“Howard, no!” Albert yelled.
“They got him, they got him,” Howard cried, anguished.
Orc was struggling, staggering, then running toward the truck, his great stone feet pounding six-inch-deep impressions into the dirt.
One of the worms was on his face.
In his face.
He tripped at the edge of the field and fell hard onto neutral territory.
“Help me. Howard, man, help me!” Orc cried.
Albert broke his trance and ran. Up close he could see the worm, just one, but its black snake’s head was buried in pink flesh, boring through Orc’s cheek.
Up close Albert could see the blur of the tiny paddle feet driving the worm into strained flesh.
Orc had the tail of the thing in his fist and was pulling hard. But the worm wasn’t letting go. Orc was pulling so hard, it seemed he might pull the last of his living flesh away from the rock skin surrounding it.
Howard grabbed on, too, and he was pulling. Weeping and cursing and pulling, despite the danger to himself if the worm should release its grip on Orc and turn against Howard.
“Bite it!” Albert shouted.
“My tongue!” Orc wailed, his speech garbled as the worm slid another inch through his cheek.
“Bite it, Orc,” Albert yelled. Then he knelt, and with all his might delivered an uppercut under Orc’s chin.
It was like punching a brick wall.
Albert yelled and fell back on his behind in the dirt. He was sure his hand was broken.
Orc had stopped screaming. He opened his mouth and spit out the worm’s head, along with a gob of blood and saliva.
The rest of the worm came free. Orc smashed it onto the ground.
There was a one-inch hole in Orc’s face.
Blood spread down his neck and disappeared like rain on parched soil as it hit the rock flesh.
“You hit me,” Orc said dully, staring at Albert.
“Brother saved your life, Orc,” Howard said. “The brother just saved your life.”
“I think I broke my hand,” Albert said.
“Beer me,” Orc said.
Howard raced to comply.
Orc tilted his head back and squeezed the can until the tab burst. Yellow liquid shot from the can and gushed into his mouth.
At least half of it ran, foaming pink, from the bloody hole in his cheek.
TEN
81 HOURS, 17 MINUTES
“SHE WAS IN my dreams, in my head. I saw her,” Drake said.