Zarlum stories - episode 001 - The fall of Zarlum

part 12 the giant 8 legged problem

Raven quickly ran outside.
She threw the quiver up to Powder who perfectly caught it slinging it over her shoulder. She turned back to the wall trying to look for the creature hoping for the best that it had just run off into the forest where it came from, however life had never been that nice to her before, why change that fact now? Raven got an ammo magazine from her back pocket loading it into her gun however it was already too late. A massive, black 8 legged spider the size of an adult elephant came charging from the darkness it once called home. They could hear the loud bumping of its legs moving and the snapping of its large sharp fangs menacingly, Powder looked through the wall seeing the large beast, it had hairs up it's long thin legs and held itself low, the spider was so large Powder could see the moonlight reflecting in it's 8 large white eyes. Powder started firing arrows at it seeing its 8 eyes looking at her with hatred, it was fast, so it was able to avoid some of the arrows, however others dug deep into it's skin, however it didn't seem to care. Powder had mastered firing the arrows, so she was able to fire 20 arrows a minute, but it wasn't enough. She felt a ball of fear explode in her brain when she saw the spider literally jump to avoid the arrows, she knew that if it got close enough it could very easily jump over the wall then there would be nothing stopping it from killing them. Raven realized that truth the same time Powder did, realizing the arrows weren't going to be enough to hold it very long, so started shooting bullets at the creature hearing it scream in pain, Magpie started doing the same with her revolvers.
Magpie had an insane idea.
She ran over to the gates beginning to move the barrels out the way rolling them across the snow not caring in the slightest. Raven looked down at Magpie looking scared "what are fuck are you doing Magpie?!" That caused Powder to also look down at Magpie with fear as she lifted the piece of wood tossing it aside opening the gates to the outside. Magpie swiftly ran out into the snow jumping and waving her arms "hey, hey asshole over here! Over here you big ugly fucker!" the spider turned its attention away from Powder and Raven to her. The spider began to move towards her green blood dripping from the many holes caused by the arrows and bullets but it didn't care. The spider saw Magpie as just a little bird running across the ground, it decided to see her as an easy target, having no idea how uneasy she was going to be. Magpie started running so of course the spider charged after her like a multi-legged tank. Magpie ran around the cabin with the spider chasing behind her. She jumped in the air flipping herself backwards shooting the spider as she flew, she landed on her feet then had to avoid a hit from the spiders legs by spinning herself around. Magpie shot it in the eye as she ran around it, then placed herself in a very special spot waiting for the spider to make its move. The spider proceeded to jump forward pushing Magpie over, it snapped its large fangs down on Magpies neck. Raven and Powder heard the snap of her neck as the spider broke it killing Magpie instantly. The spider continued to move forward not seeing where it was going slamming directly into the wall being impaled by 5 long sharp spikes. It tired to move but just ended up making green blood shoot everywhere. The spider screeched as its legs circled up shaking and becoming horribly stiff, its eyes stopped moving, and it was dead. Raven and Powder waited for a second just in case then jumped down the tower a little scared that it was just waiting for them to go over to it.
Powder and Raven came outside.
They were very hesitant to approach the spider, holding their weapons ready just in case it was faking its death. Raven was scared of spiders and Powder was scared of anything that would stop her from being alive however in her mind that was just 'common sense' despite what Magpie says about her not having any. Raven grabbed a stick from the ground poking it in the back, which was a bad idea because it made all the spiders large legs twitch at the same time, Powder and Raven instantly went into fight or flight and chose to flight flinching away a few feet. Powder then fired an arrow into it's still open eye, however she didn't need to because it was definitely dead. Powder approached it beginning to pull her arrows out, so she could use them again. While she did that, Raven went over to Magpie who was still laying in the snow. She was still dead however Raven knew what happened next, Magpie shook back to life gasping for air, her neck was still broken, so she simply just snapped it back into place like it was normal making a horrible cracking sound. She stood up massaging her neck and brushing the snow off her clothes like it was normal "you know... I am immortal, however I still feel pain and that hurt like a motherfucker" Raven went over to her "how long does it take for the pain to go away?" "It already has it just hurt at the time, it feels weirdly... stiff"
Meanwhile Powder got all the arrows.
She began to look at the spider, she hadn't seen one of that size before and was admiring it. It was lucky she did because she noticed something very strange and turned to Magpie "hey, could you come and tell me if this is normal?" Magpie went over "yeah, it's a spider, they're everywhere this one is just a little bigger than the ones in your garden, what about it?" Powder pointed to all the cuts up it's back like it had been hit by a whip, it also had thick black chains around its neck that they couldn't see when they were fighting it. Raven leaned down looking at the spider "wait how did it get like that? Do you think people somehow kept this as a weapon, and it simply got free?" Magpie and Powder thought differently. They both stood up looking into the trees, Magpie stepped forward "no, I think someone has kept this as a pet, but it didn't escape" "what do you mean?" asked Raven standing up and also looking at the trees. Magpie looked a little worried "well, I think whoever owned this thing released it" "on what?" Magpie paused still scanning the trees "on us... it's sort of like a foot soldier meant to deal with us, so the people don't have to" Powder nodded "yeah... we need to get back inside right now, lock up the doors and check the fenced then look from the watch tower. Do it now, come on!" they went to head for the gates, however it was already too late for them.