Slither - Edward Lee [88]
"What should we do?" Trent asked. He was the group's official leader, but now he seemed to be showing some insecurities. "We have to find Annabelle."
'Right," Nora agreed. "And that's what you and Loren should do."
"You're going back in the water?" Loren asked.
"I have to. You said you saw a dead body out there near the trench. I hate to say it, but are you absolutely sure it wasn't Annabelle?"
"Impossible." Loren felt certain. it was too decomposed. She'd been with me and Lieutenant Trent less than an hour before."
"And she came back ashore with me," Trent added.
Nora looked at him. "Where did she go then?"
"I ... don't know."
"The body did appear to be female," Loren admitted. "There was still some blond hair hanging off the scalp."
"Shit!" Trent said.
"But there was almost nothing left," Loren went on. "The flesh was hanging off the bones. The body's probably been out there for days."
"Sharks, eels, and a variety of bottom dwellers can reduce a human body to next to nothing real fast," Nora reminded. "I have to have a look, to make sure it's not her. And I also need to examine it as closely as possible. Whoever's body it is, I need to see if the worms could be responsible."
"We should go with you," Loren said.
"No, we need to maximize our time. You two look for Annabelle. Split up, check everywhere. And keep trying your cell phones-and your radio, Lieutenant."
Trent seemed unsure, even shaky. "What do we do if we can't find Annabelle?"
I don't know, Nora thought truthfully. I'm more worried about what we DO find. More worms. BIG ones. "You'll find her. Let's meet back here in two hours exactly. And good luck."
The two men branched off while Nora trudged down the trail toward the beach. Now she knew what Trent and Loren meant about being paranoid. With every step she looked to her sides, half expecting to see some very large pink nematodes squirming in wait. She couldn't pass a tree trunk without inspecting it for signs of the yellow motile ova. I just cannot BELIEVE what we've stumbled on, she thought.
On the beach she noticed the tide was coming up, with a rougher chop than usual. She took an uncomfortable glance at the sun. In another few hours there wouldn't be enough light to snorkel at all... .
She pulled on her flippers, lowered her mask, and waded in.
Skimming along the bottom, she knew it was her imagination when she began to feel inhibited. The water wasn't really murkier, and there weren't really fewer fish about-she simply imagined it. Farther out, she snorkeled a deep breath and dove.
Several sea urchins lay upside down-dead. Next, she picked up an upside-down stone crab and looked at its hard-shelled underside. There was a hole in it.
She wended around a large boulder, then stopped. Another dozen crabs lay similarly upside down. They've all got holes in them! she saw.
Evidence of a chitin-penetrating parasite.
Another sea urchin quivered in a small crevice. Nora flipped it over and recoiled.
Fixed to the urchin's mouth was a six-inch-long pink worm.
Nora thrust away with her flippers, repulsed. The worms are killing everything ...
The next outcropping of boulders was crawling with yellow ova .. .
I have to be real friggin' careful! she yelled at herself.
When she got to the magnificent coral deposits that flagged the trench, she saw nothing but a carpet of dead scarlet bristleworms. They lay curled up like red litter, tossing slightly in the current.
The entire nest has been routed ...
The impulse to leave couldn't have been stronger, but there was still one more thing she had to do.
The corpse.
Maybe he imagined it, she wished. Maybe it was a dolphin skeleton or something ... She skimmed by more clumps of coral, and there it was: the darkening decline that marked the tip of the trench. Deeper than I thought, she realized, flipping downward. And it was darker. She kicked out and glided another