Tang Ri Shan

The Wild Krew

(It's been a while since I updated this story, but I've recently been inspired to continue. Let me know what you think!)

Ch 13

Ken groaned, his head was pounding and his arms and legs felt limp. A bright light was shining in his face, causing his eyes to burn. He blinked rapidly in a futile attempt to dispel the light.

"Is he awake?" A high-pitched voice, muffled by the pain coursing through his head, made Ken freeze. Then he shuddered with relief as a cold cloth fell upon his burning forehead.

"Not quite yet" A second voice, deeper in pitch, replied. The cloth moved around his face, the dampness within rushing to replace the burning aching feeling Ken had all over. "But he will be"

"Good" Ken was starting to feel drowsy again, but just before he fell asleep, he could have sworn he heard the first voice say "Begin the Procedure". There was a click, followed by a loud hum, and then everything went black

Some time later...

Some time later Ken stirred and opened his eyes. His headache was mostly gone, and he found himself staring at cold metal. Blinking rapidly to dispel the swirls at the edge of his vision, Ken raised his head and looked around. He was lying on the floor in the middle of what appeared to be some sort of garage.

Hearing a groan behind him, Ken glanced around and saw Jackie stirring on the floor next to him. She yawned and shook her head. For a few seconds, she blinked sleepily, looking confused, then her confusion was rapidly replaced by alarm and she whipped her head around. Spotting her brother lying next to her, she gasped. "Where are we?"

"I have no idea" Ken replied, rubbing his head as he glanced around the room again. As he did, the hair on the back of his neck pricked up. He had the feeling someone was watching them.

"No clue" Ken admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but my head feels like it's gonna explode." Jackie moaned, holding her forehead in her hands.

"Me too" Ken agreed, rubbing his head briskly with a hand, but then paused as Jackie suddenly gasped. Looking around he saw her staring at her hands, her mouth open and her eyes wide, her face a mask of shock and amazement. "What's wrong?" Ken asked. Jackie didn't answer, but turned, her eyes still wide and her mouth still open, to look at him. Then she, wordlessly, held up one of her hands. Ken felt his eyes widen. In the center of Jackie's palm was some sort of mark, a big pink circle. Each of Jackie's fingers, where her fingerprints ought to be, had also been marked pink, like she had just taken her fingerprints with pink ink.

"What's happened to me?" Jackie demanded, staring at her hands. Ken reached up to scratch his head, but paused when he noticed the same markings on his hands, only they were a deep red.

"I have no id..." Ken gasped as before his eyes the markings seemed to vanish. His hands looked ordinary again. He glanced at Jackie's hands, they looked normal too.

"Okay, this is too weird!" Jackie exclaimed, scrambling to her feet. "Let's get out of here!" Ken got to his feet and they started walking towards a large door set into one wall.

"Wait! Don't leave!" Ken and Jackie both froze as a voice spoke from somewhere in the room.

"Wh-who said that?" Jackie murmured, her eyes wide.

"Me!" The voice, high-pitched and whispering, answered them. But no matter where they looked, they saw no one.

"Who's me?" Ken asked, whirling around as he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, but it was just a shadow, of a long thin leg on the floor next to him.

"Uh, Ken..." Jackie's voice, quivering with sudden fear, made him glance up, and he gulped. The big purple spider from before was hanging, upside down, from the ceiling of the room. Ken froze as the creature's head swiveled to look at them, its four large purple eyes glowing softly in the faint light coming from the ceiling lamp it was covering. It cocked its head from side to side, swiveling on its short neck, the long dark brown hair that erupted from the back of its head seemed follow it's face like a wave. Wait, what? Ken blinked rapidly and squinted. The closer he looked, the less the creature looked like a spider. For one thing, real spiders had a large abdomen, and visible connection between that and the cephalothorax (the front body), but this creature had a thin abdomen and no visible connection to the front of the body, unless you counted its human-like head as one. And second, spiders did not hand human-like hair sprouting out of the back of their heads!

But before Ken could contemplate any farther, the 'spider' suddenly swung away from the ceiling towards them. Ken flinched, and he heard Jackie whimper, until he realized that the creature was tethered to the roof by a single strand of golden silk the thickness of a pencil. Golden silk? Ken thought to himself, now feeling really confused. The only spiders he knew of that spun golden silk was the Orb Weaver Spider, and they weren't purple! Ken's fear began to evaporate as the 'spider' began lowering itself on its silk 'rope'. Instead, confusion, and a little anger took its place.

"Okay!" Ken exclaimed, causing Jackie to visibly jump. "What's going on here?!" He took a step towards the 'spider', to raised its two front-most clawed legs.

"Ken! What are you doing?!" Jackie squeaked as she watched her brother step up to the 'spider' until he was practically staring it in the face. The 'spider', hissed at him, extending sharp looking mandible-like jaws dripping with a clear substance. Its clawed legs were extended, like scythes poised to cut through him. Jackie screamed and jumped backwards, but to her horror, Ken just stood there and folded his arms.

"You're not a real spider!" Ken declared, frowning, "Who are you?"

The 'spider' froze as if it has been shocked. Then, to both sibling's surprise, it started to shake, and began emitting a very human-sounding chuckle.

"Si" It hissed, crossing its legs and nodding to Ken. "I am not a true spider. But that did not stop me from catching you earlier" The 'spider' giggled again.

Ken felt his frown deepen. "Who are you? What's all this about?" He demanded.

The 'spider' stopped laughing and visibly sighed. Then it reached up and tapped near one of its eyes. There was a tiny whir and suddenly the eyes and fangs folded away form the face, like some kind of high-tech visor, revealing the face of a pretty latino woman with brown eyes. "Hola" She chirped, smiling upside down at them. "My name is Aviva. I'm a member of the Wild Krew."

"The Wild Krew?" Ken repeated, but as he said that something clicked inside of him. Where had he heard that name before?

Aviva nodded before continuing. "The Wild Krew are a secret society of naturalists concerned about how humans are treating the environment. We have been given a duty to protect nature and all the forms of life that inhabit her."

"How, by scaring people to death?" Jackie exclaimed, anger replacing the shock on her face.

Aviva winced and looked apologetic. "Yeah, sorry about the 'kidnapping' earlier" Aviva twitched her spider front legs in emphasis as she spoke. "We may have gone a little overboard about how we approached you, but we have to be careful. Our enemies are very cunning, which means we have to be even more so"

"Why?" Ken asked, feeling intrigued now. "Who are you fighting against?"

Aviva smiled, then reached up and fiddled with something that the siblings could not see. Suddenly her spider body was haloed in purple light, there was a whiirrrrrrr and Aviva's spider body retracted into a form-fitting black-and-dark-purple outfit that resembled a wet-suit. Leaping off the web strand and landing nimbly in front of the stunned siblings, she extended a hand to them. "Let me show you" She offered, her eyes dancing with myrth.

So, what do you think so far? What do you think will happen next?

I confess, this story is kinda on the back-burner at the moment, but that doesn't mean I'll abandon it. I always finish what I start.

As usual, I welcome any form of feedback. (Seriously, ANY feedback at all would be appreciated!)