The First Bird: Omnibus Edition
Page 40
The vines started growing soon after. They climbed walls, tree trunks, and even covered fields; everything that rose over a foot in height became a platform for their magnificent red flowered heads. Their poisonous barbs were initially responsible for thousands of deaths, triggering a second nationwide mobilization for eradication. But as fast as they were pulled up, raked under, or burned off, they regrew.
In the end, they just became something else to live with. After all, it seemed a small price to pay. The fire-engine red flowers were a constant reminder of two things – one, to stay clear, and two, that they would never have a problem with the primordial mite again.
It was what came next that the scientists said would take some getting used to.
*****
Billy threw the ball for Grumpy, the terrier’s long hair bouncing up and down as he charged after it. The tough little animal looked like a couple of mop-heads strung together, and he growled like a little engine in pursuit of his round, bouncing prey.
“Dang.” Billy had over-thrown the ball again, and it had rolled under the far hedge, where he wasn’t allowed to play.
“Wait – heel, boy.” Grumpy halted at the green barrier, sniffing nervously, then charged in, small teeth bared.
“Aw, Grumpy, don’t go in there; you’ll get into trouble.” Billy ran to the edge of the large garden, pumping his six-year-old legs. He stopped at the border, as all kids were trained to do now. He remembered the rhyme they were taught in school: wear shoes in the yard, coz the thorns stick hard, and beware of the red, or you’ll end up dead.
He grimaced with indecision. Dad and Mom had told him plenty of times not to take any chances … and he had sure told Grumpy as well. It’s just that the dang dog didn’t ever listen.
“This is your fault,” Billy said to the hedge. He got down on his knees. There was a whimper, and something rustled in the deep shadows beneath the thick hedge. “Grumpy? Grumpy, you come out right now.”
There was the whimper again. Billy’s tone softened. “Are you stuck, boy?” He looked over his shoulder at the house; no one was watching. He bet he could pull the dog out before anyone even noticed.
He reached in.
*****
The eight eyes stared dispassionately from atop the fifty-pound body as it slowly lifted itself from the silken-coated bag it had woven over the small, long-haired animal.
The tall, hairless creature that now leaned in toward it was much larger, but the spider had plenty of venom left. This one would feed it for days. The glossy black, muscular body reared up, opening out like an enormous skeletal hand, finger-sized fangs extended, waiting.
Like the scientists said, things would just take some getting used to.
Acknowledgement
The Valley of the Gwangi – where it all started.
About Greig Beck
Greig Beck grew up across the road from Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. His early days were spent surfing, sunbaking and reading science fiction on the sand. He then went on to study computer science, immerse himself in the financial software industry and later received an MBA. Greig is the director of a software company but still finds time to write and surf. He lives in Sydney, with his wife, son and an enormous black German shepherd.
About Gorgon
Alex Hunter has been found – sullen, alone, leaving a path of destruction as he wanders across America. Only the foolish get in the way of the drifter wandering the streets late at night.
Across the world, something has been released by a treasure hunter in a hidden chamber of the Basilica Cisterns in Istanbul. Something hidden there by Emperor Constantine himself, and deemed by him too horrifying and dangerous to ever be set free. It now stalks the land, leaving its victims turned to stone, and is headed on a collision course with a NATO base. The Americans can't let it get there, but can't be seen to intervene. There is only one option – send in the HAWCs.
But Alex and the HAWCs are not the only ones seeking out the strange being – Uli Borshov, Borshov the Beast, who has a score to settle with the Arcadian moves to intercept him, setting up a deadly collision of epic proportions where only one can survive. Join Alex Hunter as he learns to trust his former commander and colleagues again as the HAWCs challenge an age-old being straight from myth and legend.
Gorgon is coming soon in 2014.
First published by Momentum in 2013
This edition published in 2013 by Momentum
Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
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Copyright © Greig Beck 2013
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The First Bird: Omnibus Edition
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