Slither - Edward Lee [9]
You got it. Thanks for the lift. I guess we'll be here a week," Trent figured. He looked to Nora. "How long will it take you to find this worm for Annabelle to photograph?"
Nora sat down exhausted on another field case. "It'll take as long as it takes. The scarlata lives at depths of up to sixty feet but prefers clear, shallow intertidal zones. If we're lucky we'll be able to make do with just snorkeling. Loren and I are experienced divers."
"Oh, don't worry, Professor," Annabelle bulled in. "You won't have to show me the ropes. I'm certified to three hundred feet and even have an instructor's license." She flipped her hair in the sun. "Do you have an instructor's license, Professor?"
Nora sighed and looked up at her. "No, Annabelle, I don't, but-"
The blonde grinned at Loren and Trent. "So who knows? Maybe I'll be the one showing you where the worms are."
And maybe when you do, Nora thought, too tired now to even be mad, I'll be the one to shove the worms up your ass.
"The worms are all yours," Trent said. "I'm not going in the water, and I'm not looking for worms. Not in my job description. I'm just here to show you all around."
"It's gonna be fun," Loren promised. "An adventure!"
"Whatever," Nora said.
Loren grabbed armfuls of rolled tents. "I'll take these to the campground. Then we can start setting up our lab."
"Okay by me." Nora looked around, depressed at the remainder of their gear: diving equipment and several more field cases, weighty stuff for a 110-pound woman. I can't carry all this junk. She looked to the warrant officer and the two pilots. Maybe if I ask nice...
Annabelle rushed ahead, her body blaring in the string bikini. "Oh, sir? Do you think you and your men could help me carry my dive gear and equipment?" She stood erect, hands on hips, giving the helicopter crew an eyeful. "I'd really appreciate it."
"Aw, sure," the warrant officer said. "Come on, boys. Let's give the lady a hand."
A minute later, Annabelle was leading a caravan back toward the head shack.
Nora sat alone now on the shore, mortified. "Well, fuck you all very much!" she said. Eventually, she grabbed a pair of cases and began to drag them toward the access trail.
CHAPTERTwo
(I)
"Zero-one, this is zero-zero. Repeat."
"Zero-zero, I repeat. Four more have entered the perimeter. Two male, two female.'
A calculative pause came over the transmission. "A third party?"
.Affirmative, zero-zero."
"So that's a total of eight on the island now still alive?"
"Correct, zero-zero. Eight that we've observed. The first party-three weeks ago I'm pretty-sure are all dead."
"These latest four-they're all civilian sector?"
"Negative, zero-zero. One of the males is military."
Another, longer, pause. "Other observations?"
"I've found one of the dead females from three weeks ago. There appears to be positive stage two gravidity. Transfection success appears to be positive."
"Roger, zero-one." The major sounded pleased now. "Terminate all transmissions and return to base. Bring one sample."
"Roger, zero-zero. Out."
Radio silence now. This should be interesting, the sergeant thought. At least until they found out about this new military presence on the island ...
Shards of sunlight stabbed down through the overbrush. The sergeant looked down.
The woman's nipples seemed to float atop the bags of liquefied rot that were now her breasts. Of course, the sergeant thought. In this environment? It would be considered tropical. It made dead things rot faster.
The sergeant was not repulsed. He'd seen many, many dead things during his duties. He was fascinated by them.
Ah, heat, he thought to himself. He much preferred the warmer monitoring posts. His last assignment had been the equivalent of ten below at the hottest marks. That mission seemed to last forever, he remembered, but at least the project had proved a success. The heat here-the blazing heat day after day-made him feel alive even in the protective mask.
His eyes flicked back down