Gina Ranalli - Unearthed

Straightening her back, she said, “I always thought bees just…pollinated flowers and mostly minded their own business. I didn’t think they ate…”

“Meat?” he asked. “You ever had a picnic in the park? Damn yellow jackets seem like they’ll eat just about anything, if you let them. Same thing here, I suppose. I reckon we’re the flowers now. What else they gonna pollinate? And as far as minding their own business. Well, I don’t know what to say about that one. That bastard that came after my wife…he was an aggressive son-of-a-bitch.” He seemed to ponder that for a moment before continuing. “’Course Joyce wasn’t just standing there either. Treated the damn thing like she would any other flying pest, waving her arms around trying to swat it. Screamin’ like the dickens. Probably aggravated it. And there I was, a useless old bum, running for the house and telling her to stay still and quiet.” He shook his head sadly. “Fat lotta good that did. By the time I got back with the rifle, she was on the ground and she wasn’t moving. That bastard was on top of her and I could…” His voice hitched and it took a few seconds for him to go on. “I could see its damn jaws working on her…face. It was already eating her face, Rebecca!”

The man burst into tears and Rebecca said nothing. She didn’t know how to console someone who had gone through such a horrific ordeal or even if such a person could be consoled. Certainly not so soon after the fact anyway.

Martin produced a handkerchief from a shirt pocket and blew his nose loudly.

When she thought the worst of his crying might have passed, Rebecca asked, “So, you shot it?”

He cleared his throat. “Tried to. Missed the damn thing by a mile I was shakin’ so bad. Guess the round was close enough for the bastard to feel its breeze though, ‘cause it took off after that.” He blew his nose again. “But, they keep coming back every twenty minutes or so. Taking small bites outta my wife. Seems they like the taste of her. The soft, juicy bits.”

Rebecca closed her eyes and mentally begged Martin to stop with his narrative. Her stomach churned and if he said much more, she would surely gag and she knew for certain where that would lead.

“I didn’t bother to take another shot,” Martin went on. “What would be the point? She’s dead and at this rate, there won’t be much to bury anyway. But I’m still keeping an eye out, just in case.”

From where he’d curled up on the floor, Lou whined softly, almost as if he’d fallen asleep and was having a nightmare. Rebecca supposed it was possible. She was bone-tired and the dog probably was as well.

“Been going out to the Rover to listen to the radio,” Martin said. “Couldn’t hear much but I heard enough. I did that a few times, until I didn’t want to hear any more.”

Rebecca asked what he had heard, and when he was done telling her, she knew how he felt. She didn’t want to hear any more either.

A sinkhole just slightly smaller than the Grand Canyon had opened up, stretching from just north of Seattle, all the way down to Portland, Oregon. Millions were dead.

And apparently the canyon was growing, opening wider, stretching longer. In addition, other, smaller sinkholes were forming and soon, it was guessed, the small ones would connect with the new canyon until the majority of the northwest seaside of the United States would be swallowed whole.

“You need to start traveling east, Rebecca,” Martin told her. “Go east as fast as you can and don’t look back.”

The small crack of light sneaking in from between the curtains was already starting to wane. It got dark early this time of year.

“Well, what are we waiting for then?” Rebecca stood up. “Let’s go.”

Lou, ever obedient, jumped to his feet, ready for the next adventure. Martin, however, remained seated.

“Oh, hell, no,” he said. “I’m too old to be running from monsters digging their way up outta Hell. I’m just gonna sit here and wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“For another one of those bastards to come and try to take another bite outta my wife!” He sounded angry now and shook his head. “I’ve been sitting here, watching ‘em. Studyin’ them, I guess you could say. I just want to take out one. Just one and I’ll be happy. As God as my witness, I won’t miss a second time.”

Rebecca tried arguing with him, but it was no use. She couldn’t force the man to come with her, though she sorely wanted him to. She was terrified of going anywhere alone and voiced this fear to him, to no avail.

“Take whatever you can carry from my refrigerator. And take my Rover,” he said. “It’s a good truck and it’ll take you wherever you need to go.” He gave the dog an absentminded pat on the head. “As long as there are roads, anyway.”

Not wanting to cry, Rebecca thanked him and got out of there fast. She didn’t stop in the kitchen, though she thought she probably should. But she didn’t want to take anything Martin might need himself.

When she was just about to the front door, he called down to her one last time. “Godspeed, Rebecca! May the good Lord bless us all.”

She was about to respond when the crack of the rifle shattered the otherwise quiet house. Flinching, she looked out the doorway to the lawn, expecting to see one of the huge digger bees, dead or alive, but there was nothing. Either Martin had missed again…or he hadn’t.

As odd as it seemed, more than anything, Joe wanted a beer. It was strange, he thought, the things you think of when you don’t expect to live through the night.

They’d continued to listen to the radio as afternoon bled into evening and more of the creatures came and went. It seemed there must have been thousands of them now and Joe was afraid that the time to escape the diner had long since dissipated.

After a while, he had decided to take stock of their supplies, feeling somewhat lucky to have been at work at the time the shit hit the fan. By his estimation, they would probably be okay food-wise for a couple of weeks, if it came to that.

That was, if the bee creatures didn’t bust their way inside first.

Stacy had remained stoic as the drone of the monsters grew more steady, but John was becoming increasingly hysterical with every passing hour. His panic became ever more exacerbated when they began hearing choppers flying overhead. Too terrified to go outside, he began screaming for help through the back door, which he dared not open more than a crack.

“They’re not gonna hear you!” Joe yelled at the other man, grabbing him by the shoulder. “Even if you were on the goddamn roof they wouldn’t hear you!”

John stopped his screaming to look at Joe. “Yes! he said. “We need to get to the roof! Even if they can’t hear us, they’ll at least see us!”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

“You have the shotgun! You’ll be safe. Just shoot those bastards if they get too close!”

Joe bit back his anger. “You think I should be the one to risk my ass, huh?”

“Well…why not? It’s your diner. It’s your fucking gun. You act like you’re so fucking macho, why don’t you prove it?”

“It’s better if we just stay put for now,” Joe said, ignoring the taunts. “At least until we haven’t seen or heard any of those things for a while.”

“It’s getting worse not better!” John screamed, spittle flying through the darkness to shower Joe’s face. “We have to do something now !”

“You’re free to do what you want, man,” Joe said. He tossed his hands in the air and turned his back on John, shaking his head.

A distant rumble shook the diner and was followed by an explosion. Both were far enough away to not pose any immediate danger to the diner but the sounds were unnerving nonetheless. It told them all that the earth had swallowed more evidence of mankind and most probably took lives down with it.