ARACHNOEXTINCTION

A sudden burst of fresh air and light brought me back from the unconscious. I was on my back with Justin bent over me. I blinked many times, trying to figure out where I was and what was happening. I could taste Justin’s breath....

“Blah!” I yelled and pushed myself away from him, hacking like a lifelong smoker.

“You’ll just kiss anyone, won’t you?” Karen said with a sly smile.

“Why?!” I managed to cough out at Justin.

“Didn’t want you suffocating when there are plenty of other ways to die here,” he said and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Sorry about the mouth to mouth.”

“What about him!” I pointed at Dr. Kale, who was slumped over against the wall.

“If he wakes up he wakes up,” Justin said with a shrug. Karen gave him an annoyed look. “Ugh, alright. Fine, starting CPR.”

“Are you okay?” Karen asked me while we watched Dr. Kale react to Justin’s mouth on his.

“I’ll worry about that once we’re out of here for good. Where are we?” I said and continued to cough up all sorts of nasty things.

“Justin dragged you guys out of the stairwell. We’re still several floors below the exit, but I think we can take the elevator from here. It should be working with the power back on,” she said.

“The elevator? That seems too easy. Like a trap or something. Aren’t elevators bad in an emergency?” I said.

“Well, you can feel free to walk into the stairwell of fire spiders,” Karen said.

“Yay, I love elevators,” I said and stood up. “How was there that much smoke and fire? That didn’t make any sense.”

“It’s better not to question it. Just know it happened, and there’s an alarmingly large amount of flaming spiders chasing us,” Karen said.

“Spiderman has been doing it wrong this entire time. Fire spiders are the way to go,” I said.

“MmmmmmAHHHHH,” came a satisfied groan from Dr. Kale the quickly turned into a horrified screm.

Dr. Kale sprung to life and scuttled back away from Justin’s resuscitation attempt.

“Dr. Kale is back,” I said.

Dr. Kale remained on the ground, spitting out the taste of Justin.

“I was enjoying that until I opened my eyes. Why couldn’t you give me CPR?” Dr. Kale complained to Karen with a pout.

“I’m certified, but Justin is an instructor. Didn’t want to take any chances,” she said with a forced smile.

Dr. Kale grumbled a reply, but I couldn’t make out what he said.

“You’re hard to kill,” I said to him. I was happy he wasn’t dead, he offers up some solid amusement at times.

“Thanks. I think,” he said to me while still wiping off his mouth.

“So no more fire weapons?” I said to Justin and Karen.

“Not a friggin’ chance in the world,” Justin said, leaving Karen looking disgruntled.

“How did you manage to be the only survivor in the distraction group?” Dr. Kale asked.

“Darren was trying to get the other weak idiots to listen to him, but they wouldn’t. They were so scared for their lives they walked into a spider trap, leaving Darren alone to die. I was prepared and had an escape plan ready in case the distraction went down like that. I watched them all die from a safe area in the ceiling,” Justin said.

“Don’t you care at all that Darren died?” Dr. Kale asked.

“It’s not my fault. I did my job. He chose to trust those cowards. It’s his fault. Or yours. We would all be fine if it wasn’t for you bringing these spiders back. Maybe I should kill you now!” Justin went from calm to hotter than the stairwell fire in seconds. “You sit there asking questions about good men who died, who were trying to save everyone from your mistake!”

“A few hours ago I would have agreed with you, but I think we’re wrong about Dr. Kale,” I said.

Justin had Dr. Kale pinned against the wall by his collar. “What do you mean?” he growled.

“I think Darren had a lot more to do with the spiders coming alive than we think. Dr. Kale was always meant to be the fall guy, whether he brought the spiders back to life or not,” I said.

“Why would Darren want them back? I have little doubt he knew of them, but I don’t see why he would want to bring them to life. He wouldn’t be unaware of the risks they posed,” Justin said and let Dr. Kale slide to the floor.

“I really don’t think he wanted to. I think he was ordered to. My boss, the one who sent me here, knew about the spiders when I called him earlier. I don’t know how deep this spider thing goes, but more people knew about the eggs than we were all led on to believe. These eggs would have come to life no matter what Dr. Kale did to them. He probably made it worse with the accelerants and the other chemicals he added in, but he’s not to blame for this,” I said.

“When we get back home, I’m killing someone. So, Dr. Gale, you figure it whose fault it is, or I’m killing Dr. Kale,” he said and jabbed Dr. Kale in the chest with his massive finger.

“Now come on, we have an elevator ride waiting for us,” Justin said.

“That really escalated quickly,” Dr. Kale said when Justin was a safe distance away.

“Maybe don’t bring up Darren or the others who died here. For your own safety,” I said and followed Justin to the elevator.

The button to the elevator lit up when Justin pushed the button; we stood there and listened to the grinding of the elevator coming to our floor.

“I never told you what a great job you did getting the power back,” Justin said to Karen.

“You still haven’t. You’ve simply acknowledged the fact that you haven’t told me what a phenomenally amazing job I’ve done, and how I’m the most wonderful and beautiful sister in the world,” she said.

“I think you’re beautiful?” Dr. Kale said.

“Shut up,” the three of us said in unison.

“Karen, without you doing what you did, nothing else would have mattered. We would have all died here. No chance of ever making it out, thank you. You did a phenomenal job, and you’re an alright sister. I probably wouldn’t dislike another sister less than you,” Justin said.

“Aww, I love you too,” she said and hugged him.

“Is it just me, or is anyone expecting a gigantic spider to be chilling in the elevator when it opens?” I asked to no reply. “Yeah, let’s ignore that possibility. I mean, considering our luck so far, there’s no way such a horrible event would unfold when we desperately need it not to.”

“Just enjoy the moment, brother,” Dr. Kale said and hugged me.

I squirmed out of his hold.

“Just because they’re hugging doesn’t mean we need to. Let’s just await our death in a nonphysical manner,” I said and positioned myself away from Dr. Kale. I moved so I could see into the elevator without being in the direct line of sight from whatever was inside. I was not going to be the first to die since I was the one trying to express my concerns over the elevator. I wanted to get a solid ‘I told you so’ in before I was eaten.

The grumble of the elevator reached our floor. I aimed my gun at the door awaiting death to be unveiled by the opening doors. A loud dinged signaled the arrival of the elevator, and the doors slid open to reveal an empty elevator.

“Well, that was a little anticlimactic,” I said, trying to hide the disappointment in my voice. I realized I was starting to enjoy the running and shooting. The action and killing was kind of getting fun.

“We’ll...let’s take a look,” Justin said.

We stuck our heads in as a group and looked up through the glass ceiling of the elevator. Toward the top of the elevator shaft sat a van sized spider, waiting for us to get in the elevator car. Once we poked our heads through, it jumped down, free falling toward the elevator. We all stepped back away from the elevator and watched as the black blur of the spider crashed into the top of the elevator car. With a loud crack, the elevator disconnected from its line and shot toward the bottom of the elevator shaft, with the spider on it. We heard the frustrated hiss of the spider as it toppled the bottom with a building shaking BANG.

The doors that led to the elevator slid closed; Justin went up to the button and hit it again. The button lit up again, signaling the imminent arrival of the second elevator car.

“Better?” Dr. Kale asked me.

“Yes, much,” I said.

The second elevator arrived, and the doors opened to reveal a pissed off Darren. His right eye was swollen shut, and blood was dripping from his nose and mouth. His clothes were torn, his shoes were missing, and he held his right arm tucked against his body.

“Darren! H-how?!” Justin said, he half raised his gun.

“I will not die here,” he growled and stepped out of the elevator.

“I watched you die!” Justin said.

“You saw what you wanted to see. He left me and the other cowards to die,” Darren said to us.

“The plan wasn’t working, we would have all died. I had to make sure Karen and the others had a way out,” Justin said taking a step back. After everything we have all gone through, this was the first time I’ve seen Justin actually scared.

“It didn’t WORK, because you ran off like a frightened rabbit, leaving me and the others to die. Without you, they panicked and didn’t do their part. I was left to take on the hoard of spiders ALONE!” Darren said and took a step toward Justin.

“Hey hey hey,” I said and jumped between the two of them. I put my hands on Darren’s chest to keep him from moving close toward Justin. “Easy. Let’s all relax. We can talk this through.”

With one arm, Darren tossed me to the ground, the back of my head smacked against the back of the wall. The room was spinning as I jumped up on my feet with my hands clenched.

“Stop Ivory. Take it slow,” Karen said and helped me catch my balance.

“Screw that,” I said after rubbing the back of my head. I ran at the back of Darren, throwing my arms around his thick neck and put my entire weight into bringing him down. He didn’t budge. With his uninjured arm, he grabbed the back of my shirt and flipped me over his shoulder and onto the floor.

The force of my back smashing into the ground knocked all the air from my lungs, I rolled onto my side to try and breathe. Justin threw his gun on the ground and ran at Darren, grabbing at his head.

Darren, while clutching his hurt arm again, ducked under Justin’s wild swing, and kicked the back of his knee, dropping Justin to the ground kneeling. He did a quick spin and kicked his leg in a quick, circular motion; his foot caught Justin on the side of the face, sending him to the ground.

I was back on my feet. Darren turned to look at me and my fist caught him under his jaw. He grunted and was forced a step back, then drove his forehead into the bridge of my nose. Then with another spin, he brought his knee to his chest, and kicked out at me, driving the heel of his foot into my gut. His kick drove all the air from me and left me gasping for air on the ground.

While I was recovering on the ground, Dr. Kale decided to jump in and try to help.

He clutched both hands together and hit Darren in the back of the head. Darren didn’t react to the hit and then without even looking at Dr. Kale, he grabbed his shirt and threw him down the hallway. Dr. Kale rolled several times before coming to a stop in the middle of the hallway.

“I think I’ll wait here,” he mumbled and stayed down.

Justin dove at Darren, grabbing him around both legs, picking him up, and slammed him into the ground. He climbed on top of Darren and started swinging his oversized fists at Darren’s face. Darren grunted in pain when Justin pinned his injured arm with Justin’s leg. Darren was left with only one arm to defend himself from the onslaught of Justin’s fist. After Justin landed several solid blows, Darren took a wild swing with his good arm and hit Justin in the throat. The hit caught Justin off guard forced him to stop pounding on Darren’s face for a moment, which was all Darren needed.

With a crazy, body breaking twist and flip, Darren ended up on top of Justin. Within seconds, Justin’s face was soaked in his own blood. With only one good hand, Darren was able to inflict severe damaged to the mounted Justin. Darren’s fist was a blur, crashing into the center of Justin’s face over and over. It didn’t take a doctor to see Justin’s nose was broken, his lips were busted in several places, and I was pretty sure he was missing some teeth. With each breath he took, there was gurgling of blood in his mouth. After a few more ferocious hits, there was more blood than visible skin on Justin’s face. I didn’t think it would be long before Darren beat him to death.

Karen threw herself at Darren, trying to get her brother a moment to gather himself. Darren tossed her to the side like nothing and continued his bashing of Justin’s face.

“You’re going to die for what you did,” Darren growled and put extra force on the next several punches.

Justin held both hands in front of him in a helpless attempt to stop Darren. But Darren’s fist broke through his attempt like the hands weren’t even there.

I took one more desperate lunge at Darren; I grabbed his injured arm and twisted it behind him. Using his arm as leverage to keep him far enough away from me that he couldn’t reach me, and his screams told me the pain should be enough to subdue him.

“Let me go so I can kill you both,” Darren said between shouts of pain.

“Yes, that sounds like a brilliant idea. Let’s do that,” I said and tried to roll my eyes. The eye roll was intended for effect and to piss of Darren, but I was too scared to focus on rolling them long enough to do it. Justin was up on all fours, spitting blood out of his mouth.

“I found a tooth,” he said picking one out of the pool of blood he spit out.

“Once we get out of here maybe the tooth fairy can hook you up,” I said.

“The tooth fairy can blow me,” Justin replied.

“I think that requires more than one tooth,” I said and twisted Darren’s arm a little more.

Justin chuckled and started cleaning his face with his white shirt. Karen hurried over to help clean him. They were able to get his face clear of most of his blood.

“This could have waited until we were all out of here,” I said to Darren. “We’re wasting valuable time. It won’t be long before we’re overrun and killed.”

“Why shouldn’t I kill you all right now,” Darren said.

“Because you’re not in the position to do that. Justin could kill you right now. You would die on your knees like a weak, powerless nobody. Held down by a nerdy scientist. You were overpowered and beaten. What an embarrassing way to go. Or, we can work together. Get out of this hellhole, and deal with everything on the outside,” I said. “Take a second to think about that and decide if you die here or we can all make it out alive. Your choice.”

Darren didn’t move as I finished my offer. He was panting with his eyes clenched closed, trying to fight off the pain in his arm.

“Fine,” he said with a growl. “We’ll finish this once we’re out of here.”

“Sound good to everyone?” I said and looked around the hallway.

Dr. Kale and Karen nodded; Justin didn’t say anything, so I took that as a yes.

“Great. We’re all friends again!” I said. Using both hands, I twisted and pushed down on Darren’s arm. There was a loud pop, followed by a shout of pain and a sigh of relief. I released him and backed away.

He stood up and stretched out his arm, turning it and rolling it with only a slight grimace of pain.

“That’s a lot better. What did you do?” he asked.

“Your shoulder was dislocated. After all, you’ve gone through, Mr. Special ops CIA whatever military thing, you’ve never seen a dislocated shoulder?” I said.

“In the heat of all we’ve gone through it didn’t occur to me...now that I think about it, it was rather obvious. Either way I wouldn’t have been able to pop back into place on my own,” he said.

“Well, all those years as a medical doctor pay off sometimes,” I said. “Can we trust you with a gun?”

“Hell no. Not a damn chance in Hell,” Justin said.

“Who is more likely to hurt us with a gun, a pissed off Darren, or Dr. Kale?” I said to him.

“You have a point. Kale, give him your gun,” Justin said.

“It’s Dr. Kale,” he said.

“Hand him the gun or it will be Ms. Kale,” he said and started walking to him.

“Got it!” he said his voice cracking. His walked as fast as his feet could take him to Darren to give him the handgun. “Enjoy.”

Darren checked over the gun, loaded it, and wiped it clean.

He noticed me giving him a strange look and said, “I’m worried what would happen if any of his residues remained on the gun. His touch alone is enough to break it.”

“I could see that. Let’s get to the top floor so we can get out of here, please?” I said.

We piled into the elevator one at a time. I couldn’t help but notice the hate-filled look Karen was casting at Darren. If he wasn’t planning to kill us before, he was now. I might have had to gun him down the second we’re safe. He’s too much of a risk, but we’d need his skillset to make it out.

We piled into the elevator together and rode to the top in an uncomfortable silence. The elevators weren’t designed to carry large groups of like us, so several body parts were poking into several people. That was nothing compared to how painful the quiet on the ride was. I honestly preferred to be fist fighting in the hallway again.