I picked my way carefully through the webbing towards the furthest cocoon. The stuff was tacky, not too sticky, but enough to slow me down if I got wrapped up in it. I didn't want to be stuck in one place if there were more spiders lurking in the shadows.

When I was within arm's reach, I swung the rusty sword at the webs above the cocoon. Some of them parted, but the cocoon only sagged in the webs still holding it up. Two more slashes and it settled gently to the ground.

I took one step closer and laid the sword down. It wasn't the tool for the job. Instead, I pulled out the shard of obsidian from my pocket and began working it through the webbing.

The whole cocoon was more or less coffin-shaped, and that image didn't give me much hope that there were people inside. However, it did give me some idea of where the head and legs were likely to be. I worked at the area where the chest should be, slicing apart one thread after another.

As I cut deeper, a smell rose from the cocoon. It stank like old meat, and my mouth filled with saliva while my gorge rose in my throat. I couldn't tell if the thing inside hadn't bathed in a long time or was already dead, but the smell was more like rotting meat than just an unwashed animal.

Despite the smell, I didn't want to give up. If there was any chance there were human beings here, I wanted to try and save them. I wrinkled my nose, but kept going.

I dug deeper into the threads, slicing away at more of the webbing. Then all at once the webs came apart with a wet sucking sound. I yanked my hands back fast enough that I almost tumbled over backward.

Where the webbing parted, a pinkish fluid dribbled down, running over the outside of the cocoon and dripping to the stone floor of the cave. As the fluid wet the web, more of the spider silk came apart, releasing yet more fluid.

I coughed at the smell, backing away from the mess. I wasn’t sure what had been inside that cocoon, but it sure as hell wasn’t alive anymore, whatever it was. The spider venom had more or less dissolved its skin and soft tissues, leaving a goopy slime where there’d once been a body.

“Well, I guess that answers the question of how do spiders eat vertebrates,” I said, still trying not to gag. I gingerly stepped clear of the webs, trying hard not to get caught in any of it.

I was shaking like a leaf, my legs barely able to support my weight. That could have been me! That almost was me. If the spider had bitten my leg, instead of my wallet, if I hadn’t woken up right when I did? Then I would have been lunch for those things, too. Just like whoever that poor guy had been.

My head whirled with confused thoughts. How the hell had I ended up in this mess, anyway? This wasn’t home. This wasn’t anything even close to home. None of what I was experiencing made any sense at all. Not the little pop up messages I was seeing, not the monstrous spiders, none of it.

I slammed into something hard behind me and my heart stopped cold for a moment, thinking it was another spider. But it was just the cave wall. I let its stone support me a moment, then slid down the wall until my butt his the floor.

As I was sitting there, trying to recover myself a bit, I heard something. A scuttling sound emanating from somewhere deeper in the cave.

Instantly alert again, I froze in place and listened for all I was worth. If there were more spiders, I was going to have to just leave, run and let the other cocoons remain. They were probably filled with more dead people, same as the first one, anyway.

Again, the sound of faint rustling reached my ears. Whatever it was, it was coming from behind the mess of webs where the cocoons were.

I reached down for my sword and realized I’d left it behind. I’d set the weapon down while I was cutting open the cocoon, and in my haste to get away from what I unraveled, I hadn’t picked it up again. The sword still lay where I’d dropped it, glinting in the faint light.

“Oh, god damn it, of course I did,” I whispered softly.

I glanced toward the cave entrance, back the way I had come, then over at the sword again. I really didn’t want to leave it behind. But I didn’t want to go any closer to whatever was making that noise, either. Torn with indecision, I kept still for several long minutes, straining to hear even the slightest sound.

But there was nothing.

“Must have been the wind,” I said, still keeping my voice soft but no longer speaking in a whisper. I spoke to bolster my confidence as much as anything else, and I knew it. It wasn’t working especially well, but it was all I could think to do.

With limbs which had finally stopped shaking so much, I rose to my feet and cautiously stalked my way closer to the sword. I made each footfall as gentle and quiet as possible, creeping forward while keeping both eyes carefully peeled for movement in the shadows beyond the webs.

Nothing stirred.

It must have been my imagination running away with me. Or maybe an errant gust blowing some loose webs about. If there were more spiders, surely they would have come storming out at me by now. The other ones attacked as soon as they saw me. If there were more, I figured they’d probably follow the same path.

With more confidence, I took the last two steps forward and knelt down to pick up the rusty sword. Before my fingers could close around the hilt, though, something large barreled through the webs, crashing into me.

I went flying backward and hit the floor hard, rolling over to spread out the momentum of the fall. I already had the little obsidian blade in my hand, up and in a guard against whatever had rushed me. I looked up, prepared to face whatever new nightmare this place was throwing at me.

Or at least, I thought I was prepared.

The spider stepping out through the webs wasn’t like the others I’d seen earlier.

Giant Cave Spider

Basic rank monster

Powers: Venom, Web

If the other spiders had been big, this one was enormous. It was big. Not cat-sized; more like pony-sized. The thing looked like it weighed more than I did. Felt like it when it rammed me, too. Way too many black eyes stared at me above fangs dripping with venom. I checked myself quickly—no bites. I’d been knocked clear before it could sink those fangs into me, thank god.

But now it was loose from the webs, coming at me with the slow, confident pace of a predator that knows dinner is nigh. And worst luck—that sword was still on the floor, right under the monstrous spider!