down, brushed wet hair out of his eyes. "I couldn't tell, it was too decomposed."
"So it's been there a long time," Trent figured.
"Not necessarily. In water this warm, plus bottom feeders? A body wouldn't last long at all," Nora said.
"And who the hell's body is it?" Trent asked next. "We're the only ones on the island."
Nora looked to Trent. "Go find Annabelle and bring her in here. We're going to have to have a group discussion. Her little photo shoot isn't important anymorewe don't know what we might be up against, and with no boat and all our phones inoperable, we might be in some serious trouble."
"What about the phones?" Loren asked with some alarm. "My cell phone worked fine yesterday."
".ny it now,. Trent suggested. "Nothing's been getting through all day, not even my radio."
'Lieutenant Trent says the interference sounds like a jammer," Nora added.
Loren's brow creased at the comment. "That's ridiculous."