Dark Island Book 1 (Complete)

Chapter 13

I screeched as the mammoth-sized arachnid hissed and barreled toward me, it’s snapping mandibles only inches from my face. I swung around to grab a stick and then thrust it upward, right into the bulbous underbelly of the eight-legged-freak. I wasn’t into hurting any kind of critter, but I wasn’t going to let that thing sink its giant fangs into me either. Hot, green liquid burst from its body and splattered on my face. The noxious stench of ammonia assaulted my nostrils. I covered my nose and mouth with my hand and gagged. If only I could lather myself into frenzy with soap and water-anything to get the spider juice off of me.
Ronnie and Harold burst through a patch of ferns. I jumped to my feet, my gaze connected with theirs.
My stomach churned. Oh, Gosh! I’m going to puke right on their feet.
Ronnie grinned. “Looks like you took care of business.”
“Yep.” Sucking in a deep breath, I gripped my stick tightly, just in case that spider thing came back over for Round two.
Harold’s voice rang through the air. “What was that thing?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
“I’m not sure, but let’s get away from it.” Harold pulled me in the opposite direction, as the nearly dead spider lay upside down, twitching and squealing most grotesquely. In one swift move, it flipped right side up and crawled away into the bushes.
“This is just crazy,” said Ronnie awestruck. “Have you ever seen a spider that big before in your entire life?”
Harold shook his head.
“Nope”
They tried to hide it, but I could see how scared and confused they were. It was like something that crawled out of our nightmares and into real life. It was hard to make sense of everything we were seeing. None of it made any sense. I’d seen the giant spider with my very own eyes. If I had been able to take a pic for proof, people would swear I Photo shopped it.
“Dammit,” I muttered, wiping the slime off my face with my shirt. I took a deep breath and stared, horrified, at the sticky stuff. My heart still pounding hard, I wiped off extra goop with a giant maroon leaf, pushing the giant creepy-crawly to the back of my mind.
“Are you okay?” asked Harold
“My head aches, but otherwise, I’m fine. Thanks for asking, and sorry for giving you guys such a scare. I didn’t even see the hill in all those humongous jungle leaves.”
“Are you sure you’re okay?” asked Ronnie “Cause you took quite a spill.”
I forced a smile. “I’m fine. Really, I am. Just got myself slimed, that’s all.”
Suddenly, the screech of a bird made me jumped. Slowly turning, I noticed a small flock caught in the giant webs, fluttering their wings, struggling for their lives. They looked so helpless, and I couldn’t just leave them to their spidery fate. “Lets take a sec and help these little guys out. They’re going to get eaten.”
I threw my stick down by my feet. I lifted my hand and slashed through the sticky mesh, freeing one blue bird after another. Sticking around to face my fear of spiders made me shudder, but the thought of the little birds being mummified and sucked dry made my stomach churn. Harold reached for a squawking bird, whispering. “Shush now. It won’t take long, little guy.”
“Not sure we can save them all,” said Ronnie. “It’s best to get out of here while we can. Something made those webs, and I’m sure that something will come back.”

“We can’t just leave them to their fate,” I said, scooping another one up. “And you Ronnie, if you’d help us out, it’ll go faster.”
“Fine, if it’ll get you two moving so we can get out of here, then I’ll help with Operation Bird Rescue.”
Harold stretched his hands and pulled down another bird, limp from shock and exhaustion. He gently pulled off the webs. Who knew how long the little guy had been there trying to escape? Harold smiled as it ruffled its feathers and stretched out its wings. The bird shot off overhead, disappearing into the sky.
Taking a deep breath, I grabbed another bird, using the tips of my fingers to unwind and peel away the sticky web from its feathers, beak, wings, head, and feet.
Minutes passed, and finally Ronnie declared, “That’s it. The last one is free. Can we please go now?”
“Yeah.” My hands felt all sticky, like I had been eating cotton candy at the fair.
Grimacing, I wiped my palms on my shorts and picked up my stick. “Good work, Guys.”
Soft chitterling, like that of hundreds of insects, moved closer, coming from all directions. I glanced around, but I could barely see more than a few feet through the impenetrable bushes.
Goosebumps rose up my arms; the hair on the back of my neck stood.
“Wh-what’s that noise?”
Something moved in the towering bushes. The maroon leaves speckled with green parted, revealing what hid behind. Spiders the size of a beach ball, even larger than the one I’d tried to smash, crawled on the tree directly in front of me. Gripping the stick, I turned in a slow circle. Spiders now crawled on every single tree around me. A shiver shot up my spine.
“What the-“Harold’s mouth dropped.
Ronnie’s gaze darted everywhere. I clutched my chest as I racked my brain for an escape route and a possible battle plan.
A hairy-legged spider rappelled down its thread and hung upside down just inches from my eyes. I screamed again as three pairs of glossy black eyes bore into me. Stumbling backward, I tripped over a log and fell as the spider’s pinchers clicked. I quivered at its shovel-like jaws, menacing things probably used for digging into soil, leaves…and flesh. I gasped and swatted at the thing before giving it one big kick. It tumbled from its web and scurried into the bushes.
Ronnie flailed his arms, knocking a spider off his shoulder.
I jumped up with a yelp. Sweat gathered above my brows and trickled down my face. Even thinking about creepy-crawlies made me cringe-and the more legs they had, the worse it was. I’d take mice, rats, snakes any day over spiders (Though I wasn’t sure yet if sharks were worse).
The army of arachnids brought back the memories of the week I’d spent in a hospital after being bitten by a black widow. Ever since that horrible day, the mere sight of any kind of spider drove me into panic. I gasped and felt the blood draining from my face. I shook my hair and swatted my body in frenzy. The feeling of something crawling over my skin lingered. I shuddered. “Get them off me!”
Harold appeared at my side and swiped my back. “You’re clear.”
I spun again, my mind unable to believe him. My skin tingled. Scanning the trees, my eyes focused on the squirming black clusters. Yeah, those spiders had better keep their distance if they know what is good for them. I had I stick and was not afraid to use it.
“There’s nothing on you,” said Harold. “I swear.” His words finally sank in.
“Thanks.” I shivered at the thought of one of those hairy monsters crawling on me, but I pushed the thought to the back of my mind. I wanted to focus on getting out of there before another one decided to attack. I pointed my long stick to the left. “Lets head this way-not so many spiders.”
When Harold nodded, I took slow, measured steps, my gaze fixed on my feet so I would not spook the darn things.
“How can they even get this big?” said Harold
Ronnie let out a weak chuckle.
“I have no idea.” Said Ronnie
I cringed as I pushed through thick, tangled webs. They hung between leaves and branches, streaming down around me like a haunted forest on Halloween, whipping against my skin. “Okay…I think I picked the wrong way.”
“We’re not turning around now,” said Ronnie.
I shrugged. “It’s not like I have a GPS with me.” Suddenly, hundreds of high-pitched chirps rose again through the air, and I glanced around.
“Guys, look!” said Harold.
Crap. All around us, the ground had been transformed into a black squirming mass of spiders. The spiders had left the shelter of the tress and teamed up together. That could mean only one thing: They were on the prowl for a new meal.
“We’re surrounded!” My worst nightmare had come true, and terror consumed every cell in my body. Armed with nothing but a stick and two clenched fists. I tried poking at their backs with quick jabs, but they did not budge.
“Seriously, what’s with these things?” Any other bug would run for its life. It doesn’t make sense.”
Glittering drops, off to the left, caught my eye. A large, thick, spiral-designed web was strung out the entire length between two trees, like a hammock or some kind of rope bridge.
“The webs!” I yelled.
“We can climb them.” Without waiting for an answer, I yanked on the strings of silk and starting climbing into a net of crisscrossed threads. They bounced slightly, reminding me of the cargo net at the fair, but they seemed strong enough to hold my weight.
Harold’s voice pierced the air.
“Are you crazy? I’m not going up there.”
“Suit yourself. But there’s nowhere else to go.” Ronnie shrugged and hopped on, clambering about twenty feet.
I rolled my eyes. “Harold, forget your fear of heights! Start climbing or you’re going to be spider bait!”
The spiders let out another round of high-pitched notes and Harold jumped back.
“Hey, Harold, sure you don’t want to join us?”
Yelled Ronnie.
“On second thought…I might as well.” With a giant leap, he scurried up to us. Ronnie suddenly slipped, and the layers started to split, the white mesh collapsing. “Wait. This isn’t working! Three of us can’t pile onto a spider web.”
I felt myself sinking, slipping as the threads stretched inch by inch, dropping me down to millions of beady-eyed attackers, like some kind of bad horror movie. I froze, wide-eyed, my pulse spiking by the second. What possessed me to climb onto a spider web, straight into a trap, like those little birds? Maybe we can try to reach the tree. But won’t
the spiders just follow us up there? After all, that was where I had seen them. Harold was climbing a few feet away from me when the thread snapped, sending him tumbling to the ground, only to land on his back with a moan. My heart jumped into my throat as the spiders pounced on him. I ignored the terror flooding through my body and forced myself to retreat down again.
“Jack, wait!” Yelled Ronnie, grabbing my arm. “They’re scrambling away from him, like he has the plague or something. Look!” I leaned forward to peer at Harold’s face. He let out a long breath. The spiders were backing away and creating a buffer zone around him.
“Ronnie’s right” called Harold “Get back up there!”