Dare to enter the chilling world of Glenn Riley's "Creepy Crawlies", a spine-tingling collection where the smallest creatures cast the longest shadows. In this gripping anthology, Riley masterfully weaves tales of horror that skitter and scuttle fro...
Captain Issa jerked awake, the cryogenic fluid draining rapidly. She lurched forward against the harness—something was wrong. The ship AI beeped calmly that all systems were normal, but why had she awoken decades too soon?
Stumbling onto the bridge in her under-suit, she scoured the control panels. They'd veered wildly off course, their intended galaxy now but a distant starfield. Instead, a mammoth black orb yawned dead ahead.
"Report!" she cried.
Silence. No other pods had opened. Issa's spine tingled. Unease swelled when she spotted the exploded electrical panel, evidence of an energy surge. She tapped furiously at the controls, but nothing responded. They were caught in the pull of a supermassive black hole, systems failing.
"Verdan! Bjorn!" she barked into the comm. "Get to the bridge now!"
Issa darted back down towards crew quarters when she froze. There was a soft rustling in the passage air vents above. She peered closer—were those tiny legs scrabbling at the grate? Some rogue space vermin? As she watched, a hairy appendage jabbed through, then another.
Bile rose in her throat. Those weren't the legs of any rodent. They were bristled, jointed...almost like spiders. Giant spiders.

Retreating slowly, she slammed her fist on the alarm. The harsh klaxon blared, stirring her crewmates at last. Issa's eyes stayed glued overhead as a claw rent the grate free. An oozing black sphere emerged—a swollen spider's abdomen.
"Captain, what's happening?" First Officer Verdan careened around the corner, his wiry frame sparsely clad.
"We've no time!" Issa grabbed his shoulders. "There are spiders loose. Big ones. Maybe radiation exposure..."
She faltered as a shriek echoed behind Verdan. Enormous hairy legs enfolded Scientist Bjorn as he left his pod. The spider reared back, lifting Bjorn's flailing body. Sickly green fluid dripped from its fangs piercing his neck.
Verdan snatched a fire extinguisher off the wall and unloaded it at the creature's head while Issa wrenched open the weapons locker. She threw Verdan a pulse rifle just as clattering erupted from the air vents all around.
"Fall back!" she shouted. More spiders crawled into view, some as big as large dogs. Verdan fired wildly down the hall, picking off two creeping from the crew bunks. But there were still dozens swarming above.

Issa and Verdan fled through the canteen and mess hall, scattering utensils and tables to block pursuing spiders. Over the screeching skitter of legs, the ship's computer droned that all systems were normal as they careened onto the bridge. Issa slammed the blast door control. Hydraulics sealed them in just as the first hairy legs slammed up against the window.
"Options?" Verdan gasped.
Issa scanned the control panel as if seeing it for the first time. Of course—the air exchange vents!
"Here, cover me!" She pried open the panel beside atmosphere controls, revealing a heavy lever. Grunting, she heaved it upward. A sucking whoosh reverberated through the floor.
"Radiation purgers!" Issa panted to Verdan. "Expel irradiated air." The bridge vents wailed. Through the window they witnessed spiders convulsing as toxins were siphoned away, before collapsing lifeless.
"Nice work!" Verdan flung an arm over her shoulder. "Now, about our course—"
An ominous scrape of metal drowned him out. Wild unearthly shrieks cut through the suctioning vents. The mangled air shaft grate burst open. Four hairy, venom-flecked legs gripped the edges. Then the mammoth creature hauled its oozing abdomen through.
"Impossible!" Issa breathed. Through the clearing gas, the swollen spider reared up, tall as three men. It turned its numerous compound eyes upon them and released an earsplitting scream.
Issa raised her rifle with Verdan. But their weapons merely dented the beast's hairy armor. It scuttled towards them, deadly mandibles gnashing.
Just then the blast door groaned behind them. "They're cutting through!" Verdan cried hoarsely. Indeed, an acrid burning smell wafted from the welding line burning down the sealed door. In minutes they'd be overrun.
Chest heaving, Issa dropped her rifle and looked Verdan in the eye. There was no way to regain control of the ship now, not before passing the event horizon. Her eyes drifted to the scarlet destruct switch that would split the ship apart.
Verdan's face grew solemn. Silently he squeezed her hand and nodded.
As the giant spider closed in from one side and the blast door began to give way on the other, Issa strode to the keypad. She input the destruct sequence as an unearthly cacophony of screeches swelled. The computer dispassionately counted down the seconds until annihilation.
Issa gazed out the window where the black hole yawned before them, indifferent and eternal.
"For the good of all species," she whispered. "You'll devour no more."
Her finger slammed the keypad. Everything turned white.
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