by E. J. Foster
“It’s okay, Katiana,” I tried to soothe her, and it began to work. Her exhale was hot against my neck. After a few breaths, her embrace softened and relaxed, and then released, but she kept one hand on my shoulder from behind.
I could sense she didn’t want to break the connection between us.
“Finn,” I tried again, louder this time.
A rhythmic banging came from my left. Katiana gasped again and we both turned. The walk-in freezer.
The banging was accompanied by another muted sound. A muffled voice.
“Finn!”
I ran to the freezer and pulled the pin, unlocking it. I yanked on the latch and the door opened and Finn tumbled out, shivering.
38
Jules trailed behind Brock as they twisted through the maze of walkways. Katiana led the way.
Jules knew they’d need that camera feed if they had any hope of finding the rugrats. She also knew Brock wouldn’t go back for it, and he certainly wouldn’t let Jules go it alone. No. That’s not going to happen, she said to herself. If she were to go back and restore the feed, she’d have to do it without permission.
Jules labored and huffed as she ran, trying to keep up. She was a hacker, not an athlete, and was not accustomed to this level of physical effort. Especially when wearing an N95 mask. It was hard to breathe with the thing on, even under the best circumstances.
Jules spotted a sign on the wall that she’d seen before. She’d been here. Katiana came to an intersection up ahead and turned right. Brock followed close behind her.
Without a word, Jules peeled off to the left. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, she thought. She heard Katiana and Brock, their footsteps disappearing, fading into the distance. Jules was on her own now.
Trying to remember the path, Jules made two rights and a left and ended up back at the network equipment room. Locked.
Jules opened her pack and went through the same procedure as before. She used her bump key, inserting it, and gave it a tap as she twisted the key in the lock, adding some rotational pressure. The door clicked open.
Jules entered and went straight to work. She focused on the red wire she had installed. It was unplugged.
The uncomfortable heat in the room suddenly became apparent.
Someone was here. Someone did this. Hot breath filled Jules’ mask, as she breathed heavier now. Her heart throbbed in her chest.
Jules plugged the red wire back into the network switch, and quickly went for her phone. She worked a finger carefully across the broken glass of her phone screen. When the video app was loaded, there was no feed.
She followed the red wire, inching her fingers along it, making her way behind the network rack. She tugged the red wire, and it came to her without resistance. On the other end of the wire was nothing. Her pineapple router was gone.
The network room was still humming with electronics, but now featured a slow hissing sound. The faint appearance of green gas was wafting into the room slowly, coming from some place unseen behind the equipment.
Jules has seen this before, and she tightened the mask against her cheeks.
“Jules, I presume.” A male voice startled her from behind.
Jules flinched and inhaled sharply, sucking hot air through her mask.
She turned and faced a man in uniform. His nametag read Martin. He had a slight close-lipped smile, one eyebrow raised. In his hands was something unmistakable. Her pineapple router. Flames of fury kindled in Jules, but she remained silent and still. Nobody touched her stuff. Her pace quickened and her fingers tightened into a ball.
“It was nice of you to put your name on—” The man coughed, and then tried clearing his throat. “Your name on—” He coughed again, shook his head and tried a third time, but it was just more coughing.
The green gas was starting to thicken in the room, and seemed to be gathering around the man, cradling him. Jules remembered what she had seen. How the transformation happened. She knew what came next––and she also knew she had better be on the correct side of that door when it happened.
“That’s right,” she said. “I’m Jules.” She tried making conversation, trying to give herself enough time until she could make her move. She knew there would be a moment during this transition when the man would be powerless. But it would only be a moment. She’d have to act fast.
The man’s skin began to change color, and he writhed in pain. Then the screaming came. That’s when he dropped it.
Jules was fast. She grabbed the router and backed away. She struggled with the red wire, trying to plug it in, as the man howled in agony. His form was expanding. She didn’t have much longer. The cable made a distinct click into the router, and the lights on the jack began to twinkle. Connected.
Jules worked her way around the half-man thing in the center of the room, careful not to get too close. He danced and spun, screeching over the electronic hum of the room.
Jules opened the door and turned back. The transformation was complete. A full black spider almost entirely filled the small room. The thing began frantically tapping its legs, struggling to turn in the small space.
Once outside, Jules pulled the door shut and locked it, just in time to stop a powerful thud that came from inside the room. The beast drummed on the door, clawing and scratching.
The door seemed about to burst when Jules bolted off in the direction of the galley.
39
Thunder cracked and boomed against the giant steel walls of the hangar. The storm had been building outside. Jessa flinched in response, sending tremors down the spines of the web in which she was imprisoned, vibrating the entire web like a trampoline.
The two spiders that had entangled her in the web were gone now.
Jessa fought against the adhesive bond, but it was no use. The web was a sticky rope as thick as a pool noodle and created a network of triangles that were attached to the floor and the wall, holding Jessa up about thirty feet in the air.
It was a giant spider web, and she was the fly.
Fifteen feet below Jessa, something else was stuck in the web. It had been a man, but now, it was only a torso. The head and limbs were gone, and thick blood still dripped down to the floor below, pooling there.
A memory of the spiders feeding on the body flashed through Jessa’s mind. Nausea filled her stomach and she gagged at the horrible thought. She understood that she had been stored as food––and that she would be next. The thought made her pulse drum inside her veins.
Jessa began fighting against the sticky web. Each time she pushed or pulled against something, trying to gain purchase, the stickiness intensified, and she was back to square one.
She was fighting panic.
Jessa had thought about the two spiders, and how they would eventually come for her. To eat her. Maybe the next time she came back, maybe not.
She struggled and worked, twisting in place, still dangling thirty feet above the hard steel floor. Once she got into her backpack, she dug around the bottom of it, sifting through loose items until she found what she was looking for and gripped it in her hand. She pulled out the stun gun.
She only had one shot. If she pulled the trigger, the barbs would jettison out toward one target, and neutralize one spider. Maybe.
But Jessa knew there were two spiders, and that this plan was fruitless.
She would have to consider another plan, except it was too late for that.
A hungry spider crept into the room, one long leg at a time, until the entire beast was visible.
Hope soared in Jessa. Maybe one shot was all she’d need. She steadied the gun, training it on the beast. It was too far away, but she would be ready. She wasn’t sure how fast these things could move.
Then, a second spider entered the room.
Jessa twitched, sending waves outward, and the whole web shivered. Both spiders perked up, and turned to focus on the web, searching for the center of the disturbance. Jessa froze. Only the stun gun in her hand trembled.
> Both spiders advanced. The closest lifted one leg up off the floor and placed it on a lower rung of the web. The spider paused, as if feeling for vibrations. The second spider approached and began climbing, slowly. The climber stayed alert, feeling the web under his legs as he moved in Jessa’s direction.
Jessa’s blood ran cold, and her ears throbbed. He’d have to pass the dead body first. Maybe he would go no further. Maybe he would satisfy himself on the torso.
The other spider was on the move now, heading toward Jessa from another route up the web. Both spiders seemed to circle around the dead man to get to Jessa, who was above the carcass.
When they passed the dead body from both sides, Jessa felt desperation. She didn’t want to die. The thought of Finn popped into her head, but she didn’t fully understand why. She only knew that, in the deepest part of her heart, she couldn’t bear never seeing him again.
Jessa closed her eyes tight. Acting on instinct, she aimed and pulled the trigger.
When she opened her eyes, two wires extended from her gun. The barbs at the ends of the wires planted into the fleshy torso, making it spasm and convulse with electrical current.
The spiders were alert. They both turned and pounced on the flesh, making quick work of it. Their mandibles sliced through crunching bone and squishy meat, sending blood splatter out in all directions.
Jessa winced as droplets hit her face.
After a minute, the feast was over, and the spiders retreated down the web and out of the room, satisfied.
Jessa remained frozen.
40
Seeing Finn again gave me hope, and strength. But I’d have to act fast. Time was running out.
“Finn, did you see where Jessa went?”
“I couldn’t see anything inside that f-f-freezer.” Finn was still shaking off the chill. “But I heard her screaming. They must have carried her away.”
“Jules and Jessa,” I said, tallying the missing. “Let’s start in a direction, trace back our steps.”
Katiana nodded, and moved with efficiency, heading back out of the kitchen and through the dining room. We shuffled down the steel staircase and turned the corner.
Katiana stopped, and Finn nearly ran into her, and I into Finn.
“What is it?” I asked but didn’t need the answer. Standing there in the hallway, blocking our path was a red mohawk. Jules.
I stepped forward. “Jules—”
“No time,” Jules interrupted in quick staccato. “I had to get the cams back online. Necessary evil.” She thumbed over her shoulder. “A new beastie back there. I trapped him, but I don’t know how long it’ll hold.”
Jules reached into her pack and tossed Finn a mask. “Put it on,” she said to Finn, and then turned back to me. “The green vapor is rising up through the cracks, reaching the upper levels. It’ll turn everything in this ship eventually.”
“And everything outside this ship,” I said. “We need to find Jessa, now.”
“On it.” Jules had the phone out and was already swiping through the different video feeds, commenting on each as she swiped. “No... no... no... no... There!”
The pattern of cracks on the glass of Jules’ broken phone almost resembled a spider web; it was as if we were looking through the threads to see the image.
I squinted at the footage, trying to decipher what I was seeing. This looked like a high-mounted camera in a large empty warehouse. Spanning almost all of the far wall was a massive spider web. It was almost as tall as the room itself. Jessa hung motionless in the center.
“Is this a still photo?” I asked.
“Nope. Timestamp on the bottom is rolling,” Jules pointed out.
“Where is this?”
“I can’t tell. My screen is too damaged in that corner. I can’t see the feed label.”
“Pièce de stockage,” Katiana inhaled covering her mouth. “Trois.”
We all turned to Katiana, waiting.
“Hold number three,” she said in accented English.
I hoisted my ax. “Take us there.”
41
The four of us ran through a maze, following Katiana. The ship was moving from side to side, making it difficult to move at this speed. I watched from the rear as all four of us were thrown off-balance to the right. Like synchronized swimmers, we all reacted in unison, extending one arm, then doing the same crossover step before regaining center. Finn was smaller and was thrown slightly farther off-kilter than the adults.
Thunder boomed and rolled outside.
When we’d boarded this ship, I caught a glimpse of the gathering storm. Now it felt like the turbulence was reaching maximum strength.
We came to a door that was latched shut. Hold #3. Katiana rotated the lever.
“Wait,” I said and hefted my ax. “I’ll go first.”
I pulled the door open, and the rubber seal crackled and hissed as it released.
“The chamber is still watertight,” I said. “Which means it’s still airtight. Jessa should be okay.”
I entered the room and looked up. On the far wall was a life-size version of what I had just seen on Jules’ small phone. The vertical web seemed inconceivable. It was the size of an ice rink.
Jessa was there, more than thirty feet up, unmoving.
“Finn!” Her small voice echoed off the walls of the huge space, giving it power and volume.
I ran toward the base of the web where it connected to the floor. Each strand met the steel floor and was attached with a large globule of clear gelatin about the size of a car tire. I’d have to climb it.
There was something else stuck in the web, below Jessa. A mass. A body? It was hard to tell from here.
I searched for the best handhold to start off with and reached out to grab it.
“No,” Jessa yelled down to me. “The adhesive properties are formidable. You’ll stick.”
I paused, and then backed away. I spent a moment considering how to tackle the problem. I could cut the web. But cutting the web down here wouldn’t do anything. Jessa would still be up there, and the web would still be attached at the top of the wall, keeping her suspended, away from our grasp.
Cutting the uppermost attach points would be even more dangerous and would drop Jessa to the floor from a deadly height. No. Cutting wasn’t the answer. If only there was some other way I could get up there and pull her out of that web.
I scanned the room, looking for anything I could find. Toll. Equipment. Scaffolding. But there was nothing in this large space. The entire room was meant to store shipping containers.
I looked up to the ceiling. Spanning across the entire width of this gigantic room was a massive yellow beam. Stenciled on the side of it in enormous black letters were the words: 35 Ton.
A crane.
Of course, there would be a crane to move shipping containers, some as large as tractor trailers. Apparently, this crane could lift thirty-five tons. More than enough for Jessa.
I turned to Katiana.
“The crane. Where are the controls?” I asked.
Katiana pointed to a workstation that was near the door we entered through. “There.”
“Do you know how to use it?”
She shook her head. “I having no training in this.” Her French accent was delicate.
Finn and I ran to the workstation. On the table there were several hardhats and a clipboard with a crane log sheet, filled with dates and signatures. Beside it was a yellow handheld device with eight large buttons and an antenna. The radio remote control.
I pulled the device from the charger and studied the buttons. Up. Down. Simple enough. East. West. North. South. I looked up to the ceiling again to study the large yellow crane that crossed the entire room from wall to wall. In the middle, right near the hook, was a cross indicating the cardinal directions N, S, E, W with arrows pointing to each.
I pushed the button marked Down. The hook of the crane slowly started to lower.
“I’m gonna need your help, Finn,” I sai
d. “I’m gonna go up and get Jessa. Do you think you can maneuver me close enough to grab her?”
Finn’s eyes lit up. “I’ve played the claw game at the yacht club arcade a thousand times. I can do it,” he said with his chin up and shoulders back.
When the hook finally reached the floor, it was bigger than I thought. The hunk of dense metal was as tall as Finn, and unwieldy.
I handed the radio control to Finn, and my ax to Katiana.
I placed my boot in the crook of the giant hook, and held the steel cable with both hands, nodding at Finn.
“Slow and steady,” I said.
Finn depressed a button, and I felt myself being hoisted up. Finn, Jules and Katiana were getting smaller on the floor beneath me as I rose.
The web was at an angle, so the farther up I went, the farther I was from it.
“Stop,” I shouted down. A second later, I stopped moving and lurched on the hook as if I was riding a clunky old elevator. My grip tightened on the steel cable.
In front of me, right at eye level, was the torso of a body. It was legless and headless. Two thin wires were attached to the corpse, and I followed their trail upward to Jessa. The girl was holding a stun gun. What in the hell?
The torso was adorned with a ripped tee shirt that read Master Baiter. I recognized it. Randall.
“Up!” I shouted, and Finn fumbled with the device, finally finding the button. My knees buckled slightly as the hook began to rise again, bringing me closer to Jessa.
“Stop,” I yelled, when I was finally at her height. She was still too far away. I’d have to maneuver horizontally now. I looked upwards, directly above me, checking the direction.
“East!” My command echoed loudly. A moment later, I was moving toward Jessa.
“Stop,” I commanded again. A moment later the crane stopped, but I didn't. The cable continued on momentum, swinging slightly and extending closer to Jessa, before swinging back again.