Arena Road Chapter 2

The trip over the endless-looking desert passed more quickly than I expected. The lights burned brighter and brighter as I got closer, and they almost looked like some sort of lanterns.

As I approached, I realized it must be a town or city, but I had no idea what kind.

One thing that became clear was that the place was surrounded by a solid wall. I reasoned that was probably why the only lights I could see were higher up. The wall blocked the lower ones.

Still, at a distance, it had been hard to tell whether that meant the walls were very short, or the buildings were just extremely tall. Closer up, I realized it was the former.

I was so busy looking at the town that I didn’t take much note of the shape looming out of the darkness just ahead in the desert at first. It was almost as tall as my truck, but not quite as long. By the size of it, it could easily have just been a shorter semi. Maybe that was why I altered my route to avoid it without even thinking at first.

I was right up alongside the shadowy shape when this realization penetrated my consciousness. I braked hastily and nervously flipped off my low-beams. I had no idea what a roughly semi truck-sized object might actually be in this world. It could be a fire-breathing dragon, for all I knew.

The shadow didn’t move. I stared hard at it for a few seconds, and then I made up my mind. I parked the truck again, unbuckled my seatbelt, and reached across to the passenger seat where about half of my personal belongings had landed in an untidy heap when I was rummaging through them earlier.

I found the bulky industrial flashlight I always carried with me and hefted it in my hand. I carefully avoided the region of the truck’s twin shifters as I heaved my upper body across the center console to roll down the passenger window. Then I propped the end of the flashlight on top of the door panel to point it straight out at the shadowy object and flipped it on the lowest setting.

The light still made me squint reflexively for a second, even though it was facing away from me. This thing packed all the blinding LED power that I kept out of my headlights.

It flooded across the twenty feet between my truck and the shadowy object.

In the light, I could see that the shadow was actually something that looked like a massive version of a Romani wagon, like one of those old trading caravans that were drawn by horses. I had seen the Romani kind before, and they’d been beautiful. They were like small houses on wheels with rounded roofs, brightly-painted wood, and intricately-carved with designs. Some of the designs had even been gilded with gold leaf.

This wagon looked very similar, and I could tell it must have been just as ornate once. But now the blue paint was chipped, faded, and peeling. In a few places, the light from my flashlight even glinted off the remnants of some type of gold inlay. The wagon’s rounded roof of the caravan seemed like it had caved in completely in the center, but the wide eaves were still there. There were even a bunch of things that looked like wind-chimes hanging from them.

The thing had clearly been abandoned for a long time. Parts of it almost seemed like they had disintegrated, while other parts must have been bleached from the sun. Whoever had ridden in this wagon and whatever beasts had pulled it were long gone.

I had just rolled up the passenger window when a movement from the top of the wagon caught my eye.

Something was emerging from the caved-in roof. Something huge.

It was too shadowy to see very well, but I could tell it was almost too big to squeeze out of the roof of the semi truck-sized wagon.

“Shiiiit,” I breathed.

As the shadow fully emerged, I tried to size it up. I reckoned it was about as big as an old Volkswagen bug, and that alone was enough to make me hesitate rather than just flipping my flashlight back on. As big as the shadow was, it moved in a weird, jerky way that seemed familiar somehow, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it reminded me of.

Whatever it was, it made my skin crawl.

In the darkness, I had no way of telling whether this thing—whatever it was—had taken much note of the sight or sound of my truck. Visually, my truck might just look like another caravan to whatever this thing was. It was basically a big boxy shadow on wheels. But Spitfire’s engine was pretty loud, even when it was just idling, and I had a feeling engines didn’t even exist here yet.

I decided to risk cracking the passenger window again so I could listen. I did it as stealthily as I could and moved slowly and carefully in the darkness to push down on the window crank with a feather-light touch. Whatever sound it made was too low for me to even hear.

But the big shadow on the caravan must have heard it. Its reaction was too perfectly-timed to be a coincidence. Immediately, it launched itself off the top of the caravan and sailed directly at my truck.

“Shit!” I cursed under my breath and flipped on my blinding high-beams. Then I hefted the big flashlight in my hand again.

Clearly I had been discovered, so I might as well see what the hell I was up against. If this thing really meant to attack me, maybe I could even blind it briefly.

My high-beams weren’t facing whatever was hurtling toward the passenger window of my truck, and as the thing got closer, it was jerking around too much for me to take a guess at what the hell it was, so even my flashlight was becoming useless. The best I got was a brief glimpse of the massive thing in its entirety before it slammed against my truck, and whatever it was, it had so many long, skinny, scuttling legs that I couldn’t even count them. They were lanky and segmented in a way that reminded me of a spider as they scrabbled at the passenger window.

“Holy shit,” I gasped.

My truck rocked ever so slightly on its wheels, but not as hard as I would have expected before seeing the creature in more detail. Whatever this thing was, it seemed to be about eighty percent legs.

Still, I didn’t want it anywhere near me or my truck. For a split second, I considered just speeding away and seeing if the scuttling fucker could keep pace with old Spitfire once she got up to speed.

But then something long and sharp scraped across the window. It squeaked and grated shrilly against the glass and left a long, deep gouge behind. I had only glimpsed it for a second, but the sharp thing had seemed like it was attached to one of the creature’s countless flailing limbs. All I had been able to make out was that it was about the shape and size of a sickle.

Then it happened again. Now there was a second gouge in the window.

“Hey, lay off, you bastard!” I growled. “Stop fucking with my truck!”

I had to get this thing far away from my baby, now. She deserved better than this vandalizing shit, and I sure as hell didn’t want to shell out more cash to replace all her windows.

But if I drove off, that risked leaving my tires even more vulnerable to the thing if it chased me.

There was another ear-splitting scrape against the glass that made my jaw twitch with anger. The thing was still scrabbling its limbs furiously and ineffectively at the window, so apparently it wasn’t very bright. But sooner or later, its persistence would pay off, whether it managed to puncture the window or puncture one of my tires by accident.

This made me realize I needed to draw it away from the truck, then kill it. There was no time to load my gun, and in any case I didn’t think this creature would be a very easy target. Too much of its body was made up of legs. They were all as thin as rails, and they moved insanely fast, too. It would probably be on top of me before I could manage to hit it with a kill shot.

And in the meantime, the fucker was scratching the hell out of my baby.

I could practically hear my boss bitching about the damage already.

There was no more time to think, and no time to worry.

I fumbled to flip up the compartment in the center console and snatched up a tire thumper and something that looked like a handgun, but wasn’t. It was a pepper spray gun. Thankfully it had a safety switch, so after I made sure that was on, I could stash the gun in my belt without any anxiety about it discharging randomly.

Almost as an afterthought, I grabbed my headlamp, too. The straps stretched snugly against my temples, and I flipped it on. Immediately, the whole inside of the truck was flooded with light.

“Perfect,” I grunted as I slung the tire thumper’s loop around my wrist.

Well, the situation was far from perfect. But at least I would be able to see without hefting that bulky flashlight around in one hand the whole time. And I would be able to fight off this crazy-ass monster that had crawled out of a Romani caravan in the middle of a desert.

What the hell had my night turned into?

There was another scrape against the passenger windshield. I gritted my teeth against the nails-on-a-chalkboard sound and focused on shoving open the driver’s side door and stepping out. Then I held myself tight against the side of the truck until I had slammed the door shut.

Heaven only knew what sort of havoc that thing would wreak if it managed to get inside the cab.

I braced myself against the side of the truck and leaped down to the ground. After that, I wasted no time in whipping the pepper spray gun out of my belt and switching the safety off. Maybe it wasn’t as good as a real gun, but it still felt solid and reassuring in my left hand, and so did the tire thumper in my right.

As soon as my boots thudded against the hard ground, the frenzied clawing, scrabbling, and scraping of the creature’s legs fell silent. But I heard a series of smaller thumps from the other side of the truck, and some weird clicking sounds.

It was on the move.

I backed away from the truck sideways as fast as I could without being careless. I desperately wanted to have something solid against my back as I fought the many-legged beast, but I needed it to be far away from my truck. And judging by the way it had easily scaled the side of the caravan it seemed to live in, this creature would’ve been able to get on top of my truck and leap down on me anyway, so it would’ve been useless.

I focused on placing my feet and watching for the creature to appear from the other side of my truck.

It didn’t.

“Where are you, you leggy bastard?” I muttered.

Suddenly, I heard some more furious scrabbling. It had more of a screech to it this time, and I suspected that the change in sound was because the creature was testing its luck on the metal of my truck’s trailer instead of the cab window.

The asshole.

I stopped momentarily and watched the truck with a mixture of wariness and fury. What was happening?

Then I saw the silhouette of the creature pop up on top of the trailer.

I growled aloud. “Son of a…”

I trailed off as an idea occurred to me, and I acted on it immediately: I turned around and ran flat out away from the truck.

It went against every instinct I had to turn my back on the creature, but I was hoping that sort of instinct went two ways. Whatever kind of beast this was, it was strong and fast and armed with deadly-looking stingers or claws of some sort. And it had been desperately trying to get into my truck. All signs pointed to it being carnivorous and most likely wanting to feast on my flesh.

Now, I was hoping that it shared something else with the big carnivorous animals I knew about from back home: prey drive.

After only a few thuds of my boots against the ground, I heard the weird crunchy thump of the creature landing again behind me. After another few steps, I turned sharply to face it.

Sure enough, it was coming right at me.

I considered myself to be a fairly brave person, but I still felt a thrill of fear in my stomach as the beast scuttled toward me, and my headlamp lit up every inch of it.

The best thing I could think of to compare it to was a combination of a tumbleweed, a spider, and a scorpion.

If it folded all its legs up, it probably would closely resemble a tumbleweed. As it was, though, the legs were all out. Just like the one I had seen up close through the window, they were all long and segmented, and they moved the same way a spider’s legs did. My estimate of there being a hundred of them seemed a little off now, but there were at least fifty.

There were other things as well that I had initially thought were more legs, but now I could see they were more like tails. These were skinny, too, but they stuck out in all directions haphazardly, like the thing was having a bad hair day.

Oh yeah, and several of them had stingers.

I couldn’t hold back a groan.

Those were the sickle-like objects that had gouged my window. And worse still, there had to be at least a dozen of them.

What the hell kind of mutant shit was this?

Cursing made me feel better, so I did it again as I raised the pepper spray gun ever so slightly. I wanted to be as ready as possible without appearing that way, because I wasn’t sure if me taking some sort of aggressive stance would make the creature more cautious. As much as I didn’t want that thing or any of its twelve-odd stingers anywhere near me, I also didn’t want them anywhere near Spitfire.

I couldn’t risk the creature scuttling back to take cover behind the truck, even temporarily. I needed it dead.

“Here, kitty kitty…” My voice was a little hoarse, but something about taunting the creature bolstered me. “Come here, you big ugly bastard…”

I kept my voice calm and gentle as I cursed the beast, its ancestors, any children and grandchildren it might have, and every aspect of its appearance.

My words started out as a joke and a way to release some of the tension I had built up, but as the creature slowed its pace, I realized it might actually be a good tactic. Maybe I could lure it closer before I doused its eyes with pepper spray.

“Your eyes are fucking repulsive,” I told the beast in my most conversational voice.

It was true. I could see its eyes now. There were eight of them, and they were dark and bulbous like overripe plums, but they were different sizes. Two of them were bigger and about the size of a small watermelon. These two eyes were side by side, but the rest of its eyes were like plums in both size and general appearance, and they were arranged below the bigger two eyes in a symmetrical upward curve that looked horribly like a smile.

The creature’s legs clicked disgustingly as it skittered closer in a slower version of its previous jerky stride. I kept my knees slightly bent as I shuffled to the side. The beast paused.

Then two thicker limbs suddenly poked their way out from the creature’s forest of skinny legs, and my next insult died in my throat.

“Pincers?” I groaned in a voice that was even hoarser, almost a croak. “That seems a little unfair, don’t you think?”

The two massive scorpion-like pincers creaked menacingly when they opened, and then they snapped shut.

I wondered if I was close enough to pepper-spray the bastard without being decapitated by those pincers. I wasn’t entirely sure, which made me very nervous. I needed to buy some more time.

“You sound a little squeaky,” I announced to the creature as I circled it. “I have some WD-40 in the truck, maybe we can—”

My voice jolted up an octave as the beast rushed at me, and I spun to the side like a fucking bullfighter, but I was still no closer to having a plan.

I didn’t have a choice. I was going to have to try and hit one of those big ugly eyes with my pepper spray gun and then beat the shit out of the creature with my tire thumper.

It turned to face me again. Now its gait was more cautious, almost like it was somehow tiptoeing around on those long, gangling legs.

I raised the tire thumper above my head, and the creature stopped and let out a loud hiss.

This was the first time I had been able to catch sight of its mouth. To say the least, it looked like an unpleasant place, and one that I wanted to avoid at all costs.

Then an idea leaped to mind.

I was tempted to do some sort of battle cry while I carried it out, but I needed the element of surprise until the very last second. I didn’t want the beast to jump or flinch away. I just wanted it to hiss at me again.

So I planted my feet and hoped I would get the same reaction as I slowly raised the tire thumper for a second time.

Sure enough, the creature hissed again.

I didn’t hesitate. I just brought the spray gun up and fired a blast right at one of those big bulging eyes. The pepper spray in this gun was more of a gel, and I had been impressed with the range when I tested it out, but never until now had I felt a surge of satisfaction while using it.

Then I sent a big blast of the gel right into that motherfucker’s open mouth.

It made a retching, gagging sound that sounded disturbingly human, and its lanky legs buckled slightly as it started to hack and choke. The pincer-tipped arms retracted back into its sea of legs as the creature reeled backward.

I blasted it with the spray gun again as I advanced and was rewarded with a sort of hissing shriek of either pain or rage. Then I swung the tire thumper in a wide, low arc to sweep the beast’s legs out from under it. Or at least, as many of them as I could manage to get.

It fell on its side, and one of its pincered arms thrust back out like a striking snake to snap at my face. But I jerked back and swung my tire thumper into the wide-open pincer with all my strength. There was a brittle, wet crunch that made me shudder slightly before the arm split wide open.

Then I ducked hurriedly under a stinger that flailed toward my face as the creature struggled to right itself. It was still coughing and choking like a cat hacking up a hairball, and I had to restrain myself from cheering in triumph when I sent yet another blast of gel down its open gullet from my pepper spray gun.

There would be time to cheer later. Right now, I had to go in for the kill.

The beast had lapsed onto its back now, and I used every ounce of my strength when I brought the tire thumper down on it. A few scrabbling legs got in the way, but they bowed and crunched under the force of my downward strike, and they finally snapped when the tire thumper made contact with the creature’s small, spider-like torso with a crisp, gruesome squelch.

I probably hit the thing several more times than was necessary to kill it, but I was sure I wouldn’t be able to rest until I knew beyond a doubt that it was dead and done.

When the torso split open like a cantaloupe, I felt disgusted but satisfied.

“Gross,” I muttered under my breath as I cast a final look back at the beast I’d just slayed.

Then I shook my head as I realized I’d never actually slayed a beast before. Ever. That kind of shit wasn’t exactly normal in the life of a man named John.

I returned to my truck with a weird feeling of exhilaration. As undeniably horrifying as the creature had been, something about the accomplishment of escaping death by its giant pincers and stingers made me feel more alive.

The night had just begun, and the mysterious city’s golden lanterns were still there, beckoning me on, just a short distance away.

And I was a monster-slayer now just like those characters in the novels I loved.

Fuck yeah.

I took another long look at it as I thought about my next step. Then I decided to drive a bit closer before I approached on foot. I didn’t know if there were any more of those giant, murderous insects lurking around, but if there were, then I figured this was where they’d be. After all, the one I’d just killed had been sheltering inside the old abandoned wagon.

So I swung myself back into my truck. But before I set off again, I took the time to retrieve my gun from its place in the cab and load it. If I did happen to run into another one of those creatures, this time I would know exactly where to aim a bullet. Or ten.

I stopped driving when I was sure I was within walking distance of the city. I was close enough to clearly see the outlines of a few treetops against the lights of the lanterns peering over the wall, and I could even make out what I thought was a tangle of leafy vines growing over it. It seemed like some kind of oasis, and I couldn’t wait to see what was inside.

My boots made muffled thuds against the hard, dusty ground as I approached, and I found myself glad I’d decided to be cautious once I got closer.

When I was about thirty feet away from the wall, I could hear an unmistakable roaring sound that reminded me of the moment when something big happens in a football stadium. It sounded undeniably like a crowd of people screaming, and at this point I couldn’t tell exactly what they were screaming about.

For that matter, I wasn’t even sure yet that they were people at all. What if I had stumbled into a world of some other humanoid? One that might give me about as much welcome as the vicious, many-legged creature out in the desert?

I kept this in mind as I approached one of the trees that flanked the overgrown wall and braced myself against its sturdy lower boughs. It allowed me to reach up and test the strength of the lattice of thick vines that hung down over the wall.

The plants felt surprisingly tough even after a few good yanks, so I got a good grip on one of the rough, leafy vines and started to climb. A few feet higher, the network of vines knotted closer together, and I was even able to use the ones below as footholds by setting my foot into each one like they were stirrups to help support my weight.

Ideally, from the top of the wall I’d be able to catch sight of some of this city’s inhabitants. Since I couldn’t automatically expect a warm welcome, I hoped I would fit in well enough to stride around among them without raising suspicion.

The roar of the crowd came and went intermittently as I climbed. I was sure I heard some sort of cheers and boos throughout them, like there really was some sporting event going on. Whatever it was, the crowd didn’t really sound close. The sound was definitely coming from inside the walls, but I thought maybe it was somewhere toward the center of the city.

Finally, I reached the top of the wall. Then I held my breath as I peered cautiously over to get my first glimpse of what lived in this mysterious city I’d stumbled upon.