Chapter 7: Dangerous New World

  Positioned in a curved line facing towards the pit, roughly ten to twelve meters from it among the bean bushes, the four scavengers awaited the fifth’s signal.

  Just as the little spurts of dirt and gravel slowed, showing that whatever they were had gotten too deep to throw the debris out, Dominic struck a match and lit the end of a twisted rag.

  The others followed suit, lighting the first of their own, DIY Molotovs, and a moment later, once the rags were properly ablaze, threw the rigged jars of hooch down the hole.

  The five jars fell in, one hitting the edge of the pit about a foot in, and the other cracking open sporadically seconds after.

  In response, a few high-pitched hisses and screeches echoed from beneath the earth, and a soft radiance of blue and orange was shining against the shade.

  They wasted no time sending a second volley of two jars, and a third just after with the remaining three. More panicked, blood-curdling shrieks resounded from the pit, sounding a little closer to the surface than before. The frantic sound of scratching and dirt being tossed around mixed into it.

  Loose dirt from around the hole started slipping back in, like the earth was trying to put itself back together, claiming the ones that tore it up in the process.

  The five men stood ready, waiting for something to come out of the hole. Expecting some vile horror to jump out and either run away or sprint directly for them. However, the sounds began to die down, and the ground settled.

  For a moment, they thought they had slain the creatures they could not see. But then, a smoking ball of something lept out, hurling itself toward the field. As it happened, this was in the direction of Eric, who had the prybar in hand, and equally panicked when he noticed he was being charged.

  Even before the monster got close, he started swinging wildly, while the others ran towards him, hoping to reach it before it attacked him.

  The first to get there was Bruce. He used the sledgehammer horizontally knock the creature off of him. Though the blow was powerful, it only crushed one of its several long, sharp limbs. With it pushed away, the quintet could finally see what the damn thing looked like as it hissed.

  Seven pointed limbs with what seemed to be barbed hooks at the tips, and an eighth that was just smashed to bits; a massive rear segment raised to make the shepherd dog-sized arthropod look bigger and more menacing; a singular giant eye that was like a cross between a tiger’s eye marble and a blood-stained topaz in coloration.

  It was certainly a horror to the prybar-wielding man on the ground, still swinging in a panic. Arachnophobia would do that to anyone, after all.

  On the other hand, one of the men looked at it with a great deal of excitement and curiosity.

  Niles enjoyed zoology, and one of the specific categories that fascinated him the most was entomology, the study of insects and arachnids. Of course, that didn’t take away the fear of seeing a giant spider capable of killing and eating a whole human being by itself. But the sight of it made his particular interests flare and mix with natural instincts.

  Dominic, knowing how his friend was, could feel the confused smile growing on his face.

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  Realizing it was outnumbered, the giant, one-eyed spider quickly turned tail and scurried off towards the woods, too fast for them to react.

  The pit didn’t move after that, so they just watched as it broke into the treeline heading further east. There was a brief moment of relief before all five of them froze.

  Although the immediate danger seemed to have passed, a creeping feeling that they were being watched from somewhere sprang up out of nowhere. It was an unnatural sensation that made their neck hair stand on end, which felt like they were being looked down on by a giant.

  Not more than half a breath after they lost sight of the spider, this feeling came in, left, and was followed by a colossal, dark silhouette amid the trees furthest from their view, swiping through. The familiar screech of the spider echoed for a split second, accompanied by a loud crunch. Then, the unseen figure was gone.

  The distant cracks of trees that got in its way could be heard for miles, headed southeast.

  Niles and his group were shaking uncontrollably, unable to process what they had just witnessed. A predator? One large, fast, and strong enough to quickly claim the giant spider as a light snack? And it didn’t even look back, wanting them as another meal?

  ‘What kind of messed-up crap happened to the world?’ he thought as his legs gave out and he let out an involuntary chuckle.

  Their lives were spared. Or maybe they just weren’t worth anything to whatever that thing was.

  It didn’t matter, really. They were still alive and had a duty to supply the others with food, clothing, and whatever they would now find in the barn.

  ***

  Compared to the excitement they had gone through, the rest of the day flew by without much happening.

  They found more than enough useful stuff in the barn to fill two more sleds. If only they had two more. Either way, they loaded their third sled with handsaws, shovels, hammers, axes, nails and screws, and a bunch of woodworking tools.

  Everything they would need to set up a much more stable camp in the woods.

  While Bruce carried the clothes-filled sled, wrapped in a tarp and paracord, on his back, the others carried the remaining two in pairs.

  It was later in the afternoon by the time they returned to the clearing, which looked nothing like they remembered.

  In a flatter section, several semicircular spots were dug a little deeper and covered in long, inch-thick branches and saplings. Along the rounded edge of three of them, similarly sized, halved sticks were shoved into the ground, standing up to make walls. Some of the dirt that had been dug for the plots was used to shore up the walls and fill gaps.

  At the center of this circle of semicircles were many medium-sized fires. The heat from which was keeping the youngest and oldest of them warm. Their clothes were dry, but the drying process sapped heat from their bodies.

  No matter how they felt about what they had seen, the five men who went out to scavenge forced themselves to smile, opening up the covered sleds and letting everyone pick out new, warm clothes, and others grab a bag of flour and some kitchen supplies they managed to squeeze in to begin cooking a much-needed meal.

  As the other survivors continued to work and upgrade the little hovels they’d already completed with tarp roofs, those closest to the five pulled them to the side, recognizing their forced expressions.

  Bruce went with his girlfriend, Sasha, and reassured her that he was fine, just tired. Eric did the same with his son, who was at the daycare when the world changed. The fifth member spoke to a friend he had made the previous night, while Niles and Dominic were quietly interrogated by the rest of the Fairbanks.

  Needless to say, the debriefing didn’t leave anyone in the know with good feelings.

  For the rest of the day, everyone pitched in to finish two more hovels, collect firewood, and help serve the simple bread and pickled beets that had been selected as their first meal of many small, rationing ones to come.

  Niles and Réal pulled some of the men together just before the sun set, discussing defences while surrounding the sled full of tools and miscellaneous contraptions.

  They were going to get a lot busier in the days to come.