We started making our way down the rest of the webbed hall. Dr. Kale walked to meet us. He took a few steps when a fresh web came flying around the corner and latched onto his back.
He let out a scream and tried to grab a hold of the wall, his hands tearing through the webs that covered it as he was pulled away by the fresh web on his back.
"Kale!" I said and reached for him. Justin and Darren were on me before I could get close to him. I tried to fight them, but I was nothing compared to their combined strength; they pulled me away from him with ease.
In an instant, he was gone; his screams faded into a soft echo.
After a small struggle, I was able to push them off me. The group gave me a troubled look as I stood there panting from the effort to break free.
"We need to help him," I croaked in a hoarse voice.
No one said anything.
"We can't just sit here and leave him!" I said. Everyone besides Karen avoided eye contact with me. There was sadness in her eyes as she held my gaze.
"There's nothing we can do for him now, besides… ," her voice trailed off.
"Besides what?" I asked. Silence met my question. "Besides what?!"
"He did this to all of us," one of the other men spoke up. "It's sort of fitting that he gets taken by them."
"We are NOT going to sit here and do nothing. He was taken, and that doesn't mean he was killed," I said, jabbing my finger into his chest for emphasis.
"But he could be killed by now; why else would they take him? The spiders hadn't left a single person alive willingly," he said. "It's not worth the effort or the risk!"
Once he finished talking, I took a deep breath. I needed to stay calm.
On second thought, screw that.
I brought my fist back and struck him right on the side of his jaw. He never had a chance to react before I punched him, and he hit the ground, his face going from shocked to scrunched up in pain. He covered his face with his arms in case I didn't stop hitting him. Justin smiled.
"Well, guess what, without Dr. Kale, we're dead. He's the only one that can fix the power and get us out of here," I said. The man stayed curled up, worried my temper would flare if he tried to stand.
Coward.
I felt a pang of guilt as he lay there; with a sigh, I offered him my hand to help him up.
"You're wrong," Karen said.
"Wrong about what?" I asked her. I let go of the scientist I was helping up. He fell back against the wall and tangled himself in the webs.
"About him being the only one. I can fix it. I helped install it," Karen said.
"Oh, yeah, that's true," Justin said.
"Why didn't you say anything earlier when we talked about this?" I asked Justin. He gave a nonchalant shrug.
"Is there anything you can't do?" I asked Karen.
"I can't stand here talking anymore. We have a plan, let's keep moving. If we run across Dr. Kale alive, we'll help, but no need to go out of our way for him," she said and began walking again. The rest of the group followed, and I ran up and cut in front of her. She raised an eyebrow at me.
"I have a gun," I said and waved it around.
"It's not a toy," Justin growled.
"And it's now a priority to keep you alive," I said, ignoring Justin.
"Whatever," she said and let me lead. This led to me swelling with confidence and the feeling of being important. I did a good thing! I was smart! That was quickly replaced right away with: Oh crap, I'm going to get her killed. What the hell am I doing?
I was an idiot.
A quick look around the corner revealed that all the spiders and eggs were gone, probably out of the entire stairwell. They would have returned to their nest and were doing God knows what to Dr. Kale.
I didn't allow myself to relax; caution was the only thing that would keep us alive. Extreme caution. Caution that only a secret agent would know how to be cautioned for. I could have totally been a secret agent.
It was difficult to resist the temptation to roll around on the floor and show off my expert sneaking. I had to fight off several urges to show the moves that Dr. Gale, secret agent, had at his disposal.
Once we made it down a few more floors and were one floor away, I felt my body relax a bit. So close, and no sign of any spiders. The webs along the walls were thinning out, and it looked as if they weren't, overall, very interested in the stairwell besides the location of the former nest.
"You have no idea how to throw a real punch, do you?" Karen asked me.
"It worked, didn't it?" I muttered back. I was paying no attention to the throbbing in my hand. I was pretty sure I broke one bone in my hand, if not many more.
"Only because most of these guys are pansies," she said with a soft chuckle.
"So I'm assuming you are an expert in fighting as well?" I said, about to roll my eyes, but decided not to so she didn't break my nose too.
"Something like that. If you wanted, I could show you a few things when we get out of here," she offered. The intensity had left her voice. That was a sincere offer. It was odd to hear her say something that wasn't sarcastic or threatening. It made me a bit uncomfortable, honestly.
I also noticed she said "when we get out of here," not "if." That brought a small smile to me; at least one of us was confident in our survival. Because it certainly was not me.
"Uh, sure. Yeah. That would be good, I suppose. A skill I should have under my belt," I said to her.
"Because, straight-up, you hit like a girl," she said.
"I've seen you hit. I'll take that as a compliment," I said. Justin nodded in agreement.
"You're already in good shape. Once you learn how to fight, you can probably take on Justin," Karen said and looked back at Justin. He glowered at her, and she beamed.
"Careful, he's married," Justin said with a smirk.
"You're married?" Karen asked me.
"I am."
"Well, where's your ring?"
"I never bring it on trips like this, too much can happen to it," I explained. "Like, you know, giant spiders returning from extinction and trying to slaughter me. I don't want it getting lost or broken while I'm digging around in places like this."
"We're here," Karen said, the tense attitude returning to her voice.
"Alright, everyone, wait here. I'll make sure the hallway is clear," I said and grabbed the door handle. This was the first floor where the walls went from glass to metal. I would have given anything to be able to see through metal at this moment. I didn't know why I was going first. I should have been back in the middle of the group fearing for my life.
Why have I decided to try and play hero this entire time? I want to cower with the white coats!
All I could envision was opening this door and having a car-sized spider jump on me and rip me apart. The death would be quick and maybe even painless. It was a messy way to die, sure, but not the worst. Probably.
I tried my best not to shiver as the cold fear trickled down my spine. A feeling that was becoming quite common in this building.
"Is the door stuck?" Justin asked with a snicker.
"Maybe one of us should go first," said Darren, and he started walking toward the front. A sense of relief splashed over me. The relief faded away as soon as I opened my mouth.
"No, the group will need you guys more than me if this hall isn't clear; I got it," I said and wanted to slap myself.
What the hell was wrong with me? I had an out and just threw it away. I was terrible under pressure. I was such a damned fool.
"Be careful," Karen whispered from beside me.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then cracked the door enough for me to stick my head through the crack. I expected to see nothing but black as I was slaughtered in a violent, horrifying way; but instead, I released the breath I was clinging to and saw the empty hallway.
I slipped the rest of my body through the door and closed it behind me, ensuring it made no noise. There were more security lights giving off an orange glow and lining both sides of the hallway. They provided just enough light for me to see what I needed to.
I walked to the corner of the hall and looked down both sides of the hallway, no sign of anything here. No webs, thankfully. I was getting tired of pulling spider webs from my mouth and eyes.
I opened the door to the group and let them in.
"Looks like this floor was untouched. Any idea where Dr. Kale's room is?" I asked as they entered the hallway one at a time.
"Six-twelve," Darren answered. "The one next to the elevator."
We found the room, but when I tried to push open the door, it wouldn't budge. There was a small black card reader with a red light next to the door handle.
"Of course, it's locked," I said in a monotone, defeated voice.
Could we have one thing go our way? Please?
"The power is off; how is his electronic lock still working?" Justin asked.
"He's the lead scientist here. I bet his door is run on the same power as the fence, just like our armory. That way if everything went to shit, he could garrison himself inside and remain safe," Darren said.
Karen walked up to the door and slid a card through the reader. The light on the door flashed green, and the door clicked open.
"Why does your card unlock his room?" Justin demanded.
"It's Dr. Kale. He's a major perv. You think he wouldn't allow every woman's card here to unlock his door?" she said and pushed her way inside.
"Fair enough," Justin said, and we all entered his room.
Once we entered Dr. Kale's room, all the lights flickered on. It looked like his entire room's electricity was run from a different generator. It was a tight squeeze getting us all to fit in Dr. Kale's room; Justin sat on the bed to try and make room.
"Um, I'm not sure I would sit on that," I said to him.
"Why?" he replied in his gruff voice and spread out on the bed, a smug smile on his face.
"Judging from all these horribly-awkward posters he has on his walls and the fact he had internet access in here, on top of the fact he was a lonely pervert who probably never washed his sheets, I don't even want to think about what you're actually laying on right now," I said.
Karen and Darren laughed until tears were flowing down their cheeks as Justin looked like he was about to vomit. He jumped off the bed and pushed as close to the door as he could.
"Hey, he has a computer in here!" I said when I saw his desk. Karen rushed over to it and tried to power it up.
"It's turning on!" she said, with excitement taking over.
"We can reach out and let everyone know what's happening!" I said. "Is there any internet access?"
"Checking now. Chances are, Dr. Kale had his own private internet," Karen said.
Darren moved right behind her to look over her shoulder.
"I'm connected!" she said. "Who should we contact? What should we say?!"
Darren smashed the hilt of his gun through the computer screen with an effortless motion.