The Desert Tarantula

Legend has it, that when the Babylonian king Nabopolassar came through the area of Tikrit thousands of years ago, slaughtering the Assyrians, his men rounded up local women for the pleasure of his officers and generals. The women were never heard of again. Tales about one of these women, a young mother whose name was Awiya, who was beaten terribly and left to die in the desert have been passed on for generations. Most outsiders dismiss these stories about this woman as the myths of an undereducated rural folk, who live just outside of the city. But locals know of the strange things that occur in the area. One of the stories about Aiwya, was that after she was left to die, lying in the dirt covered in blood, a god came upon her. This God listened to Awiya's thoughts, and felt moved by her anger and desire for revenge, and so he turned her into a giant beast, so that she could have her vengeance. After she killed the men who had ravaged her and left her to die, Awiya the beast died on the spot. Sometimes, the myth goes, when war and violence returns to where she lived her life, when blood is spilled on the spot where she died, her spirit will awaken to take revenge once more...



The sound of a rifle firing echoed through the dirt covered alley. Private First Class O'Neil, a rifle carrying infantry man slammed the pack he carried against the standstone wall, taking cover.

"Goddamnit, I knew this was going to happen today." He shouted out. His squad leader caught up to him. The rest of the squad followed and quickly ducked down. The squad leader, Corporal White looked at O'Neill.

"You're pointman, I need you to keep your eyes open. Did you see where the shot came from?"

"No Corporal." O'Neil shook his head. "I bet if Ski opened up his Golf on that Haji, he'll run away and we'll get outta this ok."

"First we'll have to know where to shoot at, eh." Wakowski, called 'Ski' by everyone who knew him, carried the squad's M240 Golf, a medium sized machine gun.