Short Stories

Spids VS Humans

It was the year 2091. Humanity was barely hanging on, and another species had taken over;

Half-human, half-tarantula. They were called the Spiddakin.  Eight hairy legs that hold up a body made of mostly skin, with random patches of hair thrown about. No one knew how it started. Four years earlier, humans still reigned— not well, but they were getting by. Then suddenly, they weren't. Four years later, and humans took up only 10% of the population.

Anyone with arachnophobia were long since dead. They could smell your fear, seek you out and rip your heart out with their hook-like legs. No one has ever come toe-to-toe with one and survived.

Except for Nya.

She had been ten years old when she first caught news of what happened. Her parents had gone out to see a movie, and she was left alone with her older brother, who was still alive at the time. It had been a beautiful, starry night that had quickly turned to hell.

Her parents had left at seven, and her brother, an hour later at eight.

Neither had ever come back.

Luck had kept her breathing back then, but now, it was her quick wits that kept her alive.

~—~

Her heart was in her throat as she picked up speed. The sound of 24 legs stampeding after her drove her to run faster and faster until she felt as if the world would spin off its axis and she would collapse if she stopped.

She ran around corners and dodged tipped-over trash bins, not knowing where she was going and praying she wouldn't hit a dead end.

And yet she did, skidding to a halt and laughing at the irony of the name. It took her a split second to decide what her next move was, and another to start climbing the ladder that was leaning against the cement wall.

Just as she got to the roof of the building, the three eight-legged beasts turned the corner.

Nya quickly threw down the ladder and relaxed as it crashed against the concrete floor. There was no way they could follow her to the rooftop now.

But her grin of relief quickly died as they started to climb.

She had forgotten spiders could climb any surface. A mistake that would could cost her her life.

She started running across the rooftops, her feet slipping against rotten and cracked tiles, making her way as quickly as possible towards the ocean. Spiders could climb, but they couldn't swim.

She stopped right at the edge, knowing it was her only way out of the danger she was in. She saw her friend and only companion in the paddleboat below and decided her next move as Rhyne motioned for her to jump.

Her muscles tensed like a bowstring as she jumped without thinking. She enjoyed the feeling of being weightless for as long as she could before her heart went into her throat as she fell.

But as she breached the surface, panic overcame her as the sudden cold made her think clearly for the first time since the Spiddakin had started chasing her.

Rhyne had been signaling her not to jump.

And as Nya sunk farther past the surface, something wrapped itself around her ankle. She opened her mouth to scream but only choked on black water as the creatures below dragged her deeper and deeper into the depths of the ocean, never to let her go.

[to be continued...?]