by Jacob Rayne
As the trapdoor lowered, Abbott realised that it wasn’t all the way home. He saw a thick grey appendage in the way.
The force exerted by the limb was unbelievable. He had his full weight hanging from his fingertips on the trapdoor’s handles, but it began to lift him like he weighed no more than a feather.
‘Help me then,’ he said to the scientist, who was utterly stunned by now.
The scientist grabbed him round the waist and hung from him, adding his weight to Abbott’s in a desperate attempt to keep the trapdoor shut.
Still the creature’s solitary limb wrenched them upwards.
‘Holy shit, this thing is strong,’ Abbott said.
The scientist nodded, eyes agape.
‘We ain’t gonna beat it in a tug of war,’ he mourned, noting that the latch was still a good few inches from being locked.
He kept his grip with one hand and sought his knife with the other. He stabbed it into the limb, trying to cut it loose so they could shut the trapdoor.
His efforts seemed to only anger the creature and the trapdoor opened by a full six inches.
‘Pull it then,’ Abbott hissed.
The effort was making it feel like his arms were being wrenched out of their sockets. Sweat rolled down his brow. He let out a bellow of rage and pulled ever harder.
It was useless; the trapdoor was wrenched from his grip and swung fully open.
He stared up into what looked like the gaping maw of death itself.
‘Well there are far too many of them at the part which seems to be the main entrance,’ Duggan said, as the chopper moved over the woods.
‘Where in the name a Christ are the bastards coming from?’ Craggs said.
His companions shrugged.
‘We’re looking for a little building on the east side,’ Duggan said. ‘According to the documents there’s a back entrance in there.’
‘That it?’ Craggs said, his gnarled finger pointing at a small building standing on its own in the middle of a thick mass of trees.
‘I’d bet my left cojone that it was,’ Duggan said. ‘Can you get us down anywhere near it?’
Peterson shook his head. ‘Too many trees.’
The scenes in town amazed and appalled them. For every dead creature there were roughly five dead humans. It looked like the whole town had been wiped out. A red river ran down the town’s main road.
Groups of creatures still stumbled around the town, looking for survivors.
Duggan reasoned that the small number of living creatures in town was cause for concern as it seemed they’d already moved out of town.
He voiced this thought to his companions.
‘Less for us to bump into though,’ Hennessee said.
‘I guess,’ Duggan said.
The town’s houses were derelict: windows broken, doors ripped off, roofs pulled apart slate by slate. It looked like the town had been left empty for years rather than hours.
They shot over the east side of town, over Craggs and Winters’ houses, past the Taverner’s Arms and over the river.
From what Duggan could tell, the woods were relatively quiet. A few handfuls of creatures lurked there, but compared to the size of the woods, it was a low enough number. Peterson set the chopper down as close to the hut as possible.
‘I’ll meet you here,’ Duggan said. ‘If you have to take off, call me and let me know. If you don’t hear anything from us, just wait. I have no idea how long we’re going to be.’
Peterson nodded. ‘Good luck, everyone.’
They all shook hands, bearhugged and got out of the chopper.
‘Come back safe,’ Hennessee told each of the men, pulling them in close.
‘Take good care of the pilot,’ Duggan said. ‘And I’ll see you all soon, God willing.’
Then the three brave souls in the hunting party were making their way through the woods.
The cold black eye clusters watched Abbott with something akin to gleeful hunger.
He locked eyes with it for a second, determined to conceal the fear that threatened to drive him right out of his mind.
Then he pulled the crossbow and fired right into its gaping mouth.
The dart stuck in the fat black tongue, drawing a pained hiss from the creature.
The fact that the hole was a little small for the arachnoid’s unwieldy legs was the one small blessing they could count in their dire situation.
Its head was through, but it was awkward for it to get all of its legs through at the same time.
Abbott was certain that this was the only reason that he was still alive.
Then he noted with relief that the serum seemed to be having a slight effect; the creature’s eyes seemed to be weeping with a dark fluid. He remembered the effects of the crossbow in the alley and hoped that something similar was going to happen.
The creature snapped for him, its bear trap jaws opening to their full extent. He saw the blood-slicked tongue wavering like a flag in the breeze, saw the bloody saliva that strung from its jaws. The stench was like nothing he had ever experienced.
The creature’s attack was stopped by its legs and it let out a frustrated cry.
Immediately it began to rearrange itself.
Abbott heard the disturbing sound of its claws scrabbling on the concrete above the trapdoor. He also heard more of the creatures entering the shelter above them.
He went to fire the crossbow again, but it clicked empty.
He cursed and backed away as the creature pulled half of its legs through. It was almost done.
‘Get to the wall. See if you can open that door,’ he implored the scientist.
The creature took all of Abbott’s headshots without a flicker of distress. Once more, he gained the worrying impression that he’d done nothing other than piss it off.
The section of wall came open with a crack. The scientist moved into the gap, holding it open for Abbott.
‘Hurry up,’ he said.
‘I know,’ Abbott muttered.
He backed away from the creature which was on the floor now. Its jaws were opening and closing, making hideous clacking sounds that went right through him.
He saw the head of a second creature poking through the gap now too.
His legs seemed to be refusing to obey his frantic commands. He looked down to see that the creature had one of its legs wrapped around his.
He struck it with a hard elbow strike but it was like trying to break a lump of solid concrete.
His elbow went numb from the attack.
Bellowing a hail of curses, he threw himself onto his back, determined to fight until his heart ceased its frantic beating.
He stabbed his knife through the creature’s leg, drawing a terrifying cry and a few drops of dark blood.
He grabbed it and twisted hard, pulling it loose slightly.
The creature reared back and met his boot as he aimed a kick at its eye cluster.
It let out a pained cry then its jaws slammed shut, tearing the sole off his boot like it was tissue paper.
He was stunned by the power in its jaws.
Its front arms fell on him, and he saw the last vestige of humanity on it in the two stubby hands.
The limbs behind these were hard spines, easily capable of puncturing flesh, of snapping bone.
He caught an even stronger scent of blood and death as its mouth opened again.
As it lunged for him, he managed to jam the crossbow into its mouth. The jaws almost cut through the metal body, but it held.
His trembling fingers began to unscrew the cartridge that the serum had been delivered in.
He hoped that there was still sufficient serum left to hurt the creature badly enough to get it off him.
As he pulled it free, the tiny glass jar winked at him as it caught the light.
The second creature was almost in the basement now, struggling to move its limbs through the hatch in the same way as the first had.
He sat up hard, throwing his right
hand at the creature’s mouth as it opened. The crossbow clattered to the floor.
His timing was perfect; the jar of serum flew into the creature’s mouth just as the jaws slammed shut where his arm had been a second ago. The glass shattered with a noise that was like music to his ears.
The creature let out a startled cry.
Abbott knew this could well be his only chance, so he pushed hard with his legs, thrusting himself back from under the creature. He took most of the skin off his back but it was a small price to pay.
The creature was letting out strange whimpering sounds. It was unusual to see such a powerful creature so frightened.
He got to his feet, backed away as the creature lurched towards him.
It had a glazed look in its eyes, which were once more pouring with the dark fluid, giving the bizarre impression that it was crying.
The effect made it seem human for a second and Abbott was surprised that the thought of this obscenity recently being a person popped into his mind.
Then he came to his senses and backed up.
The creature retched and dark blood sprayed out of its mouth.
Its fellow creature landed in the shelter and let out a cry of triumph. It shoved the weaker creature out of the way and darted for them.
Abbott shoulder-barged the scientist through the door and let it slam shut behind them.
A jet of dark blood sprayed under the door and Abbott heard the sound of a body hitting the deck.
‘Hey, the serum worked,’ he said.
‘Yeah. It’s devastating when it’s in the right dose.’
‘Well I’ll be damned. I thought it was useless.’
The uninjured creature brayed hard on the door, shaking the wall.
‘Come on,’ Abbott said. ‘Let’s find out where he’s got to with that serum.’
It was a huge relief to leave the hissing, snarling arachnoids in their proverbial rear-view mirror, especially with the force of their assault on the door still echoing around the tunnel. The sustained attack was shaking pieces of rock from the cavern roof.
‘They’re gonna bring the fucking thing down if they keep on like that,’ Abbott frowned.
The scientist nodded. An acute sense of claustrophobia had set in now, the narrow tunnel and godless fusions of man and insect had him right on the verge of a panic attack.
He tried to ignore what Abbott was saying, just concentrated on his breathing. One in, hold it for ten seconds, let it out, count to ten again. Repeat.
His heartrate slowly decelerated from its lethal pace.
‘So any ideas where that ginger prick has gotten to?’
The scientist shook his head, still tried to maintain his breathing.
A huge explosion from up ahead shook the very ground beneath their feet and made the results of the arachnoid’s attack seem like a kid playing in his sandpit.
‘What in the name of fuck was that?’ Abbott said, instinctively ducking and covering his head like a boxer on the wrong end of a hiding.
‘It must have been Cormac. Trying to make himself a pathway.’
‘Or block us in,’ Abbott said.
The scientist didn’t respond to this.
It didn’t bear thinking about.
‘So, Duggan, you think we’ll make it back alive?’ Craggs asked.
‘I hope so, Jack, but I gotta tell ya, I don’t think it’s likely.’
Craggs and Winters nodded. They’d had a feeling this would be the case but they were ready.
‘Our families’ll thank us for it,’ Winters said.
‘We’ll stay this side of the river as long as possible,’ Duggan said, keen to change the subject. ‘Keep the water between us and them.’
‘Yeah. Good plan,’ Winters said. ‘So, do we wait if we get split up?’
‘No. Make your way back to the chopper. No sense in all of us dying.’
‘Fair enough,’ Craggs said. ‘Hey, we got company.’
Duggan followed his gaze and saw a lone creature leaning against a tree. It looked in pain and had blood all over its muscled torso. Winters pulled his handgun and lined up the shot.
‘Are you stupid?’ Craggs said, shoving the gun down. ‘Every creature in half a mile will hear ya.’
Winters winced and holstered his gun.
‘Can I axe it then?’
‘Yeah, knock yourself out,’ Duggan said. ‘But don’t get yourself bitten. According to the document there’s something in their saliva that’ll fuck you right up.’
‘Not nice,’ Winters said.
‘Well don’t get bit,’ Craggs said, like it was obvious.
He and Duggan watched Winters sneak up on the creature. He got to within ten feet before the creature heard him and turned round. Winters ran in, using his momentum to bring the axe crashing down on the creature’s skull.
The creature let out a weak cry, then Winters turned its head to mush with repeated axe blows. The Taser was overkill really as Duggan felt sure the moth creature would have perished from the bludgeoning.
When it was done, he turned back to his friends, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning.
‘That was quite a rush,’ Winters said. ‘Y’see me kill it?’
Both his companions nodded.
‘Save your energy,’ Duggan said. ‘We don’t know how many more of them there are.’
They walked along the east bank of the river, headed towards the dark mass of caves off in the distance.
Though he was reluctant to admit it, Duggan realised that they were going to have to cross the river soon.
The width of the river increased dramatically as it made its way towards the caves. He found a fallen tree next to the river bank and hauled it across the water.
He crossed first, holding his arms out for balance. The trunk rolled a little but he reached the other side without too much trouble. Craggs did too.
Winters slipped around the middle of the trunk and came down hard, mashing his lips into the gnarled bark. He let out a cry and just grabbed the trunk in time before he fell into the fast-flowing water below.
Craggs went to help, but Duggan pulled him back before he set foot on the tree trunk.
‘It won’t take both your weights,’ Duggan said.
Craggs nodded, knowing that Duggan was right.
Winters gripped the trunk with his arms and legs and moved himself along. It was far from comfortable, but it was better than being swept away by the tide.
It took him a while to reach the other side, but he made it in more or less one piece.
‘We need to be quiet now, guys,’ Duggan said.
Craggs and Winters nodded. They moved through the trees, keeping close to the river.
‘Stop,’ Duggan said.
‘Why?’ Winters whispered.
Craggs pointed. There was a pair of creatures in front of them.
They snuck up towards them. One of the creatures heard them and started to turn round. Duggan ran in and stuck his knife into its throat. It let out a cry of dismay and slumped to the floor, blood spurting down its scaled chest.
The second turned and struck Craggs hard in the face, rending his skin. He uttered a bloodcurdling scream as blood began to pour down his face. Duggan shoved him out of the path of the creature’s next strike which would have torn his throat in half.
He slammed the knife into the side of the creature’s head. It was like trying to stab a brick wall.
He darted round behind it and snuck his arm around its neck.
Winters dived on its feet to keep it pinned.
Craggs was still in a daze, but when he saw what his companions were doing he dived on the creature’s back too.
When the creature was dead, they turned to Craggs.
‘Bastard put its claw right through my eye,’ he said, clutching his right eye. Thick, dark blood oozed out from between his fingers.
‘Give me a look,’ Duggan said.
He winced when Craggs took his hand away. The claw marks ran righ
t through the centre of his eye, which had burst, letting out the dark substance which had begun to seep from between his fingers.
‘We’ll get you back to the chopper,’ Duggan said.
‘The hell you will, Duggan. I’m staying, one eye or not.’
‘Alright then.’ It was the first stare down Duggan had lost in years. And Craggs with just the one eye too. Impressive.
They scanned carefully for creatures, seeing none until they got near the building. They felt a jolt of panic when they saw a dozen creatures lurking in the woods nearby.
‘Don’t fire unless we have to,’ Duggan said. ‘We might be able to sneak past them.’
Scar Island’s road-wrecking crew watched the last chunks of tarmac fall into the water below and wiped their brows. They exchanged congratulatory words for a job well done.
Warden checked with Lennon, who said that the road jumpers were now further than ever from reaching the island.
They could hear angry honking and shouting from the other side of the bridge. Nothing they could understand, due to the distance.
They all shrugged. This was one party that was invite only. Let the masses find their own island. This one was taken.
They went back to the prison with the good news, but the mood was still tense as no word had come back from the chopper’s crew yet.
Duggan’s group waited impatiently by the small building.
‘Ok,’ he whispered to his men, who were hiding behind the trees at the edge of the clearing. ‘I’m gonna create a diversion. When they come for me you run like hell. Don’t stop till you get to the building.’
‘What about you?’ Craggs said.
‘Don’t worry about me,’ Duggan said. ‘You guys ready?’
‘I guess,’ Craggs said.
Duggan ran straight towards the building, a big grin on his face.
The creatures looked surprised at his boldness. They watched him dumbly for a second, then two of them broke formation and ran towards him.
The smoke gradually cleared, and the sound of falling rocks slowed down. Abbott was trying his best not to imagine being trapped in the tunnel. It was only a matter of time before the arachnoids smashed their way through the door. If they were trapped in here due to the cave in they were easy prey.
