He released, rolled, and stood up in one swift, fluid move, but it was humiliating.
Drake’s whip hand snapped, hit Jack’s back, and drew a gasp of pain. But Jack didn’t stop; he plowed straight on into the melee of bugs. He grabbed the nearest leg and yanked it hard.
The leg came away. It didn’t stop the creature or even seem to affect it, but it gave Jack a weapon.
“Better save Orc fast, there, Jack,” Drake taunted. “He looks like he’s going down.”
Orc’s roaring voice was hoarse and fading. The clash of carapace against carapace was louder and more frenzied.
They would kill Orc soon. And then Drake’s army would deal with Jack. All he had to do now was keep Jack distracted.
Jack broke the leg into two pieces, one thick and stubby, the other pointed.
Drake snapped his whip and drew blood through Jack’s shirt.
“Come on, Jack, you know you can’t win,” Drake said. “You can’t kill me. And you can’t stop my army. Only way out is for you to join me.”
“No,” Jack said.
“My side is the only side now, Jack. There’s a whole other bug army eating its way through Perdido Beach right now. Who do you think you’re even fighting for? Whatever the red-eyes don’t finish, we will when we get there.”
“You don’t know what’s going on in Perdido Beach,” Jack said.
“The Darkness tells me,” Drake lied. “He gave me power over them. We’re cleaning everyone out, Jack. By the end of the day all of them will be dead and gone. Join me and he may let you live.”
He snapped his whip with lightning speed and caught Jack unprepared. His whip curled around Jack’s throat. Jack hauled on the whip but all that did was to yank Drake straight into Jack. Face-to-face Drake laughed and coiled ever tighter around Jack’s throat and squeezed, squeezed, seeing Jack’s pale face redden.
Jack punched him in the chest so hard his fist went all the way through. But Drake’s grip never loosened and Jack’s eyes bulged and Drake laughed and Orc’s voice was no longer heard over the sound of mouthparts gnashing.
“Sam, Sam, you swore you wouldn’t let them!”
The boat touched the dock and Quinn sent his rowers racing, all shouting Lana’s name.
“I have a plan, Dekka,” Sam said.
Her body was no longer like anything human. Beneath her clothing it pulsated. The creatures were tearing through in places, mouthparts flashing, mandibles questing. One burst all the way out. It froze for a second, staring at Sam with eyes the color of jade.
He grabbed for it, caught it, and dropped it. But Quinn was quicker. He threw a fishing net over the creature, stepped on the edges of the net, and held it pinned in the bottom of the boat.
“Now!” Dekka begged. “Now, Sam! Now! Oh, God, now!”
A second bug could be clearly seen moving beneath the skin of her thigh, nothing but a thin membrane of flesh covering it.
“I have a plan, Dekka, I have a plan, hang on, hang on,” Sam begged.
“Noooo!” It was a pitiful wail of despair.
Sam shot a hopeless glance at the shore. Nothing. No Lana. The crew had all disappeared.
Quinn had grabbed an oar and was smashing it down on the trapped bug like a pile driver, again and again, smashing away, and yet the creature lived.
Suddenly a rush of wind and Brianna stood at the end of the dock, vibrating, covered with gore. “About time you showed up . . .” She fell silent as she realized what was happening to Dekka. “What the—”
“Breeze: Lana. Now! NOW!” Sam cried but the second “now” was said to the air.
“I got to . . . I got to see her again . . . ,” Dekka chattered.
“Don’t give up on me, Dekka. Don’t give up on me.”
But Dekka’s eyes were rolling wildly, her entire body was in spasm.
“Quinn. What I’m going to do . . . Just hold her down. Hold her down no matter what.”
Quinn smashed the bug one last time and if it wasn’t dead it was at least not going anywhere. He dropped to his knees and held Dekka’s shoulders.
“What are you doing?” Quinn asked.
“Surgery,” Sam said dully.
He held up his right hand. The green light, as focused as a laser, sliced through Dekka’s clothing and skin.
Brianna found Lana retreating with Sanjit toward the eastern edge of town.
“Lana!”
“You’re alive!” Lana said. “The kids?”
“A lot dead,” Brianna gasped. “A lot more hurt, but the bugs are done for.”
“I’m coming,” Lana said and started to trot back toward the plaza.
“Yeah. Wrong way and too slow,” Brianna said. “Give me your hand. You can heal yourself later.”
Brianna took off, dragging Lana, who instantly tripped. She dragged the Healer the rest of the way down the street, then down the length of the beach.
Dragging her, Brianna couldn’t do anything like full speed, but she could move faster than any human runner.
The Healer’s legs were scraped raw by the time Brianna yanked her to her feet at the end of the dock.
“Got her!” Brianna announced. Then, “What are you doing?”
Sam’s face was a mask of horror. He had sliced Dekka open from neck to pelvis. Dekka’s organs—a slaughterhouse mess—crawled with a dozen bugs, all swarming out of her.
Quinn snatched at the bugs and tossed them from the boat into the water. He was elbow-deep in blood.