"My God, Eric, even that little girl-"
"Sarah."
"Yeah, Sarah. She was the one who hit me. Tried to kill me."
Eric brushed aside a branch and waited for Paige to walk through before letting it swing free. They'd retraced their trail for about five miles. Paige had babbled the whole time about their ordeal, trying to talk herself down, make some sense of it.
"It's like Twilight Zone, you know," she said. "Innocent faces invite you to dinner. Only you turn out to be the main course. Jesus."
"You've got to let it go, Paige," Eric said. He'd let her talk uninterrupted for the past forty-five minutes. Now he sensed she wanted some answers. He didn't have any, but he would try.
"But they're kids, damn it. Children. Where'd they learn to do something so horrible?"
"That's just it. They're too young to have a clear sense of it being all that horrible. All they know is that when you get hungry, you eat. Peter would have had to be a hell of a hunter to provide enough game for all of them to eat. And they don't look like they know much about gardening. So they ate the bodies that were lying around. Like that family Tracy and I saw earlier in a cabin, just before the shuttle landed. Some of these kids had the same symptoms, probably from eating the contaminated flesh."
"But why us?' "Maybe they were afraid we'd tell others where they were. Maybe we just looked too tasty to let slip away."
"That's not funny."
"Sure it is. As funny as you're going to get here. You just arrived. Wait until you've been here awhile. You'll be slapping your knees at the strangest things."
She glared at him. "That's one delight I don't have to worry about. As soon as I get back to the Columbia, we're taking off. They had to do some fancy redesigning so it could take off on its own, and I don't intend to let their ingenuity go to waste. I just wish you'd let me go back for the tapes and my pack. Now I can't even contact Dr. Piedmont."
"They were already marching across the front lawn. There wasn't time to go back."
"Maybe," she said."Or maybe you didn't want me to be able to contact the craft. Maybe you just want to stall me until you can get your son back."
"That's our deal, lady. I help you find your father's papers in exchange for Tim's passage. I kept my side of the bargain."
"But now Fallows has them."
Eric shrugged. "Not my problem. I found them, that's all I said I'd do."
"Fine," she spat. "But I'm heading straight back to the ship. If you and your son are there when we take off, we'll talk about it then."
"That could be too late."
"I promised to hold a seat open, not wait."
Eric grabbed her under the arm and spun her around. "There's still almost twenty-one hours left."
"Not if I get there sooner. And at this rate-" she glanced at her watch-"I'll be there in another two or three hours."
"Not if I don't lead you back."
"OK, add on another hour or two. I may not be Gertrude Girl Scout, but I've had survival navigation. I'll find my way."
Eric grinned. "Maybe."
Paige looked a little uncertain. "Look, Eric, I'm not trying to foul you or your boy up. I mean, you did save my life and everything. But I've got responsibilities too. With Steve gone we should have room for you. Maybe even squeeze on your lady friend. But we're not waiting around while that madman and his army come marching toward us, with you single-handedly trying to take your son away from him. You come back to the States with us, find another way back, maybe with some troops of your own. That's my final offer, and it's the best one you're going to get. Otherwise, I'm heading out on my own right now. So make up your mind."
Eric watched her pick up her gun and march away through the woods. He let her go.