Dreams came to me as I was sleeping, the woman with white hair, everything seemed to be blurry. All I could make out is that she was locked up, now I saw a woman with black hair, and another one with purple hair. It felt as if I was looking at a photo in some kind of book. A woman with pink hair started talking, but I could not decipher what she was saying. The walls are brown, no, more as if they moved as flesh.

There were footsteps in the distance, someone kept calling my name, “Steve, Steve!?”

I shook awake and blinked a couple of times, “Abby?”

“Yes, you have been asleep for a while, are you okay?”

“Yes, I tried to decipher my dreams but enough about that.”

Funk grunted, “Just talk to Lorraine about it once we are free.”

“Oh Funk, I am glad you made it, what do you mean, free?” That is when I noticed that I was wrapped in a strong silk cocoon, hanging upside down.

I looked around us, we were in a cave with dim light and under me bubbled some kind of cauldron with liquid, the walls seemed to be made of limestone. Meaning, we have either a karst cave or a solutional cave, or were they the same, what did dad say again? Never mind that, there are giant spiderwebs everywhere, big enough for a giant spider to walk on, cobwebs in the corner. As I took a few sniffs, I smelled, decaying flesh, there were other cocoons, but those people were wrapped up completely and our faces were not covered. I also saw a pile of weapons and armor. The cocoon I was in smelled like glue and my hands stuck to it, I was unable to get free.

“Guys, what is going on?”

Funk kept on grunting as he tried to get free, “We are about to become spider chow.”

When I looked at Abby, she shivered in fear, with a sincere voice, I have not had for a while, I asked, “What is wrong, Abby?”

“I would rather not become spider food.”

She loves jokes, maybe I can lighten the mood, “Well, those little spider from the last cave were not so bad after all. Now, try to find a way out of here, where is Lorraine?”

Funk stopped moving, “I think she made it to the other side of the ravine, do you think she is coming back?”

I smiled, “of course she is coming back, she has feelings for me.”

Funk just laughed, “That is very uncommon to do for wolf people, they leave people behind if they can save themselves, it is a race thing.”

Abby looked at him, “I think you are misjudging Lorraine.”

I nodded, “I agree, and perhaps we should shut up since something is coming our way.”

I heard something skitter our way, a giant spider entered the clearing, and it even started talking, “Yes, new meals, must acclimate before cooking.”

It skittered over to another cocoon. “Ripe meal, yes, eat I must.” A large needle came out of the spider’s mouth and stabbed the cocoon. Then we heard a woman in the cocoon scream, “yes, liquids, this is a good snack, not like the monsters that come out of the shadows. No, I will stop them, their portal is here. Monsters, don’t look behind you, they are not tasty, locked up they are. Time for a snack.”

The spider cut the cocoon loose, and it fell into the liquid. Then the cocoon got scooped up, its giant maw opened up and sucked up the cocoon while the woman kept screaming. “Yes, tasty.” The giant spider walked over towards me, that is when I saw it was just an oversized talking spider, one that talks to itself.

I just stared at the spider, it seemed like a practical option to remain silent at this time, the spider did talk. “You are special, connected to the monsters that you cannot see, the monsters you would rather not see. You are going to take a long time to liquify, sturdy flesh, sturdy bones, you are special.” The spider walked over to Funk, more like skittering over the web.

As it looked at Funk, it hissed, I did not even know that spiders can hiss.

Funk grinned, “You are one ugly motherfucking bastard.”

The spider cut Funk loose and rolled him into a corner, “You can just die in the corner.” The spider checked on Abby next, she had not stopped shivering.

I whispered, “Just keep still, Abby.”

She nodded and we both looked at the spider, it stared at Abby. It opened its jaw and a tongue came out, the spider licked Abby. “Tasty human, yummy juices, yummy in my tummy, no, must wait, not ripe yet, take a nap, yes, a nap is good.” We both looked at the spider skitter away.

I tried to look at Funk, “Are you alright down there?”

“Yes, I am fine, I don’t think it liked my comment.”

I saw Abby glance at me, “I think, I am going to have nightmares about that spider, it is just, a giant spider.”

I sighed, “Yes, I know, try to get free.” We all struggled to get free, it looked like Funk did the worm, after an hour of trying, I sighed and just hung there. “Funk, how are things going over there?”

“Oh, you know, I am slowly dying in this corner, do you have a few days?”

Abby chuckled, “it is better than getting licked and taste tested by a spider.”

I smiled, “At least you can laugh about it now.” I heard footsteps in the distant, there is only one person that I know that walks on four legs. The footsteps slowed down, and I tried to turn around, “Lorraine?”

“Steve?”

“Yeah, please get us out of here, these cocoons are stopping me from using energy, and Abby got licked by a spider.”

Lorraine called out, “Abby?”

“Yes?”

“Did you really get licked by a spider?”

“Yes, I can tell you, it is not fun.”

I heard Lorraine walk over to Funk and cut him free, I saw Lorraine look at me, “How's it hanging?”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I sighed, “that is not funny, just get me out of here before that spider comes back.”

Lorraine shot an energy blast and I fell to the ground, Abby fell down next to me, Lorraine cut me free from my cocoon.

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She beamed at me, “Thanks for the save back at the ravine.” She helped me up, “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I've had no doubts that you would come back for us. Funk, on the other hand.”

Lorraine looked at him, “How dare you?”

Abby slowly got up, “We should get out of here, before that spider comes back. I think it is seeing things.”

Funk nodded, “It spoke about monsters in the dark.”

Abby grabbed her wounds, “I am still in pain, but I can walk, where do we go?”

Lorraine pointed at a cave, “That one leads to the quarry.”

I had many questions for Abby, mostly about those black tentacles she used to safe us. I knew she probably had no answers for me. If possible, I would rather not rile up Funk unless it is absolutely necessary. It's better to keep my mouth shut for now.

Funk started walking that way, “Come on, we don’t have all day.”

I followed him and felt Lorraine take my hand, Abby walked in front of us, Lorraine let out a happy sigh, “I am glad you guys are not dead, I saw all three of you crash down into that ravine.” I noticed she stared at Abby for a while.

Funk started mumbling, “I hate dinosaurs.”

Abby started wheezing, “You just hate falling into a ravine.”

Funk looked at her, “Are you alright?”

She nodded, “Just a lot of pain, can we rest soon?”

I nodded, “As soon as we are safe, there are numerous light streams coming into the cave already,” I smiled as I looked at the glowing cobwebs, they are pretty.

Funk looked at Lorraine, “Thank you for coming back for us.”

She smiled at him, “Of course I came back, you guys are my friends, and I am in love with Steve.” She suddenly turned as red as a tomato.

Abby looked at her, “Wait, what?”

Lorraine started shaking her hands, “I did not mean to say it.”

I looked at her completely flabbergasted, I had no clue how to handle this properly, “You don’t mean it?”

“Yes I do, I am serious that's not it, it is too early, I wanted to make sure and wait. But, it just blurted out, can we talk about this later?”

“Of course Lorraine.” She loves me? In what way? The, I want a fling, and I am infatuated with love bugs to go wild? The, I want to marry you later love? Or is there another way of love? I looked at Abby, I love her, but not in the cuddly, I wish to marry you way. Or perhaps, I did, or do, but I never noticed it. Because what I feel for Lorraine, I also feel for Abby, but my feelings for Lorraine are much stronger. I looked at my hands, could I have been a proper couple with Abby, if I had truly mourned the death of Haley, if I was honest with her? I shed a tear, what could have been, if only I acted more human, and less cynic. This is all my fault.

Awkward silence had fallen while we were walking towards the exit, as we neared the exit, the shadows we saw from the glow in the dark webs gathered. The shadow man appeared in front of us, “Hello Steve, we meet again, oh and Abby, you are not looking that good.”

Lorraine walked in front of us, “My mom told me about things like you.”

The shadow man crossed his arms, “Are you going to flee again this time, just like—”

Lorraine interrupted him, “Just shut up, it is always wise to know when to flee to live another day.” I saw Lorraine grab an emblem and charge it with energy. “But today, it is you that will be fleeing, we might not be able to kill you, or even harm you properly, but this is going to sting.” Lorraine threw the emblem, and moonlight covered the cave and hit the shadow man. He hissed in annoyance mostly and when the moonlight stopped, he had vanished.

Abby looked at Lorraine, “Alright, I am keeping you.”

She laughed, “I am not going anywhere.”

We heard skittering behind us and the giant spider came charging at us, Funk looked at it, “We should run.”

I started charging silver energy and mixed it with dark energy, Lorraine started gathering green energy and another kind of energy that I had not seen her use yet. It had the color of the moon, Funk started gathering a lot of dark energy. Abby also gathered a lot of silver energy, I noticed she was holding something back, most likely the black tentacles that reside inside of her.

The spider ran faster and spit a cocoon at us, I called out, “We are going to stand our ground! Just wait for my order.” The spider came closer, and closer, Then It opened its jaw and jumped towards us. “Now!”

We all shot our energy at the same time, it formed into one gigantic beam of multiple energies, the cave got filled by our energy and the spider got vaporized. I bent forward and started panting from the power backlash, “Great job, everyone.”

Abby continued wheezing, I looked at her, “Are you having trouble breathing?”

She nodded, “Thanks for the pain, I will be fine.”

Lorraine walked over to the cocoon that the spider had spit at us, “Who is this?”

I shrugged as I stretched, “A woman that can scream, she got swallowed whole by that spider.”

Lorraine cut her free, Funk walked over to look at the woman, “She looks familiar, but I cannot place it.”

When I came closer, I noticed she has green hair. I immediately recognized her, but I decided to keep my mouth shut, which seems to slowly become a common thing that I am doing. I kneeled beside her, “Hello, are you alive?”

“Steve, is that you?”

“Yes, but who are you?”

“The name is Bella, I have been looking for you.” She started vomiting, and soon her organs came out, She grabbed her stomach as she lay on her back, “I need to tell you something.”

“Alright, what is it? Can I do anything to help or relieve your pain?”

Bella coughed a few times, she made a weird sound, it sounded like, bleh, and then she died. I slowly stood up, “She is dead.”

Abby looked at her, “Just, what is her deal?”

Funk shook his head, “I have no clue, we should just go on.”

I looked at him and nodded, “Alright.”

Lorraine looked at me, “Are we not going to bury her?”

“We don’t know her, we also don’t know if that poison she probably died from is dangerous.”

They all nodded in agreement, Abby pointed at the exit of the cave, “Let’s go to the light.”