The Void Read Online Free PDF Page B

asked.
    “Government. I can’t say too much, and to be frank, it’s skirting the issue here. Now I understand you have explained and, for the record, I have no reason to disbelieve you. But I don’t think what you’re saying is the absolute truth.”
    “Why would I lie, what would I—”
    He silenced her protests by holding up a large, calloused hand, then smiled and leaned forward.
    “Miss Robins, please, calm down.”
    “I don’t understand why you’re interrogating me,” she said, sobbing.
    She banged the desk in frustration. Clifton smiled, a predatory expression that revealed his perfectly veneered teeth.
    “This is far from an interrogation, Miss Clifton. If it were, I would already have my answers.”
    There was no mistaking the threat in his voice, and the more frightened Candy became, the more he seemed to enjoy it.
    “Now let’s try again,” he said. Leaning back in his seat and cracking his knuckles. “Tell me what happened.”
     
    III
     
    Embry had trouble even leaving his own house. He had been forced to argue his way through the barricade outside his gate, and only once there did he consider it might be even harder to get back in. Although it had looked warm from inside, there was a chill in the air, and now that he was close to the sinkhole, he could detect a faint smell coming from it. It reminded him of the time he had left a chicken fillet in the fridge and forgot about it for two weeks, it had a putrid, ammonia-like smell. His stomach churned as he looked over the barricade into the pitch black of the hole where he was certain he had seen his wife throw herself in. He shuddered.
    “Deep, isn’t it?”
    “Jesus!” Embry spat as he whipped his head around. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”
    “I think so. My mom said I don’t have to today.”
    Morgan was looking up at him, his eyes darkly curious. Embry's eyes went from the kid to the jar.
    “Holy crap, kid,” Embry said as he crouched down. “That’s some big ass spider.”
    Morgan grinned and held the jar up for Embry to inspect it. Inside was a large blue-green spider with a brown abdomen. Embry looked at the boy, then back at the spider. It was way too big to be a house spider, its proportions more like that of a tarantula.
    “Where the hell did you get that from, kid?”
    “Found him. His name’s Greeny.”
    “I’m not sure you should be messing with that. It could be poisonous.”
    Morgan shook his head. “It’s not. I read about him, it’s a…” Morgan furrowed his brow as he tried to ensure he got the pronunciation right. “He’s a Chromatopelma cyaneopubescens, but most people call them Greenbottle blues.”
    Despite himself, Embry grinned. “You know a lot about these things, huh?”
    Morgan nodded. “Yeah, I have lots of ‘em. You always have to be ready.”
    “Ready for what?” Embry asked, somehow knowing that the answer wouldn’t be one he wanted to hear.
    “To go down there,” Morgan said with a smile, nodding towards the sinkhole.
    Embry followed the boy’s gaze, and for the first time wished he was nowhere near the hole in the ground. Morgan’s mother rushed towards them, wringing her hands.
    “Morgan Brewster, in the house, please,” Meredith said, still flustered by the events at the school the previous day. The boy obliged, and stood beside his mother, who looked at Embry mistrustfully.
    “This is quite the distraction,” she said awkwardly, trying to force some conversation. Embry nodded, realizing that although they had lived across the street from each other for three or four years, this was the first time they had spoken.
    “It is,” he said, glancing into the sinkhole. “I just hope the thing stops growing before it eats any more of my lawn.”
    “Yes, I saw that. I’m sorry.”
    “Me too.”
    Embry nodded towards Morgan, who was staring into the jar.
    “He’s a bright kid.”
    “Thank you,” she said, pulling her son closer to her.
    “He knows a lot about those