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ADONE
We ran back in the direction we’d come from with the monitors gliding above us. They’d move in close if the creatures caught us, then view us from every angle as the beasts ripped us apart.
I needed to find a weapon, but other than a few scraggly thorn trees in the distance, there was nothing I could use to defend us.
Behind us, the creatures released guttural cries.
Summer pointed as we raced along the thick sand. “Is that a tumbleweed?”
Why worry about that now? I squinted at something moving across the surface ahead and to our right. “What is a tumbleweed?”
“A round bush clump that rolls along the desert, driven by the wind. I think. I’m not completely sure. I lived on a grassy plain and before that, a city. I’ve only seen them on TV.”
“There are no bushes here. There is no wind.” I’d noticed the lack, which would’ve been welcome.
“Follow it.”
Shrieks and cries echoed around us as the creatures continued to give chase. “I must locate a weapon.”
“Maybe you can use the bush to fight them off.”
“Bushes are not weapons.” Still, I scooped Summer up and ran in that direction. The bush continued tumbling across the desert, away from us, and I could see where she’d gotten the name. Tumbling bush, however, not weed.
“You can’t run forever. Put me down. I’ll help you fight them off.” She slapped her hands on her cheeks. “I can’t believe me, a woman who’s terrified of the world around her, is suggesting I’ll help you fight off giant scorpions.”
“You will not need to fight them. I will do this for you.”
“I’m supposed to do my share in this Game.”
“The scoopeens are not part of our challenge.”
“No, they’re just standing in the way of us completing it.”
“How many follow?” I asked.
“Five.”
I chuckled. “Simple.”
“Easy for you to say. I couldn’t defeat even one of them.”
“You’d be surprised.”
“Have you fought them before?”
“No, but creatures much like these.”
“Oh,” she cried, pointing. “The tumbleweed disappeared.” She shot me a glance. “Maybe it fell into a hole?”
I’d seen no holes in this desert. The smooth surface suggested the wind did blow on occasion. If there were holes, they would’ve been filled in with sand by now.
One of the scoopeens caught up and leaped, landing on my back. I stumbled forward, nearly dropping Summer. A jerk of my wings, and I’d dislodged the creature.
She wiggled. “Put me down.”
Seeing no other way but to fight them off, I lowered her to her feet, urging her to remain behind me. I spread my wings out. Some beasts could be intimidated by an opponent’s size.
The scoopeens scrambled toward us on six legs with their long, spiked tail curved above their spines. They gnashed their claws, and I braced myself to defeat them.
