C25
-o-o-o-
Dean instinctively dropped to his knees, curling up to make himself a smaller target, he froze and rapidly took stock. Phillips, standing out in the open as he was, did Dean an unintentional favour by attempting to establish his credentials with the creature, drawing it's attention onto himself. Despite his terror, Phillips stood himself in the creatures direct line of sight. Raising both arms, he called out to the monstrous arachnid..
"Hear me Messenger, I stand before you as one of the Brethren of Betrayers, I am yourrrrrrrr..."
The thing moved almost quicker than Sam's brain was able to process. Darting forward, it had the hapless Betrayer knocked to the ground with a flick of one long leg, another jolt of movement and suddenly it was squatting over the screaming man. A further snatch of it's head, and Phillips' screams were cut short. As the spider withdrew, Sam was horrified to see that Phillips no longer had a face. Looking to the spider, Sam saw a slender trail of luminescent venom drip from one blood coated fang. All eight legs emerging from the thing's cephalothorax were synchronised perfectly as the creature turned itself through 180 degrees, almost on the spot. Sam's heart rate increased with the knowledge that this foul arachnid, which would most certainly haunt his nightmares yet to come, was now intent on finding his brother.
-o-
Up close and personal, the super spider had a stink that instantly transmuted in Dean's imagination into a musty and moulding length of fur coats, hung and crammed tightly together inside an equally ancient and musty old wardrobe. He had curled himself up almost in a ball with a matter of inches between himself and one of the legs which formed the thing's second pair. Given that the creature wasn't currently gnawing on his skull, Dean figured he must be below the spider's line of sight. A swift glance told him that the thing was in a classic spider pose of it's legs bent at the knees, it's underside cephalothorax and it's abdomen suspended off the ground. Dean guessed the gap between the two sections of the spider's body and the ground was just a fraction more than twelve inches. It would have to do. Dispersing the mental image of the thing using him as a way of taking revenge on all humankind by squishing him, instead of the other way around, Dean flattened himself to the ground and began hurriedly hauling himself along underneath the spider by his elbows, whilst still clutching the gun he'd taken from Phillips.
-o-
He heard Phillips attempting to instigate some kind of dialogue with the fey creature by introducing himself to it. Wriggling rapidly beneath the spider bridge, Dean fixed his mind to the task, feeling no urge to turn around and go to the Betrayer's aid. Dean was caught by surprise when the world above him shifted, suddenly becoming the night sky, and within a heartbeat of time, the Betrayer's words had turned to a guttural noise that was swiftly hushed.
-o-
Dean was out of time, trying to run was a no go, he had to fight. He rolled onto his back and lifted his upper body into a half way sit-up. Grasping the gun in one hand, he grabbed his own wrist with the other hand to keep his aim steady. The arachnid had moved at the same time, it's long legs bent at 45 degrees at the knees, extending down to pointed hairy feet that made it appear to be on tip-toe whilst it scuttled around, finally spotting the Hunter.
-o-
Sometimes, events can move so fast that they seem to slow right down, microscopic details are noted and recalled later, all actions and reactions suddenly feel as though they take an age to perform. The seconds began to stretch into minutes for Dean. He heard the sound of someone shouting, but they spoke so slowly he couldn't make out the words. He watched as the super spider settled, lowering it's belly until it hovered just above the ground, he saw muscles flex along the upper half of the creatures legs, and it's head appear to split apart as it opened it's jaws. A droplet of venom could be seen already forming at the end of each of the vicious looking fangs. The creature appeared to tense momentarily, then with the strength of all it's eight legs, it pushed itself forward and up, launching itself into the air and arking straight for Dean. The Hunter's finger squeezed the trigger of the gun one, two, three times.
-o-
Every leg of the monstrous spider suddenly straightened out from it's body when the first of the bullets hit it in it's soft undercarriage whilst it was still in flight. The creature hissed and spit. Dean had time to note the thick blue liquid which swiftly began to leak out of the creature, staining the pale fur on the underside of it's abdomen. before the spider belly flopped, mostly on the ground. The breath left Dean's body and the gun flew out of his grasp as he was knocked flat by the impact of the end section of the spider's abdomen landing on him, pinning him from the chest down, including both his arms. Panic flared. Dean was completely helpless, and trapped under a foul smelling giant spider sized duvet.
-o-
Not dead but clearly in pain, at it's front section the spider's legs were chaotically thrashing in different directions, raking, scratching and drumming against the grassed earth, each reverberation echoing back and over Dean. Despite the added discomfort of the spider's jarring movements, it was those same movements that did, at least, create the opportunity for Dean to force his body to turn slightly onto one side. The action serving to relieve the crushing pressure that had lodged over his lungs, giving Dean the gift of having the ability to draw in shallow breaths of air. Air that was made thick and warm by the creature's powerful pungency. Needing to devote his energies and concentration on those hard won small amounts of life giving 02, Dean didn't have the capacity to worry about, or to attempt, much else.
-o-
Sam had begun shouting and waving both arms in the hope of drawing the super spider's attention back in his direction and, at the same time, he leaned down reaching for the pistol crossbow. Flipping open the tin of crossbow bolts, he grabbed four. Palming three bolts, he swiftly slotted the third in place on the bow whilst straightening up. Sam was in time to see the arachnid leap and take to the air, and the shape of his brother laying on the ground. Three shots were fired off in quick succession from Dean's position before the arachnid slammed down in a crash landing, the way it's body reacted signalling a hit. Sam raced across the grass towards the creature. Avoiding the still wildly scrabbling legs, Sam slid to a halt. Turning to face the creature head on, he raised the crossbow, swiftly pushing aside the fact that he couldn't see his brother, knowing the priority at that moment was to finish the thing.
-o-
Any other time, a head shot between the eyes needed a steady aim, but it was simple enough. Having eight eyes to choose from was a little disconcerting, especially when all eight were staring at Sam in burning fury and a clear recognition of your intent. As Sam took aim at the centre of the monstrous head, the creature desperately tried dragging itself towards Sam using it's front pair of legs. As it managed to pull it's great body a couple of feet closer, Sam thought he heard a brief cry underlying the creature's loud whistling and hissing sounds of rage. Sam took the shot.
-o-
The effect of the iron tipped bolt lodging itself in the things head was instantaneous as the hissing turned into a high pitched cry of agony and hate. Jaws gaping, the spider thrashed it's head from side to side as if trying to dislodge the cause of it's fiery pain. It tore down it's own face with it's front legs. Heart pounding at the sight of the creatures agonised reaction, Sam quickly followed up with a second bolt, aiming directly into the gaping maw. The creature's cries abruptly ceased and it's great head lowered in fits and starts, finally dropping limply to the ground where bubbling blue blood readily inked from it's mouth.
-o-
The movements in the spider's legs became weak, spasmodic, but were not yet stilled. Sam had killed many times, like most Hunters, but he never took pleasure from a slow kill. It wasn't his nature to enjoy inflicting cruelty. Yes, he wanted the creature dead, but he didn't want it to linger or to suffer. He aimed a third time at the spider's head.
"Please. Die,won't you? Please?"
The bolt found it's target and, at the exact moment the bolt managed to firmly drive it's way home, the creature's legs retracted, folding tightly inward, pulled up against it's body as, at last, it was finished.
-o-
Standing in front of the arachnid's corpse, Sam frowned as he glanced around the immediate area. He couldn't see any sign of Dean anywhere. Unwillingly, his eyes returned to the body of the creature, fixing on the area of it's mouth, replaying to himself the ferocious attack on Phillips.
A croaking groan emanating from somewhere behind the spider's corpse brought Sam's head up with a jolt.
"Dean? Is that you?"
"Elp?"
-o-o-o-