The Anthrachnid

Narrator - Twas a dark and stormy evening, the sun was setting in the blood-orange western sky. Johnny Appleseed — leader of that trendy new cult  — was working on his latest project. A spider, like any normal spider with one exception, it would manifest the superior intellect of a human and a similar body structure while maintaining the defining characteristics of a arthropod. But all doesn’t go as planned when a quick burst of electricity from the sky ignites the laboratory with light.

Narrator - The house begins to shake as another strike of dry lightning collides with the brick walls of the old house. The glass jars begin to rattle and shake as if compelled by some unforeseeable force. Jars fall and collide with the wooden floor spewing chemicals and electrifying the once normal house spider.

Cult Leader - No! N-no! Not all my hard work! It’s ruined w-wait, where’s the spider… no, it can’t be.

Narrator - Moments later, the peaceful village of Ayr hears a bone-chilling scream originating from the mysterious cultists laboratory.

…

Narrator - It was a crisp, fall morning, orange, yellow and some still-green foliage covered the frost-soaked Earth and trees. Few birds chirped and few souls stirred the peaceful abyss of the Ayr village. The Chief still remained attentive at the task at hand. It had been 6 months, he wasn’t about to make this his first unsolved case.

Chief - *Mumble something unintelligible*

Villager - Chief! Help! There’s been another murder.

Chief - You, Deputy! Go do your job.

Narrator - The Deputy didn’t know the villager very well, just well enough to know his name, but really, who could forget such a name a Timor-Leste

Villager- It was another villager... I-I didn’t know the lad very well. I didn’t know his name. It must have been last night. I just saw him this morning, still dark. But we mustn’t wait any longer! Come quick!

Narrator - The Deputy and the villager trudged down the drenched, earthen path away from the quaint little cottage of Chief Charles Bokeefious.

 …

Narrator - It was nearly nightfall, the Deputy and the villager had arrived upon the house where said body was to be found. It had taken much longer than was expected, partially because of the poor navigational skills of the temporary duo. There was something about this house, something mysterious, there was an air of darkness around the house, you could feel it all around you. It was like death was lingering in the air.

Deputy - *Look around*

Deputy - Timor? I must have lost him. He’s probably already inside.

Deputy - *Stumble out the classroom door*

Narrator - Lying on the floor, was the body of Timor-Leste the villager, what remained of the bloody carcass soaking the wooden floor in blood.

Deputy - *Kneel down to investigate.*

Timor-Leste/Villager - *Attack him from above.*

…

Narrator - It was early morning of the next day before the Chief arrived at the house. The dreary mood of the house was but amplified by that time. You could hear the demonic chants of the cultists looming in the distance. Ravens perched quietly in the mangled trees at the entrance of the forest, barely visible in the dim light of the early morning, one could count about six, six dark ravens giving out a haunting ‘caw’.

Chief - *Open classroom door and stumble in.*

Narrator - The smell of recent death filled the small chamber. The smell of rot, and decay was nearly unbearable for Chief Bokeefious.

Chief - *Plug nose or something out of the terrible stench.*

Monster - *Attack him.*

BY: Blaine Chasse

Charles

Ugh, back from February vacation. This sucks. Why is school so stupid?!  I think to myself. I walk into my home room and see my best friend Molly.

 I sit next to her and ask, “Was your vacation as boring as mine?”

She replies, “No, it was actually fun. I went to Universal Studios in Florida.” 

Just as she says that a creepy old man walks by in the hall. He has a skull necklace, and a mop with what looks like red paint, along the bottom. 

I ask Molly, “Who’s that?”

“Oh, that’s the new janitor. He’s kind of creepy if you ask me.”

 Just then the teacher, Mr. Jenkins, walks in.

 “Alright, time for attendance. Hmm, what a surprise, Carlos isn’t here like usual.” Everyone laughs. Carlos is one of those kids that are usually late. He has terrible grades. In fact, he has stayed back 2 years in a row. 

“Hold on, Mr. Jenkins I saw Carlos a few minutes ago. He went to the Janitor’s Closet to get some paper towels,” says  Molly.

 “Well, I’ll finish attendance and then go find him,” responds Mr. Jenkins.

Molly

Mr. Jenkins finished attendance. He looked for Carlos for 15 minutes. He didn’t find him. He went to the office and told the cop about him. He came back and told us about it. He said they checked the tapes and found nothing. They called his house and asked his parents if he was there. He wasn’t. His parents came to the school with a few more cops. They made us all stay in the classroom while they searched the whole school. It took them an hour. While we were in the classroom, one of the clumsy girls, Sophie spilled Mr. Jenkins iced coffee all over his desk. She went to go get some paper towels by the sink. But they were still gone. She went with a cop to the Janitor's Closet. She came back with the cop but they didn’t have the paper towels.

 “The Janitor wasn’t there to unlock the closet,” she said.

 I started to get suspicious. They never found Carlos by the end of the day. But I think I know what happened to him.

Janitor

That little brat that dragged mud through the hall is gone. I am keeping his body in my closet. I’ve been hiding in the storage room all day. I call on my walkie-talkie to the school in the next district. The janitor there already has cleaned out 5 kids. Better step up my game. I hear the bell ringing, Signaling the end of the day. I hear everyone leave. Luckily, because it was the day back from vacation, the teachers don’t feel like being here. They all leave with the kids. I walk to my closet and hide his body in my big yellow cart that I store my mop and broom in. Luckily, I cleaned the blood this morning. I bring him into the boy's bathroom. There, I take the mop and broom and start tearing the body apart. Eventually he is just blood and pieces of flesh. I poor the items in the cart down the toilet. He is gone, and the spring cleaning has begun.

Charles

I get home and turn on my PlayStation. Because of what happened today,  the teacher didn’t give us homework. I start playing my favorite game. BZZT BZZT. My phone started ringing. It was Molly.

 “Hello,” I say into the phone. 

“ Hey, I think I know what happened with Carlos.” She responds.

 “Really, how?!” I say.

 “When I saw him he had muddy feet so he was going to the janitor's closet. He didn’t come back. Sophie went to the Janitor’s Closet, but the door was locked. What if he was hiding in there?” 

I think about it.“Yeah that could be, but why do you care so much?” 

She responds. “I don’t really know... I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 “Ok, Bye,” I respond. 

CLICK. I turn my phone off. I continue to play my video game.

Molly

The next morning at school was even more weird than yesterday. Two more kids went missing. One of them was Sophie. The other was the school bully named Rob. He stuffed the short kid in our grade into a locker the week before vacation. The janitor had to help him get out. Again, we just sat in our classroom all day. Today, Mr. Jenkins allowed us to use our phones for whatever we wanted. I used this opportunity to text Charles without anyone knowing about our plan. I tell him that we should tell our parents that we are going to stay at a friend’s house. Then before the bell rings, we both go to the bathrooms and hide. He agrees. We each go to our own bathrooms. I have my phone with me. Charles has his. He texts me saying that the Janitor just walked in. He says that he has a bucket with a red liquid in it. He dumps it down the toilet. It was Rob. 

Janitor

One more kid down. I had to pull some poor kid out of a locker after this brat stuffed him in. I have another body in my closet. Time to dispose of that one too. I walk into my closet, pull out the clumsy girl's body and put it in my bucket. I bring her to the girl’s bathroom and flush it down the toilet after I mutilate it. As I turn to leave I hear a squeak, as if a shoe slipped on a wet floor. It came from one of the other stalls. I open all of them except the one on the end. She’s in there. I think to myself. I slam the door open and feel a fist connect with my face as the girl runs into the hall.

     “NOT SO FAST LITTLE GIRL!” I yell as I chase after her.

     She is too quick for my old body. I lose her as she turns the corner. Luckily, all the doors are locked. I’m the only one in here with the key.

                              

Charles

I hear running in the hall then I see feet from under my stall. It’s Molly. 

She tells me, “The Janitor caught me in the stall. I ran in here. We have to call the cops.”

     But, before we can, I hear slow footsteps in the hall. We climb on the toilet, up the wall between the toilets, and into the ceiling panel. We can’t see anything so I turn on my flashlight. The open area in front of us looks like it goes on forever. We start crawling towards what we think is the exit of the school. We see a wall up ahead. I peek down under the panel, to make sure the coast is clear. I end up falling with a crunch.  I feel a pain in my side. I think I broke my hip.

Molly

Charles is laying on the ground. He looks bad. I climb down carefully as not to injure myself also. We landed in a preschool classroom. I walk over to the door. It’s locked. I walk over to make sure Charles is alright. I try to help him up but he is in to much pain. I carefully lift him up and carry him to a table. All that lifting during basketball season payed off. I go to the window and start banging on it. After about 30 minutes I hear a click by the door. I walk over to the door and open it.

Janitor

The stupid girl opens the door. I hit her over the head and she falls to the ground. Her lifeless body lying there. I walk over to the boy laying on the table. I snap his neck like a toothpick. I dispose of both of the bodies. 5 down multiple to go. Spring cleaning is far from over.

2 WEEKS LATER

Mr. Jenkins

It has been 2 weeks. The school might be closing. Twenty-five kids have gone missing. I do my attendance.

     “Abi?... Here. Bill?... Absent. Carlos?... Still absent. Charles?... Also still absent. Gabe?... Here. Jesse?... Here. Lila?... Also absent. Molly?... Still absent. Pat?… Here. Sophie?... Still absent. Toby?... Here. Violet?... Here. Walter?... Here. Zach?...Here.”

 Six out of my 14 students missing. I think to myself. The other classes are missing way more than me. I better start looking for a new job. 

Janitor

The stupid teachers have no idea. Luckily for me, though, spring cleaning has come to it’s end………………..

UNTIL NEXT YEAR!

4.0 

Kelsea

Ugh, back from February vacation. This sucks. Why is school so stupid?!  I think to myself. I walk into my home room and see my best friend Molly.

 I sit next to her and ask, “Was your vacation as boring as mine?”

She replies, “No, it was actually fun. I went to Universal Studios in Florida.” 

Just as she says that a creepy old man walks by in the hall. He has a skull necklace, and a mop with what looks like red paint, along the bottom. 

I ask Molly, “Who’s that?”

“Oh, that’s the new janitor. He’s kind of creepy if you ask me.”

 Just then the teacher, Mr. Jenkins, walks in.

 “Alright, time for attendance. Hmm, what a surprise, Carlos isn’t here like usual.” Everyone laughs. Carlos is one of those kids that are usually late. He has terrible grades. In fact, he has stayed back 2 years in a row. 

“Hold on, Mr. Jenkins I saw Carlos a few minutes ago. He went to the Janitor’s Closet to get some paper towels,” says  Molly.

 “Well, I’ll finish attendance and then go find him,” responds Mr. Jenkins.

Molly

Mr. Jenkins finished attendance. He looked for Carlos for 15 minutes. He didn’t find him. He went to the office and told the cop about him. He came back and told us about it. He said they checked the tapes and found nothing. They called his house and asked his parents if he was there. He wasn’t. His parents came to the school with a few more cops. They made us all stay in the classroom while they searched the whole school. It took them an hour. While we were in the classroom, one of the clumsy girls, Sophie spilled Mr. Jenkins iced coffee all over his desk. She went to go get some paper towels by the sink. But they were still gone. She went with a cop to the Janitor's Closet. She came back with the cop but they didn’t have the paper towels.

 “The Janitor wasn’t there to unlock the closet,” she said.

 I started to get suspicious. They never found Carlos by the end of the day. But I think I know what happened to him.

Janitor

That little brat that dragged mud through the hall is gone. I am keeping his body in my closet. I’ve been hiding in the storage room all day. I call on my walkie-talkie to the school in the next district. The janitor there already has cleaned out 5 kids. Better step up my game. I hear the bell ringing, Signaling the end of the day. I hear everyone leave. Luckily, because it was the day back from vacation, the teachers don’t feel like being here. They all leave with the kids. I walk to my closet and hide his body in my big yellow cart that I store my mop and broom in. Luckily, I cleaned the blood this morning. I bring him into the boy's bathroom. There, I take the mop and broom and start tearing the body apart. Eventually he is just blood and pieces of flesh. I poor the items in the cart down the toilet. He is gone, and the spring cleaning has begun.

Kelsea

I get home and turn on my PlayStation. Because of what happened today,  the teacher didn’t give us homework. I start playing my favorite game. BZZT BZZT. My phone started ringing. It was Molly.

 “Hello,” I say into the phone. 

“ Hey, I think I know what happened with Carlos.” She responds.

 “Really, how?!” I ask.

 “When I saw him he had muddy feet so he was going to the janitor's closet. He didn’t come back. Sophie went to the Janitor’s Closet, but the door was locked. What if he was hiding in there?” 

I think about it.“Yeah that could be, but why do you care so much?” 

She responds. “I don’t really know... I’ll see you tomorrow.”

 “Ok, Bye,” I respond. 

CLICK. I turn my phone off. I continue to play my video game.

Molly

The next morning at school was even more weird than yesterday. Two more kids went missing. One of them was Sophie. The other was the school bully named Rob. He stuffed the short kid in our grade into a locker the week before vacation. The janitor had to help him get out. Again, we just sat in our classroom all day. Today, Mr. Jenkins allowed us to use our phones for whatever we wanted. I used this opportunity to text Kelsea without anyone knowing about our plan. I tell her that we should tell our parents that we are going to stay at a friend’s house. Then before the bell rings, we both go to the bathroom and hide. She agrees. We each go to our own bathrooms. We are each in separate stalls. After a while we hear someone walk in. It’s the janitor. He has some weird thing in his bucket. He dumps it into the sink. We see the remains of Sophie. 

Janitor

One more kid down. I had to pull some poor kid out of a locker after this brat stuffed him in. I have another body in my closet. Time to dispose of that one too. I walk into my closet, pull out the clumsy girl's body and put it in my bucket. I bring her to the girl’s bathroom and flush it down the toilet after I mutilate it. As I turn to leave I hear a squeak, as if a shoe slipped on a wet floor. It came from one of the other stalls. I open all of them except the two on the end. She’s in one of them, I think to myself. I slam the door open and feel a fist connect with my face as a girl runs into the hall.

     “NOT SO FAST LITTLE GIRL!” I yell as loud as I can.

I hear a slam behind me. It was another girl. She kicks me in the back of the leg. I try to chase after them. They are too quick for my old body. I lose them as they turn the corner. Luckily, all the doors are locked. I’m the only one in here with the key. 

Kelsea

    We both run down the stairs. We run as fast as we can to the exit of the school. I turn the corner, to fast, and I trip over a desk that was out in the hallway. I tumble down in pain. I think I broke my hip. 

Molly

    I walk over to Kelsea and try to help her up. She is in too much pain. I can see the doors. I carry her over to them. All that lifting during basketball really paid off. I start banging on the door. After about 30 minutes I hear footsteps behind me.

Janitor

    Stupid girl. I walk up behind her and hit as hard as I can with my broom. She crumbles to the floor, her body lifeless. I walk over to the other girl. I snap her neck like a toothpick. I dispose of the bodies. 5 down, multiple to go. Spring cleaning has only begun.

2 WEEKS LATER

Mr. Jenkins

It has been 2 weeks. The school might be closing. Twenty-five kids have gone missing. I do my attendance.

     “Abi?... Here. Bill?... Absent. Carlos?... Still absent. Charles?... Also still absent. Gabe?... Here. Jesse?... Here. Lila?... Also absent. Molly?... Still absent. Pat?… Here. Sophie?... Still absent. Toby?... Here. Violet?... Here. Walter?... Here. Zach?...Here.”

 Six out of my 14 students missing. I think to myself. The other classes are missing way more than me. I better start looking for a new job. 

Janitor

The stupid teachers have no idea. Luckily for me, though, spring cleaning has come to it’s end………………..

UNTIL NEXT YEAR!

4.0

A capital letter always starts the sentence:  +The black cat walks.   - the black cat walks

If the quote ends in a comma, the tag line is lower case.   + “Hi there,” says the old man, “I didn’t see you over there.” - “Hi there,” Says the old man, “I didn’t see you over there”

If the quote ends in a period, the tag line starts with a capital letter.    +”Hi.” Said the old man.  - “Hi.” said the old man.

Question marks end questions, exclamation points end shouts.   +What animal are you?   +HEY YOU OVER THERE!

                                                                    

One day Steven was hanging out with his group of buddies, Tyler, Zach, Tyson, and Bradley. They look down the road and see a car roll in. This is weird because nobody in this town has a car, you’ll see later what they use. There is only one road in this small town. Everybody knows everybody. At the end of the road is a dead end with a big wired electrical fence. There is a path on the other side leading to the woods. Nobody has gone in the woods. Nobody has wanted to. This car looked like a secret agent car. The black tinted windows, the polished silvery grill, the whole nine yards. It pulls into a house at the end of the street. Nobody has ever lived in that house, somehow it looks like a professional has been taking care of it. That’s how all the houses in this town look. Steven and his gang ride up to the house on their quabs. A quab is a vehicle that is one big wheel. It grows as you grow. Everybody has one. Nobody knows how. When you ride it you sit in the middle. The wheel around you turns while you stay sitting straight up. As they get to the yard of the house they see a professional looking woman with a black suit and black sunglasses. She is talking on the phone and frantically trying to get everything out of the car. On the other side of the car a boy a little older than Steven gets out of the car. The woman gets off the phone and tells the boy to go hangout with the group and make new friends. The boy walks over. As he gets closer the boys can see that he is tall, around 6 feet, he has messy long brown hair, he has brown eyes, he is really skinny, his skin is also very tan. 

“Hey, my name is Kevin. I moved here from America. My mom moved us here because of work, I’m not sure where though,” says the new kid. 

“America?” Questions the gang in unison. 

“Yeah, the U.S.A. Haven’t you guys heard of it?”

 “Nobody in this town knows anything about anything besides what’s in the town.” Replies Steve.

“Well then, this will take some getting used to.” Replies Kevin. The rest of the day Kevin explains everything about America, from hot dogs to the Army. The boys have so many questions like what school is like and how cars worked. Later that day they went to the storage shed to get a quab for Kevin.

“This is what we all ride on,” says Steve, “everybody in town has one”

“Wow thanks guys!” Replies Kevin excitedly. Then the dinner bells ring and everybody rides home. 

The next day they all met up at Kevin's house just before his mom left for work. She had a cardboard box that read CLASSIFIED. She brought it out to her car and came back in to say bye to the boys. They all watch Kevin’s mom drive down the street into the gated path. They jump on their quabs and ride down the street to follow. The gate closes and they watch his mom drive up the street.

“Guys, we should break through the gate!” Exclaims Kevin.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Nobody has ever entered there except your mom.” Replies Steven.

“Come on, don’t be a wimp. I used to do stuff like this all the time back in America.” Kevin said pacing back and forth in front of the gate. Steven looks around at his friends. They all look nervous. Then Bradley walks over next to Kevin.

“I’ll go. I’ve always been curious about what is on the other side.” Then Tyler walks over too. Tyler and Bradley always stick together.

“If you guys are going then I’ll go too.” Says Zach.

Tyson chimes in saying, “Me too.”

“What about you Steven?” Asks Kevin.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea, what if we get caught?” He responds.

“We’ll be fine!” Says Kevin. Steven stops and thinks.

“Alright fine, but if we get caught it’s on you.” Steven reluctantly walks over to the rest of the group. They find a rock sitting about 10 yards down the fence. Kevin and Bradley pick it up and start slamming it against the fence. The fence is very old and rusty. After about 9 hits the fence begins to break. They keep hitting the fence. Stephen looks farther down the fence and sees an opening. He walks down through and comes back to Kevin. 

“Guys I already found a way in. Just walk down the fence.” They all meet up on the other side and start walking into the woods. They see a big open patch up ahead. They run towards the tree line and stop once they get there. It’s a desert as far as the eye can see. The wind is whirling around. There are trees on fire in the distance. There are scattered cars all around. Not just any cars, military cars. They are all destroyed, either scorched or blown up. Kevin walks over to the closest car. He looks inside and sees assault rifles and shotguns. The rest of the gang walk over.

“Holy crap, are those real guns?!” Hollers Tyson.

“GUYS! WHERE IS THE FOREST!” Screams Zach. They had only walked about 20 feet. They all look behind them and it all looks like desert. They then hear a loud screech off in the distance.

“Guys grab some guns and let's find some cover.” Steven takes command and starts running to a large transport truck about 50 yards away.

“We don’t know how to use guns!” Tyson yells to Steven who is almost to the truck.

“I do.” Says Kevin as he grabs a shotgun and runs. Everybody else follows. Bradley looks behind them and sees a giant lion with wings flying towards them directly in front of the sun. He is the last person to make it to the truck. He doesn’t have time to get into the truck so he drops to the ground and crawls under. They hear another screech, then silence. All of a sudden Bradley sees these huge lion feet land next to the truck. He hears sniffing noises as if it was searching for the boys. Bradley looks around. There is a small hole in the bottom of the truck with a knife hanging over the edge. Bradley grabs it. 

“AAAAAAAAHHH!” Screams Bradley as he rolls out from under the truck and stabs the creature in the foot. It screeches and grabs Bradley by the neck. He flies off into the desert. 

“Guys, I don’t hear anything anymore. Let’s look outside.” Kevin says as he opens the door and cocks the shotgun back. He crawls out and looks around. The rest of the guys crawl out. 

“Bradley is gone.” Steven says what everybody is thinking. They all look around. In the distance they see a building. 

“We should start walking towards that building. We might find some help.” Kevin says. He starts walking towards it. The boys follow him.

After awhile they start to get thirsty. There are no more vehicles around them. They keep walking. 

“Guys there are some trees over there” Zach says excitedly, pointing at an oasis about a mile away. They start walking a little bit faster. After about 20 minutes they get to the edge of the trees. Inside they see a vast jungle, with vines and birds and monkey sounds. They all walk into the jungle. They see a stream up ahead. They all run to it and start drinking. Then they hear a giant roar. A tree behind them breaks and then rushes over their heads. Luckily all of them were kneeling except for Tyler. Tyler was sent flying in front of the tree. He hits a rock with a loud thud. They all turn around and see a giant twenty foot gorilla with the legs of a scorpion. It crawls towards them and Kevin grabs his gun and puts 20 shots into the gorilla’s chest. It does nothing. The gorilla is to fast for them to run away. He grabs Zach and bites his head clean off. Kevin sees some vines up ahead and has an idea. 

“Grab on to the vines and swing to the top of the trees. They all swing as hard as they can. The gorilla grabs the tree and snaps it in half with its scorpion claws. They all fall on to a smaller tree. They start jumping across from tree to tree. Tyson trips and falls to the ground right into the gorillas claws. Kevin and Steven run faster. They can see the desert and the building up ahead. All of a sudden they hear a screech. The eagle is right in front of them. They have no way to escape. They start running towards the eagle hoping to miss its giant talons. Then a rocket is fired from the building. It splits into two. One hits the eagle and the other one hits the gorilla. They both explode on impact sending animal parts everywhere. Then a helicopter is released from the building. It hovers over the boys and drops down a ladder. They climb up the ladder and in the helicopter is a pilot and a guard. Kevin’s mom is also there.

“WHAT ARE YOU KIDS THINKING, THIS IS A MILITARY TESTING SITE. WHERE ARE THE OTHER FOUR KIDS?!” She screams at them.

“Mom they died.” Kevin responds, sounding extremely sad.

“We need to evacuate the base. Now that the other creatures heard the rocket, they will start charging the base.” The guard says. The helicopter flies back towards where the town is supposed to be. The forest isn’t appearing like it should.

“The creatures are screwing with our technology. The portal wall isn’t opening.” The pilot says this in a nervous voice. Then they hear a howl. A giant 90 foot tall wolf is sprinting at the helicopter.

“Activate the defenses!” Kevin’s mom says as she grabs a rocket launcher from a crate in the back of the helicopter. She fires it at the wolves head but it doesn’t do anything. The wolf jumps and bites the helicopter in one quick move. The helicopter falls to the ground in an explosion. The last thing Kevin and Steven see before they die is a praying mantis with the head of a hammerhead shark scuttling towards them.

“I’m sorry Steven, I should never of tried to drag you guys into this.” Kevin says in a sad voice as the mantis shark devours the people in the chopper.