• Parrot •

“If The Chemicals can change your thoughts around in your head and also steal the clothes right off your body, I think you’ve got something there that could be dangerous,” Greer said.

“It’s the monster we’re worried about,” Miss Hawkline said.

“Which one?” Greer said. “I think you might have two of them here. And the one behind the iron door down there in the ice caves might be the one that will give us the least trouble.”

“Let’s go down and kill that fucker right now,” Cameron said. “Let’s be done with it and then we can think about other things if you want to think about them. I’m bored with all this talking. It’s getting us nowhere. I’ll go get the guns and then let’s go down there and do the killing. Do you know what it looks like or how big it is or what the fuck it is, anyway?”

“No, we’ve never seen it,” Miss Hawkline said. “It just howls and pounds on the iron door that’s between the ice caves and the laboratory. We’ve kept the door locked ever since our father disappeared.”

“What does it sound like?” Cameron said.

“It sounds like the combination of water being poured into a glass,” Miss Hawkline said. “A dog barking and the muttering of a drunk parrot. And very, very loud.”

“I think we’re going to need the shotgun for this one,” Cameron said.