Arachnoextinction Chapter 31: Chapter Thirty-One - This Will be Hard to Explain to my Wife

Read chapter 31 of Arachnoextinction by ShowerKrogan on NovelPedia.

"What did you see?" Dr. Kale asked. "I found another nest," I said. "What? In the pantry?!" Karen said. I nodded with my eyes closed. "Along the top shelf, completely hidden in the dark. There were so so soooo many." "Well, we need to get out of here now, but nowhere is safe!" Karen said. "We can try to leave the facility, the doors will open now. I don't see how we can possibly get to the doors at this point, but we have to move," Dr. Kale said. There was a soft tapping on the door. Three taps, followed by a moment of silence, then four taps, or was it five? My heart was beating too hard for me to focus. The tapping went on for a while. I didn't even bother to try and count. The crackling of the eggshells grew louder from behind us. The tapping stopped, but a hiss took its place. "We are surrounded. Either way, it's death by spider," Dr. Kale said. "I always knew it would end like this." “I always feared it would end like this,” I whimpered. “You are both idiots,” Karen said in a wavering voice. As the crackling of the eggs grew louder and more frequent, so did the hissing from beyond the door. Multiple hisses from various locations told me there was more than one spider in the hallway. "I have an idea… " I said. "Well, what is it?!" Dr. Kale said. "We don't have all day, spit it out!" Karen said. "I'm going to open the doors, and give you guys time to get out of here," I said. "How will you manage that?" Karen said. "When I open the door, the spiders will kill me. While they're doing whatever they're going to do to my corpse, you two can sneak out and make a run at escaping," I said. "What? No! You can't sacrifice yourself for us!" Karen said. "Dr. Gale, please don't do this, w-we-we'll find another way," Dr. Kale said. The sound of spider eggs hatching wafted over us. "You have a family. Something none of us have. You need to get home to them. We don’t have families. We’re expendable," Karen said. "Even if I make it out of the kitchen, I won't be much help out there. You two are far more valuable in containing this spider problem," I said. "Dr. Gale-" "Dr. Kale, you are far and away the most knowledgeable about these creatures. We're going to need that to stop them from spreading. Karen, you are the scariest thing I've ever met in my life. I do have a family, and it's my job to protect them. By keeping you two alive, I'm doing the best I can to keep them safe. You two staying alive gives everyone else the best chance to live," I said. Karen locked her eyes onto me, but this time, they didn't leave me terrified or a little dead inside. They were soft. Concerned. Scared. They were even a little bit watery. I gave my weapons to Dr. Kale. "Please don't kill anyone with these, only spiders," I said. "I will do my best… Thank you. For everything," he said. "Be careful out there," I said to Karen. "It won't take them long to be done with me, move fast and get both your asses out of here." She threw herself at me and pressed her lips against mine. It caught me off guard and was over before I even realized what was happening. She backed away and didn't say anything, but kept her soft gaze fixed on me. The hissing had stopped, and the tapping was back. The eggs were hatching, and it would only be a matter of seconds before the kitchen would become overrun with newborn spiders. "You guys stand in the corner behind the door, they won't see you as they pile in on me," I said. Neither of them spoke, and did as I instructed and waited for me to proceed. I gripped the door handle. It was cold in my sweaty palms, but I could barely feel it. I couldn't feel much of anything, but I wasn't scared to die. It was a numbing, almost freeing, feeling, knowing my death was so close. This was almost a relief after going through the last few hours. Knowing the struggle and the fear would stop, all the worries gone; I didn't feel like me. "Just make sure they blow this place to Hell, okay?" I said. Karen nodded, and then whispered, "Thank you." I took