Arachnoextinction Chapter 22: Chapter Twenty-Two - Into Kale’s Room (Wear Protection)

Read chapter 22 of Arachnoextinction by ShowerKrogan on NovelPedia.

We started making our way down the rest of the webbed hall. Dr. Kale walked to meet us. He took a few steps when a fresh web came flying around the corner and latched onto his back. He let out a scream and tried to grab a hold of the wall, his hands tearing through the webs that covered it as he was pulled away by the fresh web on his back. "Kale!" I said and reached for him. Justin and Darren were on me before I could get close to him. I tried to fight them, but I was nothing compared to their combined strength; they pulled me away from him with ease. In an instant, he was gone; his screams faded into a soft echo. After a small struggle, I was able to push them off me. The group gave me a troubled look as I stood there panting from the effort to break free. "We need to help him," I croaked in a hoarse voice. No one said anything. "We can't just sit here and leave him!" I said. Everyone besides Karen avoided eye contact with me. There was sadness in her eyes as she held my gaze. "There's nothing we can do for him now, besides… ," her voice trailed off. "Besides what?" I asked. Silence met my question. "Besides what?!" "He did this to all of us," one of the other men spoke up. "It's sort of fitting that he gets taken by them." "We are NOT going to sit here and do nothing. He was taken, and that doesn't mean he was killed," I said, jabbing my finger into his chest for emphasis. "But he could be killed by now; why else would they take him? The spiders hadn’t left a single person alive willingly," he said. "It's not worth the effort or the risk!" Once he finished talking, I took a deep breath. I needed to stay calm. On second thought, screw that. I brought my fist back and struck him right on the side of his jaw. He never had a chance to react before I punched him, and he hit the ground, his face going from shocked to scrunched up in pain. He covered his face with his arms in case I didn't stop hitting him. Justin smiled. "Well, guess what, without Dr. Kale, we're dead. He's the only one that can fix the power and get us out of here," I said. The man stayed curled up, worried my temper would flare if he tried to stand. Coward. I felt a pang of guilt as he lay there; with a sigh, I offered him my hand to help him up. "You're wrong," Karen said. "Wrong about what?" I asked her. I let go of the scientist I was helping up. He fell back against the wall and tangled himself in the webs. "About him being the only one. I can fix it. I helped install it," Karen said. "Oh, yeah, that's true," Justin said. "Why didn't you say anything earlier when we talked about this?" I asked Justin. He gave a nonchalant shrug. "Is there anything you can't do?" I asked Karen. "I can't stand here talking anymore. We have a plan, let's keep moving. If we run across Dr. Kale alive, we'll help, but no need to go out of our way for him," she said and began walking again. The rest of the group followed, and I ran up and cut in front of her. She raised an eyebrow at me. "I have a gun," I said and waved it around. "It's not a toy," Justin growled. "And it's now a priority to keep you alive," I said, ignoring Justin. "Whatever," she said and let me lead. This led to me swelling with confidence and the feeling of being important. I did a good thing! I was smart! That was quickly replaced right away with: Oh crap, I’m going to get her killed. What the hell am I doing? I was an idiot. A quick look around the corner revealed that all the spiders and eggs were gone, probably out of the entire stairwell. They would have returned to their nest and were doing God knows what to Dr. Kale. I didn't allow myself to relax; caution was the only thing that would keep us alive. Extreme caution. Caution that only a secret agent would know how to be cautioned for. I could have totally been a secret agent. It was difficult to resist the temptation to roll around on the floor and show off my expert sneaking. I had to fight off several urges to show the moves that Dr. Gale, secret agen