Revenge of the Spiders Read online

  Revenge of the Spiders

  Sons of Neptune: Book 2

  Rod Little

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locations is entirely coincidental.

  Revenge of the Spiders

  Paperback ISBN-13: 9781976597428

  102418-v.5

  Copyright © 2017 Rod Little.

  All rights reserved. Including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the author.

  For other books by Rod Little:

  www.rodlittleauthor.com

  Prologue

  Synopsis of Book 1: Earthweeds

  Looking back:

  In Earthweeds we saw the disappearance of the human populations in Pittsburgh and in every major city center, and the appearance of large lizards, strange aberrations swarming the streets.

  Sam and his brother, Shane, joined with three other survivors to escape the city and take shelter in the countryside at the Peak Castle Lodge, a ski resort in the mountains of Northern Pennsylvania. It provided them shelter from the creatures now ravaging the world.

  It didn't take long for the dregs of humanity to surface, and our group encountered a sadistic gang of men following Dexter, a man who was eventually revealed to be an outcast alien scientist from Neptune's moon. Sam and Shane helped rescue two women held captive by the gang, and, along with two children, brought them back to their hotel. A state patrolman also joins Sam's group.

  Finding the boy named Bohai was a game changer. With his ability to communicate with birds, spiders, and other unique animals, he was able to forge an alliance between the mutated, over-sized spiders and the humans in their fight against the lizards.

  After Sam's group discovered pockets of alien probes that were the root cause of the great vanishing, transforming humans into reptilian creatures, they sought the help of another scientist named Walter, already leading a team of Earth scientists. With his help, they hatched a plan to draw out the aliens and confront them head-on.

  Together with Walter's team, Sam and his group attacked Pittsburgh, destroyed part of its city skyline and damaged part of its infrastructure. Sam displayed his incredible sparking powers by killing a large number of the mutated dragons with an electric charge. When the aliens, called Sayans, landed to stop any further destruction, Dexter sided with the humans instead of his own people who once cast him aside. After killing the enemy commander, he tentatively agreed to help Sam and his friends rid the planet of the mutations created by the invasion from his former planet.

  The survivors on Earth have won some time to fight back, but time is running out.

  Looking forward:

  Now the Earth group needs a plan to spread Dexter's toxin in order to wipe out the lizards. Information surfaces of an ancient Earthian warship buried in the Arctic at a location known only to one man. Meanwhile, the Sayans continue to patrol the skies and subdue the rest of Earth's cities – and now even the countryside, helping the lizards purge the planet of human life.

  But the Sayans are fractured.

  A rebel faction splits from the rest of the forces and takes hold of the invasion. They begin to learn about Earth's weapons and defenses, and even how to modify our weapons for their own use. Unlike the traditional Sayan forces, the rebels are not opposed to violence by guns.

  During this time, the spiders are forced south by cold weather and a lack of food. Soon all of them will need to chase the food supply south, and leave the Peak survivors to fend for themselves. More than ever, the spiders are angry at the outcome of events on Earth.

  Very little stands in the way of a Sayan victory over the entire planet. Time is running out for Sam and Bohai's plans to succeed.

  Part I

  “On that great day, that awful day, this vain world shall pass away. And it waketh from the bed, all the nations of the dead.”

  –– The Last Man by Jean-Baptiste Cousin de Grainville

  Chapter 1

  Silver and blue gliders, small spaceships with crews of two and three, crisscrossed the open sky. Some flew at extremely low altitudes, and one even clipped the flagpole from the highest tower at the Peak Lodge.

  Other than attacking the nerves and spirits of the humans below them, so far the ships did nothing more than make passes over the land.

  As more Sayan ships whisked over the hotel, their distinctive whir, a high-pitched buzz, woke Sam early in the morning. He tucked his head underneath two pillows, but soon gave up and tossed them aside.

  The boy popped his head out of the second-story window to see another ship swoop down and fly past the building. Low and steady at less than two hundred feet, its engine hummed quietly, almost peacefully, yet with that same irritating buzz he had grown to hate. Much like a beautiful cobalt-blue marlin slicing through the sea, it owned its own space, and today it owned the skies. The morning was starting out clear and warm for its flight to terrorize the humans. The sun hatched a sparkle off its wings.

  Scanning us, he thought. The invasion continues for them.

  After their first victory against the Sayans from Neptune's largest moon, Sam's confidence was high. Not all the others shared his optimism, but they worked to hide it. He was sure they could leverage help from Dexter into either a winning move, or at least a compromise with the enemy, and he had convinced his friends to stand by him. While they might not get their planet back entirely, they could at least share it with the aliens, the Sayans.

  If Sayans do indeed share.

  That was yet to be seen.

  Now that he was back at the Peak Castle Lodge, he had enjoyed a peaceful night of sleep that carried him long past the sunrise. He might have slept longer had the choir of spaceships not broken his dreams.

  Sam looked down at his hands and flickered a blue spark between them. The odd circumstance of his alien heritage had not yet found a resting place within him. Much about it still troubled his heart and mind. He told himself nothing had changed; he was still the same young man from Earth, the same he'd always been. Just a boy who grew up on Jethro Tull and Rush music, Steelers games, D&D, and all forms of things “Star,” both Wars and Trek.

  When all the dust settles, the facts remain. I was born on Earth. I am an Earthling.

  And another voice in his head kept taunting him: Yeah, keep telling yourself that, kid. The voice sounded like Kermit the frog.

  After a quick shower, he slipped into his favorite blue flannel shirt – now torn at the pocket and right sleeve, and showing far too much wear – and crept downstairs to the hotel dining room. Tina was already awake and making instant coffee. Bohai, wearing a tight black t-shirt that showed his athletic build, was helping her.

  Mark was eating cereal with powdered milk and reading the back of the box; both his sneakers were untied. His deck of Magic: The Gathering cards lay next to him on the table, as it never left his sight. The scene could easily have befitted a normal world – a world that was not twisting toward a grisly end. The three of them looked unsuitably tranquil for the apocalypse, and it made Sam laugh inside.

  But then the whir of another alien glider faintly drifted in from somewhere above.

  “Who's in the tower?”

  “Jason,” Tina said, pouring hot water into a cup of instant grounds. “It's his second home, but at least his arm is healing fast. Stu's out front with George, fixing one of the tanks, or at least trying to. The others are still sleeping.”

  “How was it here, while we were gone?” Sam asked.

  “It was nerve wracking, but okay.” She forced a smile, which looked partly genuine. “We worried a lot, and Lucy detoxed a little. The kids played in the yard, and sometimes Mark helped keep watch.”

  Sam ran his hand over Mark's head and ruffled his hair, “Is that right, Marko Polo?”

  Mark made a “thumbs up” sign, and continued to read his cereal box. There was a Frooty Loopy challenge to solve a puzzle on the back.

  Bohai stirred sugar into his instant coffee, tasted it, and grimaced. “This is Earth's greatest loss. No more real cafes.”

  “Did you really bring down two buildings?” Tina asked.

  Sam stirred his own cup, and sat down. “Not completely, Just a couple of floors.”

  “What do you mean?” Tina asked.

  Bohai continued his rant. “I mean, I'm not asking for a moch
a latte, but a real cup of java would go a long way toward healing my inner spirit.”

  “Not you! I'm asking Sam, what happened?”

  “We sliced a few layers off the Steel Tower.”

  “High floors,” Bohai added, “from floors fifty to sixty.”

  “No way,” Mark said. He pulled himself from the cereal box and scooted closer. “Did you bomb them with the tanks?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Cool. Can I see?”

  Sam leaned in and whispered, “No.”

  “Aw, I never get to see anything.”

  “Seems to me you've seen too much,” said Tina. “Kids shouldn't even be touching guns, let alone shooting them.”

  “I'm helping,” Mark corrected her. He went back to eating his cereal and reading the box. His hand subconsciously pulled his card deck closer to his bowl.

  “So, is this all done?” she asked. “We're safe now. We can start living again, and rebuilding.”

  “Not exactly,” Sam said, exchanging a look with Bohai. “We're just safe in our area. For now, anyway. The rest of the world still has millions of lizards to deal with.”

  “Assuming Dexter's plan worked.” Bohai pointed out, “We don't have proof yet that even the lizards around here are all dead.”

  Sam stared ahead and drank his coffee. He didn't want too many questions about the events in the city. Best to keep the conversation focused on the future.

  “We'll send the drone out again soon.”

  “Assuming it did work,” Tina pressed him. “That Dexter man will move around and spread his... chemicals, or his potion? He will clear the rest of the creatures out, right? Get rid of them?”

  Bohai formed an uncomfortable frown. He hated to be the one to break the bad news. “It's a big planet, Tina. He can't hit every region. I doubt he can even clear North America before the Sayans come up with a new plan. And he can't just get on a plane or a train.”

  “We could drive him,” Sam suggested. “We could split up, take his weapon, or anti-weapon, in all directions.”

  “It's possible,” Bohai said, running a hand through his black hair, now getting a bit long. “But we don't even know his own plans, yet – what he has in mind. After he gets his little box, he might just communicate with the mother ship and leave us high and dry.”

  “Yeah, I heard he was an alien,” Tina whispered the last word.

  “Guess what,” Sam whispered jokingly, “so am I.”

  “Not the same thing. You've never left Earth. He was born at that other place. Right?”

  That broke Mark from his cereal box again. “What?”

  Sam ruffled the boy's hair once more and said, “Never mind, kid.”

  Sam and Bohai gathered a set of empty containers and stepped behind the wall to fetch more water for their drinking supply. At the stream, Bohai questioned Sam again about practicing the art of his spark.

  “But there isn't much of a point, is there?” Sam asked. “Now we know the invaders have the same power. The Sayans can do what I can do, and probably better.”

  “More reason for you to get stronger, man. We need to counter them. Besides, something on Earth made you stronger already, I can tell. That man... that Sayan, Commander Kiern, wasn't as strong as you. I saw the look on his face. If you hadn't been drained... you might have hurt him.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” Sam conceded reluctantly. “I'll keep practicing, if you think it'll help. But our first priority is to help Dexter spread his toxin and get rid of the billions of mutations covering the planet.”

  “I don't think it's a toxin. But I know what you mean. Like I said, North American Airlines doesn't exactly fly anymore. That's a lot of ground to cover without a plane.”

  Sam dipped his container into the stream and watched the water bubbles escape as it filled up. He noticed a few minnows darting back and forth beneath the surface. “Why can't we just drink the tap water in the hotel? It's the same water we shower in.”

  “I don't think it's safe, man. The pipes... I don't know. Stu knows more about this stuff, and he said to wait until we get some filters on a supply run.” Bohai waded into he stream and filled another container. “We need to find a pilot and a plane.”

  Sam snapped his fingers. “Wait. We have a plane!”

  “We do?”

  “We have Kiern's ship.”

  “We don't.”

  “Listen.” The pitch of Sam's voice rose higher in his excitement. “When we left, the hatch was still open. We can get inside. We can fly it around the Earth and spread Dexter's formula.”

  “And you can fly it? An alien space ship? Because I can't pilot a flying saucer, and I'm pretty sure it's not like in the movies.”

  “Dexter!” Sam beamed. “I bet he can fly it. He's actually from their planet; he's an alien scientist. Think about it; he probably knows a lot of things.”

  Bohai screwed the lid on his container. “This plan has more holes than Swiss cheese. Even if you might be right, why would he help us? Why would he fly it?”

  “Why not? He hates the Sayans, and he put that formula together just to spite them. He wouldn't have concocted it, if he didn't want to use it. Right?”

  “I guess so.” Bohai lifted his water container and looked inside. “I think I accidentally got a minnow in there.”

  “Well, that's protein, I guess. So what do you think of my plan?”

  “It's not great. But if you really want to try it, we need to go find him, and quickly. Who knows if he's even still on Earth?”

  They gathered the water and started to leave, when Sam saw movement across the stream. An animal lurked in the shadows. As it crept into the light, Sam tapped Bohai's shoulder.

  “Is that Zeus?”

  Bohai looked across the stream and shared a silent moment with his old friend. “It's him.”

  “Is he hurt or something?” Sam asked. “Why doesn't he come back with us?”

  “He has a few things to take care of. He has to care for his own family. We'll see him again, someday.”

  Another Sayan glider strafed overhead at an alarmingly low altitude. The tops of the trees rattled, and birds scattered in all directions. The big cat stopped drinking from the stream and disappeared back into the forest. A few crows stood their ground and squawked angrily at the flying machine.

  “I'd give real money if they'd stop that!” Sam griped. He pulled out his wallet and fished out all the bills he had. “I've got twenty, ten, one, two, three... thirty-four dollars. It's yours if you can stop them from all this flying madness.”

  “Dude, you still carry a wallet?”

  Sam looked surprised at the question. “Yeah, of course I do.”

  “Why?” Bohai laughed. “Money isn't good anymore, and you won't need any ID. Are you worried about driving without your license?”

  That thought hadn't occurred to Sam. He always carried his wallet out of habit. But now he saw how ridiculous the act was. “Old habit,” he said. “I hadn't thought about it. I suppose I can just toss it. I don't need my credit card. I guess.”

  “Toss it away, man,” Bohai urged. “It'll be cathartic. Cleansing. Rid yourself of the evils of the old world.”

  Sam started to toss his wallet into the stream, and a part of him wanted to see it float away, but then he closed it and returned to the back pocket of his disheveled, well-worn jeans. It belonged there.

  “No, I can't do it. I feel naked without it.”

  Bohai smiled. He loved how human Sam could be. For a half-breed alien, he was more grounded than most full-blown Earthlings.

  “Besides,” said Sam, “it would be like polluting the stream. We can't do that. I can't do that.”

  “Good for you,” Bohai said, and slapped him on the back. “I know who to go to if I ever need a bonus-miles credit card... or a Cafe Leaf loyalty punch card.”

  Sam laughed. But he kept his wallet.

  Chapter 2

  Two Russian helicopters circled the snow-covered landscape surrounding the US research compound at Nunavut, Canada – site of the project code-named: Helium. The soldiers were heavily armed and prepared to take the lab and its station by force, if necessary. And force would almost certainly be necessary.

  Blissfully unaware of events unfolding back home in Moscow, they still thought their mission was active. They had been hiding deep in the Arctic Circle with total radio silence for three weeks, and now all the men were anxious to capture their target and report their success back to headquarters. The captain was eager to collect his accolades, and maybe even a promotion.