As her thoughts heated up, she struggled to jam the fabric in with blistery, red fingers. Brentwood took up the other end and the length of the tent slid into place.
“How are your feet?”
She wiggled her toes in her boots. Thanks to him she still had toes, but she was too frustrated with him to acknowledge it. “They’re swollen, but they’re not falling off.”
“Good.”
She zipped up one side of the tent bag as he zipped the other. Their fingers met in the middle and his hand brushed against hers.
“Sorry.” He smiled, not looking sorry at all.
Gemme’s heart thudded like a heavy drum in her chest. The snow moved underneath her feet, and she wondered how the meager beat of her heart could cause such a disturbance. The pounding grew louder, reverberating deep inside her gut, and she realized it came from the snowy hills behind them. She whirled around with Brentwood, scanning the horizon.
“What is it?”
His hand still rested on hers and he squeezed, warming her fingers. “I don’t know, but it can’t be good.”
Shapes dotted the horizon, first a few, and then a whole army. The urge to move bubbled up inside her, but she froze, watching the shapes grow larger with a morbid curiosity as the rumbling grew louder.
“It’s more of them!” Luna shouted, backing up to her tent. Gemme wondered which “them” she referred to before recognizing the now familiar hide of tentacles as the first one approached.
She turned to Brentwood. “What should we do?”
“Take cover!” he shouted over to Tech and Luna. Tech jumped into the landrover, and Luna ducked inside her tent.
Gemme looked down at her folded tent. They didn’t have enough time to reconstruct it, and she wasn’t sure it would deter the beasts anyways. She turned to run toward the landrover just as the first wave of beasts stomped through camp. As first, she thought they’d eat them alive, but as the beasts passed, it seemed they were more interested in escape.
The flow of hides eddied around the two remaining tents and the landrover, blocking them from shelter. Their jaws clacked as they ran, as if to scare away anything in their path.
“There’s nowhere to go.” Panic rippled out to Gemme’s limbs, her fingers shaking. She felt naked, vulnerable, her body fragile compared to their sheer numbers and mass of writhing appendages. Brentwood threw his arms around her and pulled her close.
“Hold on. Don’t move.”
Together they stood against the horde. Tentacles brushed her back and arms, and Gemme held on tightly, wrapping her arms around Brentwood’s torso. She’d faced the end of the world before with Brentwood by her side, and she’d do it again. Wondering how fate always threw them together, Gemme closed her eyes and held on.
At least Tech made it to the landrover. At least someone will continue on toward the hyperthium.
She tried not to think about how it would feel to be trampled by hundreds of paws. Whirring cries droned around them. The beasts plunged ahead and she wondered what they were running from.
The mass passed them quickly, leaving only a few weaker stragglers scrambling through camp. Relief weakened her knees as Gemme realized they’d made it through. She looked up at Brentwood, but he was focused on the rest of the team.
“Ms. Legacy, are you all right?”
Her tent stood with three pegs loose, the fabric on the verge of collapse. No matter how much the biologist irritated Gemme, dread stabbed her in the gut with the thought of Luna hurt. Even though she fantasized about Luna pricking her finger to stay behind and having tentacles poke through her lush golden hair, Gemme realized the value of every life on the
Expedition
, including Luna’s. They couldn’t afford to lose anyone, not one strand of DNA, especially women of reproductive age. Of all people, she
—
the former Matchmaker
—
should know.
Brentwood released Gemme and sped toward the tent. Shock ran through her body as she watched and waited, smoothing over the places where the tentacles brushed her arms. Apprehension twittered inside her like the wings of a hundred moths batting against the lights in the biodome.
Brentwood threw himself down by the tent’s opening, shouting Luna’s name. As he fumbled with the zipper, the back flap popped open. Luna crawled out, eyes glazed over.
“She’s here!” Gemme shouted at him, plunging forward into the snow. “She’s all right.”
Gemme offered her arm and Luna latched on, fingers shaking. As she pulled her up, Brentwood joined them. He reached out to Luna, but when he saw Gemme holding her, he withdrew his arm. “Ms. Legacy, are you all right?”
“Fine as anyone would be after getting trampled by sticky elephant jellyfish.”
He laughed and Gemme wondered if she saw more concern in his eyes for Luna than he he’d had for her. Maybe she imagined the extra sparkle or the quirk of his lips, or maybe he really did have feelings for her.
A primal roar echoed over the hinterland, awakening a fear in Gemme that felt like centuries in the making, when the very first humans roamed prehistoric Earth. Her head jerked up, adrenaline coursing through her veins.
Luna’s head snapped up, “What’s that?”
Gemme huffed, still steaming from her thoughts. “You’re the biologist.”
“Something must have provoked their exodus.” As Brentwood spoke, Gemme realized she didn’t want to know who or what it was.
“Sounds like the laundro machines on overdrive.” Luna released Gemme’s arm and cringed behind the tent, leaving her to face whatever came at them. The pounding accelerated, rumbling the earth so hard an icicle fell off of Luna’s tent and shattered in the snow.
“Grab what you can!” Brentwood urged Gemme in the direction of the landrover. “Let’s get out of here.”
“What about my tent?” Luna complained as Gemme jogged to her backpack and tent bag. “All my things, my samples—”
“Leave them.” The finality in Brentwood’s voice made Gemme’s heart skip and she quickened her pace.
Thankfully, she’d already packed her belongings. As Gemme stuck her arm through the straps of her backpack and tent bag, another pounding racked the snow beneath their feet, making her stumble. This time it came in rhythmic thuds, like four giant hooves clomped down on the tundra. Another thunderous wail resounded over the mountains behind them.
Brentwood shouted, “Go!”
Gemme sprinted to the landrover, looking back over her shoulder to make sure Brentwood and Luna followed. Her gear weighed her down, but she had a head start and reached the hatch before they did. She threw her bags in and turned around. Her knees gave out as a mountainous shape claimed the horizon.
She squinted, making out massive, hairy shoulders, a crown of tusks poking the sky and trailing down between two enormous black eyes to a curved snout. The beast was four times bigger than their landrover and closing the distance to them fast.
“Run!” Gemme screeched.
Luna stumbled over her own feet, bringing Brentwood down with her. Gemme watched in agony as she slowed their progress and Brentwood pulled her forward, half carrying her to the landrover. The alien-mammoth charged behind them, stirring up a cloud of snow in its wake.
Strong hands pulled her backward and she realized Tech yanked her in.
“We’ve got to wait for them.” She batted his hands away, but his grip held firm.
“I know. But we’ve got to save time. And you’re safer inside.”
Judging from the size of one of the beast’s legs, she didn’t think so. But she took Tech’s advice all the same. She wished she could make Brentwood and Luna run faster. Waiting, nerves on a razor edge, precious seconds dragged like hours.
Tech climbed over the seat and revved the engines. The landrover roared, then sputtered out.
“Damn prototype.” Tech hit the dashboard with his fist and tried again. The engines screamed as the tires lurched forward. Gemme grabbed his shoulder. “You have to wait!”
“I’m just gaining momentum. This hunk of junk’s sat in the loading bay for a hundred years. Who knows if it will work when we need it to?”
“Looks like it’s working now.” As the vehicle accelerated, Gemme held out her hand.
“Come on!”
Brentwood handed Luna to her. Gemme grabbed Luna’s arm and the biologist teetered on the platform, her toes on and her heels dangling. Gemme tugged with all her weight and pulled her in, thinking Luna weighed more than she looked. Luna collapsed on the floor, heaving as the landrover gained speed and Brentwood sprinted to catch up.
“You’re going too fast!” But even as Gemme yelled at Tech, she knew it was the only way to keep them and the mining equipment safe.
She reached out for Brentwood, stretching so far she thought her arm would rip off in the wind. Her fingers brushed his, and he fell back. Behind him, the lumbering beast gained, its steaming breath pluming at Brentwood’s neck.
If he stumbled and fell, the clawed paws would squash him to death. Gemme’s heart sped against her chest as if it would burst through her skin and run away. She shoved her boot underneath the seat and leaned out over the rushing snow, bracing herself against the landrover’s hull.
“Grab my arm!”
The hairs on the alien-mammoth’s back moved of their own accord, twirling through the air toward Brentwood. His chest heaved as he leaped forward to stay out of their grasp. He grasped Gemme’s arm and she clamped her fingers down around his wrist. The beast’s stench overwhelmed the landrover, smelling of musky sweat and dank, moldy fur. The hairs on its back extended like a thousand arms and Brentwood ducked. The strands missed his head by millimeters.
“Pull me back in!” Gemme shouted over her shoulder, doubting Luna could hear anything over the engines. She’d lost feeling in her boot, and she wondered how long her ankle would hold before it snapped.
Brentwood grabbed her torso with his other arm. He clung to her, his legs skidding against the snow. She wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly as the mammoth hair wrapped itself around his ankles, traveling up his legs. The beast yanked and Brentwood rose up, slipping from her grasp.
Gemme shot him a fierce glance, daring him not to give up. “Hold on.”
His grip tightened around her as he kicked at the strands. A piece of thermal fabric from his leg ripped off, freeing him.
Gemme yelled, “Now!”
Luna pulled her in, and Gemme gained footing in the landrover. She yanked, every muscle in her arms screaming. Brentwood fell on top of her on the floor, his weight pressing against her chest. Behind them, the hairs probed the air where he’d hung. Luna yelled at Tech, “Close the hatch!”
Tech slammed his fist down and the hatch lowered, blocking out the raging wind. She looked up at Brentwood, silence ringing in her ears. “You okay?”
He nodded, panting. “You saved my life.”
Gemme smiled and quirked an eyebrow, trying to disregard the fact that he lay on top of her. “Guess we’re even now, huh?”
“Yeah, but it’s not over yet.” Brentwood pulled himself off her and raised his voice, addressing Tech. “Open the upper hatch.”
“What?” Luna shouted as she belted herself in the seat next to Tech. “Are you crazy?”
“We’re not going to outrun it.”
Luna twisted in her seat to confront him. “What are you going to do, ask it politely to leave us alone?”
“No.” He pulled two lasers from his belt, handing one to Gemme. “We’re going to drive it back.”
The laser felt heavy and cold in Gemme’s hand as she wrapped her fingers around it. She’d never used one in her life. Ferris had always wanted to take her to the firing range, but she’d told him a data analyst would have no use for it.
Boy was she wrong.
The hatch lifted and Brentwood climbed the seat. He stood on the head cushions, his torso poking out of the vehicle. Gemme joined him, emerging from the safety of the cabin back into the furious wind. Her hair whipped around her face and her eyes watered so much the snowflake-filled sky blurred. The beast towered over them, hairs squirming wildly. The strands rose up above their heads as its tusked snout snapped, teeth grating.
Brentwood started firing. Gemme gripped the laser in her hand and shouted, “Where do I aim?”
“Anywhere.”
She clicked the safety off and pulled the trigger just as Tech swerved. The landrover bumped her backward. A shaft of light careened over the ice, nowhere near the beast. She flailed her arms, clutching onto the hatch.
“Nice shot!”
She couldn’t tell if Brentwood was being sarcastic or encouraging. After all, she was a computer analyst turned ice world explorer. For someone that had sat at a desk her whole life, she thought she was doing pretty well.
She regained her footing and fired again. Each shot disappeared into the beast’s gigantic hide as if they fired water drops at a lake. She aimed for its black eyes, its tusks, its toothy mouth, but nothing seemed to slow it down. The beast roared and the sound reverberated in her stomach, curdling the soy wafer she’d stuffed down that morning.
Gemme shouted over the wind, “We’re making it mad.”
Brentwood continued to fire. “We’ve got to do something.”
The mammoth’s head swung sideways and the beast hit the mining equipment with its crown of tusks, ivory piercing metal. The wheels on the right side came off the ground, and for a moment, Gemme thought they’d all crash into one big heap. Brentwood pulled her over to his side.
“Shift your weight.”
Somehow, Tech rebalanced, and the wheels fell back onto the ice.
“That’s it. I have another plan.” Brentwood stopped firing and climbed on top of the landrover.
“What are you doing?” Gemme screamed her voice hoarse, scrambling to catch his arm.
He slipped from her grip. “I’m going to stop it. Just keep firing.”
She watched in terror as Brentwood balanced on the metal bridge connecting the landrover with the platform of the mining rig. The landrover hit a bump, and he pitched forward, sprawling in the air before landing on the drill.
Gemme yelled down into the landrover, “Watch where you’re driving. Brentwood’s on the drill.”
“Damned snow mounds come up outta nowhere,” Tech yelled back.