The two hours passed uneventfully, though the apprehension never lessened.
When his shift ended, Ashen woke the next group and returned to his corner of the cave.
Exhaustion hit him like a wave, and he sank onto the rough ground, his makeshift bedding of sparse leaves and twigs offering little comfort.
Sleep claimed him quickly, but it felt like only moments before a jarring commotion jolted him awake.
The noise outside grew louder—shouts and frantic cries mixed with the unmistakable, skittering sound of countless legs.
Adrenaline surged as Ashen grabbed the sturdy stick he'd kept by his side.
Rushing to the cave's entrance, he was greeted by chaos.
Oversized, tarantula-like creatures poured into the cave in relentless waves, their bulbous bodies glistening in the dim moonlight.
The group fought frantically to hold them back, hurling rocks, swinging sticks, and doing whatever they could to slow the onslaught.
Even Seraphine had abandoned her composed demeanor, hurling rocks with surprising ferocity from the rear.
Ashen didn't waste time gawking and joined the fray with a pounding heart.
He got closer to the entrance's side and started wildly swinging the stick at the monsters.
It didn't take long for him to get into a rhythm, and his haphazard swinging switched to more precise thrusting with the sharp tip of the stick at the creatures' weak points—the joints of their legs and the soft spots beneath their abdomens.
Despite their numbers, the tarantulas were weaker than the hyenas from earlier, but they were utterly fearless, driven by primal hunger, so it didn't make them much easier to deal with.
No matter how many he struck down, more surged forward, their legs crunching over the bodies of their fallen.
Ashen started unconsciously avoiding overly straining movements, making each strike more purposeful and precise. Yet his arms grew heavy, his hands numb from gripping the stick too tightly. Fatigue pressed down on him, but he couldn't stop.
"AAAAGHH!!"
The scene grew grimmer. To his left, the self-proclaimed camping expert thrashed on the ground, his hand torn off and the creatures swarmed him.
He let out a blood-curdling scream before falling silent.
the sobbing girl stood frozen nearby, clutching her leg, the flesh discolored and swollen.
'Poison,' Ash realized grimly.
His mind raced. 'If we stay in this cave, we'll all be picked off one by one. We have to get out of here. But how?'
Through the chaos, Braun's voice cut through. "There's another way out! Over here!"
Ashen turned to see Braun clearing debris from a narrow gap in the back of the cave wall. Without hesitation, he shouted, "Everyone, this way!"
After Braun discovered the narrow gap leading out of the cave, they made a dash toward it, their breath ragged and heartbeats erratic.
Ashen, Seraphine, and the others pushed through the dark, clambering over debris, but the tarantulas were close—too close.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
Before they could reach the gap, the tarantulas surged forward, their swarm relentless.
The creatures' unyielding, monstrous bodies flooded the area, and the group was almost overwhelmed.
The exit was still within reach, but the monstrous insects wouldn't give them the time they needed to escape.
In the panic, Chris did something that made Ashen's blood run cold.
"Damn it all!!"
With a snarled curse, Chris lunged at one of the girls in the back, shoving her straight into the waiting swarm of tarantulas.
"AH! NOO—"
She screamed, but the sound was drowned out by the chaotic clicking of legs and the horrific gnashing of mandibles.
Click-clack-scritch. Click-clack-scritch.
Thud-squelch. Thud-squelch
It was over in an instant.
"Move!" Chris barked, his eyes wild with desperation, as the others looked on in horror.
Ashen also recoiled in shock, but before he could process it, Chris grabbed another girl, this one barely conscious from the poison, and shoved her forward with a brutality that left no room for doubt.
He didn't hesitate.
He didn't care.
To him, they were nothing but bait.
The reality of Chris's actions hit Ashen like a punch to the gut.
This man—this monster—was willing to sacrifice anyone, even his own, just to save himself.
Ashen's eyes met Braun's, the same grim understanding passing between them. They couldn't waste time. They had to get out or they might be next on his bait list.
With more hands clearing the way, it didn't take long for the path to allow them to retreat.
Desperation fueling his movements, Braun led the charge, and Ashen followed.
Seraphine stumbled behind them, her legs shaking from exhaustion, her face pale. And it seemed that Chris also noticed it, even amid the chaos, as his eyes had already turned on her.
"Get moving, now!" Braun shouted, barely glancing back as he ran toward the gap, shoving debris aside.
"Seraphine, come on!" Ashen urged. But his words fell on deaf ears as Chris took a step closer to her, his expression twisted with malice.
He reached out to grab her, a sneer curling on his lips, but before he could, Ashen's voice cut through the air like a whip.
"No! Not her!" He shouted while grabbing her by the arm and yanking her away from Chris's grasp, his heart hammering in his chest.
At that moment, everything seemed to slow. The tarantulas were still coming, their clicking legs growing louder, more insistent. Chris was at the back of the group, eyes locked on them with a malevolent grin.
'He's smiling?!' Ashen couldn't believe it.
He stopped his brain from overthinking. He just kept running. Now was surely not the time to guess what goes through a lunatic's brain.
"Run!" he screamed at Braun. "Get out!"
Seraphine clung to his arm, her face pale with fear.
As they ran through the forest, Ashen's eyes kept darting back to the others, only to see a missing person with each glance back.
The phenomenon sent a deep chill down his spine.
He gathered the courage to take one last glance amid his labored breathing, only to see that Chris was the only one still alive.
'...Fuck.'
Chris had pushed them all into the swarm; he really wanted to slap himself for even considering sticking to that psycho.
But there was no time for anger, no time for justice. The tarantulas were relentless, and their hunger was far from sated.
The shrill clicking grew closer. Chris wasn't far behind, but Ashen didn't care. He was separating from him, taking Seraphine with him as they ran.
Braun kept pace as he decided to take the same direction as them.
Another problem reared its ugly head as they ran.
Seraphine slowed, her breath ragged as she stumbled. A glance toward her thigh clued Ashen that she was poisoned.
It seems that, amid the chaos, she somehow got injured by the spiders and the poison from the tarantula's bite was taking its toll.
Ashen's mind raced, weighing his options.
Leave her behind?
That thought barely formed in his mind before he tossed it away.
Seraphine was the only one who knew how to identify edible plants in this forsaken place.
She said it was the same friend who tricked her into this place and gave her a book about the plant life of this forest.
Ashen, however, didn't care why her supposed 'friend' would help her in such a way when she clearly wasn't so friendly, or why his own contractor tossed him here with only a 'survive' unlike her.
He only cared that she was the only one who could keep them from starving right now, as he didn't know if the monster meat was even edible.
He couldn't and wouldn't abandon her. Not when she was the key to their survival. Wasn't it also the reason why he snatched her away from Chris's clutches with such fervor?
He couldn't deny that a tiny part of the reason was his instinct as a man shouting at him to protect the girl, though.
"Seraphine." He called, turning to her. Her wide eyes met his, exhaustion written all over her face.
"I can't... I can't go any further," she gasped, her legs trembling beneath her.
Ashen took a deep breath, his chest tightening as he glanced around. The tarantulas were still behind them, their clicking legs growing louder with each passing second.
Some of them seemed to be moving farther away, but he couldn't afford to slow down.
Seraphine's body was fading under the weight of the venom. And she was slowing him down as he kept dragging her along.
"..."
Her expression turned into helplessness, which soon changed into resignation, assuming that she would also be cast aside, likely thrown toward the horde to slow them by a couple more seconds.
"I'm not leaving you behind," Ashen said, cutting off her spiraling thoughts.
He bent down, gathering her in his arms.
She gasped in surprise but didn't resist, her arms wrapping weakly around his neck as he lifted her into a princess carry.
"Hold on," he ordered.
With a racing heart, he started running again, his every muscle screaming in protest.
The forest blurred past him as he pushed forward, ignoring the pain in his legs and the burn in his lungs.
Ashen didn't know how he kept going without outright collapsing from sheer exhaustion.
He felt his mind go blank, and even his muscles' aches started fading away.
Maybe it was the adrenaline playing its usual tricks, but analyzing his condition was the last thing on his already blurry mind.
The only thought he could form was: Run. Run, and keep running
The sound of rushing water suddenly filled the air, snapping him out of his daze.
Ashen's heart sank when he saw a ravine ahead.
A log, slick with moss and barely wide enough to fit one person at a time, spanned the gap. It was their only choice to pass through.
Braun was already halfway across, his movements careful but swift.
"Go!" Braun shouted after reaching the other side, but Ashen hesitated. The tarantulas were closing in fast, and there was no time to think.
He tightened his grip on Seraphine and moved toward the log, his steps cautious as he balanced himself on the unstable wood.
Each step felt like it could be his last as the log swayed beneath their combined weight.
Seraphine's fingers dug into his shoulders as the log creaked under their weight. Behind them, the tarantulas streamed forward, their screeching reverberating through the air.
"Come on!" Braun shouted, his voice strained with panic.
Ashen pushed forward, each step a battle against the fear threatening to overtake him.
But then, just as they neared the other side, a loud crack split the air. The log splintered.
Crack-crack-crack-CRASH.
Ashen leaped.
With a final, desperate surge of strength, he reached the edge of the ravine, his back hitting the soft dirt as he barely made it.
Seraphine's body slammed into the ground beside him, and for a moment, Ashen could only lie there, panting and shaking from the effort.
"Haah…Haah…Haah..."
Splash-thud-thud-thud.
The sound of the log plummeting into the ravine echoed in his ears. The tarantulas were still too far away to reach them, but who knew for how long?
Ashen helped Seraphine to her feet. "Stay close," he urged.
She could only manage a disoriented nod as they shortly resumed moving at Braun's insistent urging.