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CHAPTER EIGHT

Dani

As the map had shown, the main entrance into the next sector was blocked off. Part of the building had collapsed, creating a sink hole. Thankfully, there was a bridge connecting the buildings. From there they could make their way over to the labs.

They climbed their way up to the seventh floor without any issue. There were no bugs to be seen or any other creepy crawlies lurking, which was unexpected but a relief for them all.

When they made their way onto the bridge, however, that changed.

“What the hell is that?” Ryatt asked, poking his gun into a cluster of black goo on the railing, which stuck to his gun like glue and stretched like gum. Garret pulled at some of it and was forced to rip it off instead.

“Don’t know.” Garret took off his helmet and smelled a piece that was stuck to his glove. He grimaced. “But I have a feeling it’s not company made.”

Dani examined the goo. It was a deep purple in the light.

“Should we go back?” Lex asked.

Dani shined her light across the bridge. The goo stretched along the rails and along the sides of the building like webbing. Some of it was above their heads. She brought up her garometer, and it crackled softly.

The readings were only at a seven.

“Is there any other way?” Dani asked Myrell, who still held the map.

Myrell shook her head. “Only tunnels below and I guarantee they’re blocked. If not…you know we always find something lurking in the tunnels.”

She knew. Every time they ever tried to take a tunnel system, it was infested.

“I say we keep going,” said Garret. “We’re almost half-way.”

Dani gripped the strap of her pack, thinking. She glanced back the way they came.

“Job’s gotta get done, right?” Lex said.

It did. And they’d already lost so much time.

She eyed the pair with their guns locked and ready. “Just keep a look-out.”

Garret winked at her before putting his helmet back on. “We got this.”

He and Ryatt moved to the front. They steered clear of the webbing, aiming their lights into the dark.

The wind picked up as they went, lifting up dust from the rubble below. The bridge trembled, swaying lightly, forcing them to slow.

There were two wide pillars on either side of the bridge at the half-way point. Webbing stretched across either end. As they carefully passed through, they stopped a few feet beyond.

The bridge was broken in several places but only by a few feet. The web-like goo appeared to be keeping them together.

“Maybe it is company made. Those spiderbots might have made these to keep it together,” Lex said.

“Yeah, right,” Myrell mumbled beside her.

“It’s not that far-fetched actually,” said Tom at the back. “They do use a sort of web to lift things.”

Something moved beyond. Dani shined her light across and saw…

“A scibot, look!” Lex pointed.

The robot was standing just at the end, its faceless head bowed. The computer on its chest flashed the words HOW MAY I ASSIST YOU?

It lifted its arm and beckoned them forward.

“Do the bots usually do that?” Myrell asked her.

Dani watched as it slowly waved at them. “Maybe, if it was programmed to.”

“Why would someone program it to do that?”

“Don’t know.”

Garret moved to the edge of the first broken part of the bridge. “I’ll go first. Follow my lead.”

They hopped from one part to the next, the bridge shaking with every movement they made. Several times they had to right themselves, using the railing for support, only to have the webbing get stuck to their gloves and their shoes.

“This stuff is gross,” Lex commented.

“Phen, keep up. Stop examining it,” Dani scolded her. She stepped where Garret stepped, trying to shake off the goo as it stuck her to the bridge. Sheek lifted Tom when he couldn’t move. Ryatt nearly ripped his boot off trying to walk. Only a few more paces to go, but walking and jumping were becoming more and more difficult.

Garret halted at the last jump, trying to unstick himself. “Be careful here,” he warned as he bent his knees to steady himself.

“You first,” Dani said, gripping the rail. “It’s a long way down.”

He laughed. He leaned back then jumped. As he landed on the other side, he knocked into the bot. The bot lifted off its feet and swung.

Garret stumbled as it knocked into him. “What the hell?” He froze as he looked up. Dani followed his gaze just above the bot’s head.

The bot was hanging like a puppet from several thin pieces of web.

Dani tensed. “Wait!” she yelled before anyone could leap forward. Her garometer grew louder. But she didn’t need to see where its levels were at. She could already guess. “Something’s here.”

They looked around, from one side of the bridge to the other. Garret went to the rail and pointed his gun down, while Ryatt had his aimed upward.

“Where? There nothing,” Myrell said.

“I don’t see anything,” said Lex.

Dani noticed Sheek had pulled out her knife. “Something moves.”

Dani didn’t like this. “Everyone, get over now and get inside.”

Garret helped Myrell, catching her as she jumped over. Phen went to jump next then stopped. She stared past Garret, eyes wide like she’d been put into a trance.

“Phen, what are you waiting for?” Lex snapped.

“It…smiles at me,” she said quietly. She lifted her hand slowly and pointed up. “It is…very big.”

Dani turned her gaze upward and her heart dropped.

There it stared down at them from above, clinging to the building. Several eyes with a mouth split four ways, fangs elongated. It looked like a mix between a spider and a mantis. Talons came around either side, with pincers, its skin a blue-gray shell.

It hissed at them.

“Garret,” Dani breathed.

Garret and Ryatt cautiously aimed their guns upward.

“Go,” Garret ordered. No one moved. He shoved Myrell toward the exit. “Go, now!”

The giant spider-mantis shrieked, its talon swooping down, hitting Tom, sending him flying across the bridge and over the rail. The soldiers fired, sending round after round while Dani and the others scrambled.

Dani went to jump. Before she could, the bridge shook violently, sending her back. The screams and shouts of her team rang out along with the gunfire as she rolled, catching part of the rail. Above her the thing moved, sending its arms down to knock the soldiers back. Ryatt’s gunfire hit the webbing holding the bridge together. The monster’s arm slammed down onto part of the bridge, making it drop. Sheek, Phen, and Lex, clinging to either side, fell with it.

Dani still clung to her part of the bridge which began to tilt downward as more webbing snapped, her feet beginning to dangle. She cried out as she tried to get her footing, not daring to look down at the dark abyss below.

The creature roared above her, while the dust and debris kicked up with the wind. Ryatt continued to fire on the beast, but it hardly seemed to affect it. One of the pincers came down and snatched him up like a doll. Ryatt fought, but his gun fell as he was shaken around. Before Dani could shield her eyes, the monster opened its wide jaws and bit down on him with an awful crunch .

Garret let out a roar of his own and continued his assault, this time letting out a plume of fire on the creature, lighting up the night. It shrieked in annoyance before releasing the other half of Ryatt’s body that hadn’t been eaten. His lower half slammed against her side of the bridge and slid off into the dark, making the bridge almost vertical.

“Garret!” she screamed as another arm came down and knocked him back. Then another arm came toward her. In that split second, she decided to let go. She slid down the bridge, but the monster caught her before she could fall. Dani screamed as it brought her closer, struggling in its grip. It squeezed her ribs so tight she thought they might crack.

As its awful face got closer, its mouth opened, fangs like hooks ready to skew her. A black cloud went over her vision as she tilted her head back.

So close. They had been so close.

Before its mouth could close on her, the creature jerked back and let out a hissing screech. Then Dani felt herself falling.

The monster hadn’t released her. Its arm had just been severed, and she was falling with it.

She hit the bridge, pain shooting up an ankle then her knees. The pincers sliced up her arm before letting go, her mouth filling with blood as she bit her lip. She let out a cry as she slid down the bridge and quickly tried to grab the rails.

The monster moved above her, but it seemed to be distracted by something else. Pain seared her senses as she gripped the rail one-handed and tried to claw her way up. The creature disappeared from her peripheral, but she was no longer worried about it and more worried about falling.

Her hand began to slip, and tears stung her eyes from the pain in her arm. She couldn’t get her footing.

No, please not like this.

She lost her grip and slid down the bridge, a scream tearing up her throat. She waited to feel the rush of air. To be overcome by the darkness below, where her body would shatter. The edge flew past her and her heart dropped.

As she fell, getting a glimpse underneath the bridge, something wrapped around her waist, holding her tight, and she was suddenly swinging instead of falling. Her body jolted, breath leaving her lungs, as she arched back.

She blinked, trying to adjust to the cloud of darkness and dust around her. She looked down and saw a red spiny tendril wrapped around her.

No. Not a tendril. A tail.

As it lifted her up, she tilted her head back and stared at the large, hulking shadow above her. She blinked again as the shadow came into view.

Blood rushed from her face, eyes widening, a whimper tearing from her lips. “You…” she breathed.

Her monstrous stalker smiled at her—or appeared to, with its mouth wide and black fangs protruding. Its eyes shined in her light, devious…triumphant.

Oh, sweet revenge. It was written all over their face. And she couldn’t stop it.

She was too shocked to even move. Its long red arms were gripping under the bridge, while its blue ones reached for her.

She couldn’t even recoil back, though her heart hammered in her throat. With easy movements, it closed the distance between them, its breath fogging up the glass of her helmet.

“ kilsa eh sarish nara mina lillak ,” it said, grinning. “ isha ek vish ras .”

Before she could attempt to struggle out of its grip, it wrapped its blue arms around her, pinning her against it. As it carried her, it began to climb, moving swiftly along the broken bridge back the way they had come. She no longer heard or saw the spider-mantis, and she didn’t see any of her crew. Through dust and darkness they moved, a tremor setting into her bones despite the monster’s heat against her.

“Please, don’t do this,” she whispered.

But it didn’t hear or didn’t care. It only took her away into the dark.