Chapters (45)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Prologue
- 2046
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- About the Author
Movement catches Ben’s eye. Sunlight glinting off something that dazzles for a split second. He turns to see rays of lights penetrating the canopy, glinting on the golden strands of a web that hold the objects he thought were caught in mid-air, and as he sees the web so he grasps the shape of the insects and makes out a dozen or more dragonflies caught and trapped. Another step is taken in the undergrowth. The tension mounts. A screech overhead and tiny scuttling sounds of insects moving with claws scraping rough on the tree bark and the dragonflies buzzing in panic at being trapped. Everything feels so close now.
Movement again, but this time from a spider that abseils down on a strand of web to hang with eight segmented, sharply angled legs hanging in perfect symmetry from a bulbous body the size of a closed fist.
A grunt from Harry, who takes an involuntary step back at seeing the spider dangling near the web. His knuckles turn white on the rifle and a look of pure hatred morphs his normally genial face. Another step from the undergrowth as Safa catches sight of the spider. They turn about. Scanning and peering into the shadows all around. Scuttling from a bush nearby and they lock eyes on the undergrowth as the new noise joins the steps being taken and all the time the dragonflies buzz with increasing pitch while frantically fighting to get free from the sticky strands.
‘SHIT,’ Harry booms with a voice bordering on panic. He starts backing up with a look of fear as Safa and Ben glance round to see another spider coming from the bush making that scuttling, dragging noise. As it pushes through so they get a glimpse behind it of strands of web snaked over the ground and a hole the size of an entrance to a badger set. This thing is enormous. From a nightmare with a black body covered in stubbly hair and nasty-looking pincers at the front that waggle up and down. The back end is brown and striated with lines that look like veins bulging from the skin. Spiders don’t normally bother Ben, but this thing does and something about it sends a signal to his brain that screams to either kill it or run away as fast possible, but instead, like a fool, he remains rooted to the spot next to Safa. They watch as the monster goes across the ground to the base of a tree and starts climbing with wickedly sharp claws that dig into the bark. It climbs quickly too, getting faster as it aims for the web holding the dragonflies. The dangling spider carries on dropping to the highest trapped insect until it lands deftly on its own web and digs its pincers into the creature, injecting venom that liquidises the insides.