Arachnophobia

“What the—“ Indiana Jones choked and nearly dropped his bullwhip. James Lambert let out a horrified scream and staggered backward, while Micah just stood there in open-mouthed wonder, staring at the monstrosity before them.

It looks just like one of those spiders kept in the lab, back at Barnett College. A hairy eight-legged creature with bulging eyes warily watching you, just waiting for one false move, before it’d pounce on you. Micah mused, then smirked, except that this one was about 10 feet tall!

Indiana Jones, who was still standing on the other side of the gap, could feel goosebumps run down his spine and down to the back of his hands. Suddenly he realized that he was still holding his bullwhip with which he was about to swing back to the others.
“There goes nothing.” He leashed out unto one of the spikes, hooked one securely and without much hesitation swung himself back over the chasm and landed exactly in front of the horrific grotesque creature that was moving to attack his stunned pupils.

----

“Ack! Spider!” Annoyed Indiana Riggs flicked off the tiny baby spider that had been crawling on the pilot seat. Funny, he thought,how did these little creatures get in here? I thought I’d thoroughly cleaned in here last week.
Shrugging it off, he switched on the ignition of his plane and started up the runway, unaware of the dozens of poisonous black widows creeping in the back and under his seat...

-------

At about the same moment curator Short Round was making his rounds through the DeYoung Museum. He enjoyed being all alone in the early morning hours, before the opening at 9:30 am, to wander around the famous pieces in the establishment. One of his favorite places currently was the exhibit on African Art. For a while he lingered by the makeshift of an African warrior holding a wooden spear. It sure did look authentic.
Short Round wrinkled his brows suddenly. Perched on the shoulder of the warrior was a shockingly realistic appearing Tarantula. He reached out to feel if it wasn’t just part of the props, when he heard a loud crash coming from the Entomology Department, which was located in the adjacent chamber..
The spider all forgotten, he left ran to the next room.

--------

Meg’s stilettos sank deeply into the soft cherry red rug of the sumptuous and elegantly decorated Italian restaurant. Through her lashes, she scrutinized her surroundings. Familiar famous faces sprinkled the dining hall. Gathered in a corner were a bunch of Mafiosos feasting on Caroccio and Riesling. One of them, raised his head and nodded knowingly in her direction. She smiled back, her cool eyes nor her aloof mien not giving away anything. La famiglia. she mused.

Perhaps it had been her absent-minded state or her problems lately, that had caused the collision. She had just rounded the corner into the foyer area, when she clashed headlong into someone nearing from the other side. Her stiletto heels buckled in the unexpected motion and unwittingly, she felt herself fall. Sturdy masculine hands deftly caught her petite body. Groaning she inspected her aching ankles.

“Oh pardon, mademoiselle.” His voice was low yet audible and rich with an accent that she couldn’t quite place. She glanced upward.

Emerald eyes met piercing soulfully black ones.

Their glaze didn’t waver for what seemed an eternity and it was she who finally looked away, a slight blush rising to her olive complexion.
Not unbecoming at all. he thought and reached out to inspect her foot.
“Nothing’s broken, I hope. Does this hurt? No?” He helped her back up grinning. “You’ll be just fine.”
“Ah... ringraziarlo molto.” She straightened out her wine-red skirt and through the corner of her eyes surveyed him carefully. The stranger was dressed all in elegant black, from his well-tailored black suit to his black suede loafers. Even his hair was jet-black and combed back in a slick fashion. He held a hat in right hand and a cane in the other. Every inch a gentleman, she wondered, except that his features were neither English nor American. And his accent...
“Have we met?”
“Not that I remember. For surely I would remember being introduced to such a beauty like yours.” He kissed the hand, which she had extended. “May I introduce myself, my name is---“

Just then they heard someone approaching.
“Megara, darling!” Muppet’s concerned voice called out to her. “I’ve gotten worried of had happened to you.”
“I was just talking to—“she turned her head to inquire the stranger of his name, but mysteriously he had vanished. Stupefied, she searched the lobby. Nothing.
“To whom?” Muppet asked equally puzzled.
“Uh...”Clearly confused she shook her head. Just then did she notice a tiny piece of paper in her hand. She turned back to Muppet. “Nobody. I was just admiring the paintings. “Scusarme Signore, I still have to go the comfort room..” With that she let a dumb-founded Signore Muppet standing in the middle of the hall and pushed her way into the ladies room.
Closing the door of the stall behind her she opened the note. She nearly dropped it. Nothing was written on it. Except for a crude drawing of a black spider with an ‘E’ etched in the center.

----------
New York

The conference hall was packed. Reporters from every possible newspaper around the world were hovering around a mass of vaguely familiar faces; flashing their lightbulbs and wasting rolls of film on the spectacle before them. Esteemed professors, distinguished scholars, scientists, chemists, doctors, biologist and all sorts of other erudite men had been gathered. Famous faces of famous names obliterated the seats facing the stage. A tiny and stout man was standing at the podium, rambling down titles, academic awards, achievements and the names to famed colleges and universities. He was near the end of his monologue.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he paused dramatically, “ Let us all welcome: Professor Deirdre Campbell!”
Thunderous applause arose.
A svelte, titian-haired woman, dressed in a simple yet flattering, aquamarine dress, climbed the stairs leading to stage and approached the lectern. She adjusted her silver wire-framed glasses and faced the crowd, waiting for the applause to subside.
It didn’t take long for respectable silence to set in.
For a moment she seemed at loss for words, but when she finally did speak, her voice was assured and steady, rendering proper meaning to the message she was clearly getting across. Brows wrinkled in speculation, and every single person’s attention was fixed on her. Even the reporters had started their distracting flashing and stopped to fully comprehend and let the significance of the speech wash over them.
Barely had she come to the end of her address, when the back door of the hall were forcefully pushed open and a couple of hooded men stormed in. One of them threw something to the center of the room: a dark oblong object that landed on the floor somewhere between the Princeton University representatives and the Vice-President from Oxford U. Another one disposed of smoke bombs and fired several times into the ceiling.

Absolute riot broke out.

Expecting for the “thing” to explode any minute now, everyone backed away as far as possible. About five to ten minutes passed ... and nothing happened. Finally, after much consternation, one of the security guards timidly verged upon the object, which had rolled beneath a chair and had stopped by the end of one of its foot. It was made of a metallic material that had been painted black. At first sight it had appeared to be completely smooth and oval, on closer inspection its texture was rather rough with a sort of ethnic design on it… like that of eight legs protruding around it. A suspicious inscription was visible on its top. The sentry squinted, picked the capsule in his hands and inspected it closely. “It looks like some ‘E’.” he shouted over his shoulders.
Just then the thing exploded.

-------

Short Round stared in fascination at the mess in the Entomotology Department exhibit area. Jars and terraria had been broken and the place was creeping with insects. As a nice finishing touch, the board had decided last month to put up live Insecta/Arachnida on display. It would take weeks to have all this repaired! Short Round expected the worse as he carefully made his way through the room. His eyes searched the still intact terrarium by the window. He approached it apprehensively.

His worst suspicious were confirmed. The glass cage was empty. The most dangerous of all spiders had escaped. ..
----

Megara stared at the piece of paper in amazement. This couldn’t be true! She dashed out of the comfort room and out of the exit, unto the street. He must be somewhere!

-------

Fritz nudged his companion, named Ludwig. “Na, kuck dir mal an was da ankommt!” ***Look what's coming along there!***
They had been about to enter the restaurant to follow the lady, when they spotted the very person hasten out of the exit.
“Sie ist alleine?” Ludwig barely could conceal his surprise at finding her all alone. “This is our chance.” He whispered in his native tongue and got out of the Studebaker.

------
Professor Deirdre Campbell shoved off the top of the lectern that had fallen on her due to the massive blast of the explosion. Bits of shattered glass and huge pieces of brick had blasted through the room at the explosion. She’d been lucky that something had fallen upon her to partly protect her from the flying debris. Touching her forehead gingerly she could feel pieces of broken glass crystals stuck in the skin above of her brow. Blood trickled into her eyes and she wiped the drops away grimly. She’d been through worse.

She dared a glance over the stage. Those who hadn’t been able to evacuate the building at the time, were lying either motionlessly on the floor or were checking up on those who were hurt. In the distance she could hear the wailing of ambulances and firetrucks approach. She leaned the back of her head against the cool wall and closed her eyes. This attack had been planned on her. She was sure of it. Her latest discovery, she had been warned, should never be revealed to humankind, but she hadn’t listened; thrown the harsh admonitions and unfavorable threats into the air.

Deirdre buried her face in her hands and the little of her back shook uncontrollably as she wept heartbreakingly.
----
It all had started out a few years ago, in the midst of the African jungle. She and her colleague, her late husband had been experimenting on the possibility of the metamorphosis and transubstantiation of arachnids. Nobody would believe their theory but through laborious work and extensive field research they had come closer and closer towards their goal. Through the use of hyperactive steroids, distinct chemical components as well as endoplasmic substitutes, they had been able to somehow formulate a miracle in science. She had shown the world the results just a while ago, proved her… their theory in great detail.
I did it for you, Bryant. she whispered to no one in particular. I did it for us.

---------
“Doctor Jones! I’ve never seen anything like this!!!”
Indiana pushed aside Micah before the gigantic Arthropod could admire him. “You two grab those torches on the walls. I’ll handle… her.” With that he uncoiled his whip and slashed it noisily through the air. The creature clearly startled stopped mid-track. Indy grinned lop-sidedly, thinking how fun this actually was. Even more fun than that time he’d tried bullfighting in Madrid. The spider had overcome its stupefaction and was now back at attacking its intrudors.
“All this for a darn artifact.” James mumbled.
“Ah… there was one more thing I wanted to tell you.” The professor managed to declare while fighting off their aggressor. The students looked at him puzzled. “It’s not there anymore.”
“What do you mean…”
The spider inched them closer and closer to the edge.
“It’s not there?! “
“Yeah.”
“Now what?”
Suddenly the ground beneath them gave way and they felt themselves being sucked into the infinite abyss below.

-------
Meg scanned the street. She couldn’t locate any black-clad figure within her vicinity. How did he manage to disappear so mystically? She hadn’t had chance to answer her question as she was jerked backward roughly, as two gloved hands grabbed her from behind and forced her into a lone alley.
“Zhee bit me!” the german shouted. Meg tried kicking him in the shins but he slapped her right across the face. “Italian bitch.”
Fritz flicked open his knife and pointed it at her pretty face. “Vhere iz eet?” he demanded.
“Is what? I have no idea what you are talking about.” She squirmed as the blade touched her skin.
“Hure!”Ludwig sneered and licked his wounded hand. She had bitten right through his glove. “You know very vell vhat I am talking about.” Fritz pushed the knife a bit deeper into her flesh that a single drop of blood trickled down her neck.
Megara cursed her misfortune. This was all HIS fault. As if calling upon the devil, she heard his ever so nonchalant voice again.
“But gentlemen! Where are your manners. This is no way to treat a lady.”

-----

Indiana Jones opened his eyes and tried to make out his surroundings. He felt like he was floating. Just like lying in his hammock back home.
“Am I dead yet?” He heard a younger voice beside him ask. Micah.
“Of course not Johnson. IF you were dead, we wouldn’t be lying next to each other like this, on some sort of trampoline, that caught our fall.” James.
Indy couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Doctor Jones? Where are we?”
Indiana tried to sit up to take in his surroundings, but his back was somehow glued to his resting place. The torches the boys had taken had fallen past them and were lying on the rocky ground about 10 feet below them, He looked up and realized that they had fallen about 40 feet down. They’d been lucky.
He turned his head and managed a grin “My dear students, we are now in what one would call being caught in the net.”
---

Follow Ups:

• Thank you everyone for liking it. Am highly honored. I almost thought you would hate it. (nm) Thankfully Deirdre 17:31:46 1/09/2000 (1)
  • What gave you that crazy idea? You are a great writer Deirdre! (nm) Brett (Maverick) Lambert 17:34:33 1/09/2000 (0)
• Fantastic, Deirdre!! :-) Muppet 00:26:02 1/08/2000 (0)
• Re: Arachnophobia Goodsport 22:08:29 1/07/2000 (0)
• "Spiders...why'd it have to be spiders..." Indiana Jerico 21:55:19 1/07/2000 (3)
  • You're afraid of spiders too Jerico? *shiver* nm Riggs 22:33:26 1/07/2000 (0)
  • okay, Jerico...... Meg 22:19:07 1/07/2000 (1)
    • Why can't two ends meet this time??? Indiana Jerico 20:12:36 1/08/2000 (0)
• It was realy, realy great... except one little tiny thing... the Fiddler 20:56:12 1/07/2000 (3)
  • Ack!!! Deirdre Campbell 16:55:26 1/09/2000 (0)
  • Re: It was realy, realy great... except one little tiny thing... Goodsport 22:10:39 1/07/2000 (1)
    • Hm... perhaps *wink* (nim) Deirdre 16:59:17 1/09/2000 (0)
• It was perfect!!!! Meg 18:52:51 1/07/2000 (1)
  • Re: It was perfect!!!! Goodsport 22:12:49 1/07/2000 (0)
• That was great! ACK! Spiders!! Indiana Riggs 16:01:56 1/07/2000 (0)

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