Minutes to Burn

"But we know that the larvae are amphibious. Diego even said that the first one we found could very well have been heading down to the ocean. They could drift with the currents, wind up God knows where. If we're not here to track them down…"

Diego stepped out of the tent, his face heavy, and approached the others. "He wanted to see the bodies, but I told him…" He scratched his cheek, letting the sentence trail off. "He's too upset to even argue with me about staying."

Cameron nodded. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Yes," Diego replied. "So am I."

"You and Rex collected lots of water samples yesterday, didn't you?" she asked.

Diego scratched his forehead at the hairline. "Yes. From various points on the island and all along the coast, especially from the dino-rich waters flowing in from the deep-sea core holes."

"If you don't want this island bombed, I'd suggest you get back to the Darwin Station, run virus tests, and pray to God none of the samples are infected," Cameron said. "Contact Donald and Dr. Everett at Fort Det-rick, where the decision's being made." She pulled her hand from her pocket and opened it to reveal a small silver disk, Tucker's transmitter that she'd pulled from the ashes of the mantid's belly. "Heat-resistant to two thousand degrees," she said. "Picked it from the bones. I already tested it. Just activate it and ask the operator to patch you through. Med-ical Division Wing, Slammer Two."

"We can't leave you all here," Rex said. "With… with the possibility of-"

"We have TNT," Cameron said. "We're soldiers. You're scientists. And you'd better get that kid out of here in case all hell does break loose." She looked at the other soldiers. "We came here a squad, I say we stay here a squad. We still have some business to take care of."

Tank nodded first, then Justin murmured his assent.

"What the fuck," Savage said. "Got nothin' better to do."

Szabla stared at Cameron long and hard, the line of her cheekbones glistening with sweat.

"You'll be in charge," Cameron said.

"Girl, that gets harder and harder with you around." Szabla shook her head. "Fuck it. We can't all fit in that boat, and it's our responsibility to clear the civilians." She nodded at Cameron. "I'm in."

"We shouldn't leave you here," Rex said.

Szabla smirked. "No need to be valiant for the sake of the ladies when we can both kick your ass."

Rex nodded seriously. "True," he said. "True."

Szabla stretched her arms with a groan. "We're minute to minute here. What's our defense if we can't get to those last two larvae in time? The adults are pretty antsy, pun be fucked. I can't see one just staggering into a pile of explosives and det cord. Look at the Rambo shit Savage had to pull just to get near it." She let out her breath, puffing her cheeks. "I mean, we can't exactly lob around blocks of TNT."

"Why not?" Rex asked.

Szabla bit back a smile. "This ain't a Road Runner cartoon. If we throw it, we can't time the explosion. Timing sucks in general with TNT, since it's not meant as a killing explosive. It's too unreliable to light a fuse set for less than thirty seconds anyways. It's always better to detonate it."

"The fuses aren't made for that," Cameron concurred. "Plus TNT has no frag-there's no shrapnel to expand the killing radius. We need to lock the creature's location before we detonate, hold it close to the explosives. Hopefully within an enclosed space so it'll blow like an inter-nal charge. Walls won't allow the explosion to dissipate as easily."

Rex nodded. "Greater overpressure."

Tank formed a gun with his hand and tilted it at Rex with a clicking noise. "Freezer?" he asked.

"I don't know." Rex shook his head. "It would be tough to lure one in there without live bait, and we've already noted the island's lack of dogs and goats. Plus, I don't see her ducking into a metal box without great provocation."

"I agree," Szabla said. She turned her fist, making her biceps slide up and down.

"So what the fuck are we gonna do?" Justin asked. "Dig a pit?"

"Yeah," Savage said. "We are." They turned to him, surprised. "Once you get someone in a pit, you own 'em," he said. "You got elevation, you got 'em trapped-you can do anything you want to them. We lost guys in pits sometimes in Nam, steep pits. They'd try to scramble up the sides, but the mud would give way under their hands. Right in the middle of combat, with us retreating. They were fucked. I had an LT that'd shoot 'em before leavin' 'em there for the gooks to play with."

The silence that followed was broken by Cameron's laugh.

"What's so funny?" Justin asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I was just debating whether I should mention that I find the term 'gook' offensive. I guess the civility of my response seemed oddly out of place." She looked at Savage, amusement lingering on her lips. "I forgot who I'm dealing with."

A smile flashed somewhere in Savage's beard.