“More wood,” Sekun-ak shouted, and four warriors dashed forward to build the flames up again.
Alex eyed the stock of wood they had laid in, then the length of the fire line. He estimated they could keep the fire burning hot for perhaps twelve or fourteen hours.
While the fire burned down, so many spiders found their way into the cave that it took everyone working as one to keep up with them. Even then, a few got through, landed on someone, and took an exploratory bite of neck or arm.
Somehow, one managed to get by Reggie, land on Tinka-eh, and bite a chunk out of her fat little leg. Reggie flicked it off of her, then stomped it. Stomped it not once, but ten times, before plucking Tinka-eh up and holding her close, protecting her.
The popping of the spiders in the fire was so loud that although Alex could see that Tinka-eh was howling vociferously, he couldn’t hear it. Alex ran to them. He pointed to the far back of the cave and shouted in Reggie’s ear. “Go back there. We’ll take care of them.”
Reggie nodded, kept his arms protectively around his daughter and ran to the back. There was a clutch of older women standing at the back. They parted and brought Reggie and Tinka-eh into their midst. They formed a tight circle around them, then turned toward the fire, holding their own cudgels, and daring any zisla-ta to attempt to breach them.
Alex stared through the flames at the solid, apparently endless wall of spiders that spun and flew into the fire. To distract himself from the smell and the horrible onslaught of noise, he tried to estimate how many spiders there had to be in the cloud.
Millions, certainly. Billions? Probably. He was never good at equations.
He and Sekun-ak stood at the front, batting any stray zisla-ta back into the fire.
The onslaught went on for hours. It was full dark outside, but that just let Alex see that every time a spider hit the fire, it gave off a tiny spark of light as it exploded.
After they had let the fire line burn down too far the first time, Alex made sure that they kept the fire built up. It made them burn through their limited supply of wood and branches faster than he would have liked, but he didn’t see that they had any choice.
Eventually, he glanced around and saw that many of the tribe near the front of the cave were laying down, resting, and some looked like they might be sleeping.
Alex nudged Sekun-ak and pointed at them. Sekun-ak had not noticed, either and looked surprised when he saw them.
Then Alex saw that Senta-eh had also slumped against a cave wall and though she tried to rise, she seemed unable.
Alex rushed to her, knelt, and held her hand. He looked into her eyes, which seemed unfocused.
“I can’t catch my breath.”
Alex looked over his shoulder at Sekun-ak. He too was slumping to the floor.
Chapter Twenty-TwoIs There No End?
What Senta-eh had said—I can’t catch my breath—resonated in Alex’s brain.
At that moment, he began to feel light-headed himself.
That’s when the answer popped into his brain.
Oxygen.
The cave was large, but it was still essentially a closed room. The fire was drawing part of the oxygen it needed to burn from outside the cave, but drew the rest from the cave. They were all suffering from oxygen deprivation.
Alex shook his head, trying to clear it, to no avail. Finally, he dropped on his belly, put his face against the rock and tried to breathe deeply. That seemed to help a bit, but he knew it was a temporary solution.
If I keep the fire burning, we’ll all likely fall asleep, the fire will burn down and we will be attacked by the zisla-ta. But if I don’t, we’ll be attacked by the damned zisla-ta anyway.
Alex leaped up, grabbed a long cudgel, and pushed one corner of the fire line down onto the level below. The same second he did that, spiders filled the empty space. Their hairy legs, huge bodies, and trailing parachutes covered his face, head, and upper torso immediately.
Making the opening brought more oxygen, but also zisla-ta by the immediate hundreds. Alex stumbled backwards, swiping at his face, as one industrious zisla-ta was biting at his lips and trying to get in his mouth. Sprawling backwards, he tripped over a sprawled body and landed hard on his back, knocking the air out of his lungs with a whoosh.
Zisla-ta continued to pour into the opening in the fire line at an incredible rate. The unconscious body that Alex tripped over was Wenta-eh, who sat up with a dazed expression on her face. That expression was immediately replaced by clinging zisla-ta.
Oxygen from around the hole Alex made also filled the room and people immediately began to revive.
When Senta-eh opened her eyes, she saw a horror show in front of her. White strings of parachutes being released as hundreds of the zisla-ta poured in. Her eyes landed on Alex, who was still thrashing, but was completely covered by not one layer of spiders, but a growing second layer.
She stood quickly—too quickly. She stumbled and had to lean against the wall of the cave for support. Beside her, Sekun-ak also came around. She turned to him and said, “Block that opening. I will take care of Manta-ak and the others.
The others was a rapidly growing number. Zisla-ta poured in the opening even as Sekun-ak added wood to the section Alex had knocked down. Flames licked at the edge of that wood, but would take time to catch.
Meanwhile, the infusion of oxygen woke everyone in the cave. Those who were not entombed by crawling, biting spiders set to helping those who were. Within moments, everyone in the cave had at least a few of the nasty beasties crawling on them.
Senta-eh rushed to Alex, helped
