I
Mackru Podie huddled with the others of her clan. Her clan, the Folia, lived a relatively uneventful existence in a world called Escara.
Escara was a quiet place, very still and dark. It was a place where life made few demands and things were much the same all the time.
The Folians lived simple, rudimentary lives. There was no need for clothing or shelter, and very elemental hunting and scavenging provided all the food they needed. Mainly, they spent their time bunching together in uncomplicated social interaction.
Occasionally, they would encounter one of the “Others.” The Others were also inhabitants of Escara, but had nothing in common with the Folians. They were merely different creatures who lived different lives and had little or no effect on the Folians.
Mackru moved among her kinsmen slowly, carefully placing each of her eight legs so as not to disturb anyone. As she moved over and between them, they acknowledged each other's presence, but communicated little else. The familiarity of this activity was comforting to her although her scarred memory constantly vexed her with the recollection of a horrible event.
On a day like this one and most others, the serene calm of Escara was shattered by violent shaking and a sudden blinding light. Huge objects pummeled from above as a poison rain streamed down, killing whatever it touched. When the rain stopped, fire engulfed everything in sight. The Folians, others like them and the Others frantically scattered, seeking refuge from the cascading death and rampaging inferno. Escara, as it had been known, was gone. Safety, if it could be found, would lie in the mysterious place known only as “Beyond.”
Mackru and enough of her kin to start over survived and eventually returned to Escara. They found it as it had once been, dark and peaceful. Again they resumed their traditional lifestyle. Nonetheless, Mackru was never again completely comfortable; never again felt completely safe.
After some time, as she navigated through the crowd, a terrifying sensation overcame her; the same rumbling and shaking that had foreshadowed the Armageddon she once experienced.
She looked in all directions as intense light assaulted her eight eyes, and enormous black boulders began to fall, It's happening again! I've got to get out! I've got to find a way to the Beyond!
II
The man pulled the cover off his grill and wheeled it from the covered porch out onto the wood deck. He dropped some charcoal briquettes into the fire box, carefully stacked them, and poured lighter fluid on them as a female voice called him from inside the house, “Have you started the fire yet, honey?”
“No, but I will in a minute. I'm giving the daddy long legs a minute to get away. I don't want them crawling all over the place when I'm trying to cook. I wish I could find some way to keep them from nesting in the grill when I'm not using it.”
