She’d come damn close to calling out. She stopped herself, though. He would’ve tried to rescue her. They’d have killed him, for sure.
“Also,” Lilly said, “you can tell because they’re strangers. If you see a stranger around here, you can bet it’s a Thak. Gotta watch out for ’em. My best friend got killed by one. The shit he did to her…”
Cordie wondered what could shock a girl like Lilly. She didn’t ask. She didn’t want to know.
“One came in the village, just last night. Christ, he killed half a dozen of us. They’re bad. Real bad. Most of us, we never go anyplace alone, case we run into one.”
They resumed dragging the body. It seemed heavier than before. “How much farther’s this village?”
“We’re almost there.”
“God, I hope so.” She struggled forward. The woods were hot and still. Not a breeze stirred.
Sweat rolled down her skin. Kigit’s ankle was slippery in her wet hands, and several times she lost her grip.
“Can’t we rest?” she asked.
“We’ll be there in a minute.”
“I saw a Thak last night. I’ll tell you about it, if we can rest a second.”
“Okay. Make it quick, though.”
Cordie dropped the leg. With sweaty hands, she wiped ropes of wet hair away from her face. She was dripping. She wished she had a towel.
u saw a Thak?”
Cordie nodded. “Yeah. It killed some kid. And…” She couldn’t bring herself to speak Ben’s name. “And my boyfriend.”
“You mean them?” Lilly nodded toward the boys who were walking a short distance ahead, with their burdens of arms and legs.
“That’s… ?”
“That’s them. Who do you think?”
“I guess I knew,” she admitted.
“Let’s get moving,” Lilly said.
They lifted the legs, and started forward.
“That wasn’t any Thak you saw.”
“Huh?”
“Their heads got ripped off. That wasn’t a Thak. What’d he look like?”
“He was huge,” Cordie said. “I don’t know, maybe seven feet. That’s about all I saw. It was dark, and I only got a glimpse. But I heard him. God, he had a voice like… it was horrible.”
“He yelled Krull,’ right?”
“Yeah.” Cordie blinked sweat off her eyelashes. “Who was he?”
“The Devil.”
In the village, Cordie was led directly to a hut. “Stay here,” Lilly said. “Grar has to see you.”
Then she was alone. She sat cross-legged in the center of the hut. The floor was specked with sunlight from the leafy roof. She sighed. It felt good to be rid of the body. But later…
She didn’t want to think about later.
At least for the moment, she didn’t seem to be in danger.
They’d accepted her.
They’d fucked her raw. Kigit had tried to kill her. But she’d done everything right, so far. She was almost one of them.
With both hands, she wiped the dripping sweat from her face. From her shoulders and breasts.
She would like to go back to that stream.
And Dad.
The pelt over the hut’s entrance flapped open, and a creature swung in on hairy arms. Cordie flinched. She gripped her thighs, digging fingernails into her wet skin, fighting her urges to flee or scream.
The creature, she realized, was a man. A man of hideous deformity, legless and bloated. His mouth twitched into a mockery of a grin.
“Grar?”
The monster swung himself closer.
Cordie squeezed her thighs harder. Her fingernails pierced her skin.
Inches from her knees, he stopped. His eyes roamed her body.
No!
Not him!
Watching his gummy eyes, she knew she would die before letting him take her.
She crossed her arms over her breasts.
The creature growled.
“No,” she whispered.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Robbins woke up, and found Neala asleep beside him on the bed of fur. He raised his head. Sherri was at the front wall, keeping watch.
He gently removed Neala’s hand from his belly, and got up. He went to Sherri. “What’re they doing?” he asked.
“Just standing there.”
He peered out. “What the hell are they waiting for?”
“Maybe they plan to starve us out. Beats getting their heads shot off.”
“Yeah.” He stepped away from the wall, and lifted his T-shirt to wipe the sweat off his face. Then he picked up his rifle. He went to the door, and opened it. The air from outside gave no relief; it felt even hotter than the air inside.
“Actually,” said Sherri, “I think we’ll die of thirst long before we starve.”
“We’re not gonna do either.”
“What do you plan, a mass suicide?”
“I plan to get us out of here.”
“Rotsa ruck.”
He stepped into the sunlight. Squinting, he looked through the weirdly tilted crosses and mounted heads.
Must be two dozen Krulls out there. Not doing a damn thing. Just lounging around, like it’s a picnic.
Picnic.
Robbins made a grim laugh.
A few of the Krulls perked up when they noticed him. Some pointed. One young fellow ran forward, stopping at the edge of the pikes, and hurled a spear. Robbins watched it soar, knowing it would fall short. It did. It tore half the face off an impaled head. The head twirled, its black hair swinging behind it.
Angry voices broke the silence.
Two Krulls attacked the boy. They threw him down. They stomped and kicked him.
Because he flung his spear at an impossible target?
Or because he damaged one of the heads?
Maybe the area’s sacred, Robbins thought. It would explain why the Krulls hadn’t entered.
He walked along the front of the cabin to its corner. More Krulls along the side. He counted eight. They could be reinforced, though, by some from the front.
He moved to the rear. More there. Thirteen or fourteen wandering idly beyond the barrier of heads.
He gasped at a noise behind him. Swung around. Found his rifle muzzle inches from Neala’s belly.
For an instant, she looked terrified. Then a smile came to her face. “Don’t shoot,” she said.
“Wouldn’t think of it. What’re you doing up?”
She shrugged. “Too hot in there.”
“It’s hotter out here.”
“But you’re here. What are you doing?”
“Looking for a way out.”
“Any luck?”
“Not yet.”
She squinted across the field. Wet hair clung to her forehead. Her face was sweaty. The tiny, moist specks below her eyes glinted sunlight. A drop rolled down toward a corner of her mouth. She licked it away, then dried her face with the front of her shirt. She let the shirt hang open.
“Why don’t they come for us?” she asked.
“I’m not certain. I think we might be in the middle of a sacred area, or something. They always stop at the edge of the heads.”
“I would’ve, too, if I’d had a choice.”
“It’s more than just revulsion. Has to be. These Krulls think nothing of tearing people limb from limb. They must have a damn good reason for staying out.”
“Like if these are their ancestors?”
“Yeah.”
“That’d be nice for us.”
“Except.”
Neala nodded. She leaned back against the wall, and hooked her thumbs into the pockets of her corduroys. Her throat and chest and belly were glossy with sweat.
“What’ll we do?” she asked.
“We can’t stay here forever.”
“We gonna make a run for it?”
“I guess we’ll have to. We’ll wait till after dark, and sneak out. This way, I guess. The crosses aren’t quite as dose together, back here. If we can manage to crawl through without knocking any down…”