Continue Online (Book 1, Memories) (23 page)

“
So
try to get out of the web instead.” His advice wasn’t
even remotely useful. I hadn’t actually asked him a question,
though. I wiggled halfheartedly.

“
Not
happening.”

“
Maybe
some encouragement would motivate you,” James said.

“
Spiders?”
I asked.

“
Spiders.”

“
Can’t
feel them under this webbing.” I tried to deny that the idea of
anything crawling over me was unwelcome and disturbing.

“
How
about very, big, spiders?” He sounded amused. His face probably
had that sly grin on it again.

“
That’s
gross.” Me and my stupid mouth had resulted in badness. Now
there was a clear sound in the distance. Something very, very, big
was scuttling around nearby. I started in earnest to struggle.

“
No,
James. This is not nice.”

“
How
am I to accurately measure your skills if you don’t even try?”
James turned sour. He had expressed disappointment during a few of
our trial events.

“
Ask
nicely!” I shouted the answer to his ill-timed question while
trying to roll away. My back jabbed into something sharp. Free
fingertips felt around for the edges. A clicking noise grew closer.
Images of giant mandibles and long legs went through my mind. I
frantically rubbed my arms against the sharp outcropping nearby.

“
I
hate you right now,” I said.

“
Why’s
that?” James asked.

“
Because
small spiders are one thing, large ones are bullshit.” This was
only just a game. This was just a game. This was just a game.

“
Spiders
are extremely common in our world. There is a breed located in the
Dessert of Tali that can fly.”

“
No,
there aren’t.” My immediate denial blocked the whole
concept out.

“
There
are indeed.” James calmly refuted.

"I
don't believe in flying spiders." Maybe if I said those words
enough all of them would die. It worked for faeries according to my
childhood television watching.

“
I’m
never going to go there.” The noise drew closer. I could have
tried to be quiet, but there was no chance of me being a stealthy
person. I would sweat when nervous, stutter occasionally. Emotional
speeches were the worst.

“
Why?”
James asked.

“
Later!”
Something was close by. I could feel the air shift across the exposed
portions of my face and arms. The tone of chattering changed. It,
they maybe, had found me. I sawed enough to get my arm loose and
started tearing away at the bindings around my face to clear my
vision.

“
Oh,
God.” That was a giant spider. That was a really giant spider.
Oh God, there were two of them. I think I wet myself. Only a little
bit. No, I had, there was a pop-up that even told me of the condition
of my pants.

What
happened from there on was pure chaos in my mind. I twisted out of
the way of jabbing legs trying to spear me. My foot kicked at the
ground trying to get an inch away. Another giant ugly spider
attacked. It missed my midsection and tore into an arm. I managed to
free myself a bit more and was wiggling like a fish, no a dolphin, in
a net.

“
Oh,
God.” Prayer wasn’t enough, this was a test. I don’t
know of what. My eyes were half covered, but there was a red bar that
flashed with green as it dripped down.

“
Poison?
Are you kidding me?!” I kicked off again and made it another
few feet. These things were big, strong, scary, but somewhat slower
than one would expect a spider to be.

“
No,
I’m not, Grant Legate.”

“
Stop
calling me that!” Panic was rapidly removing my happy place.

“
I’m
afraid I can’t do that, Grant Legate.” James was
definitely entertained. I growled and got a mouthful of webbing which
nearly caused me to choke.

“
Come
on!” I failed to escape the latest one. Pain shot through my
leg causing me to bunch up. This was supposed to be a game.

“
This
is your last test, Grant Legate. Do try to excel. You’re
woefully behind your peers who do our trials.”

“
Of
course I am.” The mouthful of web in my face made the
declaration muffled. I managed to get a foot under me and was now
hopping away from spiders that were taller than I was. Watching
myself during a highlight reel might be extremely funny. Everything
was painful. My chest hurt and wheezed. My limited eyesight was
getting fuzzy. Fingernails were bloody and arms torn.

Everything
hurt.

Everything.

This
was worse than the weapon practice James had made me do. A burly man
had demanded I strike a wooden dummy for an hour before switching to
the next weapon. Every time I failed or hesitated the burly man would
hit me. James was smiling the whole time. I logged out twice during
that and huffed around my house in anger.

This
was worse than the trial two episodes ago where frighteningly
realistic people from my life berated and tried to tear me down. I
had spent two days offline during that ruthless situation but still
came back. That army of people hadn’t said anything that was
new to me. Plus, as I spent time outside the ARC, it became clear
that those people had been missing a lot of details. My mother hated
my father half the time but never told anyone in public. The game
version of her acted completely loving when talking about dad, but my
real mother would have badmouthed him at least once.

The
petting zoo had been nice. Odd, but nice. They even let me ride
something that looked like a stocky llama. This, this weird dim cave
with spiders was hell. I kept hopping while the arachnids lumbered
behind me. An exit. There had to be an exit.

“
Where
do I go from here?”

“
Out!”
James' voice sounded further away, but still fairly close.

“
Which
way is that?!”

“
Why
don’t you die? It’s much easier to give up.” And
that hurt. James managed to sound like every personal demon that had
haunted me over the years.

“
No!
Besides, it’s not like I’d die for real!” I managed
to duck around a rock and pulled at more webbing. My legs were mostly
free now, the rest of me wasn’t.

“
Right,
it’s much easier to give up.” James had this tone that
was starting to irk me. I had selected him and it felt like he was
trying to drive me away. “Let yourself be killed,” He
suggested.

“
No!”

I
got most of my arms free and found some more objects to throw at the
approaching giant spiders. Their faces dripped with something
unwholesome and off-color. Was that meat around the edge of their
jaws?
[Identification]
revealed they were the leftover pieces
of a former victim.

“
Why
are you trying now? Was it the spiders?”

“
I
hate giant spiders!” One of them was too close. The little
flashing bar to the side was under a third. Green still flooded the
inside and would pulse every so often. Fire. I needed the biggest
ball of flame possible to burn them to a shrieking pile of goo. Bugs
did not cope well with being lit on fire. But, but I had no matches,
I had no fire.

“
This
isn’t a phobia. If it were, you would be a drooling mess.”

“
I
hate them.” Words drifted off. Finally, I was seeing one spider
completely unobstructed. Its face was messed up and fractured. Hair
and bulging eyes made up the key features. Each of the eight legs
arched higher than my shoulder.

The
digital representation of food chose that moment of terror to finish
passing through my system. Part of me regretted eating so much at the
King’s Feast. The rest of me hoped that it would all be over
soon.

I
ran, trying to find a path that angled upward. Hopefully outward
towards freedom. Rocks were thrown behind me in a huff. Each vague
connection would buy me another few precious seconds to escape. From
the peripheral of my eye, a limb could be seen reaching out and
barely missing.

“
I
need fire. Need fire.” I was running my mouth in complete
rambles.

Wait.

“
I’ll
give you cupcakes if you set these guys on fire!” I shouted in
desperation, hoping the little dragon guy was floating around in the
cyberspace nearby. “Lots of cupcakes! Cookies! More creamer!”

I
plead and kept running. Behind me, I heard a click and a huff. The
spiders’ chattering tone changed. Heat flashed lighting up the
entire dim passageway with warmth. Shrill sounds filled the air like
a baby screaming a high and constant note. I covered my ears then
risked looking backward.