Playing With Fire

Chapter Five

I parked my motorcycle in the overgrown grass beside the road. Pulling my helmet off my head I shook my hair out and laid my leather jacket across the seat. I walked over to where the fair haired Male held the attention of the mercs. Boris quickly sketched out the plan to Maverick. The Male nodded when Boris told him he would go in alone and I narrowed my eyes at him. Didn't he realize that many of these men wouldn't come back alive from this trip, or maybe he just didn't care? Why did I care all of a sudden?

Trying to ignore the thick headed men around me I mentally went over what I knew about Anansi's Children. The giant spiders had a hard exoskeleton. Each of their eight long legs were tipped in spiky extrudes they used to spear their prey and pull it towards their pinchers. Similar to a fish on a hook. The pinchers had long sharp growths of exoskeleton that oozed venom. They used their venom to paralyze their prey so they could cocoon them in their webs. The web they created was coated in an acid that liquified whatever they cocooned in it. After their prey was liquified they sucked the nutrients from the cocoon. It was a terrible way to die. If I had been given a heads up I could have made some anti-venom, but we were here now. Best just not to get bit.

Their weakness was the softer underbellies on their thorax, but you had to dodge the eight legs and pinchers to get there. The other option was fire. If the fire was kept on them long enough they would cook from the inside. The spiders had a hard time managing their internal temperature which was why they were mostly found in and around cave systems. While I went over my internal wiki article on Anansi's Children everyone got in position. No time to waste.

Thorn used a pair of bolt cutters to create a hole in the chain link around the area between the two main buildings. The spider's were nocturnal, so the daylight was on our side, but everyone tried to keep quiet. Once they were in place in the courtyard Boris would circle the main building and enter from the outside. He was going to sneak, yes they had used the word sneak, through the building, out the back, and into the courtyard, then let out a roar to wake up the spiders. Sounded great on paper, I wasn't expecting it to go quite so smoothly though. Either way, once the spiders woke up they would follow his scent to the court yard where one group was waiting with flame throwers. This should quickly take out the majority of them. The stragglers would be handled by Boris, Maverick, and anyone with a long arm weapon. Which of course included me.

The men filed through the opening Thorn had created. Maverick was second to last, me right behind him. He motioned me through but I shook my head, "I think I'll just keep an eye on old Boris over here."

The Male shrugged indifferently at me, but Boris growled quietly. "No, Sotnos, you will go with the rest of the men."

"We can stand here and argue, wasting daylight, or we can get this show on the road. The spider's will be asleep anyways, remember." I feel like the odds of every single spider being asleep were astronomical, but that wouldn't help my case. "I'm not going with them Boris."

I guess the bear shifter knew a lost cause when he saw one. He snarled, but turned to head toward the main entrance. I could feel Maverick's eyes on my back until we rounded the building and were out of his sightline. As we came closer to the building entrance signs of the spiders were evident. The large windows were blocked by layers of web, some of the glass melted in places where the acid on the gossamer strands had eaten away at it. Boris tried to peer through the glass door, but the web was too thick.

When he pulled on the handle the door slowly opened bringing strands of web with it. I unsheathed the katana on my back and used it to cut through the remaining strands. Thankfully once the web dried the acid was no longer a danger. Boris brushed past the delicate hanging strands and stalked quietly into the building. I followed close on his heels, my ears pricked for the slighted noise.