The giant spiders looked vicious, but on closer observation, their movements were stiff. Rigid. Possible reasons—maybe they hadn't adapted to their newfound strength yet, or maybe some aftereffect of incomplete evolution. Bella wasn't a biology expert. Didn't care.
She slaughtered them mercilessly. The spiders, driven purely by instinct, kept lunging—and kept dying.
When only two remained, they finally realized how dangerous this enemy was. Survival instinct overwhelmed the urge to hunt. Both spiders retreated rapidly.
They leapt like kangaroos—five meters high, ten meters forward. Another jump. Gone.
Bella hurled a steel rod with graceful form, but she'd never practiced javelin. Aim was hopelessly off.
Standing barefoot in the sand, her breathing grew uneven. She hadn't felt anything during the fight. But now, staring at the brightly colored spider corpses... the more she looked, the more nauseated she felt. Especially realizing she'd killed all of them herself. Acid surged up her throat.
"So fragile?" Natasha parked her motorcycle and casually crouched to examine the corpses.
Then, like she'd discovered something shocking, she drew out her tone. "Ooooh—so you're afraid of spiders?"
Bella snapped back instantly. "Afraid? No. That was a normal physiological reaction. Didn't you feel anything?"
Natasha shook her head. Absolute certainty. "I didn't feel a thing."
Of course you don't—you're practically related to them. I'm not!
Bella made a small surrendering gesture. Fine. I lose. Can't afford to provoke her.
They rested briefly while the boys from town busied themselves cleaning up.
At first, the boys had wanted to run. Giant spiders might not have meant much to Bella, but the terrifying appearance had scared several of them so badly they'd wet themselves.
A few had already fled dozens of meters away. But seeing Bella turn back to fight stirred their shame. Adrenaline surged. They charged back in.
Their performance wasn't bad. Working together, they managed to ram a spider to death with their motorcycles and rescue their cocooned companions one by one.
The boys were deeply moved by the two beautiful girls who'd risked their lives to save them. They crowded around Natasha with endless praise.
They wanted to talk to Bella too, but her expression was too grim.
She hadn't thought much about it earlier. But now—Natasha, a mysterious waste barrel, a beautiful female sheriff, all together—she suddenly remembered which movie this was.
Small town fighting giant spiders. Whether the town was actually called Prosperity... no idea. Too many small towns like this for even subtitle groups to bother translating names.
Bella urged everyone to head back. Fast.
From what she remembered of the plot, these spiders weren't isolated cases. There should be more. Many more. On the way.
"Take one of the corpses back. That shouldn't be a problem, right?" They needed at least one body to convince the townspeople.
Natasha wasn't afraid of spiders, but she definitely didn't want to drag a grotesque corpse behind her motorcycle. That job fell to the boys.
They were terrified—two still had obvious wet stains on their pants—but in front of pretty girls, none dared admit fear. Gritting their teeth, they grabbed steel cables from the gas station, picked two of the largest spider corpses, tied them to their motorcycles, and dragged them back to Prosperity Town.
The giant spider corpses shocked the townspeople. Natasha's mother rushed back to discuss countermeasures. Charlie offered suggestions from the side.
Bella followed Natasha into her room like a gust of wind.
Her high heels, dress, necklace—everything had to go. A pity, considering how carefully she'd dressed today...
"These shoes are a bit tight!"
"Sis, that's because your feet are big!"
"And what is this outfit? The cartoon print is fine, but why are there rips everywhere... and why does it smell musty?"
"That's what I wore when I was little. It's the only thing in your size."
Natasha deliberately emphasized "your size." Bella raised her fist in warning.
After killing more than ten spiders and racing back and forth across sandy roads, both girls felt utterly miserable.
Sand fell from their eyelashes every time they blinked. Hair clumped together. Bella couldn't stand it anymore.
Even though more spiders could appear any moment, she made a firm decision. Whatever—shower first.
Natasha's bathroom was small. With time pressing, they squeezed in together.
Drinking someone else's bathwater is nothing—look at us, we can even bathe together!
Fifteen minutes later, they emerged wrapped in towels.
"Do you have any hydrating skincare—holy crap!" Bella had just reached for the products when something in the corner of her vision made her freeze.
Two furry limbs clung to the window frame. Slowly crawling inside.
"They followed us!" Bella blurted.
"Stop talking! This is your fault—we wasted time! Think!"
Wrapped in nothing but towels. Completely unarmed.
"Do you have a gun?"
"Of course not! My mom won't let me touch guns!"
Eight beady spider eyes reflected their silhouettes. Bella frantically scanned the room.
She absolutely refused to fight these things barehanded. Far too disgusting.
What could she use? Personal alarm? Useless. Scissors? Too short. Chair, handbag, nail clippers? No.
Then she spotted the standing fan beside the table—over a meter tall, metal pole and base.
She grabbed it. Used the heavy metal base to strike back twice at the spider's lunges. It worked. Confidence surged.
But the towel was a serious problem. Restricting movement and footwork.
She needed Natasha's help.
"Tighten this towel—I refuse to be traumatized. Hurry!"
Natasha was completely useless in combat. She had no fighting skills at all. Bella's demand left her torn between laughing and crying.
"Relax, it's just us—don't overthink it."
"No! Tighten it!"
Natasha had no choice but to crouch behind her, gripping the towel tightly with both hands to keep it from slipping.
The scene looked like a twisted game of tag—giant spider as the eagle, Bella as the mother hen, Natasha as the chick.
Bella kept swinging the fan's metal base at the spider, carefully controlling her position so Natasha was never within its reach.