Tremors S1E14: Spider Perfection

Chapter 3

Early the next morning Burt arrived at the store to find everyone already up, although the tired look in their eyes suggested they probably hadn't gotten much sleep to begin with, worried that the creature would attack while they were in bed. Burt had been slightly worried as well, but after checking around the town for any recent tracks and drawing from the two previous attacks he had concluded that the creatures were diurnal and most likely wouldn't come snooping around during the night.

Burt made his way over to the counter and sat down; taking the mug of coffee that appeared in front of him. He watched the two cousin's help Larry stock the freezer with the supplies Jodi had picked up in Bixby the night before.

"Oh yeah," Jodi set a box onto the counter. "I ran into your lock guy and he went ahead and gave me these. Meant to tell you last night but I forgot."

"Thanks," Burt said, pulling the box towards him and opening it with his pocket knife. He took one of the locks out and examined it carefully.

Tyler crept up behind him and peered over his shoulder worriedly. "Are they Ok? No hidden bombs or dangerous chemicals that'll seep out undetected and kill us all in our sleep, right?"

The others erupted into laughter as Burt fixed Tyler with an annoyed look.

"What?" Tyler looked at him innocently, as if he truly was worried about bombs and chemicals.

Burt just rolled his eyes and shoved the obnoxious tour guide towards the door. "Go get your tools and help me install one for the store before I deny you yours."

Tyler gave a huff and stomped out with an offended air, causing another round of giggles among the residents.

Lupe paused on her way back into the freezer. "Are they always like that?"

"You mean is Burt always paranoid and Tyler always making fun of him for it?" Rosalita said with a grin. "Yes. Always."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Burt was so dead. Not that he could have known that one of the creatures was in the garage or that it was now standing between Tyler and freedom; but he was the one who had to guess the mystery creatures were spiders so Tyler was going to blame him for it anyway.

The thing was about a trillion times larger than the average spider and smelled about ten times worse than a wet dog. It had eight scraggly legs, course brown hair covering its body, and eight beady black eyes staring at him. That's where the similarities ended. Tyler had never taken great care to study spiders and their body types but he was fairly certain no spider had the snout of a cat.

The spider chattered in annoyance as it swung its head from side to side as if trying to find him. After spotting the giant creature Tyler had froze in his tracks and it appeared that was actually a good thing. He studied the eyes closer and noticed they seemed slightly filmy, like those animals that live in the dark all the time and have no real need for sight. Either that or it had cataracts but Tyler didn't really care. It couldn't see him if he was standing still and that was all he needed to know. Now if he could just get away.

Looking around his garage Tyler tried to find something he could use as a weapon since he had neglected to keep his gun with him (a fact Burt was sure to nail him for later). His eyes finally landed on his blowtorch lying on the shelf behind him. Just above it was a small lighter. Perfect.

Turning his gaze back to the spider Tyler took a slow, cautious step backwards. The creature didn't notice. Feeling more confident he continued moving backwards in agonizing slow steps until he felt his back hit the shelf.

Tyler froze again and stood watching the creature for a few moments. It was moving its head differently now, as if...sniffing? Tyler's gaze shot to the random feline snout again. Dang it! He'd forgotten about it, along with the fact that snouts usually meant sniffing abilities. Tyler felt his blood run cold as the spider picked up his scent.