The Grey Chronicles Part Two: Under Siege.

Chapter 4: A Sticky Situation.

The Dead Forest, surface of Stoneharra One, August of 8096 AL.

Salem stepped into the path in the trees, his eyes sweeping from side to side. There was no undergrowth at all, just the familiar gray trunks and the webs hanging between them. He advanced slowly, moving into the trail.

"Morrison, can you detect any movement?" Salem asked quietly over his headset microphone.

"I don't see much of anything, sir," the pilot answered, "I can hardly see on the motion detectors, I'll switch to thermal and scan the area."

"Copy," Salem sighed and stepped forward into the dark. He considered turning on his flashlight, but discarded the idea; his eyes would adjust to the dark, and he didn't want to take the chance of attracting the attention of anything hiding among the trees.

He kept his rifle raised, the stock pressed to his shoulder. His eyes had started to adjust to the darkness and he could see more easily. He almost jumped when he heard Morrison's voice in his ear.

"Sir, I'm only detecting one heat signature on thermal, which I'm assuming is the lieutenant," the pilot said, "The forest seems abnormally warm, but it's not raising any red flags. Proceed with caution, sir."

"Aye, thank you Morrison," Salem stepped forward more confidently, worrying less about the possibility of ambush. He walked hurriedly through the forest, pushing aside curtains of web that clung to his clothes as he passed them. After a few minutes of walking, the path widened and he stepped into a clearing.

The tree branches curved upwards to form a massive domed ceiling of spider silk and dead wood. The clearing was ringed by hundreds of strands of web, forming a solid wall of white and gray. In the center of the opening was a damaged lifeboat. From what Salem could tell, it had smashed through the webs and bounced off the other side, falling to the ground on its side.

Salem stepped forward slowly, raising his weapon as he did so. He examined the walls of silk, searching for any sign of movement. He moved up to the lifeboat and set his hand on the door, testing the handle; it refused to move. He walked around to the front of the shuttle and shined his flashlight in through the windshield. It took him a moment to notice her.

Alice Briggs was curled into the fetal position, lying in the corner. When the light flashed on, she was startled, and screamed. Salem heard her clearly, her shrill voice barely muffled by the smashed lifeboat. Salem tapped on the windshield, yelling over her screaming.

"Alice, it's me! Alice!" he hit the windshield harder, "It's Salem, Alice it's Salem!"

She shivered and stopped, her pale skin flushing with a bit of color. Her entire body shook, her hands were bone white. Salem heard something scuffling, but his attention was on her.

"Alice, open the door," he set his hand against the glass, using his other hand to depress the button on his headset mic. He heard only static, and gave up trying to contact the pilot. "Let's get you out of here."

She shuddered and the color drained from her face. She started screaming again, turning her head away from the window. Salem heard the scuffling again, and almost didn't notice the reflection of a spider in the windshield of the lifeboat.

He immediately dove to the side, somersaulting away from the shuttle. He looked up just in time to see a spider the size of a man smash into the windshield of the shuttle and roll over the top of it. The massive spider was the same gray and white as the web and the dead trunks. It had ten eyes on top of its head, each one beady and black. A shiver ran down his spine at the sight of large fangs dripping venom, an oozing brown liquid the consistency of roofing tar.