Overton craned his head in the Marine’s direction. “I don’t want to hear any excuses. This isn’t a democracy—”

“Guys. Check this out!” Sophie interrupted.

“Keep it down,” Overton fired back before crawling over next to her.

“There. At one o’clock,” Sophie said pointing into the darkness. “I see a heat signature that’s smaller than the others.”

Overton swiped a button on the side of his scope, and a small targeting system popped up on his HUD. He clenched the rifle between his shoulder and chin and aimed it in the direction Sophie had pointed. Sure enough, a small heat signature emerged on his display. He zoomed in, and staring back at him was the face of a little girl, slightly older than Owen. She was hiding behind a Dumpster at the edge of the parking lot. And heading right for her was the massive worm.

“Fuck,” he said, dropping his head toward the concrete. It was just what he had been afraid of—a kid in the middle of this muck. Somehow children always found a way to position themselves directly in harm’s way; it was another reason he didn’t care much for them. They ended up being a liability. But he would be damned if this oversized snake would eat her as a midnight snack.

“What do you see?” Sophie asked.

“A kid.”

“What do we do?” she asked, struggling to get a better look.

“The exact opposite of what your buddy Timothy would do.”

Sophie smiled and watched Overton flip the safety on his rifle off.

“Let’s see if I’m as fast as I used to be,” he said. “Finley, watch the doctor. Bouma, if I’m not back in thirty minutes, proceed to these coordinates,” he said, handing the corporal the map and a compass from his pouch.

“Good luck,” Sophie said, as she watched Overton crawl under the semi and disappear into the darkness.

Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

THE last ray of sun disappeared over the mountains, and Overton’s night vision flickered to life, his HUD transitioning to a ghostly green.

Damn.

Night vision wasn’t much benefit to a middle-aged Marine with deteriorating vision, and tonight it was definitely more of a detriment than a help. He scanned the shoulder of the highway and jumped behind a rock formation. He blinked until the green glow faded and he could make out the objects on the path before him. It wasn’t perfect, but he had enough training with the helmet’s technology to be able to fight almost completely blind. All he really needed was to see the shapes of objects and the heat signatures of anything alive. Everything else was just a distraction.