"Yeah, it was stuck into a tree, almost like a nail."

  "I found one too, last night. I'll show it to you later. It's in my tent somewhere."

  .You said it might be an electric eye, right?"

  "Yeah, and I still think that's what the things are."

  Old electric eyes from an old missile installation, she thought. What could be duller? But the RTG? That and last night's surprise discovery: the tiny pink worms and ova that seemed to grow at an extraordinary rate. She'd love to get a look at one of the worms under a lab-grade microscope. The ones we found in the lobster were too small for these little field scopes.

  At least it would give her something to do while Annabelle and Loren continued to search for more scarlet bristleworms.

  She was just then reminded of something that had slipped her mind. "Damn, I forgot. You left the lights on in the last two head shacks."

  He looked at her funny. "You mean the one you and Loren are using?"

  "No, the buildings on the other end. I saw light leaking out from the roofs the other night." She chuckled to herself when she realized how little it mattered now. "On the other hand, I guess the army's not worried about wasting electricity. The power from the RTG is unlimited and free."

  "That's true, but there still shouldn't be any lights on. In fact, no one could have turned them on. I only have the key for the head shack you're using. The other head shacks are locked up and I couldn't get in them if I wanted to. The rest of the keys are back at my post's property room. I better check it out anyway. I can't see the army sending anyone else out here, not without me knowing. I'm the only one who ever checks this island."

  "The only one that you know of,' Nora posed.

  "Well, yeah, but it wouldn't make sense. As far as the army's concerned, this is dead property."

  Not quite, Nora elected not to say. Not with a nuclear battery buried in the ground.

  In an instant, Trent's eyes lit up as he looked past Nora. "There she is," he announced. "You're up early."

  "So are you," Annabelle replied. Wrapped only in a towel, she frowned at Nora. "What are you two doing sitting there?"

  Discussing the mini nuclear reactor that's hidden in the woods, Nora thought. Why don't you go sit on it for a few days?

  "Nora was just telling me about scarlet bristleworms," Trent lied. "They're remarkable creatures."

  "Um-hmm. Remarkable." Annabelle strode for the field shower. "If you're that interested, you could snorkel with Loren and me later, when Igo out to do the rest of the shoot."

  "I just might do that," Trent said.

  Annabelle was clearly perturbed by Nora's presence with Trent. Nora loved it. What a drama queen. "I'll be on my way," she said and rose from the table. - - -- -- - - - - - - - -

  Annabelle pulled back the shower curtain, brazenly hung up her towel so that both could see, then stepped in.

  Another deliberate move. That self-absorbed bitch just can't stop showing everyone that her body's better than mine. By now, Nora couldn't care in the least.

  "Oh, shit!" Annabelle bellowed. "Not again!" And then she leaped back out of the shower and flung the towel back on. "What is wrong with this freak-show gross-out island? I'm sick of it!"

  What's she shrieking about now? Nora followed Trent over and looked in the shower.

  "Looks like a piece of pink yarn," Trent said.

  "Last night I had those disgusting worms in my lobster," Annabelle railed, "and now there's a snake in the shower."

  That's no snake, Nora knew at once. The thing was a foot and a half long, glistening, and pink as bubblegum. I can't be this lucky, she thought. She dropped to one knee. The ground that served as the shower's basin was wet from the water that had accumulated; there was a half inch of muddy water topped by floating bits of leaves.

  Nora leaned closer.

  "Don't touch it!" Annabelle exclaimed. "It'll bite."

  "It's just kind of floating there," Trent said. "Looks dead to me."

  "It is dead," Nora affirmed. She looked up at Trent. "The insecticide you sprayed in here the other day saturated the ground." Then she looked at Annabelle, explaining, "And this isn't a snake. It's the same species of worm that infected the lobster, just older and more mature."

  "Great, a worm. That's even more disgusting.'

  But Nora wasn't disgusted at all; she was intrigued. The bands of the coelum matched those they'd examined last night with the microscopes.

  Again, her observations were verified: This was not a species of annelid that she recognized.

  Nora got her wish: a bigger specimen to examine.

  "What's that stuff coming out of its mouth?" Trent asked. From the tip of the worm's eyeless head floated a plume of something nearly granulated and yellow.

  "Ova," Nora said. "Motile ova. They're underdeveloped versions of those yellow things that were in here two days ago."

  .You mean the worm's eggs?" Annabelle asked.

  "Carriers of the worm's eggs," Nora corrected. "Once mature, they can move about independently. Some invertebrates don't lay eggs that hatch from a stationary nest, they disperse the eggs. Moving hairs called cilia or rings of muscle called parapods enable the ova to find its own hatching place. In the case of a parasitic ovum, the hatching place is another living thing, like a lobster, for example."

  "Or a human?" Trent asked.

  "With this type of worm, I don't think so," Nora felt confident in saying. "Not mammals of any kind. Once a worm or an ovum like this entered the bloodstream of a mammal, the macrophages in our immune system would kill it immediately. I don't think we have to worry about infections ourselves. The main thing I'm worrying about is getting in a thorough examination of this before it decomposes."

  Nora looped the dead worm over her pen and lifted it up. Now I have something to do today!

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  (I)

  Slydes barely slipped back into the woods in time; he'd just finished checking the head shacks where Jonas grew his pot, when-Goddamn! Not her again!-the skinny woman in the black one-piece turned the corner. Slydes ducked behind the trees. If he'd been a second slower, the woman would have seen him.

  What the fuck is she doing in there?

  She seemed intent on something, a half smile on her face as she bopped up to the first door. She's spending an awful lot of time in there ...

  Slydes noticed that she was holding something. It looked like a piece of pink string draped over her pen.

  "Come on, worm," she absently remarked. "Let's see what you're all about." And then she went into the building.

  Worm? Slydes thought. Is that what she said? So the pink string was a worm, obviously a dead one. But now that Slydes thought about it, the worm was the same color of the thing that had landed on Ruth two nights ago, and the same color of the worm they'd stepped on in Jonas's dope shack, but a lot longer.

  And...

  Ruth said something about snakes, too, didn't she? Giant snakes that were ... pink .. .

  Giant pink snakes? Or maybe giant pink worms .. .

  He caught himself. Don't be an ass. There'd be all kinds of worms on an island like this. Not to mention that Ruth was fried crispy from drugs. The dumb-ass girl had hallucinations all the time.

  He couldn't ignore the coincidence, though. Ruth harped about pink snakes, and now here was this skinny chick with the frizzed-out hair walking into the head shack with a pink worm ...

  Longest fucking worm I've ever seen .. .

  He felt too lousy to dwell on it, though. He had a doozy of a fever now; his nose was running and stuffed up, and the headache throbbed constantly. He was out here trying to find Jonas so they could get out of here, but there'd been no sign of him yet. Fuckin' low-life pothead brother, fuckin' everything up. We wouldn't be out here now if it weren't for him and his damn souped-up dope. He slipped away from the old missile buildings. If we'd never come to this damn island, I wouldn't be sick ...

  But he knew he couldn't go anywhere until he'd found his brother.

  Slydes searched for another hour, branches swiping at his face, vines threatening to trip him. Toward noon, the humidity was soup-thick; Slydes poured sweat. Just when he thought he'd keel over from the heat, he found a narrow freshwater stream. He thunked to his knees, then cupped cool water into his mouth and over his face. That's the ticket!

  Then he looked down into the water and saw some inch-long worms crawling about.

  The worms were pink.

  If he'd had anything in his stomach, he would've vomited. Instead, he trudged away, revolted.

  This island's a pile of shit .. .

  Slydes's heart almost burst when a hand grabbed his wrist.

  "Aw, brother, we are seriously fucked," the low, guttural voice told him. Slydes jerked away from the clammy hand.

  It was Jonas.

  Jesus...

  Jonas stood leaning against a tree, his skin yellow like a bruised banana, but dotted with brilliant red spots.

  "What-" Slydes gulped back some nausea. "What happened to you?"

  "Them things, you know? Them little yellow buggers. Some of them, when they bite you, they change your insides. And some of 'em are just ... eggs."

  "Eggs? What the hell are you talking about, Jonas? You're talking crazy." Slyde's power of cognition was on a rough track. "Where you been? You left the boat a night and a half ago, and we haven't seen you since."

  Jonas kept on the subject. "They're eggs for the worms."

  Worms, Slydes thought in the back of his head. Worms...

  "You've seen 'em."

  Slydes's eyes widened in thought. The skinny chick, with the pink worm ...

  "One fell on Ruth the other night, and then we saw that smaller one near my plants." Jonas's watery eyes looked like wads of phlegm. "They're using us, Slydes. We're the subjects for their experiment."

  "You're not talkin' sense!" Slydes yelled hard. "Experiments? Subjects? Man, we gotta get off this island! It's all fucked up, brother!"

  "There were two parties of college kids who got here before us." Jonas scratched at the red dots on his arms. "They're all toast now-except for the big one. Usually a host'll kick the bucket after a couple of days, a week, maybe. But that big one's still walkin' around here. So just remember that, Slydes. The big one."

  "The fuck you talkin' about? Big one?"

  "Big, big guy. Like a football player. I guess he adapted better than most. Shit, maybe he changed over completely, ain't gonna die at all. He's a big guy. Watch out for him. He's trompin' around here like a fuckin' zombie."

  The words dragged Slydes's memory back like something on a hook. Big guy. Like a zombie. Ruth had said the same exact thing. And she'd also said a bunch of shit about-

  "Tell me about the worms ...'

  "They're the whole experiment, Slydes. And like I said-we're the subjects. Any poor fucker who's dumb enough to come to this island ... becomes part of the experiment them guys are doing."

  Slydes's voice ground like gravel. "What guys?"

  "You ain't see 'em? They sneak out every now and then to check on things. Military guys. Army, navy, I ain't sure. They're wearin' these camouflage rubber suits, and gas masks."

  Slydes just stared at the information his brother had given him. "Shit, man-" Jonas's knees shook, and sweat made his yellowed face shine like baby oil. With difficulty, he sat down at the base of the tree. "Ahh, yeah, that's better. You gotta get your ass out of here now, Slydes. Get out of here before I turn over."

  "What do you mean, turn over?"

  "I been infected by those yellow things. They look like fat ticks, and they got red spots on 'em."

  Slydes suddenly felt like he had a belly full of spoiled meat. He knew what his brother was talking about. Dread nearly closed his throat off. "Jonas, I picked a couple of the selfsame things off my body the other night. Am-am-am ... I infected too?"

  "You ain't turning yellow so probably not. Maybe you got 'em off before they could bite. When they bite they inject this shit in your blood ... that changes you. Changes you yellow. Changes your insides ... so the worms can grow in you better."

  Slydes looked at his arms, saw no signs of the insane infection that had stricken his brother.

  "But it also changes your brain, too, after enough time's passed. I ain't there yet, but I will be. It's almost like you start to take on the instincts of the worms."

  "You mean like that little one in the pot house? And I just saw some more in that creek, little tiny things."

  "Them's the worms I mean."

  "But-but . . . but Ruth said she saw some worms ten feet long. That ain't true, is it? Tell me it ain't true."

  Jonas grinned through gray teeth. "It's true. Them little tiny things in the creek? They grow fast, and they grow big."

  "Not ten feet!" Slydes protested.

  "Oh, shit, man-they get bigger than that."

  The information wasn't what Slydes needed to hear.

  "The big ones are the worst, 'cause they need to eat more. They dissolve your insides, brother, and then suck it out. That's what they eat. They choose smaller people to lay their eggs in, and bigger people to eat." Jonas's brow popped up. "And you're a pretty big guy, Slydes. So what I'm sayin' is you gotta get your ass off this island right now. Get Ruth off too. And leave. Now While you still got a chance."

  'I'm taking you with me, get you to a doctor back on the mainland."

  Jonas shook his head. His yellow finger trembled when he slipped a reefer from his pocket and shakily lit it up. "It's too late for me. Get out before I change more, 'cause you know what happens then?"

  "What?" Slydes croaked.

  "I'll come for ya. I'll try to infect you. Watch." Jonas coughed wetly into his hand, then showed it to his brother. Amid the wad of appalling phlegm, several of the yellow things twitched. Jonas picked one out and popped it between his fingers. "This one here, it ain't got a worm in it 'cause it's one of the ones that changes you. That white stuff inside."

  Slydes saw white strings in the slime.

  "It changes your cells or something, to make you a better host." He popped another one. "Ah, here's one. Here's a fertile one. See, Slydes, some of these things have the white stuff, and some of 'em have worms. This one's got a worm. Look."

  Slydes could barely do so ... but he looked anyway. In the dab of muck hanging off his brother's fingers, he saw the tiniest bright pink worm wriggling away.

  "How do you know all this stuff?" Slydes asked.

  Jonas's head tilted at the question. "I think because I'm changing. The more I change, the more of the worm's instinct I get in my brain, I guess." Jonas scraped the crap off his hand and got back to his reefer. "Get out of here now, brother ... before I try to infect you with the same shit."

  Crazy, Slydes thought. It's crazy.

  But he knew now that it had to be true.

  'Shh!" Jonas bid. "Listen...."

  Slydes stood still.

  He could hear something rustle, and when he looked through some trees, the brush was stirring.

  It was stirring a .lot.

  "Go!" Jonas whispered. "One of 'em's coming."

  When Slydes saw the pink shine roving beneath the brush, he ran like a madman.

  (II)

  "Report?"

  The major had called them into the security room. He appeared perturbed, but then, he generally did.

  "Early this morning we investigated the first structure, where members of the third party have set up a field lab of some kind," the sergeant replied.

  "I know, Sergeant. We all saw that on the monitor last night. They look like they're examining something in there. Didn't the colonel order you to find out what they're examining?"

  "I did that, sir." He's already in a bad mood. Now it's going to get worse. "They're examining the subject."

  "Our subject?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Our worm, you're saying? They've found samples of our worm?"

  "Yes, sir. And the examples of the motile ova. They were newborn hatchlings."

  "Were the members of the party infected during the process?"

  "I can't say for sure, sir, but they didn't appear to be."

  The major leaned over the table. "Corporal, punch up the camera we have installed there."

  "Yes, sir." The corporal put it on the main monitor. "She's in there again, sir." On the screen, the same slender woman was back inside, at the worktable.

  'She's in there a lot," the major noted. 'You're sure you found progeny of the subject in there? Are you sure it wasn't something else?"

  it was our worm, sir," the sergeant offered. 'They're replicating well, all over the island, and not just in humans. There seem to be many examples of the indigenous animal life that are adaptable. And that's actually good news."

  'Yes, it is. But not if we're disclosed." The major wagged his finger at the corporal. 'Play back from the moment she reentered the building."

  The corporal hit some buttons, and next they were watching the slender woman in the one-piece swimsuit unlocking the door and walking in.

  Draped across an ink pen was a worm.

  '1 guess I can't argue with that," the major remarked. "That's definitely one of ours."

  "Yes, sir, it is. And they had samples of the ova as well. The ones last night probably weren't big enough to examine closely-not with the field equipment they have on hand, but-"

  The sample she just took in there is fairly mature.'

  "Yes, sir..

  Silence stood with them in the room. Then the major said, if they know about the worm, then they may know about us."

  "I don't think so, sir," the sergeant said. "I think they're just zoological scientists on a field excursion. They discovered our subject by accident, and at this point they have no reason to believe it's part of a genetic experiment. If they knew about us, they would have notified some authority."

  "You're right." The major was thinking. "And that's our good luck. Turn on the jammers so they can't call out. We can't take any chances-the experiment's gone too well so far. We're going to be leaving soon."

  The sergeant nodded. "I'm confident that everyone on the island will be infected by the time we leave."

  "I agree, but we only have a few more maturation tests to do in the meantime. Keep an eye on them, and confirm infection." He looked the sergeant dead in the eye. "If you can't confirm one hundred percent infection within twenty-four hours, I want you to go out there and kill whoever's left."