Rush swore. "Let's go. Let's get out of here." He tugged once at Dylan's arm and started off on his knees.
Dylan said: "Wait."
Rush stopped. Through the snow he tried to see Dylan's eyes. The soldier was still looking into the woods.
Dylan's voice was halting and almost inaudible. "They know everything about us. We don't know anything about them. They're probably sittin' out there right now, a swarm of 'em there behind those trees, waitin' for it to get real nice and dark."
He paused. "If I could get just one."
It was totally unexpected, to Dylan as well as Rush. The time for this sort of thing was past, the age was done, and for a long while neither of them fully understood.
"C'mon," Rush said with exasperation.
Dylan shook his head, marveling at himself. "I'll be with you in a little while."
Rush came near and looked questioningly into his face.
"Listen," Dylan said hurriedly, "we only need one. If we could just get one back to a lab we'd at least have some clue to what they are. This way we don't know anything. We can't just cut and run." He struggled with the unfamiliar, time-lost words. "We got to make a stand."