Carpathian 23 - Dark Storm

wouldn’t be in that tiny stream,
     but with all the strange attacks from insects and animals, she didn’t want to chance
     missing anything. “We’ll step in only if they get past everyone.”
    Gary pulled a hose over his shoulder and stepped forward. The moment a spout of fire
     gushed from the flamethrower, the rest of the camp became aware something was wrong.
     Heads turned, one by one. Riley was glad she and Annabel were in the shadow of the
     trees. It looked as if the three men were being attacked, not the women. They were
     a good distance away. She added to the illusion by sitting on a rock beside the stream
     and drawing her mother down to sit beside her as if they’d been resting there in the
     shade.
    Weston and Shelton predictably made a huge fuss, Weston actually running away from
     the spiders. Not only were they not close to him, but the migration was moving away
     from him. It didn’t matter. He berated the guides.
    “You chose a rest stop right in the middle of killer spider territory. Are you trying
     to do us all in? I’m reporting you, and you’ll never get another guide job again,”
     he snapped.
    Riley rolled her eyes. The guides ignored him, rushing to help the three men. The
     porters grouped together in a tight circle, watching. The archaeologist and his students
     stared at one another with shocked, almost comical expressions, as if they couldn’t
     quite understand what was happening. The three just stood there, openmouthed, while
     the ground came to life with large hairy spiders crawling through the vegetation.
     Her idea of archaeologists admittedly had been formed by the action-hero Indiana Jones
     movies, but Dr. Patton and his students were fast putting that fantasy to rest.
    She could actually hear the spiders scuttling through the debris as they advanced,
     but the smell and sound of Gary’s flamethrower began to quickly drown out every other
     noise. Annabel covered her face with her hands and rocked back and forth. Riley put
     her arm around her mother to comfort her.
    Annabel moaned softly. “It’s so late, Riley. In a couple of hours the sun will go
     down.”
    “We’ll leave in a few minutes,” she assured. “The guides will take us up the mountain
     and this will be over. We’re so close now.”
    Annabel continued to rock back and forth, Riley’s arm around her shoulders for comfort,
     but all the while, Riley studied the members of their traveling group, trying to discern
     who she might be able to count on if things went wrong. The shivering in the ground
     told her bad things were bound to happen. All three guides had rushed to help the
     three men with the spiders. They didn’t appear to be afraid of them at all. In fact,
     they picked some of them up very gently and turned them around.
    She found the way the three natives handled the tarantulas fascinating. They clearly
     wanted to save them, not destroy them. The tarantulas seemed confused, turning in
     circles, avoiding the hot flames. Gary switched off the very efficient flamethrower
     and, like Riley, watched the guides gently managing the spiders away from everyone
     and back into the rain forest.
    Not one of the porters had helped, Riley noted. They huddled close together, whispering.
     Her heart sank. They would need a couple of porters going up the mountain and at least
     two would accompany Gary and Jubal with their guide.
    “Come on, Mom,” she said. “We’re heading out again. Drama’s over. The guides dealt
     with the spiders, and we’re back on track.”
    The ground shivered again. “We have to hurry,” Annabel whispered. “Hurry, Riley.”
     She glanced up toward the sky. The sun would be down in a short time.
    Riley positioned herself directly behind her mother on the narrow trail the guides
     had chosen to make the last miles to the base of the mountain. She would argue with
     her guide later to keep going up the mountain. Right now, it was imperative that they
     just get moving. Annabel’s agitation grew with every passing minute.
    Ben and Jubal went in front of Annabel, and Gary chose to bring up the rear behind
     the last porter. Riley was grateful she was a good distance from Weston and Shelton
     with several people between them. Once they actually got started, the guides and porters
     hacking out the dense trail, Annabel ceased muttering and just walked, her gaze on
     the back of Jubal’s shirt.
    The whispers in their head started up an hour before the sun set. The