The Last of Her Kind Ch. 07

"My god." He examined the jagged edges of the broken end. She really must be under there. Dropping the leg, he just stared at the pile of rocks for several minutes, then looked over to the busted egg sac.

So many thoughts ran through his head, and he wouldn't be able to know unless he checked. Running outside, he knelt down next to Jeffrey's corpse. Blood had stained the hillside, but a quick examination told him that Jeffrey seemed to be intact.

There was no way the Arachne would have left such a meal behind, not if she had survived. When his wand had gone off, he had inadvertently triggered a cave in, killing the Arachne. What happened after was suspect, but he imagined that Darren had somehow gotten the drop on poor Jeffrey, then run away.

"I'm sorry," he told the corpse, knowing that he could have saved him if he hadn't been knocked unconscious. He had no time or energy for tears, for there was still work to be done.

Standing in front of the cave, he activated the magic of the rod and blasted it, focusing the energy inside. Heat and smoke poured out of the impromptu chimney up the hill, and Cyrus poured his heart and soul into the magical burst until he collapsed on his hands and knees. The stones had been charred properly, and the inside of the cave glowed ominously with heat. If any of the eggs had survived the cave in, they were now properly torched.

He sat down on a nearby rock and took a deep breath. His body was flooded with toxins, antidotes, and pain killers. He needed to get somewhere with a phone and place a call, get other members of the Order to come out and scour the place for any eggs she may have hidden, as well as retrieve Jeffrey's body for a proper burial. The man would be heralded as a hero for his role in exterminating the Arachne threat.

But first, Cyrus needed to make it back to the road. It was a lonely walk through the woods, and the sun was going down before he returned to the overturned station wagon. He was surprised that nobody had noticed it, and it wasn't until he got up on the road that he realized that the wreck couldn't be seen from the road proper. It would likely sit there until someone pulled off the road for a quick piss, unaware that they were looking at an impromptu headstone for the extinction of the Arachne.

Two cars drove past in the span of an hour, and Cyrus worried he was going to have to spend the night by the road, but luckily an unhitched semi stopped for him and gave him a lift to the nearest town, which was hours away. Around midnight, he found a shitty motel on the edge of town with vibrating beds and working phones. He paid in cash before going to his room.

The phone call to the Sanctuary was a sobering one, and he dutifully reported that Jeffrey had been killed in action. They told him to stay put, and they would send someone to come pick him up. Uncertain of his own success, Cyrus asked if the Oracle had anything to say about the Arachne.

"The violence of the Arachne has come to an end," was the only response anyone got from the Oracle regarding the Arachne or her eggs. Several days later, after his own medical release, Cyrus found out that a proper search of the forest had revealed no sign of any additional eggs, or Jeffrey's missing sword. The Order eventually decided that Darren was likely a drifter once more, and unable to harm either the Order or their divine mission, and no longer worth the effort.

On the day Cyrus was assigned a new partner, he visited Jeffrey's grave in a secret graveyard just outside of the Sanctuary. It was unmarked with anything other than a symbol, and he laid a packet of jerky and a beer beneath the stone, fully knowing that it would be cleaned up by the groundskeepers in the morning.

"We did it, partner." The morning was cold, but his heart was warm. Knights rarely grew old, and Jeffrey was no different. He had been one of their best, and Cyrus would never forget his sacrifice. When he left, he made sure to keep looking forward, ready to move on to the next job.

He knew Jeffrey would have wanted it that way.

The walk through Oregon had been difficult, but Ana had done very well, despite missing two of her legs. She had Darren help her slice off her busted leg at the highest joint, then planted it in the cave under a bad portion of roof. After triggering the cave-in, the two of them had fled, stopping only long enough for Darren to help her corner and take down a black bear. Fascinated, he had watched her feast on the thing, draining it dry before carrying it to a nearby lake and loading its corpse full of rocks before tossing it in the water. They needed to leave no trace of their passage, which was why they stuck largely to small streams or hard stone while they traveled.

Ana made him a sling for his arm, and also a filter so that they could safely drink from the streams. He didn't pretend to understand how the silken strands from her body worked, but he loved the way she worked with her hands while spinning a complex pattern. Her front legs helped to, folding and unfolding as needed.

Sleeping beneath the stars, Darren was surprised how quiet the forest could be when it sensed an apex predator like Ana nearby. She built them a small hammock up in the canopy, and something about sleeping twenty feet off the ground made him feel safe. They held each other for warmth, and he often woke up to feel her legs wrapped around his lower body, holding him close.

The next morning, she left him to hunt, and came back with another bear. He made a small fire and cooked part of it to the best of his abilities, and she slurped the rest of it down, and then ran down a nearby deer while he waited for his meal to cook. Her belly full of food, she snuggled against him while he ate, and the two of them continued their hike, avoiding the main roads.

Throughout the day, she scratched at the melted skin of her body. It was like watching someone peel a sunburn, only the skin beneath it was smooth and healthy. Apparently her body was covered in many fine hairs, and when the fire had burned her, she had become so disoriented that she couldn't get out of the cave in time to attack Jeffrey right away. As they walked through the woods together, he learned more about the true Ana, about how her body worked, and her fear of being alone.

He shared his own stories, surprised at how easy it was to tell her about how his squad planned to start a construction company, how he and Dwayne were going to build adjacent houses and raise their families together. It was an impossible future for him now, and he realized he had never properly mourned its passing. That night, when they made camp, he broke down, his face flooded with tears for his fallen comrades.

Ana held him tightly that night, and he watched his squad drift away into the darkness to keep watch, leaving him alone with her. In her arms, he couldn't help but feel a sense of belonging, a connection that he sorely missed.

He kissed her, and she kissed him back. This time, they made love properly beneath the quiet canopy of the forest, whispering to each other as if they feared the world might hear them. There was no sense of urgency, and they took their time, exploring one another properly. The stars themselves were soon hidden away by the clouds, and only when Ana and Darren were submerged in the pitch black of the wilderness did they dare cry out to each other.

Laying with Ana in a hammock above the ground, he curled his fingers around hers. She let out a sigh, and pressed her head into his shoulder. Up above, the stars were winking through gaps in the cloud layer.

"We're getting close," he told her. "Will probably be in Bend tomorrow. The next day, we'll get to your aunt's place."

"Probably. And she's not really my aunt."

"Any idea what's waiting for us there?"

"No. But..." She kissed his neck. "Maybe it doesn't matter so much, as long as you're with me."

He smiled, and ran his fingers through her hair. "Ever since I got back from the war, I've felt like I've been running. Running from the past, from Charlie, from bad dreams that find me in the middle of the day. Yet... even though we're trying to get to this safe place, I don't feel like I'm running anymore."

Ana was silent for several moments before answering. "I think I feel the same way. I've been running since my nest was burned, and lived among humans for so long, pretending to be something I wasn't. I hid who I was, not just from society, but from myself. With you, I don't feel like I'm in hiding anymore. It's a good feeling, to be accepted."

Darren thought on that for a bit, a smile on his face. He knew that the only reason he had been attracted to her at first was that she had chased the dreams away, sending them back to the shadows where they belonged. Now, however, it had become something more. He needed her as much as she needed him. It was a feeling he hadn't felt since Dwayne had died, and he was surprised at how much he missed it.

"Ana?"

She didn't respond. Instead, she muttered something in her sleep, and her front legs wrapped around his waist, holding him close.

That was okay. He would tell her tomorrow.

Epilogue

Darren swerved the tires of his Jeep Renegade II to avoid the giant pothole in the road, the supplies shifting in the back. The unpaved road was washed out in places, but that also meant the odds of running into somebody else were nearly nonexistent, though he did occasionally spot hikers out here. They were usually lost, an effect of some kind of magic that existed on the land, magic that kept others away. He didn't pretend to understand how it worked, but he had long ago figured out that he now belonged to a world that was hidden away from mankind in plain sight. And they weren't the only ones either. He had been just as surprised as Ana to discover that that their new home wasn't entirely empty.

Most importantly, though, he was happy. He breathed the forest in, grateful it wasn't raining today. The road would be slick with mud, and he would be a drowned rat already. At least the ash from Mount St. Helens had finally washed away; that had been a bitch to clean off the chassis of the jeep.

He navigated a complicated set of potholes, making a mental note to fill one of the more troublesome ones in. While rare, he did occasionally get the jeep stuck while out on his monthly supply runs, which meant a delay of at least a day or two while he got help pulling it out.

The jeep hit a rock, causing it to ricochet off of a nearby boulder with a loud bang. He flinched, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tightly.

"Just a rock, bud." Dwayne sat in the passenger seat, his legs up on the dashboard. "Nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about," Darren repeated, looking over at his brother with a grin. He hadn't seen the others for years now, but his brother was always close by, ready to offer his advice. When Darren turned his eyes back to the road, he caught a glimpse of his own face in the mirror.

The resemblance between the twins was still there, but Darren was much older now, with a full beard peppered with white, and the start of crow's feet around his eyes. Dwayne, however, would be nineteen forever. God willing, there would come a day when Darren would see an old man looking back at him in the mirror.

They rode in silence, moving slowly across the difficult terrain. Eventually, they came to the archway. Made of a pair of trees that had somehow grown into each other, Darren slowed the car down and coasted toward it. Even though he had done this dozens of times, the thick foliage he drove toward still made him nervous.

The foliage gobbled up the front of the car, and his whole body tingled when he passed through to the other side. The trail on the other side had been widened by him for the jeep, and the nearby branches welcomed him home with loving strokes against the car's paint. The road consisted of a pair of dirt paths roughly the width of his tires, and he could almost feel the taller weeds dragging along the bottom of the cab.

It was another thirty minutes through the woods before he popped out of the forest and looked down into the valley. From here, the cabin down below looked small, but it was surprisingly large on the inside. He stopped the jeep for a minute, a hint of a smile playing across his lips. Even though he was eager to get back, there was something about the view from up here that put his mind at ease. Smoke came out of the chimney, a good sign that Ana was cooking him a meal to welcome him home. He hoped it was fresh venison; she knew it was his favorite.

He heard rustling from up above, but ignored it, his eyes still on the cabin. The rustling grew louder, and with the sun overhead, he could see a large shadow bending the branches above him.

Suddenly, the creature dropped down on him through the open sun-roof, all eight of her legs splaying out to catch herself on windshield and rollbar. She leaned forward, her upside down face suddenly blocking his view.

"I caught you!" She grabbed his beard with both hands and gave it a tug. "You didn't even see me coming!"

"You're getting so good at stalking, Eulalie!" Darren grabbed his daughter's head and held it still so he could kiss her on the forehead. "Do you wanna ride with me down to the cabin!"

"Yes!" The tiny Arachne flipped over and spread her legs along the back of the jeep, her hands and face just above the rollbar.

"Were you good while I was gone?" He put the jeep into gear and drove down the long, winding trail.

Eulalie's head drooped, and she looked away.

"Eulalie?"

"I got in trouble for my webs."

"What did you do this time?"

The five-year old rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated groan. "I was practicing sticky webs and forgot to clean them up before lunch. Emery got stuck in one for over an hour, and mommy made me clean the barn as punishment."

Somewhere, Dwayne let out a laugh.

"So what are you going to do next time?"

"No webs in the house, only in the forest with mom or Uncle Foot."

"That's right." He put his hand on her head and ruffled it. She had hair that was brown like his, and her skin wasn't nearly as pale as Ana's. She shared her mother's eyes, and her shiny body was covered in a spotted pattern that would go away when she got older. "Other than webs in the house, were you good?"

"Uh huh."

"I got you something." He reached over and popped open the glove box, then pulled out the yellow box. "Here."

"New crayons!" She snatched them away and held them in the air, her feet doing a little dance on the rim of his car.

"Don't eat them this time." Darren never pretended to fully understand Arachne biology, but the multicolored webs his daughter had produced for over a week had been fairly amusing. Well, for him, anyway. Ana made him promise to wait until she was older before letting her have them again.

Eulalie chattered at him ceaselessly for the rest of the drive, and when he pulled the jeep into the small barn next to the cabin, he set the brake and got out. His daughter was able to carry almost as much as he could, and helped him with the boxes in the back. His limp had gotten worse in the last couple of years, and it wouldn't be long before he needed a cane, and he was grateful that they had raised a daughter who enjoyed helping.

When they walked in the door, Ana stood in the kitchen in a plain black blouse with an apron around her neck. Standing over a couple of pots, she smiled at the two of them.

"Is that stew?" Darren asked, his mouth watering.

"Maybe. Did you buy those books I wanted?"

"I did." He set the boxes he carried down, and Eulalie set hers next to his. "Got you enough to last through winter."

"We'll see." Ana turned her attention to Eulalie. "Sweetie, were there any more boxes in the jeep? Can you get them, please?"

"Uh huh!" The little spider bolted out the front door, leaving Darren with his wife.

"I wanted to show you something." Ana stepped away from the stove and into his arms, placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

"Oh? But she'll be back any second."

"Not that... but maybe after she's asleep." A wicked smile crossed her face, and she stuck her hand behind her back, feeling along her waist. When she brought it back, she held a single egg the size of a small watermelon.

"Oh my god, really?" Darren's eyes went wide in excitement.

"Yes, really. It was smaller than the others, and I can tell she's more like her father than her mother." She held the egg up for him to feel. It was warm, and felt like it vibrated at his touch. "So, how do you want to tell Eulalie that she's about to be a big sister?"

His eyes shining with tears, he pulled Ana in and kissed her deeply. The future used to be a locked door, but it was now left wide open, just waiting for them to step through it. As long as they believed in each other, anything was possible.

Behind him, he heard Eulalie walk through the front door and let out a groan.

"Ew, boring!" Eulalie set her box down by the door and scurried outside, a blue crayon already in her hand. He heard her scrambling up the outer wall of the cabin, followed by the sound of an angry squirrel chattering at his daughter somewhere up above.

"Was she holding a crayon?" Ana asked, her face suddenly serious.

"Um... yes."

"If she draws on the ceiling again, I'm going to make you clean it." She showed him the fangs of her teeth as a warning, but then winked at him, her eyes sparkling.

Darren smiled, touching her face with his hands. The world was a scary place, but with her by his side, he had finally found peace.

I hope you enjoyed this little tale of mine. At times, it was difficult for me to write, but, as always, I did my best.

Don't forget to rate, review, or send me feedback, I absolutely love hearing from you.

Also, the number one question I have gotten from readers so far is about Darren's squad. Were they actually there, or was he hallucinating?

The answer is quite simple, dear reader. Those we leave behind are never truly gone. What form that takes, however, is up to you.

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN