Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After gathering what they needed they descended back down into the basement, this time bringing as much light as they could muster. First job was to close over the hole as best they could. A quick search to make sure there wasn’t anything lurking in the corners and a check of the dead spider to make sure it still dead and they went about the backbreaking work of shifting something heavy in front of the hole. The emptied wall lockers would do the job for now, giving them time enough to fix the lighting and prepare something more permanent.

With the room made safe they walked over to the hole. Shining their powerful torches down into the darkness they saw the tunnel stretch off into the distant blackness. A few small creatures scurried away from the intense brightness, seeking solace further down the shaft.

“I wonder how far it goes?” He said squinting down into the tunnel. “Looks like a few hundred metres at least. Ah wait here a moment I have an idea.” Running back up the stairs she could hear rummaging from the kitchen and then the thump of his boots back down the steps. Her eyes never once left the tunnel.

“What did you get?”

“Something to hopefully get us a good look down that tunnel, a flare gun.”

“ Are you sure it’s safe firing that down the tunnel?”

“Well its safe for us, not so sure its safe for whatever it might hit down the tunnel though.” He loaded a flare into the gun and stood in front of the tunnel, preparing to fire.

“Scoot over once you’ve shot it, I want a look see as much as you do.”

He kneeled to get a better trajectory down the tunnel and fired. A bright flash sped down the tunnel followed by a crackle and then bright red light as the flare lit. It skidded along the tunnel floor, illuminating the sides as it went, further and further, until it appeared to go out. The red light was still visible, however so it hadn’t gone out, it had merely fallen over a shelf in the tunnel perhaps. They could see it barely moving along the tunnel still in the distance, lighting up the tunnel walls as they broadened into a cavern. As the light dissipated it threw a multitude of long, strange shadows up onto the walls.

“Did you see the cavern?” He turned, questioning, “There was definitely a cave and it looked like there was something or somethings in it.”

“Yes I saw it, and I don’t think I liked what I saw one bit.”

”No me neither.” He popped another flare into the gun and pointed it down the tunnel and fired. After this shot he brought his binoculars up to see if he could get a better view of the distant cave. Again the crackling red flare bobbed its way down the tunnel, illuminating as it went, skidding its way to the cavern. Like the previous flare it skipped down the shelf and disappeared from view, the red light on the walls the only indication of its persistence. He continued to watch as the red light faded, just before being extinguished he saw something move, it looked like two enormous spider legs feeling their way up the wall of the cavern.

“We might need to do this a bit faster.” He said, putting down the flare gun and hurrying over to one of the lockers. “I think we woke something up. Something big and ugly and probably not nice to know.”

“Has anything around here been nice to know in the past couple of days?” She pulled at the other end of the locker, helping him lower it to the ground.

“Well you’re bearable, other than that no; pretty unfriendly bunch these things.” Metal screeched loudly on the concrete floor as they moved the locker over to the hole.

“I don’t think this locker is going to do much good, not if whatever chewed through the wall to get in here comes back down the tunnel.”

“That’s why I brought these along.” He put his hands into his pockets and pulled out a grenade from each one, “these should be enough to bring a large chunk of the tunnel down, and that will give us time to fill this locker up, get some more stuff in front of the hole here, and fix the lights before anything can get back in here. Come point a light down the tunnel so I can see where I’m throwing these things.”

She picked up a powerful lamp, turning it towards the tunnel. The bright disc of light moved across the wall, then towards the hole, pushing away the darkness. As she settled the lamp directly down the tunnel, she paused and nearly stumbled backwards in surprise. A wall of black and pink flesh was dragging itself towards them with a multitude of long, spindly limbs. It was more than halfway towards them and closing in fast.

Whatever it was filled the tunnel completely, a mass of mouths, eyes and tentacle feelers were surrounded by long black spider legs ending in huge sickle-shaped claws. The legs darted forwards and hacked their claws into the dirt, pulling forwards and repeating the process. Between each of these legs were what looked like emaciated human arms, the hands and fingers of which seemed three or four times as long as they should be. They moved incessantly, most of them helping to propel the creature along, the rest reaching longingly forward, eager to snatch and grab at anything that came close. What she could see of the main body of the beast was possibly more disconcerting than the limbs; it seemed to be entirely composed of eyes and mouths. No pattern could be discerned it was a random assortment of human faces, holes lined with yellow fangs and dog-like snouts, even toothed beaks snapping at the air. The collection of eyes all swivelled independently, sparkling blue eyes blinking next to staring black spheres, dark and dead as a starless night, with eyestalks straining in just as many different directions.

The Man looked at her drained white face as she reached down to her side for her pistol and realised what he saw must have been on the move all this time. Pocketing one of the grenades he gripped the other hard and pulled the as she began firing. Moving to stand beside her he was possibly more shocked than her when he saw it, he hadn’t expected whatever it was to be as close as it was and it was closing in faster than he thought something of that size could move.

She had emptied her clip in a few seconds but the creature had not slowed, in fact it looked like it had sped up. The rounds she had fired first had punctured a few of the eyes and severed an eyestalk before the flailing human arms had moved protectively over its ‘face’, The remaining bullets severing a couple of fingers and shattering one of the creature’s human wrists. As she put the lamp on the floor and reached into a pocket for a fresh magazine, The Man stepped in front of her and threw the grenade at the creature. It skipped once on the dirt and hit it in one of its human mouths, bouncing back and coming to rest a few inches in front of it. He could see eyestalks and eyes swivel to look down at the grenade, as a thin rime of blood appeared where it had struck some teeth. As one the human arms descended upon the grenade, the oversize hands covering it as best they could as all the eyes and mouths closed in preparation.

A muffled thump and the human arms disappeared in an explosion of red mist. Burned and blackened stumps pulled away, squirting dark red ichor as they moved. Some arms retained thin ribbons of flesh flecked with white bone as the only reminder that they used to end in hands. The eyes reopened fixating on The Man, and the mouths opened letting out a piercing chorus of screams. The legs began dragging the monstrosity forwards at a frenzied pace now, eager to exact revenge.

The Girl had reloaded and wasted no time in emptying another clip at the creature, with no hands left to cover itself it couldn’t stop the bullets pounding into its soft, vulnerable flesh. Teeth cracked and eyes popped as the rounds hammered home, but the creature was unperturbed, hastened on by the desire to kill.

The Man primed the second grenade and tossed it into the tunnel, pulling the girl out of the way of the hole, around the locker and to the side. The creature stopped as it saw the grenade rolling along the ground towards it, and tried desperately to move back away from it. There was an enormous roar and a blast of heat and dirt erupted from the tunnel. A severed sickle claw flew end over end from the hole and embedded itself in one of the lockers in the far wall.

The blast had knocked the lamp over and cracked the glass, but it was still working, just pointing uselessly at the ground. She reached over picked it up and pointed it towards the hole, inching around the locker, towards the hole again. A terrible stink was issuing from the tunnel, the reek of burnt rotten flesh, fighting back both the instinct to run and to vomit; she peeked around into the tunnel.

The creature was immobile; lying on a heap of its own ejected innards, legs scratching feebly at the walls of the tunnel. The second explosion had done massive damage to the creature. Unable to escape the blast, it had clawed at it to try and move it away, succeeding in only severing the claw when the grenade exploded. The concussive force had torn a huge hole in the body of the creature, splitting it horizontally about a third of the way up its face. The exposed eyes had all been destroyed and nearly all of the mouths were hanging limply open, teeth smashed and driven backwards into its massive body.
“Thank God you brought two of those things down.”

“I know. It didn’t seem to collapse the tunnel as I thought it would though, not that it matters with that thing blocking it instead. I wonder how far it goes back.”

“You can go in and find out if you would like. Shout back when you find its ass!”

“I think I will have to pass for now, I’m not that curious thanks. Lets get this locker moved across I want to get this hole sealed off as soon as.”

They manhandled the locker into place, pushing it tight against the hole. There was a gap around the sides but at least they had something in place for now and that made them feel a little safer. Walking across the room they came to the locker opposite the hole. The claw was stuck fast in the door. The Man opened the locker to check inside.

“I’m glad you pulled me to the side before this thing came flying out of the tunnel. That wouldn’t have been a good way to go.” She poked the claw with her finger, not moving it at all.

“I’m glad too, it would have been a pain in the ass to move the lockers by myself.”

“Your concern is touching.” She grabbed the claw by the base and pulled, managing to move the door, the claw stuck fast, “doesn’t look like this thing is going to come out anytime soon.”

“Leave it in there, it’s always nice to collect souvenirs to remind you when interesting things happen to you.”

“Somehow I don’t think I’m going to forget that anytime soon. I haven’t seen that many hungry mouths since school lunchtimes when I was a kid.”

“I wonder if there are any schools left out there. I wonder if there is anything left at all anymore, anything more than a few people wandering about or trying to stay where they are like us.”

“ I miss people.” She let go of the claw and casually began scratching her arm, “cities became unbearable towards the end but I miss going out, watching a movie, having a beer, eating Chinese takeaway, anything and everything that was our old lives are gone. I thought it couldn’t get much worse, and then all this shit starts happening. I don’t want to stop and think about it because if I do I think I might just go crazy.”

“I know how you feel, but it doesn’t look like any of that stuff is going to happen any time soon, if ever again. At least you have me and the dog, and me and the dog have you. It’s a lot more than other people have I think, and it’s a lot more than I had a few days ago and it’s enough to keep me going.”

“Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger isn’t that what they say. Well if we keep up at this rate, we’re going to be strong enough to give Hercules a run for his money.”

“I don’t think they meant muscles when they said that, I think they meant testicular fortitude or whatever the female equivalent is.”

“ Yeah us ladies aren’t too big on that stuff and those that are generally tend to come from Eastern Europe and become Olympic shot putters.”

“And I thought I used to have weird conversations with The Dog.”

“Funny how nearly dying multiple times messes with your head eh?”

“I don’t think the ‘whatever doesn’t kill you’ brigade never had to deal with something chewing its way out of a pig or enormous mutant spiders ready to eat you in your basement. Do you think its still possible to book an appointment with a shrink?” He started pulling the locker away from the wall

“I think all the shrinks shrunk ‘til they were no more. Only things left now are gunslingers, underground farmers and tinkerers and there aren’t a whole lot of any of them left either.” She grabbed the other side and helped to pull. “Seems like we can define people even more narrowly than that now.”

“How so?” Metal screeched on concrete again as they moved the second locker

“Food.”

“Just when I thought the conversation couldn’t get any more depressing.”

“You’re welcome.”

They pulled the locker over to the first one and set about deciding how best to cover the hole with them both. There was a shuffling from the hole, the sound of something being dragged across dirt.

“Did you hear that?” The Girl had sat on the floor with her back on the locker, The Man stood next to her healing on the locker with his shoulder

Another shuffling noise, this time followed by a loud snap, then more shuffling.

“I thought that thing was dead. Pass me the lamp.” The Girl handed the lamp up to him then grabbed the side of the locker and slowly pulled it away from the hole. Readying the lamp he edged his face around the locker enough to get a look down the tunnel, then he flicked the switch.

The tunnel was illuminated once more, revealing the still dead corpse of the beast; he could see it wasn’t moving of its own volition. The body seemed deflated somewhat and a gap had appeared between it and the roof of the tunnel, this is where he watched waiting for something to appear. Another loud snap and one of the sickle clawed legs bent over itself and disappeared into the gap.

“Go get something more than that pistol.” He whispered to her, “ and hurry up.”

She got up running across the basement and up the stairs, returning a few seconds later carrying his shotgun and box of shells. She skidded and sat down beside him, back on the locker once more and busied herself thumbing shells into the shotgun.

Two more snaps and another couple of legs disappeared behind the corpse, the space around it in the tunnel growing ever bigger. The strain was starting to show, the tear left by the explosion had widened, spilling more blood and entrails into the tunnel, the stench becoming almost visibly thick. With a sound like a tearing pillowcase the top half of the corpse tore away from the bottom, peeling backwards faster and faster, until it had disappeared into the darkness. Standing in the pile of stinking guts were three small boys, their translucent white skin deeply veined with black, oversized heads bowed and eyes closed. As one they slowly opened their eyes, heads remaining bowed; their eyes a deep red with a single thin vertical white slit, continuing to grow wider until they were the size of tennis balls. With their eyes open fully their heads tilted upwards revealing a hideous grin from ear to ear, purplish lips stretched taut. Still as one their lips quivered and parted revealing a smile of thin, tightly fitting, pointed fangs. Opening their mouths nearly ninety degrees, thin ropes of spittle hanging between the fangs, they darted out their long, flat tongues, playing them across their lips and teeth. They let out a hiss and from behind each rose two black arms, as long as the boys were tall, each ending curved and sharpened like a knife blade, giving them the appearance of grotesque preying mantises. Another long hiss and they leapt forwards, scurrying on all fours towards the hole.

“Get ready something else is coming.” He said, putting his back to the locker and pushing it back over the hole. “Stay down there and watch the gap on your side. Swap please.” He motioned the lamp towards the pistol next to her leg. Putting the shotgun across her lap she took the lamp from him and passed him the pistol and a spare magazine. The shuffling in the tunnel stopped a few feet from the locker, a trio of hisses and the shuffling continued until it was right behind the locker.

”What the hell is that?” She whispered

“Kids, with evil turned up to eleven.”

“Oh God.” She pointed the shogun up at the gap. A trio of screams from the tunnel and a pair of mantis blades probed through the gap on one side of the locker then another pair on the second side, pushing and probing their way into the gap. The locker began to move away from the hole as the creatures pushed from the other side, the gaps to the sides widening as they pushed. Two glowing red eyes peered around the left side, but The Girl was ready and had the shotgun aimed at the gap. She fired, a flash momentarily lighting up the child’s face before it and the glowing eyes disappeared. It dropped to its knees, the wide-grinning fangs of its lower jaw all that remained of the head, blood gushing freely between them. The small body slumped and fell to the side, dragging the claws back into the darkness.

The remaining two let out a deafening scream and the claws withdrew from the other side. The Man took this opportunity to push the locker back tight against the hole, shoulder pressed against the metal, his pistol ready in his hands.

“Have they gone?” She looked over, away from the gap.
“I doubt it. Keep ready.”

She took aim at the gap once again, tensing up in anticipation. The seconds ticked by but seemed to last an eternity in the deathly quiet, waiting for something to happen. Another pair of deafening screams and the creatures attacked again, ramming the locker. They barrelled into it so hard it was as if the locker had been hit by an explosion. It pushed forwards and rocked, threatening to tilt over. The Man was knocked back, the pistol falling from his hands and sliding uselessly out of reach.

“PUSH IT BACK.” He yelled, turning and placing both hands against the metal and pushing back with as much effort as he could muster. The Girl got up, leaving the shotgun by her feet and pushing back with him. Little by little the locker moved back tight against the hole.

“KEEP PUSHING” He grunted. The force from the other side ceased and they took a moment to breath, “Get your gun”

The Girl bent down and retrieved her weapon. Before she had a chance to straighten up a sound like a sledgehammer hitting the locker came from the other side and one of the claws smashed all the way through, jutting out where The Girl had just been standing. She rolled onto her back on the floor as another claw smashed its way through to where she had been kneeling.

The Man backed away from the locker, keeping his hands pushing it against the hole, but knowing there was another set of claws on the other side ready to punch through. The claws receded, leaving jagged tears in the metal; she readied the shotgun again, aiming for the left side gap. Another bang and her side of the locker shifted out, leaving more than enough room for one of those things to get through. There were no telltale red eyes this time as one of the monsters leapt out of the darkness towards her, opening its eyes and mouth as it entered the light. Instinctively she fired, but her shot went high, missing the head but severing the paired claws, sending the creature spinning onto its back. Leaving her no time to shoot again it flipped forwards and leapt onto her, grabbing at the shotgun and pressing it into her chest.

Before The Man could react the second creature slashed its claws through the gap on his side, sawing them against the metal. Butting against the door with his shoulder he trapped the claws between the locker and concrete wall, an angry scream coming from the child’s mouth. He tried to kick out at the one pinning the girl but it was futile, it had pushed her back, sliding her across the floor away from him just as out of reach as the pistol. Frantically looking around he saw a glint of metal inside the open door of other locker they had brought over. He remembered what it was almost instantly, but was it close enough to reach?

“HELP ME!” The Girl screamed, the creature was pushing down onto her with its mouth wide-open, tongue flicking menacingly at her face. “I DON’T KNOW HOW LONG I CAN HOLD THIS THING OFF.”

Reaching out with his boot The Man flicked open the door on the second locker, the prize, a gleaming silver and red fire axe, revealed. Using his left hand to hold the locker against the claws he stretched his other arm out fingers stretching and grasping, he could feel the cool metal of the axe with his middle finger. Sensing his distraction the monster pushed hard shifting the metal far enough to slide one of its claws back from the trap. Not wanting to let this one go The Man roared, simultaneously stretching for the axe and shoving back with all the strength he had. The locker moved back once more, this time shearing the claw off instead of merely trapping it. A high-pitched scream came from the tunnel as the severed claw fell to the ground.

He swung his head around aware that it was now coming through the gap on the other side behind his back. He was sure he didn’t have enough time to make another grab for the axe before it would come through, so he brought his hand back to better aid in his defence as he turned. His hand felt strangely heavy and his palm was cold, momentarily flicking his eyes down he saw the axe in his hand! Grabbing the haft with his other hand he began to swing it in a long arc over his head. Red eyes bore down on him from the dark as it began its leap, hands held out ready to tear into his neck.

It realised too late what was about to happen, unable to adjust its trajectory in midair as the axe came crashing down into it from above. His swing hit just behind the head, crashing through the neck and forcing the creature to arc towards the ground. Following his swing all the way to the floor, it was propelled downwards, impacting face first on the hard concrete. The jaw snapped promptly in two, the separating halves pushing their fangs up into the soft palate. The head had stopped moving but the axe continued its downward journey, cutting down through the back of the skull, smashing out between the huge red eyes and chipping into the concrete in front of its nose.

Turning back he ran to The Girl and standing astride her legs he swing the axe into the monster on top of her aiming at the ribcage, tearing it clean in half. The legs landed limply to her side and the monster relaxed its grip on her gun. She pushed it off to the side, clambering up to her feet.

“How did you do that?” she grabbed his arm, her eyes wide open.

“I think I got lucky and it leapt at the wrong time.

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t….”

“How did you get the axe?”

“I saw it in the other locker when I was holding the other monster off and grabbed it.” His expression became puzzled

“You aren’t getting it. You were pushing in the other direction.”

“Yes and?”

She grabbed his arm shouting; “YOUR HAND WAS A FOOT AWAY FROM THE AXE WHEN YOU GRABBED IT THAT’S WHAT!”
“Don’t be daft. That thing was trying to eat you and you obviously couldn’t see clearly.” He pulled away walking a couple of steps away from her

“Could you reach it? I was watching you the whole time and you couldn’t reach it. You tried but it was too far away. Then you shouted and pushed in the opposite direction to the axe does this sound familiar?”

“Yes.”

“Well when you shouted the locker began rattling and when you pushed the other way the axe came out into your hand.”

“What do you mean came out?”

“I mean it flew out of the cabinet into your hand, like magic.”

He dropped the axe on the floor and turned to face her, “Look we’ve both been through a lot these past two days but don’t start losing your marbles on me now.”

“Do you remember grabbing it or not?”

“It was in my hand wasn’t it?”

“Yes but do you remember grabbing it?”

“No. But I must have.”

“You didn’t.”

“I must have.”

“YOU DIDN’T!”

“Well if I didn’t grab it how did it get into my hand?”

“Isn’t that what I asked you as soon as I got up?”

“I don’t have an answer.”

“Me neither.”

They stood in the basement facing each other, adrenaline fading, both hoping to escape from the horror show they were starring in.

“Do you think you could magic us up a pizza? I’m bloody starving after that.”

“Not funny”, his face softened

“Liar.” She walked over to him and they held each other for a long time. Amidst the carnage in the basement, they made each other feel nearly normal again.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

The white light faded into darkness for a time. In the darkness she could hear the faint far off bark of a dog. Concentrating on that sound she sought her way up from the dark, rising up out of unconsciousness, the barking steadily rising in volume. Her eyes snapped open and she let out an involuntary scream, the sound still seeming muffled to her compared to that from The Visitor.

Sat bolt upright now in bed and soaked in sweat, she looked around the room. The Dog was beside her masters’ bed barking constantly at him. He seemed to be still unconscious, but was writhing in his bed alternately tensing and relaxing. As she continued to watch he too awoke with a scream, he too sat upright in bed, sweaty and breathless.

“What the hell happened?” The Dog came close and began to lick the back of his hand.

“I think I woke up from a terrible nightmare, I don’t know if I can remember anything about it. I just remember feeling terribly afraid and there was bright white light and a terrible din and then nothing.” She pulled the covers up protectively.

“That sounds ominously familiar. Did yours have a old man with a white beard?”

“That’s not funny, if I was talking in my sleep again you shouldn’t take the piss.”

“I wasn’t. I had a similar dream. An old man came to visit, then I went outside for a while, for what I can’t remember, but I don’t think I liked it. Then the old man said something strange and it went very loud and white and then nothing.”

“Ok, that’s a little bit too strange for my liking.” She shrunk back into her bed, “I don’t mind sharing water with you but sharing a dream is a little too intimate for someone I just met.”

“Well I had intended to share more than that with you but I was too tired after nearly getting eaten twice today. I suppose sharing the dream was second prize!” The corner of his mouth tilted up as he looked at her and some of the tension drained away from them both.

“ Well what are we going to do if he turns up?”

“I can think of two options; one we open the door and ask him what he wants or two we open the door shoot the living shit out of him then ask him what he wants. I’m leaning towards option two right now.”

“From what I remember from the dream I’d rather just not open the door at all.”

“Hmm maybe you’re right.” He paused for a moment, stretching his back “Then again we are making plans for meeting someone from a dream, I’m not exactly sure that’s the best idea. We had a very stressful day and we might have both just been thinking about having some fried chicken and we both came up with the white beard guy, planning for his arrival might not be entirely sensible.”

“Better safe than sorry.”

“I knew you were going to say that.”

“So does my stay extend to breakfast in bed or no?”

“I would normally say no, especially seeing as breakfast time was eight hours ago, but you’ve pulled my nuts out of the fire, so to speak, today so I think I’ll make an exception.”

He got up and walked to the kitchen, seemingly oblivious that he hadn’t gotten dressed before doing so, rummaging in the cupboard for a saucepan without a stitch on.

“More beans and sausages good enough for you?” He asked, dumping the contents of a tin into the pan and grabbing a spoon to stir.

“Of course it is, you might want to get an apron on wouldn’t want you to burn the sausage while warming the beans now would we?” She smirked contentedly.

“I’ve been eating these things long enough not to burn them thanks.” He replied turning, pan in hand, “In fact I think I’ve cooked more of these than….” He saw her smile broadening and realised why. The pan and spoon clattered to the floor as his hands tried to cover as much as they could. She roared in laughter as he crab-walked to the safety and cover of the bed. As he went The Dog sauntered out from her bed, padding quietly over to the pan on the floor to the unexpected, but very welcome feast.

“I guess you are used to doing things a certain way being all on your lonesome all this time”

“You might say that.” He countered grabbing clothing from around the side of the bed where he was hiding, “I told you I’m not that used to company.”

“I can see, in fact I’ve seen rather more than I had bargained on! If I had known you were running a nudist colony here I don’t think I would have asked to stay, end of the world or not a girl still has some standards!”

“I accidentally stumbled upon a nudist beach once,” he was still rustling into his clothes behind cover, ”it isn’t nearly as full of nubile young ladies as some films would lead you to believe, not that I watch those kind of movies…um… I should have just quit whilst I was ahead shouldn’t I?”

“Yes you should have, although you never really were ahead after you got out of bed really. And starting off with “I accidentally stumbled on a nudist beach” is such obvious bullshit, it’s not like you can’t see naked people from far away like people on a normal beach! I’m starting to think you might not have accidentally gotten out of bed that way now, maybe I’m stuck in a house with a major league perv!”

“Yeah you got me, I always try and seduce women by nearly getting eaten by spiders and then cooking for them naked the next morning. I honestly don’t know how you saw it coming, none of the others did.”

“Others eh? How many lady visitors have you taken down into your secret spider dungeon?”

“Oh no just you I normally just keep a jar of spiders under the sink and put one on my trouser leg when they aren’t looking and run around screaming for them to take it off. Afterwards I offer to show them my gratitude as it where and bingo!”

“You know that approach would probably have worked better than the one where you really tried to get eaten, it’s a bit safer for a start.”

“True, but by the way you came in I didn’t think you would rescue me from a little spider I thought you would probably just laugh, I had to think outside the box.”

“I’m flattered, and you’re right I would have wet myself if you had. Do you really have a jar of spiders?”

“Nope can’t stand the things never have, creepy things have too many legs and way too many eyes for my liking. I’ve never been to a nudist beach either; an old friend of mine did and said it was just full of wrinkly old people. I think I’ll go and fetch you your breakfast in bed seeing as she has made short work of your first one.” He nodded towards The Dog who was standing next to the dropped pan, which was now empty and licked thoroughly clean, tongue lolling out, wagging her tail contentedly.

After a short while the second breakfast was made and after an even shorter while it was eaten. A few minutes of relaxing silence and then it was time to make plans for what remained of the fading light of the day and the coming darkness.

“ I think we need to go back down there,” she nodded towards the basement hatch, “I would say we need to have a look see down that tunnel but I don’t really want to if what was down there is any indication of what would be waiting for us. The least we need to do is make sure nothing can get into your basement anytime soon. Any ideas on that front?”

“Seeing as you said you wouldn’t be impressed with running around screaming I guess we could rearrange some furniture down there, paint a nice feature wall, burn some incense, make it nice n cosy.”

“Ok lets do that minus the home redecoration angle, although it might be a good idea to fix up the lights down there, either that or take down a lot of torches.”

“Yeah you’re right we should get that done, though going down there kinda makes me wish I hadn’t traded away that flamethrower I had.”

“You had a flamethrower?”

“Yeah”

“A proper one like in the movies?”

“No much better than those, an old army one shot flames fifty sixty feet, was awesome on bonfire night or for starting barbecues.”

“What on earth did you trade it for? A rocket launcher?”

“No traded it for all those tins of beans and sausages you like so much!”

“I think you should have kept it.”

“I think you might be right.” The corners of his mouth turned up, “but how the hell was I supposed to know I’d need a flamethrower to fry giant spiders in my basement.”

“No, not really the kind of thing you plan for is it.”

“I think I have an old can of hairspray and a lighter somewhere round here. Might even be able to stretch to some tape to hold the lighter on the can, make it a super high tech version. Or we could stick to guns. And like you said lots of torches.”

“Well you gather up the torches and I’ll get dressed.” She leaned out of bed and dragged her bag closer. “You won’t be getting a show like I had this morning I’m afraid so don’t stand around watching get finding some torches.”

“Actually while you’re busy I think I’ll take a look see outside, while its still light, see if that thing we killed is still there and if there are any of those trap things out there.”

“The way I remember it is you killed it I was too busy running away to kill anything.”

“Me, you, us, whoever, it’s still dead and we aren’t and that’s good enough for me.” With that he picked up his rifle and headed to the door, The Dog padded along after him.

“Be careful out there.” She looked around to him, “I don’t know where anything but the beans are in this place, and I wouldn’t know where to start looking.”

“Well I’m glad that you’re concerned for my well-being. Well at least your stomach is!” He turned away to the door again, “I will be don’t worry, I won’t go far.” The door opened and she could feel the warm air rush inside, bringing with it a strange sweet odour. She went back to dressing, leaving a pistol on the bed beside her.

The Sun was dipping below the horizon and most of the heat had leached away from the day, it was till bright but dark pools of shadow had started to form when the sun had stooped low in the sky. The shadows seemed much more menacing than they had before, pregnant with the possibility of new horror.

He realised he had been stood on the porch now for a minute or two, investigating each shadow and crevice to the sides of the house. His attention swept forward to where the beast lay dead; it was still there and still dead. Apprehensively he took a first step off the porch. Satisfied that it was still the same dirt underfoot as yesterday, he pressed onwards.

He stopped again a halfway to it; it looked like it was still moving. The skin seemed to ripple and squirm in the fading light. Advancing more cautiously he walked on, gun at the ready. He was close enough now to discern why it was moving; the creature itself was indeed dead, but he could see hundreds of fat white maggots gorging themselves on what lay there in the dirt.

They were unusually large, nearly six inches long and nearly half as that across at their fattest point. Their skin was a translucent pearly white and thick green veins bulged under its surface. Three mouths worked tirelessly, tearing strips of flesh from the corpse and gobbling them down greedily. As they gorged themselves to capacity, they dropped off to the ground, the tapered end opposite the mouths weaving a cocoon around them that quickly hardened to a black carapace. Inside these cocoons they looked like they continued to grow, he could see a few that had doubled in size and sprouted hair and spines like the spider eggs that had been in the basement. As he continued to watch he saw fresh maggots climb up to replace those that had fallen off, working his way to the side he tried to get a look at where they were coming from.

Lying next to the corpse was what looked like the remains of a human torso. The limbs and head had been removed, leaving ragged stumps of flesh and shattered bone. One half of the ribcage was gone, leaving the still-beating heart exposed. He could now hear the massive heart beating in the chest cavity. Purplish black and enlarged to the size of a football, it thumped rhythmically carrying who knows what around is form through black blood vessels that stood out jarringly against pale white flesh. It had once been a woman; the breast on the side of the chest that remained sagged, weeping a yellowish fluid. The abdomen was distended, reminding him of the starving millions that had peppered the news bulletins in an age that seemed very long past. The veins were more numerous and covered the taught skin in a chaotic web of black strands. The belly tensed for a few seconds and with a wet plop, two fresh maggots fell from the cleft between the leg stumps. They wriggled feverishly towards the carrion and began eating.

As he watched the grim spectacle of this abhorrent life-cycle, a shuffling noise to his right caught his attention. What used to be this poor woman’s head was facing him, upside down. The jaw hung limply from the side of the head, a lipstick-red lip drawn tight against the white teeth. The flesh and skin from the neck now formed a ribbed tube pointing towards him; he could hear the whistling of air as it sniffed him out, a tongue lapping at the tube’s opening, keeping it moist. Thick black insect legs sprouted from the eye sockets and where her ears used to be, giving the creature a strange crab gait as it moved towards him. A few more sniffs and the tube shortened and widened revealing jagged yellow teeth.

Not waiting any longer he raised his rifle and fired into the middle of the head. The whip crack sound of the shot pierced the silence as the bullet sped thought the head, taking most of the back of the skull with it as it exited. The legs buckled and the head sat down on the floor, the contents of the skull flooding out of the hole. He turned to the torso, which had started writhing and contorting at the sound of the shot. He aimed at the heart and squeezed the trigger, popping it like a water balloon. Black fluid spewed from the chest and the abdomen began to sag and deflate, half-formed maggots oozing from where others had been birthed.

Turning his attention to the eggs he brought a booted foot down hard on them with a satisfying crunch as the half formed spiders inside were crushed. He saw a wispy shimmer of black hanging around each of the eggs before it was dispatched. Stopping at the last, most fully formed egg he stooped closer to get a good look at it. A very thin cloud hung around it, only visible when the sun was directly behind it. Maybe this was how these things could stay out in the sun. He was far more scared than curious, however and as the spider moved inside the egg, legs pushing out at the thing membrane, his heart turned somersaults in his chest as he jumped back out of the way. He settled for shooting this last egg as the spines on it looked apt to pierce his boots if he stood on it. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and taking a knife from his belt he went about dispatching the remaining maggots, their thin skin giving easily under the point of his blade.

Surveying the carnage he overcame the heaving urge to vomit and satisfied that nothing remained alive he started back to the house and slowed nearly immediately. On the hill behind the house where he had first seen the pig there was someone standing a couple of paces onwards and two piercing eyes glowed yellow staring down at him. He stopped in his tracks and pulled out his binoculars. Focussing in and scanning the ridge he could see no one, just old dead trees. He brought the binoculars back down and looking once more he could see nothing. A gust of wind and again the yellow eyes stared at him. With his binoculars sighted and at had he was much quicker this time and saw straight away what had been looking at him. A pair of old goggles hung from a broken branch on a tree stump. Swinging in the breeze, tilting towards him and reflecting the sun when it gusted and tilting back when the breeze had gone, the stump itself was charred black and it looked like a few rags of old blanket had caught around it, making it look like a mysterious hillborn intruder. He resumed his walk back to the house, unaware that a good many eyes had been watching him, just not from where he had cared to look for them.

“What was the shooting for? I saw you out of the window but you didn’t look like you needed a hand.” She was sat at the table with a toolbox open, tools scattered onto the table.

“No I’m glad you stayed here you would have liked what was out there even less than me for sure.” He walked over and sat next to her at the table

“You should know by now that I’m not a girl from an old creature feature that screams when the man in the rubber monster suit comes along. I can handle whatever is out there.”

“I’m sure you can but if you don’t have to then its best if you keep clear, I’m sure there’s plenty of horror out there if you’re craving it and it looks like it knows we’re here and it’ll be coming back at some point. What have you been up to then?”

“I’ve been looking for wiring tools and some wire to fix the lights in the basement, if your house is arranged anything like your toolbox it’s a wonder you ever find anything.”

“You name it I can find it, just because you don’t know the system don’t knock the system. Because there is one.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Really really?”

“No, not really, it’s a shithole and I’m way too lazy to make it neat and tidy.”

“Needs a woman’s touch!”

“The last thing this place needs is lace doilies and flowery coasters. Anyhow if I’d have said that you would have called me a sexist bastard.”

“Probably but you didn’t say it I did, I’m afraid you were born the wrong gender and colour to be able to say anything offensive to anyone.”

“True.” He stared blankly at the wall, lost in thought.

“You can tell me what happened out there if you need to.” She put her hand across the top of his, the gentle warmth reassuring.

“No, no it’s ok.” He gave her fingers a little squeeze, “I’ll go find the wire, I’m sure I had a spool of it around here somewhere.” He got up making a beeline for some cupboards. She resumed rummaging through the toolbox, distractedly arranging screwdrivers, pliers and hammers on the table, whilst her thoughts focussed on the worrying future ahead of them.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

After making sure the house was secure and bringing a second bed down from upstairs, they settled down for sleep during the hottest hours of the day. If caught outside at midday you wouldn’t last more than a couple of minutes. A few species of very hardy cactuses with deep roots and a few shrubs with leaves tough to the point of brittleness were all the plant life left on the surface and it was generally thought that no animal life, not even an insect, lived above ground during the day; then again before today they wouldn’t have believed anyone telling them about what they had seen for themselves, so at this point anything seemed possible.

A rap at the door woke them, it was nearly five in the evening and the sun was dipping low on the horizon and it was cool enough for people to move around outside, another two taps followed, neither seeming loud or urgent, nonetheless The Dog got up out of its bed and let out a growl.

“Who is it?” he shouted to the door, picking up his rifle and re-holstering his pistol as he walked to the door.

“A Visitor; are you going to open up or shall I piss off already?” came the curt reply.

He looked over to The Girl, who looked back and shrugged her shoulders; “ It’s your house, up to you who you let in.”

“Thanks, that was a great help. Well didn’t turn out too badly last time, best hope my luck hasn’t run out.” With that he walked over to the door and began to unlock it, glancing back to see if The Girl was ready with her guns. She was already sat on the bed with her pistol pointing at the side the door was going to open from. He felt a lot less apprehensive about pulling the door open now that he wasn’t alone.

The door opened enough for him to get a good look at whoever was on the porch. Turned away as they were he could only see the long black coat the gnarled wooden walking stick they were leaning on.

“You decided to be hospitable eh? Mighty fine of you if I do say so.” As The Visitor turned he saw it was an old man with a striking white beard and black sun goggles. He strode forward purposefully towards the door and The Man opened it without thinking, moving aside to let The Visitor inside. “ Very cosy,” he said catching sight of The Girl following him with her pistol as he walked in, “A lot nicer than the caves and basements I’ve been forced to live in the past few months. This is the first house I’ve seen in months that hasn’t been burnt down or derelict. You must get a bunch of people knocking on your door just curious to see the place.”

“Not anymore. Before today I’d not seen anyone in ages, and now you’re all coming at once. Reminds me of waiting for a bus.”

“He he, I reckon it would.” Chuckled The Visitor, sitting down at the table, “but don’t they normally come in threes after a wait?”

“Already had number two, House guests down in the cellar.”
“I take it they weren’t quite as welcome as me and the pretty lady here by the looks of your expression.

”You could say that.”

“Well the smell of blood, gunfire and fear is still hanging in the air, and I’m guessing whatever was down there came off a lot worse than you did!”

“ Yeah, by all accounts it has been a very eventful day. Have you noticed anything following you on your way here?”

“No I’ve not seen a soul anywhere ‘til I clapped eyes on you pair.” He looked over to The Girl and gave her a disconcerting attempt at a smile. She had only just lowered her weapon; he made her feel uneasy for some reason.

“I didn’t mean did you see any people, did you see any thing following you.”

“I don’t quite follow your meaning my boy,” he said eyes glinting with curiosity, “what do you mean things?”

“Did you not see what was out the front of my house before you got here, it can’t be more than fifty feet from my front door.”

“There was nothing out there but the baked hard dirt and a few lonely old dry plants. Why what was you expecting to see out there?”

He had stopped listening to The Visitor and went back to the door pulling it open. He was right; there was nothing there now apart from a black stain in the dirt around a small hole, the thing that he shot this morning was gone.

“Stay here.” He commanded, grabbing a satchel and rushing out of the door, pulling it shut behind him.

“ I guess I’ll just have a sip of water while we wait for him to get back” The Visitor reached across the table and pulled a glass and the jug of water closer, pouring himself a drink with his back to The Girl.

He slowed and then stopped as he reached the dark patch. It looked as if whatever had leaked from the thing this morning had blackened the dirt here in a rough circle six feet or so across, and there was a sickly sweet smell in the air. There was more blackening leading back to where he had first seen it emerge, presumably from where The Girl had wounded it first.

Looking back to the circle he drew his attention to the hole in the centre. It was a foot across and a much denser black than the surrounding dirt, as he watched he saw two thin whips, like long dark blades of grass emerge from the hole and twitch with very faint movement in his direction. He nearly stumbled backwards over a rock and the whips now twitched more urgently at him. Reaching down he took the rock and backing up a few yards, threw it softly towards the hole. The whips twitched violently as the rock rolled across the dark earth towards the hole, it looked as if the ground itself was trembling.

There was a tearing noise and the dark earth itself split open like a trapdoor. As the rock fell it was caught by dozens more of the whips, wrapping themselves around it and drawing it into towards a great mouth, dark and terrible, full of jagged, irregular, wicked looking teeth. The rock was pulled into the mouth; the first bite splitting it clean in two then subsequently ground down into smaller pieces and swallowed. The whips flailed around looking for something else to drag down and when nothing was found they withdrew and the trapdoor was pushed back up into place.

The Man stood there momentarily transfixed, his eyes wide like saucers, disbelieving what they were telling him. He backed off further and reached down into the satchel and drew out two grenades with his right hand. He pulled the pin on the first and threw it out to the same place as the rock and readied the second. As with the rock the whips grabbed the grenade and drew it down into the opening pit, ready for consumption. The grenade exploded as the mouth began to open, vaporising the whips that held it, and forcing the mouth wide open, pushing the jagged teeth into the rank flesh that held them

He threw the second grenade. It rolled down into the hole and sat next to the mouth for a few seconds before detonating. A pig-like squeal accompanied the bang and a fountain of blood erupted twenty feet into the air. Blood, teeth still attached to pieces of the creature’s mouth and small pieces of the whip- tendrils rained down around the hole. The trapdoor lay open, what was left of the creature lay in a pool of its own pulverised body.

The Man turned to walk back to the house, but what he saw momentarily froze him. There were dozens of the same black holes surrounding the house, but he could see the tendrils from the others dragging sticks and stones and dirt and whatever else they could grab onto to camouflage their darkness. Running, but scanning the ground directly in front of him he retraced his steps back to the house, slamming the door shut behind him as he re-entered.

“What the hell happened?” The Girl had gotten up from the bed and approached the door.

“ There are things under the ground outside, they’re setting traps for us out there, there are dozens of them around the house.” He stooped slightly and stopped to catch his breath. “ There was one where I killed that thing yesterday, in a hole covered in black dirt with some kind of trapdoor on top. After I killed it the others started covering themselves with dirt as camouflage.” He started towards the table “Hey, old timer, how many of those things did you see out there?”

”I don’t know what things you’re talking about son.” The Visitor remained seated, sipping away at the water

“The things I’ve just told you about under the ground.”

“Can’t say I’ve seen anything like that around anywhere.
“Are you kidding? There was a black patch you must have walked past when you came to my door. There was something under that patch.”

“I saw no patch the way I came to your door.” The Visitors back began to twitch slightly.

“What do you mean the way you came? Where did you come?”

The Visitor didn’t answer, but rose up from the chair to stand, his stick falling to the floor beside him as he did. His back began to shift and squirm under his coat more as he rose.

The Dog hunched low and started to bark. A clacking noise came in response from The Visitor followed by a tearing sound. The Visitor now loomed in the middle of the room over seven feet tall, shrouded in his dark coat, under which could be seen a flurry of movement. He began to turn.

More tearing noises and rents began to appear in the coat, dark inky blackness could be seen through and nothing else, he kept on turning.

The coat was now shredded and hanging in tatters and the clacking, chittering noise had become deafening, cowing The Dog into a corner, they took up their weapons in anticipation.

The Visitor had now turned fully and they could see nothing but blackness against the bright white of his beard. He shed the coat and they saw that he was covered in a shifting mass of creatures. Thick black spiders, sallow hands with eyestalks, mouths walking on shifting beds of fingers, worms covered in hairy spines and a multitude of other grotesqueries scampered and crawled among one another.

They both raised their weapons to fire and The Visitor opened its eyes, searing white light issued forth, blinding against his blackness. They both dropped their weapons and brought their hands up to shield their eyes from his intensity.

He opened his mouth to speak, whip-tendrils lashing from its cavernous black and each word issuing forth an elimination of flies and putrid maggots.

“ SEE ME NOW AND DESPAIR” The sound of his voice was deafening in the enclosed space. “YOUR TIME HERE IS ALMOST AT AN END. PREPARE YOURSELVES.”

With that the light and sound grew to a terrifying crescendo and they passed into unconsciousness.

Chapter 2 PDF

Chapter 1

Right just to get the ball rolling here is the first chapter of the novel I started writing in November – lunchtimes have never been so productive!

Below is a download link for the pdf or if you would prefer just scroll down and read on beware though it is 5-6000 words or so!

Download Chapter 1 pdf

 

Chapter 1

A few dawn dewdrops glistened on the tall brown grass. The sky was brightening but mercifully still cold, the morning both welcoming and foreboding. He hadn’t seen another soul in months and food was becoming very scarce. His belly sounded its discontent at his meagre diet as he pulled the decaying door to and walked out into the wilderness.
Since the end of things there had been fewer wanderers in the scrublands around his home, fewer friendly visitors and fewer hostile scavengers alike. He had gotten used to the silence, the soft purr of the grasses in the wind, punctuated by the crunch of dirt under his boot or the soft padding of his dog at his side.
The Sun had grown so very strong, scorching the once green pastures around his home and robbing him and the animals around his homestead of much needed sustenance. The only place where life had continued to thrive was underground, where funguses and moulds and creatures from the darkness dwelt. He was loath to go to the caves nearby, abundant with life as they were. He even feared the basement of his own house; it was as if, as the sun had grown in strength, the dark did also. As if to compound the fear, in his few meetings with wandering folk he had heard tales of strange creatures lurking in the dark crevices of the earth.
The Man put such thoughts from his head and pushed onwards, wanting to climb the hill to the south as it afforded a commanding view of the surrounding area. He felt old as he climbed up the rock slope. The Dog would once have been many strides ahead sniffing and scouting, but the end had taken its toll on her too, she was weakened and thing but still strong willed and fiercely loyal.
At last they reached the summit and he took a pair of worn binoculars from a pouch on his pack and brought them up to his eyes. Burnt trees and the rigid swaying of too-dry grasses and dead earth was all he could see in all directions. Despondently he dropped the binoculars to his side.
A flicker of movement caught his eye; he dropped down to his knees and brought the binoculars up once more, squinting to focus on a patch of brush at the base of the hill. A small rustle in the broken branches, something was rooting around down there, something alive at last.
He brought his rifle down from his shoulder, flipping up the cover on the back of his scope and slowly lowering himself prone in the dirt. He zeroed in and watched patiently as it shuffled out from under its cover. A fat, bristly snout and a short tusks came followed by a pair of dark, beady eyes. He moved the crosshairs back past the head and aimed just behind the shoulder, hoping to hit its heart and take it down without a fuss. He took a breath, held it, and squeezed the trigger.
The loud crack bounced around the silent hills and the pig looked up towards the source of the noise just as the bullet hit, tearing between two ribs and tumbling through its heart. It let out a brief squeal and slumped forwards, dead almost instantly. The Man jumped up and let out a whoop of joy, his dog circling him and barking encouragingly.
He put his rifle on his shoulder and ran down the hill nearly falling but managing to keep his footing despite his excitement. As he approached he slowed and his excitement faded as the scraping, shuffling noises reached him from where the pig lay dead. He pulled his pistol from his hip and brought it up, walking softly towards the pig.
Several sharp snaps he thought sounded like breaking bones came from the bush and the sound of gushing wetness then a loud clacking like someone breaking open a crab. Fear gripped him as he edged around the bush, looking past the snout he could see thin shadows flailing in the shade. Taking a deep breath he took two big steps to the right and came right around the other side of the bush and everything that was hidden came into view.
There was a dark hole in the side of the pig just behind its left leg where the bullet had left, but that wasn’t the only one, and it wasn’t the hole he was looking at. He felt warm wetness descend his leg as he tried to make sense of what his eyes told him was in front of him. The pig was a sow and she had been carrying a litter near to birth. Her distended belly was torn open and several stillborn piglets lay just outside the tear. They were small and malformed but that was not the worst of it. There was something alive inside, something wriggling and making that dreadful clacking sound. He stood, mesmerised, as the body of another piglet issued forth. This one was fatter than the others but the top half of its head was missing, and the half that was left was empty.
Resisting the urge to vomit he watched the piglet slide out of the tear. He saw when it was fully out it had not come of its own, it had been pushed out and he got a glimpse of what had pushed it. Looking like a grotesque, slender, black crab leg covered in bristly spines and ending in what looked like a baby’s hand with long serrated claws. With a shaking left had he rubbed his eyes. What he saw could not possibly have happened.
As if to answer his doubting mind the arm flicked out from the dark wetness of the pigs belly and grabbed another of the piglets dragging it head-first back into its mother. Another clacking crunching noise and this piglet was also ejected, this time only a stump of a neck remained, the entire head having been devoured.
The loose flap of skin that used to be the sows belly began to bulge as whatever was inside shifted its weight and looked like it wanted to come out. He raised this pistol again trying to steady his hands, stinging sweat running into his eyes. A spindly crab arm slinked out followed by another, and a third. Feeling across the ground, grabbing at anything within reach and testing it with the infant-hands the monstrosity started pulling itself out of its mother. More grisly appendages sprang forth, smaller versions of the longer arms, fatter and arranged in rows, supporting something as yet hidden under the skin-flap. Another heave and the creature pulled itself free. The Man couldn’t help but utter a small cry as he saw it in the light. The rows of legs supported a bulbous, pulsating sack covered in weeping sores. From the front probed a pair of foot long tubes ending in small mouths full of very sharp-looking teeth, biting at anything they could get close to. From the top sprouted dozens of stalks ending in lidless eyes, swivelling around, surveying the surroundings, and finally settling on him, as he stood there, unable to move.
The Dog let out a sharp bark and that was enough to wake The Man from his stupor. He shook his head, focussed his aim at the middle of the thing and fired. The bullets tore open the fetid sack and the pair of mouths let out a single shriek before falling silent. He kept pulling the trigger, even after the magazine was spent, uselessly clicking his gun at the tattered rags of flesh in front of him.
After regaining what composure he could he decided he wasn’t very hungry after all.
Another few minutes of staring in bewilderment and he stretched out a boot and tapped one of the long spindly arms, jumping back after, ready for any movement. The thing didn’t flinch. He bent down and took up a short length of withered old tree branch and prodded the pulpy red mess. Still it lay completely inert.
He decided it wasn’t going anywhere and thought he had best take a look inside the pig to make sure there weren’t any other surprise waiting for him before he examined the thing.
Using the stick he lifted up the side of the pig and shone his torch inside the cavity. It was a mess inside. He could see where the thing had been trying to eat its way out and wondered how the hell the pig could keep going with that going on inside it. Lowering the flap back down and placing the stick on the floor, he knelt down now to examine the thing.
Gingerly he picked up one of the four thin crab-arms. Each was divided into three segments of nearly a foot long, and no more than an inch wide, black in colour and covered in tough and very sharp little spines. At the end of each was a small chubby hand. What looked like more of the hard, black, shell-like material grew down the backs of the fingers and thumb in a ridge, and ended in a sharp point. The opposite side to the ridge tapered into a serrated blade. It was like the hand had grown its own set of built-in steak knives.
He moved closer picking up one of the mouth-tubes. It was like picking up a soggy kitchen roll tube made of flesh. The lipless mouth opening was full of rows of razor sharp piranha sized teeth; disgustingly there were small chunks of undigested meat stuck between them. The Man gave an involuntary shiver and dropped the tube back to the ground.
There wasn’t a lot left of the body to examine so he instead picked up an eyestalk, one of about three dozen lifeless staring eyes at the end of muscular tubes the size and thickness of a pencil. The dead eyes had no colour just a black spot in the middle of a yellowy white, veined blob. The Man had had enough he let go of the eyestalk and it remained erect for a few seconds before bending back down under its weight to join the others.
He didn’t want to wait here any longer and he had exhausted his fascination with this creature. He walked away backwards, not wanting to show his back to it until he felt sufficiently safe to do so. Fifty yards of shuffling back and nearly falling over rocks seemed sufficient when he turned and started walking, rather briskly, back home.
As he got back the Sun had risen over the horizon and it was getting hot, he was glad he hadn’t stuck around any longer than he had or he might have gotten into even worse trouble. He pushed open the heavy front door, walked through, and The Dog ran in after. He closed it and bolted it after himself and walked through the cool, conditioned air to the kitchen, his appetite had returned after he had metabolised away all of the earlier adrenaline.
He took the tin of sausage and beans and plopped the contents into a cracked bowl and buzzed it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. Putting it onto the table with a worn spoon when it was hot. He repeated the preparation, this time putting the bowl on the floor for The Dog. He had repeated these same actions hundreds of times before today, albeit not always sausage and beans, and it had become a comforting calm in what was otherwise a thoroughly tumultuous sea.
But not today, today there was no comfort from the ritual. His nerves were still jangling and a million thoughts whirled in his head; what was it? Where was it from? How many were there? How big do they get? Where do they live? What do they eat apart from the pigs that carry them? Does anything else carry them? What if they’re in the food? Or the water? What if they come for me when they’re bigger? What can I do? I’m all alone, I’m all alone, I’M ALL ALONE!
He smashed his fist down onto the table, making The Dog jump back from his bowl, but clearing his head for the moment. They both went back to eating with considerably less relish than usual.
Daytime was spent the same way pretty much every day; sleeping, checking the house and supplies and reading one of the same books or magazines he had already read a dozen times over. His mind started to drift back, trying to remember what it was like before the incessant heat.
When the days had started getting much warmer, the equatorial belt had become uninhabitable; all the rivers, lakes and streams had boiled away, the ground was baked hard as rock, and anything alive went North, South, underground or died. The more temperate places had also gotten hotter, and with the seas constantly evaporating into the sky, it was a cycle of blazing hot sun and torrential downpours. Outside of the cities great swathes of southern England had become like a tropical jungle. It only lasted a decade or so because it didn’t stop getting hotter.
The one handy side effect had been the abundance of solar power. Panels were everywhere and powered pretty much everything. When they weren’t providing direct power to things they were charging great banks of batteries for the nighttime. Consequently even after the collapse of normal civilisation there was still juice for every piece of unused electrically powered equipment in the country, there just weren’t any people around to use it.
The massive shift had not been a smooth and easy transition, the total abandonment of fossil fuels, whilst long advocated, hadn’t happened until it was far too late to change anything. The rich countries had stood idly by while the deserts at the equator had spread, displacing and killing millions. It was only when the remains of these millions of hungry desperate people were threatening to flood into their countries that they acted. Rather than open their borders to feed, cloth and help, they erected walls and fences and instead of giving the refugees food, shelter and medicine they dispensed bullets, minefields and bombs.
It wasn’t long before the refugees were all dead, the shantytowns they had constructed lying wasted and empty. The defences offered no protection from the encroaching heat, however, and it would soon come to claim those who had tried to wall it away behind a mountain of corpses.
The rap of gunfire in the valley brought his thoughts racing to the present. He gathered his rifle and tucked his pistol into his trousers. Grabbing a pair of goggles and his binoculars he ran upstairs to see what was happening.
The top floor of the house was one large room with just the supports for the attic crawlspace and the roof breaking up the space. In the centre of the room there were three large chest freezers, their glass tops rimed with frost. In the far corner sat in a plastic bathtub were the high capacity batteries that powered the house after dark. There were a few other chests and cupboards containing spare clothing, weapons, tools and other supplies, but there was no furniture and no bed; he had slept downstairs for as long as he could remember. It was too hot to stay upstairs for an extended length of time.
The outside walls were coated in a reflective metallic surface and on the inside of the wall he had further reflective material and alternating layers of polystyrene foam and air cavities to prevent heat transfer from the outside. There were three air conditioning units built into the walls, two on this floor and one on the ground floor. A small two-foot square porthole was cut into each of the four walls, with an inch of polarised heat-treated glass as a viewing port. In the extreme temperatures of midday the south-facing window became hot enough to fry eggs on. This is the one he peered out of now; glad he had cleaned the windows a few days earlier.
He caught sight of movement a little way off so he brought up his binoculars for a closer look. Staggering towards his house was a cloaked and hooded figure, stooped over in the morning heat. The figure shambled onwards looking back over his shoulder every few paces. After the third time looking back the figure turned and aimed his rifle at something in the tree line and squeezed off a few shots, before turning and continuing forwards.
The Man focussed on the trees seeing movement but as yet unable to determine what or who it was. He kept watching. The figure was much closer now, and whatever had previously kept to the shadows saw it might lose its meal for the day. It sprang forth, a tangle of eyes and legs and hair and flesh glistening in the morning sun. The Man backed a few paces away from the window, nearly stumbling over his own feet. He rushed downstairs and began unbolting the door that lead onto the scant shelter of the front porch.
Drawing back the bolts he heard more gunfire and swung the heavy door back to see the figure turning and running towards him now, as fast as was possible and less than a hundred feet from the door. The beast had been seriously wounded but was still pursuing, and was gaining fast. He took his rifle, knelt and aimed low at the creature hoping to stumble or incapacitate it fast. He flipped the selector to automatic pulled the trigger and the gun roared into life, hot spent cartridges pinging and jingling off of the doorframe. The stream of fire caught its underside at first and then drew upwards with the recoil, nearly cutting it in half. Its momentum carried it on a few strides before it fell, the heavy sack of its body bursting as it hit the floor, legs and arms writhing as the contents spilled out on the hot sand. The figure ran past him, diving into the house, and he slammed the door after, ramming the bolts home.
“ What the hell was that?” the visitor pulled her hood down, shaking off clouds of dust.
“That’s the first one like that I’ve seen. Saw something similar but much smaller this morning that ate its way out of a pig.
“ Seriously? I’ve heard a few stories moving from place to place, but I thought it was mostly booze, imagination and lack of human contact, I never thought there might have been some truth to the talk.”
“ What stories? What have you heard? I’ve not seen a soul in weeks, maybe longer.”
“Hospitality not your strong suit? If it’s been a while since you’ve seen anyone I can’t say I’m surprised. Help me up off the floor and I’ll tell you what I’ve heard.”
“ Yeah sorry, it has been a while. That and its been a real weird morning” he reached down and pulled her up, the coarse sand on her gloves rubbing against the palm of his hand.
She pulled a chair out and rested her rifle against the table. Tugging at a couple of Velcro straps, she pulled open her poncho, shrugged it off and let it drop to the floor. She was wearing a heavy pack, a pouched vest full of extra rifle magazines and a couple of pistols on her hips. She reminded him of some sort of apocalyptic cowgirl. He smiled to himself as she took of her pack and sat at the table.
Walking past her to the kitchen he opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water, taking it back to the table and filling two glasses with the cool, clear liquid. He sat down at the opposite end of the table and took long refreshing gulps.
“First thing I heard was about the spiders and insects in the dark. There were a bunch of people living in some caves not far from here I passed a few months ago. They had built themselves shelters inside and had panels set up for power, trying to make a go of it and doing quite well. The only thing was as soon as the lights went out they heard things skittering around, running across the walls and roofs of their shelters. They told me when they brought torches out to see what was there they found spiders black as night and big as your fist with long spiny legs. When they shone the light on them they hissed and ran off. I didn’t really believe it much at the time only a couple of them had claimed to see them and there wasn’t really anything physical to say they
even existed. I definitely had a strange feeling in that place though, I didn’t want to stay there for long, so I didn’t and I moved on. About a month later I went back that way and there was no one there. I figured they had moved on or something, now I’m not so sure.”
“I’ve seen the same spiders. They started showing up in my basement a couple months ago. Not huge ones but ugly black spiny things that hid in corners and behind cabinets staying away from the light. Was damn strange because there’s really no way for them to get down there. I bug-bombed the place and that seemed to stop them for a week or so but they came back so I took to sleeping up here. With all the lights on.”
“ You’ve not been back down since?”
“No, I locked the hatch and put a locker on top of it and tried not to think about it. I’m sure I’ve heard them moving about down there but I just put it down to my imagination.”
“Maybe we should take a look?”
“Feel free, the lights don’t work that well anymore though, the cables need replacing; they were worn as hell, nearly cut through in some places. You can guess as well as me what might have done it. If they do that to copper wire I don’t feel like finding out what they might want to do to something softer, like me.”
She got up from the table, unclipping her vest and leaving it on the chair. She moved to the locker and pushed effortlessly off of the hatch. Returning to her pack she took out a large torch, flicked it on and off to test and stood back at the hatch, pulling one of the pistols from her hip and aiming both it and the torch down in readiness.
“Come flip this thing please”
“ You sure you want to go down there?
“Yeah, very sure. Who wants to live forever anyways?” she gave him a wink and a cheeky smile.
He smiled back at her. She was feisty, that’s for sure, and he was enjoying her company already.
“Hold on let me get some more light. And something bigger than a pistol.”
He opened the locker she had moved aside and pulled out a hefty pump action shotgun with a light duct taped to the to the right hand side of the barrel. The thumbed in some shells and flicked on the torch.
“ I like to keep this handy” he cocked the shotgun with a loud cha-chunk, “ for close encounters.”
She gave him a strangely puzzled look.
“Movie quote, something I’ve wanted to say since I picked this thing up months ago.” She still looked puzzled but at least the tension was lessened. “Ready?”
“ As I’ll ever be.” She clicked her torch back on and readied herself; “go.”
He pulled the rope tied to the door handle and heaved the door up and open, the creaking of the hinges nearly as loud as the clang when the door slammed back down, the stairs beckoning down into the darkness.
“Its extends further than the walls of the house down there, you go left and Ill take the right, watch the corners and behind the cabinets on the walls, that’s where they liked to hide last time I was down.”
She descended first, light, eyes and gun scanning as one, down the steps as she went, and along the walls, floor and ceiling. He followed closely, keeping to the right as they reached the bottom. The light switches were on his side and he flicked them all down with the side of his hand. Nothing came on at the far end but the fluorescent tubes that covered the first few feet of the basement flickered on and off.
“You should come see this.” She said over her shoulder, pointing her gun and torch into the far corner.
He walked behind her then to her right and brought his light up and shone it in the same place. There was a three-foot high hole in the basement wall and what looked like a tunnel stretched back and down away from them. In front of the hole there were several purplish football sized sacks. Covered in coarse hair and spines and torn open from the inside, they were obviously some sort of grotesque eggs left by whatever burrowed that tunnel.
Captivated by what they saw they didn’t notice something shuffling across the ceiling towards them from the darkness of the opposite corner. There was a small puff noise and a strand of sticky silk descended from the darkness onto the Man’s foot. Two more puffs and two strands were held fast on his leg, still without his notice. The Dog had worked its way gingerly down the stairs while they stood engrossed and now stood, head cocked sideways looking at the thing hanging upside down from the ceiling in the darkness. Another puff and this time the dog let out a bark, the strand landed on the back of The Man’s hand.
“God girl you nearly gave me a heart attack” The Man turned towards the dog his face pale from fright, “what are you barking fo…” he looked down at his hand, squinting his eyes against the dark, noticing the strands disappearing into the darkness by the ceiling. At that moment he felt a tug on his hand followed by rapid strong jerks on his leg. His leg went from under him and he fell on his back letting go of his shotgun as he hit the hard stone floor.
“HELP!” he yelled as he started to slide across the floor, scrabbling to find some purchase with his fingers to pull against whatever had him.
She turned her torch towards The Man and shone the beam along the strands towards the darkness in the corner. Hanging upside down from a silken web draped across the ceiling was dark shape. Light played across a quivering leg, black, veined with a reddish purple, and covered intermittently in porcupine-like spines. Following the leg back to its source with the torch, the body came into view. Strands of silk played from its bloated body and were being pulled back in by two pairs of the slender, powerful legs.
“SHOOT IT!” He ordered, stretching his arm towards his dropped weapon.
She took aim at its smooth head and fired. The bullet dented the smooth shell but appeared to do no other damage. She fired again, with the same effect. She kept firing until the gun was empty, the spider stopped pulling and The Man dragged himself back a couple of feet while it was distracted. It shook its head blood dripping from the gouges rent in its shell. It resumed pulling.
”The shotgun, use the shotgun.” He was still stretching for it but it was tantalisingly out of reach.
Heedless of the danger the Dog darted forward and grabbed The Man by his coat and tried to pull him back. The spider hissed and its head started to rotate a split forming down the middle. The two sides peeled back revealing a cavernous maw lined with circular rows of long yellow fangs and two enormous eyes, tinged green and heavily veined with pupils the diameter of coffee mugs. It blinked twice in quick succession and darted forwards gathering up the slack in the silk threads as it went.
The Girl wasted no time in grabbing the shotgun and brining it up to her shoulder, walking towards the spider, bringing her weapon to bear on the exposed face. The spiders’ eyes twitched and blinked in the light, it hissed again, raising its front legs away from the ceiling in a threatening gesture. She pulled the shotgun close to her shoulder and fired; the flash illuminated the room like a camera flash, the boom was deafening. The shot was a little wide to the left and hadn’t had time to spread at such a short distance. Barely missing the head, the pellets tore off three of the spiders’ legs, flinging them away in a spray of blood.
Dropping down from the ceiling, the spider lost its grip on the silken strands and tried to back away, hissing and raising its legs. Jerking back the slide and pumping it forwards she fed a new shell into the chamber, the spent case arcing over the dog and skipping away under a locker. She took aim again, the second shot tearing right through the spiders’ head, one of its eyes exploding in a shower of blood and green fleshy chunks and smashing away the whole left side of its mouth. The spider staggered, let out a pitifully weak screech and coughed up a mess of broken fangs and blood and then turned over onto its back, curling its legs up over itself. She walked over to where it lay, chambering another shell as she went. The remaining eye blinked once and she took aim and it and pulled the trigger, the blast destroying what was left of the spiders’ head.
“You sure that thing is dead?”
She kicked the remains with her boot; it didn’t move, “looks dead to me”
“Well then it’s your turn to help me up off the floor!”
She came back over taking out her knife and cutting away the silky strands and pulling him up off the floor, returning his shotgun.
“Thanks, I suppose now we’re even” he said thumbing fresh shells into his gun.
There was a fresh scuttling noise that caught their attention. The Dog sniffed and growled towards the tunnel opening.
“Maybe we should discuss things upstairs,” she said slipping a fresh magazine into her pistol and picking up her torch.
“Well don’t just stand there looking pretty, get on up.” He pointed the shotgun at the tunnel and started to back up towards the stairs.
“Way ahead of ya.” She ran past grabbing the dog by the collar and running to the top of the stairs. She started pulling the metal door up from the floor, readying herself to slam it shut fast.
“There’s more of ‘em coming through, get ready with the door.”
“Its ready, just get up here.”
The noise of the shotgun booming in the basement started her, and the door nearly fell from her hands. “Come on this thing weighs a ton.”
Four more blasts and he came running up the stairs, throwing himself out of the way as she slammed the metal door down hard, the mighty clang throwing up dust and flecks of rust. Pulling the latches shut she drew the locker back over the hatch and sat on it, breathing hard.
“You know how to show a girl a good time, that’s for sure!”
“Well you should see when I really plan something, not just do things on the spur of the moment like this.” He said with a smirk. They both burst into laughter, the dog joined in, bounding from side to side barking.
“ I wonder how long that thing was down there for, and how long it was going to wait before it tried to come up for something to eat?”
“I’d rather not think about it thanks. I’m glad you’re my uninvited dinner guest rather than what was down there.”
“So what’s for dinner then?”
“ Do you like beans and sausages? It’s that, or just beans, or if I look very hard maybe just sausages. An extensive menu I’m sure you’ll agree. I’ll give you a little time to decide in the mean time can I get you a drink? We have water. Again another extensive choice but from the look of you I think you’re going to go for the water.
“ I have to tell you I always hated smarmy waiters”
“ Well I wouldn’t tell this waiter that if I were you, he is best friends with the chef and you wouldn’t want him spitting in your beans would you!”
She smiled at him again, “beans and sausages it is then.”
“Certainly Madame” he replied with his best, albeit quite terrible, French accent. Reaching into a cupboard he brought out three tins, the dog barking approvingly. “Now you would have been in for a treat if that pig wasn’t carrying something extra along with a litter of piglets. Haven’t had roast pig in years would have been wonderful,” closing his eyes he licked his lips.
“So what was in the pig?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t really know how to start describing it to you, apart from, like those spiders, it was ugly as hell and didn’t look in any way natural. It was all eyes and claws and long, horrible, spindly legs and had these horrible clawed little hands.” He shivered involuntarily, remembering the way it slinked out from the sows open belly.
“You ok?”
“Yeah I was a little bit freaked out by it. Well, that’s kind of an understatement; I was really fucking shook up by it. I was trying to get my head around it all when I heard your gun outside. What were you doing out so late in the morning anyway? Any later and you would have been burnt to a crisp.”
“ I know, but I had company, there were four of those things after me from the break of dawn this morning when I came out. I put two down and wounded one but the last one was hiding, I think it was biding its time until it got too hot outside for me, then it was going to pounce. I was lucky I stumbled into your place, I was getting very tired and I could smell the dust on my poncho starting to singe.”
“When the Sun goes down we’ll have to go outside and make sure there’s nothing else lurking about, and I’ll show you that pig, see what you think about it.”
He finished cooking and dished up the food. The table was silent, both of them lost in thought about what had happened, and the dog just lost in the food.
“ Are you planning on sticking around for a while or you just going pass through?” He kept his head down looking at his plate. “We’d need to find you some place to sleep if you’re going to stay.”
“Hadn’t given it much thought to be honest. I wouldn’t mind staying a while if you didn’t mind. Don’t think I’ve stayed anywhere more than a few days since I left the cave-people. You got a nice place here. That and I really like your dog!”
He looked up from his plate and smiled to her, he was glad she was going to stay.