Chapter6: Web of Fear

The left tunnel

Feeling the sliminess of the cobwebs sticking to her blond hair, Grace felt tears began to well up in her eyes as the great spider still dragged her across a pile of bones from unknown species. She reckoned the bones might have come from the undead or newcomers from out of this world. Pretty soon, she would be added to it without any hope of ever seeing her friends and family again. The soft crunch of bones and the spiders gurgling was all that she heard as she was still be being dragged off to her doom.

Throughout the tunnel above, Grace could see nothing more than cobwebs waving about and many other cocoons of different shapes and sizes. She thought she spotted a skeletal arm or leg sticking out from a few. Grace made a loud mumble when the carcass of what appeared to be some type of bird dangled above her head in a string of web. The horrible sight of it made her cringe and struggle in the cocoon she was in. During the tense moments that followed, she wished her heart would stop pounding and beating so loudly. But in a situation like this, it was difficult to stay calm; especially if you were being held captive by one of your worse fears in life. It was wise of her to not risk venturing into this part, even if it was only for a moment; but now the sight of it continued to send shivers up and down her spine. She even cringed more and more from the echo of bones crunching beneath her. As if the dark forest wasn't bad enough, this was almost unbearable. With the sticky layers of web clinging to her head, it was a little hard to see where the spider was taking her with a few bits covering her eyes.

Her pounding heart eased slightly when she felt the spider moving slower than before. Could she be nearing the lair anytime now? But now she began to wince as she thought she heard more hissing and gurgling somewhere nearby. From the sound of them, Grace had a pretty good guess that it would be the children!

The Spiders nest

"Oh children!" the spider hissed intensely. Grace looked around to see that she was no longer in the web infested narrow tunnel but now a wider area similar to what a bears cave would be. Only now that this place was covered in the biggest, slimiest, even scarier giant web she had ever set eyes upon. Grace could hear bones connect with bones and a skeleton come crashing down as she was dragged in. She shuddered and cringed when a few dry ashes sprinkled over her. Even beneath the gag covering her mouth still, Grace had bitten her lip as she tried to stifle a sob of fear and pity filling her beating heart.

Gazing up above the ceiling, the blond heifers eyes widened in horror when a couple of blackish spiders had come crawling out of a few holes and burrows. They weren't exactly as big and fat looking as their mother but they were still ugly and grotesque. Once they saw Grace, some came crawling toward her along with a few others dangling down by silken thread. She could feel their legs poking at her cocoon as they gurgled endlessly.

"I hope this is not another of those tasteless undead as always," said one, poking its front left leg into her cheek making Grace wince at its touch. "No, it's alive and whimpering, and I hope its carrying good juice inside." Another spider rushed forward and pushed the first one aside to check and see for itself.

"This must be the fattest, juiciest, sweetest meat there is around," it said with a gurgle. "I can't wait to find out how it taste."

"Why don't we eat it now," hissed a fourth spider. "There hasn't been enough live meat to come wandering down here." Grace became more horrified as she listened to the children still talking and arguing over how they should feed on her. That's when the mother spider had cut in.

"Now children, you know the rules in this nest," she replied, sticking the cocooned dairy cow to the right side of the web; leaving her dangling upside down with a few other cocoons. "Nobody eats one bite of this meat until we all have our rest." The spider children moaned in disappointment from hearing their mother say this, but they did as they were told when she gave each and every one of them a stern look. They followed her as she crawled to the very center of the giant web for a nice long nap until feeding time begun.

After all the spiders had gone to sleep, Grace struggled swinging back and forth to break free of this captive cocoon. It had been complicating trying to do so, especially if you didn't have a sharp weapon lying around anyplace. If she couldn't free herself at this moment, perhaps she could try removing the silken gag off her mouth. After all, spider silk can't stay sticky forever couldn't it? Quickly, she began rubbing her face against her left shoulder blade to find out. After a few long minutes of doing so, the gag slipped off, but there was still a little bit of stickiness left to cling to a part of her neck and right cheek. Although Grace didn't seem to mind that, she knew that this danger she was still in was far from over.

"Where's a knife when you need one?" she said silently not wanting to wake any of the sleeping spiders. The cocoon was still strong enough to keep her tied up, but Grace thought she felt herself slip a bit from the inside. It must have been from all that struggling she endured. She began to smile weakly.

"I'm slipping; now if only I could find something to cut me loose," She gazed down below the ground but could find nothing. Just when all seemed lost for a moment, a skeletal arm dangled out of a cocoon; carrying in its grasp what seemed to be a bowie-style knife. Grace smiled once more.

"I could use that," Luckily the cocoon was only a few inches away from where she had still been dangling upside down. She swung herself back and forth to reach the handle of the knife with her mouth. So far, she had succeeded in reaching and grabbing it. Even though she held the handle with her teeth, Grace could feel herself slip down an inch inside the cocoon once more. Still it was not enough to free her. Grace was still clever to know that she needed to get out of the spiders nest fast without the risk of being caught. "I've got to get of here quick before it's too late," she whispered through gritted teeth as she used the knife to cut the cords. The cocoon didn't feel as sticky and slimy earlier when she first got captured. Now it was starting to feel like a soft dry bush or a bundle of hay. Grace had finally managed to cut the thread from her neck to her midsection, making it easier for her now to wiggle herself out. She slipped down slowly all the way like rolled out dough. Brushing the strands of web off her hide, she peered back over at the sleeping mother spider and her children. None of them seemed to budge a bit, even from the tiny sounds of her footsteps she made when walking back through the left tunnel.

Back in the right tunnel

Getting through out of the left tunnel and back to the right had been hell for Grace. Heck, there would be even more hell for her soon at any moment when she would at least expect it. Having to tread through the web infested tunnel with a load of bones littering the ground had sent a few shivers down her spine from causing minor cracks with her hooves. A couple piles had tumbled a few feet from her treading. Well now there had been no point in her for turning back to that dreadful prison while she still had a mission to accomplish.

"I hope that entire racket didn't wake them," she whispered worriedly as she spotted the exit a mile above. She was preparing to make a run for it until a small creaking hissing voice startled her.

"There's the meat, stop it!" She turned to find one of the spider children swing from the ceiling over to her position like a wild man in the jungle. Grace ducked down from the oncoming attack causing the spider to crash into the other wall.

"Ugh," the spider moaned as it slid down slowly falling flat on the ground.

"I'll get it," Grace dodged another attack as another spider hurtled down only to crash into the wall as the first spider ended up doing.

That does it! Grace gathered up her courage and rushed for the exit opening above head butting any of the spider children jumping at her. She had it up to here with becoming a bovine in distress so far and knew that it was the time to get serious. She listened as the spiders hissing and gurgling still echoed in the tunnel using every bit of her strength to dodge and kick more oncoming attacks.

"Out of my way you!" she blurted out as she head butted another spider which jumped out at her. She might not stand a chance again the mother spider but she and her faithful companions could handle the children as well as taking on Slim's henchmen. Small rubbles of pebbles dropped from the ceiling as a few of the spider children still followed her. But Grace was not about to give up too soon when she was now nearing the opening. However, one of the children blocked the way hoping she would be recaptured. But that didn't seem to stop Grace as they saw she was still running toward at a fast pace with a serious expression.

"Sorry, not this time!" she replied, head butting the spider out of her path. Outside, the sky had become less dark than before. Grace figured that it must be morning already; well almost. Hearing a few squeals, Grace turned to where the opening stood and saw the spider children squealing as if they were in some sort of painful danger.

"The light, the air is killing me!" it whimpered diving back into the tunnel. The other children did the same thing as they dove back inside forgetting about their prey.

"Hmm, I wonder what their problem is," she said puzzled. "Maybe they don't like the sunshine." She shrugged as she continued on the trail to the witch's mansion. "Just wait till Maggie and Mrs. Calloway hear about this."