Uninvited Guests

Outback Nook Hostel had a chalkboard with the day's wildlife sightings: wallabies, a dingo, a "very polite snake." Brooke loved it. She had flown to Alice Springs for the sunrise tour and told everyone she wanted to "feel the desert." The hostel was cheap, dusty, and full of stories. She thought the broken vent in the dorm was just a quirk.

Cal had planned to fix it after the busy season. Mika, the wildlife guide, told guests to shake out their shoes and keep their bags zipped. Brooke laughed and said she wanted a scorpion selfie. Oren showed her a photo of a scorpion he had taken earlier and told her to be careful. She shrugged. The desert felt far away from her bunk.

That night the heat didn't break. The dorm windows were open, the fan rattled, and the vent hummed. A line of scorpions crawled through it, drawn by the cooler air. They slipped under bunks, their bodies silent. Brooke slept on her side, arms folded beneath her pillow. The first sting woke her. She slapped at her arm and rolled over.

She told herself it was a mosquito bite until the second sting hit her ankle. The pain was sharp and electric. She flipped on her phone light and saw the segmented tail raise again. Her scream jolted the dorm awake.

The second sting hit her ankle. She sat up, confused, and felt a sharp pain bloom. She flipped on her phone light and saw the scorpion on her sheet, its tail raised. She screamed. The dorm lights snapped on. Oren jumped from his bunk and crushed one with his shoe. Mika grabbed Brooke and checked her arm. There were multiple stings, already swelling.

Cal stumbled in, barefoot, scanning the floor with a flashlight. He found three more scorpions behind a bag and smashed them with a towel. The fan kept rattling, indifferent. Brooke's skin was hot to the touch, and her voice shook as she tried to laugh.

Oren pressed a cold water bottle to her wrist while Mika searched for the antidote kit. The kit was there, but half-empty from the last time someone had used it and never replaced the supplies.

Mika swore under her breath and told Cal to start the truck.

The headlights cut across the desert wall like a warning.

Cal called emergency services. The nearest clinic was forty minutes away. Brooke's breathing got shallow, her lips tingling. The venom hit like a wave. She tried to joke about getting a scar, but her voice shook. By the time the ambulance arrived, her heart was racing and her muscles were stiff. She died on the way to the hospital, the stings darkening in the heat.

The hostel closed the dorm for fumigation. Cal replaced the vent and wrote a new rule on the chalkboard: "No open windows after dark." Mika canceled the sunrise tour. Oren posted a photo of the vent with a caption: "The desert doesn't knock." @HostelReaper replied, "Seal your doors."