Chapter 4:
Ekimu backed away, hammer ready, from the doorway there stepped - or crawled rather - something out of a villager’s dreams after he‘d eaten too much Scorpio meat. It had 6 legs, with a claw at the edge of each, 8 bulbous eyes stared out from it’s hideous face, while mandibles that dripped with venom moved grotesquely. With a snarling roar the monster leaped at Ekimu, who leaped aside just before the creature landed. when it died it turned rapidly, using two of its limbs to weave a net out of a whitish substance that came from it’s rear. when it finished (which took only a few seconds) making the net it threw it on Ekimu with a terrible speed. The substance was sticky, and was strong beyond anything Ekimu had seen before. While struggling to get free Ekimu processed the situation. the monster attacking me is some sort of spider, and the substance is it’s webbing. Makuta had created it, or at least had a hand in creating it. he thought but wait, spider….. the Skull Spiders that attacked the city, were those Makuta’s creations too, or someone else’s? and if Makuta’s….. why?
all these thoughts passed through it mind in a second, in which he managed to get partway free, whole the spider closed in, mandibles frothing venom. With a last desperate struggle, EKimu got free, and stood on his feet, strands of web still clinging to him. The spider gave another roar and charged, and Ekimu swung his hammer. The tool collided with the spider’s hideous face and it was flung several yards away where it landed sprawling on it’s back. But like lightning it flipped back to it’s feet and charged again. Ekimu waited until the last second, then sidestepped, the spider propelling itself into the wall of the factory, temporarily stunning it. He broke into a run, heading for the beach he woke up on. On the way he tripped on something, .glancing back he saw it was the discarded carcass of a villager. Ekimu kept on running, and had made it to the jungle when the spider recovered, and with quick stealthy movements, began to stalk Ekimu through the trees. after several minutes, Ekimu stopped, he knew that somewhere, those eyes were watching him, waiting for the time to strike. also he remembered that he had been shipwrecked, and there was no time to build another boat with that monster on his tail. he turned back, and bolted to the factory, hoping to barricade himself inside an inner room and then have time to come up with a plan before the beast broke in. He had just made it to the front door when the spider came out of hiding, charging with terrifying speed. Ekimu stopped, and grabbed a wooden beam from the rubble that lay near at hand, and threw it. It hit the monster right in the eye, gouging it out. The Spider stopped short, writhing in pain, shrieking and frothing. Ekimu ran inside, and entered the first room he found, a laboratory. once inside he shut and locked the door, then piled up desks and equipment and everything in the room against it. one table wouldn’t move, so Ekimu swept all the beakers and tools and equipment off, all but on empty bottle that is, for it refused to move. Ekimu shrugged and went to move the table again, but it still would not move. He stopped, there was something beyond the obvious here, he tried, to pick up the bottle, but that didn’t work, so he tried tipping it is several directions, it still didn’t move, until he tipped it the right way, and it moved. The table moved aside with a section of the floor, revealing a ladder down into a tunnel. The spider creature had recovered somewhat, and was now in an animalistic murderous rage. It pounded on the door, and after a few pounds it started to give way. WIthout another thought Ekimu climbed down the ladder to the tunnel, and the table and bottle returned to their original places. THe door gave way the the Spider burst unto the room, scanning it with it’s 7 eyes, it’s quarry was not there, it moved all through the room, and found no one. That made no sense, this is where the meal went, where did it go? the monster roared in frustration, and left the room. Ekimu had reached the bottom, and the stood there, leaning on the ladder, trying to piece together in his mind what he had learned, and trying to think of a way to get home, and when he did, he was going to have a long talk with Makuta. hefting his hammer to his shoulder, he walked on through the tunnel.