Part 3
Back at Chang's, Jodi brought another stack of Graboid mugs out and set them on the shelves. Nancy had just pounced on a spider and killed it with a "Graboids Happen" baseball cap. Jodi left the mugs and took the hat out of Nancy's hand. The older woman had her eye on another spider, just disappearing under the counter. "Will you leave my hats out of your eternal struggle against the spiders? It's not like you can kill them all."
Nancy shuddered and wiped up the spider with a tissue and took it outside to the trash.
Jodi watched Kylie and Rosalita laughing where they sat at the tables at the other end of the store. "What's that all about?" she asked Nancy when she came back to the counter.
Nancy glanced across the store at the two girls. "They're playing the 'what I miss about the city' game."
"Again?"
Nancy nodded, then snatched the "Graboids Happen" hat out of Jodi's hand for another round of Woman vs. Spider.
"I'm putting that hat on your bill," Jodi told her.
"Ice cream!" Kylie suggested.
"Night clubs!" Rosalita countered.
"DVD rentals!"
"Pretty boys!"
"Tyler's pretty," Kylie teased.
Rosalita gave her a wry look. "He's not, you know, 'pretty,' really. More... grrrow."
Both girls laughed.
"Oh I have one: wearing pretty clothes," Rosalita suggested.
"Having my nails done," Kylie countered. "And my hair styled. And a day spa!"
"Oh, you have got it bad, girl," Rosalita sympathized.
Burt and Tyler burst through the door. The game was over for the day.
"We've got a problem," Burt announced. Everyone gathered around the two. Burt frowned at Kylie until she boosted herself onto the stool next to him at the counter.
"They were coyotes, all right," Tyler told Rosalita. "But not like normal coyotes. They had antenna and six legs!"
"Looks like Mixmaster at work again," Jodi suggested.
"Exactly," Burt confirmed.
Kylie frowned at them. "Mixmaster?"
"Mixmaster is a diabolical secret government concoction which mingles any non-human DNA it can find, creating strange creatures never meant to walk this earth," Burt explained, then looked at Nancy. "Don't you tell her anything?"
"So, you're saying that they could be coyotes and... something else too?" Kylie asked.
"Affirmative," he said. "At least they've got coyote DNA, that's certain. The tracks, the spoor, that all matches."
"Should we call Cletus in?" Nancy asked.
"Already thought of that," Burt said, "We went by his place on the way in. He wasn't there."
"Can't we just treat them like regular coyotes?" She persisted.
Burt shook his head. "They look like coyotes, mostly, but they don't act like coyotes. If we can't determine what's mixed in with the coyote DNA, we won't know how to kill them. They could be resistant to standard methods. There were dozens of them at the cave we found. There could be more. We could study their behavior--"
Rosalita protested. "And they'll keep eating my cattle? Not an option, Burt."
He nodded. "That would be too dangerous. If they're taking out your cattle, all of us are in danger." Burt pulled his hat off, and slid it back on, agitated. He went into lecture mode. "Let's look at what we know. Fact: They have antenna instead of ears. Fact: They have six legs, not four."
"Spiders," Nancy said.
"Will you get your mind off the spiders!" Jodi said.
"Negative," Burt said. "Spiders have eight legs. Fact: It looks like they attack in a swarm."
"Wasps!" Rosalita suggested.
"But wouldn't they have wings?" Tyler asked.
"They might or might not. You never know with Mixmaster," Burt told him. "We'll consider that a possibility."
"And they're fast," Tyler added.
Burt shook his head. "No faster than the average coyote, but they're stronger. I don't think a coyote could have jumped on my Power Wagon. Not and held on like these did." He rubbed his chin. "Fact: They didn't eat the cow where they killed it, just took the flesh away. Fact: Coyotes will gnaw the bones of their prey. This was just picked clean, the bones left to rot in the sun."
"Eew," Jodi said. "Thanks for the nightmares, Burt."
Burt frowned at her, but continued. "Fact: They travel in straight line. Coyotes move more side-by-side."
"Ants!" Kylie suggested.
They all turned to her.
"Ants don't swarm," Burt pointed out slowly, his mind already on the possibility.
"Sure they do," Kylie said. "Toss a french fry on the ground and see how fast they swarm."
Burt pursed his lips, considering. "It's possible."
Kylie ticked the points off on her fingers. "Ants have six legs, a jointed carapace, they use antenna to communicate with each other, they'll attack in a swarm if they come across prey that's not already dead, they don't eat bones, and they take all their food back to the nest. And, they always travel in a straight line because that's how they leave a trail for each other. No ant is ever lost!"
"How do you know so much about ants?" Tyler asked.
"I used to be fascinated with them when I was little."
Tyler looked down at her and where she sat next to him, feet dangling, then up to Burt on her other side. "You're still little."
"And you're a bit too hairy to be natural, Cowboy," she said poking an elbow in his stomach. "Maybe we should get this Cletus to see what all your DNA is mixed with."
"Let's get back on track, shall we?" Burt said, breaking in on the byplay. "Ants are a very real possibility," he continued. "There were several mounds of dirt piled up around the entrance to that cave. Not nearly as much as there would be for a coyote-sized ant colony, but some. They may be digging like ants would, but they're definitely also making use of existing cave systems as coyotes would. That could work in our favor."
Everyone watched him, while he mentally considered and discarded possibilities. "One thing about ants - where there's one, there's many." He looked at the gun he carried. "We'll need more ammo. There had to be two or three dozen in that cave."
"How many could there be?" Tyler asked, turning to Kylie.
Her eyes went wide. "How should I know?"
"You're the new ant expert."
She looked up at Burt, who was watching her expectantly too. "Well, a queen ant lays hundreds of eggs."
Tyler groaned. "How are we going to stop hundreds of these things?"
"I don't think I have enough ammo," Burt commented.
Tyler and Burt turned again to Kylie.
Her mouth opened in an "O" of resentment before she frowned in thought. "I used to drown them..."
Burt sighed, exasperated. "May I remind you that this is the desert?"
"I don't kill things," Kylie said. "You're the monster guy."
"We used to blow 'em up," Tyler said. Everyone turned to him. "When we found a big mound of them. Just pour some gasoline in the holes, wait a few minutes, then light it off. Makes for a hell of an explosion."
"We could use explosives on that cave..." Burt mused.
"Gotta watch them when they come steaming out the holes you didn't fill with gas, though," Tyler pointed out.
"There could be dozens of entrances," Burt agreed. He wasn't happy.
Later, they'd gathered around Burt where he sat at one of the tables drawing lines on a map. "We'll need to find all the entrances," he was saying. "We'll team up. Each team will take one load of explosives. When you find an entrance to the colony, destroy it. Once we have them trapped, we can take them out."
"Take them out with what?" Nancy asked.
He looked at her. "You let me worry about that."
Harlowe walked in, carrying a box. "I've got everything you asked for," he told Burt.
Burt nodded and looked to Jodi. "You get your list?"
She nodded. "Mothballs, salt, all the rest... It's all right here." She indicated the jumble of contents on the counter.
"Good," he said. "Now we'll have a class in making homemade explosives."
Later, they were ready. Four boxes of homemade bombs sat on the table nearest the door, and Burt was handing out maps. "Harlowe, you take Rosalita in your truck. Take the south quadrant."
Nancy took a map from him. "Kylie and I can take my van."
Burt frowned at her. "And put you two new age nuts in the same place? I think not. Besides, your van won't make it over the terrain." He took the map from her and handed it to Jodi, then gave Nancy a box. "Take Jodi's truck. I trust you have a lighter?"
He ignored her protests and turned to Tyler. "Take Kylie." He handed a map to him. "And keep an eye on her."
"She'll be in the jeep Burt," Tyler griped.
"Remember people," Burt announced. "Those are bombs you're carrying. Treat them gently. Stay in your vehicles. These things can move fast, and they're fierce, so you won't get more than one chance to make a mistake. Once we get the entrances closed, we'll meet back here."
"What are you going to be doing?" Nancy asked.
Burt picked up the last box, heavier than the others. "I have a little surprise I'll be setting up for them."
Everyone filled out, Kylie in the rear. Burt stopped her at the door. "Stay in the car," he told her.
Her eyes widened. "I heard you."