by C. T. Adams
I moved back to Lucas and leaned close. “Pick a long gun you can do without.”
Why? His voice sounded suspicious in my head.
“We’ll have to lift the web to go under it. She’ll be able to smell it if I do any more.”
He sighed and handed me his AR-15. I hate to do this, but we have handguns that will do the same thing. I hope you know what you’re doing. It’ll be a lot slower to kill her.
I shrugged. “If we don’t reach her, we can’t kill her at all.”
Lucas nodded. I took the rifle and eased back to the corner of the room. I held onto the sling and swung the rifle the tiniest bit along the floor, until it touched the loose strands. It stuck like it was bonded with super glue. Then I pulled on the sling and damned if the whole corner didn’t move up and out. But then I had a problem. If I tried to attach the web to itself to hold open the hole, the swivels on the sling would shift and I’d get caught, too. If I threw the rifle against the web to attach it, the bell would sound. Nope—we’d have to do it the old fashioned way. I put the rifle on the floor with the sling safely away from the webbing and returned to Lucas.
“You’ll have to trust me on this,” I whispered in his ear. “You can’t see the web, so when you reach the adjoining wall, go on your belly and keep your face in the dirt to go under. Keep going until I tell you to stop.”
My eye twitched when his voice seared across my brain. I really don’t like this.
“Yeah? Well, get over your control issues,” I hissed. “Because we’ve got work to do. I’ll slide through the duffel and then figure out how to get myself through when you’re past.”
There was barely enough room for one, so getting me to hold the web and Lucas to crawl along the floor, avoiding something he couldn’t see or smell, was quite the trick. I had to step over him repeatedly in a little dance until he was face first to go under, with his legs rising up the wall at my back. I straddled him and used my feet, kicking his legs lightly to tell him the direction to move. He would slide an inch, stop and wait for me to direct him another inch. God, I hoped this was the only web we had to deal with. It was a pain in the ass.
Once he was through, I kicked the duffel forward until it was completely on the other side. Now, for me…
I looked the whole scene over while Lucas stood frozen, waiting for me on the other side. We didn’t know if there were any more webs, and I couldn’t see past this one to tell him.
I looked carefully at the rifle, to see exactly where it was attached. Okay, it was mostly the top of the barrel and receiver. With one hand holding the rifle taut by the sling, I gripped the trigger guard and took the weight onto my other hand. I released the sling and transferred it to the bottom of the stock and pressed the whole works forward lightly. The rifle stuck to the webbing just as planned, but when I let my fingers loose, my right thumb remained firmly attached to the web. Shit!
What’s wrong?
My hiss of a response sounded annoyed, even to me. “I’m caught. Give me a second.”
Lucas started to reply in my head, because I felt a flash of power. But he changed his mind and kept silent.
Oh, this was going to be a joy! The whole right thumb was attached, down to the palm. And to top it off, the frigging silver knife was in my right boot! This was a test of balance I hadn’t anticipated. I lifted my right foot and crossed it over my knee. It threatened to touch the web. Then I tried to slide it backward and around my left leg, but met the wall. Nope, I couldn’t reach the knife while my thumb was attached without making the situation worse.
But if a silver knife can cut it…
I pulled my Taurus from the back of my pants and thumbed the chamber release with my left hand—not easy, but doable. I flipped the wheel sideways and used my forefinger to pull the cartridge release backward a bit and then pulled a bullet out with my teeth. Then I reversed the process until the revolver was safely in the holster and the bullet was still between my lips.
I held onto the bullet by the brass and eased it forward—no sense ruining both hands. I pulled backward on my thumb until it was taut, and steeled myself.
The silver bullet seared both flesh and silk and I gritted my teeth against the pain. I don’t know which one gave out first, but the two separated. I was glad that Sue was safely behind the storm doors.
That hissing sounded painful.
I belly-crawled under the web and stood beside the old wolf. I whispered tersely while my thumb pounded. “I’ll heal, but I’m glad I’m ambidextrous. Let’s get moving.”
We’d only gone a few feet when the singing stopped. I felt Sue blast through the storm windows. Tony! She heard you, or smelled you or something. But she’s moving your way. Get out!
No doubt she smelled me burning my own flesh! But there was no getting out. I pushed aside her fear and closed the door again, gently shutting her out.
“It’s coming,” I said quietly to Lucas. He tensed and nodded.
I kept my eyes trained on the darkness while Lucas unloaded the duffel. He handed me weapons, and I didn’t even bother to figure out what they were before I slid them into pockets and my waistband. I’d know them by feel when I drew them to fire.
I told Lucas that there were no other webs as far as I could tell, and fortunately we couldn’t smell the reeking stench of the spider as we neared the door to the main warehouse. I looked up and could see the three cocoons near the ceiling. Bobby was nowhere to be found. I could only hope for the best.
We decided silently to take the high ground and each climbed opposite staircases to balconies that overlooked the main floor. There was no movement, but there was sound—the whisper of wind through broken panes of glass near the roof, dripping water from somewhere in the depths of the basement, and a ticking, scuttling sound of movement to my left. No, now overhead. I looked around me frantically and caught sight of a blur of light as it raced across the ceiling, toward—
“LUCAS! Look out!”
He turned and saw the spider just as she pounced from an overhead beam. He dropped and rolled, while I bolted down my stairs and raced across to climb his. He moved fast, but not fast enough. One fang caught him in the upper thigh. A brilliant flow of raw white light exploded and the spider was pushed back, but only briefly. I pulled two handguns at random and was pleased they were both semi-autos. I ignored the pain in my thumb and I emptied them both in the spider’s direction. The silver bullets caught her in the chest and cut one leg off at the knee. She fell backward off the balcony. The resulting crash told me she hit hard. But when I glanced over the balcony, she had disappeared. But, at least she was wounded for the moment.
I raced over to Lucas, who was gritting his teeth in pain. The leg was already swollen and the entry point of the fang was black.
“Are you going to be all right?”
He chuckled a bit, but it was a raw, bitter sound. “No.”
“So you’ll go paralyzed like the girls?”
The bitter laugh turned sharper, like jagged, broken glass. “Don’t I wish! Nope. Different venoms for different uses. She used the good stuff on me.” I knew what that meant. It was only a matter of time.
He pulled out a pocket knife and cut off the pant leg just above the wound, and then used the cloth to tie a tourniquet around his upper leg at the joint. “And I gotta tell you—it really screws up my plan to kill her. I won’t be able to walk any second now, so you’ll have to do the hard part. I hope you’re as fast as Jack.”
“Tell me what I have to do.” The words were cold and sure, because he was right. This thing couldn’t be allowed to live, much less breed. “I don’t know how fast I am. I’ve never put it to the test.”
He explained his plan, and by the time he was done, my eyebrows had nearly raised right off my forehead. “You have got to be kidding!”
“It’s the only way, Tony. It has to be heart and then head.”
I looked at him incredulously before glancing around again to watch for the spider. “You’re expe
cting me to go find this thing, let it chase me, get it to this balcony, and then somehow get behind it, slide underneath it while firing my weapons at her heart while you’re firing through it—toward me, I might add, while your hands are shaking like crazy—to cut off the head. Is that about it?”
Lucas nodded, satisfied. “That’s about it.”
I shook my head. “You’re insane. Did your buddy, Jack, ever tell you that?”
He actually smiled for a moment, even through the pale skin and sweating. “Frequently. But it works—as long as you’re fast enough. You’ve seen it, Tony. You’ll have to push yourself to your absolute limit to beat her. But for the record, I managed to cut off the head last time after getting bit. I can do it this time, too.”
“You got bit last time, too? Jeez, Jack was right—you really are slow!”
He flipped me his middle finger in response. He got himself to a standing position. I didn’t help, because he needed to be able to do it himself if this was going to work. He started pulling the weapons out of his waistband and placed them in a row on the balcony ledge. “Just get her to me and take out the heart. I’ll handle the rest.”
I turned to leave, but had to ask, since it might come up in my future, too. “How’d you survive the bite last time?”
He shook his head, understanding the implication. “Not an option this time, sorry. There was an antidote waiting for us back in Jack’s village. Just try not to get hit.” I nodded, but didn’t leave. I could tell from his face and posture that there was more to be said.
He didn’t look at me. He just kept repositioning the weapons on the ledge. “If you end up going back alone, I’d like to be buried near Mesa Verde in Colorado. It’s where my pack lived when I was young. And tell my wife I really did love her…despite…well, a lot of things.”
I nodded once and descended the stairs to the sound of him violently jacking rounds into the chambers of the semi-autos. He really didn’t think he’d survive and, unfortunately, I couldn’t disagree. Most of his thigh had turned black and the wound had started to ooze a pus-like fluid just in the time we’d been talking.
When I got to the bottom of the stairs, I stopped and tried to remember what I knew about spiders. It was obvious that this one could climb any surface and liked to attack from above. I glanced up and around. The three cocoons were still in sight, but no Bobby. Stop it, Giodone, I commanded myself. He isn’t my problem right now.
I took a deep breath and looked all around again. Back to spiders—they usually keep to dark places. So, I had to look in dark places. Wish I’d thought to bring a flashlight. Even my Sazi eyes need some light. Instead, I used my ears. I’d heard it move before, and now it should be wounded, depending on how fast it could heal.
A second later I stopped and stared at my feet—or at least, at the floor, which was now covered with a light mist, like fog rolling. Okay, now that’s just creepy.
I heard a faint sound and the twin Barettas rose and pointed before I had my head fully turned. There was nothing there but…one of the cocoons was missing! That was either a really good thing, or a bad one. Was the spider already moving her nest? I needed to speed up this process.
I took another step cautiously. The mist was up to my knees now. I wished I could smell enough to decide whether this was something natural that was going to kill me, like some sort of chemical leak, or something unnatural that was going to kill me instead. I calculated in my head as I stalked the edges of the room—if the spider is three feet high standing, how high does the mist need to be before the spider can just hunker down and lie in wait right in front of me? Oh, about knee high. Just frigging wonderful!
I felt Lucas’s intrusion into my head before I heard his voice. The mist is the spider’s scent, Tony! They did this in the jungle, too. I’m starting to get my nose back. Hurry and find something to stuff up your nostrils, or you won’t be able to think any second now. I cut a couple pieces of cloth for mine.
Shit! I found a wall to put my back against for a moment. He could have mentioned this before! I pulled the silver knife from my boot and cut a couple of squares from my jeans and stuffed them up my nose, adjusting them like ear plugs until there was no air intake. Fortunately, I didn’t have my sense of smell back yet. I hoped to continue that trend. But breathing was going to be a pain in the ass.
I heard a shuffling sound as I stepped away from the wall, along with a scraping thump. Hmm. That might just be the sound an eight legged creature would make when using seven legs. The sound still moved too quickly for my taste, but it wasn’t the blur of sound from before. I glanced up again and swore under my breath. Now there was only one cocoon remaining! I didn’t even care whether it was Bobby or the spider—I should be noticing this stuff! I’m letting my nerves get the best of me. I closed my eyes for a brief moment and focused.
When I opened them, I’d switched sides. I wasn’t on the defensive anymore. I was the hunter, and the mark would go down, even though I hadn’t quite worked out how I was going to lead it and follow it at the same time.
The screen door ripped open in my mind. You’re not going to lead it! I hope you’re ready, because here we come!
I looked up and across the vast length of the room. Sue was running with the speed of an Olympic sprinter toward the balcony where Lucas stood. But she wasn’t going to be fast enough to stay in the lead much longer. I took off at a diagonal angle toward the pair.
How did you get her to follow you? I asked as I raced toward them.
Her voice was breathless in my head. Hit her in the eye with a brick! I played softball in high school.
Yeah, that would do it.
But I’m having a hard time thinking, Tony. That mist is making me dizzy. She shook her head as I watched.
The creature started gaining on Sue, despite the strange way it was running. I saw why—I’d cut off one front leg, and the one behind it must have broken in the fall and was healing badly. The spider was moving in an ambling, twitchy kind of shuffle that made it seem even more monstrous and unnatural.
I heard that same hissing trill as I’d heard in Asri’s memory. “I won’t save you for my children, woman! You’ll satisfy my hunger now!” The spider’s fangs reached out and forward with a lurch, snagged on Sue’s jacket, and started to drag her to a stop.
Lose the jacket, Sue! I pushed myself out and forward through the open screen, until I was inside Sue’s body. She was right, the smell was awful. I fought to focus enough to take action. The next few seconds slowed to a snail’s pace.
I threw back her arms, and she let me. The coat slipped off her, pausing only briefly as one cuff caught on her watch, before she was racing forward toward the balcony once more. The spider didn’t even break stride. It increased its speed, and I did the same for Sue. I struggled to keep her mind on running. But her body was only human and it was wearing down. I pushed more magic into her and hoped the cost to her wouldn’t be too high. Faster and faster I forced her to race forward as I increased my own speed to intercept them.
My arms were pumping hard and I was struggling to take in enough air as I pushed my body to go even faster. I reached them just as they passed, and then turned to follow.
“Get ready!” I shouted, even though I couldn’t see Lucas behind the wall. I hoped he was still conscious, or this would end badly. The sound echoed off the high ceiling. It blended and split into a thousand voices that surrounded us and encouraged me, pushing me to my limit.
“MOVE!” I ordered Sue as I leapt into the air toward the spider. Sue turned at high speed toward the spider’s right—and the wounded legs. The spider couldn’t pivot quickly enough to grab Sue, but it saw me coming and kept running forward. It wouldn’t be fast enough to escape its fate.
I was suddenly under it, firing bullets the full length of the spider’s body. The ancient wood floor underneath creaked and groaned as I slid. Splinters and chunks of wood embedded themselves in my back, legs and scalp, while blood and stinging fluid covered my
exposed face from the bullet wounds.
When the guns were empty, I dropped them in full slide, pulled a second pair from my waist band at lightning speed and unloaded them into the spider’s chest as I passed under. I heard the explosions echo and then split as they were joined by more shots from above. I twisted and turned as bullets rained down on me. One piece of spent silver bounced off a nail, and slashed a burning line across my cheek. Another caught me in the bicep.
I’d done my job. I could only hope that Lucas had good aim. I crossed my arms over my chest and face and let my momentum take me out from underneath the spider just as she dropped into the mist. I spun out of control and hit a huge pile of rusting equipment and crates against the wall. I lost track of the number of cuts, bruises and punctures I collected as I came to a screaming, crashing halt. Thankfully, mercifully, I blacked out.
Chapter 20
I WOKE TO pain. I heard movement, felt the debris shift as someone dug through it towards me. I panicked. Was it the spider? I couldn’t smell anything and couldn’t move no matter how hard I tried. I couldn’t seem to wake up completely.
Bobby’s voice made me let loose a breath I hadn’t even known I was holding. “Hang on, Tony! We’ll get you out of there.”
Grunting with strain he managed to move a chunk of metal the size of a car that was holding down my right arm. Sue was helping him move smaller pieces away. I could feel cuts healing and bones mending like time-lapse.
She touched my face with cool dusty fingers. It felt nice and I leaned into her touch. I would have done more, but my head was all I could move presently.
