Red Sands by Nicholas Sansbury Smith Page B

later.
    â€œCrap,” Jeff stuttered. Reaching for David, he looked for a place to hide. There, in the far right corner, hidden behind a stack of boxes, was a flight of stairs. Jeff pulled his brother away from the door and they descended into another tunnel. He wanted to hug him, to reassure him that everything was going to be okay, but the rattling of the door made it difficult to think.
    David leveled the flashlight over the narrow tunnel. They ran, panting and struggling with every footstep, the flickering beam guiding them.
    Please , Jeff thought, please don’t let the light go out.
    He could see the end of the tunnel now. It stopped. Just a concrete wall. They had come to a dead end. Jeff felt like collapsing to the ground until he saw a skeletal ladder.
    The sound of crunching metal echoed through the halls. A Spider released an enraged scream louder now than anything they’d heard before. They had made it through the locked door.
    Jeff grabbed the light from David and angled it up the ladder. Rays of white moonlight bled through the holes of a circular cover at the top.
    â€œClimb!” he shouted, boosting David onto the metal rungs.
    Once his brother had started climbing, Jeff turned and unstrapped his rifle, aiming down the hallway. One of the Spiders careened toward the stairs. The creature moved quickly, its high joints clicking. When it entered the tunnel it halted, two clawed limbs swiping through the air, unable to come any closer.
    â€œThank god,” Jeff said. The corridor was too narrow for the alien to get through.
    Jeff looked up the ladder. David was halfway up, his weapon dangling from his chest.
    â€œKeep going!” Jeff yelled.
    Another Spider joined the struggling monster in the entryway, pushing it forward through the gap. The lead Spider let out a shriek in protest, turning to snarl at its companion with open mandibles.
    Jeff grabbed on to the first rung and followed David up the ladder as the Spiders continued to wedge their bodies into the passage. David was at the top now, pushing desperately against the cover. The moonlight breaking through the holes illuminated his frightened features.
    â€œIt won’t move,” the boy cried.
    â€œHurry,” Jeff said. He squirmed his way next to David and stretched his left leg out to brace himself. Together they pushed, heaving with all their strength. The metal cover inched upward and slowly they slid it to the side.
    â€œMove over,” Jeff whispered. He climbed over David and poked his head out of the manhole, staring at a panoramic view of the night sky. They were on the outskirts of the base. Buildings towered to the east and the north. There were no signs of the creatures, just the ghostly moonlight and the strange blue orbs hovering in the distance.
    Below them, the first Spider reached the bottom of the ladder. Jeff hoisted himself above the ground and pushed himself to his knees. Then he turned to pull David up behind him.
    â€œHelp me,” he said, gesturing toward the manhole cover. Together they pushed the metal lid back over the hole. Below, the Spiders clawed futilely up at the boys.
    There was no way they would fit up the ladder. But more would be more. There were always more.
    Jeff ’s heart leaped as if it were escaping his chest. He gasped for air, trying to control his breathing.
    â€œI’m sorry I yelled at you. But you can’t run away like that. You have to listen to me,” Jeff panted. “We have to stay together.”
    David nodded before turning to look at the desert. In a low, solemn voice he said, “Is Dad out here somewhere?”
    Jeff placed his arm around his brother’s shoulder, listening to the Spiders screeching in the tunnel below their feet. “I don’t know. But if he is, we are going to find him.”

CHAPTER 2
    T HE school bus honked outside.
    â€œYou guys are going to be late! Mr. Andrews isn’t going to wait out there forever,”