The bullets flew through the air. Time seemed to slow as I watched one bullet enter the mouth of the screeching spider.
The back of its head exploded as the bullet went through. A mixture of green and red sprayed the ceiling and floor behind it. The spider's legs stopped moving, and it rolled to a stop a few inches in front of me. The gun clicked empty over and over as I kept pulling the trigger and stared at the spider with wide eyes. My breathing was heavy, as if I had just run several miles.
It seemed unreal. This thing shouldn't have existed. It especially shouldn't have been so close to me. Nell would get a major kick out of what just transpired. Giant spiders chasing me and me killing one with a gun, no more screaming for help from the shower jokes.
I stared at the body of the spider as it lay unmoving and unaware that my body was shaking. It was a disgusting creature. The body was a huge, death-black bubble. The spider looked like a black VW Bug with a small head and eight legs.
I was so horrified and disgusted that I almost didn't notice when someone's arms wrapped around me. I clenched up and started to panic, and then I realized someone was hugging me.
I looked over to see Karen with her face buried in my shoulder. A mixture of fruity perfume and the smell of my fear wafted over me. She smelled nice, which seemed weird in such dire circumstances. Meanwhile, I just hoped I didn't wet myself.
"Thank you," came her muffled voice. She looked over at what was left of the skeleton; most of it had dissolved into the green goo. "That would have been me."
"Oh, anytime. Also, let's just hope never again," I said and saw Darren close the eyes of the most recent victim of the spiders. "I had hoped no one else had to die."
"It would have been more if it wasn't for you," Justin said as he walked up and clapped me on the back. "Good shooting. Well, one good shot, the rest were just plain awful. Thankfully, one good shot was all that was needed."
"I got lucky, I suppose," I said and stood up to hand him the gun back.
"Well, I'm glad you got lucky with my sister," he said.
We all looked at each other; Karen opened her mouth to say something but closed it.
"You know what I mean," he said and rolled his eyes.
He reloaded his gun, then put it back in my hand.
"This is my favorite gun. I want you to hold on to it now. You deserve it," Justin said.
"Oh, thank you," I said, unsure of how to hold it since I wasn't in immediate danger. "Hopefully, I won't need to use it again."
"I wish that were the case, but I feel like that's not going to happen. Just don't break it," Justin said as he pulled a second firearm from his waistband and walked back to Darren.
"You can break these things?" I asked Karen.
She just laughed, gave me another hug, and then went to join her brother. I looked at the dead spider, squinting and looking for any sign of movement.
"Spiders that are spitting flesh-dissolving venom… as if they didn't have enough weapons at their disposal," Dr. Kale said, shaking his head as he examined the green goo the spider had spit out.
"You better stay dead," I said to the spider I killed and left to join the rest of the group.
I stumbled over the other dead spider as I tried to squeeze past it. Dr. Kale caught me before I hit the ground.
"I hate these stupid, eight-legged dicks!" I said as I recovered.
"That's quite a word picture you just painted," Dr. Kale said with a sad smile.
"So how many are left?" I asked. "Does this get it to twelve? Eleven? What?"
"I have no idea. We thought two had been killed, but as far as we know neither was really dead. I think it's safe to say these are, though. I mean, you blew one's head off, and Darren pulled all the innards out of the other. So we better assume twelve for now," he said.
"At least they were nice enough to clear the door for us," I said.
"Yeah, we'll send them a card," Justin called out. "You guys catch your breath and calm your nerves. We go through the door in two minutes."
"So what happens if the spiders got out of the building?" I asked Dr. Kale.
"Well, unless someone takes them off the island, they'll be stuck here unless, somehow, they were incredible swimmers. They would be reproducing until there were too many of them and not enough food. Then they'll kill each other and die out, like a mini-repeat of their existence thousands of years ago," Dr. Kale said.
"In theory, how horrible would it be if they got off the island and made it back home?" I asked. It wasn't a pleasant thought, but I was curious.
"It would come down to whether we could kill them before they reproduced too much for us to stop them. Chances are, we won't notice them in time before their numbers become too large to stop. They would find a cave or some dark, secluded place where people would not venture too often. They would build a nest and lay low, building up their numbers and killing the wildlife that lived or wandered into the area. They would begin to branch out, slowly at first, then more rapidly as their numbers exploded into an unstoppable amount."
"So they would wipe us out? Human race all gone?" I asked, trying to imagine how long that would take the spiders and if any part of the world would remain safe from their aggression.
"More than humanity, probably most forms of life. A mass species extermination," he said. I could not tell if he was depressed or excited by this. There was something so off about Dr. Kale. I thought a small part of him was enjoying what was happening to us.
"Extinction due to spiders...," I said.
Dr. Kale cleared his throat and declared, "Arachnoextinction."
"What?" I asked him.
"Sorry, I don't know why I said that. It was just… it was fun to say."
"Alright, we're moving out!" Justin said.