by Jake Bible
“Will someone tell me what’s going on?” Beth demanded.
“You are going to grab onto me,” Heather instructed. “Right now. When we hit that beach, do not let go. That is your only job. Got it?”
“Hit the beach? Wait…what?”
An ear piercing shriek made them all turn towards the bow.
“Billy! They’re here!” Heather shouted as the first Spider breached the water, its long BC legs reaching for them.
“So are we! Hang on!” Billy shouted back as the boat rocketed from the surf and slammed onto solid ground.
***
“Wake up, Brian,” the woman said. “Time to go to work.”
Brian wanted so desperately to play possum, to feign unconsciousness and stall. But, he knew that wouldn’t work. Not with her.
“I can’t see anything right now,” Brian said hoarsely.
“Someone’s got a frog in his throat,” the woman laughed. “Do you need some water?”
“No!” Brian cried. “No, no more water. I’m fine.”
“No, Brian, you are not fine,” the woman said, all trace of laughter gone now. “You have never been fine and you will never be fine. Time you accepted that.”
Brian didn’t know how to respond, so he stayed quiet.
“Cat got your tongue?” the woman asked. “Too bad. I was going to take it for myself.”
Intense pain seared into both sides of his head and Brian found that he couldn’t turn his neck, couldn’t even so much as nod. The canvas was pulled up from his mouth and metal pinchers were thrust between his lips, prying his jaw open.
“Oh! Ahhh!,” Brian tried to scream.
“Shhhh, now,” the woman cooed. “Hard to cut when you keep wiggling that thing about.”
Brian could feel the cold blade press down on his tongue and he tried to move it away.
“Now you’re just being difficult,” the woman said.
Piercing pain exploded in Brian’s tongue and he cried out.
“Do you think you may want to cooperate now?” the woman asked, removing the pinchers. “As long as you talk, you keep your tongue. As soon as you have nothing left to say, you lose it.”
“Fine!” Brian yelled. “Fine. I’ll try to see something!”
“Try hard, Brian,” the woman said. “Try very hard.”
***
Beth’s world exploded.
She felt Heather grab her and she did the same, clutching to the woman as if her life depended on it, which it did.
She could hear Billy yelling and Heather shouting back as everything spun about her.
Then she hit. And couldn’t breathe.
***
Brian groaned.
“What is it?” the woman asked.
“I don’t know,” Brian said weakly. “There were lights, then it all spun away. Now nothing.”
Brian felt the woman’s hands pressing on his head. “Nothing isn’t good, Brian. Try harder!”
***
“Get up!” Heather shouted, pulling Beth to her feet. “Get behind me!”
“There’s three of them!” Billy called out from further down the beach. “Leave her, Heather! We need weapons!”
“Weapons? What good will they do against Spiders?” Melissa shouted, new knowledge streaming into her consciousness. Everything she had learned over the years, had been trained for, was now at her disposal. But all the knowledge in the world couldn’t take away the fear. She winced as she put pressure on her right ankle, but knew it wasn’t the time to be weak. “They’re gonna rip us apart!”
The bit of lamp light illuminating the harbor reflected off the bodies of three biochrome monstrosities. They had solid bodies, approximately twice the size of an adult coffin, long and smooth, with eight multi-jointed legs positioned symmetrically about the body, each ending in four articulated, claw-like digits.
Heather dashed to the wreckage of the boat, grabbing whatever BC she could and began to fashion something, anything that could be used for defense.
“What are those machines?” Beth shouted, staying close to Heather.
“They aren’t machines!” Heather responded. “There are people in those things! At least they used to be people!”
“Jesus! How do we go through life not hearing stuff like this?” Beth yelled.
“Because you do as you’re told and don’t stray from the path!”
Heather said. “Good thing, too! Spiders are for extermination only. Wholesale extermination! They destroy entire towns in hours! They are supposedly unstoppable!” Heather tossed a long pole with two small hooks on the end to Beth, keeping one for herself. “But, unstoppable is my specialty!”
***
“It’s dark again,” Brian stated. “There’s some light, like from torches maybe, but it’s hard to see.”
“Try harder,” the woman growled.
“I am!” Brian exclaimed. He concentrated on the images flashing before him. He thought he saw water. And he could hear shouting. And a smell. Of course, it wasn’t really a smell, but that was how he interpreted it. “Spiders?”
“What did you say?” the woman asked, true concern in her voice. “What did you just say, Brian?”
“Spiders,” he answered. “I think there are Spiders close. Real close.”
***
Beth felt the dizziness come on quickly. She thought maybe she had hit her head when they jumped from the boat, which she did, but she quickly realized the dizziness wasn’t from hitting her head. It was inside her head.
“You okay?” Heather yelled, catching her as she stumbled slightly. “What’s wrong?”
Beth shook her head. “I don’t know. My head hurts.”
“No time for headaches, freak!” Melissa shouted over at her as Heather tossed her a hooked spear. “Not unless you want to be Spider food!”
Beth stumbled again and this time fell to one knee. Heather yanked at her arm, bringing her back to her feet.
“Get down behind the wreckage! Stay put!” Heather yelled.
“I…I…can’t,” Beth gasped, her head pounding, her chest hitching. “I can’t… think… I’m… not me…” She fell to the beach, her stomach lurching.
***
“I’m hurting her!” Brian yelled. “She can’t move!”
“You can’t hurt her!” the woman shouted. “Only help her!”
The slap came hard and swift and Brian’s head rocked back, his mind’s eye clearing a bit.
“Help her, Goddamn it!” the woman screamed. “Help her, Brian!”
***
“I’ve got her! You and Mel take out those Spiders!” Billy shouted. “I’m useless in combat anyway!” Lifting her under the arms, Billy pulled Beth across the rough beach of coarse sand and broken shells, over to the wreckage of the boat. He plopped her down, shielding her body as much as possible as he looked at the BC before him, trying to work out what he could create to help the fight. “Okay, okay,” he mumbled. “You can do this Billy. You can do this.” He reached in his pocket for more scabs, needing another fix, hoping to clear away the stress, but his hand came away empty. “Shit fuck!”
***
Brian’s head rocked back again from another slap then another and another.
“STOP!” he screamed. “Stop it!”
“Then help her, or you die!” the woman shouted, gripping Brian’s head in her hands, squeezing until he thought his cheekbones would crack. “You’re a Ghost for fuck’s sake! Help her, or we both die!”
Brian couldn’t comprehend that last statement. He couldn’t grasp the context or meaning, but something in the statement rang true anyway and he focused his will on the other person, on the girl whose eyes he was seeing through.
I’m a Ghost for fuck’s sake!, he thought.
***
A Spider reared up on its back legs, towering over the boat wreckage, its front four claws wide and reaching for Billy and Beth. Billy pulled Beth closer to him, wrapping her in his arms, pressing her to his chest. “
Don’t look.”
“NO!” she yelled, shoving him away.
Billy fell back onto his haunches, his eyes torn between the Spider and Beth. Beth, whose eyes blazed with fury and determination.
“I’m a Ghost for fuck’s sake!” she screamed, getting to her feet, holding her left hand down and back, her fingers flexing and releasing, flexing and releasing, as she started to circle to the right. The Spider watched Beth, although it had no eyes to speak of, following her movements.
“Beth…?” Billy whispered, but his attention was drawn away as the beach began to brighten. Billy feared to look away from the BC beasts, but he couldn’t help a quick glance as he saw first the wreckage, then any BC within fifty feet of Beth begin to glow.
A second Spider pushed past the first, its attention focused on Billy.
“NO!” Beth shouted, her right hand coming down and back also, flexing, releasing, flexing, releasing, her body in perfect symmetry. “He’s not for you!”
***
“Tell me what you see, Brian!” the woman demanded. “Tell me how you are helping her!”
“I see the Spiders,” Brian stammered. “On a…beach? I see a man. He’s on the ground. Something about him. A Ghost? No, not anymore. Well, maybe… How do I know this?”
“Doesn’t matter,” the woman said. “Concentrate on the Spiders. The man is of no consequence right now.”
“The Spiders…” Brian trailed off.
The woman slapped him again. Hard. “Focus!”
“Okay, okay,” Brian said. “Two Spiders are facing me. They should have attacked by now. Why haven’t they attacked?”
“Because you are helping her,” the woman coaxed. “Because you can stop them.”
“Right. Because I’m a Ghost for fuck’s sake!” Brian yelled.
“Yes,” the woman agreed. “Yes, you are a Ghost. Help her.”
***
The two BC monsters swayed before Beth, both rearing back, ready to strike. Faintly, as if in another world, she could hear Melissa and Heather struggling against the third Spider. Beth fought to keep the two Spiders’ attention focused on her.
“Help me!” Beth shouted.
“How, Beth?” Billy asked, his eyes never leaving the Spiders, his legs refusing to move, to stand.
“You know shit, right? How vehicles are built?” she asked taking a step forward. The Spiders matched her, each taking a step back. “These are like vehicles. Where is their weak spot?”
Billy didn’t have to think, he knew the answer immediately. “I don’t know, Beth. I’ve never seen the schematics for a Spider. That tech is kept under lock and key.”
Beth squared her shoulders. “There has to be something.”
The first Spider lashed out with its front most leg, the claw slicing the air just centimeters from Beth’s face.
“NO!” she screamed and the Spider’s claw warped, wrapping in upon itself until it was just a hunk of BC, not the deadly weapon it was intended to be.
“How did you do that?” Billy asked in awe.
“I don’t know,” Beth answered. “Give me a weak spot, Billy. Find me something.”
***
“Spiders do have weak spots,” the woman said. “You know they do.”
“What?” Brian cried. “I don’t know a bloody thing about Spiders!”
“No, not Spiders specifically,” the woman said. “But, you’re a Ghost for fuck’s sake, remember? You know BC. You know what to do.”
***
The beach swam before Beth’s eyes and she believed she’d pass out from the dizziness. She shook her head to clear it, and the Spiders made their move.
The first came at her straight on, claws slashing. The second circled around, completely ignoring Billy, and tried to flank her. Beth fell to her knees, just barely ducking a lethal swipe of a claw. Her left knee slammed against one of the many sharp rocks covering the ground and pain shot up her thigh. A claw slammed down next to her and she instinctively reached out and grabbed onto the leg, instantly being lifted high into the air as the leg was pulled back. She scrambled quickly and found herself perched upon the Spider’s back.
“Hang on!” Billy shouted, getting to his feet, separating a length of BC from the wreckage and fashioning it into a spear, similar to what Heather had done.
“Wasn’t planning on letting go!” Beth shouted back, fighting the swirling focus-un-focus that was her brain.
Billy lunged at the second Spider, not having a clue as to what he was doing, but the Spider reacted, stepping away from the hooked spear. “That was something! Heather? What the fuck do I do with this thing?”
The Spider Beth was perched upon began to buck and heave, trying to throw her, but she hung on. She dodged a claw as the Spider turned upon itself, desperate to have her off its back. She dodged a second claw, a third claw, watching as the BC claws punctured the shell, the creature’s strength too much for its own good. Beth wasn’t able to dodge a fourth as it embedded into her right thigh, ripping her off and flinging her to the ground.
Billy leapt in front of her, his spear at the ready, but was easily knocked aside and slammed to the ground, his head crashing against the rocks, leaving him in an unconscious heap.
The crippled Spider spun around and around, trying to dislodge its own claws from its back while the second Spider surged forward, looming over Beth, each arm and claw looking like a chrome version of Death’s scythe.
“No,” Beth whispered, gritting her teeth against the pain from her thigh. “I don’t die like this.”
***
“Come on, Brian! You’re losing her!” the woman yelled.
Brian concentrated. He thought of everything he had learned over the years, everything drilled into him to prepare him to be a Ghost. But, nothing came to the surface. No answers or solutions. It was if what he needed to know was submerged under meters of water.
Meters of water…
Water.
Brian smiled.
***
Beth watched the Spider poise to strike, its claws reflecting the small amount of light provided by the nearby docks.
Water.
A single word echoed in her mind. She puzzled at why she would think about water when she was about to die.
Then it hit her. Biochcrome was metal and metal wasn’t a solid, but a liquid in solid form.
And like that the Spider was no more. Its huge form was gone, dissolved into a pool of BC that washed over her and Billy. A naked, malformed, pink body lay in the middle of the BC, its eyes blind, its mouth opening and closing, opening and closing. Its legs had been amputated at the knees and its arms were just short stubs with no hands, two finger-like appendages sticking from the end. The thing let out a long, slow, dying breath and then it was still.
Beth stared at the creature, wiping liquid BC from her clothes. She scrambled over to Billy, her thigh screaming agony, and rolled him over, terrified of what she would see. But, to her relief, Billy’s eyes fluttered open, found her and then closed once more. Beth hugged him tightly, watching the other Spider still struggle against itself.
***
“You did it, Brian,” the woman whispered in his ear.
Brian wept quietly. He tried not to, tried to suck the tears back in, to control the light sobs that escaped his lips. “I don’t understand what is happening.”
“No, Brian, you don’t,” the woman said coldly. “And we still have a long way to go before you do.”
Brian felt the cold metal of the blade against a knuckle and he screamed as the knife sliced through his flesh.
***
Beth shuddered and looked down at her hand as pain flared in one of her knuckles then dissipated.
“You okay?” Melissa asked, kneeling next to her and Billy, while Heather engaged the wounded Spider. “We got ours. Heather’ll take care of that last one.”
Melissa looked at Beth’s thigh and gasped. “Jesus! That’s got to hurt!”
Beth looked down at the b
lood pouring from her wound and furrowed her brow. “I don’t… I don’t even feel it.”
“That would be shock,” Melissa said, looking about her for BC to close the wound. Her eyes went wide when she realized they were all in the middle of a pool of BC. “What the fuck…?”
But her attention was quickly drawn away as the death screams of the last Spider echoed across the harbor. Beth and Melissa looked over as the BC creature fell to the ground, Heather’s spear sticking from its abdomen. The Ghost wiped her hands on her chest, then turned to the others, smiling broadly. That smile quickly faded as she saw first Billy and Beth, then the BC surrounding them. “What the fuck happened here?”
***
“Gentlemen! And Ladies!” Alexander announced as he entered the VIP room. “Thank you for coming. I do apologize for being late.”
“With your reputation,” a squat, dark skinned man said. “We’re surprised you even showed.”
The six others, four men and two women, all laughed. Alexander grinned and slapped the squat man on the shoulder. “Fair enough, Timon. Fair enough. But if we are going on reputation, then you all know I have capabilities to make… well, things happen.”
“Yes,” an elegant, white haired woman said. “Which is why we are all here at this ungodly hour, Alex.”
“That is ‘Your Highness’ or ‘My Lord’ to you,” Sasha scolded, ushering the waitresses out of the room as soon as they finished setting the guests’ third drink order before them. He shut the double doors behind him as he nodded to the prince. “All swept and clear. You may speak freely. I have alerted security that the meeting is in progress and you are not to be disturbed…Your Highness.”
Alexander gave Sasha a wink and turned back to his audience. “Yes, the hour is late, so let’s get to the point.” The lights dimmed and a holo of a bright blue sky was projected into the middle of the room. “Flight. It’s outlawed and punishable by death or by banishment into the Dead Zone. Over the centuries we have been given many reasons why: atmospheric chaos, military concerns, American regulation, lack of decent technology. Neither the LOM, nor the Americans, have ever given the public a solid reason other than ‘We Say So’. But there is one thing we all know and that is the law is rigorously enforced.”
“Then why bring it up?” a middle-aged Brit asked, his mouth smiling, but his eyes cold. “Any aircraft would be shot down within seconds of attaining altitude above the legal hover ceiling. You’re wasting our time.”
