FF – Devourers
Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Liz Young.
This story comes with special exclusive bonus content!
Locked in a cage. Swathed in bandages, covering… best not look. A body become toxic waste, ravaged by… see those silken threads?… arachnids of alien origin.
They devour; flesh, bones, organs, brain liquified, not quickly, oh no! slow, painful, excruciating. Is that a house spider above your bed or a devourer of flesh? How to tell?
Or is the scene a student prank? Ill-conceived perhaps, yet ultimately harmless. We choose to believe this so that we may sleep at night, yet wilful ignorance will not save us.
They are coming. They are here. Our end is assured.
Click here to Fear The Spiders!
My worst nightmare!
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Mine too. And yet I am curiously drawn to the film Arachnophobia!
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It could all be a web of lies.
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Ha! Let’s hope…
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Well, that tapped into some particular fears. Thanks!
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You’re very welcome 🙂
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I’m glad I don’t have that particular phobia or I’d never sleep again! Snakes are my nightmare, so Ireland is a good place for me to live.
Love the bonus content 🙂
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I’m not a spider fan 😦 I’m glad you liked Spider Army!
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Too late, they are everywhere. Great story, I love all the possibilities of doom you describe. And the spider army poem is a gem. I used to be scared (still am of the big ones) but decided to learn more about spiders since my fear was making me feel stupid. It mostly worked, and I usually save them, not kill them.
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I try to trap them under a glass and chuck them outside when possible. I hate the things, though! I’m glad you liked the Spider Army 🙂
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Well, it would have been scarier if they didn’t look so funny. They have a great agent and I bet are looking for a horror film to star in. The aliens finally come and it seems they’ve been watching old Hollywood movies. Good one, Ali. 😀 — Suzanne
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They’re not the scariest-looking spiders, are they? 🙂 I’m glad you liked it!
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More, more, more! Great short horror story, Ali. Quite a contrast from the man who wants to live in Hobbiton, but with magical ability! 🙂
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I shall use my magical ability to keep spiders out of my burrow 🙂 I’m glad you liked it!
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Especially Shelob! . . . maybe you ought to consult fellow wizard Radagast?!
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I’ll take all the help I can get if I find myself facing Shelob 🙂
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I don’t remember the Spider Army post, but I apparently did read and even comment on it back in the day. And they are still at my front door, trying their best to block the entrance with enough sticky, icky, impossible to break down webbing for Spiderman to swing from coast to coast. That’s why I use the door to the garage instead…
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Well, it was 5 years ago, nearly. I’m avoiding opening my living room window as there are a couple of huge ones on the outside windowsill. Damn them all!
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if anything, it should prevent us from sleeping in the nude. who knows what part of your body they’d bite first? 🙂
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Full body suit for me from now on!
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Well! Tonight I just might burn the live trap my husband gave me to rescue spiders in our house. I just CAN’T kill them because they do no harm. Still, you might have changed my mind.
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I didn’t know you could get those. Might be easier than bunging a glass over them and trying to slide a piece of card underneath!
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No wonder we instinctively want to crush it.
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We’re genetically programmed that way.
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Dear Ali,
Is there anything creepier than a spider? I think not. Pulling the covers over my head after checking the bed for creepy crawlies. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
I know they’re all completely harmless (at least in this country) but… yeek!
Ali
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ahhhhhh
the spiders are here?
thanks for the heads up
all windows sealed
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Warning received! Nasty things 🙂
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got it
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Those spiders are, of course, from Metebelis III 😀
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Funnily enough I almost watched “Planet of the Spiders” last Saturday (I have it on DVD) but in the end went with a Dalek story instead. Maybe next week 🙂
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Which Dalek story did you watch – there are several goodies?
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I watched Revelation of the Daleks. Not my favourite (or favourite Doctor) but I hadn’t seen it in a while.
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No, not my favourite Doctor either. He was much better as “Bayban the Butcher” in the Blake’s 7 episode City at the Edge of Forever
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Yes, he was a real psycho in that (one of my favourite episodes). My favourite quote (hopefully my memory is getting it close):
(Bayban) It’s an honour, sir.
(Vila, quivering in his boots) The honour is mine.
(Bayban) That’s what I meant.
Classic!
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Poor Vila, I really liked him. My favourite Vila episode was where he almost got the girl 😀
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I think that was the Bayban episode, where he gets through the force field and they reach that planet. He finds the crystals they need on the Liberator and goes back, leaving her there 😦
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Anything worse than seeing a spider, going to look for something to help remove it, coming back and not being able to find it again? And then you are supposed to get in bed to sleep? *Shudder*…
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Or missing it during the attempt so it nips behind something and you can’t reach it any longer 😦
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Yeah… Not knowing where it is, is the worst!
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I am perfectly happy to live in denial when it comes to spiders. Pretend they are not all around me (yuck). A very creepy tale, well done!! =)
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That’s pretty much what I do. I know they’re there, they must be, but that way madness lies 🙂
I’m glad you liked it!
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Well, I do like spiders – small ones who eat flies ! But the ones in your story are truly spooky- nicely done Ali.
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I prefer the flies. At least they fly off rather than crawling all over you! I’m glad you liked my story 🙂
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Yes, I can see your point, it does remind me of a few scenarios I’ve had over the last year… 🙂
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Yep 🙂
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Spiders from Mars? Sorry, David Bowie is playing in the background right now, so….
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No better background music than a bit of Bowie.
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The Boy Scouts got it right- Always be prepared!
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But can anything prepare you for… The Devourers!
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This was awesome! What you wrote here is so powerful, I might not look at spiders the same way again😅
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Heh, me neither! I’m glad you liked it 🙂
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Eeks! And the bonus was an extra eeks plus yikes!
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Indeed! Though the spiders in Spider Army are kinda cute 🙂
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Great writing. I am going to bury my head and pretend it’s just a student prank. Sometimes ignorance really is blissful. Actually I rather like spiders since somebody taught me stuff about them. It’s those buzzing flying buzzers that that freak me.
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I know there are spiders everywhere this time of year but I would rather live in ignorance as to their exact locations in the house 🙂
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Most unsettling!
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Ha, most unsettling indeed 🙂
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Then I’ll try to enjoy it
Since calling for help
Would be absurd 🙂
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I would still call for help where spiders are concerned 🙂
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Our place a the top of the food chain is numbered, one day soon it’s Boy and Girl Kebabs.
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Yum 🙂
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I have had several allergic reactions over the years t spider bites.
They are dangerous little boogers.
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Though we don’t have any venomous spiders there are people who have very nasty reactions to false widow bites. Like “hospitalisation, nearly lose a limb” nasty.
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Yes, each time the docs diagnosed it as a brown recluse. IDK how they knew that or if they were just guessing but I had to be on some powerful steroids and the redness from one bite lasted over a year.
I HATE spiders!
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With a reaction like that, I don’t blame you 😦
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I don’t want to run into these spiders, Draliman, they scare me. Better find me a web 🕷🕸 Extra Pawkisses 🙂 ❤
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I’m sure you could handle a few spiders, LB 🙂
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Great concept.
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Thanks!
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Such an irrational fear, I try to fight it, but with no success. Nicely done.
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Me too! I’m glad you liked it!
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Gah! Any spider who dares to occupy space above my bed is going to die a quick and messy death–if only I can reach him!
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Yeah, if he doesn’t get you first… 🙂
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Aaaaahhhh… alien flesh-eating spiders!
This statement is applicable in real life in so many ways:
“We choose to believe this so that we may sleep at night, yet wilful ignorance will not save us.”
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There’s a lot of wilful ignorance going round…
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You tapped into my favourite nightmare. 😦
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Many people’s I reckon. Mine, for sure 😦
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Sounds like we’re in trouble.
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Yep. Keep a rolled up newspaper handy!
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I don’t think I’ll ever look at a side the same way again. Love your story and the extra content. Can we assume you don’t like them then… arachnids I mean.
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I’m not the biggest fan, no 🙂 I’m glad you liked it!
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I don’t mind students… but the others have to die, or fly out of my window if they are lucky 🙂
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I hates the spiders, I does 🙂
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