MCBRID RACED OUT OF his office and down the hallway, following the faint sound of the muffled scream. He should stop. Go back, but his legs kept moving. He should’ve never heard the noise, but he had and he knew that voice. It was Charlie. The damn Guard was too young to be in a place like this but here he was and he was in trouble.
A House Servant shoved past him, barely limping on a leg that’d been broken too badly to repair. Apparently, when monstrous death stares someone in the face, injuries cease to exist.
McBrid didn’t hesitate at the door. He should’ve. Any sane Almighty would’ve, but there was the problem. He wasn’t pure Almighty. Thirty-two years of hiding the Guard in him, ruined over one garbled scream of terror. He burst into the room.
Charlie was on the floor, several feet over the line that separated safety from death. The young Guard was trying to scramble away from Aranea18, the giant spider mutation, who had one of her four, long, hairy legs wrapped around his waist. The two claws on the end kept him in place but didn’t dig into his flesh. That pleasure would be saved for her fangs.
“Help me,” yelled Charlie. “Please! Help me.” He clawed at the tile but Aranea18 dragged him closer to her, closer to death.
The other Guard McBrid had assigned to feed Aranea18 with Charlie, was on the floor near the cage. He had no idea why she wasn’t eating him. One of her other legs wrapped around Charlie’s face, sliding into his mouth and silencing his screams. He bit down and she screeched, letting him go for one quick instant. As the Guard lunged forward, McBrid grabbed his hand, pulling Charlie toward him, but Aranea18 wasn’t going to be denied her meal. She grabbed Charlie’s ankles with two of her good legs, flailing the injured one in the air as if chastising them and clinging to the bar of the cage with her other leg.
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“Don’t let go,” whispered Charlie, his big, brown eyes wide with fear.
McBrid tightened his grip but he was no match for Aranea18. He slid forward with the young Guard. He tugged and scrambled backward but the Aranea was strong and hungry, her fangs snapping together as poison dripped down her furry torso. In another moment he’d be over that line too. She looked at him, with her eight, black eyes, four on top and four on bottom, and let go of Charlie with one of her legs. She reached for McBrid’s arm. He dropped his hold and scooted away from the line, away from death. He hadn’t planned on letting go, he hadn’t meant to but instinct had kicked in and this one was probably Almighty not Guard.
“No, please,” yelled Charlie, his eyes almost popping from his head as he clawed at the tile trying to get away.
McBrid shouldn’t do anything. Guards’ lives didn’t matter. They were expendable, easily replaced. He’d heard it his entire life and he hated the truth in the words as much as the lie. To him and his mother Guards had never been replaceable.
The poles they used to control the Araneas were lying next to the cage. He jumped to his feet, ran across the lab and grabbed the hose used to clean the enclosures. He unraveled it from the wheel and ran toward Charlie, stopping right at the line. He turned it on, aiming for Aranea18. The water burst forward, hitting her in the head. She screamed but tightened her leg around Charlie’s ankle. She wasn’t one to give up easily. He lowered his aim to her abdomen. She was sensitive there. She flew backward hitting the wall of the cage. This time, the sound she made—a grating, screeching cacophony of pain and anger—echoed through his bones almost causing him to piss his pants. Then, she dropped to the floor, falling silent.
Charlie scrambled to the door, as McBrid turned off the hose. His heart hammered in his chest as he stared at the Aranea. Her legs twitched and then curled inward as if protecting herself.
“You okay?” he asked.
Charlie nodded and then bent over and vomited.
He wanted to puke too. Aranea18 wasn’t moving. She was the most important creature in Professor Conguise’s lab and he was pretty sure he’d just killed her to save a Guard.