The Intruders by Brian Pinkerton

Author:Brian Pinkerton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror books; flame tree press; creepy stories; dystopia world; cyberpunk fiction;supernatural
Publisher: Flame Tree Publishing
Published: 2023-02-21T13:24:02+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

As soon as the screaming started – multiple, tangled screams from a man, woman and boy – Greg pushed his way out of the cornfield and rushed toward the house. The sounds were so horrific he couldn’t remain still.

He ran across the lawn, feet pounding the grass, until he reached a tattered screen door. He threw it open, twisted the knob on the interior door and pushed.

He entered chaos.

The first person he saw was unidentifiable because they were coated from head to toe with clinging, black insects, obscuring flesh and clothing. It looked like they had been dipped in tar. The wobbly individual remained on two feet – just barely – digging frantically at their face with clawed hands. The only exposed humanity consisted of two horrified, enlarged eyes and an open mouth that screamed with the kind of agony reserved for severe burn victims or worse.

Greg instinctively reached out to the figure but only grasped air as the victim collapsed to the ground – alongside another fallen person buried under a frenzy of burrowing bugs. This second individual had moments of clothing briefly revealed – a blue floral pattern, a dress – the wife.

The cries coming from another part of the house sounded like a teenage boy.

Greg didn’t have to run to him. The boy came staggering into the room, blindly, engulfed in a quivering mass of winged vermin. He knocked over a small table and lamp and crashed to the floor. The impact of his fall loosened some of the bugs back into the open air.

Greg’s moment of paralysis ended as he witnessed several stray insects flutter in his direction. He let out his own scream and dashed back to the door.

As he emerged from the house, he nearly knocked over Zeke and Susan, who had caught up with him but not yet stepped inside.

He gave them a single, direct order: “Run!”

They didn’t wait to ask questions.

Greg ran as fast as he could around the farmhouse and back toward Susan’s car, which was parked a little ways down the road.

Susan followed close behind. Zeke huffed and puffed several paces slower, weighed down by his backpack and his own personal bulk.

Greg allowed himself one quick glance back – and his worst suspicions were confirmed.

A swarm of bugs was coming after them, moving at a steady pace.

“Don’t slow down!” hollered Greg.

He reached Susan’s Hyundai and opened a series of doors for himself, Susan and Zeke. He waved at the other two frantically.

Susan arrived, jumped behind the wheel and slammed her door shut.

Zeke was still chugging down the center of the road, red faced and gripping the straps of his backpack. His green cap flew off his head.

The swarm was catching up with him.

“C’mon!” screamed Greg.

Zeke made it to the car and dived into the backseat, legs dangling. Greg shoved the rest of him inside and shut the door. Then he jumped into the front passenger seat.

He closed his door just as the first few insects smacked against the window.

“Check the windows, close the vents!” Greg shouted.

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