Guillermo was screaming. Jenkins turned and fired.
Perez looked back just in time to see the door explode outward, vomiting a cascade of squat bodies and long, multi-jointed legs. He shivered as if he had a fever.
The spiders came on.
The stranger physically yanked him around for the second time. “Stop fading out on me! RUN!”
Perez bit into his lower lip and felt a sharp pain as his teeth broke flesh. It was a trick he hadn’t used since Iraq, but one that worked to help him focus and get past the threat of shock.
None of this could be happening. None of it made sense. It was happening just the same and he had to accept that.
Training took over when the thing came at him from the rocks nearby. He opened fire and blew the carapace of the spider apart.
Behind him something screamed loud enough to shake his body, but it didn’t matter. The front of the building was coming up quickly and Perez hoped that this Decamp guy the stranger kept babbling about might have some answers. And that they lived long enough to find him.
The loading bay was an ocean of skittering, flailing, hairy bodies, dropping from the ceiling and carpeting the floor. There was no way they could get out by that route. Calvin cursed and slammed the door shut as Tessa shot a dog-sized spider that rushed at him.
“No dice, Decamp,” Calvin said. “I don’t know what it was like when you came in, but it’s impassable now.”
Decamp said, “Then we’ll have to try the front. The spiders are growing in size and numbers and we have to get out of the building while we still can.”
“What the fuck is going on here, Decamp?” Tessa said. “You said you knew part of it.”
Decamp walked over to the door through which Tessa and Calvin had entered and put his ear to the panel. He looked back over at Tessa and said, “It’s magic, officer Malloy. Dark magic.”
Tessa said, “Bullshit. I don’t believe in that crap.”
“That will scarcely keep it from killing you, my dear. By the way, I assume you two have flash-bang grenades? Standard SWAT issue.”
“Yeah,” Calvin said. “I got four.”
“Excellent. Be so kind as to have two of them ready. When I open the door, throw them through. Officer Malloy, if you’ll shoot anything that attempts to come through the door, that should allow Officer Calvin to lob his grenades. I’m going to close the door before they go off, then after the explosion we’ll go through and try and reach the front entrance.”
Calvin said, “You must have been some teacher. You’re the calmest son of a bitch I’ve ever seen.”
“Years of experience, Officer.”
“Just call me Calvin.”
“And I’m Tessa. If we’re all going to be eaten by AoUSes together we might as well be friends.”
“AoUSes?” said Decamp
“A bad movie joke. Arachnids of Unusual Size.”
“Ah, of course. The Princess Bride. My movie trivia knowledge tends to lapse in times of stress. Now, if everyone is ready, we’ll put this poor excuse for a plan into action.”
Calvin took two M8-4 flash-bang grenades and pulled the primary pins. “Ready.”
Tessa checked the magazine of her M-4 and aimed the rifle toward the door. “Ready.”
Decamp stuck the .45 into a holster on his hip. He reached over his shoulder to a weird carbon black tube strapped on his back and slid a gleaming metal blade from inside.
“Seriously?” Calvin said. “A sword?”
“Call it an affectation. Here we go.”
Decamp grabbed the door handle and swung the door inward. A huge wolf spider pushed through and Tessa blew it to pieces. Calvin noticed that Decamp didn’t flinch even though he was in the line of fire. Had the man seen combat? Calvin popped the secondary pins of the grenades and pitched them through the door. Decamp slammed the door as the flash-bangs went off. As soon as they heard the explosions, Decamp swung the door open and drew his .45. With gun in one hand and sword in the other, he charged through the doorway.
Calvin went next, and Tessa took her usual position as rear guard. For once, Calvin didn’t mind giving up point. Decamp was the man with the most intel. Let him lead the way.
To Calvin’s surprise, they weren’t attacked the second they stepped through the door. The flash-bang wasn’t designed to do much damage, but at close quarters it had still killed a couple of the creatures. The others however seemed to be milling about in confusion. That’s what Calvin would have expected from humans exposed to the flash-bang, but could spiders even hear?
“Their disorientation won’t last long,” Decamp said. “Head for the entrance.”
Decamp began swerving around the confused spiders and Calvin and Tessa hurried after him. A large wolf spider, which had apparently been far enough from the blasts to be less affected, lunged at Decamp and he decapitated it with a deft flick of the thin sword. Calvin was impressed. The blade was stronger than it looked and had to be razor keen. A second spider lost two front legs and Decamp shot it with the .45 for good measure.
Several more spiders seemed to be shaking off the effects of the flash-bangs and they came swarming toward the fleeing trio. Calvin fired in controlled bursts, saving ammunition. He only had one magazine left for the rifle and he did not want to run out of ammo in this place.
Decamp reached the door and stepped out, looking all around. It was well that he did, as a large spider that looked different from any they’d seen so far dropped from above. Decamp stepped nimbly to one side and hacked the spider’s head off. Calvin made a mental note not to make fun of the guy’s sword again.
Calvin shot another spider then stepped through the door and turned to make sure Tessa was with him. She vaulted a bloated spider corpse and leaped through the door. She spun and slammed the door shut behind her.
A chorus of shouts from his left made Calvin turn toward the sounds. Perez, Jenkins, West, and two guys Calvin didn’t know came running around the side of the building, followed by a wave of spiders.
“Jesus!” Tessa said. “What the fuck do we do now?”
Decamp said, “Head for that van. Everyone.”
“That won’t keep them out,” Calvin said. “They can break through the glass.”
Decamp said, “Just do it. Trust me.”
Calvin nodded and sprinted for the SWAT van. He had no idea what Decamp had in mind, but they were probably all dead anyway, and he had no other plan.
As Decamp passed close to one of the two new guys he said, “This isn’t going well, Jonathan.”
The other man smiled. “Noticed that, did you?”
When the group reached the van, Decamp said. “Stand as close to the van as possible. I need everyone to hold the spiders off for just a few moments. Concentrate your fire on keeping them back and try not to shoot me.”
With that, Decamp took his sword and jammed the tip into the ground. He ran around the van in a tight circle, never letting the sword lift from the earth so that he cut a narrow line in the dirt all the way around. When the circle was completed he said, “You can stop firing. They won’t cross that line.”
“You’re out of your mind,” the big man said, still firing at the spiders.
Decamp shrugged. The wave of creatures rolled up like some mad tide of horror. Calvin gritted his teeth.
The spiders stopped.
Decamp said, “Everyone get in the van, and whatever you do, do not step outside the line.”
Tessa said, “What did you do? How the hell did you do that?”
“More of that magic you don’t believe in. Now into the van, please. We don’t have much time.”
The group crowded into the van. It was hot inside, but no one wanted to open any windows or doors. Calvin didn’t like the way West looked. His face was pale and waxy and Calvin figured he might be in shock. And who the hell could blame him?