Read Online Out of the Shadows by Timothy Boyd - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Timothy Boyd
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looking at Deb expectantly. “It’s now or never.”
Deb hesitated, allowing her gaze to scan the place that had felt like her home for many years, and then finally she said, “Fine! Get goin’!” and she pulled Mary along toward the back door.
Suddenly, from under the front door came a string of spiders. They scurried up the door en masse , like a single entity. They surrounded the lockbolt and formed themselves into what appeared to be a hand, pushing the bolt through its metal brackets, releasing the lock effortlessly.
As the door abruptly blasted open, I yelled, “Go!”
The mob quickly poured into the bar, giving chase. Yoshi, Deb, and Mary slammed through the back door as I swiped a bottle of Jim Beam from the shelf, making sure to snatch a bar towel on my way out as well. We charged into the ominous forest, hearts pounding and breaths heaving. The jig was up; there would be no silent escape through the woods.
I stopped thirty feet outside the door and furiously yanked the bottle pourer from the spout of the whiskey bottle.
“Bear!” Deb screamed.
“I’ll be right behind you!”
Mary was howling in terror, salty streams cascading down her face. Twigs snapped under their fleeing feet. Hurriedly, I twisted the bar towel into a tight strand that I stuffed into the bottle of booze, tipping it so the cloth would become soaked. From the back door, the mob began charging into the forest in pursuit of their prey. Upon seeing me pull a lighter from my pocket, the main woman held up her hand, and they all stopped.
“Nick Barren, I would not do that if I were you.”
Furious with them, I spat, “Well, you’re not me!” I ignited the soaked tip of the towel sticking out of the whiskey bottle. The second it sparked into a substantial flame, I lobbed the alcohol through the air toward the crowd of creatures. It hit the woman in the face before it collided with the ground, shattering into dozens of pieces. The makeshift Molotov exploded in a ball of fire that lit up the sky and engulfed the mob, transforming them into plumes of flailing flame-beasts.
I stood for just a moment to admire my handiwork when, to my surprise, the flames licked upward and ignited the roof of Gravediggers, sending the building quickly into an unstoppable inferno. Most of the mob collapsed to their knees one by one and silently ceased to exist once more. I stood and watched as my home away from home billowed into flames.
That made two in one night.
Suddenly, from within the fiery doorway, a nebulous mass exited the bar. It grew larger and larger, forming into something terribly hideous that shook my nerves and stopped my heart.
Thousands of blazing spiders molded themselves into one, massive, fiery eight-legged beast the size of a small house. Flames leapt from it onto the surrounding trees in the forest, lighting them afire.
My eyes grew with sheer horror as I watched the woods around me become engulfed with bright orange flickering waves. I had unknowingly started an enormous forest fire! And now this colossal arachnid amalgamation threatened my friends and me, slowly becoming used to its new heft, the fire seemingly causing it no pain.
“Run!” I yelled to the group as I turned and sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me. I quickly caught up to the other three, our intense flight through the flaming forest taking its toll on our endurance. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the beast slowly gaining ground on us, and following in the behemoth’s wake was a wall of fire within the trees.
If the spiders didn’t kill us, the inferno surely would.
We leapt over fallen branches, madly crunching through dried leaves on the ground, gasping for what little oxygen our lungs could intake. Dodging around tree trunks, we scampered through the bright night, no longer darkened in shadow thanks to yours truly.
The little girl tripped, crying out as she fell to the ground.
“Mary!” Deb screamed.
My heart stopped as I ran back
Deb hesitated, allowing her gaze to scan the place that had felt like her home for many years, and then finally she said, “Fine! Get goin’!” and she pulled Mary along toward the back door.
Suddenly, from under the front door came a string of spiders. They scurried up the door en masse , like a single entity. They surrounded the lockbolt and formed themselves into what appeared to be a hand, pushing the bolt through its metal brackets, releasing the lock effortlessly.
As the door abruptly blasted open, I yelled, “Go!”
The mob quickly poured into the bar, giving chase. Yoshi, Deb, and Mary slammed through the back door as I swiped a bottle of Jim Beam from the shelf, making sure to snatch a bar towel on my way out as well. We charged into the ominous forest, hearts pounding and breaths heaving. The jig was up; there would be no silent escape through the woods.
I stopped thirty feet outside the door and furiously yanked the bottle pourer from the spout of the whiskey bottle.
“Bear!” Deb screamed.
“I’ll be right behind you!”
Mary was howling in terror, salty streams cascading down her face. Twigs snapped under their fleeing feet. Hurriedly, I twisted the bar towel into a tight strand that I stuffed into the bottle of booze, tipping it so the cloth would become soaked. From the back door, the mob began charging into the forest in pursuit of their prey. Upon seeing me pull a lighter from my pocket, the main woman held up her hand, and they all stopped.
“Nick Barren, I would not do that if I were you.”
Furious with them, I spat, “Well, you’re not me!” I ignited the soaked tip of the towel sticking out of the whiskey bottle. The second it sparked into a substantial flame, I lobbed the alcohol through the air toward the crowd of creatures. It hit the woman in the face before it collided with the ground, shattering into dozens of pieces. The makeshift Molotov exploded in a ball of fire that lit up the sky and engulfed the mob, transforming them into plumes of flailing flame-beasts.
I stood for just a moment to admire my handiwork when, to my surprise, the flames licked upward and ignited the roof of Gravediggers, sending the building quickly into an unstoppable inferno. Most of the mob collapsed to their knees one by one and silently ceased to exist once more. I stood and watched as my home away from home billowed into flames.
That made two in one night.
Suddenly, from within the fiery doorway, a nebulous mass exited the bar. It grew larger and larger, forming into something terribly hideous that shook my nerves and stopped my heart.
Thousands of blazing spiders molded themselves into one, massive, fiery eight-legged beast the size of a small house. Flames leapt from it onto the surrounding trees in the forest, lighting them afire.
My eyes grew with sheer horror as I watched the woods around me become engulfed with bright orange flickering waves. I had unknowingly started an enormous forest fire! And now this colossal arachnid amalgamation threatened my friends and me, slowly becoming used to its new heft, the fire seemingly causing it no pain.
“Run!” I yelled to the group as I turned and sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me. I quickly caught up to the other three, our intense flight through the flaming forest taking its toll on our endurance. I glanced back over my shoulder and saw the beast slowly gaining ground on us, and following in the behemoth’s wake was a wall of fire within the trees.
If the spiders didn’t kill us, the inferno surely would.
We leapt over fallen branches, madly crunching through dried leaves on the ground, gasping for what little oxygen our lungs could intake. Dodging around tree trunks, we scampered through the bright night, no longer darkened in shadow thanks to yours truly.
The little girl tripped, crying out as she fell to the ground.
“Mary!” Deb screamed.
My heart stopped as I ran back
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