Tammy’s mind raced trying to think what to do. Was there any point in trying to hide out in the factory now? What would be the point; sooner or later he would find them or else they would get too hungry or thirsty to stay hidden. It was best that they got out of the factory, perhaps down by the water gates and out into the lake. There might be some kind of boat there they could use, and if not, they could swim the short distance around to the shore and make out of here on foot. Surely the first people to have escaped would have reached help by now and the army maybe would be on the way to save them. They would be picked up by someone.
Yes, escape was now the best idea. Harry would have no idea where they had gone, and it would be a long time before he stumbled across the lake access area of the factory. They were going to make it, and the decision being made gave Tammy a new strength to go on.
They moved without running through doors and crossed small rooms and then the main production room. Everywhere there were shadows and evil waiting to jump out at them, and even the dormant machines of the factory took on a sinister form each time Tammy looked around. She’d never known this room to be anything other than full of life, the exact opposite of how it was now.
“Down here,” Tammy whispered as she ducked down a few narrow concrete steps with a small metal door at the bottom. If you didn’t know it was here, you’d never even notice it. Beyond the door was the floor out to the lake and their freedom; she just had to hope the metal door wouldn’t be loud enough to wake the dead as they opened it.
They were both pressed against the door and they listened to be sure Harry was not nearby. Tammy didn’t think he’d been close to them since he spoke that time, but it was impossible to tell for sure.
Tammy bobbed her head up to peek through the porthole-style window in the door to the lake; she was sure Harry couldn't be out there, but there was no harm in checking.
Harry wasn’t out there, but her heart sank when she saw what was.
“What is it?” Jenny asked, picking up on her change in demeanour at once.
“The spiders are out there,” Tammy said as tears began to fall from her exhausted eyes once more.
Chapter 61
Lawrence Karrier was on the low ceiling of the canteen area of the ‘Gossamer Springs’ building when he heard the shots ring out. He stopped prying up the panel in the roof that would allow him access inside and listened. It seemed like a long time before any sound came after that, and when it did it was one Lawrence wished he’d never heard. Garrick shouting at the others to run, while he was laying in his own blood dying, and having just recently found his wife too. He didn’t have time to mull this over; he needed to get inside and save Tammy and Jenny if he could.
Peering into the roof cavity above the ceiling tiles, Lawrence saw the coast was clear, and he bent down to take hold of the metal pipes he would need to support his weight. The last thing he needed was a freefall fifteen feet onto the tables and chairs of the canteen; that was a broken back if ever there was one. He left the hatch open a little, just in case he somehow ended up having to come back out this way.
Unlike Tammy, Lawrence as a machinist and handyman had been in the factory when nothing else was stirring before. It still had a profound effect on him all the same. Only this time he knew there were at least three people still alive in here and one of them had plans to make that only one. Lawrence lifted a ceiling tile and looked into the room below. All clear. He dropped down as quietly as he could on top of the huge dishwasher conveyor and then down onto the floor.
Lawrence cut through the kitchen and through a narrow door that led to a metal stairway not many people at the plant would know of. He tiptoed up, fearful of the heavy metal clanging noises that usually emanated when anyone ran up here. When he got to the top, he came to the back of a long bank of machine panels and electrical circuits and walked slowly along peering out onto the factory floor. From here was afforded the best views of a large chunk of the factory, and he could remain hidden so long as he was careful about it.
There was no noise from below, but as he crept along looking out through each panel, he found what he was looking for. Tammy and Jenny were on the steps that led out to the lake surface. He hadn’t been sure if Tammy knew about that way out but was pleasantly surprised to see her there. Once through that door, they could be out of the factory and away before Harry Sanders or any other outsider would have a clue where they were gone.
As he looked down on the two women, however, Lawrence got the distinct feeling something was wrong. Why weren’t they going through the door? They were crouching down leaning against it but not going through. Was it locked? Lawrence had never known it to be before, but he supposed with the closure of the factory the last few days someone might have come in to lock up a bit more thoroughly than usual.
Lawrence scanned the rest of the room; he wanted to call down to them to see what the problem was, but he couldn’t be sure Sanders wasn’t here or wouldn't hear him and it would give the girls away. He would have to go down to them.
It was a long and winding way down to the factory floor, especially as he was still trying to be quiet, but before he got there the worst happened. He heard the screams of the two women.
“Don’t worry ladies,” Harry’s voice came on the air, “I’m not going to use this gun on you.” Though the words were welcome, Lawrence got a sick feeling from what the true meaning of them might be. “I’m going to tear you both apart with my hands!” Harry then shouted and he laughed maniacally, and there were further screams as the women set to running.
“Tammy!” Lawrence called out, hoping to draw Sanders’ attention. Of course he’d most likely use the gun on him rather than chance a fair fight against a man.
Lawrence reached the floor and peered out; he saw Tammy and Jenny cornered by Harry, who didn’t have a gun in either hand that he could see.
“Break for it!” Lawrence shouted to the women as he ran towards them. Jenny and Tammy did this, one running past Sanders on either side. He spun and grabbed for them both, and Jenny was knocked off balance and went sprawling to the ground, dashing her head hard on the metal flooring. He’d caught hold of Tammy’s sweater, and it was ripping as she pulled away from him. Harry yanked her in hard and when she was close, he levelled her with a strong right hook that sent her reeling. Sanders let go of her sweater to allow her to fall.
“You bastard!” Lawrence screamed at him as he rushed hard into him, momentarily too late to stop what had happened to Tammy.
Harry Sanders had been expecting Lawrence’s attack, but he obviously didn’t think it would come so hard. Both men went sprawling, and there was a loud crack that Lawrence was glad hadn’t come from his own body. Sanders cried out in pain and scuttled away as Lawrence got to his feet.
The two men faced one another and now Lawrence saw with dread that the gun was in its holster on Sanders’ hip. The only saving grace was the arm on that side of the former deputy’s body was clearly broken - that had been the snap - and it hung ragged looking and limp.
“I’m going to kill you asshole!” Sanders sneered.
“No need for us to talk about it!” Lawrence said, tasting blood in his mouth and feeling the ferric sting of the deep cut in his inner cheek. His mouth felt it was filling with blood now and he spat before rushing at Harry Sanders once more.
Sanders yelped in pain as his hand instinctively went for his gun. Did he not know he’d broken it! Lawrence came in with a series of punches to Sanders’ face that the former deputy could barely attempt to block with his good hand. The feeling of each bone-shuddering connection was immense. Lawrence pounded and pounded and soon found that Sanders was on one knee and then both, and he was no longer protecting his face from the attack. Still Lawrence didn’t want to stop, but something in him forced him to.
Harry Sanders tottered a moment, his face a bloody mess and his eyes sunken in deep swelling. Blood bubbles came to his nose and mouth and burst as he tried to stay breathing. He fell
sideways, and though Lawrence wouldn’t have thought it possible, he knew Sanders was dead.
Lawrence’s breathing was hard and heavy and his head spun. What had he done? How had he done it? He turned slowly to see Tammy sitting on the ground staring at him, but the look on her face not one of gratitude for saving her but of horror at what she’d seen him become. How long had he hit Harry’s face? His fists were covered in blood and they ached so much now; he could feel his broken bones grind on one another as tears came to his eyes. Jenny lay still on the ground, but she was groaning so at least she was alive.
“We have to see if the Sheriff is still alive,” Tammy said, getting to her feet. Lawrence nodded, and then noticed the door he’d seen the women huddled against.
“Why didn’t you go out through the lake door?” he asked her.
“The spiders are out there,” Tammy replied. Lawrence nodded, wondering if that meant the building was surrounded now too.
“What the hell is that!” Tammy suddenly shouted in terror as she jumped backwards. Lawrence spun on his heels and saw a huge spider pulling itself from the tearing flesh of Harry Sanders’ mouth.
“Holy shit!” Lawrence said, also taking a step back. He felt Tammy’s hands and arms wrap around his own, and it was a good feeling in that moment. She didn’t think he was a monster after all.
The huge fat spider was free now, and it left a trail of blood and slime behind it as it moved quickly across the floor. It took a moment for Lawrence to realise it was heading for Jenny - it intended to get inside her next. Taking a step forward, Lawrence kicked hard at the beast, but it was like hard rubber and only barely changed its course.
He didn’t know how, and never would, but just then Lawrence simply knew this was what he’d been going up to the mountains in search of. This bulbous creature was the cause of it all, was the evil behind everything. Harry had brought it back down to the town, or rather it had made Harry do it.
The sound of thousands of spiders suddenly came from all over the building. They were coming in from every direction to protect their leader, their queen or whatever it was. “Get her up,” he said to Tammy, who rushed to Jenny and started lifting her as best she could. Lawrence ran to the edge of the room and turned on the main power switch on the wall. The room hummed to life as machines and light came online at once.
Without hesitation, he then ran to the giant mixer and pulled the panel open to override the controls. The slowly spinning blades in the empty tank started to pick up speed, one near the top and the other at the bottom, spinning wildly in opposite directions.
Jenny was on her feet now, but still very dazed, and she wasn’t going to get far on her own. But Lawrence didn’t think she would have to; in fact, he was sure of it. Once this huge blob of dread was gone, the rest would die, like cutting off the head to kill the body. He didn’t know why he felt this, but there was no denying the strong feeling in him.
“What are you doing?” Tammy asked as he passed by her again, this time giving her upper arms a gentle squeeze as though to say, everything is going to be alright. The giant spider was still coming at Jenny, but Lawrence stepped in its path and bent to scoop it up in his hands.
Instantly, Lawrence could feel the black heart of this thing, and it began to speak in his mind, trying to control him. Lawrence ran as fast as he could up to the top of the ladder that looked down into the mixing vat and tried to toss the creature in.
The monster didn’t want to die, however, and each of its eight needlepoint legs dug deep into the flesh of Lawrence’s hands and arms. He cried out in pain and almost fell from the ladder, just managing to regain his balance at the last. The pain in his arms was the most excruciating he’d ever felt, and he knew the creature intended on climbing up his chest and pulling itself inside him to take over. He looked down to Tammy, who had that look of horror on her face one more.
Lawrence’s heart sank twice in the space of less than one second as the realisation of what he had to do, and the consequences of it, rushed to him.
“I love you, Tammy!” he shouted to her just as two of the spikey legs ripped the flesh of his arms and plunged into his chest to start the climb. Lawrence groaned but used all he had left inside him not to scream. He took another two quick steps up the ladder, beyond the red markings to where feet should never be above and then leaned over, letting gravity do the rest.
He heard Tammy’s scream of ‘NOOOOO!” and the whipping wind of the blades before he hit them. Newly agonizing pain came all over, but it was blissfully brief. He’d met eyes with the creature at the last moment, and it seemed to acknowledge its own doom. Lawrence could only hope he’d been right about this being the head.
Chapter 62
The attic of the ‘Clear View Hotel’ didn’t feel as safe as Landy had hoped. Though the entrance from the stairs was narrow and each of his fellow captives had some heavy, dusty and long-abandoned item in their hands, there was no surety they were going to prevail. And, even if they did, they still had to find a way to evade the spiders or else starve to death up here.
“There’s much nicer places in this hotel to spend your final moments than up there,” Scarrow called up to them, his voice eerily genuine. “Why don’t you come on back down? I’ll stand in a room here and give you a count of ten. You go find a better place and I’ll come find you, what do you say?” Landy was struck by how reasonable this murderer sounded, and, in fact, he had no doubt Scarrow would do as he promised. After all, this was only a game to him now; there was no way to leave the hotel with the place surrounded. This must have been what happened with everyone else who came here. His mind flashed to all those names etched in blood in the registry book.
“You go to hell!” Landy called down to Scarrow, and he looked to the rest as though for support. Was he speaking for them all?
“You’ll get what’s coming to you, you murderer!” Maggie called out. They heard Clinton laugh through the thin attic door. He must be right at the bottom step, only a few feet from them.
“We better do this sooner rather than later,” Terry suddenly said, leaning close to Landy. The hotel owner looked to him in confusion. “I’m losing strength quickly,” Terry explained. “If we don’t do it now, you’ll be one set of swinging hands down,” Landy had never seen anyone look so sick, and he was in awe of the boy’s bravery. Landy’s eyes shifted momentarily to the damaged leg, he couldn’t help it, and then he looked away. No matter what happened, there was a very good chance that boy was going to die all the same.
“Sit down and rest, Terry,” Maggie said, taking him by the arm, “There are too many of us for such a small space anyway.” The young man had started to move when she first spoke, but once he realized she was trying to side-line him, he stopped cold and wouldn’t budge.
“We need to do it now,” Terry asserted. Maggie looked from him to Landy, and the older man could see she was in agreement. He looked to Emily and Ed, and even they seemed steeled to the same thing. It looked like he was the only one who didn’t think he was ready; did that make him a coward?
“Alright,” he whispered to them all, “I’ll pull open the door and take a swing at him as he comes up. If I get him good, I’ll keep swinging and you guys just get ready to back me up if I come backing in here, okay?” Each of them nodded.
It would probably make more sense for them to stand in a half circle around the attic and each come at Scarrow from a different angle as he came into the room, but it seemed too risky for Landy. They could end up hitting one another rather than the target, and that could spell doom right away.
Landy went to the door and unlocked it as quietly as he could. He drew in a couple of deep breaths and then pulled it open quickly. As he’d thought, Scarrow was standing at the bottom of the stairs and he looked up at Landy amused when the door suddenly opened.
“You looking to make a run?” Scarrow asked. Landy shook his head slowly but with determination. “Alright,” Scarrow smiled, and he hefted the axe so his hand was h
igher on the handle for use in the smaller space of the stairs. He started coming up the steps.
“He's coming,” Landy said to the others, his voice barely making it out on heavy breaths he was afraid gave away his utter terror in that moment. Despite his fear, Landy stepped forward; he had to maintain the height advantage over Scarrow to be better able to fight him off.
Suddenly, Scarrow roared like an ancient battlefield soldier and rushed up the steps, his axe rising above his head as much as possible with the lowering ceiling. Landy swung down the old heavy wooden chair arm he held - it was hard enough to kill a man if it landed properly - and threw all his weight behind it. Scarrow ducked and parried the wood with his axe, and then Landy felt his mistake and knew he was done for.
The sound of his shirt ripping somehow came over all else, but it was the blade cutting into his abdomen, deep and hard, that shocked the core of Landy. Scarrow had pulled a long knife with his lower hand while Landy had been concentrating on the axe and his own wooden attack. How stupid he had been, the thought coming hard like a migraine as the blood flowed down his belly before Scarrow twisted the knife roughly. His face was against Landy’s now and his hot rancid breath in the hotel owner’s nose, his rough unshaven face like sandpaper on Landy’s cheek.
“You nearly did it,” Scarrow said to him quietly. It was oddly absent of gloating, and Landy was confused as he dropped to his knees and felt Scarrow step around him. Weakly, Landy put a hand out and tried to grip Scarrow’s trouser leg, but he was easily shaken off and then slumped against the wall. His vision became blurry, and the pain in his abdomen screamed with each movement of his body.
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