As I entered the next railcar, I immediately noticed a giant spider at the far end blocking the next door. It was a giant black spider with red markings on its back. I’m not necessarily horrified of spiders but seeing one so huge, let’s just say, I was horrified. I wanted to run away. I wanted to leave this place. I wanted to go home, wherever home was. But I just came from the previous railcar and there is absolutely no other way out. I must continue.

The atmosphere of this railcar had not changed; the dim flickering lighting, the sounds of the train, and the swaying. It was like I was in a horror movie, giant monster and all. I knew I was the main character in my story, therefore I had to get past this spider to progress. So, I scanned the room for anything I could use to protect myself against it, since I had broken the hammer in the last car.

Upon scanning the room, I saw several things. I saw that the spider was also blocking a medical cabinet. Hopefully there’s something useful in there if I end up getting hurt. I saw there were about five crates around the room, both in front of the spider’s web and behind it. I could make out the numbers nine and nine on most of them. I wonder what was in those. The last thing that caught my eye was a giant wrench poking out of a hole in one the crates just slightly in front of the giant spider.

The spider must be asleep because it didn’t immediately attack me or acknowledge me as I entered the room. Even as I stood there, it was motionless, aside from its breathing. You never really think of spider’s breathing until they’re the size of a small cow. Why and how was thing even here? Aside from how terrified I was, I was just as easily confused. What was going on?

I creeped up to the wrench, hoping to wiggle it free before the spider noticed me and attacked me. As I got closer, I kept a watch on the spider’s eyes. They followed me. I didn’t like that. It was disturbing and it also told me that it was not sleeping, but watching and waiting. But why? I reached for the wrench.

The moment my hand touched the wrench. The spider sped at me! I grabbed the wrench as quick as could and brought it up to block the spider’s attack. It was a success. The spider had lunged at me with its fangs and bit right into the giant wrench. I shoved it back, then attacked.

I brought the wrench down trying to whack the spider in the head, but it was too quick for me and jumped back. I had missed. The spider did another jumping attack. I was too slow from the previous swing and the spider managed to bite my arm. The pain that shot through me was intense, but I knew I couldn’t stop or else I would be worse off. I shoved the spider away and swung the wrench once more. WHACK. A direct hit to the spider’s head.  Half of its eyes shut and there was a small stream of blood flowing out from where the wrench had made contact.

The spider was equally more aggressive and more staggered. It jumped to attack me, but must’ve misjudged where I was because it missed entirely. I circled around it and swung the wrench at its backside. I broke through the spider’s exoskeleton and created a small hole. The spider shrieked so loud I had to cover my ears for fear of them bleeding or going deaf. As I shuddered from the shriek, it turned around and lunged back at me.

I attempted to dodge, but I couldn’t get out of the way fast enough. It scraped my leg and left and nasty gash in its wake. I started to bleed out. I needed to end this quickly because any more wounds and I would be easy prey.

I looked back up from the fresh cut to see the spider jumping at me once more. I swung the wrench as quickly and powerfully as I could. The wrench met the spider’s mouth and shattered it causing one of its fangs to fly off across the room. The spider landed on the floor shrieking and writhing. After a moment or two of stumbling around while bleeding profusely, the spider stopped its shrieking, collapsed to the ground and curled up. I had won.

I was still bleeding out and I needed to stop it or else, I too, would stumble to the ground and curl up. I cleared the webs that were blocking the medical cabinet and opened it up. Luckily, I found three rolls of bandages and hurriedly wrapped my wounds, using two of them and putting the last one in my bag. Already, I was feeling much better.

I took my time recovering after the battle before deciding to move on. Taking deep breaths trying to comprehend what had just happened. A giant mini-cow sized spider just tried to kill me. If I hadn’t grabbed the wrench, it would have easily devoured me. But it didn’t attack until I had grabbed the wrench. Maybe it was protecting an item it coveted. Could I have passed through without bothering the spider?

Once I was ready, I cleared away the rest of the webs and decided to check out the crates that were in the room. Using the wrench, I hammered away at a couple of them. They were empty. I did the same to another two. Again, empty. The last crate I tried to destroy did not want to break. It looked exactly the same as the other wooden crates, but must’ve been made with some sturdier wood.

I swung the wrench at it again, but it just bounced off. It was a tough crate that didn’t even get scratched. After closer inspection, I saw that it didn’t show a ninety-nine, but sixty-six, by the way it was written with an underline. Someone must’ve gotten those mixed up. So, I gave up on it.

As I was walking towards the door to the next railcar, I noticed something on the floor. It was the spider’s fang. I don’t know how, or where I would use it, but I decided to grab it and place it in my bag. I felt accomplished in defeating the spider because it got my adrenaline pumping and it had almost killed me. But most of all, it was one step closer to getting off this train.

I made it to the door and went for the handle but it wouldn’t budge. Not again. I looked closer and noticed that it was bolted shut. Well, luckily for me, I happened to know a guy with a wrench. I used the wrench to pry loose the bolts and free the door. Looks like I wouldn’t have been able to progress without that wrench.

I put the wrench in my bag before heading to the next railcar.