Mandibles (9 page)

*-CHAPTER SIXTEEN-*
Another gunshot.
Gary Youngman cried out as the bullet tore through his left thigh. Slash released his grip on the teenager and Gary dropped to the floor of the convenience store, clutching his bleeding leg.
Dustin wanted to make a move to escape from these psychos, but it was still too dangerous. At the very least, though, they all had to get away from the ants _and_ the panicked police gunfire.
"We have to go out the back way," he said, as ants rapidly poured in through the broken glass door. "There may be fewer cops there!"
Dustin half-expected to hear some sort of enraged comment about how he wasn't the one in charge here, but Hack immediately turned and dragged Louise toward the back of the store, as she desperately stretched her arms out toward her fallen son. Slash looked at the boy, at the broken door, and at the boy again. "What about the kid?"
"Leave him!" Hack said.
"_No_!" Louise wailed.
Slash pointed his revolver at Dustin. "You're mine, now," he said. "Get moving."
That wasn't something Dustin needed to be forced at gunpoint into doing. He followed Hack and Louise toward the back of the store. Though he felt absolutely sick to his stomach with guilt over leaving the boy wounded and bait for the ants, there wasn't anything he could do with a gun at his back, and he definitely didn't have time to try to convince Hack and Slash that it would be in their best interest to drag along a crippled hostage.
"What about the walk-in cooler?" asked Hack.
"Forget that," said Slash. "I'm not trapping myself anywhere."
Hack opened a door that said "Employees Only," then smacked Louise in the side of the head with the hand holding the gun as she made an attempt to break free and return to her son. "You wanna die with him?" he asked.
"Let me go, you -- " Another smack, this one quite a bit harder, silenced her.
The back area of the convenience store was a complete mess, filled with randomly strewn boxes and a desk that must have contained every piece of paperwork generated by the business for the past ten years. One door was clearly the walk-in cooler, the other said "Restroom" with a smaller sign that read "Please conserve toilet paper," and the third had a red "Exit" sign over it.
"_Yes_!" said Hack. "We're outta here."
Dustin cringed as he heard Gary howl in agony. He tried to make himself believe that it was just pain from the bullet in his leg. He didn't do a very good job.
Hack pushed open the exit door. Dustin briefly wondered why no police officers had come in this way to try to sneak up on the hostage situation, but then figured that you could only open it from the inside.
There were three cops out in the back of the convenience store, one of whom was lying facedown on the ground and covered with ants. Dustin assumed it was a cop, anyway. He couldn't see the police uniform, or lack of one, through the blanket of insects.
One of the cops looked away from the infestation long enough to notice them coming through the back door. "Don't move!" he shouted.
Hack shot him in the chest. Louise slammed her hands over her ears; the gun was fired about three inches from her head.
The other officer was busy wiping ants off his legs, but took a shot at Hack that missed, despite their being less than fifteen feet apart. Slash fired, missing as well. Two more shots were exchanged, with the officer's bullet going completely wild and Slash's bullet pounding into the officer's stomach. The cop doubled over, fell to the ground, and was immediately overtaken by the ants.
There was a police car about twenty feet away from them, the engine still running. The robbers and their hostages moved toward it.
"Please, you don't need me any more," Louise begged. "Let me go back to my son!"
"Shut up!" Hack shouted.
"_Please_!"
"You want a bullet in your mouth?"
Then Louise began to shriek. "_They're on me_!" A couple of ants ran up her leg and under her skirt. Dustin kicked away a few that were getting too close to him.
"Move!" Hack shouted, giving Louise a violent shove. She lost her balance and fell forward, throwing out her hands to break her fall. Several ants were on her in no time.
Hack started to reach for her, but pulled back as the ant swarm thickened. Louise began rolling around, trying in vain to get the ants off her body.
"Just leave her!" Slash said, jabbing Dustin in the back with the barrel of his gun to spur him on. They both ran for the police car.
"We need her for a hostage!" Hack insisted.
"Forget the hostages! We need to get the hell out of here!" Slash threw open the front passenger door of the squad car and poked Dustin with the gun barrel again. "Get in!"
Dustin got in the car, and Slash closely followed him, hurriedly slamming the door shut. Hack made a move as if he were going to kick Louise in the head, but then decided against it and rushed over to the car as well.
Hack got in the driver's side, pulled the door closed, and smashed his open palm against an ant that was crawling up his leg. "Any other ones in here?"
Slash used the heel of his shoe to crush an ant on the toe of his other shoe. "I don't think so."
"Well _look_!"
"Don't yell at me, you ignorant little moron. I'm not the one who shot the cashier and started this whole problem."
"Oh, yeah, that's right, I shot the kid at the register and so these ants were sent to punish humanity for my sins."
"That's not what I meant," snapped Slash. "I meant that if you hadn't shot the kid, we'd have been out of the store before any of this ant crap started!"
"Robbing the store was your idea in the first place!"
"But we weren't supposed to kill anybody!"
"If you hadn't..." Hack trailed off. "We just need to get out of here."
"Well, no shit."
During the fight, Dustin kept watching for one of them to relax their grip on their weapons, but it didn't happen. He looked through the back window at Louise. She was still fighting the ants, but they had her completely covered.
"Listen to me," said Dustin. "There's no reason to keep me around. Do you think anybody is interested in a couple of bank robbers right now? Come on. That woman doesn't deserve to die like that. Let me out of her so I can help her."
"How about ... no?" said Slash.
"You don't need a hostage anymore! Nobody cares. I'm just going to get in your way. Let me go so maybe I can help out!"
Slash shook his head. "Nope. Maybe the cops won't be looking for us for a while, but I'd have to be crazy not to stick with the ant expert. Hell, for all I know you had something to do with this whole mess. Seems like a pretty big coincidence that you just happen to be in town when the ants come out to play."
"That's right," said Hack. "Man, we couldn't have picked a better hostage, could we? So what do you know about all this, Bug Boy?"
"I don't know anything," said Dustin. "But I might know where to find somebody who does. Do you know where Trexler Road is?"
"Yeah."
"Then take me there."
Hack let out a snort of laughter. "What do you think, I'm your chauffeur all of a sudden?"
"We have no idea how far this ant thing has spread," said Dustin. "Even a couple of psychos like you two have _somebody_ in this city you care about, right?"
"No, not really," said Hack.
"And maybe it's not just this city. But I think it's a little unusual that an expert on _Solenopsis Invicta_ shows up in town the same day we have a mass swarm of them, almost ten times their usual size."
"_Sole_-what?"
"Red fire ants. And if you don't take me where I need to go, it won't be long before you find out how they got that name."
Hack and Slash exchanged a look.
"I think we can manage that," Hack said.

*-CHAPTER SEVENTEEN-*
Roberta froze.
There were ants crawling over her entire body. In her hair, on her arms, down the back of her shirt. At least two of them were on her face. She stood there, arms outstretched, not moving a muscle.
"Don't move," said Dr. Ruiz in a whisper. "Nobody make any noise. We'll get them off you, I promise."
Roberta let out an involuntary whimper as an ant crawled across her neck.
Dr. Ruiz began to unbutton his white shirt, revealing a comical yellow undershirt with a smiley face underneath. Keeping his eyes focused on Roberta, Zachary stripped off his own tee shirt. With Dr. Ruiz one step ahead, the two men very cautiously moved toward her.
"Just stay calm," Dr. Ruiz whispered.
Mentally, Roberta was as far from staying calm as she could possibly be. But paralyzing fear did occasionally have its advantages.
Dr. Ruiz carefully began to use his shirt to wipe the ants off of her face, while Zachary went to work on her shoulders.
"It's going to be fine, yes? No problems here."
Several ants fell to the floor, but Roberta could feel them crawling right back up onto her legs. She wanted to let Dr. Ruiz know this, but didn't dare move her lips to speak.
"Very good, very good," whispered Dr. Ruiz. "This will all be over before you know it. Not even as bad as a filling."
Zachary stepped back. "This isn't workin'. We have to kill 'em or they're just gonna keep comin' back."
Dr. Ruiz shook his head. "They'll sting her." He carefully brushed off the ant that was on Roberta's throat.
"Do you have anything we can spray?" Zachary asked. "Somethin' that'll hit them all at once?"
"No, nothing," said Dr. Ruiz. He looked down. "You're right, this isn't working."
The weight of the ants on Roberta's arms suddenly became almost overbearing, as if each one weighed ten pounds. She wanted to whisper for Dr. Ruiz and Zachary to just go, get themselves someplace safe, but she still couldn't force herself to move her lips.
Zachary turned around and hurried back toward the waiting room.
"It will be okay, I promise you, yes?" said Dr. Ruiz, continuing to gently brush off the ants. "I'll get most of them off, then we can make a run for it."
Roberta felt a tight pinch on her back. Was that a sting? She wasn't sure how much pain to expect, but this seemed milder than she would have anticipated.
Dr. Ruiz briefly bent down and wiped some ants off his own legs. Roberta felt something else drop onto her head, and wondered how many more ants were up in the ceiling, waiting to leap down upon her.
Zachary returned to the hallway, holding the can of root beer Agnes had been drinking. When he reached Roberta, he turned the can upside down and splashed the soda all over the floor. Several of the ants that hadn't yet crawled back onto Roberta scurried toward it.
Dr. Ruiz and Zachary went back to work at brushing the ants off Roberta. Her arms felt like they were going to break off, but she did everything she could to keep them up, even after Dr. Ruiz brushed the last one off her wrist. Lowering them would still move the muscles in her back, and possibly cause the ants to sting.
A couple of ants were crawling back onto her legs, but the majority that fell to the floor seemed distracted by the spilled soda. Dr. Ruiz and Zachary continued brushing off the ants for about a minute, pausing two or three times to brush ants off their own bodies, until Roberta was ant-free.
Almost.
"They're still down the back of my shirt," she whispered, finally daring to speak.
Dr. Ruiz frowned. "How many?"
"At least three. Maybe more."
"Okay, I want you to very slowly walk backwards, yes? Very slowly. No rush."
As slowly as she possibly could, Roberta took a long step backwards.
"Don't slip on the root beer," Zachary warned.
"One more step," said Dr. Ruiz. "You're doing good."
Roberta took another long step, tensing as she felt another pinch. She thanked heaven that her shirt was tightly tucked into her pants so they couldn't crawl any lower.
Dr. Ruiz stepped in front of her, and then very gently placed a hand on each of her shoulders. "Are they all on your back?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Close your eyes."
Roberta did so.
A second later she was suddenly pushed against the wall, firmly but not so violently as to break her back.
Dr. Ruiz pulled her forward again. "Did we get them?"
Roberta felt a slimy moistness as the squished bodies of the ants stuck to her. She stood motionless for a moment, waiting for the creepy sensation of an ant crawling along her skin. "Yes, we got them."
"Then let's go."
Dr. Ruiz turned, quickly stepped forward, then yelped in pain as his foot slipped on a small patch of root beer and twisted. Roberta and Zachary each grabbed one of his arms and hurriedly rushed him into the waiting room.
They set Dr. Ruiz into Agnes' chair. "Are you okay?" Roberta asked.
Dr. Ruiz nodded, though his face was contorted with pain. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
"What did you do?" asked Zachary. "You think it's broken?"
"No, not broken. Maybe sprained."
Zachary cursed. "We can't stick around here. We could try boardin' up that hole in the ceiling, but they'll just break through some other way. That root beer's not gonna distract them forever."
Roberta looked through the glass door. The swarm of ants was even thicker than before. "He's right. We have to get out of here."
"Can you run?" Zachary asked Dr. Ruiz.
Dr. Ruiz nodded. "I'm fine."
Roberta touched his ankle, and Dr. Ruiz winced loudly. "I don't think so," she said. "I'll go grab the first aid kit."
"I can run," Dr. Ruiz insisted. "We can't stay here with those things."
"I've got a better idea," said Zachary. "I'll run out there, get my jeep, and drive it right up to the door. No sense in all three of us dealin' with those bugs, especially with his foot all messed up."
"Are you sure?" asked Roberta.
"No, not really," Zachary admitted, putting his tee shirt back on. "But you probably deserve a break after bein' covered with them."
Roberta shuddered. "A break would be nice."
"Do you have anything else I can wear?" Zachary asked. "This shirt's kinda thin."
Dr. Ruiz held up his own shirt. "Probably not your size."
"No, probably not. But I can smack 'em away with it." Zachary took the shirt from him. "I don't suppose you've got a really huge tooth drill that I can use as a weapon back there, do you?"
Dr. Ruiz smiled. "Sorry."
"Didn't think so." He dug his keys out of his pocket as he walked over to the door. "Now, I'm not bein' a martyr for you two. If you see me get into more trouble than I can handle, you get your butts out here and keep me from sacrificin' myself, got it?"
"Got it," said Roberta.
"And don't keep me waitin' when I get back." Zachary grabbed the door handle, took a moment to prepare himself, and then threw the door open and rushed outside.
* * * *

There had to be thousands of them out here. Zachary ran as fast as he could, crunching the little suckers under his foot with each step. If he just kept moving, they wouldn't have time to get on him, so the only real trick was going to be getting into the jeep.