A slow wind picked up across the desert, blowing sand over the gaping holes, piling it against the rock formation and covering the bloodied carcass.
The sight of the mangled animal and the scavenging birds gave Neena a sickening wave of fear. The holes on either side of the carcass were black, filled with shadow. They were fifty feet apart—spaced a hundred feet from the rock formation. For all she knew, the creature lurked in one of them, ready to rise up and end their lives.
She couldn't be certain the fawn was the same one she'd seen, but deep down, she knew.
First the mother, and now its child.
Overhead, the squawking birds chose a new direction. Were they fleeing Neena, Kai, or something else?
"This way," Kai hissed.
Without another word, he hurried to the stream and filled his flask. Neena followed suit. Right after, he directed her to the nearest jutting overhang, curved his fingers over the top, and pulled himself up and over. She knew what he was doing. Staying on the ground seemed like inviting death.
Following him, Neena heaved herself up the craggy, red rock and climbed. Her breath came in ragged gasps as she grunted and pulled, finding hand and footholds, avoiding slick bird droppings on the steep formation's face, and stones sharp enough to cut her flesh. Several times, she slowed, thinking she might lose her grip, but she held on. The image of the creature's enormous teeth clamping an ankle pushed her faster.
Looking up, she saw where Kai aimed. Twenty feet skyward, a ledge jutted out of the structure, on which they could perch.
"Come on," Kai urged.
Reaching the ledge first, he turned and pulled her up. And then they were on top of it, standing on an uneven, natural platform. A few loose pebbles skittered over the edge, clacking off the side of the formation. Fighting dizziness, Neena looked down at how far they'd climbed.
They'd made it thirty feet from the ground.
Inching close to the formation, they clung to the steep rock's face, scanning the desert. The gaping holes below them looked like a pair of uneven eyes. Smooth sand at the top gave way to darker sand beneath. The tunnels reminded Neena of playing as a child outside of her colony, imagining the underground fortresses she might build. Those were good memories.
But this sight—and the mangled carcass—filled her with dread.
Almost everything in the desert was covered in a thin film of the sandstorm's dust, but they saw better than they could on the ground. In the west, east, and south, the desert seemed to go on forever, filled with dunes. But the northern side of the rock—behind them—was a blind spot. That made her nervous.
Finally, Kai said, "Over there. Do you see that?"
Neena followed his gaze to a few discolorations in the desert.
"More breaches," Kai said.
A pit in her stomach grew worse. "It got ahead of us in the night."
Kai nodded. "We should stay here awhile, just to be safe."
Looking down the thirty-foot face of rock, Neena asked, "Can it reach us up here?"
"I've seen it burst from the ground higher than this ledge," Kai admitted.
Neena nodded. Looking up, she saw no higher ledges on the steep spire. She wasn't sure what came next, but every instinct told her to stay off the sand.