Salticidae (20 page)

Shumba felt his heart skip.
Someone on the Old Man was in serious trouble.

“
Whoever they are, they are still in danger,” Musa said. “We must hurry as best we can, but remain unnoticed. That scream means the spiders are growing hungrier.”

T
hen, to make matters much worse, Shumba heard the sounds of truck engines in the jungle below. The men with guns were awake now as well, and Shumba suddenly felt very compelled to look at that rainbow one last time, lest it be his last.

***

“In here! In here!” Jack shouted, pointing into the cave.

“My camera.”

“Forget it. Hurry!”

Derek raced by the tent as one of the massive spiders reared up behind him and tackled it as if it were a giant butterfly. The t
ent wrapped around the creature, causing it to roll off sideways.

Jack bolted into the darkness, dodging rocks and small boulders
. Derek’s panting was loud behind him. Had he looked down he would have missed the lip of the cliff. He skidded to a stop as Derek plowed into him, forcing him forward.

“
Shit!”

He fell over the lip, swung back and slammed his head into the rock under the edge.

“Gotcha.” Derek was leaning over the edge, gripping Jack by his belt. “But I’m gonna drop you. I can’t hold you much longer.”

Jack almost didn’t care. The spiders should be on them right now, but
they weren’t, and above him Derek was still in one piece. He looked down and saw the rocky floor beneath him. The drop wasn’t as bad as he thought, but it would break an ankle if he fell wrong. There was something else down there, something that looked like a shoe.

“Jack, seriously, climb back up, dude.”

“Okay, okay.” Jack grabbed whatever handholds he could find, slid his foot into a jagged crack in the rock, and with Derek’s help, hauled himself back up over the edge of the lip. He rolled onto his back, looked back toward the cave entrance. “Where the hell are they?”

“Don’t know. Wait…there!”

A giant red and brown spider sped by the cave outside and disappeared out of sight.

“Why didn’t they follow?
”

“I’m gonna go look.”

“Are you nuts?”

“
Pretty much.”

As Derek tiptoed back to the cave mouth, Jack admitted he was curious as well. He had no desire to go outside but not know
ing where the things had gone was making him even more paranoid.

He met Derek behind a jutting rock formation, peeked out toward the jungle. Six massive spiders were dancing near the hill, stamping their legs for a
ll they were worth.

“Maybe it’s mating season,” Derek suggested.
“Like some big spider orgy.”

“Where’d the others go?”

“No idea. Look, the tent is over there.”

Jack could see the spider that had been wrapped up in it was now gone.
The tent itself was in tatters, ripped open by fangs and spear-like legs.

“
There’s my camera. Shit I need it.” Derek grimaced.

Jack had the same thought. Their story relied
heavily on proof at this point, but was it worth it to get themselves killed for it? I guess it depends on how much you want early retirement, he thought.

Derek inched forward
, toward the outside. The trees out there were shaking with unseen spiders, most likely jumping and climbing through the limbs.

He caught up with Derek and grabbed the back of his shirt.
“The camera. We need to get it.”

“
Don’t I know it. But forget it. It’s too dangerous. I can see the trees moving, man. They’re ready to ambush us. Look, what we have to do is come back when they’re not here and get the photos. Right now I think it’s best if we just get the hell off this mountain.”

“We need it
now.”

“
Jack, seriously.”

“You realize that’s our ticket to real money, right? You re
alize you’ll put your kids through college with those photos.”

Jack inched
further into the open. “Maybe I can get it.”

Derek shook his head. “No way. Let it go.”

“My mind can’t let it go, not this story.”

“Not any of them, it seems.”

“I can get it. Maybe.”

“You’ll die, Jack.”

“Maybe not.”

“
Maybe so. Look, man, I’ve got your vibe now, and I want this story like I want porn star pussy, but I can’t put kids through college if I’m dead. I’m a dad first here, photojournalist second. I told you I know your type of writer and I’ve found it best to avoid guys like you. You think investigative reporting means infiltrating the Russian mafia for a two page spread in the lifestyle section. Then you spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder in exchange for two thousand words and a byline. I like you, but I’m not gonna let you kill me.  And I’m not gonna let you kill yourself. You take one more step and I’m hauling your ass back in here.”

“
You’re a bit controlling, friend. I can’t imagine why you’re divorced.”

Past the tent, a shadow leapt through the trees. Jack slinked back into the cave. “
Okay, this is not a safe place to be so let’s get the fuck outta Dodge.”

Derek sighed
, relieved.

Outside
, another massive spider scuttled out from the bushes and darted out of sight. The vibration of its running sent chills up Jack’s spine. Derek uttered a curse, followed by, “Take photos of mushrooms in the DRC. Ha! Stupid magazine. Okay, let’s jet, but I’m not going down this cave.”

“Why not. It’s safer in here.”

“No it’s not.” Derek lifted his arm and brushed off wispy white hairs that clung to shirt. “Got this from the underside of that cliff edge when I caught you, dude. It’s webbing. These things are in here as well. And if I remember anything about the shit I’ve seen on the Discovery Channel, spiders like dark, tight spaces so they can hide.”

With a shudder, Jack looked down at his own clothing, saw the s
ilken strands of web attached to them. “Ah, shit.” He walked back toward the drop, looked down at the shoe, looked up at the walls and saw the webbing collected on it all. “I think you’re right. But how long before the ones outside come in here?”

“And how long before the ones in here come looking for a way out.
Right now they’re occupied with spider love.”

“Not all of them.”

“Let me finish before I lose any nerve I have left. I think we can skirt around the tip of this mountain and high tail it down through the trees. We’ll be above them so I’m hoping it’ll be harder for them to see us.”

“They have eyes on the tops of their heads, Derek.”

“You’re doing it again.”

“Devil’s advocate, is all. Go on.”

“When we hit the river below we find a path, or whatever passes for a path, or we make a path, I don’t care, and keep running until we’re somewhere near civilization.”

“The river? Have you forgotten about the hippos. Those things are near the river.
Trees at the edges, high grass beyond. Perfect hiding spots.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re everywhere. But I can see
better outside, and I can move a hell of a lot better out there than in here. Once we’re around the tip of the mountain we’ll have a fighting chance. In here, we’re fucked.”

The man has some good points, Jack thought.
I sure wouldn’t want to be trapped in this place with those things. Better to at least have the option of running without falling into a dark pit or getting trapped in some dead end tunnel than stay here and fight through darkness and hard rock. “Shit, we need weapons.”

“The gun is lost. We can grab some branche
s on the way down. Use them as staffs or spears.”

“What am I, Tarzan?”

“You got a better idea, Mr. I-had-to-come-up-here-for-a-story?”

Jack shook his head. “No. Okay, let’s get the hell outta here.”

They moved silently out of the cave, sticking to the mossy rock walls, slid out into the morning sunlight and kept their backs against the mountain. Not far away, the six spiders engaged in their mating dance continued to flick their legs in their strange ritual. Scanning the surrounding trees revealed no visible spiders, but Jack could sense they were out there. Just keep moving, he thought, and don’t make a sound.

In front of him, Derek slinked around the mountain’s
cone, stepped away from the rock and edged toward where the mountain sloped downward through a sea of trees and bushes. Jack moved up next to him and looked out over the decline. The flora was so thick he couldn’t see the jungle floor, let alone see what sort of dangers were hiding out there.

Below him he could hear the falls from the mountain spilling into the river below. “You sure this is a better plan?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Works for me.” Jack took his first step down the mountain, grabbed the trees for support, began to slide but caught himself.

“Be careful,” Derek whispered.

The warning was too little too late. Jack slipped and went down on his back, rolled through waves of low fronds and saw nothing but green and brown as he
tumbled down the slope.

He would have kept rolling had not two brown arms grabbed his leg and stopped him short of slamming into a tree.

“Who the hell?” He pushed away the leaves covering his face, expecting to find Derek looking down at him. But instead he found—

“Banga?”

“Yes, sir. My apologies for leaving my post, but there are devils in the jungle. I was forced to hide.” The guide’s eyes swiveled back and forth at the trees, searching for danger.

“Lemme guess, they spin webs and
are bad luck if you step on—”

Banga slammed his hand over J
ack’s mouth, put a finger to his own. Jack shut up immediately, then nearly shit himself as a very large yellow and brown spider leapt as fast as a private jet from the top of a nearby tree high above them, passed over them without incident, and landed somewhere in the jungle Jack couldn’t see.

God, he wished he had a video camera. What a damn story this was going to make if he could survive it.

The bushes to his side started to shake. Banga backed up and raised his machete, nostrils flared and ready for battle. He muttered some kid of prayer. Sweat beaded on his brow.

If it’s a spider, Jack thought, I hope Banga can move as fast as lightning.
Otherwise we’re toast.

Instead of a spider, Derek stepped
out from the foliage. “You could have waited for me, Jack. Those things saw me moving. Oh…Banga. Where the hell have you been? I thought you were dead. Your rifle is still up there with those things. I thought—”

Derek’s words were cut short as a massive ball of legs and wiry hair exploded from the bushes, wrapped
him up, and passed into the foliage beyond. The photographer’s cries were so shrill they stood Jack’s hairs on end.

“Derek! Jack yelled, scanning the ground for a weapon.

Banga blew past him, machete raised, and leapt into the bushes, swinging his blade in wide arcs. A severed spider leg catapulted into the air and flipped out of sight. A stream of yellow goo doused Jack, running into his eyes and mouth. The bushes shook violently as Banga swung and chopped at the beast, Derek yelling beneath it.

Wounded, t
he spider backed out of the bushes, two legs missing and gushing yellow gore. Banga stabbed the machete into the spider’s eyes, splitting them open. Black fluid streamed down the monster’s face. Beneath its remaining six legs, Derek managed to free his arms and haul himself a few inches away from the furry underbelly.

The closes
t thing to Jack’s feet was a rock the size of a coffee mug. He grabbed it and hurled it at the spider’s face, saw it smash hard into its mouth. The spider dropped Derek and fired a strand of web from its abdomen, either attempting to snare Banga or simply get away, Jack couldn’t tell which. Rearing up violently, it ran at Banga, the machete still in its eyes, and beat its legs at the man. Banga ducked and rolled, got himself behind a tree as the spider rammed the tree trunk, knocking branches to the ground.

Jack just had time to see Derek rolling away into a bush before the spider turned and vaulted up into the treetops, and then charged through the boughs like a cannonball, disappearing into the jungle.

All three men watched the trees, waiting for it to come back, but it was gone in defeat for now.

“Derek! Derek, you okay? Talk to me, man.”

The photographer came out of the bushes, shaking and rubbing his arms. He looked a second away from shock.

Jack
and Banga both ran to him and Jack grabbed his head, stared into his eyes. “You hurt? You okay? What? Tell me something.”

“Yeah. I’m okay. It
didn’t eat me. Holy shit, that was scary. I think I’m officially done with Africa. Can we go now?”