Page 40 of Marc
It wasn’t far away.
We dodged around another cocoon.
“Help.”
I stumbled.
“Colbie, keep moving.” There was grit in his voice.
I shook my head. “Did you hear that?”
He frowned. “I can hear a giant monster coming this way.”
“Help.” The sound was faint and weak.
“That.” I spun. “There’s someone here.”
There were more snuffling sounds, then the sound of something big moving through the room.
“We can’t stay here, Colbie,” he whispered urgently.
“There’s a person trapped here. They need our help.” I crouched and moved closer to a cluster of cocoons. “Hello?” Nothing. “Hello?”
“Help me.”
It was even more faint. I spun and saw Marc frowning.
“Where is it coming from?” I said.
“I don’t know. We have to move.”
“Marc—”
He bit off a curse. “We’ll come back.”
There was a crashing sound and another low roar. The monster was getting closer.
He took my hand and pulled me toward the door. Inside, I was battling conflicting emotions. All I could think was that there was a poor person here, somewhere.
We couldn’t leave them.
We circled a cocoon that was open, like a broken egg, with the top half broken on the floor.
Suddenly, Marc jerked me to the side and yanked me down. He pressed a finger to his lips.
I slowly turned my head, and my blood ran cold.
It was a threader.
It was gliding silently between the cocoons, like a shark moving through deep water. Its skin was oil-slick black. It had a long, emaciated body that was all sinewy muscle. Its long arms were tipped with claws, and it had no eyes or mouth, just a smooth, eerie face that ended in a long snout. I knew from Hunter Squad’s descriptions that the snout flared open like a flower and sprayed the cocoon-web stuff.
The other monster in the room roared again. It sounded angry and hungry. The threader didn’t react, clearly unconcerned. Then it disappeared from view.
“Go,” Marc ordered.
We darted toward the door.
“Help.”
