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I awakened, startled byI sat up a little confused and saw that the ca to see through the diht and after several seconds, I couldsilhouettes ofsound that sounded like a radio on a station that had a low frequency
"Sheesh, we hter to work out the kink inpuzzled
"Sorry, I fell asleep too," hedown at Sa on his knees
"I guess we all did," I said, standing up to throw another stick onto the fire and watched as the flaasped when I noticed that the net was gone and blackness surrounded our campsite It was as if someone had snuffed out the moon and the stars
"Hey where’s the net?" I asked y step forward I reached out my hand, confused that the entire net had disappeared on us I went to take another tentative step forhen I was jerked backward by a hand grasping ravated at htly I turned to see his horrified expression as he peered out into the darkness beyond h me like I had been doused in ice water I turned around cautiously, scared that the eyes of a Daereetto understand what had alaran to adjust and I was puzzled to see that the blackness around us seemed to pulsate as if it was alive I took a terrified step backwards, finally realizing that thousands and thousands of bugs had filled the night sky around us
My terror induced screaht air when I realized that the net wasn’t gone, but was coinable The weight of their bodies raspedh the night like a banshee
My nightmare had somehow seeped into reality
Chapter 6
"Krista, Krista it’s okay! They can’t get in!" Shawn said, shaking my shoulders
My scream cut off and I looked at him, too scared to look anywhere else
"A-r-re y-you sure?" I asked in a tre theive roup
"Why are they crowding the net?" Sa the question all of us were afraid to ask
"Victor," I said clearly, knoithout a shadow of a doubt ere facing one of the obstacles Haniel had warned us about
John nodded his head looking atas close to John as she could get without cli into his arms, which looked like a distinct possibility
"I know babe, but they’re out there and you’re safe from them in here"
John and Shawn’s confidence in our shelter reassured me and I finally worked up the nerve to scan the perimeter of our caht The ground beneath our feet was clear of anything that crept or crawled I glanced up above our heads and an involuntary shudder raced downunder the weight of what looked likehad swelled to a deafening pitch,
I turned to Robert and Shaho both look concerned, studying the area behind our tent "What’s the ed looks, obviously conteed his shoulders in defeat
"We think they found a way in," Shawn said, pointing to the darkness behind our tents
I peered into the darkness where he pointed "No, I thought you guys secured the netting back there too!" I said, unwilling to believe
"We did, but I could swear I saw soo," Robert said, pulling Lynn close to him as per the instincts of a Protector I watched as the other Protectors, ere on high alert, followed suit, all but Shaho struggled with his dile the other half of his soul and me at the sa behind hiri for any kind of an to think maybe Robert was mistaken I slowly started to relax until I noticed John tense back up in front of Kieran I peered around Shawn trying to see the cause for alarulfed by aits way toward us
My group backed up in one fluidmass Shawn reached down for one of the branches we had collected for the fire He pulled off his hoodie and jerked off the t-shirt he wore underneath it He quickly wrapped it around the end of the stick and dipped it into the fire, creating a torch The rest of Protectors quickly mimicked Shawn and within seconds they all held torches out in front of them
My heartbeat was erratic as the distance between us and the insects closed to less than ten feet The fire from the torchesin s of tarantulas crawling over the hard-shelled bodies of the sateway to Hell had opened up and the end of tiasping for breath to my left on the other side of Sam and Lynn How ironic that we had spent the previous day discussing our hatred of bugs while we tried on boots together Never in ination did this scenario even seeain, just e needed hiap between us closed to less than five feet and I watched in horror as soht into the fire as if it wasn’t even there, burning thean toup The fire slowly snuffed out as if a bucket of water had doused it as s crawled over the remains of the charred bodies Terrified, I backed up even further, taking care to keep a safe distance betweenbehind round level, keeping the fire close to the dirt in an attes back, but I could tell they knew their attempts were futile The insects didn’t appear to have any sense of survival left Victor had instead turned theet to us, and by the sheer nu to happen