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26
AUSTIN
The door swished open,and I spun around, spear hoisted over my shoulder and ready. But it was a human at the door, a woman covered in blood. The coppery scent immediately brought me back to the room where the doc had been killed.
“Yang! Where’s Carter?” Jackson asked, forcing some clarity in the woman’s wide-unfocused eyes.
She wrung her hands as she spoke. “I put him in stasis. I couldn’t stop the blood. It was like whatever substance was in that thing’s teeth prevented it from clotting even with the tech in medcenter. It was the best I could do to stop him from dying until someone with more know-how can get to him.”
None of us mentioned that he was a sitting duck. Or that she probably did the smart thing by finding us instead of staying behind. The way she refused to meet anyone’s eyes indicated the guilt she felt over her decision, but who could blame her?
Clearing my throat, I stepped forward, spear at my side. “What’s our objective? We all need to agree and be clear on this.”
“Hunt it and kill it,” Nicole said while at the same time, Rosi said, “Survive.”
They looked at each other with wide eyes.
“So the question is,” I clarified, “Do we go on the offensive, or do we find a defensible place to hold up?”
“We don’t even know we can kill it,” Toklo said.
“Then why did the cards tell us to arm ourselves with these?” Cora asked, rising with her hands on her hips to face him.
“And the gun didn’t hurt him, but it did scare him off. At least for now,” Yang said, moving in farther to join the conversation.
This was all good. Instead of panicking, they rose to the challenge. Focusing on the problems in the now would get us out of this, just as I’d been taught.
“When trapped in Paradise Atlantis, we got out of the situation by acting on it,” Nicole said. “I’m not sitting around, waiting to be attacked by a cannibalistic monster. The rest of you do what you want until the next plane returns.” She headed for the door with Jackson rushing to keep up.
“Stop,” Rosi said, and Nicole swung around, eyes narrowed. “You can’t just walk away.”
“I own this resort. It’s not only my responsibility, but I am also the best qualified to deal with the situation.”
I winced, expecting Rosi or any other reasonable human being to cower at Nicole’s attitude. Instead, Rosi drew herself up to her full height and continued talking before Nicole could turn around.
“I read about what happened—everything I could get my hands on before I came,” Rosi said. “You and Jackson ended up in stasis along with everyone else. It was your brother and an engineering student that made it to the surface to get help.”
Based on Nicole’s red face and murderous gaze, maybe things weren’t going as swimmingly as I first thought. I put an arm around Rosi in support.
“Be that as it may,” Nicole said, sharing her venom with me as well. “We were the last caught, and we did it for the good of the group. We knew the risks then and we know them now. But I’ll still be damned if I’m going to sit down and hide when I may be able to do something. I’m not asking you to come if you aren’t up for it. I appreciate your help clarifying what we’re up against. It seems likely to attack again in the medcenter, so that’s where we head.”
Rosi’s entire body tensed, but her mouth snapped closed. Nicole, Jackson, and Yang exited the room. Apparently, Nicole had come to the same conclusion I had about Carter being a sitting duck, and I hoped they’d get there in time. Meanwhile, I had four other people I felt responsible for gathered here in the museum.
“What are you thinking?” Rosi asked, slipping her hand in mine.
“Just going over scenarios in my head. It’s one of the things I do when I’m prepping for an event,” I said, squeezing her fingers for reassurance.
“I kind of agree with Miss Bennet.” Toklo stroked Yuka’s soft fur. “At least the part about not waiting around for something to happen. But I’m not so sure about killing the thing.”
“I get it,” I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Hunting is one sport I’ve never participated in. But if it comes to self-defense…”
Cora frowned, shuffling her cards again. I wondered if they acted as a sort of fidget toy for her since she seemed to be doing it without paying attention.
She said, “I think that’s why the cards said to take sharp objects. I don’t think they meant for us to seek it out and attack it.”
“He has to die.” Ila’s soft yet stern voice made us all turn to face the back of the room, where she’d been sitting quietly, taking it all in.
Brushing past my side, Rosi crossed over to her and squatted so she could look up into the woman’s face. The slight tremble in Ila’s hand on the edge of the information kiosk left little doubt as to how affected she was by the circumstances.
