That fucking giant is on themove.
He must have an insanely sensitive nose, and a thing for humans, because it soundedclose.
Something tapped my leg, and I looked down to see Jeremy had drawn his O. It was myturn.
I reached down and quickly drew anX.
When I stood, I glanced at thelake.
“I have an interesting idea,” I shared with the group. Our biggest threat right then was that giant, and from what I’d witnessed the last time we were there, he hunted with his nose. At the cadet academy, the thing that advanced you, the thing that turned you into a commander, was your ability to adapt in situations like these, to think out of thebox.
“Let’s hear it,” Brisksaid.
I faced my Marine and sighed. “I think the giant can smell us. If we douse our bodies in the green stuff, it might buy us a couplehours.”
Damien nodded. “That’sbrilliant.”
I’d remembered when I’d shot it’s arm off and it bled, that the blood was the green stuff. My theory was that if we smelled like its own blood, it wouldn’t want to eatus.
Ronnie frowned. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea medically. It’s regenerative to the ghouls but also combustible. Left on our human skin for too long, it leaves rashesand—”
I cut her off, noticing for the first time the little white and cream kitten tucked into her shirt. She was giving me a cock-eyed look. Littleshit.
“I know that, Ronnie. But I’m talking about either being giant ghoulie food, or getting a littlerash.”
Ronnie eyed the lake. “Orcancer.”
I threw up my arms. “Ronnie.”
She pursed her lips. “Fine. I’ll allow it. If anyone gets short of breath or dizzy, let meknow.”
God, she acted like she’d never been slimed before. Though now that we knew it was a source of fuel for our planet, that put it in the same category as gasoline, and that definitely wasn’t something I’d be keen to dip my body into on a normal day. But desperate times and allthat….
Now the bigger question was how the hell did we submerge ourselves in it, without getting eaten by a skid? And how was I going to convince Jeremy to cover himself in thestuff?
I spun around and looked at what I had to work with. There was no way we could just dip ourselves in. The skids would see us disturbing the lake and come after us forsure.
My gaze went to the rumpled sheet on thebed.
“Brisk, I’ve got an idea. Grab that sheet,” I toldhim.
He pulled it from the bed and made his way over to me just as the ground shook again, much closer that time. Adrenaline surged through me as I felt the pressure of doing this in a safe and timelymanner.
“Okay, everyone, line up. We’re going to get a little slimebath.”
Josephine was the first to step up. She hadn’t handcuffed herself to Jeremy yet, who was calmly playing tic-tac-toe withDamien.
“Maxine, Nox, shoot anything that comes out of the water,” I told mycomrades.
They held their guns at the ready andnodded.
I grabbed one end of the sheet and Brisk held the other. “We run over and dip it in, then run back and wrap it over the person. Repeat for each ofus.”
He nodded, eyeing the water with distrust. The skid tentacles were filled with serrated teeth and could pull you into the water in seconds. We needed to movefast.
“Go!” I shouted, and we ran forward toward the bank, Nox and Maxine flanking at our sides. When we reached the lake, we bent down, shoving the sheet in and saturating it. When we pulled it up, it was much heavier and slipped from my hand. I snatched out and caught it before it could hit the ground, and then we were running. Turning my back that close to the lake was one of the scariest things I’d done in a long time, but I knew Nox and Maxine were looking out forus.
Josephine scrunched up her face and held her breath as we slapped the wet slimy green sheet over her. I pressed it down over her body and then pulled it off. Thick green goo rolled down her face and neck, globs of it sticking to herclothing.
