Evelyn tried to stand, and succeeded. She clung to his hand.
“Do you think you can find the Tube again?”
Tommy was already thinking of that. He grimaced.
“Probably. Back-trail the damned thing. If the flashlight battery holds out. Its tail left plenty of sign for us to follow.”
They started. And Evelyn had literally been forgotten in its agony by the monster which had carried her. Its body, though scaled and warty, was flabby and soft. Pressed against its breast she had been half strangled, but had no injuries beyond huge, purple bruises which had not yet reached the point of stiffness. She followed Tommy gamely, and the need for action kept her from yielding to the reaction from her terror.
For a long, long time they back-trailed. Less than fifteen minutes after leaving the carcass o
