Tunnels 03, Freefall

legs. Knowing it was a waste of time, Chester tried to fire the rifle again. Another dry click.
    In sheer desperation Chester did all he could in the situation. He slung the rifle at the beast with all his might. The beast raised a foreleg and fended it off with a single deft flick. Chester glimpsed the rifle spinning away and heard a dull thud as it came to rest on the fungus-coated floor out of sight.
    Then it was just the creature and him. Chester's stricken gaze locked onto its eyes, malevolent crystal spheres that glittered under the beam of his lantern like large droplets of water. There was the faintest hiss as it opened its mouth, revealing a row of vicious white fangs, each as thick as his thumb.
    "Oh no!" he gulped, falling onto his back as he struggled to get a stove gun out of the pad on his hip. He was still watching the creature as he managed to prize one out, but dropped the second in the process. He cursed as he tried to recall what Drake had taught him about using these weapons. "Hold it in the palm," Chester said to himself, first making sure he had it the right way around. He was just curling a finger around the firing lever when the creature made its move.
    "As the creature launched itself at him, Chester hooked the lever right back and released the firing mechanism. The stove gun bucked in his hand, the blast catching the monster in mid air. Chester would have been hard pushed to miss, as it was barely more than a couple of meters away from him. At such close range, its body was blown to smithereens, splattering Chester with blood.
    "God almighty," Chester croaked, wiping his face and staring at the pieces of the dead creature scattered all over him. A couple of the limbs lay across him -- and they were still moving. They looked like the spindly legs of a giant plucked chicken, but covered in dark bristles. Chester thought he was going to be sick as he pushed them off. Then he back-pedaled himself along the ground, trying to get away from the scene of carnage.
    By this stage he was babbling incoherently to himself, and in no shape to respond to Will's muffled, frantic calls. It was almost too much for him to handle; he was fast approaching the point at which all he wanted to do was to curl up with his arms over his head, and shut it all out. The only thing that kept him there and in the present was the thought that he had to rescue Will and Elliott from the trap.
    Then he heard another plopping sound.
    "NO! NOT MORE!" he yelled. He didn't need to look to know what was waiting for him. In an instant he was scrabbling around on the ground in a mad effort to locate the second stove gun. But with all the fragments of body there and the unevenness of the fungal floor, he couldn't find it anywhere.
    He forced himself to look. The body of the creature was quivering slightly as it bobbed on its legs. It's about to attack , Chester told himself.
    Then it leapt, coming straight at him.
    There was a hiss as something fiery struck the creature. With amazing speed, the whole creature was consumed by flames. It was thrashing about, screeching at an intolerable pitch.
    Not knowing for the life of him what had happened, Chester got to his feet. He was staggering over to where Will and the others were caught in the net as yet another of the monsters appeared. The air seemed to sizzle as a second fiery projectile speared through it. It passed so close to Chester's head, he thought it was meant for him and threw himself to the ground. But in the next moment he saw that the spider had been hit and was instantly engulfed by fire, falling beside the twitching remains of the first one.
    Chester was so completely transfixed by the sight of the two burning, crackling animals that he couldn't move.
    A shadowy form stepped through the smoke.
    "Styx?" Chester said simply, staring up at the figure before him. It was aiming what appeared to be a crossbow of some description, with another flaming bolt already in place. But this time, it was pointed straight at Chester.
    The figure moved towards him.
    "But... but you're a mere boy," came a woman's amazed but gruff voice. She was wearing a long tattered coat, with a scarf of lighter material covering the lower half of her face.
    "Are you a Styx?" Chester got out.
    "What a dreadful thing to say," came the sharp response.
    With a high laugh, the woman unwound the scarf. She blew out the burning tip of the bolt and lowered the crossbow to her side.
    Chester took in her wavy red