Mandibles by Jeff Strand Page A

so!_"

_He drags her around for nearly a minute, while his mean friend Marcus laughs and laughs. But they can't find any dog poop, because Dad spent all morning cleaning the yard._

"_I'm letting you go for now," Derek says, "but the next time Digger takes a dump your face is going right in it!_"

"_No, don't let her go," says Marcus. "I've got a better idea. When we were over by your swings I saw a really big anthill..._"

Agnes turned away from the door. Her hands were quivering and she felt like she was going to burst into tears. How long did it take to fix one lousy tooth?

"_Let me go, Derek! Let me go! I'll tell!_"

"_Okay, Marcus, you can let go of her arms, she's learned her lesson._"

"_No, no, not yet._"

"_Derek, please ... they're getting in my mouth!_"

"_Then stop screaming, you little brat!_"

"_Shut up, Marcus! Let her go._"

"_No!_"

"_She's my sister! I said let her go!_"

"_They're stinging me!_"

"_Let her go!_"

"_They're stinging my face!_"

"_Marcus, stop it! We'll get in trouble!_"

"_Quit hitting me! She's just being a baby._"

"_Derek please it hurts it hurts it HURTS!_"

Screw Dr. Ruiz, screw Roberta, and screw Zachary Davidson and his poor little toothache. She was getting out of here right now, before it was too late.

She dug her car keys out of her pocket, looped the ring around her right index finger so she could still work the trigger of the fire extinguisher, picked up the extinguisher, threw open the door, and rushed outside.

The ants immediately started coming for her. God, there were thousands of them. She sprayed the extinguisher in front of her as she sped across the parking lot toward her boxy but ant-proof brown sedan, crushing several of the horrible things under her feet.

She reached the car and sprayed the door, knocking off the ants that were crawling all over it. She sprayed the ground in a circle around her feet, then lowered the fire extinguisher and slammed her car key into the keyhole. At least she tried to. Her hands were shaking so badly that it took several attempts to get the key in, but finally she did it.

Something stung her ankle.

"_My face, they're all over my face! Derek, please, make him stop!_"

"_Quit screaming, you brat!_"

"_They're gonna sting me to death!_"

Agnes stomped on the ant as hard as she could, violently grinding her foot against the pavement. She reached for the key, but there was already a new ant crawling along the door handle.

She put her right hand back on the trigger of the fire extinguisher and sprayed away more of the ants coming toward her feet. Then she raised the stream toward the car door ... but it quickly died, spitting out only a few useless spurts of the yellow foam.

Another ant scurried over to the door handle. Agnes tried to brush it away, but her hand froze before it could touch the insect. Instead, she used the bottom of the fire extinguisher to knock it off the car door.

_Ants all over her face, crawling up her nose, digging deep into her ears, stinging and stinging and stinging..._

Another ant stung the side of her leg.

"_Let her go or I'll kill you!_"

"_I'm just messing around!_"

An ant stung her wrist as she tried to turn the key.

_Suddenly her arms and legs start jerking around by themselves. She doesn't know what's going on. She can barely even hear Derek and Marcus anymore, although she thinks that her brother pulled Marcus off her. She can't even feel the stinging anymore. There's nothing but absolute, raw panic_.

Barely able to hear her own screams, Agnes began slamming the fire extinguisher into the car door, again and again, splattering as many ants as she could. She was dimly aware that she might be damaging the door to a point where she couldn't open it, but the only thing that mattered was killing these nightmare ants.

_Is she running? She can't feel her legs, or hear her own voice, but she can see that she's running. Derek has Marcus on the ground, punching his face