"Okay, ladies, strip."

The four pledges looked at each other. Technically they were no longer pledges, but they weren't full members of Zetta Phi, either. But they would be tomorrow after the 'ordeal'.

"Come on, girls."

The girls tugged off their clothes: Ts, jeans, panties, bras.

"You can keep your shoes. Here. Put these on."

The girls were handed black T-shirts with the ZP logo in pink. Black panties, again with a pink ZP.

They were hooded and marched out of the sorority basement and into a van. It was hot. Even at dusk it was hot. The van moved through the desert for about an hour, then there was another half hour of bumping over a dirt track. The van stopped, the side door slid open, and the girls were helped out. Hoods were removed.

"Okay, ladies, here's the deal. You get to spend the night in the cave. Rumor has it it's haunted. Indians lived in there, probably died there. So you should have plenty of company."

She handed Becky a flashlight.

"Follow the string to the end. We've put some things in there that will make your stay a bit more comfortable. Nobody leaves. Don't even try. You'll get lost in there for sure. We'll come get you tomorrow."

"Wait. That's it? No cell phone?"

"No. Besides, you'd never get a signal in there anyway. Amuse yourselves. Think of it as a bonding experience."

The four girls stood in a cluster in the growing darkness.

"Go!"

They went.

Following the white string they walked deeper and deeper into the caverns. There was a fork, another, a third. One was actually an intersection of four tunnels. And the string led on. The air became a bit cooler, slightly dampish.

"Okay. This is creeping me out. I mean seriously creeping me out."

"Me, too, but you know it's all a joke. There others are probably down there waiting for us with a keg."

"Take a lot more than a keg for me to stay here."

They made their way further and deeper until they came to the end of the string.

"Well, this looks like it."

Becky played the light over the walls and ceiling. It was a big room. The light didn't penetrate the darkness much.

"Look."

There were four sleeping bags, a lantern, and a plastic sack.

"So much for a keg."

"Better," said Anne holding up a bottle. "Tequila."

"You did say it would take more than a keg, so there you go."

The girls spread the sleeping bags in a cross with the lantern off to the side set to dim, the bottle and cups in the middle.

Colleen, the dark haired girl, poured drinks. The girls touched cups.

"Zetta Phi, do or die."

"Oh please."

The girls drank and talked. At first there was a certain tension, nervous laughter. The dark haired girl was especially fidgety, but after a drink she calmed down.

Then-

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"I don't know. Some kind of tapping sound, tap tap tap."

"Colleen, please, we don't need this."

"No, really-"

"Hey! I just heard it, too."

"What the hell are you talking...oh, shit. Yeah I hear it."

"Okay, I don't want everybody to panic, but I think we should get the hell out of here."

"The string! It's gone!"

"What? Oh fuck. Now we can panic."

"Oh God."

"Over there!"

Janice aimed the flashlight, Becky turned up the lantern.

"Oh shit!"

"What?"

"There!"

The four girls scuttled back against the wall.

The shape that emerged was big with long, shiny, black legs. A spider. A huge spider. It kind of looked like a black widow, but a couple of feet tall and several across.

"Oh God. Oh God. Oh God."

It advanced slowly, waving its legs as if testing the air. The girls shrank back further, but there was nowhere to go.

Suddenly Anne screamed and bolted for the entrance. Faster than the blink of an eye, the beast was on her, pinning her to the ground. It reared itself up and dropped, sinking its fangs into the girl's neck. It stayed on her, straddling her. Then it used its claws to strip her, ripping the thin stuff of the T and panties, tugging off her trainers. It stepped back.

Anne pushed herself to her knees, rose on wobbly legs. She stood, swaying, her eyes blank, unfocused. The spider tapped it's legs on the stone. It was a rhythm of sorts - tap tap tappa tap tappa tappa tap tap tap. The girl started to sway, slowly, in time with the rhythm. Her hips moved. Her feet followed. She turned, a staggering step this way then that.

The spider shot out a stream of silk. It pasted itself to the side of the girl's face. As she wobbled slowly, the silk wrapped around her body, from neck to ankles, down across her shoulders, down across her breasts, around her waist, her hips, her thighs.

The spider tapped and dispensed silk. Anne danced and became covered, encased, cocooned in a thick layer of white.

When she was completely covered, when there was nothing to be seen but her face and feet, the spider moved around the girl, finishing the job, covering her head until only her feet showed.

Anne's arms were pinned to her sides, her thighs glued together, but still she danced, little shuffling steps.

The spider used four of its legs to grab the girl, lay her on the stone floor. It spun silk around Anne's feet. And now there was nothing human to be seen, just an undulating mass of white. The spider climbed the wall drawing its prize feet first. It moved across the ceiling. It fixed the silk to the roof. What was once, a mere hour ago, a sorority girl was about to become spider food. She dangled by her feet, writhing in the case to some unheard melody.

The spider descended, faced the three remaining girls. Janice screamed. Becky tried to push through them, to flee. Janice and Colleen, screaming, panicked, pushed her back, stumbling backward into the spider's path. Mute with sheer panic, she rolled over to face the beast. It descended, sunk its fangs into her neck. A soft "Uh" echoed in the cave. That and the sharp tapping of its claws.

Once again, the spider ripped off the girl's T and panties, tugged off her shoes. Once again, the girl rose on rubbery legs, once again the spider tapped out its hypnotic melody, once again a girl was enwrapped in thick layers of white silk as she danced.

The spider finished its work and, soon, there was a second white sack hanging from the ceiling.

The spider descended, faced the remaining girls.

***

"The county sheriff's office has confirmed that four women appear to be missing. No names have been released pending completion of the investigation, but a source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the women were sorority pledges at State University. They were engaging in some kind of initiation ceremony in the caves behind me. The sheriff's department did confirm that articles of clothing were found bearing the Zetta Phi logo. While providing no details, he said the condition of the clothing led him to suspect foul play. There are no suspects at this time."

"We'll have more on this breaking story as it develops. Karen Barnes, News Scene 6."

***

Deep in the caves, the spider perched on its ledge. Nearby lay the four, white casings. They moved, the four trapped girls dancing to some unheard melody.