Alice stood in the rain, drenched from head to toe, her shoes half sunken into mud. The woman looked upon the spider and for a moment she was confused, as she felt… nothing.

She was detached, like she wasn’t herself. Her mind was seated some place else, watching the woman named Alice stand in the rain and look at death as it leisurely yawned. Alice’s heart wasn’t hammering like a drum- no, that was someone else. Not her. Silently she watched.

The monster had too many teeth, too sharp, and the creatures’ smile was truly a dentist’s nightmare. Its hair was a bony white, its body a game of contrast between deathly pale and black. It had not deemed to jump off its branch or rush, merely to focus on the human that had stepped outside of the metal box and peer at it in apparent consideration. If there were thoughts to be had in the spider’s mind, Alice guessed they were along the lines of how much of a threat the lone creature posed to it. Maybe it was comparing Alice to the other human-like monsters in the forest?

The line of thought was clear to her, the monster hadn’t bothered to attack the group earlier than they’d ran because it knew that cornered prey were at their most dangerous.

A forest that was this ruthless would not forgive severe injuries, tempting luck was a one-way ticket to becoming a meal.

Slowly the monster descended from its branch and to the forest floor, spiraling her way around the trunk. Its eyes remained on Alice every step of the way, the trajectory down clearly more defensive than aggressive, the monster wanted to give herself room to escape if anything happened. That alone told Alice she was not being looked at as an easy meal but a likely threat.

Four red eyes peered at Alice, gauging her as the rain poured around them.

The psychology teacher looked back at the monster through the eyes of the woman that stood in the rain. She was calm, peering through locks of wet hair that fell from her face. There was something magnificent about how the spider moved. Graceful, each leg appeared to have a mind of its own, extending and contracting and pulling the massive body forward in a glide through the forest floor. Almost mechanical.

Idly, Alice realized the arachnid wasn’t jumping her; it was watching her, warily. She thought back to the werewolves, and how cautious they’d been, unwilling to approach the row of torches and eager to run when they’d made the noise.

The momentary pause for thought had distracted her; the spider had circled slightly to the side, and Alice realized this just as the creature abruptly turned and accelerated in her direction.

Everything in the human’s body told her to move, to run, to hide and avoid the danger.

Instead, she did the opposite. With a scream, Alice charged forward.

The spider froze on the spot, backpedaling quickly, gaining distance despite Alice’s straightforward charge. It had moved so fast it’d been out of the clearing before she’d even taken five steps. With a huff, Alice’s body thrummed with adrenaline, but her thoughts remained away from it all, boiling with a different set of thoughts.

Alice hated it; she hated it all. The death, the pain, the silence drowned by the rain. The ugliness inside people when everything was pushed to the edge. It was an emotion that frothed at the mouth, snarling and biting at everything and everyone.

“COME AT ME!” Alice roared at the monster, taking deep breaths, clenching her fists.

The monster didn’t charge her, slowly pacing to one side, then the other. There was cunning in those eyes that gleamed in the darkness. It never stayed still, its every step appearing wary and cautious, its focus on observing every twitch of Alice’s arms. Then, it made its decision. It charged again; Alice’s determination flared, and she charged at it again.

This time it didn’t backpedal, jumping to the side and abruptly turning towards the bus, heading straight towards the open entrance, and the people peeking out into the ongoing fight.

“NO!” Alice moved to pursue, not fast enough to catch up, but intent on scaring the monster away once more.

One step.

Two steps.

Three.

The woman felt her foot sink into something not quite like mud. It was gooey, elastic, it stuck to her sneaker and refused to let go. Balance suddenly became a fight as her foot had been rooted in place, one she lost. Her hands flailed as she fell face first into the mud.

A quick look over her shoulder revealed the problem. The reason for her fall had been simple; she’d stepped on a glob of something white, something… like silk.

“Alice!”

The shout pulled her attention towards the current immediate threat; she turned just in time to see the spider had spun on a dime and was charging straight at her. The attack on the bus had been a feint- Alice had fallen for the trap and it was all going to end now.

She rolled anyway as best as she could, kicking at her shoe to free her foot from the silk.

A shadow streaked across the sky.

The spider’s armored legs fell where she’d been only a second earlier. But hope of escape was dashed, a second attack had followed, faster than she could avoid. With a stomp, the spider stepped on her left calf, bone cracked, pain exploded through her like a tidal-wave.

Alice refused to scream.

Her lips sealed shut as the creature reached down to her with a hand that was far too thin to wield the power it did. She pulled Alice from the mud and yanked her upwards. Alice quickly looked for a way out, something used to pry herself free of the iron grip. But the monster didn’t hesitate or wait, its hauntingly beautifully pale female face opened her mouth wide, showing too many teeth- all sharp. Something within the creature’s mouth glowed a sickly purple, a dark green ooze dripping from her fangs.

Like a cobra, she lunged down to bite.

Alice’s right hand had gripped something in her pocket, without a second of hesitation she shot the hand forward, shoving the electric blue berries against the monster’s eyes.

The impact of its face against her palm was like a clap. The berries exploded from the pressure, blue goop spreading over both her palm and the monster’s nose and eyes. Instantly, the blue fluid burst into fire. Pain exploded on Alice’s hand, the sensation not one she could focus on because the monster had immediately flung her away.

Like a rag doll, Alice flew, tumbling through the mud.

Alice’s right hand was wreathed in flames. This time she couldn’t hold back, she screamed, plunging her fist into the mud and watching it bubble as the agony turned her world searing white. She refused to lose focus, jaw clenched tightly, struggling against the pain, she had not looked away from the monster. Fire licked its face, the Arachnae tumbled backwards, using her human hands to bat away at the flames, unable to stop them.

The fire on the monster’s face lasted a full twenty seconds, Alice gathered the strength to stand up on her one good leg, glaring. The teacher’s hand was heavily burnt, her hand numb, and the damage reaching all the way to her forearm. The mud was soothing but barely.

But the spider had been far better off, the moment the fire had died out the only thing left behind was only one of its four eyes remaining shut, and singe marks on its forehead and hair.

“I guess that answers that,” Alice muttered under her breath. The monsters were made of something different from humans it seemed. The teacher let out a mirthless chuckle, wincing and watching the boiling anger in the creature as it gave up on all efforts to use tactics and charged her. Their eyes met, emotions mirrored. “I hope I give you indigestion.”

But the spider did not make it.

“To the ground!”

A voice boomed out, Alice didn’t hesitate, jumping to the side.

A bolt of lightning came down from the sky and struck the spider. A thunderclap that made the rain disappear for a split second, the sound concussive against the teacher’s flesh. A flash of light that left spots dancing in Alice’s eyes. “What!?”

A shadow descended upon the teacher.

And suddenly she wasn’t on the ground anymore. Alice screamed. Air whipped around her head, the rain smashing against her face as her vision suddenly blurred. The world spun and up became down for a fraction of a second. Two hard points of force held her by her shoulders.

When she regained the ability to see, she realized she was definitely up in the air.

“I’ve got you, ma’am!”

Alice looked up and found herself entirely without words.

A girl- no, another of the monsters. Its feet were large scaly claws, its arms were wings, and she wore a set of black sweats. A beautiful angular face with braided hair a woman that wore a green shorts, a black chocker, big goggles, a cocky smile, and much to Alice’s shock, nothing else.

“The wings are here!”

Her concerns about her current new predicament were pushed aside, reality came crashing back with the splash of rain against her face. Alice turned downwards to focus on the spider. The teacher was so far up, everything had changed. They were flying near the treetops, hundreds of meters above the floor. The bus barely the size of her thumb.

A bolt of lightning flew overhead, streaking down towards the ground. The muddy puddles sizzled and exploded in steam, the impact leaving a char mark behind.

“Good thing you used that fire-marble, we almost missed you lot.”

Alice couldn’t care to pay attention to the words, fixated on the visage of the monster. Monsters. Two more winged creatures and the spider. A spider that was trying to run towards the trees. To little effect, one of the flying monsters, one with red hair and equally red wings, plunged towards the ground. A wall of flames emerged from each wing, blocking the path.

When the spider attempted to turn, the other winged woman moved her hand from pointing to the sky, and down upon the spider. As if bringing down the hammer of a god.

BOOM

Another bolt of lightning descended from the heavens, a column of twisting wicked white lines that hit the spider. Alice had to blink away the spots, seeing how the spider had had the audacity not to die, stumbling and trying to seek another way out. The next lightning bolt knocked her down.

Then came another.

And another.

And another.

Each hit did not make the spider vaporize, but it did leave the creature less able to move. And the attacks did not stop.

“Ana is pissed,” the monster carrying Alice laughed over the deafening sound of thunder that made their flight wobble and tumble.

Despite the deep sense of awe and… fear, something else emerged deep within Alice’s chest. This could only mean one thing, only one. Tears welled within her, blurring the sight of the fire-red monster summoning flames to ensure the spider would not live to see another day. “They did it.” Alice muttered, her chest tightening into a ball. “They did it.”

“Yup, all hell’s broken loose.” The winged woman laughed, slowly descending as the fight had come to an end.

“Got every Hunter mobilized to rescue you fellas. We came just in time, eh?”