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Using the sharp end of the lance, she cut theit all the way around herself before pulling the fabric over her head She still had her legs and hips protected and her boots on, but was otherwise naked The wind on her sweaty body felt good, cooling her off a little, even though it was mostly a hot, dry breeze
She cut one of the sleeves off and dabbed her face with it Thewound as she pulled it back She winced as a jolt of pain shot down her spine,her dizzy The sleeve came away spotted with blood She decided to leave her face alone and tied the fabric around the wound in her hand instead Dried tracks of red already ran in jagged trails froe would prevent anyout
Just that little bit of first aidup the metallic fabric, Molly looked at a distorted reflection of her gashed face The blood streaked back to her ear on one side, but didn’t see that had done this to her All for a few drops of salted water She wondered if it had meant to harm her this much, or if it had meant to harhtless sca of a thirsty creature?
She wanted to catch one and find out
Molly used the torn top of the ju in rivulets down her bare chest She approached one of the holes cautiously It was roughly the same size as the last one she’d messed with, perhaps a little smaller She placed rip on the sleeve With the auntlet, she propped her lance against the cliff within easy reach Just in case it ca it would take, so she concentrated on thefro sounds that groaned through the canyons, the stinging of the wounds on her face
She fell into a trance of patience and control--of hypervigilance
And waited
••••
The silhouette reached Cole as he tried to free his with the heft of a sator, not like a lizard at all Cole wrenched his hand fro off
Loud, snapping jaws fought through his hands He clutched at the thing’s neck and tried to keep the gnashing, clacking teeth away fro the fabric of his suit open and stinging his skin underneath
The beast claht tunnel, forcing Cole back toward the hole Not knowing how far down it went, he strained back against the creature, pushing hi ar better purchase in suit and flesh than they did with hard rock Cole couldn’t believe the thing’s strength; it was half his size but felt twice as powerful His ar back the attack When he felt like they were about to give out, he let they they possessed, he directed theand allowed his head to fall back in the hole behind hier propel it over his head
The beast landed with a shriek on the other side of the shaft; he could hear it scratch ht itself--to rejoin the battle Cole felt for the hole above him, stood up inside of it, then stepped onto the wet lip, balancing the weight of his body on the edge of his boots He tried to shake so below hio
He took so up, but the shaft went beyond his hands He needed to go down for his lance, anyway
The question was, did he go after the Wadi? Or take his chances going deeper into the cave? Would the tunnel taper to an end, or would it open out into the neighboring canyon? The only way he could fight one of those things was outside these blasted tubes of rock They had the advantage of leverage here, and his only weapon was useless if he couldn’t swing it around
Cole didn’t want to wait for the thing to figure out he’d ascended the shaft He wasn’t sure how long he would last without tending to his wounds, anyway, so he lowered hi to the exit, he saw the dark shape slinking back and forth across the distant light Looking the other way, he couldn’t make out an end to the tunnel He decided he would explore a little, let the thing hunt for hith returned
Grabbing his lance off the tunnel floor, Cole stretched across the hole he had nearly fallen through and moved silently into the blackness
Behind hi
••••
It seemed as if an hour passed before Molly’s shirt twitched
She jued in with her protected hand, but there was nothing there It must have been the wind
She rubbed fresh sweat off her body and put the lure back in position
More time went by She felt completely alone and reonizedto provide any sense of company Her only companions were the twin stars and the fixed shadows they cast, their un every second into a trapped eternity
Focusing on the shirt, Molly tried to ht of her own valuable fluids dripping down the rock wall distracted her Tor before it reached the ground, a miniature waterfall that led nowhere--just faded out of existence
Her shirt ust of wind, so she assumed it was another false alarm, but then the entire lure disappeared into the hole as if sucked inside a vacuu noise
"No!" she ently with the sleeve as her other ar shirt
As soon as she touched the creature tugging on the lure, she felt it focus its energy on her It felt s itself around her hand and trying to tear through the fabric Molly pulled it out of the hole and the thing shrieked at her It was as long as her forear it on its back, its teeth fighting through the layers of her ripped the sleeve of the wet lure and flung it in circles around her other hand, protecting it She used it to hold the creature’s jaw, trying to figure out if there was a safe place to hold a Wadi where it couldn’t bite her