Chapter Seven: Web of the Black Tiger
"Shit," Rain said, hunched beside a tree as she swept the area. She was sure that she had given the creature the slip, but every snapping of a twig or a violent wind sounded like the monster's pursuit. What the fuck was that thing? she thought. She and One had dumped two magazines worth of bullets into it and it just shook them off like they were hitting it with a water gun.
She checked her surroundings once again. Nothing but trees and a large silhouette about a quarter of a mile away that she guessed was the Spencer Estate. Once she was sure she was alone, Rain tossed the old clip and loaded a fresh one. Two down, one to go. Along with a handgun and a dagger in her boot. Once the clip clicked into place, Rain snatched the radio from her side.
"J.D. This is Rain. Do you copy?" she talked into it. The quiver threatened to overtake her voice. Not today, bastard. If there was one thing that could be detrimental to a mission, it was fear. It clouded the senses and stiffened the body. She would be goddamn if she was going to let it consume her. Rain took a deep breath, waiting for J.D.'s voice on the other end.
What if that thing got J.D. and Olga?
Rain felt herself tense at the thought. Olga, sure. She could die and Rain wouldn't lose any sleep. Like most people in Rain's life, the medic was just another face in a crowd of faces. Everyone looked the same when you didn't care. J.D. though…
"This is J.D., over."
Rain sighed in relief but she grimaced at exactly how much the man's voice calmed her.
"It's a real shit show over here," Rain replied. "Something attacked us out here. It killed Kaplan, separated me and One."
"Shit. Why didn't you kill it?"
Rain grunted as she pushed back that ebb of frustration. Boy was cute but he was thick sometimes.
"We unloaded two clips into it," she replied. "Bitch wouldn't go down."
There was a moment's silence as she waited for the reply. A low mist crept over the undergrowth, shining white in the light of Rain's flashlight. A low sound crept out of the woods. The gentle running of water over rocks.
"Do you see any landmarks?" J.D.'s voice came back over the radio.
"I think I see the back of the mansion," she said. "I hear running water nearby. Might be the one that runs into the courtyard."
"Alright," J.D. replied. "Head there. Olga and I will rendezvous with you."
"Yeah," Rain replied. "Rain, out."
With that, Rain clipped the radio back onto her belt and followed the sound of running water. As she trudged through the veiled undergrowth, she wondered if One was alright. Besides J.D., One was probably the only other one she respected on the team. Kaplan had just been a freelance pilot from the Air Force and Olga had a similar backstory that Rain hadn't taken the time to care about. They were skilled, sure, but didn't belong.
One, though, was different. He was the only one of them to have enough successful missions under his belt to rival that of the alpha leader, HUNK. She'd heard stories—about him covertly taking down an armed militia in Venezuela that held an Umbrella facility or single-handedly reclaiming a cargo ship from a group of Somali pirates. There was a reason why he had gardened the nickname, "One."
He'd be alright, she thought. After all, he was a professional. They all were.
The sound of running water grew until Rain came to the river, the water running at a gentle pace. Rubble littered the uneven ground as though someone had reached into the earth and ripped up the dirt and stone underneath. The water trickled through the gaps between pieces of debris on a downward slope. Rain followed it down, focusing to keep herself upright. Her foot slipped and she felt herself tumbling over. Rain held out a hand to break her fall.
Instead of touching dirt or stone, she felt something sticky under her hand. Rain grimaced and pulled it back. Thick, white strands clung to her hand. Spider's web. She brushed it off on her pant leg and moved on. As she climbed farther down, she noticed the webs thickening and coating the ground. It sucked at her boots, making Rain pull her foot back with more force than usual.
What the hell? she thought. How many spiders would it take to cover this much space?
Rain pulled her foot up, her balance shifting from her other foot. She held her arms out to steady herself, nearly letting go of her assault rifle in the process. Rain teetered for a moment but the extra weight of the weapon pulled her to the left more than she intended. She was falling. Rain curled up, waiting for the pain.
She hit the rubble and the pain came. The world spun around as she rolled. Still, she kept her head down. It was easier to function with a broken arm than with a concussion. Rain didn't think the rolling would stop. Eventually, she would break her neck on a stray piece of rubble or fall off the side of an incline. That would be the end of Rain Rodriguez. Such an unremarkable end it would be.
Yet, the slope evened out and Rain's body finally stopped. She lay on the hard, wet ground, and gasped to regain the breath forced from her lungs. The darkness surrounding her was nearly absolute, except for the beam of light several feet away. Rain cautiously moved her limbs. Each stretched, despite the mild pain from fledgling bruises and scratches. Nothing broken.
Rain pulled herself up. Her hand landed in another patch of the web. She gritted her teeth to bear through the unpleasant sensation until she finally rose to her feet. Rain took a few stumbling steps through the dark to the light shining a few feet away. Scooping it up, she cast it over the area. The mansion stood behind her, dark upon its elevation. The courtyard (or what Rain perceived as such) was decimated—nothing remaining but mounds of debris and turned turned-up cobblestone. A steady stream fell in front of her into a pool overflowing onto the dirt around it, making the ground muddy and slick around it. Rain cast the flashlight over the incline from which she fell. Webbing covered the cliffside from the base to the top—a nearly fourteen feet expanse.
"What the hell?" Rain muttered.
Something moved out of the corner of her vision. Rain spun toward it, her heart beating rapidly against her chest. Yet, all that was there was the web-covered rock. The hairs on the back of her neck raised. It was that old instinct that she had developed since she had been a child, one that had saved her life more than once. The instinct of knowing when she was being watched.
A flash of light came from the top of the hill. Rain spun around, directing her beam upon it. Two silhouettes stood above her.
"Rain?" J.D.'s voice echoed down.
"Yeah," she replied. Pieces of rock tumbled down the incline as J.D. and Olga cautiously made their way down. Rain swept her light over the ground until she found her weapon lying several feet from where she had rested. She scooped it up—the cold, heavy steel felt good in her hands.
By the time she turned around, J.D. and Olga reached the bottom. J.D. shined his light on her face, making her squint.
"Wow," he muttered. "You look like shit."
"Piss off," Rain replied, slapping the flashlight away.
"Where is One?" Olga asked.
"Hell if I know," Rain replied. "He ran in opposite directions when that thing attacked."
"He might have ran back to the chopper for backup," J.D. mused.
"If he could find it out there—"
"Do you hear that?' Olga asked, holding up her hand. Rain glared at her but then she also noticed the sound. Rocks tumbled down the cliffside, the sound of their descent masked by the layer of webbing. The three stood in silence, hardly daring to move as they awaited the next sound. Only the whistle of the wind and the screech of cicadas met them. A wet thump came from above. Olga raised her assault rifle and trained the flashlight beam in the direction of the noise.
The light flashed across a gigantic black mass slowly moving its six legs down the webbed side. It took a half moment for Rain to realize what it was—a tarantula the size of a minivan. Its thick maniples twitched as it hunched back against the light. A flash of cold adrenaline coursed through Rain as she realized, 'the bastard was hunting us the whole time we were talking.' And now, its position had been compromised.
The creature scrambled its thick, hairy legs and, within seconds, was at the base of the debris. Rain and J.D. raised their weapons and opened fire on the spider's bulbous body. Olga stood there, dumbstruck.
"Fucking shoot!" Rain tried to call to Olga over the sound of the gunfire. Olga blinked, as though waking herself from a trance. She tightened her finger on the trigger—
The spider charged at her. Rain watched an expression of awestruck fear cross Olga's before the creature's foot-long maniples wrapped around her torso. Olga screamed as the pincers tightened around her. A series of quick snaps could be heard over the sound of their gunfire. The sound of Olga's ribs breaking.
The creature's movements slowed as more bullets ripped through its body, yet its grip remained on the medic. Soon, her screams were drowned from the blood bubbling up to her mouth. J.D. took a few steps forward.
Don't, you moron! Rain wanted to call out. Before she could, the spider swiped one of its legs. It caught J.D. on the side. He flew through the air, striking the cliff face and disappearing behind a pile of debris. Rain felt her heart stop in her chest. Worry about him later, she told herself, forcing her thoughts back to the vehicle-sized tarantula before her.
It trashed its legs about, but Rain kept far enough back to miss their blows.
Fucking die already, she thought, her eyes flashing toward the spot J.D. fell. He hadn't risen.
The spider released Olga's corpse as it arched back on its hind legs. Rain pressed on, firing into its fleshy underbelly. Black blood spewed from the wounds and chunks of flesh flew from its body. The spider leaned back more, its shadow stretching over her. The dull click of an empty chamber rang through the air. Rain sucked in a deep breath in surprise, yet the creature's body continued its backward trajectory. Finally, it crashed to the ground on its back where its legs spasm and reached for the sky. After a few moments, the movements slowed and the creature's legs curled against its husk.
Rain's breath came out in ragged gasps as though unable to get enough of the night air. She lingered for a moment to ensure that the creature was dead before taking a step toward the pile of debris that J.D. fell behind.
"J.D." she whispered, trying to keep her voice strong. No answer. She took another step forward. Move on with the mission, she pressed her. Yet, she couldn't bring her body to move away. Rain took another step.
A bright light flashed behind her. She twisted around to see the outlines of two figures. Rain reached for her sidearm.
"Don't try it," a male voice said. The larger of the two figures raised an arm and Rain noticed the glint of steel within his grip. Her eyes darted to the pile of debris for half a moment, enough to see if J.D. would pop back out, but not enough for her captors to notice. Nothing. Rain swallowed hard and lowered her hand from her handgun holster.