Salticidae by Ryan C. Thomas Page B

man was tracing his fingers on the rock walls in front of her, testing for handholds; the ground here was still slick with moisture and it was necessary to hold on to something to avoid slipping. “He is complaining about his ribs. His breathing sounds worse. He may have hurt a lung.”
    “What if we just leave him here? We can come back for him later.”
    Gellis met her eyes, his headlight beam nearly blinding her. For a brief moment Janet thought he might yell at her. Again she fought down an instinctual fear of the man, stood her ground. He did not speak to her, however. He spoke over her shoulder to Moyo.
    The smaller man nodded and responded through the labored breath of his native language.
    “I told him to be quieter,” Gellis told Janet. “Told him he would attract danger. He says he will try not to moan anymore.”
    Janet glared at the wounded worker leaning against the rocky wall. His face was pinched in pain and he still hugged his sides. “I’m saying it for the record: Shut the hell up. You don’t and I’ll make sure you’re never hired in this fucking jungle hellhole ever again. Now let’s keep moving.”
    She gave Gellis a light shove to get him moving again as well. Moyo followed closely behind, maintaining their single file formation. The cave was colder here, and several times Gellis pointed out deep pits to avoid. They walked for many minutes in silence, listening to various mysterious sounds Janet assumed were trickles of water or skittering bugs. At one point there was a faint squeak that gave her the heebie jeebies, but Gellis assured her it was just a small bat and nothing to worry about. Bats suck blood, she thought. I’m gonna worry about it and don’t you tell me different.
    The floor angled down for several feet, which Janet took as a good sign. The water was running down to the river below, so going down was exactly what they wanted to do.
    “Hold up,” Gellis said. He raised his hand to signal them to stop.
    “What’s wrong?” Janet asked.
    “We’ve hit a wall, ma’am. Literally. It’s a dead end.”
    “Great. So we go back the way we came and find an other route?”
    “Maybe not. Let me see.” Gellis’s headlamp played over the wall in front of them, moving off to the side, and finally revealing a crack in th e rock, not unlike the one they’d blown open in the mountain façade outside. “I think we can squeeze through here but it will be tight.”
    “Fuck that, Antoine. I’m not getting stuck in some wall in this mountain. That ’s why I hire your people to come in here and blast open passageways. I’m going back.”
    Janet turned to push past Moyo, but stopped dead when she heard the sounds of something moving back in the tunnel behind them.
    Gellis heard it too, and swung his headlamp to illuminate the darkness back there. Moyo was nearly crying now. Janet stepped toward Gellis and the crack in the wall, keeping her eyes on the tunnel behind them.
    “I fear we have company,” Gellis said.
    “No no no no. Fucking Moyo, they must have heard you! I should leave you here to deal with them.”
    She was shaking in fear and anger now. When Gellis ’ hand fell on her should she nearly jumped out of her skin. “Madam, this is our only option.”
    The scuffling sound s grew louder, closer. It was followed by a thumpa thumpa thumpa , the clear sign of some demon creature running forward. 
    “Go!” Gellis shouted, and threw her into the crack. He pressed himself in after her, with Moyo struggling to get in as quickly as possible. The three of them were forced to maneuver sideways through the tight space. Janet had never felt so trapped in her life. Claustrophobia washed over her and sent her heart racing.
    Behind them came the soun ds of many legs running and then a sizeable vibration as the giant beast slammed into the rock wall. She was able to turn her head to look back as she squeezed herself forward. In the light of Gellis’ headlamp she saw two large, hairy