The horses crossed the flatlands with long strides, in more of a cluster than a line. Laura’s and Okane’s horses had been returned to them, and the packhorses galloped in the rear, with Cherry taking the lead once more.
“So what actually happened last night?” Laura asked as they clambered over a dry streambed. “Grim said that neither of you got hurt, but—”
“We made enough noise for them to realize we were coming, but they thought we were scavengers. They’d killed a felin and had the proof for payment, so they thought we were coming to steal it,” said Cherry. “They hid until we came in, and as soon as they saw me, they lost it. Started yelling something about us being there to wipe out the rest of the goddamn island.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“What, you can’t tell?” Cherry turned in the saddle and pointed at her face, wearing a sneer more jaded than derisive. “My name’s actually Sakura. I’m Wasureijin, one of the Forgotten People. Uninformed people would call us ‘native,’ but the label’s so wrong it’s laughable. My people created the monster you’re supposed to deal with.”
“Is that why that man was yelling about hito-lovers?” Okane piped up.
“He sounded pretty stupid, didn’t he? ‘Hito’ is a word for person. He called you people-lovers. Probably didn’t realize it, though.” Cherry straightened out again. “Anyway, we got into a scuffle. Poor Grim here didn’t know what to do! He’s so used to scaring people off he doesn’t know what to do when actually confronted.”
Grim’s nose wrinkled minutely in embarrassment.
“I was able to take care of it myself. One of the other men might be dead. He got hit, but crawled off before we could so much as give him a bandage. The rest of them ran for it. And then we went back to find you, and all we found were the horses!”
“Sorry,” said Okane, but she ignored him.
“We split right afterwards to try finding you. I thought we’d cover more ground that way, and reconvene later whether or not we had any luck. Not many people can say they survived a night in the wilds without help. You’ll have some fantastic bragging rights when you get back to the city.”
Grim lifted his head. Without any other sign his horse gained speed, galloping to the front of the group.
“It’s close,” he whispered.
“Is there anything special about this one?” Laura asked, grabbing the saddle horn as her own horse moved to keep up.
“The infestation is on the move, but considering its location, it’s not that difficult to track down,” said Cherry. “Wait a few minutes and you’ll hear it too.”
A howling rose in front of them, a low bellow that sounded nothing like the shrill sound she associated with infestations. Laura looked at Cherry, incredulous.
“What is that?”
“That would be your location.”
They crested one of the hills and came to a halt. In the wide gully before them was a felin. The animal was big and thickly set, a lionlike abomination of gold and a myriad of brighter underlying colors, tossing its mightily spiked head and thrashing its long tail, burning eyes rolling in their sockets as it flailed. The deafening sound and the sight of the beast made the horses fidget, ears pressed back against their heads, and Laura had half a mind to run the other way. Strangely enough, it didn’t seem to notice their presence at all. Grim’s horse stepped in front of the others, the sole animal unaffected. Now that he had everyone’s attention, Grim nodded toward the felin and said, “Look at its head.”
The felin charged the opposite side of the gully, digging its claws into the grassy side as it collided and writhed, roaring again. With its head in plain sight, Laura spotted the problem. Wedged between the spikes there was a glint of metal. Whatever the object was, it was thin but larger than a human hand.
“Is that the amulet?”
“An artifact of the crusades, most likely,” Grim replied.
“There’s a lot of old amulets in the wilds,” said Cherry. “During the high age of magic, people didn’t think twice about leaving them behind. They had no reason not to, when there weren’t monsters using them as shells. Sweeper excursions happened even before ERA started doing it officially, so a lot of those amulets have been picked up over the years, but the remaining ones are very dangerous. Some have become dormant in recent years and lose power that way, but you wake one up?” She snapped her fingers, as if this were all the explanation needed.
“But how’d this one get stuck on a felin of all things?” said Laura. “Felin eat magic, right? An infestation’s the opposite of magic.”
“It’s possible that it simply tracked the magical hollow, without realizing what was inside.” Grim kept his horse moving, calm as anything, and its own quietness seemed to infect the others. “Felin are magic creatures. The man who created them meant for them to combat infestations. They were built to be living rams, absorbing magic to wield against infestations in physical attacks. They didn’t turn out as expected, but they retain that aspect of their construction. Your infestation has been fighting the influence of magic for over a week.”
“Weaker or not, it’s still stuck on another monster,” Okane pointed out.
“True,” said Laura, eyeing the beast reproachfully; even with Grim’s steed in the way, her horse fidgeted badly. “Any tips on dealing with rampaging felin?”
“Look no further. Grim’s one of the best headhunters in Terual,” said Cherry.
His brow furrowed. “Felin are one thing. Infestations are another.”
“And infestations are what we’re here to take care of. Great how that works out,” said Laura.
“What do you think, Grim, can you take her out from here?” said Cherry.
“I could.”
“I don’t think - - - should. Not yet, anyway,” said Okane. “I mean, - - - said the felin is keeping pressure on the infestation with its magic, right? So long as it’s alive, it’ll keep doing that.”
“But can you get close enough to do your job?” said Cherry.
“It’s not like we’re hitting it with sticks. We do need some distance. It’s just … aiming.” Laura gestured uselessly.
“That’s a small target,” said Grim.
“We can make it bigger though, right?” Okane glanced at Laura. “If we draw it out?”
“How do we do that? They usually come out looking for food, but this one’s occupied.”
“Would a decoy work?” Cherry suggested.
“If it’s this preoccupied?”
As if to prove the point the felin rolled over completely, wheeling across the gully and hitting the wall so the ground shook beneath their feet.
“Maybe we can get the felin to drive it out,” Laura suggested. “If they’re supposed to combat it, just fire this thing up and we can help it out.”
“You really want to piss off a felin?”
“Yeah?” Laura folded her arms, pressing down on her stomach to quash any nerves. “They can take each other out. If the infestation wins, we attack. If the felin wins—”
“Then Grim might get a good head hunt in.” Cherry smirked. “So, if we want to bait it, we’ll need amulets. Got any on you, Grim?”
He turned out his pockets, revealing only more caramels.
“If it’s magic, I might be useful,” said Okane.
Laura glared. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’ve been practicing.”
“Do you have an amulet?” Cherry interrupted.
“No, I just have more magic than most people.”
Cherry raised her eyebrows but didn’t comment. “So we use you as the bait.”
“As long as - - - make sure I don’t die.”
“You can stick with me,” said Grim.
He gestured for Okane to climb over to his horse. After some hesitation Okane did, settling awkwardly on the saddle behind him.
“Hold on, but don’t touch my skin,” he ordered.
“Touch his skin and he breaks out in hives,” Cherry snickered.
The gray horse trotted along the gully. Cherry followed.
“We ready, then?”
“I guess,” said Okane. “Laura?”
She pulled out an Egg. An odd feeling shot up her arm, and she looked down. This wasn’t the Egg with a painted lid, but somehow it still simmered with the angry feeling of Clae’s magic. She reached back to her bag, tapped her knuckles against all the others in her inventory. Every single one echoed Clae. The painted Egg hadn’t even been in the same section, tucked instead inside the smaller pack on her hip. How was this possible? Should she be worried? No. If Clae’s will was somehow working through the kin, she could trust it. She swallowed her unease.
“Ready on your signal,” she said.
Okane let out a shuddering breath and closed his eyes. Laura felt a light fluctuation in the air first, like an unsteady breeze or changing temperature, before she heard the distinct crackle of his magic. Grim jolted in the saddle. The felin’s head lifted, eyes burning from yellowish to red. It snarled, and the infestation atop it fluctuated. For a moment all was still; then the felin lunged. It couldn’t scale the side but slammed into it, high enough for its head to breach the top and snap. The horses spooked and took off. Okane clung to Grim’s back; with the new scare his magic wavered, giving off more popping, which only lent more speed to the horse’s flight. The felin followed. Its spikes ripped chunks of earth from the gully slope as it thundered away. It kept throwing itself at the wall, claws scrabbling for purchase. Every little noise from Okane’s direction drove it more insane. The infestation roiled, bubbling and sprouting tendrils, squalling a dreadful note of its own. Just as planned, the influx of power had driven more of it from the amulet; it had to grow and fight back if it didn’t want to be extinguished.
Laura pulled out an Egg and dug her heels into the horse’s sides. The animal didn’t speed up; it kept level with Cherry and didn’t budge. Grim hauled on his horse’s reins, and it veered right. Cherry and Laura were almost upon them, and had to swerve to avoid it. The gully had grown shallow enough for the felin to barrel over the side. It charged past Laura as if she didn’t exist, close enough to touch. In its wake came fatigue. She slumped, suddenly short of breath, and her fingers loosened. The Egg fell and smashed, unarmed and useless. Cherry wavered on her own horse but kept upright. Laura gritted her teeth and hauled herself straight again.
“I can’t do anything like this!” Laura hissed.
“What, you want closer?”
Closer meant more drain; that wouldn’t do. “Ahead? Out of its energy range.”
The black horse sped up, and Laura’s charged to catch it. Ahead the gray horse wove left and right. With every swerve the felin fell further behind. The beast with its heavy spikes couldn’t master turning. Its momentum carried it several feet before its claws rent enough earth for it to change direction. On one turn it slid clean into a rock formation, and earth cascaded onto it. Cherry and Laura galloped past while it was stuck, and Laura lobbed another Egg. It burst on the felin’s head. Kin roared, gold ripping out of its glass to claw at rock and spikes. The infestation was completely overshadowed. But the light didn’t linger. The kin roar tapered, and the blast sucked itself right back in. The purple tints on the felin’s sides grew darker. It bared its teeth with a stronger snarl, and the air grew heavy. Cherry’s horse almost lost footing completely before escaping the danger zone.
“Damn beast,” she snarled, gathering up the reins. “It’ll absorb any attack you throw at it. Should’ve had Grim take care of it at the start.”
But Laura was getting a nauseous, awful feeling that had nothing to do with the animal.
“Wait for it!” she called. “An infestation doesn’t drop that easily!”
Whatever it was, Okane felt it too. He squeaked something unintelligible and beat his hand against Grim’s shoulder. The felin took one step forward, then shuddered. Trembling, it arched its back, mouth gaping open before its torso dropped to the ground.
Blackness glinted in the crevices of the felin’s armor, popping, shifting, sliding, seeping. The rock and dirt on top of the beast discolored and broke down from stone to dust. The infestation oozed across its back, tightening its grip, and the felin convulsed.
“Is it trying to use the felin like an amulet?” said Laura, horrified.
“Wasn’t expecting that,” said Cherry.
Such a thing should be impossible; infestations didn’t inhabit corpses, let alone something still living. Then again, felin weren’t natural creatures. Maybe the infestation found a loophole, or maybe it was just desperate enough to try.
The felin shrieked, and the infestation sprouted feelers. Some looped around the beast’s crown while others slid up as if testing the sky. Smoke rose from the mass as the sun met it, but apart from some dryness, the light had no effect. The feelers reached several feet into the air and twined together, shifting, waiting.
Laura felt a jolt in her stomach. Instinct told her to get the hell out of there, but the pseudo-warning came too late. The tendrils separated and crashed down in every direction. Each gouged deep into the ground, rending earth and rock like butter. They halted, then heaved right, ripping up chunks of grass in a spin. One whistled overhead. Laura ducked, cursing.
Appealing as it was to sit on a horse, she couldn’t so much as aim without the horse dancing out of control. She leapt off and stumbled before hurling the Egg. Halfway through its flight it smacked into a tendril and burst. Hissing kin spiraled up its length, reducing black ooze to barely more than grit. The infestation screeched. Tendrils coiled and writhed. The kin light snuffed out but smoke kept issuing, thicker and darker. Yellowish light glinted in the main mass.
The felin jerked one way, then the other, clawing at the ground and snarling before its midsection jerked up, producing a loud snap. The infestation gathered itself up into a single tower, spiraling skyward again before curling and expanding once more. Feelers soared over their heads before taking a sharp curve down. Cherry’s horse leapt away from the incoming darkness, but she swore with the movement.
“It’s pulling us in!” she shouted.
It took a moment for Laura to catch on. The feelers formed a cage, each one a thick black bar to seal them in. The bars began to rotate, gouging though the ground at their base as they swung clockwise. The motion grew steadily faster, and as it did the circling tendrils slid closer. The sun winked out of sight, eclipsed by a shroud of dripping tarlike ooze. Laura moved out of one bar’s way, but her horse wasn’t so lucky. Sludge splattered its hindquarters and immediately began to smoke. The horse shrieked. It leapt forward, bucking and twisting, but the sludge couldn’t be dislodged so easily as a rider. It smoked all the more, producing an acrid smell as blood slid down the horse’s leg. After a few more hops the beast crashed, writhing, to the ground. Cherry’s own horse pranced beside it, eyes rolling.
Laura pulled out another Egg and rapped it against her amulet. Even without a shake, the kin flared bright in the gathering dark. The infestation shuddered. More tendrils shot down from the tarry ceiling. One plunged past Laura’s side while another swooped overhead. She dodged the first, but lost her balance and dropped to the ground to escape the second. The Egg slipped from her hand and rolled downhill. She swore and made a grab for it. To her surprise, it came to a slow stop before wobbling back toward her. For a moment she wondered how messed up their kin had become, but then she noticed the ground. The infestation was lifting chunks of it, peeling up the earth to create a shield for itself and sending her own attack back at her. This was another of the things monsters knew from their link with the hive mind but rarely bothered with: the fact that Sweepers could be hurt with kin just as easily.
More tendrils heaved up slabs of earth and rock around her, sweeping in to make a cocoon, trapping her and the Egg together. She scrambled to right herself, make a bid for freedom, but the earth was already too close for her to squeeze through. Without warning, light flashed before her. The crack of a gun echoed outside, almost muffled. A kin bullet had landed barely an inch from the Egg. The resulting blast sent the Egg spinning into the air. Another crash from another gun, and the glass shattered. Kin seared outward. Laura dropped onto her rear to avoid it. The slabs collided just in time to block it out; the second shot had hit it just far enough away that only a wink of light remained in the makeshift cocoon. Outside, the infestation squealed. The walls shuddered under the blast. Laura kicked at the opposite side. The infestation might be hurt now, but it would lash out for revenge next, and she couldn’t dodge it here. Dirt gushed in as another kick came from outside. A hand shoved its way in. Laura caught it and between the two of them she forced her way out. Cherry caught her as she staggered. Light danced over them, highlighting Cherry’s face in stark flashes. Kin crackled and snapped, raining sparks and ash as it seared across the monster. Tendrils quaked under the force; entire portions snapped apart from the main mass to crash, splattering, against the ground.
“Come on,” Cherry hissed, tugging her along.
Once Laura regained her feet they dashed through one of the new gaps. A tendril snapped after them, leaving smoke in its wake while gold spat in its flaking form. Another kin bullet landed with a bang to their left. The tendril flinched but didn’t slow.
“Grim! For god’s sake, will you just aim?” Cherry yelled.
In response, a flare whistled past her head. It smashed into the tendril, causing it to snap apart and sending the flare clattering away, spewing green smoke. The infestation attacked it, flailing graying tendrils to smother the smoke.
Laura scanned the area as they passed an outcropping of rock. Grim and Okane perched on a tall spire of stone patterned with a marred water symbol. Okane held the kin gun in shaky hands while Grim reloaded the flare gun, his rifle set nearby while he muttered shooting tips.
“Watch where you’re shooting that thing!” Cherry snarled.
“- - - did say to aim,” Okane pointed out.
“Not at my head!”
“I am a headhunter,” Grim replied, swapping out the guns. “Okane, watch your grip.”
“Right.” He frowned at the infestation. “I don’t remember kin lasting this long.”
The kaibutsu had curled in on itself to create a crumpled black ball, hiding the felin completely. The remnants of fallen tendrils smoked and spat in the scarred landscape, curling black clouds tinted slightly green. Kin glinted in every piece, pulsing like embers in charred logs. Before their eyes it spread, cracking the black shell and spitting sparks through the gaps. The main mass smoked worse than a damp fire. The ball rose and fell, crackling, in motions like the breath of an animal.
Laura’s stomach churned in nervousness and disgust. “Okane, toss me an Egg.”
Cherry stepped up to the rocks, eyeing the infestation. “Grim, what do you think it’ll do next?”
“I’m not experienced with infestations.”
“Make an educated guess.”
A pause. “The amount of magic there worries me. The felin might start moving again. On foot we can’t outrun it.”
“How could it run? It’s been eaten,” said Okane.
“It wasn’t dead before. I doubt it’s dead now that the infestation’s targeting you.”
The infestation shifted, heavier on the left and then heavier on the right. More feelers sprouted, but these collapsed under the strain of kin.
“I think one more hit should do it.” Laura passed her new Egg (still hot, seething; Okane’s supply had been tainted too) from hand to hand to hide her nervousness.
“It still looks pretty nasty,” said Cherry.
“They’re always nasty. I’ve got this.”
She glanced up at Okane, who exhaled slowly and aimed the gun again. Her backup was ready.
She took a step forward. When the infestation failed to notice, she went faster, swinging her arm. How close did she need to be? After the scare and tumble earlier she felt bruised and sore; her heart hammered, and she could feel herself tremble with every step. Was her throwing arm still good?
While she worried, the infestation moved. It shuddered, working its way into a bubble with golden froth before flinging out more legs to heave itself forward like an enormous spider. Refuse flung from its limbs, more like watery ink than the tar of earlier. It bulled toward her.
Laura clacked the Egg against her amulet and squinted, gauging the distance. Thirty feet. Twenty feet. Ten. The Egg grew hot enough to burn through the glove when she threw it. Glass smashed against the monster, five feet away. Kin surged out, expanding to crash like a wave. It curled and coiled, severing limbs as it roared. The infestation wailed. Laura would’ve fled, but something appeared in the burning mass. The felin’s head sprouted from the shower of light and swirling smoke. Its eyes flashed red, its jaws open in a snarl. Laura heard a distant shout before diving to the side. The felin’s teeth plowed into the ground. It struggled to its feet and rounded on her, colors pulsing as magic crackled on its back. The crushing pressure returned. It hurt to breathe. Laura beat her fist against the amulet on her belt, arm shaking.
“Get me out of here!” she hissed. Her eyes started to blur. The amulet remained dormant, either uncomprehending or sapped as much as she was. What other orders could she try? Run? Protect me?
The amulet burned under her fist. The felin lunged again, but inches away it ground to a halt. Laura cringed as its breath puffed over her. It snapped its jaws, strained, but went no further. Kin sparked madly in its joints, intertwined with infestation. The more it moved, the brighter the light became. Every twitch produced a sound like a jackhammer, accompanied by showers of sparks. It grew louder, the light brighter, until it was almost white and the noise was like a train whistle. The felin’s armor snapped under pressure. A foreleg popped from its socket. An ugly crevice opened on its snout. Purple and pink swirled discordant under its skin. The felin screeched. The infestation squalled. Kin trilled. All together the mass creaked, a container ready to burst.
Laura crawled out of its shadow just in time. A kin bullet glanced off the felin’s crown, but a moment later another hit the crack in its face. The dam broke. Kin went off like a series of fireworks. The blast shook the ground. Sections of grass singed and caught fire as sparks skipped over them. Pieces of infestation flew to spatter among them, accompanied by billowing, noxious smoke. The felin collapsed. Its eyes flickered, red, yellowish, then faintly brown before fading entirely. Laura heaved a sigh and pressed her bandana over her face. The usual dark wave spread over her in a cloud. This smelled worse than any she’d smelled before, and didn’t dissipate. If anything, it grew darker with every moment; the felin’s shape faded to a hazy shadow.
“Get out of there! Laura, get out!”
She stumbled, tripping over rocks before breaking into a run. The smoke became thicker, almost viscous against her skin. She blinked furiously and tried not to vomit. It stank. It stung. It felt slimy.
After an eternity she blundered out, coughing hard and eyes streaming. Everything was too bright and blurry to make out, so she screeched when she was grabbed from behind.
“Stay still,” Cherry’s voice ordered from somewhere around her ear. “You’ve got some of that slop on you. It’ll burn through you as fast as that horse.”
Horrified, Laura froze. Hands wrenched her coat away; she heard it being flipped around as her head was forced back.
“Eyes open,” Cherry commanded, and no sooner had Laura obeyed than water cascaded into her face. She gasped. “Clearing out your eyes. We don’t want you going blind.”
“You should’ve worn those goggles,” said Grim, from the vicinity of the flapping coat. “Both of you, actually.”
“I’ll remember that next time,” Laura croaked.
As she blinked, Cherry’s face came into focus. Okane stood just behind her, looking over the Ranger’s shoulder anxiously. Laura slapped on a watery grin and gave him a thumbs-up.
“Nice shot.”
His lips twitched. “Sorry. I thought I’d be better at this decoy thing.”
“You were fine. I just didn’t expect that reaction at the end.”
“City infestations are different from the wilds.” Cherry scowled. “From what I hear, city ones stick to smarts and keep lower profiles, but out here, they know they’re predators. They’ll go after anything, and they’ll go with a lot of power. This little disappearing act is a poison cloud. Even when they know about it, ERA Sweepers die in it all the time. You should see the death counts in Canis.”
Laura shuddered but tried to pass it off as cold and good humor. “I’m glad to be in the cities, then! If they poisoned everyone, they wouldn’t have much hunting.”
“Their entire existence is a way to go down with teeth in the enemy’s throat,” said Cherry.
“Pleasant,” said Okane.
“Wars aren’t pleasant.”
Grim held up the coat to inspect before shaking his head. “This isn’t worth keeping. It’s started dissolving already. Good quality, though. It slowed the eating process considerably.”
“That’s because it’s saturated with magic,” said Laura, giving it a sad look. She’d liked that coat. “Sweeper fare. I guess it does its job.”
“We’ll have to get Zavodsky to make - - - a new one,” said Okane. He paused, then fumbled with the buttons of his own coat. Cherry swatted at his hands.
“Don’t try to be a hero. I’ve got an extra jacket in my pack.” She gave a sharp whistle.
Her horse galloped from the left, giving the cloud a wide berth. It slowed and stopped so Cherry could dig through the saddlebags. While she grumbled and sorted whatever items she’d stowed, the cloud began to fade. The breeze picked up, rolling the poison slowly westward. As it dispersed, the damage in its wake became more pronounced. The grass, already brittle, had shriveled and blackened. Where there had been patches of green, craters and cracked, bare earth remained. The felin sprawled in the middle of a great black stain. Its body was contorted, spine clearly broken and armor shattered. Not far beyond it lay Laura’s horse. The tarlike substance had eaten its flesh right down to the bone. Spots and boils swelled on its still form; one of these burst with a hiss and released rancid smoke. The sight made Laura’s stomach turn.
“Here.” Grim walked over. He deposited a clutter of small items into her hands: hair ties, a bundle of folded papers, Bijou, a single Sinker. These had been stuffed in the pockets of her coat. “I suppose you need that amulet too?”
“If we leave it, it’ll just host another infestation in the future. How long do we have to wait before it’s safe to go down there?”
In reply, Grim strode into the war zone. Cherry threw the spare coat over Laura’s shoulders and shook her head.
“Don’t bother with him. He’s like the anti-felin. Whatever effects are still there, he knows how to avoid it.”
Grim approached the fallen creature, slow but confident. When he came within three feet, it shifted. Its eyes flickered. Kin sparks shot from the felin’s rent back, lurid and jarring. Grim retreated quickly, but the light died out fast.
Okane shook his head slowly. “I don’t know how our kin got so mean. It even attacks people now.”
“It’s got to be Clae’s fault. That magnificent angry bastard,” said Laura.
“But he was only in—” He paused, then pulled open his bag. He juggled three different Eggs in his hands, stared at them a moment before giving her a look of horrified realization.
After some circling, Grim crept close enough to seize the amulet. With that in hand, he grabbed one of the felin’s headspikes, leaned his weight against it, and snapped it from the corpse. He carried these prizes back to the group.
“Good thinking,” said Cherry, eyes fixed on the spike. “That’s what, three thousand argents?”
Laura was more interested in the amulet. She’d only noticed that it was metallic, but now she could clearly see part of a sword. The blade only partially remained, a fractured piece sticking out of an intact hilt, its leather grip rotted but pommel and cross guard shining in the sunlight.
“That’s an amulet?” Okane leaned closer to marvel at it.
“The Old Zyran crusaders used magic in their weapons and dumped empty amulets along the way when they ran out of power,” said Laura. This was a high-magical piece. How old was it exactly? Five hundred years? Eight hundred years? “The magic must’ve been stored in the hilt. That’s why it’s in such good condition. I bet a museum would pay big money for it.”
“You think?” said Cherry, genuinely interested.
“It’s been contaminated,” Grim pointed out. “Best leave it with these two. They know what to do with it.”
“At least we’re up one headhunting job.” She turned back to her horse and gestured for them to follow. “Come on. The other horses are around here somewhere. If we shift the baggage, Laura can take the packhorse. Let’s get going before any scavengers show up.”