Natasha wisely didn't push the matter any further. If Bella said it was psychological suggestion, then psychological suggestion it was.
Both of them turned their attention outside and immediately noticed the strange behavior of the human-faced spider.
The creature was gripping a green waste barrel in its mouth. If they weren't mistaken, that barrel was the very source of the spider outbreak. It had originally been stored at the police station—how it ended up in that monster's jaws was anyone's guess.
A thick, dark-green sludge was being steadily drawn into its abdomen. The creature was being careful, taking tiny sips and slowly adapting itself to the chemical inside the barrel.
"Hey, if I shoot now, will the whole thing blow up—barrel and spider together?" Natasha asked dryly.
Bella shot her a look. "Do you think this is a video game? Since when does a real boss carry its own explosive weak point in its mouth?"
"I was just testing your IQ."
"Thanks, my IQ is functioning perfectly."
Their banter continued even as they opened fire on the human-faced spider.
Mutation or not, killing it was the right call.
But its mind-control ability was terrifyingly strong. More spiders leapt in from the sides to block incoming bullets, while wave after wave surged from left and right.
"Move! Move!" Bella urged as Natasha fought to steer the pickup out of the encirclement.
But no matter how skillfully Natasha maneuvered, the swarm sealed off every route before she could break through. It wasn't a matter of driving skill—there were simply too many spiders.
"We have to take down the big one! Get closer—I'll give you a clear shot at its head!" Natasha shouted in Bella's ear.
"No. That won't work," Bella said decisively. "It looks like it's hiding behind the others, but I'm pretty sure it's bluffing. Its own defenses are much stronger than it appears."
She studied the creature closely and came to a different conclusion.
"Then what do we do?"
Since she had already revealed her mental shield, Bella didn't mind exposing a little more.
With a mischievous grin, she pulled an RPG launcher from a hidden compartment under the backseat. She loaded it, popped open the sunroof, and aimed at the distant human-faced spider.
Natasha stared at her. "...I know this is the worst possible moment, but I really need to ask—where did you even get that?"
"Ahahaha—good deeds! A middle-aged guy gave it to me!"
Fifteen seconds later, Natasha kept one hand on the wheel and emptied an entire magazine with the other—bang bang bang!—clearing Bella's line of sight. Her arm burned from the recoil, but she forced the opening.
BOOM!
The rocket streaked across the field and slammed into the spider's abdomen. A massive explosion erupted as flames shot skyward.
"Tell me that thing's dead," Natasha demanded.
The blast was enormous—likely amplified by the volatile chemicals inside the barrel. Bella could no longer sense the spider's psychic presence, but they still circled back to confirm.
When the smoke finally cleared, the aftermath was revealed.
An eight-meter-wide crater scarred the ground. Charred blood and shredded flesh were scattered everywhere. The good news: the mind-controlling spider was dead. The bad news: the barrel—critical evidence—had been completely destroyed.
With their leader gone, the spiders' formation collapsed instantly.
"That should be it, right?" Bella asked as she checked her remaining ammo.
Natasha, steadier than she looked, replied, "One more lap."
The pickup circled the town three more times. Halfway through, Bella tied another mother spider to the rear bumper. For ten minutes they fought a running guerrilla battle through the streets, but both of them were reaching their limits.
Behind them crawled a living sea of spiders—an endless, shifting tide.
"We're ready! Get out now!" Samantha's voice crackled through the phone.
They didn't hesitate. One drove, one cleared the road ahead. Burning through nearly all their remaining ammunition, they finally broke free and escaped the town.
Tucson lay to the south—the nearest major city. That was why Bella had sent Samantha and the townspeople in that direction.
But Bella and Natasha couldn't go south. Instead, they drove north, dragging a massive spider horde behind them.
About three kilometers outside town, they spotted a Ford parked beside the road.
The door hung open. A middle-aged man in a suit lay slumped inside. The windshield was shattered—something sharp had pierced straight through the glass and into his body.
"It's the mayor... Why the hell is he dead out here?" Natasha muttered.
In a crisis, people followed the crowd. Cars fleeing south had clogged the road; very few had gone north. The mayor was the first person they'd seen make it this far.
"Take me home."
A cold voice suddenly whispered beside Bella.
Shaw appeared at her side, her tone eerily calm.
"Who? Who are you talking to?" Natasha reacted instantly, spinning around—only to see empty air.
Bella froze. She had to process Shaw's meaning while giving Natasha a believable explanation.
Superpowers could be explained. Ghosts... not so much.
"Uh—what I mean is... the mayor wasn't heading home at all," Bella said quickly. "Someone was escorting him. Or protecting him. Someone was taking him 'home'—just not in the direction we'd expect."
Seeing that the spider horde hadn't closed in yet, she opened the door and stepped out to examine the Ford.
"Look here—footprints. Leather soles. Whoever it was walked calmly. Would you walk this calmly while spiders were overrunning the town?"
Bella repeated Shaw's analysis, passing it off as her own reasoning.
Natasha glanced several times toward the empty backseat. Something had felt off earlier—as if someone had been sitting there—but Bella's deductions pulled her focus away.
She crouched down to examine the ground more closely.
"You're saying... another survivor was here? Or the real mastermind behind the spider incident!?"
Bella nodded. Fueled by countless movies she'd seen, the theory felt disturbingly plausible.
Whether the mastermind didn't bother hiding or assumed no one had survived, the footprints were left in plain sight. Following the trail, Bella and Natasha found a concealed door on a hillside about eight hundred meters northeast.
There was no handle, no keypad, no fingerprint scanner—not even a retinal lock. Just a single glowing red button.
"What do you think this button does?" Bella wondered aloud.
And before she could stop herself, her finger pressed down.