The Forbidden Trilogy(172)

Huge, giant, enormous animals. No, not animals. They had hard shells with bright emerald patterns on them. Some had scary looking horns protruding from their face—a top and bottom horn that curved upward with teeth-like notches on it. They looked like....

"Beetles." Hunter spoke in a whisper. "They're beetles, I think. Only... giant!"

Giant was an understatement. Four of them, each twice the size of a mini-van, foraged in a clearing.

Lucy studied them more closely and recognized something about them. "My brother is a big bug expert. He had a book once that he couldn't stop talking about. Everyday he'd insist on showing me pictures and filling my head with useless bug trivia. I remember a beetle, a Hercules beetle, I think they're called, that looked like these. Obviously not as big, and these are more brightly colored, but otherwise they're similar. If I recall, they're actually harmless. They eat rotten fruit."

"You're a surprising woman, Lucy." He moved his hand up her back and to her shoulder. "We need to get back and tell the others about this."

He turned to go, but Lucy didn't move. "Wait. I want to get closer, to see them better."

"Are you nuts? We have no idea what they'd do. Besides, the others need to be warned."

Lucy ignored him and crawled forward, scaling the dead tree and slowly approaching the beetles.

Hunter cursed as he climbed the tree and joined her. "You need to stop and think. This is dangerous and reckless."

She pointed out one beetle in particular, who looked different than the rest. "Look at him. Look at those colors—blues and purples. Do you think he's the leader or something? He looks bigger than the others too."

Although, at their size, it all became a neck-straining blur. Lucy took another step to get closer. She wanted to see their horns, and to examine the shell of what she assumed were the females. She stepped on a twig, and it snapped. The sound seemed to fill up the valley, and the giant beetles all paused in their scuttling and looked at her.

Hunter tensed beside her. "Shit. Let's go."

Lucy pulled out her gun and aimed at the creatures, but couldn't pull the trigger. A loud horn blasted.

"Lucy, come on." Hunter grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the log and over it.

She holstered her gun and let Hunter lead her away.

Had the beetles made that sound? They must have, because they charged after Lucy and Hunter like a stampede of angry elephants.

Just as Lucy's foot cleared the log they'd climbed over, it moved. The beetles were ramming into it.

She and Hunter ran faster, harder, pushing themselves to get back to the group and warn them. The ground under their feet rumbled like an earthquake. A root snagged her foot and she tripped, but caught herself mid-fall and kept running. The foliage thickened in one place, making it harder to run. Hunter pulled out his sword and hacked through the web of green bushes and branches to give them an easier clearing. Trees shook around them as they finally approached the other agents and Luke.

Lucy screamed through heavy breathing. "Run! Run now!"

The agents looked confused, but the horns blared again and the ground thundered. Everyone turned and ran with Lucy and Hunter.

Luke caught up with them. "What the hell's going on, Sis?"

The beetles broke through the shrubs they'd run behind, and now everyone could see what they were running from, including Luke. "Oh shit. Not good."

One of the agents tripped and fell on a rock, scraping his knee bad enough to draw blood. Simmons helped him up and pushed him to run. They came to a fallen tree in their path, with no way around. The scrambled up and over it, helping each other in the process. The beetles caught up with them, rolling the tree trunk out of the way as the last agent cleared it. Surrounded by the giant creatures, they found themselves at a dead end against a boulder.

Right or left? Lucy grabbed Luke and pulled him right. Hunter followed them.

The other agents, led by Simmons, weaved to the left to avoid one of the beetles, who slammed into the boulder head first and fell over, stunned. The other beetles learned from their fallen comrade, and one chased the agents while two followed Lucy, Luke and Hunter.

The terrain became rocky and uneven, making the running harder, but they pushed through. Sweat dripped down Lucy's face and into her eyes. She swiped at it and forced her body to move faster. Another drop of sweat stung her eyes and she closed them on reflex without slowing. Strong hands wrapped around her chest and pulled her back.

"Stop. Look." Hunter held her against his body. She could feel his heart race against her back.

When she stopped, he dropped his arms from her chest to her waist, but didn't let go. She looked down and realized he'd just saved her from running straight off the cliff.