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Back The Nest Save as PDF
Chapters (82)
  1. Cover
  2. Copyright page
  3. Introduction by Will Errickson
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. TREMORS
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. SUSPICIONS
  13. 1
  14. 2
  15. 3
  16. 4
  17. 5
  18. DREAD
  19. 1
  20. 2
  21. 3
  22. 4
  23. 5
  24. 6
  25. WITNESS
  26. 1
  27. 2
  28. 3
  29. ALERT
  30. 1
  31. 2
  32. 3
  33. 4
  34. 5
  35. ENCOUNTER
  36. 1
  37. 2
  38. 3
  39. 4
  40. 5
  41. 6
  42. HAVOC
  43. 1
  44. 2
  45. 3
  46. 4
  47. 5
  48. 6
  49. SEARCH
  50. 1
  51. 2
  52. 3
  53. 4
  54. 5
  55. CLASH
  56. 1
  57. 2
  58. 3
  59. 4
  60. 5
  61. 6
  62. 7
  63. COUNTERATTACK
  64. 1
  65. 2
  66. 3
  67. 4
  68. 5
  69. 6
  70. 7
  71. VICTORY
  72. 1
  73. 2
  74. 3
  75. 4
  76. 5
  77. 6
  78. 7
  79. 8
  80. 9
  81. EPILOGUE
  82. About the Author

He drove off with a last, grimacing glance at the large circular stain the huge cockroach had made. Good! He swore. No stinking lousy cockroaches were going to beat people, no matter how damn smart or “mutated” or whatever else the hell those miserable bugs thought they were! Craig would be bringing the dry-­ice extinguishers soon, and they’d sweep the woods with all of Yarkie’s volunteer firemen. They’d find the nest and destroy it before this day was over!

To his horror, Amos Tarbell felt a stab of pain on the calf of his leg. “What the hell!” he snorted. He jammed on the brakes, flung the door open and yanked up his trouser leg. There, like a leech, was a great roach clinging to his skin and sucking his blood. With a snarl, the sheriff plucked it off and flung it as far as he could—but immediately sorry. He should have stomped it, like the other one, instead of letting it live to attack someone else!

The thought came to him that it might be even more important than anyone had thought to get to the Laidlaws fast. Tarbell started to swing into the driver’s seat, but stopped. His keen eyes searched the car interior. There had been one scurvy bastard waiting to ambush him. You couldn’t take any chances with these sly bugs. You had to be as careful as they were cunning!

The man saw nothing now. The two roaches had probably been just stays, after all. He waited a moment, searching again, then got in the car warily, and drove off. But his eyes kept sweeping the interior, so that he almost slammed into the big elm tree where the road curved to the Laidlaw place.

4

FOUR

Russell Homer landed on the dump beach sooner and harder than he had intended. A surge of wind and twist of wave had caught his boat and spun it around like a cork, literally catapulting it out of the sea onto the sand. It landed a long way above the water line. Homer hopped out, unhurt, but worried that the impact might have sprung the boards. He didn’t see how he was going to launch the boat again by himself, and feared that even if he could, the riptide he now saw running would capsize him in a second.

But he had to try to keep his pledge, no matter how difficult or dangerous. Without further thought, Homer grabbed the metal can and shovel he had prepared in the boat. His eyes fell on his old jalopy, but his heart dropped again. No help as a way out. The automobile was on the other side of the dump, and with the cockroaches and rats still in the heap, he’d never make it across alive.