Gina Ranalli: Unearthed

What really scared the occupants of the Pinecone Cafe was that the creature was roughly the size of a coffee-table.

Moving across the property was precarious at best, but Rebecca was able to set Lou down and together they stood staring at what had been their home.

The house was destroyed, the east side sunk into the ground up to the bottom of the first floor windows. Looking at it from out here, Rebecca was amazed neither she nor the dog had been injured.

In truth, she was amazed they were even alive.

Just standing nearby made her nervous so she walked to the gravel driveway where her Jeep Cherokee still sat, untouched, at least for the moment.

She didn’t trust that it would remain above ground for much longer though.

“Lou! Come!”

They had to get out of here, find solid ground and then worry about what came next. Was her house insured for such a catastrophe? She had no idea.

In the vehicle, she found the spare key in the visor where it had been since Glen had been alive and started the engine.

She drove, oddly calm, the dog in the passenger seat beside her, realizing that she was most likely in shock, heading for the Days’ home a mile down the road.

They’d only traveled half that distance when she had to hit the brakes, reaching an arm out to steady Lou and keep him from bashing into the dashboard.

A gaping, muddy hole yawned in the middle of the road. Easily big enough to swallow the Jeep and probably a tanker truck as well.

“ Jesus.”

She thought there was enough space on the other side of the road and she may have been able to drive around the sinkhole, but she didn’t want to take the chance. If the ground was unsteady…

Just being this close to it made her nervous.

She briefly debated trying to turn around, but there was nowhere to go. Just miles of uninhabited forest lay behind her and for the first time in her adult life, she questioned the wisdom of living out here, so far from civilization.

“Looks like we’re walking, boy.”

She killed the engine and got out, Lou jumping out behind her.

Together, they approached the sinkhole cautiously, taking care to not get too close, and stopping about five yards short.

Black nose twitching, Lou tried to get closer, but didn’t argue when Rebecca slapped her hip and commanded, “Side!” Obediently, the dog pressed his flank against her leg and ventured no farther.

She surveyed the ragged lip of the hole, trying to determine how soft the ground surrounding it might be. Several seconds passed before she realized she would just have to brave it.

Though she didn’t trust driving around the hole, she knew they had no choice but to walk by it, albeit giving the monster maw a wide berth.

“Come on, Lou,” she said, leading the way.

Despite managing to be several feet from the hole, the weight of their passing still caused mini-mudslides within it and Rebecca hurried by as fast as she could, releasing her pent up breath when they’d finally moved around it.

The sound of distant rumbles caused her to flinch and grit her teeth, while the dog paused to bark.

“Shh!” she scolded. She had the irrational fear that Lou’s barking would cause the ground to open up further, the way a sudden loud noise could supposedly cause an avalanche. “Quiet, Lou!”

It wasn’t until they had left the sinkhole about twenty yards behind them that she felt herself relax a bit. The road ahead was free of any others, at least as far as she could see.

The world around them was strangely silent. No creatures stirred in the forest flanking either side of the road. Not even birds could be heard, despite the reappearance of the sun.

Occasionally, Lou would try to run ahead, as was his usual custom when they went for walks, but each time Rebecca called him back. Not only did she fear for his safety, but she had to admit that having him near was a comfort.

This had been the case since Glen’s death. She’d even taken to allowing the dog to sleep in the same bed as herself, his warm body pressed against hers, soothing her loneliness and allowing her to fall asleep to his soft dog snores. Sometimes she even thought that Lou took an equal amount of comfort from her as well.

Silly notions from the broken heart of a wounded woman, of course, but she supposed that if they helped her get through another night, then what was the harm?

An odd droning sound startled Rebecca from her thoughts and, frowning, she turned back to face the way they’d come.

What she saw caused her jaw to drop and a tiny gasp of wonder escaped her throat.

Beside her, Lou had also turned and immediately began barking at the two huge things buzzing through the air towards them.

It was Lou’s reaction that helped Rebecca realize that she should be more afraid than fascinated.

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

The enormous insects were coming fast, aiming straight for her and the dog.

“Shit!”

She ran for the tree-line, shouting Lou’s name as she went. Together, woman and canine sprinted as fast as feet and paws could carry them, the sound of the drone growing louder with every second.

They hit the woods and kept going, leaping over felled trees and around small boulders, Rebecca not daring a glance back as she used her arms to protect her face from protruding branches.

Not used to running, she mentally cursed herself for not being in better physical condition as her lungs began to burn, but she forced herself onward.

A mere five minutes after entering the forest, she was forced to skid to a stop.

A short distance before them, the forest ended.

Looking straight ahead, then left, then right, she saw there was nothing there. The forest was gone and in its place was a enormous crevasse — a hole that must have been miles wide in every direction.

Rebecca couldn’t have guessed how many miles — her spatial awareness had never been that keen — but she knew it had to be several, at least. She’d seen lakes smaller than this canyon.

The flying monstrosities forgotten, Rebecca stood panting, staring at the new topography of her surroundings. Dozens of one-hundred foot pines still slid down the muddy embankments towards the black bottom of the canyon, along with stones, logs and other wild brush.

Remembering her earlier encounter with what now seemed like a miniscule sinkhole, she dared not get too close to the edge and once again, insisted that Lou remain at her side.

“This is not good, boy,” she whispered, leaning over to stroke the dog’s back.

The canyon was probably a few hundred feet deep but, never particularly fond of heights, Rebecca didn’t care to inspect its depth any more than she could its width.

When her awe had subsided somewhat, she started to turn away, but a peculiar movement on the left wall of the canyon caught her eye.

Squinting, she was able to make out another of those insects clawing its way up the wall, causing minor mud avalanches in its wake. Every few seconds, the thing — was it a bee ? — fluttered its wings in an attempt to fly, but the weight of the mud covering it seemed to be hampering its efforts.

Those things must be coming out of the ground , Rebecca thought. Out of the holes .

Further inspection proved her theory a moment later when she saw several other creatures attempting the same maneuver. As she watched, one of the things did manage to free itself and took flight, thankfully buzzing off in the opposite direction of where she stood with her dog.

“We have to get to town,” she muttered. If those things were bees — and they sure as hell looked like they were, though they appeared to have some sort of hard shell-like wings — they were almost certainly dangerous. She supposed anything that large would be dangerous, stinger or not.