Day of the Spiders

  The scratching of the bushes on the sides of the car hit a crescendo. For a moment, it felt to Braden that at any moment, a large branch would come crashing through the window and impale either him or Trent and that would be the end of the whole sorry mess. Instead the crashing of branches died away and the car picked up the pace even more. Braden saw that Trent had been absolutely right, the pathway had opened up in front of them. The man-made gravely path had given way to a slightly muddy trail that was flanked on both sides by overgrown grass the stretched out on either side.

  “This leads all the way through to the Valley road. It’s a pretty straight run, nice and easy,” said Trent.

  Braden checked the mirror again. He could still see the spiders coming out of the narrow pathway onto the wide-open space that they were now driving on. They were scattering in all directions rather than making a direct line for them. They were leaving them behind and if they kept going at the rate they were going at then they would be far enough away to relax a little and perhaps put a plan together. Braden didn’t want to even entertain the idea of stopping and discussing a strategy until they were somewhere where they could see them coming. He sat back into his seat and forced himself to take it easy a little. He was physically spent and his emotional state wasn’t too far behind it. He needed to regroup a little in the space of his own mind. So much had happened in such a short space of time. His thoughts momentarily turned to his last payday, but then he realized that if this spider problem was more widespread than just Layton, then all the money in the world wouldn’t mean anything at all. Braden rationalized it by thinking how lucky he was to even be alive right now. That had to count for more than any pay day. It was the last remnants of his competitive nature twitching away in his guts. He looked over his shoulder and saw Mary curled up on the back seat with Jax and he knew that if he hadn’t have walked out on them to chase the story then they would likely not have even been here right now. He would have never seen the spiders in the house, he would never have made a run for it when he had the opportunity, he would have been just like everybody else. It was almost a certainty that if he had seen the photograph out of context on the internet that he wouldn’t have believed that it was real. In a roundabout way, he had saved his family and himself by walking out on them. Mary offered him a weak smile. She looked like she had been through the ringer.

  “We’ll be alright, I promise,” he said. “If we can get away from populated areas I’m sure we will be fine.”

  Mary said nothing, she just nodded. She was gnawing the inside of her cheek, which usually meant that she didn’t believe a word he was saying. It was her way of not saying something that she might regret. Given the situation that they were in it showed a hell of a lot of self-control.

  The car rolled on. The path was heading upwards which made the engine work harder. The four-wheel drive never missed a beat, even when the ground underneath them became softer and more uneven as they made altitude.

  “Have a play with the radio see what you can find,” said Trent.

  “How about some nice soothing music for us all,” said Braden.

  Trent smiled and he looked at Braden for a moment. “Now, wouldn’t that be nice. I mean the other radio, the one in the glove compartment.”

  Braden hooked his hand under the glove compartment handle and pulled it open. It dropped down revealing a very high tech looking CB radio.

  “What the hell do you do for a living?” said Braden.

  “Well, I could tell you, but I would have to kill you,” said Trent.

  Braden held his hands up, “I’ll just mind my business.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m kidding. I’m a park ranger,” said Trent.

  Braden was struck dumb for a moment as he processed the information.

  “Nobody knows the countryside around here as well as I do,” said Trent.

  “That’s why you have a decent car and all this equipment,” said Braden.

  “Correct,” said Trent. “Now, why don’t you have a go of that radio, see what you can find. If there is a military or police presence around here, then we will pick it up.”

  Braden lent forwards and picked up the small headset and put it on his head. He instantly felt somehow more powerful and important just by doing so. He turned the volume dial which clicked the rig on. Lights flickered and ticked and the radio burst into life in his ear. There was nothing but static so he turned the tuning dial slowly listening out for anything that sounded like a voice.

  Trent turned briefly to Mary. “If you drop the little compartment between the seat, there are chocolate bars and drinks if you want them. Please help yourself, I have plenty of them.”

  “Thank you,” said Mary.

  “No worries, make yourselves at home.”

  Mary reached over and squeezed Trent’s shoulder. Braden didn’t even see it, he was too busy playing with his new toy.

  27.

  Cindy had fallen asleep. Her head was slumped to one side and a trail of drool was making its way slowly out of the corner of her mouth and down onto the front of her pale blue top. Thompson looked out of the windows, trying to get his bearings for a moment. As his head cleared after the mayhem that they had just been through he began to evaluate, just like a good Mr. Policeman should.

  The Spiders…..

  Christ, all those spiders coming out of the drains, out of the toilet for god’s sake. Each one of them looking almost identical. How many were there? Hundreds, thousands, more than he could count. They were the ones that had bitten Wells and turned him into something else….something truly monstrous.

  The silence surrounding the car was deafening, painful almost. They were parked up right at the top end of Layton Valley, right on the viewing point that brought so many tourists in throughout the year. It wasn’t unusual to find groups of back-packers and ramblers scattered around on the grass or sat on the benches that overlooked the site that was once called Newtown and the city of Hemmington. It was also a good site for the local teenage population, new driving licences in hand and struck down with terrible cases of lovesickness to park up their rust-bucket cars and give in to their raging hormones, long after the sun had gone down and the last of the ramblers had departed. He had a momentary lust for the times that he had done such a thing, how new and exciting everything was in those days of innocence. Everything to him felt so numb right now, as if everything he had once believed had all turned into dust in the space of one day. It had all started with another case to solve and it had ended with his partner as good as dead and he and his wife uprooted out of their home that had been overrun with those horrible things. He wondered what they would do now, where would they go? What the hell had happened to the rest of Layton and everyone who lived there. He turned the key in the ignition just enough to put the power on and he thumbed the radio button to turn it on. He tapped the button to tune it in and he watched the numbers roll around until they stopped. The speakers suddenly burst into life, a little louder than he expected.

  “……attack has originated from. All we know at the moment is that there are casualties filling the A+E departments all over the area. Layton Hospital has been the worst affected area.

  But, do you have any idea of what actually happened? Was it a bomb? A chemical attack? The public need to know.

  I can’t make any specific comment on the type of attack at the moment, not until we know for sure. As I say, all we know is that the police and the army are dealing with a major incident in the town of Layton. Residents who have managed to escape the attack should head over to Hemmington where there are rescue stations that have been set up. Residents of Hemmington can be assured that there is no immediate threat to the city and that the attack has been contained to Layton town. That’s all I can tell you right now, and when I have more information we will be sure to let the public know…..

  Can you comment on why all video streaming services and all social media apps have all crashed at exactly the same time? Is there a link to t
he attack in Layton?

  I can’t comment on specifics, I have given you as much information as I have available to me at the moment. When I know more then you will be given a statement.”

  Thompson listened to the interview for a few moments longer. He was starting to get that feeling in his guts, the same feeling he had just before they had moved house, that same feeling when he saw through the face of a man protesting his innocence.

  “What shall we do?” said Cindy suddenly, making him jump. He hadn’t even realised that she was awake.

  “I think we need to get out of here. I have a feeling that it won’t be safe up here for much longer,” he said.

  “Are we going to Hemmington?” she said.

  Thompson thought it over for a moment. He gently pulled up his sleeve and had a look at his arm that he had hurt in the fall out of his bedroom window. He could move it, but it hurt like a bastard and it was turning an ugly shade of purple. It needed looking at. If they took off for the coast and he ended up with gangrene then he would be in a world of shit.

  “Yes, I think we should go and check it out, see if anyone else made it,” he said.

  “I could murder a coffee,” said Cindy and then she laughed weakly.

  “Coffee it is then my dear, coffee it is.”

  From where they had been parked, there were only two ways to get into Hemmington and one of them involved going back through Layton. Thompson took the latter option which took them east on the Valley road. It was a long way around that brought them into the city directly via the bypass. He figured that they should be there within the hour and then they could relax a little and let everyone else take charge. At least, that was his intention. He knew quite well that he would be offering up his years and years of service and experience to help out wherever he could. He also knew about the air raid tunnels that ran beneath the city that had kept the city’s residents safe during the blitz. It was nothing more than a tourist attraction now, a nice little piece of living history. He doubted that they would protect anyone from anything these days. Still it was good to have in the back of his mind…..just in case…..just in case.

  Ordinarily he would have enjoyed the drive through to Hemmington This was some of the most incredible scenery in the local area. But his mind was so preoccupied that he couldn’t take any enjoyment from the majestic views that were opening up in front of him. His guts were still uneasy, very uneasy. They had a plan, it made the most sense and yet there it was still crawling around inside him. The closer they got to Hemmington, the more the feeling stirred within him.

  He tried to shake it off. They couldn’t just run for the coast, could they? Or could they…. Perhaps he was wrong this time. Perhaps his instincts had finally gotten out of whack. After all, he didn’t have any hunches about what happened to their home. He mulled it over in his mind as they began to descend towards the city. He decided to assess the situation when they got there, and if things didn’t feel any better, they would leave, go for the coast, have a nice cold pint and wait for it all to blow over.

  His insides settled a little, as if they were agreeing with his idea, but the nub of his discontent wouldn’t quite go away fully. He pushed on, taking the car down the winding road and onto the A74 bypass road. They managed to get half a mile up the bypass before they hit two solid lanes of stationary traffic. They were perhaps two miles from the city limits.

  “Jesus. How long do you think this is going to take?” said Cindy.

  Thompson scanned the cars in front and the one in the lane next to him. He saw that they all had something in common, none of them had drivers.

  “I think we have to walk from here,” said Thompson. Cindy’s face fell.

  He shut the car down and they got out onto the tarmac. It felt decidedly odd to be standing in the middle of the bypass road. It almost felt like they were in no man’s land, a ghost town. The bypass had been turned into the world’s biggest carpark. He looked around to see if there were any more cars coming, he didn’t see any. He checked his watch and was dismayed to find that the glass had a large crack across it. The watch was still working and he could just about make out that it was just past seven in the morning. His whole concept of time had been utterly distorted, he felt as if he should be raiding the sandwiches for lunch. He stretched, raising his arms above his head. His back and his ribs crackled painfully. He had banged them up pretty good but he was sure that there was nothing broken. He was certainly getting too old for this shit.

  “Shall we?” he said to Cindy. She nodded without saying anything and they set off. Thompson pushed the button on the car to lock it, purely out of habit. It wasn’t going anywhere and at least he would know where it was if they needed to leave. They walked forwards, weaving around the cars. Some of them hadn’t been parked straight, probably having to pull to a stop in a hurry to prevent them from hitting the stationary car in front. They walked and weaved for around ten minutes and Thompson had to stop. His ribs were aching murderously and he needed to rest for a little while. The city was unfolding in front of them through the early morning mist. Thompson looked back to see if there were any more vehicles joining the stationary conga back down the road. They could see both ways because the road was almost perfectly straight in both directions.

  “Are you ok? We should walk down the other side of the road, there’s no cars there,” said Cindy.

  “Better not. I think that road is probably still in use. Could be dangerous. I’m ok, I just need to….” He broke off and looked back down the road again. He could hear the roar of an engine, a diesel engine somewhere. Then he saw the lorry heading for the end of the tailback. He thought that it was going to slow down, and pull up at the end of the line. He was going to suggest waiting for the driver to catch up to them. Perhaps he had come from another town, somewhere else that was a safehouse for them, somewhere that could put to rest that crawling in his guts. He stood up straight, ready to wave at them when they finally got close enough. Then his sliver of hope turned to horror. The lorry kept on going, roaring towards the parked cars at full pelt. He could quite tell how fast it was going, but it was going to be a no contest. The lorry collided with the cars at the back of the queue. The hollow bang, followed by the shrieking of metal echoed around the road. A moment later the lorry exploded in a ball of flames that roared upwards into the sky. Cindy screamed and went down to the floor. Thompson shielded his face with his arm. He could feel the searing heat from the explosion even though they were a safe distance from it. It was followed by smaller bangs as the fuel tanks on some of the parked cars ignited.

  “We need to get moving, quicker. Let’s get to the other side of the road, just like you said.”

  “But, I thought you said it was dangerous,” said Cindy.

  “It is, but I’m pretty sure that lorry was trying to get away from something. You wouldn’t crash like that unless you were in a blind panic.”

  The reality of the situation hit home. Thompson saw Cindy’s face drop in fear. “Oh no, you don’t think…” she said.

  “Yes, I do. We have to get to the city as fast as possible,” he said. He grabbed Cindy by the hand and started to squeeze past the parked cars towards the central reservation. He climbed over the barrier first and then helped Cindy over. He frantically looked up and down the road, checking for moving vehicles.

  “Right, let’s get to the hard shoulder, then if something comes we can at least get on the grass. There isn’t much of it, but at least it’s a chance,” said Thompson.

  Cindy nodded her agreement, a tear spilled from her eye and rolled down her cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb and stroked the side of her face for a moment. “It will be fine. We will be fine, I promise you,” he said.

  She only nodded again and offered him a weak smile. It was all she had at the moment, so it would have to do.

  They crossed the road and got onto the faded red of the hard shoulder. They started to walk forwards towards the city. Thompson’s back and ribs were throbbi
ng steadily in time to his beating heart. The pain in his wrist was like a bad tooth that was ready for extraction. He gritted his teeth and pushed on, putting on foot in front of the other. Cindy walked in front of him. She was still sniffing and wiping tears from her face as she walked. Thompson knew it wasn’t too far to the city, but right now it felt like it was a hundred miles away. Everything around him felt like it was unreal, like it was all part of a dream. Seeing the road beneath his feet only added to the growing sense of unrest within him. He could hear the fire burning from the wreckage of the lorry on the road behind them, the light gust of wind brushing his ears and then there was…. Then there was….

  What was it?

  He could only describe it as a rustling sound, like something was moving around in the grass next to the road. He swung his head around to get a better listen. It wasn’t coming from the grass…. Where the hell was it coming from?

  He turned around and looked back down the road. A thick column of black smoke was rising up into the sky from the crash. It was partially obstructing the view of the road behind him as it stretched off into the middle distance and then bent to the left and out of view. The hills of the Layton Valley road poked up on the horizon. But there was something….something not right about what he was seeing. He blinked his eyes a couple of times and then squinted, trying to get it into focus. He was certain that his eyes were getting worse. He had turned down an eye test on the last three occasions and now he was beginning to regret it. The hills were shimmering, as if a heat haze was rising up in front of them, but there wasn’t enough heat in the atmosphere to create one. There was something more about those hills, and again, he couldn’t tell if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the lush green that was usually associated with them had turned into a dark grey. If a cloud had been casting a shadow over them, then he wouldn’t have thought twice about it, but the sky above them and above the hills was almost perfectly clear and the deepest blue he had ever seen.