by C S Allen
Don’t they see that there is a giant spider on top of the trees? I thought. The spider was still on the trees, getting blown around, standing its ground while the helicopter slowed down and hovered above the trees on the right side of the dirt road.
“NO! Get out of there!” I yelled, but it was on deaf ears.
The spider sprayed its webbing above the helicopter, causing the webbing to get sucked into its rotors.
“NO!” I yelled again.
The helicopter made noises like its engines were shutting down, as it rocked back and forth and side to side. The spider continued spraying until the helicopter was brought down. The engine sound mixed with the cracking of the trees was enormous and hard to watch. Treetops flew in all directions, and one of the helicopter blades broke off and flew across the trees, cutting down more of them. The spider had webbing above the dirt road and was crossing over it as I watched in fear.
My God, it’s going after the helicopter, I thought.
Olivia wasn’t blowing her horn anymore; she had to know that something had crashed nearby, but she couldn’t see it. I could only imagine what kind of fear she was going through.
I felt the heat coming from the burning mattresses, so I quickly moved away from them before getting burned. As I looked down at them, I saw the grass was on fire and was headed toward the cabin. A quick couple of stomps from my feet put out the fire. As I did that, I heard the spider hissing again, and it angered me more.
Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Pow! Hisss!
The sounds of gunshots in quick succession came from the tree line where the helicopter had gone down. I looked in Olivia’s direction and didn’t see anything until a couple of seconds later. The spider came quickly across the treetops in my direction and jumped down. I turned and ran as fast as I could into the cabin, thinking it was after me. I slammed the door shut and locked it, breathing, heaving, and scared out of my mind. I leaned against the door, waiting for the spider to hiss or come crashing through the window. I looked around the cabin for anything to protect myself with, but everything was gone to do that. I couldn’t hear anything, so I knelt down and crawled over to the living room window on my hands and knees. I listened again to hear anything, but it was all quiet outside. Sitting up on my knees, I slowly looked out the window, and the spider was gone someplace. Where in the hell did it go? I thought.
Hisss!
This time the sound of the spider was in the backyard, and then I heard sounds of splashing from the lake. “What the hell?” I said out loud, as I turned around and stood up. I had to look out the back door and see what was in the water splashing around that loud. I pushed the table away from the door and slowly peeked out for fear the spider was waiting for me. I couldn’t see the spider or anything moving in the backyard, but the splashing continued.
Hoonk! Hooooonk! Olivia was blasting the car horn again. It surprised me so much that I ran to the living room window without pushing the table against the back door. Ten feet away from the cabin door, there was a police officer running to Olivia, who was still trapped in the police car.
“Oh my God!” I yelled out. I watched the officer run over to the driver’s side door and then run into the wood line. A few moments later, he emerged with what looked like a tree branch. I couldn’t make out what exactly he was doing, but it looked like he was hitting the car. The splashing at the lake had stopped without me knowing it while I was watching the officer help Olivia. After a couple of agonizing minutes, I spotted Olivia standing with the officer outside of the car. I celebrated by banging on the window and yelling, “Yes!” a couple of times.
Then both of them turned toward the cabin and started running. As the two got closer, I could see that Olivia had the rifle, and the police officer had a gun in his hand. I opened the door quickly, as the two rushed in.
“Oh my God, Olivia!” I yelled, as I rushed over to give her a bear hug and then released her.
“Will, there’s so much to talk to you about,” Olivia[pe9] stated, as she tried to catch her breath from running. “This is John,” she said, as she pointed to the police officer who had saved her.
I quickly shook his hand and asked, “What the hell is going on out here, sir?”
“I’m just as much in the dark as you are, but we suspect that the spider we just saw is a mutant spider of some kind,” John stated, catching his breath from running.
“Listen, that thing out there has killed three of my friends since Olivia and I have been here. It climbs trees; it climbs on our cabin, somehow it goes into the water, and now that damn thing can shoot down a helicopter. Where in the hell is that thing from?” I asked.
“We got your messages on the radio and thought it was just a prank until we couldn’t get ahold of one of our officers. Which, by the way, Olivia told us what happened while you were trapped in this cabin. We had two patrolmen looking for you guys and me in the helicopter. Your smoke signal was perfect, and I could see it from a good couple of miles out. When I got closer, I did a flyby and couldn’t actually see what was going on around here until I hovered over the trees. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at until it was too late, which is when I got trapped in what looked like webbing from the spider. When I crashed down onto the trees, I was lucky enough to be sitting mostly upright. After a few moments, I got my bearings straight from such a hard impact. That spider out there attacked the chopper, trying to get to me. I reached for my service revolver and started shooting at the spider through my side door, and I know that I hit it. Anyway, it left and I climbed down the trees that were holding me upright. Dispatch knows now that we are all up here, and a mayday call was sent out from me. That spider has to be from the government bio-lab five miles north of here,” John said, as he looked out the living room window.
“The bio-what?” I asked, looking at John.
“We were told a few years back that the federal government had bought about eighty or so acres in the old paper mill tract. Supposedly they were doing some type of experimental, genetic research that had to do with the military. I know damn well that that spider out there has something to do with the bio-lab, it has to,” John said, pointing at the window.
“So, you’re saying that the government is screwing around with Mother Nature and making mutant spiders?” I said to John.
“Listen, I’ve patrolled this area by vehicle and aircraft for the past fifteen plus years. Ever since that government facility has been here, I have seen some crazy stuff out there. Imagine seeing a deformed raccoon walking with five legs, deer that have two tails, moose that stand fifteen feet high, and a Maine coon cat that looked like it was on steroids. Someone has been screwing around with these animals, and I am betting that it’s that facility up there,” John said with all seriousness.
“Will, that spider was trying to bury me in that police car, and I couldn’t get out. It’s smart, it knows what a threat is to it, and it kills before it can be killed. If John hadn’t heard me yelling, I’d be suffocated inside that car out there, and you would be the only one left of us,” Olivia stated sadly, while putting her hand on my arm.
“We have to find where that spider is so we can go after it and kill it,” I said, looking at John, who was still looking out the window.
“The spider went into the water, and I couldn’t see where it went from there, Will. Give me a second to get my thoughts together and come up with a plan,” John said, looking at me.
“We can’t just stay here and wait for some more people to come out after us and get killed; we have to get it before it gets us,” I stated angrily.
“You’re right, Will. There are emergency personnel coming soon from all directions, and they don’t know what’s going on here. I have to get back to that patrol car and radio in before more people die,” John stated, as he took a step out the door to leave.
“Whoa!” I yelled at John. I grabbed his shoulder to stop him. “You can’t go out there by yourself; I’m coming with you,” I stated. “Give me the rifle, Olivi
a, so I can back up John,” I said.
Olivia then gave me the rifle and said that she would yell if the spider came out of hiding. I was eager to help John and warn the others who were coming to rescue us. John and I quickly went around to the front side of the cabin and then ran across the yard without saying a word to one another. Lucky for us, we made it to the police car without hearing or seeing the spider. The police car was covered in spider webbing, and it was so unreal to see such a thing up close. The driver’s side door was still open from when Olivia had escaped earlier with John. John quickly got inside the car and sat down while I stood guard.
“Dispatch, dispatch, this is Helo one, over,” John said into the microphone.
“Helo one, this is dispatch. John, is that you?” the dispatcher replied.
“Roger that, it’s me, still alive. I crashed landed and am now sitting in patrol vehicle one-one-four, break. We need all emergency vehicles to not enter this area at this time, over,” John said desperately.
“Dispatch to Helo one. John, what’s going on up there?” the dispatcher asked.
“Dispatch, please take me seriously on what I’m about to say to you. Cancel right now all emergency vehicles coming this way. There is a spider the size of a large dog killing people up here, break. We need the state or county tactical teams up here with automatic weapons to kill this thing. Right now, we have just three survivors who cannot leave this area because we are being hunted and killed by that spider, over,” John commented to the dispatch.
There was about a twenty second pause before the dispatcher came back on the radio. “Dispatch to Helo one. All emergency vehicles are holding in place for further instructions. John, can you repeat what you said about a spider?” the dispatcher asked.
“Dispatch, I say again, there is a spider the size of a small horse crawling around here, killing people. My chopper was brought down by the spider’s webbing and crashed onto the trees. I have one survivor with me, who was a camper, and three of his friends have been killed by this thing, over,” John stated.
Again, there was a long pause before the radio crackled again. “Dispatch to Helo one, over,” dispatch called back.
“This is Helo one, over,” John replied.
“Helo one, if your survivor is with you, can you get him on the radio?” the dispatcher asked.
“Hey Will, looks like you’re up next,” John stated, as he got out of the car and handed me the microphone. I stood outside of the police car and gave all of my friends’ names who had been killed by the spider to the dispatcher, and included the officer who had tried to help us[pe10].
“Will! John!” Olivia yelled, as she came running from the cabin, which caused us to panic. “It’s dead! It’s dead!” Olivia yelled, while getting closer to us. “The spider’s dead, you guys!” Olivia said with excitement, as she ran up to us out of breath.
“How do you know it’s dead, Olivia?” I asked, looking towards the cabin.
“The spider is halfway in the lake, upside down and twitching,” Olivia said, catching her breath.
“Let’s go finish it off!” John said with excitement, looking at me.
The three of us went charging toward the lake like we were in a race. I wanted to shoot that spider as many times as possible to get my anger out for killing my friends. John was in front of me, leading the way, pushing back the brush as Olivia and I followed. When we got on the beach, we could see the spider was upside down and twitching like Olivia had told us. We were about fifty feet away from the spider when John stopped running toward it.
“Stop here, you guys,” John stated, as he held out both arms to block our forward movement. We watched the spider twitching on its back, and it was spewing some kind of gunk out of its mouth.
Olivia reached down to pick up a rock and threw it at the spider, hitting it. The spider responded to getting hit by trying to hiss, but it sounded more like it was gurgling.
“Shoot it, Will, what are you guys waiting for?” Olivia yelled.
I took aim at the spider’s mid-section and fired three rounds into it, and then I gave the rifle to Olivia. John waited for me to stop firing, and then he began. John fired all six of his bullets quickly and then looked at Olivia.
“If you have anything left in that rifle, Olivia, make them count,” John stated.
Olivia didn’t want to fire from the distance that we were standing, so she walked up closer to the spider and fired the other three rounds left in the rifle. John and I stood behind Olivia, watching her and hearing her muttering to herself. The spider was no longer moving, and more gunk was oozing out of its body where we had fired into it.
“Olivia, are you doing all right?” I asked.
“I wish I had a machine gun to take this bitch apart,” Olivia stated angrily.
“That’s one ugly looking spider,” John said, looking at me.
“Do you know of any spiders that are not ugly?” I asked John.
“Good point,” John replied. “Oh shit, dispatch was left hanging. I’ll be right back you two,” John said, as he started to go back to the police car.
Olivia and I wanted to burn the spider because we didn’t feel really justified for our friends. “Emma . . . Mike . . . and Steve are gone, Will,” Olivia said, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
I took a couple steps over to Olivia and hugged her for a moment. As we stopped hugging each other, I tried to be funny and make Olivia laugh. “You know, you’re pretty sexy when you cry,” I stated.
“Well, you look like a little bitch when you do,” Olivia replied, wiping away her tears. We laughed and then looked one more time back at the spider. “What the hell?” I said being startled. “Oh my God, are those baby spiders coming out of that one we just shot Will?” Olivia asked. “Let’s get the hell out of here Olivia!” I yelled and pulled on Olivia’s arm to run with me.
We ran back to the cabin and grabbed our bags, including our friends’ stuff. Before we walked outside, we took one last look at the place, and Olivia said, “Fun day at the cabin, hunh?” and shook her head.
“Let’s get out of here,” I stated and walked out the door.
Chapter Ten
No sooner had we gotten a couple steps out the door when a cell phone rang back inside the cabin. Olivia and I looked at each other in surprise.
Then Olivia said, “I’ll get it!” She dropped the bags and rifle on the ground. The phone kept ringing until I heard Olivia yell ‘hello’ inside the cabin.
“Hey, Will, looks like our rescue is back on,” John stated as he startled me.
“Ahhh!” Olivia screamed from inside the cabin, as John and I looked quickly at the front door. Olivia walked out slowly, stiff in her movements, then stopped and turned around. Two, black-colored spiders the size of grapefruits were hanging on her back.
“Oh my God, what do we do, John?” I asked, freaking out. Thank God the spiders didn’t move while John and I tried to figure out what to do.
“We have to try to somehow get those bastards off of her. Or we may have to crush them against Olivia’s back with something big. Go get one of the logs on the side of the house,” John said, pointing.
I quickly ran to the side of the cabin and picked up the closest log next to me and ran back to John. John was talking to Olivia, telling her that we were going to try and get the spiders off of her first, and if that didn’t work, then we would have to pummel the spiders against her back. Olivia didn’t say a word and just stood in place as best as she could.
“John, you’re taller than I am and have a longer reach. Take the log and get those spiders to get on it somehow,” I said, giving the log to John to save Olivia.
“I’m coming, Olivia, and I have the log to get the spiders to move off of you,” John said, taking the piece of wood from me. John slowly walked up the two steps to get on the porch and reached out to one of the spiders with the log. The first spider turned and approached the log and stared at it. The second spider started crawling towards Olivia’s s
houlder. John noticed that the spiders weren’t interested in the wood, so he then pushed the closest one onto the ground.
Seeing that happen, I quickly ran over to the spider on the ground and stomped on it, killing it, which made a nasty mess on my shoes. I looked back at John to see what he was doing next, and the other spider was still crawling on Olivia.
“Pull Olivia’s shirt out from the bottom and then flick it off, John,” I stated quietly, as if my voice would cause the spider to bite.
John took my advice and reached down to pull out Olivia’s shirt. As he did, his face got closer to Olivia’s back. “Ahh!” John yelled and dropped the log, while slapping at his face. The spider had somehow jumped onto John’s face and then fell off onto the ground. Olivia screamed, as she jumped up and down, waving her arms.
I ran after the spider that was on the porch and stomped on that one as well. “We got them, Olivia!” I yelled to get her attention.
I looked at John, who was wiping his face quickly, as if the spider was still there. “Damn it, I hate spiders!” John yelled.
“Let’s get out of here” I stated, grabbing Olivia’s arm to get off of the porch. The three of us left the porch quickly without the bags or the rifle and ran to the police car. “Where did those spiders come from in the cabin, Olivia?” I asked out of breath.
“The damn things had to be on the ceiling and dropped on me,” Olivia replied, catching her breath.
“So now we have baby spiders crawling around to worry about until someone gets here,” John stated, looking back at the cabin.
“John, you’ve got red blood on your forehead. Did you get bit or something?” I asked, looking closely at John’s head.
John then put his hand on his forehead and wiped it, but the red stayed on his head. “Did I get it?” John asked me.
“No, it’s still there,” I stated, feeling puzzled.
Olivia came around to look at John’s head as he wiped it again. “You have two small holes on your hairline, John. You did get bit,” Olivia stated, sounding worried.