A shout ripped through the blackness. It waspiercingly loud in the quiet.
A ripple moved along the canyon wall andsomething scrapped against rock.
“Fuck, it heard that,” Shea hissed.
“Eamon, it’s coming,” Buck said urgently.“You need to get out of there. Get out of there, Eamon.”
As if a veil had been lifted, there came apouring of screams from the dark.
The creature above them leapt.
Shea ducked, feeling the great immenseness ofit pass within inches of her. She landed hard on her stomach androlled, watching as the camouflaged bulk of the beast eclipsed Buckand the tunnel Eamon had been investigating.
“Shit,” she said, popping to her feet.
Once there, she wasn’t quite sure what todo.
She took a step in the beetle’s directionbefore moving to the side then back again. She paced back andforth. What should she do? Were the others dead?
The beetle clawed at the surrounding rock,trying to dig its way into the hole. It reared back and then rammedthe rock again and again.
Shea felt a little relieved. Buck and Eamonmust have escaped down it.
As it crushed rock under its pinchers andthen flung it aside to widen the burrow, Shea became a littleworried.
They needed a distraction.
She backed away, banging sword against rock,screaming and shouting to get its attention. She made as much noiseas she could, hoping to distract it for just a little bit.
It worked, too.
Its digging paused, and the beast scuttledback to face her.
Shea gulped. She hadn’t really thought ofwhat to do after she got its attention.
She took another step back as it cocked itshead before rubbing its front legs together. She lunged away fromthe rock she’d been banging against right as it pounced. Shecrawled before leaping to her feet and running in the oppositedirection.
A high-pitched chittering came from thebeetle. She ducked and rolled again, barely evading a pincher. Shecoughed as she got a mouthful of dirt and rolled again to avoidbeing skewered by one of its legs, only to wedge herself againstthe cliff. She had no room to move.
It rose above her, exposing its underside asit prepared to deliver the killing blow. She tried to duck, butthere was nowhere to go. She curled into a little ball, protectingher head with her arms.
This was it.
She was about to die.
Moments passed and pain didn’t come. Herlimbs remained attached. There was a thump; the ground shook.
She lowered one arm, peeking above it. Thecreature lay on its stomach, looking like a particularly largemisshapen bolder. Blood oozed out of a gaping hole in its now oddlyshaped head.
Her eyes widened in disbelief. She used thewall at her back to stabilize her as she climbed to her feet.
Eamon rose into view above the beast’s inertbody, his sword resting over his shoulder.
“How did you? Where did you?” Shea gaped atthe dead beast and then up at him.
“Is that what we looked like when you savedus?” Eamon asked, the skin at the corner of his eyes crinkling.
Shea’s mouth snapped closed.
