During that single moment of connection, Connelly felt her anxiety wane, her nervousness disappear, and her fear about life and death, Robert and their mission, fade to nothing. She saw peace in the monster's eyes…until it closed them and disappeared completely.

Connelly's thoughts and emotions returned in a torrent when her connection with the creature ended. She realized that with the ability to blend into the surrounding environment, these creatures could have been tracking them the entire time. A lightning bolt of worry struck her. She had to warn the guys. She turned to where they had been and squinted as her head lamp glared off a nearby rock.

She swept the area with her light, cutting through the darkness. She moved from side to side, over and over again, until she came to the conclusion she dreaded most. Robert and Willard were gone.

They had left her behind.

A glint of metal on the floor caught Connelly's attention. She knelt down and cast her light on the floor. Willard's ice pick lay among a flurry of dusty footprints.

They hadn't left her.

They'd been taken, and she hadn't seen or heard a thing.

*   *   *   *   *

The cavern twisted around Connelly like a living thing. She'd begun running in a blind panic. Images of Robert and Willard's demise flashed through her mind. They had been kidnapped, she knew that, but if they were still alive…she had no idea.

Before she could pause and think the situation through, her body had reacted on instinct alone. The muscles in her upper back twisted with tension as she remembered the creature hiding in the darkness somewhere behind her. She could feel it growing closer, moving in for what?  The kill? She didn't know, but had no intention of finding out. If the guys were still alive, she'd have to find out after she saved herself. Connelly gripped the ice pick and bolted into the maze of alien obelisks.

In an effort to lose anything following her, Connelly swerved in and out of stones, following a rapid and chaotic path. In the end, she only succeeded in tiring her lungs, wasting some air and confounding herself beyond recovery. She had no idea which direction led to the switchback trail. She quickly attempted backtracking by following her boot prints, but soon realized she had crossed her own path several times during her mad sprint.

The surrounding darkness closed in around her, compressing her with a claustrophobic tightness. She forced her breath to come slowly…calmly. Robert wouldn't carry her this time and Willard wouldn't catch her if she fell. She was on her own.

Leaning against one of the lanky boulders, Connelly let herself slide down onto her backside. She pulled her knees up close and strained her muscles as she squeezed her arms around her legs.