“Shit!” James pulled back in alarm, staring at me in horror. “There’s a... Is that a spider on your face? It’s huge, a fucking tarantula!”
“What!?” I scrambled away from him, piercing the night with a panicked shriek. “Where is it, James? Where the hell did it go?”
“It’s okay,” he said, trying to catch my flailing hands so he could see without the shadows. “Just hold still a second. I’ll get it.”
I did as he asked, but a split second later, I felt a stinging bite on the side of my face, and all hell broke loose once again. With a mighty scream, I slapped the eight-legged freak away, and it landed squarely on his chest. He barely had time to look down before it bit him as well, drawing out a deafening profanity as he flung it away from his body, only for it to land somewhere in our mangled heap of sleeping bags and blankets.
“Where the fuck is that thing?” I screeched. I wasn’t usually squeamish about bugs, but that was no ordinary spider. It was a woodland warrior, a gargantuan nightmare like something out of a creature feature movie on Sy-Fy, and it had just sunk its fangs into the skin on my face. “Do you see it?”
James, still cursing, darted his eyes around frantically, glancing at the rising welt on his chest and generally tuning out the fact that we were both still very much in danger.
“James!” I cried again. “I think I see it!” Then, without stopping to think, I jumped on top of him, anything to get my feet off the ground before the monstrous little devil could skitter up my leg.
He caught me, just barely, then leapt back in surprise as the thing charged again, and it was that precise moment that we realized there was a faulty zipper on our tent.
Two voices cried out in the night as we went tumbling backward, falling through the door and landing on the dirt beside the campfire, completely naked and swelling up with spider bites. The tent was soon to follow, capsizing down on top of us with the deadly spider somewhere in its folds. We kicked and cursed, battling the tarp away from ourselves until, in an act of utter desperation, James lifted the entire thing over his shoulder and cast it into the fire.
It was also that precise moment that we realized Nick and Abby hadn’t gone for a walk after all.
The entire campsite stilled abruptly, except the crackling of the burning nylon, and all four of us simply stared at each other. The two of them blinked at us with wide eyes from the picnic table, and we just stood there, breathless, frozen, and as naked as the day we were born.
Finally, after an eternity of silence, Nick offered a bronzed marshmallow. “S’more?”
“S’more!” James cried. “How about some fucking arachnid antidote?”
Chapter 23
WE HAD NO CHOICE BUT to share a tent that night. Although it was suggested briefly that James and I could sleep in the car, it was quickly decided by the boys that cars were prime bear targets, and we’d all be better off sticking together for safety’s sake. We also decided that there would be no “carnal relations,” as Nick put it, since hockey-mask-wearing, machete-wielding psychos always went for the promiscuous type.
In the end, it wasn’t nearly as awkward as it could have been. The only uncomfortable moment came when we realized all our luggage had been thrown into the fire. Fortunately, James and Nick were the same size, and I managed to squeeze into some of Abby’s things as well. It wasn’t long before the four of us were huddled tightly together, blanketed under two unzipped sleeping bags, counting the long minutes until the terrible night would finally come to an end.
With the new day, came a new sense of adventure. We had all made a silent vow to never mention the fiasco of the previous night, so not a word was spoken about it as Abby and I busied ourselves collecting water and making breakfast. Meanwhile, the boys took turns holding up a little mirror so they could shave. When that little ordeal came to an end, Nick abruptly suggested we all go on a hike.
“So...” Abby began conversationally as we trailed behind the menfolk, making our way along a woodland trail. “What did you do last night?”
I shot her an incredulous look, then realized she was teasing and smacked her with a rueful g
rin. The side of my cheek was still raised and enflamed from the spider bite, and no matter how many visits I paid to the campground shower, I couldn’t get the smell of smoke and desperation out of my hair. “Yeah, this... Well, it isn’t exactly the way I saw our week going.”
Instead of being all dolled up like I wanted to, still secretly trying to seduce my man at every turn, I was wearing a huge sweatshirt I bought at the ranger’s station, over a pair of lilac leggings on loan from Abby. My hair was swept up in a brisk ponytail, and my bangs swept messily over my face. I had no makeup and no jewelry, but I was quite grateful that my purse with my wallet and the ruby pendant were still locked safely in the car.
She threw her arm around me sympathetically. “Hey, at least it’s memorable. I mean, look around us. We’ve got one tent, no food, shitty clothes, and massive hangovers, but we’re all together, right?” It was a ludicrously optimistic opinion, but it forced a smile onto my face. “Besides, no matter what happens, it’s not like things could get any—”
Her words froze as the men in front of us stopped.
“Worse?” she continued.
It took me a split second to see what they were looking at. A second after that, I didn’t understand how I could have ever missed it: a bear, a genuine, real-life, no-this-is-not-a-joke bear, right in front of us.
Lions and tigers and...oh shit!
The furry beast reared up on its hind legs as soon as it saw Nick and James. After looking the boys up and down for a moment, Winnie the Rude threw back his head and let out a mighty roar, one that sent shivers down my spine. It was the kind of ominous noise that made me instantly want my mommy.
That’s it. Forget the spider. Forget losing a fight to the death with Robert. No, this... This is how we die.
“That can’t be... It’s not a bear.”
My eyes flickered up in disbelief to see James staring confidently ahead, as if sheer willpower alone could make the thing go away.