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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

The boy dropped his own body over his sister’s, trying to shield her. The bloodthirsty insects crawled between them, now tearing and ripping at both juvenile bodies. Kim’s silken corn hair was ropy with her blood and her brother’s. Their empty-­socketed eyes stared at each other face to frail face as they perished in this storm more hor­rible than the sea had ever hurled at Yarkie.

It was not a field of battle, only a rapine slaughter of innocents, because there had been no way to fight back.

4

FOUR

Reed Brockshaw screeched to a stop on High Ridge Road near the path to Dickens Point. There was no sound except the thundering storm, but the man imagined he could hear his children entreating him for help. From his car, he grabbed a handful of the flares he had taken from the lighthouse and made for the trees. Running as fast as he could, he tried to tell himself there was no serious danger. The Tub would be managed safely, one way or another. As for Tarbell’s warnings of man-­eating roaches in the woods, well, Amos had to be exaggerating. Anyway, if any of those insects came at him, he’d teach them a hot lesson.

The man slowed to catch his breath. He didn’t want to get too winded. The climb was rougher than he remembered—well, he hadn’t been this way since high school days. The leaves had certainly lumped up all around. The going was hard, almost like plowing through deep snow.

Why did he have a feeling as if animals were watching him come?

The brittle leaves. The sound of the leaves. What had the fellows told of their search for Sharky at the picnic grove? Those demon roaches had come out of the leaves, heading for the rabbit in the trap. Heading for the men themselves. All three of them wouldn’t be blowing it up. Brockshaw halted. He might as well take heed. Stop, look, listen. And make sure of the flares. As Amos had said, they were pretty damn stale.

The man looked around, and saw nothing but the trees bending and shaking in what was now a full, howling gale. He listened harder, and heard nothing but echoing thunder rolling itself out in space over the sea. He could not see the ocean from the forest, but this sailor knew in his every breath how the storm would look and sound, and how it would frighten even Yarkie children, on the water.