Episode 24

“I didn't notice it at first… In fact, it wasn't until I saw Taylor again that I started remembering some of you too,” Jacob said.

Aaron wasn't sure this was the best time to chat, however, the topic did peak everyone’s interest.  He kept a powerful grip on the door, but the creepy people outside hadn’t tried breaking down the door yet.  In fact, Aaron was puzzled, he couldn't hear them at all anymore.

“Something I noticed when we first met our group is that we were all around the same age and some of us were in college.  I sat by Taylor in psychology, with Professor Kellor at UOA.”

That seemed to make everyone react.  

“Kellor?” Alaire said, “I totally had him one semester…”

“Same here…” Blake didn't sound pleased.

Matt narrowed his eyes, “So we all had the same psychology teacher… and that explains what exactly?”

Jacob shrugged, “I’m not sure, but I have a feeling… Maybe I’m being crazy…”

“Spit it out,” Blake grunted.

“That Taylor might know something.”

“Pfft.” Blake rolled his eyes, however, his tone wasn't very convincing.  Alaire looked down at her shoes as if in thought, but didn't say anything.

“What could she possibly know?” Blake asked, “I’m not making a blonde joke here but, come on.”

“I can’t explain it, alright,” Jacob said, “It’s just a weird feeling I had.”

“Well,” Aaron intervened, “Regardless if she knows something or not, we won’t know unless we find her.”

Aaron’s eyes traveled from the puddle by Taylor’s bathtub and towards the corner where the footprints end, “It looks like she had the right idea…”  He pointed up, against the wall, at an air vent.  It was almost unnoticeable because it blended in with the color or the wall so well.

“Brilliant…” Blake huffed, “How did she reach it?”

Alaire shook her head, “Would she just leave Andrew and Jane here like this, though?”

“Well… Andrew is dead,” Blake said, “And Jane looks pretty close to it.”

“We can at least get her out of this death trap,” Alaire suggested, “Start working on the air vent and we’ll get Jane.” 

Blake was tall enough to barely reach the air vent and started wiggling the top off.  Alaire, Jacob, and Matt fiddled with the tarp covering Jane inside the tub.  Aaron peered outside the small window from the door and noticed the hallway was empty.  The creeps gave up, Aaron guessed.

Jacob got the last tug on the tarp.  Without thinking, he reached into the water to scoop Jane out, when Alaire gasped, “Wait!”

Something, or some things, was in the water.  Jane’s head rolled off along with the tarp onto the tiled floor.  The rest of her body was practically all bones and the bath water was dark red.  Insects the size of golf balls were swimming around in the water quite actively.

Not insects.  Spiders.

Alaire couldn't hold in her terrified yelp when the head hit the ground.  Everyone jumped back in alarm, except for poor Jacob.  Even though he recoiled from the grotesque scene in the tub, his arm was covered in tiny spiders, and they were burrowing into his skin.

Jacob frantically tried to scrape the spiders off, screaming and panicking as he did so.  These spiders weren’t normal.  Aaron watched as a few spiders still in the tub start leaping towards Jacob and clinging to his shirt.  

Matt moved in to start squashing the beasts off of Jacob’s clothing, but as soon as he got close enough, Jacob was already covered.  His face and arms and pants were a mass of tiny brown legs.  His cries were being muffled as spiders forced their way into his throat.

A few stray spiders started gaining interests in the other, creeping towards Matt, the next closest source of food. Alaire and Matt scrambled towards the door ready to sprint as fast as they could away from this place.  Aaron was ready to bust the door open when, to his horror, a face appeared in the window.  The woman with long wet hair in her face was staring at him with bloodshot eyes. 

“Fudge!” Aaron held the door tightly closed again.

A soft knocking on glass came next.

Aaron looked at the large glass screen that exposed the first room they started in.  The chairs were still placed in the darkness, however, someone else was in the room watching them now.  The figure was hidden in the shadows, but Aaron could tell he was big and tall.  He was sitting in one of the chairs, his hands placed on his thighs.  But something caught Aaron’s attention that made him livid.

Leaning against the stranger’s shoulder also sitting in one of the chairs was Katie, still dead with the bullet wound in her head.  

There’s the sicko behind all of this, sitting there with just a sheet of glass between them, Aaron felt his body quake with rage.

Unfortunately there wasn't much time to think.  The spiders were quickly feasting from Jane’s body onto Jacobs, who was now half a body on the floor.  If they didn't decide on an escape route soon they were going to be screwed, Aaron thought.

“Blake!” he bellowed, “Get that thing open yet?”

“Done,” Blake had lost his cool, but fumbled enough to get the vent open, “You first, girly.” He nodded to Alaire.  She took off but felt a tickle on her hand.  A hairy spider managed to attach itself to her, but she smacked it just in time, its guts stuck to her palm.

Blake cupped his hands to give Alaire a lift into the vent.  She crawled in quickly to make room for the rest.  Matt came next, but he hesitated, “Go, bro, I’m way taller, I can climb in by myself.”

Matt gave Blake a lift, now all who was left was Aaron.

“I let go of this door and the hallway zombies might come flooding in,” Aaron warned.

“Just run for it, I’ll boost you up!”

Aaron took several heavy breaths, and let go of the door.  His heart was pounding as he ran past the sea of baby spiders and took one last glance at the stalker on the other side of the glass.  Aaron was surprised by Matt’s strength as he was helped through the air vent opening.  His shoulders were almost too broad to move, but he wiggled enough for Matt to follow.  Matt was able to climb in with ease thanks to his height and he wormed his way as close as he could to Aaron’s feet as possible.

Two more dead, Aaron grimaced, there were only four of them left, not including the blonde chick who disappeared.  However, the air vent was damp with a trail of water, so she definitely came through here.

The four of them shimmied their way through the vents, breathing in dust particles and losing vision to the darkness.  The last think Aaron could hear from the room they escaped was a loud and angry roar.  Someone was not pleased.