Part 4
"You have to go faster," Burt instructed. "You want it to bounce for maximum vibration. Catch up with me."
Burt and Kylie sat at the top of the slope on the eastern side of their oasis, joysticks to Burt's radio-controlled trucks in hand. Kylie was learning the Basset Method.
Kylie nudged her joystick forward more, and her red truck passed Burt's blue one. "Ha!"
"This isn't a race," Burt said, but he nudged his own joystick forward a bit.
"Oh yeah? I bet I can beat you to that rock and back." She smiled wickedly and pushed her joystick forward, glancing at Burt for reaction.
He smiled grimly and plunged after her and soon the two trucks were neck-and-neck. They rounded the rock, Kylie's on the inside track and gaining ground. As the trucks started up the hill, Kylie had a clear lead. Burt's truck swerved around a clump of weeds, losing more ground, and Kylie crowed in triumph. Burt shot her a glance, but continued to maneuver his truck around obstacles, gaining on her. Then Kylie's truck hit a rock and almost flipped to it's side.
"No-no-nononono!" Kylie whined, steering into the turn. The little truck righted itself, but Kylie lost her lead by several feet, as Burt's truck shot up the hill toward her. She glanced at Burt.
Burt grinned at her smugly. His truck passed the finish line and turned around to start back down the hill. As the blue truck passed Kylie's, hers changed direction and swerved suddenly, crashing into his and nearly toppling it. Burt maneuvered quickly and managed to get the truck back on two wheels, then Burt turned narrowed eyes on Kylie.
She smiled innocently, not deigning to look at him. Her truck, meanwhile, continued down the hill.
Burt's sped after it.
Kylie shot him a glance. "Oh no you don't!" She urged her truck faster.
"Oh yes," Burt corrected, overtaking her truck. His blue truck pulled alongside her red one. Suddenly the blue swerved into the red, sending it careening almost to the edge of the trail.
Kylie growled and compensated, then dove after his down the trail. Her truck caught his, slamming into the side.
He swerved, crashing into hers, and they continued down the trail, slamming into each other, each trying for the upper hand.
The trail curved around a large boulder at the bottom and the two scrambled to their feet to run down the trail after the trucks before losing sight of them.
Just as they reached the boulder, they heard the sound of the trucks crashing noisily into something. They looked at each other, both snapping their joysticks to the neutral position.
"Oops," Kylie said.
They hurried around the boulder, then skidded to a halt.
"Eeew!" Kylie said, backing away.
Burt scanned the area, then dropped to one knee. "Looks like a mountain lion," he said, examining the remains.
"Looks like it was a mountain lion. Looks like it's been there a while," Kylie added, her face a mask of disgust.
Burt shook his head. "This is fresh."
"But it's all... shriveled."
Burt nodded. "Like everything inside has been sucked out." He looked around.
Kylie shuddered and scanned the area apprehensively.
Burt stood and stepped around the dead feline, and continued around the boulder.
Kylie followed reluctantly. "Burt," she whispered, "shouldn't we--"
Suddenly Burt halted and Kylie slammed into him. His left arm went out to steady her automatically and she wrapped an arm around it, peering around him to see why he stopped.
About ten feet away was another mountain lion, shrunken like the other. This one wasn't quite dead.
Hunched over it was some kind of giant worm. Black and white stripes ran lengthwise along the segmented body, with a dozen legs underneath it, and some kind of tube sticking out of the front and into the cougar's mouth. It seemed to be pumping something into--or out of--the animal.
Kylie screamed.
The creature noticed them then. It dropped the mountain lion. The long, white tube slid out of the cat and back into the worm's body, then it reared up, towering above them, its first six legs pawing the air. It gave off a kind of weird rippling shriek that made their ears ring.
It darted at them, and shot a stream of a green slime. Burt threw them both to the side, against the boulder, and used it for cover. The slime that hit the boulder sizzled. One drop spattered on Burt's face and left an angry welt. As the creature darted toward where they had been, lightning fast, Burt pulled his Desert Eagle and fired off a shot.
The creature jerked, its mouth open in that eerie undulating scream, then reared back again. It spun, swiping twice at Burt with a horn protruding from the end of its tail.
Burt ducked back, out of range, shielding Kylie with his body. He fired off another shot and the beast screamed and ran, impossibly fast, legs and segments churning as is covered open ground. Gun held high, Burt took off in pursuit.
"Burt!" Kylie wailed, but ran after him.
They trailed the beast to the opening of a cave. Hiding on their bellies behind an incline, Burt surveyed the situation.
"Must be six of them," he said. "Maybe more inside."
"Seven," Kylie corrected, pointing. "There's another one coming. Over there."
Burt added this one to his tally. The new one joined the one they'd chased. The group continued rooting at the ground in front of the cave. The other five climbed over and around each other, seemingly without a purpose.
"Look!" Kylie pointed.
Burt saw a pile of desiccated carcasses several yards from the cave. "They must bring at least some of their kills here. Perhaps for their young."
"Eeew. What kind of worms are those?" Kylie asked, her lips curled in revulsion.
"Not worms," Burt pointed out. "Caterpillars, more likely."
"Caterpillars?" Kylie said. "Don't those turn into--"
Burt nodded. "Moths or butterflies. Most likely a moth, I would think." His eyes scanned the air above the cave. "I haven't seen any yet, but that doesn't mean they're not around. Normal moths are nocturnal."
"These aren't normal caterpillars, are they?" Kylie asked hesitantly. "I mean, they don't just make them bigger around here, right?"
Burt shook his head. "Mixmaster, in all likelihood." He watched a moment more, then started to scramble down the hill. "Come on," he said.
Kylie scrambled after him.
"Come in Tyler, this is Burt. Over."
Burt leaned against the truck, mic in hand, while Kylie scanned the surrounding hills and sky apprehensively.
"Tyler, come in," he repeated. "This is Burt. Over."
Nancy's voice came over the radio. "Burt, you got Nancy. Tyler's still in Bixby with Jodi."
Burt's eyes rolled skyward. He checked his watch. "What's their return ETA? Over."
"Probably not until late tonight," Nancy's voice told him. "Is something wrong?"
Burt's eyes turned toward Kylie, his gaze speculative. "Nothing we can't handle," he said. "Burt out." He tossed the mic into the truck and went to the back. "I guess we're on our own."
Kylie followed him. "We?"
She took the double handful of magazines Burt handed her and obediently distributed those through the pouches on her new holster. He held out the M16 she'd been training on and she looked at him blankly.
"You'll need this," he said.
Kylie looked at him uncertainly, but took the rifle. "I don't think I'm ready for this, Burt. You should wait for Tyler..."
"No time," he told her shaking his head. He looked at the late afternoon sky. "Moths come out at dusk. No telling what they'll do." He patted her on the shoulder. "You'll be fine."
"Hello? Earth to Burt Gummer! Remember? This is me, Kylie? Can't-shoot-the-bad-things-Girl."
"You're all I've got, so you'll have to do." He stopped rummaging in the back of his truck to look at her briefly. "Besides," he continued, "all you'll have to do is follow along and reload if I need you to. There are only seven of them." He reached into the truck and selected own rifle from the ones he regularly carried, the HKG41. He propped that against the truck and reached in for more gear. "Here."
She reached out and took the headlamp he handed her, similar to the one he was affixing to his hat.
"You'll need it for the cave," he said, taking it from her and fastening it to her head.
"Didn't know you had a spare," she said somewhat uncertainly.
"Bought it last weekend," Burt muttered.
"Always with the backup," Kylie said, attempting a smile.
He nodded uncomfortably, his eyes on the lamp. "Ready?" he asked, finally looking her in the eye.
She shrugged and tried to nod her head, but it came out more as a shake.
"You'll do fine," he said, patting her shoulder awkwardly. "Just follow me, and stay out of my line of fire."
"Stay out of the line of fire," she repeated. "I can do that..."
Burt had brought the power wagon to the bottom of the hill near the cave. All they had to do was walk up the incline then down into the cave. Burt started up the hill.
Kylie stared after him dubiously until he paused to turn and scowl at her ferociously.
"I'm coming..."
The cave entrance was deserted, raising Kylie's spirits marginally. "Maybe they all... left," she suggested.
"They're probably inside," Burt said, patiently. "We'll check."
"Fun..."
Burt turned on his lamp as they entered the cave, then reached over to turn on Kylie's. There wasn't much to see at first. The floor was uneven and covered with loose gravel, as if it had been attacked by particularly industrious large moles. There were mounds of dirt in spaces between the holes. Burt led the way and Kylie followed.
The cave was a large one, with plenty of room for the caterpillars and whatever they chose to drag in here. They went around a bend and the light from the entrance all but disappeared, leaving them in darkness save for the cones of light from their headlamps. The cave twisted twice more and they started hearing faint sounds of activity from ahead.
Kylie's eyes struggled to pierce the darkness. She covered her headlamp with one hand. "Is that... light ahead?"
Burt's light bobbed as he nodded his head. "It's faint, but yes."
"Maybe we came to the other side," Kylie suggested hopefully.
"Maybe," Burt admitted slowly. "We'll be careful until we know for sure." He didn't like the sounds he heard ahead. "Let's move over here." Burt turned off his own lamp as he herded Kylie toward the wall. She started fumbling for her light's switch until Burt turned it off for her. "Give your eyes a minute to adjust."
"Stay close behind me," Burt said, as he started creeping toward the opening ahead where the light was coming from. He felt Kylie's hand touch his back, then slide down and finally hook into his belt. He paused only long enough to shake his head, then kept moving.
They came to a halt behind some loose boulders just beyond the opening. The light came from several holes in the roof where rock had fallen in. "Unstable," Burt pointed out. "One good explosion could bring the rest of it down." Carefully, he rose up and peered over the boulders. He put a firm hand on Kylie's shoulder when she started to do likewise. When he was sure they wouldn't be seen, he let go and motioned her to look.
She gasped when she first saw the scene. "There's way more than seven, Burt."
The ground sloped down sharply at the opening to form a deep, high-ceilinged cavern. Writhing caterpillars of all sizes filled the middle of the cavern. One of the bigger caterpillars would select an animal from the pile at the side of the cavern, carry it to the young, then suck the insides out via the long proboscis. The creature would then insert this tube into the younger ones.
"Gross," Kylie hissed. "What are they doing?"
"Feeding, I think," Burt whispered back.
They watched in horror as another animal, a bobcat this time, was selected from the pile and drained.
"Kill them Burt," Kylie whispered, her face a mask of revulsion. "Kill all of them."
Burt glanced at her, one eyebrow raised, then behind them and again toward the scene before them. He shook his head. "I don't have the ammo," he murmured. His eyes narrowed, his mouth moving side to side. "But I've got an idea." He turned. "We'll need to get back to the truck."
He pulled her down and they crept away from the opening, back toward the entrance.
The cave was a deep one, but they were maybe fifteen yards from the entrance before Kylie sensed movement to one side. "Burt!" she hissed, creeping up close behind him and pulling his sleeve.
"I heard it," he whispered back. He turned to the right and his lamp shone on one of the giant beasts, just coming out of the ground. It had time to rear up and spit green slime at them once before Burt sidestepped, then pulled his rifle up, aimed, and fired. It's head burst and it fell forward with a thud.
That brought the rest of them. Suddenly, they were coming, fast, from the depths of the cave.
Burt emptied one clip into the first wave then passed his rifle back to Kylie. "Reload!" He took hers and met the next wave. But there were too many, and their brains were slow to react to the body's damage, so they just kept coming once they were shot.
"Retreat!" Burt called.
Kylie didn't waste time.
They ran as fast as the uneven ground allowed, but two more of the creatures were just coming into the cave from the outside. Kylie skidded to a halt, her head going left and right, looking for an escape. Burt grabbed her arm and hauled her back, into a curving recess in the cave wall where they couldn't be seen. He spun her around to the back of the niche and pressed his body against hers, one hand pressing her head into his chest and the other reaching up to turn off his headlamp. "Shhh," he whispered, then turned off her lamp. Picking up his rifle, he turned, slowly, then peered around the corner to watch the animals ripple past the opening.
They didn't seem to be able to find them, as he'd hoped. Probably relied on motion sensing and sensitive night vision, like a cat.
They waited, but there seemed to be a constant surge of animals through the cave. He could barely make out the scene in the darkness. Some carried animals, the proboscis tube wrapped around the animal's neck. These hadn't been consumed yet--probably for the young larvae at the back of the cave.
He reached a hand behind him to find Kylie in the darkness. She immediately took his hand and pressed herself against his back. He wished he had time to enjoy the sensation.
He turned, bending down to whisper in her ear. "I think there's a pattern in their traffic. The ones inside the cave when we arrived have left and others have arrived. The flow is trickling off, though. There should be a lull soon. We'll make a run for it then." He wished he could see her face. Instead, he felt her hair slide across his lips as she nodded. "Make sure your rifle's loaded," he reminded her, then turned to check the creatures' progress.
As he'd predicted, the flow had diminished. Just one of the caterpillars was in the cave and it was leaving. They'd never get a better chance. He turned back to Kylie. "Wait here," he whispered, "but be ready to run when I tell you."
He started to creep out of the cave, but paused and took Kylie's hand. He brought it up to her headlamp. "Use this," he whispered, wrapping her fingers around the switch. He heard her soft "Heh" in the darkness and knew she wouldn't have thought of it on her own.
He crept out of the cave, his eyes probing the darkness. From what he could see, the opening was clear. "Kylie!" He hissed. "Go." He heard her scramble out of the niche and start toward the entrance. He turned to watch where he thought she'd be until her headlamp switched on and started bobbing quickly toward the opening.
By the time he turned back, it was almost upon him.
He started firing even before his rifle's muzzle was trained on the creature. It went down, but Burt could hear more shuffling behind it. He kept firing.
"Burt!" Kylie screamed.
"I'm all right!" he shouted back when he paused firing. He glanced back long enough to see that her light had stopped moving and now pointed in his direction. "Keep going!" By the dim light of her headlamp, he could see six or seven of the creatures surging toward him. He fired a volley of shots then sped after Kylie.
Burt caught up to her and they ran, dodging holes and rocks. She cleared one mound of dirt and landed halfway in one of the holes. Burt made a grab for her as she stumbled, but she still went down. She rolled, but her head slammed into another mound of dirt, hard enough for her to see stars. Her head fell back a moment and she worked at focusing her eyes on the walls of the cave.
"Burt..." she said uncertainly. "What are those?"
Burt followed the direction of Kylie's gaze and his eyes widened. There were hundreds of them; they covered the walls. He shot a glance behind them and grasped Kylie's wrist, pulling her to her feet. "They're eggs," he said. That meant there were definitely moths--somewhere. "We've got to get out of here."
They ran.