Chapter 23
CHAPTER
THAD
I tracked the blood, rewinding the morning. Everything I’d said, everything I’d done.
Echoes of Charley rang in my head. You did all you could.
Echoes of Rives. You’ve done enough.
Echoes of Li. Nil crazy.
Li was right. Nil was freaking nuts.
The blood trail darkened, and then the blood was thick, because I was there. The scene was fresh in my head, like a low-budget horror flick. Only all that was left were scattered entrails—the beast was gone. By the looks of it, something had dragged it away. Something bigger than the hog.
Nil crazy.
“It’s gone.” My voice was flat. “Something took it.”
“Whoa,” Rives said, walking over to the trail’s edge, where heavy drag marks scraped the rocks and lines of blood told the story. “Something hungry.”
“Not anymore,” I said.
“Amen to that,” Johan said.
Knife out, I jogged to the black rocks, where I’d first heard the squeals. Behind the largest rock was a dark hole, almost a cave.
“Rives,” I called. “Check it out. I think this is where it lived.”
To the left of the burrow, something snorted. Rives and I spun at once, knives out. A small beastie cowered, bloody and whimpering.
“Warthog for sure,” Rives said. Then with one swift slice, he killed it.
I wasn’t really sure why I went back. Maybe to purge the nightmare from my system, maybe to reassure myself the nightmare was real. But now having gone, I felt better—and worse. Strangely numb, to the badness that was Nil.
I needed a breather.
I needed to get off Nil—right now—and I knew just how to get the relief I craved.
“Let’s go,” I said. It was all I could do not to run.
Near the Shack, Macy and Maria flanked Heesham. Full of life, Heesham was talking fast.
“—flashed right there. A short sprint, twenty meters, tops. Samuel stepped in and that was it.”
Catching Samuel’s name, I stopped. “Samuel made it?” I asked.
“Sure did.” Heesham grinned. “First day of Search, too. Good karma, man. A good day on Nil.” He hugged Maria, who squeezed him back and laughed.
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t. Stretched to my limit, I ran.
Paddling out, I left Nil behind. For the next hour, I focused on the waves and the rush, and absolutely nothing else.
There was no blood in the water.