38

“So what shall we do first?”

Simon was little more than a moving shadow in the near-perfect blackness of the cave. He sounded almost relaxed—except for an undercurrent of dark glee in his voice, which spoke of enjoying things best done behind locked doors and thick walls. How had she missed hearing it before? Amber was almost glad she couldn’t see his face.

“No suggestions?” he said. “Not to worry.”

Amber heard a snick sound.

“We’ll have plenty of time to play.”

She felt the warmth of his fingers on her neck and then the chill of steel as he pressed something sharp right under her throat.

His switchblade.

She froze, hardly daring to breathe for fear that the steel might cut into her flesh.

“The others are going to look for you at the lake. If there’s anything left of that rozzer bitch’s body, maybe they’ll figure those giant scorpions got a hold of you, too. With any luck they’ve already made a meal out of your prehistoric Romeo.”

Amber gave a muffled cry. Simon chuckled.

“Aww, now don’t worry too much. He’s strong, that one. He might take a few out before they eat him alive. Now then…” He shifted his weight forward, changing his position to one that was uncomfortably intimate. “That’s better, isn’t it?” He pressed his groin into hers. “Yeah, that’s nice… We’re going to have fun, you and I.”

His breath was warm and sour against her face, and the knife bit into her throat. Amber fought the impulse to kick, to try and throw him off. Instead she lay perfectly still as Simon proceeded to feel her up while describing what he planned on doing to her in horrifically graphic detail.

“It’s nice to have some quality time to get to know one another,” he said. “If we’ve learned anything today, it’s that life is short, brutish, and utterly un-fucking-predictable. You have to grab hold of it and take what pleasure you can, while you can. Carpe diem, indeed, and carpe noctem, too.

“When that pilgrim prat was going to burn us alive this morning, I realized something. I was so jealous, so envious of him. Right then he was everything I ever aspired to. I really should have become a preacher… or a god.” He gave a small chuckle. “Never appreciated just how bloody much power they have when folk are shitting themselves. Now see, if you apply yourself, take the time to learn how to manipulate fear and hate—well then, my lamb, you’ve got the power of life and death right in your bloody hands.”

He paused and shifted so he was pressed even closer.

“Killing Alex wasn’t much fun. I had to rush things, and she was already pretty much done in by the poison. No real time to play. Anyhow, she was a bit too uncompromising for my tastes. I like my women… softer, y’know? My last houseguest, she was right up my alley.

“Real pretty bird,” he said, sounding wistful. “Big blue eyes, lots of brown hair. Slender and soft. We were just about to have some real fun when things went tits up and she vanished. Now that was a missed opportunity. She cried, y’know—so much she had trouble breathing.” He heaved a sigh. “I liked that. Liked the fear in those big blue eyes.”

He brought his lips down right next to her ear and whispered, “You’re gonna cry for me, Red. Until I decide it’s time for you to stop.” Amber gave an involuntary whimper and Simon put a deceptively gentle hand on her face, wiping a finger under one of her eyes.

“Oh, that’s nice. You’ve already started.”

He pulled back slightly, easing the pressure, and a bright light shone in Amber’s face, momentarily blinding her. She turned her head to one side, shutting her eyes to escape the beam.

“Sorry about that, love.” He tilted the flashlight a little to one side, taking the beam out of her face. “Better?”

Amber opened her eyes and saw Simon’s face eerily illuminated above her, the flashlight held in between their bodies. She didn’t stop to think.

Snatching the flashlight with her bound hands, she swung upward, pretending she was bumping the ball in volleyball and his chin was the point of impact. The metal connected with a loud crack, snapping Simon’s head back. At the same time, she bucked her hips and rolled to one side, throwing him off her.

She didn’t give him time to recover.

Clutching the flashlight, Amber scrambled awkwardly to her feet, tore through the deerskin, and stumbled out of the cave. The animal skin came tumbling down, wrapping in a tangle around her.

Back in the cave Simon gave an inarticulate yell of rage even as she stumbled down the hill in the night. Random branches slapped her face and arms as she plunged forward. Her toe caught on something hard and she pitched forward, losing hold of the flashlight. It flew out of her hands and for a few terrifying, helpless seconds she was sure she was going to tumble face first all the way down the incline. She jerked backward, falling painfully hard on her knees instead, then fought through the pain to get to her feet and kept running, thankful she hadn’t broken an ankle or her neck.

The ground leveled out and Amber stumbled through the trees, struggling to take in a full breath through her congested nostrils. Reaching up with her bound hands, she ripped the outer gag off, spat the rest out onto the ground, and sucked in sweet, life-giving air.

Which way?

Her sense of direction had completely failed. She could hear Simon cursing above her as he threw scraps of the canopy aside, and knew there was no time to find her bearings. She picked a direction and ran.

Twilight had given way to night. The moon shone above, but the thick canopy of trees only allowed a faint gleam of dappled light through—barely enough to prevent her from running face first into a tree. She heard her pursuer crashing down the hill and kept moving, hoping to find the safety of their temporary camp—or anywhere—before Simon managed to find her again.

She glimpsed more moonlight through the trees ahead and stepped up her pace, biting on the rope that bound her wrists, pulling with her teeth as she ran, trying to loosen the knots he’d tied. She got one free, but the second one wouldn’t budge, no matter how she tugged at it. Finally, she gave it up and just concentrated on reaching the gap in the trees.

Almost there.

In a final burst of speed, she dashed into the moonlit clearing—and nearly barreled straight into a lake. She slid to a stop a foot or two away from the water’s edge, trying to catch her breath as quietly as possible. This had to be the source of water Merlin’s rover had detected.

The clearing permitted more moonlight here, making it easy to see how much life teemed beneath the lake’s surface. The water seethed with activity… as did the shoreline. Something vaguely amphibian skittered up onto the bank, followed by a monster right out of an atomic-era sci-fi movie, a horrible chittering noise emanating from its mandibles.

Holy shit.

Amber froze in her tracks.

It looked like a scorpion on steroids, as big as a Shetland pony. Its barbed tail whipped over its head and stabbed the fleeing amphibian. The lizard-thing shuddered and collapsed in the sand, limbs twitching feebly as the scorpion descended upon it and fed.

Amber’s paralysis broke and she started backing slowly into the trees, one careful step at a time before finally turning to run and—

Simon stood at the tree line, flashlight in one hand pointing up under his face so she could see his grin, like a summer camp counselor about to tell ghost stories around the fire. She backpedaled a few paces, then went after the rope around her wrists again. The scorpion chittered, nearly done with its meal.

Simon shook his head. “Y’know, at first I was pretty cheesed off at this chase you’ve led me on, but now that we’re here, I realize it’s… well, this is a splendid opportunity. We’ll just leave some of your clothes here. Nothing important—your dress, underwear. Nothing you’ll need again. That way if the rest of them do search for you, they’ll think you died here. They’ll go on their merry way, and you and I will have plenty of time to play together. Unless…”

He paused, cocked his head to one side, toward the scorpion.

“Unless you’d rather get it over with and let that thing have you for its next meal while I watch.” He considered the idea. “That could be almost as much fun—especially if you scream.”

“Fuck off,” Amber spat—the first time she’d ever said those words to another person.

He shrugged. “Your choice, love.”

Amber cast a frantic gaze at the scorpion, and then back at Simon. Could she make a break for it further down the shoreline, darting into the woods? She almost had the second knot undone…

He pointed the flashlight in her direction, yet the monster didn’t acknowledge her presence.

“I don’t think it actually sees or hears the way we do,” Simon said conversationally. “Not sure how it hunts, but I’ve seen it in action. Felt it, too, actually. Once it knows you’re there, it’s fast. I think maybe it hunts by vibration. Let’s find out.”

He stomped his foot hard on the ground. The scorpion chittered again, clicking its mouthparts as it turned.

“Yeah, I think that’s it.”

Simon stomped again. Amber gasped as the monster scurried toward him—and toward her, since she was standing between them. “Of course, now that it’s spotted you, it’s not likely to forget that you’re here.” Amber frantically worked at the rope with her teeth. The last of the stubborn knot gave way just as Simon offered one last emphatic stomp on the ground before ducking behind a tree.

The monster charged. She screamed and threw herself to one side as the scorpion lumbered past. It quickly redirected its attention, drawn to the vibration when she hit the ground. Amber rolled onto her back and scrambled away, scuttling backward like a crab on her hands and feet as the thing lunged for her. She screamed again, holding up her arms and hands in a vain attempt to shield herself as the gore-drenched mandibles dipped toward her.

A sharp cracking sound echoed over the lake.

Then another.

The creature buckled as if the weight of its body suddenly became too much for its legs. Amber rolled out of the way as it collapsed where she had just been sprawled on her back.

“Amber!”

A familiar voice shouted her name, over to the left where the shoreline curved in the opposite direction. Amber’s jaw dropped.

It couldn’t be…

“Amber! Stay there! I’m coming.”

Rough hands seized her from behind, one entwining in her hair to yank her head back, the other painfully wrenching her arm behind her.

“Guess you’ll be coming with me after all,” Simon whispered. As he did, she watched creatures swarm over the dead scorpion in a chittering feeding frenzy. Then the pain caused her vision to blur.

Another shot cracked from the left. Simon flinched and swore, letting go of her wrist as he clutched at his left shoulder. Amber wrenched her hair out of his grasp, feeling some of it tear away at the scalp. She faced Simon, fiercely happy to see blood spurting out from between his fingers.

He snarled and lashed out with his left hand, catching her across the face hard enough to rattle her teeth and send her stumbling back toward the feasting creatures. One of them hissed and scuttled toward her. She dove out of its path, landing heavily on one side, nearer to the tree line. Simon followed her, his frock coat swinging about his legs.

“I’ll kill him and then cut you apart, piece by tiny piece,” he said between clenched teeth. She scrabbled in the sand for a piece of wood or a rock—anything to use as a weapon to protect herself. Simon let go of his wounded shoulder, blood dripping blackly from his hand as he reached down to grab her. He seized her, fingers digging into her upper arms, just as her fingers closed over what felt like a ridged wooden club—Alex’s truncheon.

Tightening her grip, she lashed out with the billy club, smashing Simon across the bridge of his nose. He howled in pain and fury, and she immediately followed up with a direct blow to his wounded shoulder, and then smashed him on the collarbone. Then she kneed him in his groin as hard as she could. He groaned, reeling like a drunken man as he stumbled over his own feet and fell backward—

Straight into the path of the scorpions.

Simon screamed as one of them caught him up in its claws and sunk its mandibles into his bloody shoulder. Another, smaller one immediately skittered over his torso, settling there before going to work on his stomach. His scream rose higher, changing in pitch from pain to agony. The agony became unspeakable when the rest of the creatures closed in.

Amber staggered back away from the horror show, seeking shelter in the trees before her legs gave out on her. She sank to her knees, folding over until her head rested on her hands.

She heard shouts, but stayed in that position until Blake reached her, joined quickly by Cam, Nellie, Merlin, and Harcourt.

Only then did she let herself cry.