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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

Even before she had perished, swift scout roaches were off to the Great Nest to signal another capture of the new prey the Colony now voraciously sought. Having partaken of human meat and drunk human blood, the new cockroach breed was ravenous for more. No longer would they eat of the dump’s garbage or of Yarkie rat carcasses, or the vegetation, or other Yarkie animals. They could not get enough of the human taste and would seek it endlessly, implacably, and with many more victories.

Meantime, there was peace and contentment all around the Dome. Only the Warrior Guard roaches surrounding the center were in motion, and even they moved listlessly. All were well-­fed, and there were no alarm signals of any kind coming into the Nest.

A few of the drab females were laying their egg sacs. This could be a time of delicate balance. When eggs were deposited in a disturbance, the mothers would almost certainly eat them. But in the quietude reigning now there was no cannibalism. The paludal, marsh-­like odor made a kind of comforting atmospheric blanket for all, young roach and old.

“Cozy” was the anthropomorphic word humans would use to describe the insect home. The mood extended even to the many bands of roaches still out in pockets through the Yarkie forest—roaches not summoned back. These had made comfortable waiting places in their own camps, from which they could respond at a moment’s signal—chemical or physical—in rampaging hordes.

6

SIX

Stephen Scott couldn’t help laughing aloud as he drove home after dropping Tom and Deirdre Laidlaw at the house they rented on High Ridge a mile before the Tintons. It was a sign of his party’s success, he supposed, that they were playing this game of automobile chairs. First, Harvey had left half-­smashed, taking the Tinton car. Then his wife, Blanche, borrowed the Laidlaw jeep to drive home and check on Harvey. She wasn’t back when the party broke up, so it fell to Scott to drive the Laidlaws in his Cadillac. They’d get their jeep from the Tintons the next day.

Scott was humming in a satisfied way. Both Tinton and Tom Laidlaw had shaken hands with him on a new deal he planned near Chatham. Yarkie’s possibilities had been just about exhausted, he figured. The way to stay young was to plan ahead. Meantime, the marina here had better pay off or he’d be the laughing stock from Buzzard’s Bay to Provincetown.

Everything would turn out all right, Scott assured himself, including this creepy business out at the dump. They should have stayed with the old poisons, but Big Brother had to keep meddling. Damn Boston, damn Washington! Yarkie could manage its own affairs without those knuckle­heads, batterbrains, and blowhards.