Them-2 - Chapter 8

Chapter Eight – Near Bowling Green, Kentucky, USA



Billy searched through the shed for the third time. He was looking for his old hunting boots, the waterproof boots he used when hunting in the spring. Although the terrain around his trailer was dry most of the year, in March and April there was still a lot of runoff water and his favorite hunting area was usually soaked in mud.

“Damn!” he spat, downing another swig of the cold beer he drank like water. “Lou Ann you seen my damn huntin’ boots!”

His wife Lou Ann was sitting on the four by eight deck he’d built at the front door of their mobile home. Their three-year-old son Billy Boy was near her. The deck was only a year old but Billy had never gotten around to waterproofing it and it was already starting to collapse.

“You know I don’t never touch your things,” Lou Ann replied. Lou Ann was in her late teens and married Billy while still in high school. Behind the scraggly hair and dirt, she was an attractive woman with bright blue eyes and a pouting mouth. However, like Billy she had gravitated toward alcohol and spent a lot of her waking hours in an alcoholic dreamland.

“You got that honey I asked for?” Billy snarled.

“Don’t got no honey, honey, but we have a full can of Karo syrup. I done told you old man Wiggins won’t give us no more credit down at the store.”

“S’all right,” Billy grunted. “Them black bears are partial to Karo too. Heck, they’ll follow the scent of anything that’s sweet smelling.”

“Damn!” Lou Ann blurted. “Billy Boy done knocked the Karo can over.” She slowly got out of her plastic chair and righted the can. She used her hands to scoop up most of the syrup and put it back into the container. Billy Boy was licking the tasty syrup off his hands. She recovered most of the sticky syrup and Billy Boy rolled over on his stomach and started licking the deck.

“Ain’t that cute?” Billy smiled, watching the youngster lapping up the syrup. “He looks like a little lion cub. Don’t worry bout supper,” he continued. “Me an Josh gonna put out some night traps. Can’t do it during the day, too damn many hikers roaming the woods. That old fart Wiggins will reopen our credit when I give him a black bear hide to sell. Heard tell they’re fetching a pretty penny these days.”

“What me and Billy Boy gonna eat?”

“Run over to you momma’s house. They always got extra.”

“Where you hunting at this time Billy? Skeeter Davis done said the possum police are out to get you.”

“Skeeter don’t know squat!” Billy blurted. “Take more than a bunch of dumb game wardens to catch old Billy Rangle. We’re only gonna be a few miles up the road anyway. Josh found a lot of bear tracks not far from here.”

Billy took the time to throw the last two six packs of beer in the seat next to him, then spun out onto the gravel road. Lou Ann smiled and walked down the rickety steps of the deck and crawled underneath it. She had her own supply of beer stashed there as well as an emergency pint of Jim Beam. She never touched Billy’s vodka or other beer he thought he’d hidden from her.

Billy met Josh a few miles from his trailer. They pulled down an overgrown logging road and parked their pickup trucks, thinking perhaps the wildlife officers wouldn’t spot them and get too curious. They had both been warned by the local Justice of the Peace that if they were caught hunting out of season again, their hunting privileges would be revoked for good and they might even get jail time.

Josh was Billy’s best friend in high school. They both graduated, but barely. Should the truth be known, they were promoted due to their football skills and their high school had a winning team each season. Josh was shorter than Billy, on the skinny side, with a lock of dirty blond hair. He was not known for his hygiene and he had recently started experimenting with illegal drugs, especially meth.

Half a mile from their trucks they set the first trap. They had four traps, the number 15 bear trap with offset jaws. They were heavy traps, just over 25 pounds, but not monstrous like the number 16. All four were won by Billy in a card game and put to good use over the past few years. After he set the trap and anchored it to a sturdy sweet gum tree, he poured a small amount of the Karo syrup on it.

They repeated this process until all four traps were set, then they walked half a mile up the side of a small hill to an old deer stand, which they used to good advantage during regular hunting season. They never hunted out of season at this particular stand because they knew the game wardens were aware of its location.

Near midnight, with the beer and cigarettes gone, Billy became bored. They had heard nothing from the traps. They knew from experience that if they caught a bear it would make a roaring fuss and wake up the entire woods for miles around. He was just about to suggest they head for home and return in the morning for the traps, when a loud snapping noise broke the prevailing silence.

“Got one!” Billy yelled, grabbing his hunting rifle and reaching for the stairs to the deer stand. They descended the metal stairs like firemen rushing to a call and headed in the direction of the noise.



***



She was surprised by the loud noise and sudden intense pain in her leg. Something had clamped down hard on her right front leg and scraped it raw. She quickly pulled her leg away only to discover that it was bound to the cold painful object. Instinctively, she released a new pheromone to signal to her sisters that she needed help.

This was her first foray into the outer world for food. She and sixty of her sisters had hatched a few days ago. They were among the first of over four hundred. It was unusual for a member as young as her to go foraging, however, the nest was desperate for food and the queen mother chose a score of the newly hatched to become foragers. The food they returned with would help to feed those left behind to attend to the eggs and the queen mother. Eventually, hundreds of her sisters, along with their soldier protectors would range far and wide in search of food.

She jerked the object and felt it snap loose. She was free but the annoying object was still attached to her leg. She felt a rustling vibration coming in her direction. The scent told her that the approaching creatures were edible. She shivered in hunger and anticipation.



***



Billy was ten feet in front of Josh. They had to retrieve the bear, kill it, skin it and hide the carcass in the thick brush for the scavengers to finish. This had to be done quickly in case one of the game wardens happened to be in the vicinity. It was a shame to waste good bear meat, but they did not have the strength to carry it to their trucks.

As he broke into the small clearing where their last trap had been set, he stopped abruptly so that Josh almost ran into him. He pulled out his flashlight and aimed it in the direction of the large object weaving back and forth on the trail.

They froze, terrified of the sight before them. Instead of a black bear, a monstrous size ant reared its menacing head up, the deadly sword like mandibles opening and closing in a menacing manner.

“Run!” Billy screamed, dashing off through the thick undergrowth. He did not realize, nor did he care, that Josh was too terrified to move.



***



She moved in rapidly for the kill. The creature was smaller than she was, but not by much. She was surprised that the creature did not put up a fight as she closed in with her mandibles. A few quick slashes and the animal fell to the ground, a rich crimson fountain of juice spurting from it. She turned to locate the second creature. She could sense its movement through the thick underbrush. It was slowly moving away from her. The creature left such a strong scent she knew that she would have no trouble following it.

She turned to lap up the delicious liquid feast. Within minutes, two of her sisters joined her, having smelled her pheromone call. It took them less than fifteen minutes to dismember, chew and drink the life juices of her kill. By then, two more of her sisters had joined them.

She reached down to remove the object from her leg. A different taste assaulted her senses. It was wonderfully sweet. She moved around and could smell it along the direction the retreating animal had fled. She signaled for her sisters to follow and moved down the rich smelling trail.



***



Billy was breathing hard and was exhausted from the difficult run. He was in full panic mode. His rifle and heavy jacket was the first to go, discarded somewhere in the deep thickets. He was angling for the location of his truck but knew that he had missed it. Instead, he broke out onto the dark gravel road. Instinct told him to head right and he moved off at a loping run, his heart beating hard and steady, snot dribbling down his shirt front.

Within half an hour the lights of his trailer came into view. He relaxed a bit but still walked at a brisk pace. As he burst through the door, Lou Ann yelled and jumped up from her usual position in front of the television.

“Damn Billy, you scared the crap out of me!”

Billy walked over to the cabinet above the refrigerator and pulled out a half empty bottle of vodka. He took a long chug from the bottle then followed it with a second pull.

“I didn’t hear your truck?” Lou Ann questioned. “Don’t tell me you wrecked it?”

Billy shook his head and took yet another swig of the vodka. “You’re not gonna believe me Lou Ann, but we just saw a monster out there tonight.”

“Where’s Josh?”

Billy looked around as if he was trying to remember something. His eyes got larger and he slumped down on the floor next to the refrigerator holding the bottle of vodka in his hand. He couldn’t answer her question because he was too frightened to answer it.

“Has something happened to Josh?” Lou Ann demanded. She stood and walked over to Billy and squatted down in front of him. Before she could adjust her balance, something banged into the trailer hard enough to make her flop down on her behind.

“What in hell was that?” she yelled, scrambling to get back to her feet.

Billy’s eyes expanded and he started swaying with a terrified moan coming from his throat. He reached out to prevent her from going to the door, but everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

Lou Ann pushed the front door open and stuck her head out to see what had struck the trailer. Half on and half off the small deck were two gigantic ants. They were licking at the spot where Billy Boy had spilled the Karo syrup. She screamed and slammed the door and backed into the room.

She heard one of the bedroom windows break and rushed down the narrow hall to Billy Boy’s room. She was terrified and shaking like a vibrator. She grabbed Billy Boy from his crib bed and headed back out into the hallway. She had to get away.

Half way back to the living room she felt the trailer shake again and it felt like it was going to turn over. She screamed as the wall near the living room window ripped out and a giant armored head poked through. She fell to the floor and watched as more of the wall was ripped out.

Suddenly, one of the giant ants was in the room, it’s fearsome jaws opening and closing. It moved in the direction where Billy sat on the floor against the refrigerator. Lou Ann was too terrified to move or even to make a sound. The creature rushed at Billy and suddenly stopped and started licking his boots. She gazed in fear and noticed the smile on Billy’s face. Moments later, the beast raised its ugly head and within seconds one of his arms and his head was severed from his body, bright crimson blood spewing everywhere.

A second ant followed the first one through the ragged gap. It turned and moved in her direction. Lou Ann threw her arm up to fend off the terrifying creature. The sharp mandibles slashed through her arm as if it wasn’t even there, then grabbed Billy Boy from her grasp. She watched in horror as the monster slashed her boy into bloody pieces of meat. She passed out from loss of blood before the creature turned back to her.