The Last of Her Kind Ch. 07

"These are decoys. Think about it, she's got the ability to climb up high. While we're busy dodging these, the real threat is in the trees." Both wands were raised, and Darren felt his heart drop. They had figured out the ruse too quickly.

"Eyes up it is then." Jeffrey took a couple of steps, and then swung his sword through the air in front of him. One of the large rocks swung down, and both men ducked as it passed harmlessly over head.

"That would have been nasty," Cyrus said, watching the stone swing like a pendulum.

"For you, maybe." Jeffrey sliced the stone down, and it landed with a thud. "It's too bad you can't just blast the whole area with fire, get it over with."

"Yeah, well I think it's too bad that—" Cyrus' foot fell through the ground, and he stumbled forward with a cry. On his way down, one of the wands he carried let out a blinding blast of lightning, and Darren shut his eyes, trying to blink away the streaks across his eyes. He heard yelling, and rustling leaves, and opened his eyes to see that the lighting had blown away most of the tripwire webbing in the clearing. Several large rocks swung down all at once, and Jeffrey jumped in front of one that was headed toward Cyrus.

It collided with him, knocking him several feet away, but swung into Cyrus after bouncing off of Jeffrey. There was another flash of light, this time centered on Cyrus. He collapsed backward on the ground, letting out a loud groan.

Darren kept blinking, his knife hand shaking. If he ran out now, he might be able to finish the job, but his vision was compromised, and Jeffrey was stumbling back to his feet, using his sword to stand back up.

"Cyrus." Jeffrey stood to his full height, taking a deep breath and steadying himself. He looked unharmed, which was impossible.

"Impossible went out the window forever ago. Stay frosty, brother, choose your moment." Dwayne squeezed his brother's shoulder. "Bide your time."

"Hey." Jeffrey knelt down by his partner. Cyrus was lying face down on the ground, moaning. Jeffrey helped Cyrus roll over. "Can you breathe?"

"Yeah." Cyrus grunted, then coughed. "Think my ribs are broken, despite the shield. My foot got stuck and I couldn't move."

"Yeah, well, they don't know who they're dealing with. Here." Jeffrey pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Cyrus. "Take this."

Cyrus popped something in his mouth and gritted his teeth. "Ribs will still be tender for a bit. Help me get my foot out."

Both of them worked to pull Cyrus free, and Darren could see that his foot was pointing the wrong direction. The forest had gone quiet, and his attention narrowed on the men in front of him. Could he sneak up on Jeffrey, maybe slit his throat? After watching him take a twenty pound rock that swung from over ten feet up, he was starting to wonder if the man was bulletproof.

Jeffrey yanked Cyrus' foot until it pointed the right direction, and the man fell on his back, panting. "There. The bones will heal correctly now."

"It will be a couple of minutes before I can walk."

"Yeah, the pills will fix you up, but they won't work miracles. Hang tight, Brother Cyrus." Jeffrey sat him up and waited, his eyes scanning the forest.

Frustrated, Darren wished that he had his rifle right now, he could pull a bead right on Jeffrey and put a hole in his head, the same way Charlie did to Hayden. Minutes passed, and Cyrus let out a sigh.

"I'm good, let's go." Cyrus stood up, wobbling in place, then let out a cough. Jeffrey put a hand out to steady him, and the two of them resumed walking.

"Damn," Darren whispered. As long as the two of them were together, it didn't matter what he did. He moved forward out of the brush, his footsteps silent as he kept several paces behind the two men. Little Mike and Hayden moved ahead of him, throwing down hand signs that Darren followed instantly. More than once, Jeffrey or Cyrus cast a look back, but Darren was hidden, once more one with the landscape. They were about fifty yards out from the cave, and he needed to come up with a plan right away.

Both men stopped, then looked at each other.

"What are they doing?" asked Hayden, who then looked at Dwayne.

Cyrus and Jeffrey took off running, and Darren moved from the shadows, keeping low to the ground. It was immediately apparent what they had seen, and he froze in disbelief. The hillside was beneath a thin blanket of webs, as if a thousand pounds of cotton had been stretched across the rocks. They spiraled out from the cave for almost twenty feet like a silken bullseye, and both Cyrus and Jeffrey were stalking up the hill toward it, murder in their eyes.

"Ana, what are you doing?" Darren hissed. Once Cyrus and Jeffrey stepped into the cave, Darren broke into a run.

"Watch it." Jeffrey walked in the front, and Cyrus held his wand up by the ceiling, the glow of the fire wand illuminating the cave. The inside was blanketed in even more webs, so Cyrus held the wand carefully to avoid igniting them. They would probably burn pretty quick, but he didn't want to end up setting himself on fire in the process.

"Smells like ass in here," Jeffrey muttered.

"She built a nest. The eggs must be here." The cave wasn't very deep, and they soon found themselves looking at a clutch of eggs attached to the upper corner of the ceiling. There were five of them, each one wrapped up nicely in a silken cocoon.

On the ground, they saw a dark figure sitting, facing the wall as if in prayer, her body covered in thick, black plates. Her legs were splayed out like spilled ink. In the dim light of the cave, it looked like they were twitching.

"Why is she just sitting there?" Cyrus whispered.

"Does it fucking matter?" Jeffrey took a step forward and swung his blade. It bit deep into the Arachne, cleanly severing her head, which tipped forward and fell to the cold, hard ground and shattered into pieces.

"Wait, wha—"Jeffrey took a step back as the Arachne's legs exploded into a cloud and consumed him. The decoy had been filled with spiders, thousands of them now crawling across his skin. The knight of the Order shrieked, and his sword hit the nearby stone hard enough to shower the ground with sparks. He fell backward into Cyrus, and the spiders jumped all over him, too. With the presence of so many spiders suddenly on him, he lost control, scouring the cave with both fire and lightning. The webs ignited, and the cave was suddenly an inferno.

In a panic, both men ran outside the cave, slapping at themselves. Cyrus could feel dozens of bites along his arms and legs, and his mind went blank as the spiders crawled beneath his clothes, squirming into every orifice of his body. He choked, then inhaled something that had crawled up his nose. They were in his ears now, scratching away with their tiny little legs against his ear drums.

When he opened his mouth to scream, they crawled inside.

The two men exploded out of the cave, covered in a cloud of spiders, followed by a ball of fire that rolled up into the sky. Darren sidestepped Cyrus and tripped him. He tumbled backward head over heels down the slope, screaming the whole way before smashing his head into a rock and going still.

Jeffrey threw himself to the ground and rolled, crushing as many of the spiders as he could, his skin now covered in the gore of hundreds of spiders. The other arachnids frantically fled from him, their tiny little bodies disappearing into the surrounding hillside.

Seeing his chance, Darren charged, going for the gut. Jeffrey heard him coming and spun around, his sword whipping through the air, but Darren was close enough that he stepped inside of the strike and brought his knife in low. Their eyes met, and there was nothing but hatred in Jeffrey's eyes.

Jeffrey swung his free hand down, striking Darren's inner wrist and parrying his attack. Darren felt intense pain radiate up his arm, and dropped the knife. Jeffrey tried to pull his sword in close and slash Darren, but Darren had pushed him against a large rock and the two of them went over it and rolled down the side of the hill.

Sharp stones bit into his flesh, and he heard the clatter of metal on stone down the hill.

When he stood, he saw that Jeffrey was only a few feet away from him, but was disarmed.

"Soldier boy." Jeffrey stood up, a sneer on his face. "What have you gotten yourself into?"

Darren raised his fists.

"Oh, good. I'm going to enjoy cracking your skull." Jeffrey's face had a couple of nasty scratches, but that was it. He raised his own fists and came casually toward Darren. "I mean that literally, you know? I'm going to hook my thumbs into your fucking eye sockets and pull your skull apart, then stick my finger in your brain while you're still alive and watch you squirm as I erase every last bit of you."

Darren charged, then feinted with his left, his shoulder burning in agony. Jeffrey leaned back, a lack of concern in his eyes.

"Is it true that you set little kids on fire in 'Nam, soldier boy? Stacked them up like logs and made s'mores while they burned?"

"Don't let him get in your head," Dwayne warned him from his left. "He's trying to get you to react."

"We sang Kumbaya while we did it." Darren feinted again, then drove his knee forward as a follow up. Jeffrey slapped the attack aside, but took a solid right hook in the face. Darren felt a knuckle pop in his hand, and was flabbergasted when Jeffrey popped him in the jaw with an uppercut that had him tumbling onto his ass.

"You don't get it, soldier boy. I'm a knight of the fucking Order! I've been trained to hunt the scariest shit on this goddamn planet, and you think you can go head to head with me?" He squatted down and picked up Darren's knife. "I'm faster than you. Stronger than you." Walking toward Darren, he flipped his grip on the knife, the blade pointing down, then attacked.

Darren raised his feet, and caught Jeffrey in the shoulder, but the blade sliced cleanly through the side of his shirt, his skin becoming wet, and then he was pinned. Jeffrey sat on Darren's chest and grinned sadistically while lowering the knife. Darren struck him in the jaw several times, but the knight didn't flinch, just kept moving the blade closer.

The tip of the blade touched Darren's sternum, and he grabbed Jeffrey's wrist with both hands and pushed. He may as well be trying to lift a car for all it was worth.

"You're going to watch me sink this in, and I'm going to watch you die. Say hi to your brother for me," Jeffrey told him, blood dripping from his lips.

Darren screamed, shoving as hard as he could. Fire blossomed in his bad shoulder, and his heart was racing. The forest around him came alive with smoke and gunfire, and the screams of young men crying out for their mothers, or anyone who would listen. The ground stank of blood and mud, and dark shadows appeared behind the knight.

Little Mike, Hayden, and Dwayne all grabbed onto Jeffrey's arms and pulled upwards, their faces straining with the effort.

The knife stopped moving, and Jeffrey scowled, then used his other hand to push, leaning into his attack. The others changed position, using their legs to help lift up on Jeffrey's forearms.

"You... shouldn't be... this strong..." Jeffrey said, gritting his teeth as he pushed. Sweat had broken out across his brow, but Darren continued to resist, pulling his legs into a better position.

"No man left behind," Darren told him, then coiled up his body and planted his feet in Jeffrey's stomach while rolling backward onto the rocks. No matter how strong Jeffrey was, he wasn't too heavy to be lifted, and he flipped over Darren's shoulders and landed hard, scattering gravel. Both men stood, and Jeffrey came at Darren with the knife.

A dark shape crashed into Jeffrey, knocking him down the slope and causing him to drop his knife. Rising up on seven legs, Ana kicked at him multiple times, and Jeffrey rolled away and stood, moving quickly toward his sword.

Darren ran down the hill, picking up his knife. Ana tackled Jeffrey from behind, and the two of them rolled across the rocks, Jeffrey caught up in Ana's legs. Every blow that Jeffrey landed made a sickening crunch, and Darren couldn't help but notice that Ana looked like her skin had melted on one side of her face. She seemed disoriented, but was able to hold her own, at least for now.

"Fucking monster!" Jeffrey grabbed a nearby rock and swung it into Ana's jaw, causing her to topple. When he turned around, Darren was there to meet him, and he plunged the knife into Jeffrey's shoulder, but it only sank in about an inch. Jeffrey grabbed Darren by the throat with one hand and shook him, lifting him into the air.

"You're... the monster..." Darren told him, grabbing at the fingers around his neck.

"Fuck you." Jeffrey pulled the knife out of his shoulder and was about to plunge it into Darren when Ana grabbed his arm from behind, her face twisted in a mask of rage. Large fangs had sprouted from her mouth, fangs that she plunged into Jeffrey's exposed neck.

A look of disbelief crossed the man's face, and he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something. Ana growled, and Darren could see his reflection in each of her eyes, the world spinning around him.

Jeffrey's arm weakened, and Darren's feet kissed the ground. He pulled himself free as Jeffrey went limp, then collapsed on the ground. Ana stood over him, her face a twisted mask of rage.

"Is he... is he dead?" Darren asked, rubbing his throat.

Ana pulled the knife from Jeffrey's hand and slit the man's throat. "He is now."

The ground soaked up Jeffrey's blood like a sponge, and the light slowly faded from his eyes. Darren had seen so many men die before, but it never got any easier to watch, to see the knowledge in their eyes that this was the end, then watch them vanish into oblivion.

When Jeffrey's last gasp of air came, Ana collapsed on the ground, holding her face in her hands, and Darren knelt by her side, his hand on her shoulder. She stank of burned hair.

"We need to get him, too." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder at Cyrus. When Ana didn't respond, he took the knife from her hand, but she grabbed him by the wrist.

"No. It's not over. Not yet. We need him alive."

"What for?"

"You'll see." She stood and walked over to pick up the sword. "Darren, I... this right here is what we need to avoid."

"I don't understand. Didn't we just avoid it?"

"Yes, but no. Come with me." She grabbed him by the hand and led him into the cave. The air smelled of fire and dirt, and he could just see the eggs tucked safely up against the wall.

"Do you think I'm a monster?" she asked him, her voice tired.

"No more than I am."

"You weren't born that way. Arachne are. We hunt and kill for sport, you know that, right?"

"Well, I'm sure it doesn't have to be that way."

"But it is. Inside of each of those eggs is a perfect little killing machine, waiting to go out into the world and continue the dark legacy of the Arachne. It's in our blood, you know."

"But you were different. You lived among humans, remember?"

"Darren, I'm flawed." In the dark, he could see her crooked grin. "I'm different from the others, more human than I should be. Our offspring, however, will be perfect, and that's the problem. How many times does the cycle need to continue before it comes to an end?"

"I... I don't know." He leaned against the wall. "I don't have all the answers."

"Well, I have one of them." She slashed at the eggs with her sword, spraying the cave wall with its innards. Darren's jaw dropped as she smashed her own eggs, his stomach lurching at the mess left behind.

"The Arachne cannot be allowed to exist, not like they have. Someday, these would hatch, and they would kill you and eat you in your sleep. They would be more spider than human, and the world doesn't need anymore killers in it." She contemplated the eggs, her features unreadable. "The odds are small, but I would prefer to raise a child that is more like you than me, one who lacks that killer instinct, one who is willing to stand back and watch, to appreciate what mankind has to offer, to grow into something better. I don't want a brood, Darren, but a family." Her eyes shimmered in the darkness, and she rubbed them with her forearm. "A proper one. With you."

"Ana." He looked at the eggs, uncertain how to feel. If he didn't know better, he was just staring at a mess of egg yolks that had been in the sun for too long already. A swirl of emotions moved through him, and he turned toward her and nodded.

"I would like that, too."

Ana cried, and threw herself into his arms. They held each other tightly, and tears came for them both in the darkness of the cave. In the darkness, Dwayne gave his brother a thumbs up.

"Let's head for Oregon." Darren said, his hands squeezing her hips.

"Not yet." She pushed Darren away and let out a long sigh. "We have one more thing to do, and I need your help."

"Anything." He slipped the knife into its sheath and crossed his arms. "Just tell me what you need."

Fire ran through his veins, and his head pounded. Sitting up, Cyrus groaned and grabbed his head. Hundreds of tiny men with jackhammers threatened to tunnel out of his skull. The ground beneath his hands was cold and rough, and he pushed himself forward, then puked.

It felt like he had the flu, or something nasty, and the tiny welts all over his body puzzled him at first. Where had they come from? Looking around the rocky hillside, he remembered the spider swarm with their crawling legs and biting mouths.

Trembling, he pulled a cracked vial out of his pocket and poured all six tablets into his hands. The whole world went fuzzy, and he slammed the pills into his mouth and chewed. Assuming the bites had been venomous, he needed to neutralize the toxins in his system.

"Jeffrey?" his voice was barely a squeak. Despite puking, his mouth was completely dry. He stood up and found both of his wands lying nearby. Unable to channel magic through both at once, he put away the lightning wand and settled for fire. If nothing else, he really would burn the forest to the ground to make sure the Arachne was finished.

It didn't take him long to find Jeffrey. The knight of the Order lay on his back, vacant eyes skyward. Cyrus suppressed his emotions, his weary eyes scanning the clearing. The cave mouth was nearby, and the webs had been torched away from it. Remembering that he had fired off his wands, he limped forward, climbing the hill. In his hand, the wand became hot. Wincing, he clutched it tightly, ready to release all of his magic at once.

The mouth of the cave stank of charred flesh, and he stepped inside, the wand now burning his flesh.

"Ana!" If she was here, she already knew he was coming. "Come out of the shadows, you eight-legged bitch!"

The glow of the wand illuminated the cave, and it was immediately apparent that it was no longer safe. Part of the ceiling had caved in toward the back, revealing a tiny sliver of daylight from above that illuminated the floor of the cave. From where he stood, he could see what was left of the egg sac. Beneath the stones, they had been crushed into little more than goo.

The space was eerily quiet. Moving closer to the back, Cyrus nearly tripped over something that had been pinned beneath the rubble.

"No fucking way." He knelt down, the pain in his body forgotten, and poked at the object. It was one of the Arachne's legs, buried beneath the rubble. Half expecting another spider swarm to attack, he gave the leg a solid kick.

It scooted to the side, but went no farther. Determined, Cyrus grabbed the leg and pulled as hard as he could, nearly throwing up in the process. The leg creaked, shifted, then popped free.