I pick it up and an egg gets implanted in me or something?”
Sam wrinkled her nose. “How is that even possible?”
Red shrugged. “I don’t know. It looks like an alien, doesn’t it? It seems like the sort of thing that would implant an egg just when you think you’re safe.”
It wasn’t an alien, though, not if Sirois was to be believed. This thing had been created in a lab with government funding. But why? Biological terrorism? It didn’t seem like an awesome idea to make something that would terrorize friend and foe alike. This creature didn’t appear to pick and choose its hosts with any discrimination.
“So you’re just going to leave it there?” Sam asked.
“Yup,” Red said. “Maybe when the next patrol comes along it will confuse them.”
Actually, if they were lucky there would be more of these monsters and they would wreck the whole militia. That would be ideal.
“Um, Red,” Sam said. “There’s someone coming.”
She pointed down the road in the direction of D.J.’s house. There was “someone” coming—there were many someones. A whole line of trucks and jeeps that looked far more official than any militia. They were driving very fast.
“Shit,” Red said. “Can’t I sit down and rest for a damned minute?”
She struggled to stand again, but her body was worn to pieces and wouldn’t cooperate. Not even the fear of getting caught by the military was enough to force her legs to stand and run. The cavalcade would be upon them in a minute. She and Sam had certainly been spotted by now, so even if they did hide in the house the soldiers would just come and drag them out.
Well, there was nothing for it. Red would have to brazen it out. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t done it before. But she couldn’t stand up anymore. Her body was done, at least for the moment.
The head jeep pulled to a halt a short distance from where Red and Sam sat on the lawn, and through some kind of magic all the vehicles behind it managed not to run into one another’s bumpers.
Sam huddled close to Red’s shoulder. Red expected to be surrounded by barking men with rifles, but only the two men in the jeep got out and walked toward them. One of them was very tall—the tallest person Red had ever seen.
“Sirois,” Red said as he and his companion stopped by Red’s feet.
“That’s Lieutenant Sirois to you,” he said, surveying the scene.
“Got a promotion, did you?” Red said, and gestured at the two pieces of the Thing That Should Not Be in the middle of the road. “Found one of your ‘tapeworms.’”
He looked at the corpses in the ditch, then at the axe in her hand. “And something else, I see. Does your grandma live around here?”
“Nope,” Red said. “I’m still on my way there.”
“Not traveling alone any longer, either,” Sirois said, smiling at Sam. He turned to the man who hovered at his elbow and gave him a muttered order. The other man dashed away.
“Are you going to tell me what that alien thing is all about now that I’ve sliced one of them in half?” Red asked.
“It’s still classified,” Sirois said. “We’ve had reports that there’s another homegrown militia here, one that’s been kidnapping women and children. Do you know anything about that, or where they’re located?”
Red considered. It went against the grain to help the military, but Sirois had ensured that she escaped that besieged town safely. And if Sirois’s group cleared out the Kidnapping Militia, then so much the better. It meant that Red and Sam and Riley could cross through the region without worrying about getting snatched up.
“Deus ex machina again, huh? You’re going to sweep in and save the day?” Red said.
“Just like in a movie,” Sirois said.
“I’ll show you where we think they are if you’ll bring a map,” Red said. “I’d be happy as hell to have you wipe them off the face of the earth.”
Sirois looked from Red to Sam to the corpses and it seemed