They were embedded in the webs that covered the floor and walls. They were everywhere.
"How are they already reproducing? They've only been alive a few hours!" I said to Darren.
I was very close to screaming and running into the arms of Justin. This was horrifying. Also, just straight up unfair. How the hell were we supposed to survive this?
"A few already hatched," Darren said, pointing to some of the eggs. "Should we crush the rest before they can hatch too? That would help even out the astronomical odds a bit."
"No, no. Don't do anything yet," I said and backed away from the eggs. "Let me go get Dr. Kale."
I ran through the path we had cleared, no longer caring how much web I got on me. We had way bigger problems now. I reached the group, and they looked at me with a mixture of surprise and fear.
"What the hell is going on down there?" Justin asked as he eyed me.
I probably looked crazy. I was sweating, out of breath, and covered in spider webs. I spit a good chunk of spider web out of my mouth once I got to the group. I suppose it would look weird to someone unaware of the situation. I rushed through the explanation, focusing on the amount of webbing and leaving out the new eggs part.
"Okay, I do not want to walk through a spider-web forest!" one of the men said.
"Oh, okay. Stay here and die, less for me to worry about," I said. My brash words seemed to surprise the group, but I didn't feel bad because I was leaning toward a full-blown panic attack. "Dr. Kale, with me, please. We need your expertise for our next move."
I whirled around and walked away, not even looking to see if Dr. Kale was following me. By the time I reached the beginning of the webs, I heard his stomping footsteps right behind me. His nervous breathing soon followed.
I stopped right before walking into the hallway and faced him.
"It's bad," I said to him.
"How bad?"
"They're already laying eggs, and some have started to hatch."
His eyes were wide enough to drive a truck through. He leaned against the wall and slid to the ground.
"What the hell are you doing? You're getting covered in webbing. We need your help to figure out what to do," I said.
"We're all going to die," he said with a blank stare.
"Come on, we're almost halfway there. Don't lose it now!" I said and tried to help him up. It proved difficult since he offered no assistance, so I let go, and he stayed on the ground.
"I need to admit something," he said.
"Now isn't the best time," I said, wanting to get back before Darren decided to take matters into his own hands.
"I gave the spiders a type of… accelerant," he said and started squeezing his hands. The tone of his voice matched his dead expression.
"Before you say anything else, let me get my gun ready."
Dr. Kale ignored me and continued. "The type of accelerant that would become embedded in their DNA. This would explain their rapid growth; they're going through all their different life cycles in only hours.
"You what? Why?" I said as everything started to make sense. That's why the spiders were growing several years' worth in a few hours. That's why they're already reproducing and also why the new eggs had started hatching.
"I thought it would help bring them back. I didn't know it would affect them so greatly," he said, still staring at nothing. "They're more dangerous right now than they were before they went extinct. Their aggression is worse than I expected it to be. That's why they have been hunting us down since they hatched."
"How is it worse? You mean you didn't expect them to kill and eat over a hundred people in a few hours?" I said. I wondered if kicking him in the jaw over and over would snap him out of this trance. It would at least make me feel better.
The image of Dr. Kale struggling with a broken jaw made a smile inch across my face, but I fought against it.
"They would hunt at night, for the most part; these master hunters were almost undetectable to the other creatures. But, their need to feed and to be going through all their stages of life so fast has forced them to be active, despite the sunlight and not having the ability to hide themselves from us. That's why we've only seen a few so far. Those are the ones that cannot fight the need to feed or wait until night. Once night falls, the number of active spiders goes from the ones that can't resist the need to feed, to all of them," he said.
"Okay, so what are you saying?" I asked him. Did this rambling have a purpose?
He rocked back and forth before looking up at me. His voice was shaking when he spoke, "As the sun goes down, the more aggressive they'll become. With their numbers rising, we're down to a few hours before we are overrun by them. They will attack and hunt us until there isn't a single living human in this building."
"All the more reason to hurry! We need to get to the weapons room and get the power back online!" I said, on the verge of beating him unconscious and dragging him down the hall.
"You don't understand," he said, his voice growing stronger.
"My God, man, what is it?!"
He stood up and faced me. "It doesn't matter how many guns we have, or chemicals, or peppermint oil, or whatever. If we are not off this island by the time night falls, we are dead!"
I let the silence sit for a moment. I was pretty sure everyone heard him yell that last part; I hoped Justin could keep them from panicking. "How long do we have?"
He sputtered and shook his head. "It doesn't fuc- what do- ugh. Maybe two hours, at best. Rescue is probably at least three or four hours away. I doubt they sent their fastest aircraft."
"Alright, let's get moving, then," I said and entered the webbed hall. Dr. Kale followed me, his reluctance clear, but he had already accepted his death, so he wouldn't resist much of anything at this point.
Darren was still staring at the eggs when we arrived.
"You hear any of that?" I asked him.
"Yep. Once night falls, we're dead. Dr. Kale is more of a woman than a man, and is having an emotional breakdown. So we should hurry this along," he said and dragged Dr. Kale to the eggs. "Can we kill these before they hatch?"
"Sure," Dr. Kale said with a shrug. "If you want every living spider in this place to attack us right now instead of in a few hours."
"Alright, look, you little sh-" Darren started.
"Do you think they're protecting these eggs? If we try to walk by, will they be all over us?" I asked Dr. Kale.
"There might be one, maybe two, but I doubt it. These were probably among the first eggs laid; the majority of the spiders are probably on the lower levels. Think of this as a temporary nest while they were trying to find a more permanent spot. They would have moved on from here and down to the lower levels, probably the electrical room where they took out our electricity. With no power, that's where it's darkest. I would say there's a sixty percent chance we can get past this nest unharmed," he said.
"Only sixty? We can't risk the lives of everyone in the group!" Darren said.
"Sixty percent is the best we're going to get from here on out. Once we're out of this stairwell, we'll be in their territory. But we have to keep pushing, no matter the percentage of success. The best part of this situation is do something and maybe you live, or don't do anything and die a messy death. Might as well do something," I said. "We don't have a choice, and we're running out of time."
"I can go ahead and see," Darren said and started to leave. I grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
"We don't have time for this anymore. We need to move, and we need to move as a group," I said.
"I'm not risking the group for a maybe sixty percent chance," he said and pushed me off of him.
"The percentage is literally a guess! There's either a spider watching this nest or there isn't, it doesn't matter number Dr. Kale gave us! The longer we do this, the lower our chance of survival becomes, and the more separated the group becomes. We have a higher chance with you and Justin here, not just you," I said.
"Fine! Go get the group," he said and grabbed the collar of my shirt. "If we all die, this is now on you."
I straightened out my shirt and left to get the group.
"And if we live, you owe me so much alcohol!" I called back when I was safe out of arms reach.