Chapter 64

Chapter Sixty-Four

Three of the lizard things stood between Connor and the sheer face of the butte wall. One lay flat on its belly about fifteen meters from Connor’s position, eyes closed, its pungent, rotting smell almost eye watering in the blistering heat. The other two were at the base of the stone wall, curled up as if sleeping.

Nothing else blocked his path across the upslope stretch to the reddish-gray rock wall.

The way the three lizards were so still…was it possible that the sunlight on their dark skin made them sleepy or at least prone to lounging? None of the lizards made a sound.

They had to be sleeping or resting. If so, it would be the first break he’d caught in a while.

His radio vibrated: Selen was trying to contact him again.

His pocket computer translated her words to text: What are you doing?

He whispered his reply. “Providing a distraction. At my signal, everyone makes a run for the manageable way up.”

That signal was something he wasn’t so sure about: a flash-bang grenade.

Would it attract the lizards or drive them away? He needed them to pursue him up the butte wall so the others could have a clear path to the easier ascent.

Assuming, of course, that he could actually climb the wall. It looked merciless.

There was only one way to find out if his plan would work.

He rolled his head and shoulders, then pulled the grenade from a leg pouch and slid it into a slot on his chest plate. After a final scan of the open ground, he activated the pocket computer stopwatch, then left his hiding spot.

Moss crinkled and tore beneath his boots. It sounded like thunder, but the nearest lizard didn’t budge. Nothing moved.

When he was a meter out, he drew his swords—whisper silent.

Another step, and the thing’s head came up. Its mouth opened, displaying wicked teeth.

He scythed both blades in, nearly cutting off the top of its head.

Dark blood spurted out from the opened skull.

Connor was already beyond the twitching beast, blades held out wide, dripping blood in twin trails.

Was he really purity, as Toshiko had said? Pure what? Death?

As he approached the other two lizards, their heads came up, too.

So, they weren’t sleeping, but they moved with a languid sluggishness that suggested some influence from the heat. Or maybe hunting their prey through the previous night had tired them.

Connor hurried toward them, more concerned with cutting them down than whether they made any noise.

One of them hopped to its feet and charged, the other raised its head.

Both blade points caught the charging one in the gut, then Connor twisted the swords and dragged them up and out, disemboweling the thing.

As the dying lizard fell, its comrade let out an explosive series of clicks and chitters.

Then it turned on Connor.

It dropped to all six legs and made an awkward series of half-jumps—the front legs catching its weight, then bounding just as the back legs came down. The middle limbs swung and twisted for balance.

Connor swung with his right hand, but the creature’s movement was too alien, too jerky.

And too late, he realized it was setting him up.

The tail whipped around as it twisted away, cracking against his ribs and knocking him off his feet.

He went to the ground.

Without his armor, the blow would have cracked bones. With the armor, the wind was knocked out of him.

When the lizard completed another bounding jump, its torso twisted back toward the fallen human.

Connor rolled aside as the thing crashed against the ground.

He couldn’t breathe. His side ached. His vision blurred.

More clicks and chitters came from the other side of the butte.

They were coming—the other lizards.

That was good. Except that he should have been climbing already. Now, fatigued and breathless, he was losing precious time.

The lizard recovered from its miss and whipped its tail around again.

Connor got a blade up at the last second, nearly severing the tail halfway down its length.

It still knocked him back, and he dropped the sword.

They were both wounded, but Connor couldn’t be sure who had it worse.

He spun his sword in a show to intimidate the thing and nearly lost the weapon.

Now there was movement in his peripheral vision—lizards coming.

Selen hadn’t wanted him to try this. Of course she hadn’t. But how could they get to the ship without a distraction? These lizards were clever. Or maybe something was controlling them, guiding them in their tactics.

Whatever was going on, the creatures had the team at a disadvantage, and it was Connor’s job to right the scales.

He backpedaled, drawing the thing away from its dead comrade, then circling back to that corpse.

The wounded lizard tried to lift its tail but it dragged.

Connor stumbled over the dead lizard and lost his grip in his sword.

That was what the wounded lizard was waiting for. It darted forward, then bounded up for another dive, claws outstretched for the kill.

Connor grabbed the sword he’d dropped earlier and cut down through the thing’s skull.

Thanks to the creature’s momentum, they rolled together for a meter.

When they stopped, Connor tumbled free.

He grabbed his second sword, sheathed the blades, then started up the wall.

Lizards closed, too many to count. Even as he found grips and pulled himself above the ground, the creatures swarmed over their dead comrades and slammed into the stone wall.

Then they climbed after him.

They didn’t slide down as he’d seen before. They didn’t get a meter off the ground and give up.

They kept coming.

He’d misunderstood what Toshiko had said about eternity. She’d meant it the way old religions had: They would know each other in an afterlife or something.

She’d always been like that: mysterious and distinctive. He should have known that her meaning wasn’t that he could be fearless.

Kids at school had always considered her something…more.

So long as Connor’s team survived, an afterlife with Toshiko was acceptable.

He took a second, hanging from one hand, to pull the grenade, activated it, then dropped it down among the lizards.

Selen would know it was the signal. She’d know what to do.

One of the lizards slashed at Connor’s boot and nearly pulled him free.

“Not yet.” He reached up with his free hand. “Come and get it.”