Page 41 of Lagoon

Harris let out a long, low, bitter laugh. “We’re at war somehow, aren’t we?”

“Best thing to do is let us go without interfering,” said Angela. “You want us to trust you, show us you’re not going to hurt us.”

“We didn’t mean it with Nancy,” said Harris. “We didn’t even know what was happening. I woke up and my whole body was scaled over and I scented her and I didn’t—there was no decision, it was justhappening.”

“You know, that’s not reassuring,” said Riley.

“Fuck,” said Harris. “Fuckity fuck.”

Silence.

“Back off and let us pass,” said Angela.

“I’m not in your way, am I?” said Harris.

Angela sighed. She glanced at Riley. “Stay close to me?”

“Absolutely,” said Riley, pressing into Angela’s back.

They eased out of the cabin and away.

In the darkness, Harris’s eyes glittered. Was he alone?

“Hey, uh, are those… were those eggs?” he whispered.

Riley didn’t say anything. She’d looked at the body, and she was trying not to think about that, what that must have been like, what a way to die, having those things forced into you when there was no more room. She hadn’t heard the screams,but she’d been sleeping the passed-out sleep of the drunk after taking those shots of liquor. She was glad she hadn’t heard the screams. Seeing the body had been bad enough.

“If we’re laying eggs out of our new second fucking cocks, does that mean we’re not men anymore?”

“Oh, seriously?” said Riley. “That’s what you’re the most worried about?”

“Well,” said Harris in a darker, richer voice, “Nancy was a fucking bitch, wasn’t she? Deserved it, maybe.”

“Shoot him,” Riley said to Angela.

And Angela did shoot.

But she didn’t hit anything.

Harris darted off into the darkness, and they went the other way, heading for the lab.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

AT THE LAB, Luther said they should sequester themselves by sex, the men together and the women together, so they did, on opposite sides of the lab. They had brought blankets and pillows, but Riley didn’t think she’d be able to sleep.

She relayed the conversations they’d had with Harris to Jonathan, who didn’t say anything about it. He just made a lot of faces.

Then, separated, she was alone with Angela.

In the darkness, they lay next to each other, on the floor, both breathing loudly.

Riley didn’t think she’d be able to sleep, but somehow she did.

She awoke to the light of morning coming in through the windows.

Angela was already awake, checking her gun, standing at the doorway. “We have to prepare ourselves for the possibility that Jonathan and Luther changed all the way in the night.”

Riley bit down on her lip. “We need to… get a rescue coordinated, don’t we?”

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