Into The Web

It was a calm, still night in Perry, Tennessee. The night was bright, lit up by the myriad stars and full moon. Beneath this tranquil sky, the trees of the wooded area were still, with not even a gentle sway.

The serenity of the night, however, was dashed to pieces by what lay at ground level. The huge, sparse field was littered with the corpses of animals. Sheep, horses and goats. Some were disemboweled. Others ripped in half. Still others were just remains. Heads and limbs. The grass was painted with the blood and entrails of these poor creatures.

And this was the seventh time this month. . .

* * *

“So, she came home early one afternoon and found her husband in a diaper with a bonnet on his head, over the knee of some woman all dressed up in black leather, gettin’ his ass whipped.” These were the words of Max Lucas, Special Forces.

“Literally whipped?” replied Wayne Michaels, his Commanding Officer.

“I swear on my mother’s grave, a proper black whip.”

They were in a bar in Los Angeles playing pool. It was a sports bar, very busy with people sitting at tables and standing at the bar watching the baseball play on television screens above.

Max was 38, hardened by the Iraq war and various missions the Special Forces required him to undertake. Short black hair and stubble adorned his face.

Wayne, 52, had seen many missions and a lot of fighting in various conflicts and was proud to run the Special Forces. He was a big, stocky man, bald, and had the drive of a man half his age.

“So, what did she do?” asked Wayne as he potted a red ball.

“Well, my sister being my sister, she grabbed the whip and beat that bitch until she ran out screaming and kicked the crap out of her husband. Left him out on the porch all night in his baby gear,” replied Max.

“Not something wife comes home expecting to see every day, though. Good for her.”

“Imagine it. I wouldn’t know what to do first - laugh, cry or go ballistic.”

Max potted the black ball first and won the game.

“Dammit,” complained Wayne.

“That’s three-one, Commanding Officer Michaels. You wanna take a time-out?”

“Yeah, why not? Matter of fact, there is something I need to talk to you about.”

They placed the pool cues down on the rack, picked their beers up off of a nearby tall table and sat down at a smaller one, in the corner.

“I’m gonna let the rest of the team know about this in the morning,” said Wayne. “But as we’re here I might as well give you the heads up.”

“What is it?”

“A call came in yesterday from a farmer to government officials in Tennessee. Something weird is going on out there in the fields.”

“What do you mean?” asked Max.

“The animals that are out in the fields at night are repeatedly being attacked. I mean savagely. Apparently every time this happens there are pieces of them everywhere next morning. And just as many pieces missing. Some of the animals have even just straight up disappeared.”

“It could just be wolf attacks.”

“These people have lived on the land for years,” explained Wayne. “They know what a wolf attack looks like. This is not it.”

Max took a swig of his beer. “Why don’t they just call the local cops?”

“The cops don’t want to waste time on a bunch of dead animals. They’re not co-operating at all. But the people there are convinced there’s something out of the ordinary going on. And I am too.”

“It sounds like we need to see it to make the right judgement call,” said Max, slightly wary also about wasting Special Forces time.

“That’s exactly what the farmer said - we need to see it. The shaking in his voice was enough to make me want to at least take a look,” said Wayne.

“So we’re heading out there?”

“A small team of four, plus myself. The usual crew.”

“When do we leave?”

“Ten am tomorrow morning.”

* * *

Next day.

10:12 am.

Inside the Boeing 747, with the army-green rucksacks of weapons and ammunition in the above compartments, sat Max Lucas, Rachel Kennedy, 34, an athletic, blonde woman, Tyrone Jones, 36, a black mass of muscles and attitude, short cropped hair and thin goatee beard on his face, and Eddie Ray, 32, a tough man with an attitude to match and a calmness in the face of any hostile situation.

In the front, beside the pilot, sat Wayne Michaels.

“This was a good idea, Max,” said Eddie. “I ain’t been on safari in quite a while.”

“Beats sitting around doing nothing,” replied Max.

“Are we supposed to be looking for an animal?” asked Rachel.

“No one’s sure what we’re looking for. That’s why we’re going in. Whatever it is, the people there are saying it’s not normal.”

“If I catch it, I’m eatin’ it,” said Tyrone. “Gonna have me a barbecue by tonight.”

* * *

The late afternoon sun was beating down on the team as they followed Kyle, the farmer that made the call, across the huge field. Kyle was in his late fifties, with a grey beard and little hair. He was topless and only wearing blue jeans and black boots.

As they neared the animal corpses, the stink of rot filled the air. Flies could be seen buzzing around the carcasses, partially cooking in the sun. They came to a stop by the corpse of a horse.

Everybody, including Kyle, could not help but put their hands to their noses and mouths to block the awful smell.

“That’s vile. I’m gonna vomit if I’m around this much longer,” said Rachel.

“The folks here should be used to it by now,” said Kyle. “This is the seventh time this has happened. But you never get used to it.”

“So point out to us what you think is so unusual,” said Wayne.

“Just look at it.”

The adult horse, a light brown colour with black tail, lay on its side with two deep holes piercing almost all the way through to the other side. The holes were about two feet apart and about six inches in diameter. There was a pool of blood dried around the horse. Various other slash marks were all across the body, as if it had put up a struggle.

“I don’t know of any animal that can puncture a horse that deep,” continued Kyle. “And look at the size of those holes.”

“It looks like it’s been dragged through the grass,” said Max.

“It was probably too big to take for whatever attacked it.”

“Any tracks?” asked Tyrone.

“None whatsoever.”

“And nobody has seen anything come into the field?” asked Max.

“Yeah, one man has,” said Kyle. “One of our neighbours, Hank. He said he saw something in the field from a distance. It was at night though, he couldn’t make out what it was. He fired his shotgun in the air and whatever it was ran back the way it came.”

“Where is Hank?” asked Wayne. “We could do with talking to him.”

“Ain’t seen him since he told us what he saw. He said whatever it was retreated back through those woods the other side of the field. There’s an old mine when you get past the trees, it used to be a coal mine. Ain’t been used in years. That’s where Hank seems to think it came from.”

Max had had enough of standing around talking. “Then that’s where we’ll start.”

* * *

The woods were difficult to walk through, with fallen trees to climb over and a never ending amount of small branches and leaves to brush aside. Max, Wayne, Tyrone, Rachel and Eddie were following a dirt path that was barely visible through all the undergrowth. They were hot and bothered already and it just didn’t seem like this was all worth the effort.

“If this ends up bein’ bigfoot I’m puttin’ one in it’s ass,” stated Tyrone.

They finally came to the end of the pathway and the trees opened out onto a gravel clearing, surrounded by huge rocks and boulders. If you went left or right back into the woods you could carry on around the clearing, but straight ahead, in the rock face, was a huge black hole, ten feet high, eight feet across. They approached the entrance.

“I can’t see there being any lamps still in use down here, so switch your flashlights on,” said Max. “Let’s see what we can find.”

They stepped into the cave, each one switching their gun-mounted flashlights on. It was a pitch black tunnel, the red cave walls jagged and uneven on either side. A gentle breeze blew in from outside. They walked in silence, tracing beams of light over the walls, floor and roof of the cave.

“We got traces of dried blood here,” said Rachel.

She had her flashlight trained on the ground, revealing dried blood progressing further down into the cave.

“All right, let’s keep it moving,” said Wayne.

They walked on a little further and finally came to the end of the passage, confronted by a rock wall. In the floor was a square hole about four feet wide with a rusty metal ladder descending into the darkness below.

“I guess we’re goin’ down,” said Eddie.

“Lead the way,” said Max.

Eddie eased himself into the hole and started to climb down the ladder, followed by Max, Rachel, Tyrone and Wayne.

They dropped to the ground and the stench hit them.

“Agh, sick,” protested Eddie.

“What the hell is that?” asked Tyrone.

“That’s the smell of death,” said Wayne. “Keep your eyes peeled.”

It was suffocating down here. There seemed to be no air. And the stench was awful, a mix of rotting flesh, age, dirt and excrement. The ground here was covered like a sheet with a white, powdery substance. Dust? Chalk? Something else? The jagged walls had now taken on a dark grey and black colour. Webs had formed in the corners and uneven cracks. They seemed to get bigger and thicker the further down the passage they stepped.

“Let’s keep moving,” said Max.

They started off again, slowly, down the passage.

There was a chittering sound. A sound like thousands of small taps on the ground all at once. And it was getting closer. Louder. At the other end of the passage, now just in range of the torchlight, a mass of brown, rippling activity was rapidly approaching along the ground.

“What the hell..?” said Rachel.

“Spiders?” said Tyrone.

They stepped back and pressed shoulders against the wall. The mass of spiders altered their direction slightly, getting closer still.

“Aren’t they supposed to be more scared of us than we are of them?” asked Eddie.

“They’re coming towards us,” said Wayne, panic in his voice.

“Open fire!” said Max.

The team opened fire and streams of bullets ripped their way into the sea of spiders, muzzle flashes lighting up the darkness further. Some of them managed to get under their feet and the team stamped on them frantically, squishing them into the ground, sending claret spraying up on to their legs. The spiders were a dark red, brown colour, slightly smaller than an average baby tarantula, but hairless. Were these adults or babies?

They were relentless. They kept coming. Wayne now became overpowered as a flurry of them crawled up his body and covered him like a quilt. He screamed in fear.

“Commander!” exclaimed Max.

It was too late. Some had crawled in through his open mouth and were devouring him from inside. His eyes rolled up into his head, his throat now unable to scream.

“No!” shouted Eddie.

He ran up to the overrun Wayne and started to beat the spiders off with his gun, whilst the others stamped and fired their weapons around him. Realizing his efforts were futile, he let the doomed Wayne drop to the ground and joined the others in raining down bullets on the remaining spiders until none remained alive.

They stood, now, breathing heavily, looking down at the mess of spiders and blood at their feet. The body of Wayne lay there, face up, blood flowing from his mouth.

“What the hell kinda spiders were they?” asked Tyrone.

“Not a normal kind,” replied Eddie, bluntly.

“Spiders do not just chase humans. Right?” said Rachel, nervously.

“We keep moving,” said Max, determinedly.

The remaining four cautiously continued down the passage. Brushing cobwebs away, they finally came to the end of the passage which now opened out into a huge cavern, with webs hanging down from a roof that could not be seen, only blackness. In various high points along the walls, huge yellow egg sacks hung ominously. Carcasses of animals were strewn across the ground, bones littering the white soil. In places, the dirt had risen in mounds.

“I guess we’ve found where the animals go,” said Max. “Now we need to find what‘s bringing them here.”

There was a sudden gasp from above them, a cough and some wheezy breathing. They looked up to see a body, cocooned in a web, against the wall, eighteen feet up.

“Hank?” asked Max.

Kyle said he hadn’t seen him. This was why.

Hank’s face was white and patches of sickly, rotten green had formed. The areas around his eyes were red. His hair had thinned and began to fall out. He had no arms, both limbs missing.

“Kill me…” he said, his voice almost a whisper as he struggled to speak.

“We’re gonna get you out of here,” said Max.

“Just kill me. Please…”

“What are you talking about?” asked Eddie. “Just hold on and we’ll bring you down.”

“You don’t understand,” continued Hank. “I’m dead already. She poisoned my insides.”

“Who’s she?” asked Rachel.

“I can’t stand this waiting in fear any longer.”

“Who is she?” asked Max.

“She’s eaten pieces of me!” said Hank, trying to raise his voice. “One part at a time. She’s eaten my arms. I’m awake while she does this! I don’t want to be awake when she comes for my head.”

They stared up at him in shock and pity.

“Please,” he said, desperately. “I can feel myself fading away.”

Max nodded at Eddie, who raised his gun into the air and fired a quick burst into Hank. Rest in peace.

The walls looked like they were moving in places. Clicking sounds could be heard.

“I’d like to know exactly what’s goin’ on here,” said Tyrone. “And how he got all the way up there.”

In the distance behind Tyrone, Max saw movement.

As if floating down from the pitch black heights, a gigantic spider, at least eight feet tall and ten feet long landed on the dirt, soundlessly. The Queen.

“I think we’ve just found out who she is,” said Max.

Tyrone turned and took a step back, in awe.

The spider’s head, legs and front half of it’s body was pitch black. It’s numerous eyes were a deep red, and two huge fangs hung down from it’s head. It’s front four thin, black legs went down into a point. It’s rear half was more tarantula-like, the huge abdomen brown and black, covered in hair, the legs thick and powerful.

“Oops,” said Eddie. “Sorry. We just ruined your dinner.”

“Every single bullet you’ve got goes into this thing, understand?” said Max to the others.

The spider edged forward. There was a low rumble from deep inside it. Then it let out a long, inhuman scream.

“I guess that’s our cue,” said Tyrone, raising his gun. “I got somethin’ fo’ ya, bitch.”

He opened fire, as did the others. The spider stood, raised up on it’s back legs. The bullets didn’t seem to be hurting it at all.

“It’s just bouncing off,” said Rachel.

“Try for the eyes,” said Tyrone.

He started to walk towards it. The spider was lightning fast. It came forward without warning and thrust one of it’s pointed legs through Tyrone, just below the chest and out through his back. He screamed in pain. Still with gun in hand he raised it once more.

“You ain’t gettin’ off that easy!”

He let off some rounds into the spiders eyes. It screamed again and whipped it’s leg off to the side, flinging Tyrone from the skewer and sending him crashing to the ground. It took a few steps back.

Tyrone pushed and scrabbled himself back against a wall with his feet and grabbing one of his trouser legs, ripped it off. He wrapped it around his chest and back to stop the bleeding from the three inch-wide hole.

“You okay, Tyrone?” called Max.

“I’ll live,” he replied. “I’ll feel even better when you’ve blown that thing to pieces.”

“Happy to oblige,” said Eddie and he charged forward, firing in the direction of the spider‘s eyes.

Suddenly, the ground - looking no different to any other part in the cavern - gave way beneath his feet and he crashed down into a pit, halfway full with hundreds of the little spiders. His screams were cut short. He was gone.

“Keep yourself cool, Rachel,” screamed Max. “Let’s just kill this thing and get out.”

“I’m fine,” said Rachel, gritting her teeth. “Just keep going for it’s eyes, I’m going for the abdomen.”

Max let rip and took out another of the spider’s eyes. It thrashed around with it’s pointed legs, causing Max to jump out of the way. It thrust it’s head down to bite Rachel who dodged and fired a few shots into it’s head and it backed up again.

She swung her gun round and opened fire into the spider’s abdomen. It exploded open with ease and blood and greenish yellow liquid poured out onto the ground. The spider’s scream was deafening, but it was hurting. And still it pressed forward. Some of the eggs sacks that were hanging on the walls were beginning to quiver.

“Tyrone, can you move?” shouted Max.

“I think so,” he replied. “I’m hurtin’ but it didn’t hit anything vital.”

“Go now, get a head start back to the ladder!”

Tyrone picked himself up and, hand on his covered wound, stumbled back out of the cavern.

Max and Rachel let off more gunfire.

“I’ve got one charge,” said Max to Rachel. “We’ve got to make it count.”

“The tunnel,” she replied. “We need to lure it.”

“Go!”

The Queen spider lurched towards them. It could still move. And fast. They turned and ran out of the cavern, sprinting as fast as they could along the passage. They finally got to the ladder but the spider was not far behind. Tyrone was near the top.

“Come on Tyrone, go, go, go!” called Max.

He and Rachel made a start on the ladder and came up right behind Tyrone. Max gave him a final push over the edge at the top and climbed out after him. He reached down and pulled Rachel up.

In his other hand was a metal explosive charge with a button and a small red light on it. He pressed the button with a small beep noise and the light flashed on. He threw the charge down the hole and it landed in the passage.

“Go!” screamed Max.

They started to run along the upper passage.

The spider had reached the ladder. It started to scramble up it. It got a few rungs. . .

Boom!

The fire erupted around it as it let out it’s dying scream, and the flames continued to roll along the upper passage. Max, Rachel and Tyrone ran out of the entrance to the cave and pressed themselves up against the walls outside. The last of the flames burst through the entrance and then died away.

All three of them sat there, breathing heavily.

“I don’t know how a spider gets that big,” said Tyrone. “But I never wanna see another one.”

“If I see a baby one around the house, it’s getting squashed,” agreed Rachel.

“Good work, guys,” said Max. “We need to get you to a hospital, Tyrone. And then we’re going for beers. My treat.”

As the dusk turned into night, Max, Rachel and Tyrone made their way back to civilisation.

THE END