by Shadoe Masters
"Stop!" Nancy whispered, grabbing Kylie's arm to draw her to a halt. Nancy's wrist seismo went off but Kylie hadn't had a chance to put hers on that morning.
They'd just opened the doors and were getting ready for their second assault on the creatures when El Blanco arrived. They were safe, protected by the garage's thick cement floor, but they didn't want to attract the graboid's attention. The women froze, waiting for the giant worm to pass through town.
But he didn't.
It circled, then suddenly burst from the ground, just north of the town's water tower, one of the underground beetles in his jaw.
The women exchanged smiles.
The graboid ate slowly, waving back and forth as he devoured the creature bite by bite.
"You know," Kylie whispered, "now that I can see it in the full light of day, it looks like a giant limp dick."
Nancy put her forehead in her hand and shook her head while Rosalita giggled.
Kylie turns to the older woman. "But it does! See?"
"No," said Nancy. She put her hands over her ears.
"It does," Kylie muttered to Jodi.
Jodi considered, watching as El Blanco slowly slipped into the ground. "I never noticed that before," she said at last, "but I think you're right.
Nancy rolled her eyes. "Don't you start too."
While they watched and waited silently, the graboid circled under the town. Then a puff of dust came from the front of Chang's as El Blanco devoured another of the monsters. He didn't bother surfacing for this one, just continued on to the next, just beyond the pile of rusted out construction equipment next to Tyler's garage. They could track the giant worm by following the clouds of airborne dirt it left behind while eating.
The women exchanged a smile. "Maybe El Blanco will take care of our problem for us," Rosalita suggested.
"We can hope," Nancy replied.
But El Blanco wasn't very hungry that day. He finished one more and disappeared as suddenly as he'd arrived.
"Back to the firebombs," Jodi said.
"Why?" Rosalita said. "They're not doing any good."
"They could," Nancy said, considering. "Their shell is tough, but the underside seems vulnerable. If you could hit them all, say, right at their feet."
Kylie raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Have you seen us throw? We're not all that accurate as it is."
"I know it's not the best plan," Nancy replied," but right now it's all we've got.
"Wait..." Kylie said, a thoughtful frown on her face. "I've got an idea..." Kylie went back to their pile of supplies. She didn't find what she was looking for there, but something in Burt's survival kit caught her attention, and a box of nails from one of the tables lining the walls completed her search.
"I think we've got a gun," she announced.
"A gun?" Rosalita said. "There's a gun in the first aid kit?"
"No," Kylie explained. "I just remembered some things Burt was telling me once, and, added to our firebombs, I think we have a plan."
"And this plan is...?" Nancy wanted to know.
Kylie grinned. "The firebombs just need an upgrade. That's what these are for." She held up a vial and the box of nails. "These," she said, indicating the vial, "are chlorine tablets. Useful for sterilizing water, but, mixed with the gasoline, they become highly explosive."
"And the nails?" Jodi prompted.
"Bullets!" Kylie explained. "All you need for a gun is a projectile and some kind of explosive charge to fire it with. We have an explosive charge, and we have a projectile! With a slight modification to our current system, we don't have to worry about a direct hit."
"I still don't get it," Rosalita said.
But Nancy was nodding. "I think I do. Let's get to work."
Quickly, they gathered the firebombs they'd already made and took out the rags. "We'll need some clean rags to keep the gas away from the chlorine," Kylie said. "They'll explode once the two mix - and we don't want that happening until they're far away from us."
They looked around. Most of the rags they'd found were already soaked with gas, oil, and dirt.
Jodi smirked. "I've got just the thing." She went to Tyler's couch and gathered up an armful of dirty t-shirts.
"He's going to kill you when he gets back," Kylie said, taking one and tearing it into small rags.
"He won't have as much to clean up," Jodi replied, her voice saccharine-sweet. "I'm doing him a favor."
"Besides," Rosalita added, "we are in danger. We must protect ourselves. We have to do what we can--"
"--with what we've got," they all finished in unison.
They dropped a small handful of nails into each bottle and stuffed the necks with the torn t-shirt material, then carried them all toward the doors.
"We'll have to be quick," Kylie warned them. "Throw and duck. The farther they are away, the better."
The other women nodded, and once they were ready, they opened the doors.
Several of the beetles were milling around in front of Chang's, probably trying to figure out what had happened to their fellows that El Blanco had gotten. They heard the doors slide open, though, and started scurrying toward the garage.
Kylie and Rosalita waited, bottle poised in one hand, chlorine tablet in the other, ready for just the right moment.
"Now," Kylie said.
Each stuffed a tablet into their bottle and threw, then Nancy and Jodi slammed the doors as they dove back inside.
There were two loud explosions and suddenly the metal walls of the garage rang as the nails slammed into them. The window in one of the doors shattered, raining shards of broken glass over them as they ducked away, suddenly hoping the shelter of the metal walls would be enough.
When the rain of nails stopped, Nancy looked out the broken window. "I think we did it!" she cried.
The women crowded around to see, Kylie picking her way very carefully through the glass with her bare feet.
In the street, where there had once been four very dangerous creatures, now held only shredded and bloody remains.
"Now we just lure the rest of them out," Kylie said.
Making as much noise as possible, they slid the garage doors open twice more, tossing their new explosives with deadly accuracy.
"How are we going to know when we've got them all?" Jodi asked as they regrouped between attacks.
"I suppose we could poke a stick into those holes," Nancy suggested.
"Then what?" Kylie asked. "Run if a monster comes out?"
On their next attack, Rosalita's bottle didn't travel quite far enough, and rolled into the depression directly in front of the garage. They waited, but it didn't explode. Cautiously, they gathered around the window to investigate.
"It's gone!" Rosalita said. "Where'd it go?"
"Maybe the--" Jodi began.
Her voice was drowned out by a muffled explosion nearby. Sand and creature body parts flew in the air as they dove for cover.
"What the hell was that?" Rosalita demanded.
"It ate our bomb!" Kylie cried with a grin.
"Why don't we roll those bombs in all the traps?" Nancy suggested eagerly.
"Exactly what I was thinking," Kylie replied. "At least as far as Jodi's truck. If we could get that far, we could drive out of here."
"How are we going to get the bombs into those traps all the way across the street?" Rosalita asked suspiciously.
"We'll... have to go over there, of course," Kylie said.
"I'm not going out there!" Jodi cried.
"No, no, no," Rosalita insisted. "No way. How are we going to protect ourselves from all the flying nails?"
"Hmmm... Good point," Kylie said, looking around the garage. "We're going to need a... shield of some type..."
The women started looking around the garage for useful materials.
"What about this table?" Rosalita asked, standing before one of the workbenches that ringed the main part of the garage. "The wood is about two inches thick. Is that enough?"
Nancy and Kylie exchanged a glance. "You're the expert on this," Kylie said.
"It should work better than the garage walls," Nancy said.
"And if the explosion happens inside the hole, the nails should go straight up," Kylie added.
"'Should' being the operative word here," Jodi pointed out.
"I don't see how we've got much choice," Nancy said. "It's either battle those things out there or stay trapped in here until someone notices we're missing. That's at least until Tuesday when the phone lines get repaired."
Unhappily, they all agreed.
"Okay kids, we need a plan," Nancy said, already crossing the room to gather up materials. "We have to figure out who moves the table, who throws the bombs--"
"And how to haul all these gas-filled beer bottles," Jodi finished.
In the end, they rigged up a sled from an abandoned car hood and a series of fan belts discarded among the rubble in the garage. Nancy and Rosalita took up stations moving the table, while Jodi pulled the sled of beer bottles along behind. The swords they kept on the sled, just in case. Wearing an old pair of Tyler's boots with leftover shredded t-shirt stuffed in the toes, Kylie was assigned to throwing bottles.
They quickly developed a rhythm: Slowly creep up on a trap, hide safely behind the table shield, wait for Kylie to drop a chlorine tablet into the bottle and hurl it as hard as she dared into the trap, ducking back behind table just in time, then wait for the explosion
It took less than half an hour to clean out the area around the garage. And only once did they have to deal with monsters outside their traps. But with a bit of cooperation in quickly moving the heavy shield, they managed to take those out too.
They also took out the side of the tour jeep.
"Tyler's going to be mad," Jodi commented as they surveyed the holes the most recent nailbomb had made in his tires and most of the side.
Kylie didn't waste time worrying about Tyler, though. She jumped into truck and pounced on the glove compartment. "Yes!" she shouted, pulling out Tyler's revolver. "And a full box of bullets!"
She found it none too soon, though. The beetles who'd taken up residence around Nancy's were attracted by the noise and commotion. They headed eagerly toward the women.
"Not this time!" Kylie shouted, taking aim. Straddling the two front seats, she got three of them, then realized the futility of trying to get them all. "Get the shield ready!"
The others were way ahead of her. It was in place, and by the time she'd scrambled out of the jeep, Jodi was handing her a bottle. Two well-aimed missiles took care of the advancing creatures.
And the tour jeep. Now both sides were riddled with holes.
"So far, so good, though," Rosalita pointed out. The area was clear around the garage, and they could concentrate on the area around Chang's.
Navigating around empty traps, nails, and monster body parts, they moved quickly across the street and concentrated their efforts where they could do the most damage.
"Why aren't they coming out?" Jodi wondered, after they'd finished clearing the traps in front of the store and started moving toward the water tower, where Jodi's truck was parked.
"Maybe they're scared," Rosalita suggested.
"Or, maybe they're daylight creatures," Nancy said. "It's getting dark."
"And we need to hurry," Kylie said. "It's getting harder to figure out where the traps are. If this table falls in one, we'd never get it back out."
Spurred to activity, they crept up on the next trap, tossed a bomb, and ducked the flying debris and body parts. The next one wasn't far. Kylie threw the bomb, they ducked, and nails flew.
"No body parts," Rosalita commented.
"Must have been a dud," Kylie said. "Let's try that one."
The next one rained a satisfying amount of viscera on their shield.
"Aim for Jodi's truck," Nancy said, as they maneuvered the shield toward the store. "If we can get that far, we can get out of town."
"And hurry," Jodi said, as they shouldered the heavy table around. "We've got incoming!"
A half dozen of the creatures had spotted them and were coming their way from behind the store.
Once the shield was in place, Kylie let fly another missile into the midst of the creatures. Amid the very satisfying sound of nails puncturing hardened beetle shell, came the sound of glass breaking - and the whoosh of tires going abruptly flat.
"Uh-oh," Rosalita whispered.
They slowly peered around the shield, but they already knew what they'd find.
The near side tires on Jodi's red truck were both flat.
"I don't suppose you have two spares," Kylie asked.
"We wouldn't have time to change them if she did," Nancy said. "Not with all these beetles around."
Kylie looked longingly toward Nancy's house. "I suppose it's too late to change our plan and go for my Rover."
Nancy shook her head. "Too far into 'enemy territory,' and we're getting low on bottles."
"Then we'll get in the store and call for help," Rosalita said firmly.
Kylie nodded. "Jodi's got plenty of ammo in there. We could hold them off long enough."
Within an hour, they'd circled around Chang's, cleaning out traps as they went.
"We're almost out of bottles," Jodi informed them, after their latest success. "Only three more."
"And it's almost completely dark," Nancy added.
"Still a lot more traps," Kylie said with a sigh.
"I don't think we can do this all tonight," Nancy said. "At least we've cleared a path for whoever rescues us.
"Let's go call for help," Jodi said.
They started for the store, leaving their makeshift shield in place. But the job wasn't quite finished.
"Wait a minute!" Rosalita cried. "Look over there."
"Over there" was the wide open space between the store and Larry's trailer at the edge of town. There were perhaps half a dozen of the creatures. All headed their way.
"And look over at Nancy's," Jodi added. At least a dozen more.
"We've got to take those out," Kylie said. "If we don't, we'll never get enough time to secure the store before they attack.
"We've only got three bottles," Nancy said.
"Then we'll have to make them count." Kylie thought for a moment. "Look, if we break the bottles on the road between the two groups, that should get most of them. I can finish off what's left, as long as we don't get any new ones."
"We'll have to get them soon, so you'll have time," Nancy said.
"Throw them all at once," Rosalita said. "But hurry."
Kylie, Rosalita, and Nancy each took a bottle. "On the count of three," Kylie said. "And throw them high - give us a chance to duck." Everyone nodded. "Okay, one, two, three--"
The bottles arched up and out, and the women ducked out of sight.
"Hey," Jodi said, "what's that n--"
The bottles shattered on the pavement, exploding and sending nails and glass shards in every direction. Kylie got ready to aim for the survivors when they heard a most welcome sound.
Three hours on the road, and Burt was still telling himself he was a fool. He'd found nothing in the valley to indicate a disaster of any kind, and as he pulled around the tree line and saw the welcome lights of town, his first glance told him nothing had changed from that morning when he'd left.
Then something high in the air caught his eye. "What the hell?" he muttered under his breath.
He realized what they meant just seconds before they hit the pavement. He swerved off the road, throwing himself into the dubious protection of his truck body.
Three explosions rocked the street where he would have been, followed quickly by a rapid volley of something - not bullets, something smaller - slamming into the sides of his truck. He was thankful his reflexes told him to duck. He reached behind the seat for his rifle. He didn't know what he was up against, but he was sure he'd need the rifle to fight it. When everything was quiet, he cautiously poked his head up to assess the situation.
He came face-to-face with a giant set of pincers.
They clacked once where his head had been, giving him all the justification he needed to fire. He put a bullet in the first one and the one that followed, turning the weapon to full auto to finish off the creatures who'd been shielded from the blast - obviously meant for them - by his truck. There were a few more heading for Chang's Market. He followed and finished them off, then surveyed the town, looking for more targets.
Kylie was running awkwardly toward him, half-dressed and wearing what looked like Tyler's boots. "No!" she shouted. "Stay on the pavement! They've made--"
The ground suddenly gave out from underneath him and he fell, going down into what looked like an enormous pit with something moving at the bottom. He twisted and fired three quick shots into whatever was at the bottom of the pit. It stopped moving.
Then Kylie was reaching in to haul him out of the pit.
He got to his feet and she was there, throwing herself into his arms. He clung just as tightly to her.
When Kylie pulled away, he reluctantly let her go, his face a mask of concern. "What--"
She smacked his shoulder. "What took you so long? I thought you were never going to rescue me!"
Stunned and still very much confused, Burt took a good look around the town, noting the damage in the dim light. Holes peppered vehicles and buildings, a very out of place workbench stood in the middle of the street, and the three other women of the town all had a battered, exhausted look. He realized his hands were still encircling Kylie's bare waist.
He thrust her away. "Just... go put some clothes on..." he muttered.
Kylie smiled. "You are so predictable, Burt," she said, then stretched up to plant a quick kiss on his cheek. "That's what I was trying to do when we were attacked this morning!"
"I knew something would go wrong. Didn't I tell you--"
"It's not our fault, Burt," Nancy said, just now reaching the pair. "We didn't plan all this."
"We were doing all right by ourselves, Burt Gummer," Rosalita added. "If you hadn't arrived, we'd be just fine."
"Fine? You call this fine?" Burt retorted.
"Well, we would have..."
Kylie took a moment to stand next to Jodi and watch the fighting.
"At least everything's back to normal," Jodi said.
Kylie nodded. Then she grinned at the scold Burt was getting from Nancy. He wouldn't put up with it long, she figured. As a matter of fact, probably right about now... "Three, two, one..."
Burt turned to her, his face a mask of desperation. "Are you going to get dressed so we can take care of these... beetles or am I on this one alone?"
Kylie allowed herself one short gurgle of laughter before turning to Jodi. "Can I borrow some clothes?" She looked down. "And shoes?" Jodi nodded and they headed back toward the store. "And I'll need a gun, Burt. My Kimber's trapped in 'enemy territory'." Burt took the opportunity to escape before Nancy could start up again. "I've got work to do," he said, and headed for his truck.
Nancy watched Burt gathering weapons and ammo out of his truck after changing into his tactical vest. "Now everything's back to normal," she said.