Spray Lakes

Laura spun around as she lifted the hatchet. El was perched atop the mutation’s back, jaws clamped on the top of its skull. It continued to twist and spin, desperately trying to dislodge him. Blood splattered into the grey dirt of the campground road. Laura hefted the hatchet and ran back toward the melee. The mutt turned as she approached, swinging one of its pincered forelegs at her face. The tightly muscled teen tumbled forward under the blow, swinging the blade into one of the mutt’s other legs. All that gymnastics has to pay off somehow. The massive mutated spider screamed in frustration as its blow missed, and the heavy hatchet gouged a chunk of thick exoskeleton off its leg.

Laura finished her tumble, letting years of practice and momentum carry her upright with her knees bent and her left leg forward. The mutation turned back to her, its reactions were slowed by the weight of the snarling timber wolf clamped onto its head. Laura pushed off with her back foot and spun at the hips, whipping her right leg out and cracking her shin into the creature’s face. The mut growled as Laura pounced back several feet, bouncing on the balls of her feet in her best Bruce Lee impersonation.

The mutt scuttled after her, swinging both its forelimbs at her. Laura hopped out of the way of the first and swung the hatchet at the second, unfortunately, the pincer impact sent the weapon flying out of her grasp.

“Crap!” Two more viscous blows swung out at Laura, the first missed but the second cut a ragged slash from her left hip to her knee. The force of the blow drove the smaller combatant to her knees and tore a pained scream from her. The spider leaped forward but was thrown off balance as El jumped off its head causing it to lurch to the side. As soon as El landed he whirled around and snapped at the creature's face, tearing its cheek open. The grey-furred timber wolf then sprang back and to the side, drawing the monstrous spider after it.

With El dancing in and out of the spider’s range, avoiding blows and snapping powerful bites onto any exposed body part Laura strained to regain her footing. The claw had struck so deep it scored a groove along her femur, but her healing abilities were already resealing blood vessels and knitting slashed muscle. A glint of sunlight on metal in the dirt caught her attention from where her hatchet lay some ten meters away.

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“Hold on buddy,” Laura yelled over her shoulder as she hopped across the dirt path on her hands and one foot trailing her other leg behind her. She scooped up the hatchet and forced herself up, the injured leg was weak but improving by the second. A canine shriek spun her around to see El flying off to the side, one of his forelegs twisted at a horrific angle. He crashed into the dirt, whimpering. Blood flowing from its injured face the mutation advanced on the prone wolf, chattering its teeth together, a homicidal gleam in its dark eyes.

“Hey you son of a bitch, me not him!” Laura took a pair of wobbly steps towards the creature as it leaned over El with its human mouth opening impossibly wide. “No dammit,” in a panic, Laura tried to run but a healing muscle in her thigh snapped and sent her sprawling. Laying in the dirt Laura raised herself up on one arm and arched the other arm back, ready to throw the hatchet a desperate move.

A blur streaked in from the side, striking the mutation in the forehead with brutal force. Almost immediately a bruise started to appear on the creature’s skin. A second grey blur impacted the spider in the nose, Laura swore she could hear the snap as the nose depressed and bent out of shape. Laura turned and saw a young brown-skinned boy holding a hockey stick in his hands. The stick flashed out and pulled in a rock, with a flick the boy sent the rock hurtling through the air to strike the mutated spider in the mouth in an explosion of teeth. The spider stumbled back, screaming.

“Hell of a slap shot kid, keep it up.” Laura fast crawled through the dirt towards her friend as the mutt reeled back, another rock impacting its thorax. The spider took several steps back as rocks continued to bombard it with amazing accuracy. Laura again struggled to her feet, placing herself between the semiconscious El, the boy, and the murderous spider. The wound in her leg was mostly closed by now, though the regrown muscles and ligaments still felt weak.

The creature raised itself high on its multiple legs, blood running freely from numerous wounds to its head and thorax, and let out a tremendous scream of rage. Just as the beast tensed to pounce a large pickup truck roared in from one of the campsites. Though it was not travelling very fast the sheer size of the pickup smashed the spider back. With frantic movements the creature was spun along by the accelerating truck before striking a large pine tree, caving in the front of the vehicle around the spider and the tree. Several ghastly spider limbs draped over the dented hood, twitching spasmodically.

The hatchet hung down at Laura’s side as the door of the pickup opened and a small Indian woman stepped out. She stumbled slightly to the side, looked once over her shoulder and shook her head.

“Sandeep, tell Papa I finally found a use for his truck.”