Read Online Creeptych by John Everson - Free Book Online Page B

and moved to the corner of the hut. He picked up one of the canisters, and turned it around in his hands, looking for a label. But it was unmarked.
    “What are you thinking?” Billy asked.
    “Looks like a pesticide sprayer to me,” Mark said, running a finger down the handle that would open the nozzle.
    “One way to find out.” Billy got up and went to the door. He put a hand on the knob.
    “I’ll open it, you put it out there and spray. See what happens. Just don’t go outside. I don’t want them swarming in here.”
    “You can’t open the door,” Casey complained.
    “Thought you didn’t want to sit here all afternoon?” Mark said.
    “No. But they’ll go away sooner or later, right?”
    Mark looked at the swarm outside the window. It showed no signs of moving on. “I’m not sure I believe that at the moment.”
    Nobody spoke for a few minutes. They all just listened to the buzzing. Finally Mark walked to the door, and turned the knob. He set the canister on the floor and pushed the door open a crack, just enough to stick the nozzle tube through. Then he grabbed the pump handle on the canister, pulled it up as high as it would go, and slowly pushed it back down. Even though the door was nearly closed, the hut was instantly filled with the smell of strong pesticide. But nobody said a word about the smell, because they were all paying attention to what was going on outside. Outside where the flies were dropping off the window by the dozens. A cloud of silvery white mist ballooned beyond the glass of the window and expanded away from the hut and into the trees.
    Mark stopped spraying and pulled the nozzle back inside the room.
    “Did it work?” he asked, and joined the others at the window.  Outside, the mist dissipated like fog in a slow wind, until the deep green of the trees and bushes beyond were crisp and clear again. The air had grown silent.
    “I can’t see a single bug,” Billy whispered. “That shit is good!”
    They moved towards the door as one, and slowly pushed it open. The air smelled strongly of chemicals, but otherwise, the area was empty. The ground glittered with violet chitin; so many had fallen that the ground crunched as they walked.
    “Back to the tents?” Billy asked.
    “Uh, duh,” Jess said. “I wish we’d never left the beach.”
    Jess moved ahead of all of them, rushing down the path littered with broken branches from their initial walk across the island.
    In minutes, the stench of the spray had faded away and the island scents of palm and saltwater took away the horror of the hour before. Jess was almost smiling when they broke through the edge of the trees and bushes and stepped back out onto the golden sand where they’d pitched their tents.
    Only.
    The sun-bright grains of sand were largely obscured.
    The beach in front of them appeared to move.  A wave of purple spiders shifted one way and the other, creeping closer to the treeline with every moment. Jess had just opened her mouth to say something cheerful like, “home again!” when her eyes registered what was really in front of them.
    Jess screamed.
    The tents were crawling with the creatures, purple legs and feelers shifting to and fro as they explored and tasted the fabric.
    “Holy shit,” Billy whispered. “There’s a million of them.”
    Jess grabbed Mark’s arm and barely contained a scream. “We have to go,” she said for the second time that afternoon.
    “Our stuff,” Casey said. “They’re all over our stuff. They’re probably in our clothes. And our food…we need to get to the boat.”
    “I’m not just leaving our tents and equipment here,” Billy protested. “I borrowed most of this shit. Plus…” he pointed at the sun, now falling deep in the west on the horizon. “I don’t really want to navigate the keys in the dark if we don’t have to.”
    “The hut had beds,” Mark suggested. “And an airtight door.”
    Jess began pulling him back towards the trees instantly.
    “I need