Chapter XVII
"Hello? Is anybody here?" She took a step down the dark passage. "Hellooo?" Her
voice echoed down the passage. The hairs on the back of her neck was standing
up and she very nervous. She turned around but the heavy oak door behind here
was still locked. She turned back to the passage and tried to peer into the
darkness. Her hands were covering her naked body defensively and she could feel
her arms shivering in the cold damp air. What was going on here? Where were
she? She slowly started walking down the pas- sageway, her naked feet shuffling
along over the damp stones. For a long while she shuf- fled along in the dark,
her fear slowly growing. After what seemed like years she finally spotted a
faint light in the distance. She quickened her pace and walked up to a single
candle burning on a lone table. She looked around and was amazed to see the
floor stretching away to infinity. During her walk in the dark she must've
entered a large cavern or something.
"Hello?" she shouted, surprised at how small and desolate her voice sounded. A
cold shiver went down her back and suddenly she wanted to be anywhere but that
cavern. She stood around for a few seconds, confused and lost. The candle was
nailed down onto the table and despite her best efforts she couldn't dislodge
it. Finally she gave up and looked around desperately. She took a few steps and
turned around. Which direction had she come from? She took another few steps,
changed her mind and set off in a different direc- tion.
Suddenly she felt something light and sticky cling to her face and hair and she
gave a small shriek of surprise. She reeled back in disgust as her waving hands
met a thick spi- ders web. She scratched and pulled at the hundreds of sticky
strands quickly covered her head and hair. She turned around and fled back to
the candle, dragging a net of thin wires along with her.
Back at the candle she tried desperately to rid herself of the web, but for
every one she managed do dislodge a hundred others found a place to stick.
Realizing that she was fighting a losing battle she gave up and headed off in a
new direction. This time she man- aged to walk quite a distance before she
encountered another web.
As before she scratched and clawed at the web, but it quickly enveloped her in
it's fine strands. She backed off, but this time she could feel that the
strands were anchored to something on the floor. She fought the strands, but it
was like fighting mist, she could break a single stand quite easily but the
whole clung to her like glue. She could feel the panic rising and she pulled
back, trying to get back to the light. The strands stretched as she pulled on
them, allowing her to go without actually releasing her. It felt as if she was
dragging a weight behind her as she tried desperately to get back to the distant
candle. She stumbled into another web and she was quickly covered in a whole
new set of strands. Again she pulled and again she felt the strands resist as
she was anchored to a second point on the floor. Every part of her was being
covered with silk and it felt as if she'd fallen into a pot of syrup. She
fought valiantly, but the combined weight of the two strands was getting to her
and already she could feel herself growing tired.
Before long she'd stumbled into a third and then a fourth web, each one keeping
her an- chored to a different part of the floor. She was now in a full-blown
panic attack, crying and shrieking as her hands and feet worked to free her
from the sticky mess. The pull was too much to resist and she stumbled
backwards into the darkness, right into yet another web, then another and
another. Pretty soon she was standing in the middle of a dozen webs, each one
pulling her body in a different direction.
She screamed in despair but her mouth and face was being covered by the stands
and the sound came out muffled. The more she fought the less movement she had
and in desperation she felt her hands and arms being pinned against her sides.
She twisted and turned her body but all it did was to wrap the strands around
her like a cocoon. After a few minutes she was almost completely immobile and
it was a battle just to keep her balance. She stood quietly, her chest heaving
as she rested.
Suddenly she heard a light, feminine giggle off to her left. She twisted her
head to see who it was but could make out nothing in the dark. Something gave a
hard tug on the stands from the right and she gave another muffled scream as
she almost fell over. Her whole body was shivering with fear but there was
nothing she could do. Suddenly she heard a strange clicking sound approach her
from behind and she froze, her eyes darting from side to side in fear. The
clicking stopped right behind her and she held her breath, too afraid to move.
Suddenly she felt something cold, hard and pointy scratch against her leg and
she almost fainted.
She started struggling anew but only managed to get herself even more tightly
wrapped. She struggled for a few more seconds but she was already too tired to
do much and soon she was quiet again. She heard the clicking sound move behind
her and held her breath as it circled around her to the front. She almost
fainted as a large black spider appeared from her side and came to stand in
front of her. The creature was at least as tall as she was with ugly black
spikes covering it's whole body. It had a human face and her eyes grew wide in
terror as she recognized her boss.
It stood quietly before her, it's ugly black torso bouncing lightly up and down
as it balanced between it's eight legs. It lifted one of it's legs and a cold
tremor ran down her body as it probed and prodded her chest. The claw moved
over her neck and chest and plucked at her nipple before moving down to between
her legs. It plucked at the strands and quickly made a small triangular hole
over her sex. She closed her eyes in fear and disgust as the claw probed and
scratched between her legs. Suddenly there was a loud, high pitched screech and
she opened her eyes just in time to see a second spider attach the first. The
second spider was quite a bit smaller and she wasn't completely surprised to see
Mark's face on it. Although smaller it fought with a determined ferocity and
the two spiders rolled around in a tangled mess of limbs and spikes. More
spiders arrived and she recognized Andrew and Jake as they joined in the fight,
each one trying to kill the other with a deadly ferocity. Her colleague from
the office joined in, hell bent on trying to decapitate her boss. A large
hulking mass of spikes came lumbering past and she immediately recognized the
bouncer form the club. A large, pitch-black spider joined out of nowhere and her
heart froze as she recognized the dark man form the club. It fought with quick,
stealthy move- ments, moving around like a flash.
She was so intent on the fight she didn't notice the last spider until it
touched her. She jerked her head to the left as far as it would go and gasped
as she recognized Anette. Anette was ignoring the fight, her attention focused
on Sharon. She used one of her thin sharp claws to scratch and tease her left
breast. Sharon mewed and again she tried to get away but it was useless, Anette
could do a she pleased. While her first claw continued to play with her breasts
a second found her sex.
Sharon closed her eyes as she was once again about to be invaded but suddenly
the whole cavern started shaking from a low, deep rumbling. All the spiders
froze and looked around expectantly. A second, even louder rumble filled the
cavern and the spiders scat- tered, the fight completely forgotten. Sharon tried
to turn around but she was still tightly bound and could not move. For ages it
seemed as if nothing was going to happen but then she felt faint tremors on the
web. Out of the blue she was being dragged backwards and she lost her balance.
She squirmed and wriggled on the floor as her body was slowly pulled away from
the light. She sensed a large, hulking mass somewhere behind her and again she
tried to scream as she was pulled towards it. Ever so slowly she was pulled into
the dark, the anchors breaking as easily as if they were made from clay. She
looked back to the distant candle and blinked hard as it swam in the tears in
her eyes. For a few more minutes she concentrated on the diminishing light as
she was pulled over the floor. The darkness finally enveloped her like a cold,
wet blanket and she uttered a last, desperate scream.
Sharon stood in the queue, biting her lower lip. She looked up at the metal
detector and almost chickened out again. This isn't going to work! She took
another step as the queue moved ahead. She had an excuse ready in case she was
discovered but to her it sounded feeble and unlikely. She looked back at the
airport's entrance and watched a yellow cab drive off. Oh how she longed to be
in that cab! Instead she turned around and looked back at the gate. She was
dressed in a light cream business suit and matching skirt. Her neck was covered
by one of her white librarian blouses and she had a matching handbag thrown
over her shoulder. The man in front of her placed his briefcase on the conveyor
belt and stepped through the gate without incident. She squared her shoulders,
took a deep breath and stepped forwards.
The new instructions had arrived two days into her vacation. She'd been
instructed her to be at the airport at eight AM the following morning and to
pick up her ticket from the check-in counter. With no idea where she was
heading and she packed everything she could fit into her three suitcases. The
night was spent in anxious anticipation as her mind raced through the
possibilities. Where was she going? What did he want from her this time? Was
she going to meet him at last? The next morning she'd woken up early and gotten
ready. She had arrived at the airport a good hour and a half earlier than
instructed and her legs had felt wobbly as she'd approached the check-in
counter. As the computer searched for her name she couldn't help stepping
around in nervous impatience. The clerk handed her the boarding pass and she
tried to act as nonchalant as possible while she scanned the document. New
Orleans? It took her half a second to make the connection. New Orleans meant
the Mardi Gras!
The metal detector screeched a loud warning and she almost burst out crying.
"Please step this way ma'm" requested the security officer in a polite, clipped
voice. She stepped to one side, her face blushing a furious red. He waved a
hand-held scanner over her torso and the thing went nuts.
"Ma'm, do you have any metallic objects in or under your clothes." he asked.
"Yes, uhm, I wear a medical brace. I'm afraid that's what's making the noise."
She replied, praying that he would believe her. "Company policy requires us to
do a body search in cases like this. Please come with me." He said, pointing
the way down a passage. She retrieved her handbag and followed the officer.
He led her to a small room and held the door open for her.
"Please wait here. A female officer will attend to you shortly. Feel free to
make yourself comfortable." He said and closed the door behind her. The room
was bare except for two plastic chairs and a table. On one wall several coat
hanger hung from a bare metal pipe. She sat down and placed her hands on her
knees, trying her level best to hold back the trembling that was racking her
body.
After several minutes of anguished waiting a female officer finally arrived. The
woman was tall with strong, almost masculine shoulders. Her hair was wound in a
tight black bun and her hawkish nose gave her a aggressive, stern look.
"Good morning." she said as she entered and closed the door behind her. "My
name's Liona."
"Hello" replied Sharon, not trusting her voice to say anything else.
"I was informed that you are wearing a medical brace. Is that correct?"
Sharon just nodded.
"As you might appreciate security is of great importance. Can I request that you
remove the brace for an inspection?" she said as her sharp eyes inspected
Sharon's body.
"I'm afraid I can't. It can only be removed by my doctor you see." she replied,
cursing her quivering voice. Liona nodded, obviously this was all routine to
her. "In that case I have to request that you undress for a visual inspection.
I realize that it is inconvenient but I'm sure you understand that it is
required." Sharon just nodded and looked down at the floor. The moment the
metal detector had gone off she'd known it would come to this. Sharon stood up
and slowly took her jacket off. Liona took it from her and hung it on one of the
coat hangers. Sharon could already feel herself blush as her shaky fingers
worked on the blouse's buttons. As the blouse slowly opened she could see
Liona's whole demeanor change from calm and professional to surprised and
shocked. Her hard, darting eyes grew large as she followed Sharon's hands and
it was clearly difficult for her to keep her com- posure. Sharon slipped the
blouse from her shoulders and handed it to Liona. She crossed her arms
defensively in front of her body and stood staring at the floor. It was several
seconds before Liona could bring herself to speak. "The skirt as well please."
Sharon imagined she heard something in the voice, something that made her even
more uncomfortable than what she already was. She wanted to protest but as she
looked up at Liona's face she realized that it was useless. The hard,
professional look was firmly back in place. She looked down again and reached
behind her, her fingers finding the clip to the skirt. Her fingers were numb
and trembling as she undid the clip and pulled the zip down. She let the skirt
fall down to the floor and picked it up, handing it to Liona with downcast
eyes. The shame flooded all over her body and even her feet were blushing. Liona
walked around the table and stood beside her. Sharon's hands were locked in
front of her stom- ach, trying to cover as much of her crotch as was possible.
Liona slowly walked around her, inspecting every inch of her body while Sharon
kept staring at the floor. For several seconds she stood behind her, neither
one of them saying a word. Suddenly she felt two hands take a firm hold of her
waist. "What the hell..." she said in shock as she tried to twist around.
Liona's hands held her firmly and wouldn't allow her to turn around. "What are
you doing? Let me go!" said Sharon as she tried to push the hands from her
waist. Suddenly Liona let go and stepped back and Sharon flew around angrily.
Liona was trying her best to look professional but there was no mistaking the
glimmer in her eyes. Suddenly Sharon felt very vulnerable.
"Why did you do that? I thought it was only going to be a visual inspection."
She tried to sound angry but her voice squeaked in fear.
"I don't think that's a back brace. I think you're lying." Liona replied. "I've
worked here for years and I've never seen a brace like that before." She
stepped back up to Sharon and stood uncomfortably close. "I have seen other
things though.." She pressed her palm against Sharon's chest and forced her
back against the edge of the table. "strange, shiny, hard..." she forced Sharon
to lean back over the table, bending over herself so that their faces almost
touched "kinky things. Sexual things. Erotic things."
Sharon was too surprised to put up much of a fight. How had things turned so
strange so suddenly? How the hell had she gotten into this situation? What did
the woman want from her?
Liona moved her hand slightly and suddenly it was over Sharon's breast rather
than on her chest.
"No! Get off! Leave me alone!" she protested but the woman was surprisingly
strong. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and both women jumped in
surprise.
"Liona, are you still busy in there? We have a second search for you to do."
As quick as a flash Liona stepped back and regained her composure.
"I'm just finishing up in here Ben, I'll be done in a minute."
They both listened as the steps retreated down the passageway. Liona turned
around and faced Sharon. She was completely business-like and composed as she
handed Sharon her skirt.
"Thank you ma'm - you are free to leave. Thank you for your patience." Sharon's
jaw worked in silent shock as her mind tried to come to grips with the rapidly
changing circum- stances. By the time she'd gotten her vocal cords working Liona
was long gone.
Sharon lay down on the big double bed. She thought back over the last couple of
hours and sighed a deep breath of relief. No matter what her instructions were,
she was NOT flying back home. It was either the bus or the train, to hell with
the consequences. There was no way she was going to go through that ordeal
again. Curling up on the bed she was asleep in seconds.
