Vicki and Henry met up with Mike and Kate at the college campus.
"What are you going to tell Crowley Mike?" Vicki asked. Mike shrugged.
"Hell if I know," he sighed. Mike was armed, Vicki had her sword at her back, Kate was armed as well.
"The trail the...thing..." Mike finally said, "left trailed out toward the park and the campus. Which way do you think it's nesting or whatever the hell it's doing?" Mike asked Vicki as he pointed between the two. Vicki looked then decided they would split up.
"Oh no way, that's not a good idea," Mike said waving his hand.
"I agree, Vicki, you know I'm not thrilled about you being here anyway, we should stick together," Henry fear was put to the back burner for Vicki's safety.
"Okay fine, but let's take the campus first, search for any underground or dark areas in the buildings," Vicki said drawing her sword. Henry shook his head. He was still amazed that Vicki would go into a giant mutant creature fight with a sword, but that was so Vicki.
They headed off toward a dark area near where Clark was taken. Mike took the lead, then Henry, then Vicki with Kate at the back looking behind them for cover.
"Anything?" Mike said over his shoulder to Henry.
"No." Henry said.
"Dammit! Where the hell could it be?" Mike said in frustration. He lowered his gun and kept looking.
Henry stopped, frozen where he stood. They all looked toward the direction he was looking. Vicki could see Henry was somewhat distressed. He was breathing heavily, he was vamped out and was sweating.
"Henry..you okay?" Vicki said as she brought her sword up in a defensive stance. Mike and Kate had their guns drawn. Out of the trees, out of the darkness, it came toward them.
"What the fuck is that!?" Vicki said rather loudly.
"I think," Kate said, "that's our little problem."
"Little?" Mike said his eyes wide. They all watched as the large arachnid came toward them. It did indeed have the face and arms of a man, but the body and legs were like a spider. It was drooling, oozing liquid from different parts of it's body. The creature was making strange noises. The man's face was making mouth movements but nothing was coming out. It was twisted and grotesque.
Henry was still frozen to one spot but something made him snap out of it..Vicki was a little too close to the creature. She was swiping at it with her sword. Henry growled, grabbed her and put him behind her.
"Hey!" Vicki yelled still trying to get around Henry. Although Henry was terrified, he was more concerned for Vicki's safety and that of his unborn son. He took a defensive stance, putting his arms out to keep her from coming around. The creature stabbed at them but Mike and Kate began to unload their guns into it. It jerked back with each shot, the same type of fluid coming from it that came from Mark's body.
The creature made a screeching noise so loud it was almost deafening. Mike unloaded an entire magazine, so did Kate. They both reloaded and began to fire simultaneoulsy once more.
The creature began to fall back, turning and skittering out of there on it's spider legs. They all ran after it, knowing it would go to it's hideaway.
The creature disappeared into a sewer.
"Why does it always have to be a sewer," Henry mumbled. The group followed in slowly, looking for a blood trail. The trail was soon found, bloody slime and all. Henry could hear the same noises from the sewer that he heard in the body earlier.
"There's something else here," he said.
"What?" Mike asked, stopping them all for a moment. They were deep into the sewer, it was dark and musty but they could see they were at the large opening. There were tunnels leading off in different directions. Water was at least two inches deep in some areas, sloshing as they walked along.
"I heard the same thing in the apartment," Henry told them. Mike and Kate looked at each other.
"What?" Vicki asked noting their exchange.
Mike told them about Dr. Mohadevan's find, the mutant thing inside of the body.
"There's something bigger than that," Henry said.
"Now how the hell do you know that?" Mike asked.
Henry pointed behind him. Mike turned on his heel, stumbling back as he did.
"What the...??"
There in one of the openings was a pulsing sac, bulging, ready to burst at the seams. Vicki's eyes went wide. Kate and Mike brought their guns back at the ready. Mike glanced down at the ground, pointing in the direction the blood went. He motioned for them to follow him, putting his finger of his mouth to be quiet. As he turned back around, something came out of the dark, slamming into him, tossing him across the sewer. Vicki spun around, sweeping her sword and catching it in midair with the leg that struck Mike. She cut the leg, it caught her too, throwing her as well. Kate was went down as another leg hit her. Henry used his vampire speed to pick up the sword. His vampire mind was telling him to kill it, his human mind was telling him that he was afraid. The protective father in him won over his fear. He hesistated only a moment then sliced into the creature's heart, stabbing the sword up to the hilt. Henry roared as he pushed the sword in, his fangs showing, his eyes black as liquid from the creature spilled over his hands. Vicki was now sitting up. She saw what Henry had done, how he was reacting. She could see from where she was that he was shaking, whether it was adrenaline or fear, she didn't know but she knew that Henry had faced his fear in a very big way and won.
The creature sputtered, the man-face screaming a silent scream. The arms were clawing at air trying to reach for the sword and pull it out. Mike and Kate were now up too, going to Vicki to check on her.
"You okay?" Mike asked. Vicki nodded yes, holding her side. She was hurting more than she let on. She would worry about that later.
"Henry?" She called to him. Henry stood and watched the creature fall over it's legs spasming and jerking. Henry was still vamped and breathing deeply, his hands at his sides dripping with the disgusting fluid. Mike and Kate replaced their guns. Vicki went to Henry's side, reaching down to take her sword out of it's chest. She started to pull but even with her added strength, she couldn't get it out. The jerking motion was creating more pain in her side, moving around to her stomach. She didn't let on that she might be injured though it was in the back of her mind that she might be more injured than she wanted to believe.
"Dammit! I want my sword!" She said as she pulled. Mike started towards her to help, but Vicki stopped him. Henry bent down slowly, reached between the unmoving legs, never taking his eyes off of the face. He yanked the sword creating another slimey stream of fluid from the chest of the creature. The creature jerked again as the sword was removed.
"Damn, that was nasty," Kate said.
"That was filthy mcnasty," Mike said. They backed slowly away from it, no one taking their eyes off of it to make sure it was dead. As they turned, Henry heard human heartbeats, four at least.
"Wait, there's someone down here," Henry said searching the darkened sewer. Vicki stood beside him trying to keep from wincing with each step. Kate came to stand beside her, she could see that Vicki was hurt. Vicki eyed her in a silent, don't tell Henry yet, look, Kate nodded.
"Think it might be Clark and the others?" Mike said. Henry didn't answer, he just kept moving. They finally entered another room with large cocoons.
"They are alive." Henry stated. He took the sword and began carefully slice open the cocoons. Mike helped him out, removing the webbing as he cut it away. The first one held Mark's girlfriend. She was alive but just barely. She looked as if she had been burned. Her skin was mottled and peeling away leaving open sores. They gently lay her on the ground and checked her over. She began to stir then screamed as she came to. It took a moment for them to calm her.
"What...where..." She looked around trying to get up. She was weak but was finally able to stand.
"Where..where..is..it..?" She stuttered, looking around with wide eyes. Her clothing was covered in slimey fluid.
"She's in shock, let's get the others open and get them out." Kate said. Henry sliced while Kate and Mike opened the webbing. Vicki was starting to feel sick. She still did not tell Henry. She stood back and checked out the victims. They all had an almost identical reaction as they came to. Clark was in the last one. He was the least injured and when he came to, he starting throwing his magic out in defense.
"Whoa whoa!!" Mike yelled grabbing his hands. Clark was wide-eyed too but in a different sort of way, he was looking for the spider that attacked him.
"Where is it?" He looked around. They told him it was dead.
"Are you sure?" he said relaxing somewhat.
"Yes, we're sure," Henry told him.
"We need to kill the babies," Clark told them.
"What babies? The sac? I doubt they'll survive," Mike said. Clark looked over his shoulder.
"Yeah, well I think you might be wrong about that.." he said pointing. They entire group turned as if in slow motion to see little mini-creatures crawling toward them. They were more deformed and disgusting than the giant one.
Mike threw up his hands.."Aw hell!!.."