The Forbidden Trilogy(188)

A deep breath, and she pounced. The lizard darted away, but she grabbed its tail. Yes! Oh crap. The tail hung from her hand, still wiggling despite having detached from the rest of the reptile.

"Ew!" She tossed it aside and watched it slither. Tailless, the lizard scurried deeper into the cave, as did the other one that had been waiting in the shadow. Another section to the cavern must open out back there.

She followed them into the dark, when a roar erupted from the blackness.

A pair of yellow eyes ringed in red came into view. Big eyes. A huge lizard emerged, bigger even than the beetles, its head and body filling the cavern. It reared back, exposing a pulsing red chest. Lucy could almost feel the beat of its heart beneath the skin. Hard green scales covered the rest of the reptile, making it look impenetrable.

The beast fell onto its stomach and hissed, looking pissed. Lucy suddenly realized why. The little ones—if they could be called little—must have been its babies. And when momma ain't happy, ain't no one happy. Least of all Lucy.

She jammed her knife into its sheath, pulled out her gun and aimed at the thing's chest, though she didn't have the same line of fire as a moment ago. The lizard's large eyes drew hers into a trance she couldn't break free of.

Just pull the trigger, Lucy. You can do this. Come on. Just shoot. This isn't Robert. It's not the alligator. It's not your brother. It's something that wants to kill you. Just shoot it, damn it!

The gun wavered in her hand, her trigger finger tightening and releasing as if uncertain of which command to obey.

In that hesitation, the lizard charged at her through the cavern. Lucy fired—her finger taking over on instinct—over and over.

It pulled back onto its hind legs and moaned, the sound echoing from the walls. Lucy didn't stop firing until her gun ran out of bullets.

The lizard dropped its head and stilled.

Lucy sighed in relief and swiped at a tear running down her cheek. She'd done what she had to do to survive.

A twitch caught her eye. Lizard tails could twitch after they'd been severed, but did whole dead lizards also twitch?

Maybe or maybe not, but she was pretty sure they didn't get up and pounce!

Lucy shrieked and jumped out of the way just as the very not dead lizard leaped at her. With a pounding heart, she sprinted over the rocks and through the waterfall.

Hunter stood on the shore, looking for her. "Lucy, what's wrong? What's that sound?"

"Hunter, no. Run!" She stumbled over rocks. "Run, now!"

He didn't move. "What? What are we—"

The lizard burst through the waterfall, spraying them both with droplets.

"Oh, crap." Hunter grabbed Lucy's hand to help her over a rock, and they both took off at full speed.

They'd almost reached the forest when the lizard jumped over their heads and landed in front of them. They stopped. Lucy's heart pounded in her chest, and fear surged through her. The lizard whipped its tail at them.

Hunter pulled at Lucy and screamed, "Roll."

She somersaulted under the tail, and Hunter did the same.

Another sweep of the tail and another roll.

They couldn't keep this up. "Maybe we could run it off a cliff."

"We're in a valley," Hunter reminded her. "No cliffs."

"Right. Lose it in the forest?"

The deadly tail nearly clipped Lucy in the shoulder. She fell to the ground, panting.

Hunter nodded. "Let's try."

Once the tail swept around again, they tried to skirt around the beast and run toward the forest, but the lizard stood on its back legs and slashed at them with sharp claws. Lucy dove to one side and Hunter to the other.

Hunter stood just as the lizard's tail lashed toward him.

"Hunter, no! Watch out."

Lucy's warning came too late. The tail sent Hunter flying into a tree. A sob broke through Lucy's lips as she ran toward him. Just as she was about to reach him, the lizard struck.

Pain. Pain like nothing she'd ever felt before flared across her back. She'd been shot, beaten, left for dead, but nothing hurt like this. It burned as if someone were pouring acid down her spine.

The ground crashed into her face. Her shirt dangled off her body in bloody shreds. A sticky wetness spread across her back and over her arms. Everything blurred and moved in and out of focus.

"Lucy! Oh my God, no!" Hunter's voice seemed far away, but he stood close to her, lean and tall and strong.

She wanted to reach for him, to hold him, but she couldn't move. Why didn't he come to her?

His eyes changed—his pupils turned into slits and the green in his eyes glowed with fire. Muscles coiled, and he ran and jumped toward the lizard.

Lucy tried to stop him, to warn him, only she couldn't talk through the pain.

Hunter dodged the lizard's tail and claws with such speed that Lucy thought she was blinking in and out of consciousness. The reptile took another swipe at him, claws dripping with Lucy's blood, and Hunter hit the ground and slid beneath its legs. Lucy had the random thought that he'd be really good at baseball, especially stealing bases.