Dominant Species Volume Two -- Edge Effects (Dominant Species Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

darkness around him like an
evil embrace and could almost feel the jungle oozing life. He drifted away from
the group at a tangent, just to put more distance between himself and the
things he knew were squirming in that black foliage. He wasn’t watching the
jungle anymore; he was afraid to match its black gaze with his and kept his
eyes cast down.
    Strange buzzing and chirping and hissing
noises came from the foliage, constantly now. They hadn’t seen a living thing
but people since they arrived, but now, the air was filling up with small
flying things that bumped into them in their flight, bouncing and popping off
their chests and legs and making them slap at their faces and necks. Something
stung Mike on the face, and he slapped at it, caught it and squished it in his
fingers with a little cracking sound. He wiped wet off his cheek and hoped it
wasn’t blood. “Dammed bugs,” he muttered.
    They started to double-time it. They were
discovering firsthand what the other residents already knew—night was not the
time to be outside on Verde.
    Something about the size of a cat raced in
front of them making a quick clicking sound. It stopped and changed direction
once or twice before heading out into the clearing in a fast straight line.
    “What the heck was that?” Mike asked.
    “I don’t know, but it’s gone now,” Bruce
said. “And that’s all I care about.”
    Eddie screamed at the top of his lungs.
    Everybody jumped. Peter went stiff as if he’d
been shocked and dropped his groceries on the ground.
    Eddie laughed, and Mike and Bruce finally
joined in—but not Peter.
    “That’s not funny!” Peter yelled.
    “Sure it is!” Eddie laughed. “That’s why I
did it!”
    They helped him pick up his groceries, and
Eddie patted Peter on the back.
    “Scared ya, huh?”
    “Yeah, you scared me.”
    When they got home, Mike made sure the doors
were closed tight. He didn’t want to wake up at night with bugs flying around
his room. When he double-latched the door, Bruce nodded at him in agreement.
    Mike and Bruce heated some meals in the
cooker and ate them without talking. Mike had half of a package of cookies and
some milk for dessert. After they ate, they put the rest of the groceries and
stuff away and checked out the washer and dryer near the back entryway. The
refrigerator was small but held all it had to for the two of them. Mike put his
personal supplies in the cabinet in the bathroom and thought about cleaning it
up some, but he was too tired. That was a chore he could do at any time.
    Mike washed up, brushed his teeth and got
ready for bed. When he turned out the light, it was pitch dark in his room;
almost too dark to sleep. He’d heard there were two moons that made the night
seem almost like day and wondered where they were. He got up and turned on the
light in the bathroom as a night-light. He didn’t like it too dark where he
slept.
    The workday was over. When he lay down on the
bed, the sounds coming from the foliage drifted in like odd music. He heard an
occasional bug bump against the screen and was glad it was closed. It had
cooled down quite a bit, and he pulled the blanket up around his shoulders and
settled his head in the pillow.
    With his belly full and clean sheets under
him and with some light in his room, he felt secure and at peace even though he
was billions of kilometers from Earth. He liked the shelter and felt right at
home in it. He would do well here. It was good to have friends and people
around who were good to you. If he worked hard, more good would come to him.
His dad had promised it. He would work hard and be thankful and good would come
to him.
    Hard work pays off, he reminded himself.
    In all he was doing okay, except for the
boots. He was outgrowing them fast. By the time he reached his thirteenth
birthday later in the year, the boots would really be too small.
    He could buy a new pair next month when his
credit came in.
     
     

 
    5
     
    Del
Geary watched the stuff