BooksBarbecue
Back The Nest
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

“There are tunnels around Dickens Rocks!” It was Elizabeth, who had obviously been listening at the kitchen door. Excitedly, she said, “If you’re going, I’m coming. I know those woods better than any of you!” Behind her, Bonnie blurted, “Hey, you aren’t leaving me here alone with these cockroaches!” She grabbed her own raincoat and followed Elizabeth who was getting into her gear as the men started out of the laboratory.

Amos Tarbell held back a moment. He had been tempted to advise a delay. Everyone was strained and exhausted, physically and emotionally. But old Elias was right again. Now more than ever they all wanted and needed to get after the sons of bitches. The sheriff shook his fist at the jars of brown, skittering insects lining the laboratory shelves. The roaches seemed to be staring at him with eyes as malignant as his. “Gonna get every one of you miserable damnations!” he pledged in a spasm of frustration. Tight-­mouthed, he silently pledged that by the time he and his friends were done there would be no nest of the demon marauders left on Yarkie to plunder its children or anyone else ever again.

When the humans left the laboratory, the roach antennae went into a paroxysm, flailing and curving in what could only be a frenzy of attempted communication.

2

TWO

The fire above Dickens Beach had burned away the leaves in the forest, and it was easy to clear the ashes off the trails with a scuff of a boot. The Task Force split into groups. Elizabeth and Bonnie went with Peter Hubbard, Wanda Lindstrom, and Elias Johnson. Craig Soaras was following Amos Tarbell and Ben Dorset, while Russell Homer brought up their rear. They went through the charred woods alertly, but nothing moved. Hubbard was right. The roaches were burned to gray powder indistinguish­able from the ashes of the leaves and branches.

Or they were in total hiding.

Once again the forest closed around a weird-looking procession. Where Amos, Ben, and Russell had worn yellow oilskins when they set the rabbit trap, these figures were in body-­hugging diving suits. They seemed swimmers slowly advancing in an underwater grotto, heads turning constantly, on the lookout for shark shadows. They had to be careful not only of possible roach attackers, but of smoldering embers that lay beneath the ashes. The rain had been welcome, but the storm had blown the heaviest clouds off without a real local soaking. Fire could still explode.

Like a diver, Elizabeth tapped Hubbard’s rubber shoulder, and pointed away from the track he was entering. Despite the somberness of their mission, the man nearly smiled at the picture she made. Beneath the diving goggles, the woman’s lovely lips were moving like a fish’s as she spoke. “I remember when I was a kid, there was an open ditch along here.” She indicated the direction of the dump.