Mandibles by Jeff Strand Page A

again. "What about the kid?"

"Leave him!" Hack said.

"_No_!" Louise wailed.

Slash pointed his revolver at Dustin. "You're mine, now," he said. "Get moving."

That wasn't something Dustin needed to be forced at gunpoint into doing. He followed Hack and Louise toward the back of the store. Though he felt absolutely sick to his stomach with guilt over leaving the boy wounded and bait for the ants, there wasn't anything he could do with a gun at his back, and he definitely didn't have time to try to convince Hack and Slash that it would be in their best interest to drag along a crippled hostage.

"What about the walk-in cooler?" asked Hack.

"Forget that," said Slash. "I'm not trapping myself anywhere."

Hack opened a door that said "Employees Only," then smacked Louise in the side of the head with the hand holding the gun as she made an attempt to break free and return to her son. "You wanna die with him?" he asked.

"Let me go, you -- " Another smack, this one quite a bit harder, silenced her.

The back area of the convenience store was a complete mess, filled with randomly strewn boxes and a desk that must have contained every piece of paperwork generated by the business for the past ten years. One door was clearly the walk-in cooler, the other said "Restroom" with a smaller sign that read "Please conserve toilet paper," and the third had a red "Exit" sign over it.

"_Yes_!" said Hack. "We're outta here."

Dustin cringed as he heard Gary howl in agony. He tried to make himself believe that it was just pain from the bullet in his leg. He didn't do a very good job.

Hack pushed open the exit door. Dustin briefly wondered why no police officers had come in this way to try to sneak up on the hostage situation, but then figured that you could only open it from the inside.

There were three cops out in the back of the convenience store, one of whom was lying facedown on the ground and covered with ants. Dustin assumed it was a cop, anyway. He couldn't see the police uniform, or lack of one, through the blanket of insects.

One of the cops looked away from the infestation long enough to notice them coming through the back door. "Don't move!" he shouted.

Hack shot him in the chest. Louise slammed her hands over her ears; the gun was fired about three inches from her head.

The other officer was busy wiping ants off his legs, but took a shot at Hack that missed, despite their being less than fifteen feet apart. Slash fired, missing as well. Two more shots were exchanged, with the officer's bullet going completely wild and Slash's bullet pounding into the officer's stomach. The cop doubled over, fell to the ground, and was immediately overtaken by the ants.

There was a police car about twenty feet away from them, the engine still running. The robbers and their hostages moved toward it.

"Please, you don't need me any more," Louise begged. "Let me go back to my son!"

"Shut up!" Hack shouted.

"_Please_!"

"You want a bullet in your mouth?"

Then Louise began to shriek. "_They're on me_!" A couple of ants ran up her leg and under her skirt. Dustin kicked away a few that were getting too close to him.

"Move!" Hack shouted, giving Louise a violent shove. She lost her balance and fell forward, throwing out her hands to break her fall. Several ants were on her in no time.

Hack started to reach for her, but pulled back as the ant swarm thickened. Louise began rolling around, trying in vain to get the ants off her body.

"Just leave her!" Slash said, jabbing Dustin in the back with the barrel of his gun to spur him on. They both ran for the police car.

"We need her for a hostage!" Hack insisted.

"Forget the hostages! We need to get the hell out of here!" Slash threw open the front passenger door of the squad car and poked Dustin with the gun barrel again. "Get in!"

Dustin got in the car, and Slash closely followed him, hurriedly slamming the door shut. Hack made a move as if he were going to kick Louise