Island Jumper 4

by M H Ryan

  “Sherri!” Benji yelled, looking as if she might try and make the jump herself.

  I stared at the dead spider, leaning next to the void, trying to find my wife in the mess of spider legs and body. Then I spotted her hand reaching out from under the blackness and pulling herself forward. Another reach, a few groans, and Sherri got free from under the dead spider.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She stood, brushing some of the dirt off her skin. “I think so,” she said, inspecting her body. “Bastard scratched me.” Sherri turned to the beast and kicked it.

  I spotted the scratch, right on her thigh, a red mark that didn’t look too bad but even the small injury sent my blood to a boil. I wanted to burn them all down for hurting her.

  Sherri ignored the scratch and smiled as she grabbed the wooden plank with both hands. With a few motions, she had the plank near the edge of her side and lowered it far enough the Aubrey, and Shaya grabbed it and set it on the floor.

  Aubrey ran across the plank and jumped into Sherri, knocking her onto the floor.

  “I didn’t think you were going to make it,” Aubrey said, grabbing Sherri and picking her up.

  “I didn’t either,” Sherri said, laughing. “Best jump of my life!”

  We all rushed across the plank, with me being second to last and taking my time balancing a woman on my shoulder. As I neared the edge, they grabbed me and pulled me safely across.

  As Hanna crossed, the flames behind her were growing dim, flickering on and off. Hanna staggered across the plank, falling into Aubrey’s and Cass’s arms.

  Breathing hard, I rushed to Sherri, who was still being mauled by Aubrey and Benji.

  “Ah, poor Molly,” Benji said, cradling her head as I stared at Sherri. “I hope she’s okay.”

  “Sherri, are you sure that thing didn’t get to you?” I asked.

  “It’s not like we can do anything about it right here and now,” Sherri said. “Jack, we need to leave this place.”

  Shaya bent down, studying Sherri’s leg with a frown.

  “Eliza,” I said as the room went to near darkness, and the scratching, cracking sound filled the room. “Get us out of here.”

  “Okay, just follow us,” Eliza said, holding hands with Emma.

  Eliza and Emma ran into the next hall with Hanna holding a weak flame out to light the way. I stayed back, noticing a small trail of smoke not entering the cave we just came from. I sensed so many coming for us now. They had backtracked and found us once again.

  “Benji, can you bring it down?” I asked, pointing to the small tunnel we came from.

  “I can try,” Benji said and held out her hand.

  The first spider came into the room and ran to the side of the wall, going right over the chasm. A flash of metal flew out from Cass and slammed into the creature. It fell off the wall and into the void below.

  It disappeared into the blackness, and I waited for it to hit bottom. After a few seconds, we heard the distant clunk.

  “That’s a deep hole,” Cass said, staring into the abyss with me, leaning and pressing her chest against my side. I held steady, making sure she didn’t fall.

  I reached to the depths, further than before, and felt it—the seal that had been many places now. Was this Lyra’s seal? It had to be. I saw it in my head and felt the power it held back. A fading power, though, weaker than the other ones, as if it had been fractured or broken already. Somehow, it felt connected to the tree as if one fell, so would the other.

  A massive cracking sound drew my attention from the darkness and back to the tunnel with smoke pouring out from it. The ceiling collapsed, sending out a burst of dust and smoke. The broken and shattered rocks covered the tunnel behind us. That should slow them down.

  “You guys coming?” Hanna asked, lighting up the area around us.

  “Yes,” I said and grabbed Benji with my free hand as she swayed and staggered forward.

  With Molly on my shoulder and Benji holding onto my arm, we moved surprisingly fast, catching up to the group in another tunnel that looked familiar.

  “Are we back in the main tunnel?” Hanna asked.

  “Yes, it’s the only viable way out…I think,” Eliza said.

  I felt it, or her—the mother spider, further ahead in the tunnel. The light from the creatures on the ceiling lit up as everything quieted down.

  “The big ones ahead,” I said.

  “The queen spider, Lyra mentioned?” Hanna asked.

  “There has to be another way?” Benji asked.

  “There isn’t,” Eliza said.

  “Then we go through it,” Sherri said, favoring her leg. “Stupid spider doesn’t stand a chance against us.”

  “We’ll go through it,” I said.

  The blue light lit up the path ahead like a runway. We tracked the progression of illumination until it reached what I knew was already there.

  A spider filled the space of the tunnel. It crouched down between its legs and looked the size of a compact SUV. It stared at us with two large eyes. I sensed it, feeling the calm emotion from the creature. It wasn’t going to let us out.

  “It’s so pretty,” Carmen said, taking a step toward it. “Can you feel it?”

  Carmen closed her eyes and held out her hand to it.

  “Carmen, stay with us. How’s that bubble on Lyra going?” I asked.

  She shook her head in confusion and then blinked a few times, as if confused about where she was. “I have her still. Barely, but she is there.”

  Smoke trailed along the ceiling above us. Looking back, I could see smoke filling much of the space and blocking out the blue light. It wasn’t just the smoke coming for us, the spiders were converging in all directions around us as well. I felt them in all the tunnels around us, and they were angry now.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t think I can start another fire,” Hanna said, bent over and breathing hard.

  She had a flickering flame hovering in front of her, barely more a birthday candle.

  “Let’s kill the queen and get out of here,” I said.

  “With pleasure,” Benji said, nocking one her last arrows.

  She shot it and then thrust her hand forward in a punch, and the arrow launched at the beast blocking our exit. It struck the thing right above the head and bounced off, hitting the ceiling behind it. The impact echoed through the cave, sending us to near darkness as the creatures above shifted to darkness.

  “Impossible,” Benji said, pulling out another arrow.

  She pulled back the string and waited for the ceiling to light back up, but it didn’t.

  A sound grew around us. The spiders were inching closer to us, scratching the walls and keeping a constant noise going.

  “They’re coming,” I said, getting closer to Kara as our circle closed.

  Hanna’s fire brightened, and I then realized the queen had cleared the distance between us and was now only twenty feet away.

  Its massive body looked less like the smooth spider bodies the rest had, but more like a layered and armored carapace with something closer to the thick scales on a reptile. Its eyes were blue and as large as my fists. Its head, the size of a beach ball, rose as we all stared at the beast.

  Another arrow flew from Benji and then a shiny piece of metal from Cass. Both struck the head of the monster. The arrow went right into its mouth while the metal drove into the thing’s left eye.

  It screeched something out that sounded far too close to a human scream. The noise sent chills down my spine as I reached for the monster’s mind. It felt like glue, and I knew I wasn’t going to get control of it, but I might be able to stop it from killing us and give us the chance to escape.

  It flailed wildly against the wall and moved toward us.

  Taking a breath, I pushed out everything else but me and the monster. Emma hugged my side and helped support some of Molly’s body as I dug into the things mind.

  It stopped flailing just ten feet from us, and I stared at it, making eye
contact. I felt the shock from it, as if nothing had ever commanded it before. I wasn’t in its mind yet, but I was close enough to nudge it in the right way.

  “Stop,” I said. “Leave this place.”

  Black blood dripped from its mouth and eye.

  “I’m out of arrows,” Benji said.

  “I’m trying to get mine back,” Cass said, and thrust her hand forward and then back with a scream.

  A section of the spider’s head exploded.

  The metal flew toward Cass, but also the black goo.

  I moved, but not fast enough, and the sickening innards of the creature hit me, Molly, and several others. The moment made me lose concentration, and the beast slipped from my fingers. It retreated backward, letting out a sickening scream that I quickly knew was more than a scream—it was a command to her army.

  The feeling of waiting in rage ended for the spiders; they were given the command to attack, to save their mother, or die trying. All of them screeched in reply. Their combined battle cries echoing in the tunnel, sending us to near darkness—then they attacked.

  Chapter 35

  The queen spider turned and scurried into the darkness and toward the entrance of the tunnel. I knew it didn’t want to leave the confines of these rocks—I could feel her fear. She was terrified to leave this cave; she hadn’t done so in a long time, but its fear of us now had it fleeing for its life.

  Spiders, the size of horses, dumped into the cave around the queen. They ran over her, above her and under her, putting themselves between them and us.

  “I don’t think we should follow Eliza anymore,” Aubrey said and coughed.

  The smoke filled much of the tunnel, making it harder to see anything coming our way. Trying to pull a sound out of the cacophony seemed impossible. They were coming from everywhere.

  “We’ve got to move!” Cass yelled, sending a piece of metal into the smoky darkness.

  “Move where?” Kara asked. “Use your mojo, Eliza!”

  “I…I don’t know,” Eliza said, looking as scared as I’d ever seen her.

  “Benji, can you bury the tunnels?” I asked.

  “All of them?”

  “Just leave us the way out. Take the rest of them out,” I said and pushed Emma to her. “Everyone protect Benji and Emma at all costs.”

  “This is gonna hurt,” Benji said, taking Emma’s hand and closing her eyes.

  “Ladies, circle up around them,” Sherri said, holding onto her spear and limping to the front of the pack.

  Kara pushed me into the circle, and they all stood around us with their weapons out. Many were coughing, and I lowered Molly down to the ground where there would be less smoke. I pushed the noises out and concentrated on the spiders. There were too many to have any chance of controlling them all, but I didn’t need to.

  Finding the closest one, I drove into its mind and felt the stretchy taffy of a predator inside. I kept pushing until it got so thin that I imagined a knife cutting through, and then it happened— it cut through. I got inside the first one. The pain of being in its mind pulsed through my head, and I swayed, grabbing Kara’s back for support.

  “I got you,” she said and patted my hand.

  Sherri screamed, and I heard a rustle of noises from the girls as they stabbed and killed the spider that ran past the one I had.

  It had such rage inside that I fought it from overwhelming me.

  “Kill them,” I whispered to the spider, and it obeyed.

  It turned to the spider nearest it and bit into the side of its head. The other creature, stunned, fell back, and now my spider pounced on it, stinging it in the abdomen. Then it moved to another spider. They weren’t expecting one of their own to attack, and it killed another one before quickly moving to the next.

  The tunnel shook, and a sound blasted through us, followed with a massive burst of air that sent us to near darkness.

  “My flame’s gone,” Hanna yelled out in a panic. “I think I can—”

  Before she could even finish her sentence, another blast of sound burst through the tunnel with another gust of air. In quick succession, four more explosions happened. The tunnel shook, and I gripped Kara while I grabbed another spider’s mind.

  This one was right above us. Right above us!

  I looked up as the creature crept across the smoke-filled ceiling. I grabbed Molly’s arms and pulled her out of the way as the thing crashed to the ground. It flailed and righted itself onto its eight legs.

  “Wait,” I said, as the girls moved to stab it.

  I had this one. I punched through its barriers and then sent it running ahead, toward the exit.

  “Follow it,” I said, coughing from the smoke.

  That’s when I realized Emma and Benji were on the ground. Sherri, Aubrey, and Shaya had them in their arms. Their eyes were red from the smoke, and everyone was coughing now. Even as I lay Molly on my shoulder, I heard her struggling for breath. It wouldn’t be long now until we were all dead from smoke inhalation.

  “I’m trying,” Aubrey said, coughing.

  “Emma,” I said, and Emma rushed to Aubrey.

  Together, Aubrey pushed some of the smoke away from us.

  “We got to keep moving,” Sherri said, urging me forward.

  I got behind the giant spider, splitting my thoughts between it and the one I had behind me. It was still killing its kind, one by one. Its compatriots weren’t even fighting against it, in the chaos and confusion.

  Ahead, I sensed a dozen or more, and behind them, the queen. It must be right at the entrance of the tunnel. I felt its fear growing as it brethren fell.

  “Cass, get ready. We’re going to need you,” I said. “Just don’t kill mine.”

  “Okay,” Cass said as we walked behind our spider.

  I sent it running forward and gave it complete control on how to kill the spiders waiting ahead. They didn’t suspect anything was wrong with it until it bit into one of their faces and stung it.

  The action sent panic among the ranks, and it jumped to the next spider, killing it quickly before moving to the next.

  The one behind us collapsed to the ground. It had been wounded, with a dozen or more bite wounds. It lay bleeding and twitching on the ground, and I gave it a final thought that it felt no pain and died a hero.

  Sad, I let go of the creature and focused on the one ahead.

  I wanted to pull another one in, but my head pounded, and without Emma, I didn’t have a chance of controlling another. Blood trickled from my nose. One would have to do; it was all I had in me.

  The last few attacked the one I commanded. Being in its mind, I knew what it could do. I commanded it to jump off the ground, hit the wall, and then land on the spider at the back of the pack. It stung the thing right in the neck. It went down in an instant.

  The spider stopped and turned, confused by the maneuvers.

  Seeing most of them in the tight tunnel, I had it back up to where it narrowed. I could take on two at a time in that space. They lunged at my spider, but I had it go low, sliding under the first one and stinging it. The other one moved down onto mine and stung it in the gut. I felt the pain screaming through it, but I had it bite onto its face and hold on.

  “Kill them,” I said.

  Cass threw her metal out, and it crashed into the first spider and then through the other ones. She fell to her knees while keeping her hand outstretched.

  “I can’t hold it,” Cass said and fell to her side on the ground.

  “I got her!” Eliza called out, getting down next to Cass.

  The last two spiders moved toward us after killing mine. I didn’t have it in me to grab them with my thoughts, but I did have it in me to give them caution. They slowed down as I struggled to take the deep breaths I desperately needed.

  Sherri threw her spear, hitting one of them, but not mortally. Shaya threw her knife, as well as Kara, striking the thing in the head and sending it to the ground.

  The last one screeched and ran at us.


  With Molly on my shoulder, I rushed forward a few steps and then slid to my right. The creature moved with me, and I switched direction while bringing my knife out. The large creature skid and struggled to match my move. It had size, but I had speed.

  I cut through its leg. It fell forward, just as I had wanted it to, and then I stabbed up, right through its mouth and into its brain. I twisted the knife, feeling the blood covering my hand. It spit in my face before collapsing on Molly and me.

  Aubrey pulled Molly out first, and then she and Sherri helped me up.

  Sensing the area, I knew we had only one more thing standing in our way—the queen.

  Benji, Molly, Emma, and Cass were all immobile now. Sherri hobbled around, using her spear as a cane. The scratch on her leg now looked red and angry. Aubrey sat with Molly, her hand raised, keeping a lot of the smoke just behind us at bay. Shaya rushed to Cass.

  I picked up my cave buddy, Molly, and got her on my shoulder.

  “They’re going to find a way here,” Hanna said, coughing as she kept low to the ground.

  “Just means we need to get out of here sooner. Now grab a friend and let’s get out of here.”

  “Yes, sir,” Sherri said, picking up Benji as easily as I picked up Molly.

  Aubrey handled Emma, and Shaya and Eliza picked up Cass.

  I walked toward the entrance. The blue light on the ceiling came back to life, giving plenty of light to see the gruesome obstacles before us. Stepping over the dead spiders, and feeling their coagulated blood against my bare feet, made me want to gag. And the smell of them, the metallic, rotten smell, almost like a stink bug mixed with rotten meat, had Shaya throwing up on the floor as she held onto Cass.

  “I’m okay,” she said, heaving again.

  “Got a plan for it?” Hanna asked, motioning ahead.

  “We’re going to push her out,” I said.

  “We got our hands full here,” Aubrey said, coughing and nearly dropping Emma.

  Emma somehow had her hand on her bat still, and it dangled at Aubrey’s side. Blood dripped from her nose. They had pushed too hard, but I couldn’t think of that now. We had to get out of this cave first.