First Part here
Flat on my ass and wide eyed, I was in shock of what I had just witnessed. I felt like I was sinking. My last and only lifeline to get out of this nightmare was now deep into that cornfield and probably getting munched on by some huge fucking bug. It felt like I was drowning and the boat that would be my salvation was just sunk before my eyes.
I looked to the right. The road I had taken getting here was dark, no, more than that. It seemed like I was staring into an open abyss and not even the moonlight could seep through.
Not seeing any other option I made my way to the back of the house. I kept my machete tightly gripped between my fingers as I walked slowly. I kept my back to the house and my eyes to the thicket of tall grass and woods that was just to the right of me.
I jumped out of my skin at the smallest of sounds. Even the wind threatened to give me a heart attack as it crept its cold fingers up my back. Eventually I got to the back of the house without being eaten alive.
The backyard looked like a tornado had come through it. Hay had been strewn about, trees had been knocked down, and even the heavy tractors and combines had been tipped over and ravaged by deep claw marks and huge dents. I could see the remnants of what used to be huge bugs littering the landscape.
I tried to make my way across the fields of debris and carcasses as quietly as I could. I could see the red barn in the distance, but it was hard to focus on it and my footing at the same time. I tripped on a spider’s leg and ended up face first in the dirt and hay.
I tried to get back up, but I couldn’t, it felt like my pant leg was still caught on the spider. I looked down to grab it and to my horror I saw the spider’s leg curling around my ankle. I tried shaking it off but it wouldn’t give. More legs began poking out of the darkness and as I peered deeper in, the reflection of multiple tiny eyes stared back at me. The damn thing was still alive.
I raised my machete and brought it down on the black spider’s leg, severing it. A shrill shriek rang out and echoed through the air. Almost immediately more of the same shrieks returned from the woods and fields of corn that surrounded me.
Not wanting to waste anymore time I got up and ran for the barn. I could hear the scattering of many legs as I got closer and closer to the barn. Just before I was there I stole a look back and I wish to god I hadn’t. There were at least 8 spiders crawling toward me faster than I could even make them out. Their black bodies looked like shadows hopping from one blob of darkness to another never staying in the moonlight for too long. I slammed my body into the barn door and began banging on it in complete hysterics.
“Help me please! Is anyone in there?!” I screamed.
“Who the fuck are you!” A voice called back.
“Oh god they’re almost here! Please open the fucking door!” I pleaded.
“Go fuck yourself stranger!” The voice said back.
I looked back and the first of the pack were only about ten feet away and closing in fast. I was going to die. I knew it. I was too much of a coward to face my demise head on so I turned to the door of the barn in a whimper. Tears were streaming from my eyes.
“Why couldn’t I have just stayed home?!” I wept.
I knocked my head against the door.
“Now I’m going to die.” I knocked my head against the door again.
“Now I’m going to fucking die!” What was once fear turned into hot anger in a flash. I pulled back and slammed my head against the door.
I could hear the rushing spiders getting closer. I could almost feel their hot breath on the nap of my neck. I imagined them ravaging my body with their sharp fangs. One fighting the other for the best parts of my dead body. I hoped it would be quick.
I leaned my head against the barn door and shut my eyes tight. Except there was no door to lean against and I fell straight through into the barn. Again, I found myself face first in the dirt. I turned on my back and saw a very frantic looking red headed woman shutting the door and locking it behind her.
The spiders either couldn’t stop in time or just didn’t care too because we could hear their bodies slam against the door just after the woman shut it.
“Two knocks and a pound, dumbass. Maybe start with that next time.” She said, looking me up and down.
“You really ain’t much, but I guess you’ll have to do. Now get off your ass stranger.”
It took a minute for me to get back on my feet. My head was still spinning from trying to use it as a battering ram. Once I was on my feet I could see the barn was in just as bad a shape as the outside. It really didn’t look much like a barn at all. More of the makeshift sigils and runes littered the floor and walls. Although these didn’t look quite right, almost like they weren’t yet complete.
A very dead goat lay flayed with its guts out at one end of the barn. Thick pustules protruded out of its innards and its eyes bulged so much that they looked like they would burst at any moment.
“You done gawking? Cuz we got a real problem on our hands, stranger.” The woman said, handing me a handgun and a couple magazines.
“Wait your Gene right? The old man’s daughter?” I asked.
“The hell I am that old bastard’s daughter.” She spat.
“Then who are you?”
“Well, the name’s Gene alright. You got that right at least.”
“Care to tell me just what the fuck is going on?” I asked.
“Well as you can probably see. We are fucked. The old mans not gonna have an answer for this one.” She pointed at the dead goat.
“Lambs dead. Not much more we can do now, but wait for death.”
“Let me put this in plain english. How the hell do I get out of here? The old man wasn’t any help so you should at least fill me in on more than. Oh we’re all gonna die!!” I waved my hands in the air and mocked her country ass accent as I said that last part.
“Alright, alright. Damn, no need to be hurtful.” Gene said.
“Ok so this here barn is just on the outskirts of a town called Dog Wood. Now I have never been there myself, but the way the old man tells it, it’s one weird ass place with even weirder folk.”
“Look, I don’t care about any of that. I’m just passing through and I wanna get home.All this weird shit doesn’t have anything to do with me.” I said.
“Yeah, well go on and walk out on that road and see how far you get. I tell ya there’s worse things than just big bugs on that there dark road.”
“Well there’s gotta be some way I can get the hell outta here.”
“You need a car. That’s probably how you got in right? Where the hell you put it?”
“Some big ass mantis thing dragged it into the cornfield.”
“That’d be the biggin. Well the only other car is out in the garage and the damn key is on Keith.”
“Keith? You mean the old man?”
“Yup.” Gene nodded.
“Well let’s get the key from him then. Wouldn’t he want to leave too? Why the hell are you guys staying here if you can just drive away?” I asked.
“You could. It’s not that simple for us. Keith, he did something to deserve this. I don’t know what cuz he hasn’t told me, but whatever it is I know he fucking deserves this place.” She said with a look of pure hatred and disdain on her face.
“As for me, I’m just like you. I got stranded out here a couple years back and now I can’t leave. There were others too. People that got stranded, took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up right here on the edge of nowhere.”
“Where are they?” I asked.
“Keith didn’t much take a liking to them. Not like he took a liking to me.”
I was beginning to understand their relationship. It wasn’t one of father and daughter, no, it was something much more sinister. I looked over at the rough farm girl and for the first time I actually saw her. Tall, red-headed and full of anger. It looked like she was ready to burst at any moment. Her green eyes met mine and I could see the sadness she tried to hide behind the wall of anger. I felt for her.
“Why don’t we try and escape together. I’m sure there’s some way we can. Right?”
“No, Not without the lamb. We need it to complete the ritual. To stop all this madness from coming into town and destroying everyone and everything. That’s what we do here stranger. We stave off the apocalypse.”
“Damian.” I said.
“What?” Gene asked.
“Damian, my name’s Damian, but my friends call me Allard.” I shot her a soft smile and for a moment it seemed like she was going to return it.
Suddenly, our moment of friendship was interrupted by a large leg bursting through the wall opposite us. Gene quickly pulled her rifle to her chest and let loose three rounds in quick succession. The leg went limp, but was quickly pulled away. We could hear the sound of loud munching and the grinding of bones on wet teeth.
“Aw shit, that’s the biggin. We gotta get back to the house.” Gene said.
“What about the lamb?” I asked.
“We’ll figure that out when we get there.” She said heading towards the door.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait! If that’s what I think it is out there, we can’t just run out blindly and expect to survive.” I grabbed hold of her arm.
Gene quickly turned to me leading with a left hook and punched me square in the jaw. I reeled back more than a bit dazed from the fierce blow. I looked at her in shock.
“Don’t you ever touch me!” She screamed.
“Ok, ok, my bad!” I said, holding my hands up.
“I know what I’m doing here, stranger. You just try and keep up. I’m not gonna be saving your ass so if shit hits the fan out there you are on your own.”
Just before she could turn and open the door another hairy leg burst through the ceiling and then another and then another. I looked up in horror as the ceiling came to life with large black hairy legs squirming and writhing trying to break in. I heard the creaking of distressed wood and thought that the ceiling was going to collapse under the immense weight of the spiders.
I saw the ceiling separate from the walls and to my surprise instead of coming down on my head it was being lifted up. The same mantis arms that dragged my car into the cornfield now dug into the top of the barn ceiling and were tearing it away from the walls.
I could see the full upper body of the colossal beast now. It wore the same hairy black skin as the spiders, except it was in the form of a mantis. It shrieked as it shredded the roof and the spiders along with it. Showers of splinters and spider bits along with the goo and blood that came with such a mass dismemberment.
I turned to Gene to get some semblance of what to do next and saw that she was already through the door and about 20 yards away heading toward the house.
“Well damn…”