by Roy Bright
“Gary?” Nathan shouts, hoping that he has some answers.
“No idea, man. Just put your foot down and fucking ram it.”
“That is plan,” Conrad says, narrowing his eyes and gunning the engine.
The creature does not move and continues to sniff at the air. Then, without warning it shifts its focuses onto the vehicle speeding toward it and all three of its appendages glow brightly.
As the glow changes from orange to brilliant white, Gary understands what they are and screams, “Evade! Evade!” slapping Conrad on his shoulder.
The appendages explode into bright white lights that rocket toward them, their tail ends spattering away from the main body, and into the ground.
Conrad throws the wheel to the left, losing control and the vehicle misses the wall of a building by the narrowest of margins, just as the three balls of light crackle past them.
Some of the trailing material splashes onto the front right of the vehicle and the tire underneath explodes, causing the vehicle to buck to the left. This time Conrad is unable to avoid hitting the wall and bounces into and off it, sending the vehicle screaming off to the right toward the creature as it lines up another shot.
Before it has chance to unleash its corrosive material, the Humvee slams into it and the creature explodes, showering the vehicle’s exterior in liquid.
Conrad slams his foot on the brakes, bringing the vehicle to a screeching halt. “OUT! OUT!” he screams, as it skids to a halt. He grabs his weapon and dives out.
Gary grabs hold of Abigail and throws open his door, bundling her over his lap and out onto the asphalt. He looks left to see that Isaac and Sarah are out and running toward the building in front of them. He is about to jump out of the carrier when he looks down and realizes he doesn’t have his rifle. He leans back to get it and curses aloud as he is unable to free the strap of the assault weapon from whatever it is caught on. “Come on!” he screams, tugging at it frantically as the acid eats away at the vehicle. To his great relief, the strap gives way and he falls back and out onto the ground, just as the roof caves in and the acidic liquid barely misses him. He scrambles to his feet, scoops down, and picks up Abigail then looks around for the others. Much to his relief, he sees Nathan to his left. Conrad is on the other side of the melting vehicle, corralling the other Fisher kids toward him.
“Over here!” Gary shouts, waving to them. He turns to look at Nathan upon hearing him swear and looks back in the direction from which they have just come, where he expects the other vehicles to be.
Although Gary’s vehicle had managed to evade the creature’s initial attack, the carrier behind them had not been so lucky, having taken a direct hit from all three bolts. Not much of it remains as it bubbles and melts away into the road. Behind it, he sees the other vehicles changing direction to the left, attempting to race away. “Where the hell are they going?” he says, frowning.
Nathan grabs his arm. “We cannot concern ourselves with that right now. Look.” He draws their attention to a massing group of creatures further ahead in the road.
“Shit!” Gary says. “We can’t stay here. Conrad!” he screams, pointing at the demons.
Before the Sergeant can reply, the demons bombard their location, forcing each group to split up and retreat to the safety of the ruins at each of their backs.
“Go! Go!” Conrad screams, waving them away. “We will find you.”
They can just hear Sarah scream as Conrad grabs the kids and drives them into a building, not a minute too soon as a huge bolt of acid splashes down where they had been standing.
“We can’t leave them,” Abigail says, her eyes wide and her brow furrowed.
“We have no choice,” Gary replies, scrambling over the rubble with her still in his arms. “We need to move, it’s too dangerous to be here any longer.” He puffs and pants, and his feet slip on unstable pieces of ground as it gives way underneath him. He feels Nathan’s hand in his back, attempting to stabilize him and he thanks him while still forging ahead.
Nathan’s eyes open wide as he glances up. “Move!” he screams, as a spider-demon drops down from the ruined roof above, its huge legs crunching into the dirt. He pushes Gary hard in the back, sending him and Abigail sprawling forward into the derelict building, but it is to his own detriment as his act of valor has cut him off from the pair. The enormous creature in front of him tracks him as he attempts to duck left and right around it. “Just go. Get out of here. I’ll find another way,” he shouts.
Gary understands. He knows how to react in these situations having been in many similar on many previous occasions. Without hesitation, he picks up Abigail and takes off, his footing shaky and unsteady over the rubble.
Nathan turns to leave the way he came in and his eyes open wide as another spider-demon drops down across the entrance. They’ve cornered him. Fuck! he says to himself and turns back around toward the first creature as it hisses, sounding like a rattlesnake. His first instinct is to stop moving in the hope that the creature’s vision is based on movement, but upon a swift inspection he is unable to locate any eyes on its surface. The only thing he can see is the three snouts out of which it fires its horrific projectiles. Glancing back, he notices how different this creature is to its counterparts and as he looks, it rears up in front of him and he realizes that his first assessment of how it detects its prey was incorrect. Under its body sits a huge mouth brimming with teeth and either side of it eyes that are locked on him.
The spider behind him stalks its way inside, ducking down to get its massive frame through the doorway.
He needs to move – now. Glancing to his left, he sees a wall that has collapsed on its side; prevented from crashing all the way to the ground by a smaller, still intact one that props it up and creates a makeshift hidey-hole. He grunts and then removes two of four grenades attached to his body armor, pulling out the pins. He edges to his left, never taking his eyes off the creature in front of him as it tracks his movement. In his mind, he prays that the one behind him won’t attack before he has a chance to make his move. The one in front opens its jaws slowly, revealing a mass of teeth with strands of saliva joining the top and bottom rows. It hisses at him and he throws the grenades into its mouth and darts toward the hidey-hole.
The creature scuttles back in alarm, shaking its head and screeching, trying to eject the grenades.
Scurrying under the fallen wall and curling up into a ball, Nathan covers his head as the second creature lunges at him.
The grenades explode.
He feels the earth thump from the vibrations, followed by the sound of liquid splashing across the surface of the concrete fort within which he huddles. Some of the caustic slime lands close to his feet and he drags them toward himself in a desperate attempt to ensure that none of it touches him. He succeeds. Just. Next, he hears something unexpected. The sound of the other creature screaming in agony as it hits the ground next to him. He glances out from under his arms to see the spider-demon melting from the very same corrosive material that they spew out. Confusion hits him and he shuffles back and out from under the cover of the fallen wall, then drags himself to his feet and stares at the dying monster as it puddles into nothing in front of him, cocked to one side as half of its body has disintegrated, and staring at him with its one remaining lifeless eye. They can hurt each other, he tells himself as he looks at the pooling goo. It occurs to him that the differences in their appendages, the position of them, is not the only dissimilar thing between these creatures. They must share an uneven physiology that makes each of their acid different in its makeup. And if they can hurt each other, then he can use that – he can level the playing field if he has to battle them again, ensuring that he moves them into flanking positions and gets them to fire upon one another. Should the need arise, of course. But for now he must reunite with the others.
“Well, we’re not going that way,” he says, looking at the ground where the creature that he exploded with grenades died. The floor of the
building and the ground soil underneath has melted away, leaving a hole around 15 feet deep and just as wide. He is going to have to find another way around. He looks back at where he came, in the direction Conrad and the kids had ran.
***
Gary holds a finger to his mouth, indicating for Abigail to be quiet as more creatures scurry across the floor of the room above them. They don’t sound as big as the ones they had encountered outside but he wasn’t about to take a chance at underestimating the danger they posed. He checks his weapon, cursing himself that he didn’t grab the bag full of ammunition that was laying on the back seat next to his rifle. He sighs, surveying the dank cellar around them, having been forced to take refuge within it as their viable escape route had been blocked off by a spider-demon. He doesn’t like being trapped, boxed in like a cornered animal, but they had no choice. As long as they stay quiet, he thinks to himself, they should be okay and able to move out once the creatures have moved on. His thoughts then turn to the others, especially Abigail’s siblings. He looks down at her and sees that she doesn’t appear to be phased by all that is going on, that she is taking it all in her stride. “Are you okay, sweetie?” he says, reaching out and hooking a few loose strands of hair back over her ear.
“Uh-huh,” she replies, looking up at him and nodding, with a little smile.
“It’s okay to be afraid you know. I’ll still think you’re brave.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re not? You mean scared?”
“Nope,” she shakes her head. “Well not for me. The silly monsters can’t see me. I’m worried that they will see you though. Please be careful.”
He smiles. “Don’t you worry; those bastards won’t get me.” He looks around the room. “I’m getting quite good at escaping from demons.”
“You shouldn’t cuss,” she says, with a disapproving scowl. “Jesus won’t be happy if you cuss.”
He stifles a laugh. “No. No I guess he won’t.”
She stares at him for a moment, then asks, “Have you met him?”
“Who, Jesus?”
“Yes. You’re friends with his sister, aren’t you? Have you met him?”
He mulls on the question for a moment, then laughs.
“What’s so funny?” she asks, perplexed by his silence and sudden laughter.
“Nothing, really. I had just never given it any thought. Whether or not I would meet Jesus Christ.” He looks down at her, “To answer your question, no I haven’t”
“Oh,” she says, returning her gaze to the floor.
They sit in silence for a short while then she looks back up at him.
“Have you any children of your own, Gary?”
He looks at her for a few seconds and then smiles. “I did. But he’s no longer with us.”
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
“Ahh, it’s okay sweetie, he died long before all of this.”
She looks at him in silence, not sure what to say.
“A car accident,” he says, breaking the lull. “Some drunk ran into my ex-wife’s car and Jacob took most of the force of the impact. He never felt a thing, thankfully.”
“That’s terrible,” she reaches out with her tiny hands and places them on one of his. “But at least you know he is with God now. And Jesus.”
He smiles and moves his hand from under hers, then cups his around them. “Before all of this happened, I didn’t believe in him and even when I thought there could possibly be a God, I cursed him, hated him. But now I am comforted by the notion that I might see Jacob again someday, and it has helped a great deal to know that he is in a better place.”
She smiles. “Then we must make sure this doesn’t get into Lucifer’s hands.” She grabs hold of the Seal hanging around her neck. “We need to give the others time to complete their mission.”
He frowns at her for a moment then says, “You’re really starting to remind me of someone, you know?” He laughs. He looks up and then cocks his head to one side, listening for signs of life above. “I think they’ve gone. We should be on our way – let’s get you back to your brother and sister.”
She beams a broad smile and is quick to get to her feet.
“Okay. We need to take it slow and as silent as mice,” he says.
She looks at him.
He offers a nervous smile. “Yeah, it’s more for my sake than yours.”
She smiles back.
Raising his weapon, he makes his way to the stairs leading up to the room above. As he reaches the door at the top, he turns to her and raises a finger to his lips. He then eases the door open a small amount with his left hand and then returns it to the underside of his rifle. Motioning to Abigail to stay back, he advances into the room, checking for signs of movement. As best as he can tell the room is clear and he beckons her forward, reaching out with his left arm and wrapping it around her. He pulls her in close to his back so that her position will remain known as he creeps through the ruined building.
She obliges by gripping his shirt, holding on tight, inching along behind him with small footsteps, and they move through the first floor of the dark and dusty house. Small beams of light permeate through holes in the walls and ceilings, capturing dust particles that sparkle within them. He inches ahead, taking great care with each footfall to minimize the amount of noise he makes. Underfoot, a board creaks and he freezes, his ears seeking out movement as a direct reaction to the disturbance. He hears nothing and so advances further, with the same care as before. Ahead he sees a kitchen, and to the right of it a back door. This is their way out and he looks down at Abigail and motions toward it with his head. She looks, and then back up at him, nodding her understanding. As they creep toward the kitchen entrance, he hears a hissing from the room ahead and he slows to an almost crawl. Drawing in line with a double door entrance, leading into a dining room, he brings them to a halt.
In the far corner sits a pulsating spider-demon, its body inflating and deflating from huge intakes of air, spraying saliva and spittle onto the floor as it exhales.
Its legs twitch causing Gary to back up. He doesn’t feel that it is reacting to their presence more adjusting its position for comfort, but he isn’t about to take any chances. They edge back, each step slow and steady, Gary with his hand once again around the left side of Abigail’s body, his weapon raised at the doorway. Drawing in line with the stairs, their luck fails to hold as the child inadvertently kicks a metal can. It clanks and rolls toward the front door.
From within the dining room the spider hisses, loud and terrifying, then scuttles out.
“Up, up! Quick!” he says, turning around and shuffling her up the stairs.
Below, they hear the thud-click of the creature’s legs as it scrambles into the hallway in search of whatever made the noise.
Panic sets in and he grabs Abigail with his left, arm lifting her up, and clears the stairs two at a time powering his way up. As they clear the top of the stairs, he stops and glances left and right, searching for an exit, but sees nothing. He looks back down to see long, hairy legs creep over the stair rail from within the hallway and he moves, knowing that they have no more time. For the briefest moment, he considers firing, attacking but he has no way of knowing if the 30 rounds he holds in his only magazine, will kill it. It has to be flight before fight. Attic, he thinks to himself and pushes onward to the next set of stairs spurred on by the sound of clambering limbs as the huge creature forces itself up through a staircase much too narrow for its body. “It’s gonna be okay,” he says to Abigail, putting her back onto the ground and guiding her every step. “We will get to the attic and it won’t get us.” He attacks the second flight of stairs in the same manner as the first, powering up them. Please let there be a ladder, please let there be a ladder.
They reach the top of the stairs and he looks right and then left and almost cries aloud in jubilation as he spies a retractable ladder leading up into the attic space. “Go. Go!” he says, moving her to the left and forward. They reach the
ladder just as the demon clears the top of the first flight of stairs. “Up! Up!” he says, once again lifting her and placing her further up the ladder. She scrambles up and he turns and raises his rifle toward the top of the stairs in case the spider makes it up faster than the previous. He doesn’t know if he will be able to kill it, but he will sure as hell slow it down.
“Come on,” she says, as she clears the top rung and turns back to face him. “I’m in.”
He turns around to climb and then stops as he hears the creature scuttle up the stairs and onto their floor. He wastes no time and unleashes a burst of fire at it.
Bullets rip into its skin and acid spurts out all around it, causing everything it touches to bubble and fizz. Not wanting to waste any further ammunition, he scrambles up the ladder as the demon regains its composure and stalks forward toward him. He reaches up as he clears the last rung, Abigail moving back to avoid him running into her. He grabs at a rope attached to a pulley that enables the retraction of the ladder and gives it a tug just as the creature slams two of its legs onto the bottom rung, forcing the ladder back down, the rope burning as it slides through his hands. He calls out in pain, then grasps the underside of his rifle and fires another burst. The demon screeches again as more liquid sprays out this time covering the bottom of the ladder. He wastes no time and grabs the rope again, pulling it hard and the ladder flies up. “We can’t stay here,” he says, looking around for a way out.
“Why not?” she asks, doing the same.
He points to the raised ladder.
The bottom half has begun to melt away from the creature’s blood and it is only a matter of time before there will be enough of a hole for it or indeed others that may be drawn to the noise to gain purchase and work the ladder loose.
He spins around and raises his weapon at a noise that comes from behind them. Pieces of masonry fall to the ground as a large bookcase that had been concealing a hole in the wall scrapes open.
Abigail tucks herself into the back of his legs and holds on with both hands. Gary remains focused on the area waiting for whatever is opening the barrier to appear. His mind reasons that it cannot be a demon as they tend to make grander entrances rather than from secret openings but he is far too cautious a man to assume anything when it comes to protecting those in his charge. At last, the bookcase stops and a scraggy-haired head peaks through.
