Page 25 of Kryxis

Garret moved to the edge of the first broken part of the bridge. “I’ll go first. Follow my lead.”

They hopped from one part to the next, the bridge shaking with every movement they made. Several times they had to right themselves, using the railing for support, only to have the webbing get stuck to their gloves and their shoes.

“This stuff is gross,” Lex commented.

“Phen, keep up. Stop examining it,” Dani scolded her. She stepped where Garret stepped, trying to shake off the goo as it stuck her to the bridge. Sheek lifted Tom when he couldn’t move. Ryatt nearly ripped his boot off trying to walk. Only a few more paces to go, but walking and jumping were becoming more and more difficult.

Garret halted at the last jump, trying to unstick himself. “Be careful here,” he warned as he bent his knees to steady himself.

“You first,” Dani said, gripping the rail. “It’s a long way down.”

He laughed. He leaned back then jumped. As he landed on the other side, he knocked into the bot. The bot lifted off its feet and swung.

Garret stumbled as it knocked into him. “What the hell?” He froze as he looked up. Dani followed his gaze just above the bot’s head.

The bot was hanging like a puppet from several thin pieces of web.

Dani tensed. “Wait!” she yelled before anyone could leap forward. Her garometer grew louder. But she didn’t need to see where its levels were at. She could already guess. “Something’s here.”

They looked around, from one side of the bridge to the other. Garret went to the rail and pointed his gun down, while Ryatt had his aimed upward.

“Where? There nothing,” Myrell said.

“I don’t see anything,” said Lex.

Dani noticed Sheek had pulled out her knife. “Something moves.”

Dani didn’t like this. “Everyone, get over now and get inside.”

Garret helped Myrell, catching her as she jumped over. Phen went to jump next then stopped. She stared past Garret, eyes wide like she’d been put into a trance.

“Phen, what are you waiting for?” Lex snapped.

“It…smiles at me,” she said quietly. She lifted her hand slowly and pointed up. “It is…very big.”

Dani turned her gaze upward and her heart dropped.

There it stared down at them from above, clinging to the building. Several eyes with a mouth split four ways, fangs elongated. It looked like a mix between a spider and a mantis. Talons came around either side, with pincers, its skin a blue-gray shell.

It hissed at them.

“Garret,” Dani breathed.

Garret and Ryatt cautiously aimed their guns upward.

“Go,” Garret ordered. No one moved. He shoved Myrell toward the exit. “Go, now!”

The giant spider-mantis shrieked, its talon swooping down, hitting Tom, sending him flying across the bridge and over the rail. The soldiers fired, sending round after round while Dani and the others scrambled.

Dani went to jump. Before she could, the bridge shook violently, sending her back. The screams and shouts of her team rang out along with the gunfire as she rolled, catching part of the rail. Above her the thing moved, sending its arms down to knock the soldiers back. Ryatt’s gunfire hit the webbing holding the bridge together. The monster’s arm slammed down onto part of the bridge, making it drop. Sheek, Phen, and Lex, clinging to either side, fell with it.

Dani still clung to her part of the bridge which began to tilt downward as more webbing snapped, her feet beginning to dangle. She cried out as she tried to get her footing, not daring to look down at the dark abyss below.

The creature roared above her, while the dust and debris kicked up with the wind. Ryatt continued to fire on the beast, but it hardly seemed to affect it. One of the pincers came down and snatched him up like a doll. Ryatt fought, but his gun fell as he was shaken around. Before Dani could shield her eyes, the monster opened its wide jaws and bit down on him with an awfulcrunch.

Garret let out a roar of his own and continued his assault, this time letting out a plume of fire on the creature, lighting up the night. It shrieked in annoyance before releasing the other half of Ryatt’s body that hadn’t been eaten. His lower half slammed against her side of the bridge and slid off into the dark, making the bridge almost vertical.

“Garret!” she screamed as another arm came down and knocked him back. Then another arm came toward her. In that split second, she decided to let go. She slid down the bridge, but the monster caught her before she could fall. Dani screamed as it brought her closer, struggling in its grip. It squeezed her ribs so tight she thought they might crack.

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