First Contact: Spider Wars: Book 1

by Randy Dyess

  “I’ll go get help!” Michael cried as tears streamed through the dust covering his face. He did not want to give up hope; with enough help, he might be able to dig out the rest of Jason’s body and somehow bring him back to life.

  Michael got up and scrambled over the mess to a large hole in the wall of his dojo. Although he couldn’t see anything, he could hear the screams of others around him. All thoughts of why this happened left him, for he was determined to find help for his friend.

  He looked out the hole and saw a large, empty area where a building had once stood. There was nothing but blank ground, now—no structure, and no rubble. Whatever had caused the explosion must have disintegrated the entire building.

  What the hell could do that, he thought as made his way to the street. A woman pointed to the sky and screamed for help, and he looked up to see a round shape descending directly into the center of the newly-empty space.

  What the hell is that thing? Michael peered at what looked like a large potato and watched it land silently, without the wind and noise that spaceships usually caused. Several people came out of the surrounding buildings and walked toward the strange ship, hoping for help. He didn’t know what type of ship it was or who was at its controls, but he also hoped that whoever was in it could help Jason. A large opening was forming in the side of the ship, and Michael was about to yell for help when something large came out the door.

  Are those spiders? Michael watched as what he could only describe as dozens of three-meter tall spiders swarmed out. His years of martial arts training made him drop behind a large beam to hide from the monsters. Whatever they were, some inner voice told him that he didn’t want them to see him. Through a hole in the beam, he watched as the spiders ran into the screaming crowd.

  One grabbed one of the screaming women in the crowd, and she seemed to faint. The spider started spinning the woman as it covered her in a silk cocoon, and he watched, horrified, as a stream of spiders made their way back into the ship, each carrying a human-shaped silk cargo. Michael slid down the pile of rubble back into his dojo. He needed to get out of there quickly, before the spiders went into his building.

  He went to where Jason was buried and kneeled. “I’m so sorry, buddy. There’s nothing I can do. I can’t get help, right now.” He whispered a silent prayer that his grandfather had taught him and stood to move on. After grabbing his grandfather’s sword and sheath, he turned and exited into the alley.

  *****

  Skylar Reilly wished what she was going through was only a nightmare. She hoped she would wake up and find herself in her own bed. She knew it wasn’t a dream, though, as she dug herself out of the rubble. Slowly she tested her body to see if anything was broken. Thank goodness, she thought as she took her first step. She hadn’t broken any bones when the rubble fell around her. Skylar said a silent prayer as she walked over to the door. “Open. Open,” she said as she reached over and pushed on the stairwell door. A loud sigh escaped her lips as the door creaked open.

  Skylar made her way ran through the alley behind her office building. What had started as a typical day had turned into a nightmare for her and everyone in her office building. Large explosions had rocked her building and those in her neighborhood, strange ships had come out of the sky, and three-meter tall spiders were running all over the place, snatching up her friends and coworkers, and carrying them back into their ship. She didn’t know what was going on, but she knew she needed to run as far away as she could.

  “Help me!” she screamed as she saw a police officer. He didn’t notice her or didn’t care that she needed help as he ran past with a look of sheer terror on his face, and Skylar knew she was on her own. Everyone around her was scrambling for their own lives.

  I need to find somewhere safe. There must be somewhere I can hide. She frantically looked around and saw a building still intact, so she ran over to the door and turned the knob. Thank God, she thought as she pushed the door open.

  I just need to rest for a few minutes. She sunk to the ground. A few minutes, and then I’ll leave.

  Hugging herself, Skylar tried to stop the tremors. What is going on? Why didn’t that officer stop and help me? What were those things? Where are the Marines and the Navy? Thousands of questions flooded her mind as she struggled to make sense of the past few minutes.

  Large spiders taking people—why haven’t I ever heard of this before today? Someone had to know about these monsters. As an officer of the Candus Corporation, I should have gotten a warning, if something like this was happening. Candus Security should have been prepared for this! She tried to control her fear, and it took a few more minutes before the shaking stopped and the tears dried up. Skylar knew she should leave, but she was so tired. A few more minutes of rest would be enough to see her through this ordeal, she thought as she closed her eyes. Besides, the building was intact and the door was closed: she would be safe here for a few more minutes.

  *****

  Michael scanned the alley. No spiders, good. He went over what he had seen in those first few moments after the ship landed. Spiders had swarmed out of the ship and attacked those who tried to run away or were screaming. People who were too frightened to move or scream had been bypassed, and it wasn’t until they moved or made noise that the spiders seemed to see them. He decided the monsters were attracted to noise or movement, and if he moved slowly and stayed quiet, he just might be able to make his way to the café to save Cindy. Together, they would make their way out of the city.

  Keeping to the shadows, he could make the first ten blocks without encountering any spiders. He was gaining hope that he would be able to make it to safety without trouble when an inner voice told him to stop. He plastered himself against a wall and didn’t move.

  Michael remained still for over five minutes before he saw what his inner voice had warned him about. The sun glinted off a set of large, black eyes in the building across the street. In fact, there were many sets of eyes looking his way. Not more than five meters from him, a large, furry head was looking directly at him. It had seen him, but it seemed to have lost his location when he stopped moving.

  This is it, he thought to himself as he tightened the grip on his grandfather’s sword. That monster is about to attack.

  The spider didn’t attack, though. For three or four more minutes, it slowly moved its head, looking for him.

  Just then, a noise came from the alley behind Michael. The spider jerked its head around, and with a speed that surprised him, jumped out of its cover and ran past him to find the source. He waited two more minutes before slowly walking away. He hoped what he had just observed would be the same for all the spiders; this information just might give him a way to survive.

  *****

  Tears streamed down his face as he made his way towards the café. During the journey from his dojo, he had passed several more groups of spiders carrying human bundles back to their ships. Inside, he burned with anger. He wanted to give up and attack every one of the monsters he saw, but he knew it wouldn’t make a difference to Jason. Deep down, he knew he would end up like his buddy, if he attacked. Instead, he needed to think of a way to stay alive and take the fight to the spiders.

  Each time he passed another group of monsters, Michael stopped to watch their actions. His survival—and his chance to avenge his friend—depended upon how much he could learn about them. Along with what he already knew, Michael observed that the spiders didn’t carry any weapons. Their large size, combined with extreme speed, was their main weapon. They also had no armor, no communications, and no teamwork.

  The scene of spiders attacking a crowd a few kilometers from his dojo reminded him of a feeding frenzy he’d once seen at the zoo. A group of zoo keepers had poured buckets of food into a fish tank, and every fish had rushed to the spot and tried to grab its own share before swimming away. The spiders acted the same: they would trip over each other as they rushed toward someone they saw or heard. They didn’t hunt as a pack, but as individuals. Eac
h spider would grab a person and walk away, and he’d even seen a few attack each other as larger, faster spiders tried to take captured people away from smaller, slower ones.

  He was also beginning to think that they wouldn’t go too far from their ships. They had blasted landing sites in the city every few kilometers, and they would range out in a circle from the ships without going too far away. Michael thought that, if he could walk between the landing sites, he might avoid the heaviest concentration of spiders, or even avoid them, altogether.

  These observations gave Michael the hope he needed to make it to the café to get Cindy. They would then go to the island in the middle of Settler’s Park. It wasn’t very large, but if they could just get to the island, they might be able to survive until the Candus Corporation or even the Terran Navy retook Candus.

  *****

  Skylar awoke and wondered how she could have fallen asleep.” She shook her head, which was all it took for the spider to see her. Unable to rush its prey directly, the beast slowly started its hunt and moved toward her.

  Once she’d cleared the sleep from her head, Skylar started to get up, and that was when she heard a noise from the second-floor balcony. When she looked up, she screamed as she saw a spider peering over the railing.

  Michael heard the screaming and knew its cause. He had told himself that he would not let it happen again, so he pushed the door open and made his way into the lobby. As he scanned the building, he saw the woman plastered against the far wall, looking up to the second-floor balcony. He tried to get her attention to tell her to stop screaming and stand still, but the spider jumped from the balcony to the middle of the lobby.

  “Quit screaming and stand still!” Michael yelled. “It can’t see you if you don’t move or make any noise.” The spider spun around, looking for the source of the new noise, but Michael was quiet and still again. The spider advanced a few meters toward him with its front legs waving around like feelers. He thought it was going to find him by chance, but the woman starting moving again, causing the spider to turn back to her. Michael took the opportunity and rushed forward to a support column, where he stood still with his sword ready. The spider once again spun around and tried to find him.

  Skylar finally understood what the man with the sword had been trying to tell her. She leaned against the wall and vowed that she wouldn’t panic.

  Michael saw the woman go rigid. Good—she understands. Now, how do I finish this?

  The spider stopped; it couldn’t find Skylar or Michael. It advanced toward the last source of prey that it remembered, lifting its front legs. A little closer. Come on, Michael thought.

  The spider was within a meter from Michael and it sensed that he was near, even though it couldn’t see him. “Here!” he yelled as he jumped forward and slashed to the right and left, managing to cut off the front legs of the spider. It reared in shock, and he took the opportunity to jab upward and pierce the spider through its chest. It jerked back and forth, causing the sword to cut even deeper, and it didn’t take long before the spider fell to the floor.

  That was easy, he thought to himself. These things are no tougher than normal spiders—there’s no armor and its flesh is soft. Michael stabbed behind its eyes, but the spider didn’t flinch—it was already dead.

  Skylar ran over to Michael and threw her arms around him. “Thank you, thank you! You saved my life. I didn’t know what to do when I saw that monster.”

  “I’m just glad my plan worked—I had no idea I could kill it that easily.”

  They introduced themselves, and Skylar asked, “How did you know about not moving or making noise?”

  “I’ve been walking for a while and watching them,” Michael said. “Come on, we have to get out of here.”

  “Where are we going? Do you know somewhere safe?”

  Chapter 14

  sergeant Major McCoons jerked as his eyes slowly opened. Damn those drugs, how could you let yourself sleep at a time like this? he reprimanded himself although he knew the drugs he had pumped into himself would make him sleepy. If he had caught any of his marines sleeping while on guard duty, he would have thrown them out of his unit. Now, he was the one drifting off to sleep when he needed to keep his eyes open, watching for spiders.

  He flexed his knee. Good, the pain’s gone. Time to get moving. Sergeant Major McCoons didn’t know how long he had slept, but he wanted to make it to the spaceport before dark. It would be hard enough avoiding the spiders during the day, but at night, without night vision, it would be impossible. Rolling over to face the dirt wall he had built, Sergeant Major McCoons started digging his way out of his sanctuary. He crawled to the edge of the dock and peered out to find that nothing was moving. There were no spiders, no people—nothing. He finished crawling out and stood. Taking a mental inventory, he realized he had nothing on him, other than the small med-kit he had used earlier. He had lost his sword when he rappelled down and didn’t see it on the ground near him. He needed that sword. It had saved his life once, and it might come in handy again before he made it to the spaceport. Looking around to make sure there were no spiders near him, he took a big breath and stepped forward on his bad leg. The pain was gone, but his leg still didn’t work correctly. He would have to walk slow for the first few hours until the med-nites had a chance to repair the rest of the damage.

  Staying as close to the walls of the building as he could and taking advantage of every piece of cover he could find, Sergeant Major McCoons hobbled around the base of the building looking for his sword. He had just about given up when he happened to glance up. His sword was sticking out of the top of the roof covering the docking bays. How in the hell am I going to get up there? he thought as he tried to figure it out. Looking over, he saw the rope he had used to escape the spiders. A plan came to mind. Well, I came down on it, why not go back up on it. Walking over to the rope, Sergeant Major McCoons grabbed it and started climbing back up. Once he made it up just a little higher than the roof of the docking bay, he used his good leg to start swinging himself parallel to the building’s wall. He had to push himself off several times to widen the swing before building up the momentum he needed. “Now,” he said as he dropped down onto the top of the roof landing on his good leg. He had let the rope slip through his left hand as he fell the few feet onto the roof. While tightening the grip with his left hand, his right hand shot out and grabbed a piece of pipe sticking out of the wall. He stabilized himself with his bad leg and stood there looking at his sword. He quickly secured the rope to the pipe and walked over to the sword and picked it up hoping nothing saw him.

  Sergeant Major McCoons was just about to grab the rope and climb back down when he heard screaming off in the distance. His instincts took over and he fell flat on his stomach. Keeping still as he could, he managed to peer over the edge of the roof and get a view of the alley he had just walked down. Hundreds of spiders were scurrying through the alley below him. Many of the spiders were carrying human shaped cocoons, but dozens had nothing. Knowing that human’s eyes were drawn to movement, he decided to lay very still and hope none of the spiders crawled up to the roof. He could probably kill one or two of them, but not dozens. He saw streams of spiders pour into the surrounding buildings. He could hear screams and he watched people desperately try to race out the doors of the surrounding buildings only to be captured by spiders waiting in the alley. For the next hour, he watched the spiders clean out the surrounding buildings. A few stopped and crawled under the dock he had vacated a few minutes ago, but none tried to climb up onto the roof. I wonder if they are mopping up? he thought. It would make sense that the initial wave were storm troopers rushing out and grabbing everything they could to clear the way and then follow up with an organized search. Or maybe a big ship just landed. I need more information if I’m going to survive this.

  The spider slowly left his area. He waited and watched for another hour, without seeing any more spiders or hearing any screams, before he decided he needed to get moving. He neede
d to check out the team’s rally points and still make it to the spaceport before dark. He would have to move quickly. Standing up, he put the sword back into its scabbard and grabbed ahold of the rope and swung off the rooftop. Ten seconds later, he had both feet on the ground and had pulled the sword back out of its scabbard. Let those damn things come at me now, he thought as he started walking in the direction of the first rally point.

  *****

  For the fifth time since the attack began, Fidel Menelaos questioned his commitment to Senate Intelligence. They had placed him on Candus knowing the spiders would attack the planet. Abandoned him with untested weapons and communication gear. “They’ll work,” he muttered recalling the words of the head researcher who gave him the equipment. We have every confidence we have solved the EMP problem this time, he remembered the idiot telling him. Sure, he had confidence the problem was solved. He wasn’t going out in the field with the new equipment, Fidel thought. I should have known something was up when he said “this time” they’d already tried other equipment and failed, Fidel thought as he continued climbing over the latest pile of rubble that had once been a skyscraper decorating the skyline of Candus City.