Chapter 24

“It’s so dark…“ I thought, finally waking up from what felt like a long sleep.

My body was heavy and I felt like I could fall back asleep at any moment.  I shook my head, trying to remember how I had gotten...wherever I was.

“I was in the lobby when a giant spider attacked…I hid in the elevator and it went away…I was trying to get back upstairs when…the hornet!” It shot me, and whatever weird venom was in its stinger made me pass out!

Well at least now I knew what had happened, now I just needed to figure out where I was.  I couldn’t see anything, so I reached out into the darkness, trying to find something to grab onto and was immediately greeted by some kind of paper like material.

Unsure of what it was, I poked a small hole in it. When nothing happened I gingerly tore the material away, trying my best not to make any noise.  I didn’t know if anything was running around on the other side and I didn’t want to expose myself. Quietly, I stepped out of the paper prison and looked around.

I was still in the hospital, but whatever it was that trapped me in the paper cocoon seemed to have carried me to the cafeteria.  All of the tables and chairs had been pushed up against the wall and the walls themselves were lined with something that looked like spider webs as well as dozens of odd paper sacks, just like the one that I had burst out of.

Shivers went down my spine as I wondered what purpose I could have been cocooned up here, but there was no time to be afraid.  Now that I was awake, I had to go check to see if my mom was alright.  

The lobby and the cafeteria were on opposite ends of the hospital's first floor, but the hallways weren’t that wide so I wasn’t worried about any of those Tarantulas finding me.  Though I did keep my ears open for the droning sound of hornets wings.  Luckily, the place seemed to be totally empty, to the point where I even started feeling creeped out by the lack of noise.  I hoped there weren’t any nurses around…

When I got to the lobby I stopped behind the door separating the room and the hallway and scanned the room with both my eyes and my ears.  At first I heard nothing but then, just as I was about to sprint for the staircase, the faintest sound started coming from somewhere.

‘clack clack clack’ as something repeatedly tapped against the linoleum floor. My heart froze in my chest and for a moment I was petrified, though I didn’t know why.  Then it hit me-this was the same sound I’d heard when the tarantula attacked.  It was quieter, and sharper meaning that whatever was making the noise was much smaller than the Tarantula had been.  But it was unmistakably the sound of many legs walking.

I hid behind the set of double doors leading into the Lobby, leaving them open slightly so I could peek in.  For a moment all I could hear was the sound of its footsteps growing louder.  They were coming from the direction of the stairs.

Finally, it came into view.  Stepping out of the stairwell was another huge spider.  It wasn’t anywhere near as large as the Tarantula, but it was certainly still large enough to catch and eat a human. It had vibrant silver and blue streaks running down its back and compared to the Tarantula it’s legs were thin and spindly.  There also weren’t any of those odd hairs that the Tarantula could shoot out.

For a moment i was petrified, thinking that if this creature had come from the stairs then the people on the higher floors might have all been killed.  After all if there was one of these things then there could have been hundreds more.

For a moment I wanted to run.  If everyone was already dead then there was no reason for me to risk my life going up there.  I looked at the exit, certain that I could sneak out as soon as the spider left.  I knew everyone else who ran probably died in that fog, but I was certain that I would be able to hole up somewhere whenever the bugs got close.

I had already figured out where I would run to and how I would get there, and I was on the verge of just finding another exit when another thought went through my head

“What if I’m wrong?”

It was a simple question, but it was enough to stop me in my tracks.  What would it mean if I was wrong?  It would mean that I was abandoning my mother to a horrible fate.  Did I have what it took to do something like that to the only person in the world who had ever shown me what it was like to be loved?

For a moment a resentful voice inside of my head said yes, after all she was going to do the same thing to me.  But after a moment that resentment was replaced with shame and that was all it took to convince me that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I abandoned her.

Sighing with resignation, I looked back at the spider, sizing the thing up.  It was a little smaller than I was and judging by the sounds it made when it walked it probably weighed about the same as me too.

“I wonder if I could kill it…” I thought, looking around for a weapon.  To my luck, I found a splintered table leg that had made its way into the hallway from the lobby.

I picked it up, expecting it to be heavy, but instead found it to only weigh as much as a baton.  I grimaced, now unsure of my improvised weapons reliability, but then decided to use it anyway on the off chance I could spear the spider with the splintered end.

I peeked back into the lobby and saw the spider was looking away from me, into the destroyed entryway.  Seizing the opportunity I quietly crept up behind it.  I was able to cover half of the distance between us before the spider sensed my presence, then it whirled around and locked eyes with me.

Throwing caution to the wind I sprinted at the spider, my weapon already raised and prepared to strike. I had to marvel at my own speed, I didn’t think I had ever run this fast before.  But just before I was within stabbing distance of the spider I came to an abrupt stop and my momentum carried me forward, onto the ground.

I quickly tried to push myself up, but my hands and knees were stuck, trapped by some kind of webbing. It was then that I realized…

“It knew I was there the whole time!” I thought, panicking.

I looked up, trying to see if I had any time to pry my legs free, and found myself face to face with the spider.  It’s black eyes gazed into mine, and for a moment neither of us moved a muscle.  Then I lowered my head and closed my eyes, too scared to cry and waited until this spider decided to make the final move and kill me.

…But that wasn’t what happened.  Instead, one of the spider's legs reached under my chin and pulled my head back up.

“Please, Young Master, don’t cry.  For I mean you no harm.” a warm voice suddenly said inside of my head.

My eyes widened.

“You can talk” I tried to say, but instead of words all that came out was a raspy grunting noise.  Confused, I tried to repeat myself, but again- rasping and grunting.

“Ho Hum Young Master, you don’t need to speak your words aloud for me to understand them.  Just think what you want to say and I will hear it…And yes, I can talk.” Said the spider sarcastically.

“Wha-What’s wrong with my voice? Why can’t I talk?”

“Hm? I suppose that would be obvious, Young Master.  With the new shape of your mouth and jaw, as well as the restructuring of your respiratory system-”

“Wha? What do you mean the new shape of my jaw?  My jaw is fine.” I said, attempting to reach up and feel it, but once again being stymied by the web.

“…I see, so you aren’t aware of it yet.  Well I suppose that’s to be expected given your age.  It appears we have a lot of training ahead of us, Young Master.  But first I should free you, If you would promise not to try and attack me again.”

“I don’t know anything about what you’re saying, but sure- I promise not to hurt you.”

The spider nodded it’s head and unraveled the webbing that was spread out below my feet.  Now freed of my entanglements, I was ready to go upstairs and check on the rest of the hospital, but before I could…

“Young Master,  It would be ill advised of you to go up there right now.  The upper floors are teeming with humans and they may not take kindly to our presence.”

“Hm? I’ll be alright, they know me.  But they probably would be pretty scared of a giant spider so you should stay here.  Thanks for not eating me, Mr. Spider.” I tried to go again but I once again was stopped by more sticky web trapping my feet.

“Hey! Let me go, I need to see if my mom is ok!” I thought angrily.

“If you go up there unprepared you may very well wind up being the cause of her death, Boy!  Now listen to me, do you remember everything that happened before you woke up?”

Struggling against the web, I said “-ngh- Of course I do!There was a lot of fog, the hospital was attacked by a giant Tarantula, I got stung by a giant bee and then I passed out.  There, happy?”

“Do you know how long you were unconscious for?” The spider asked

I stopped struggling. “A couple of hours, right?” I said, turning my head slowly.

“Try a month.”  The spider replied grimly.

I sunk to the floor.  A whole month?  This place has been without power, water, or food for a whole month?  This hospital had been without medicine for a whole month!?

“No…no…my mother…” I thought, my vision becoming blurry.

Her treatment had already been having complications, but after a whole month in the fog? There was a very good chance that she was already…

“…Young Master…if you wish to go up there then I will not stop you.  But please, heed my advice before doing so.  It isn’t just that a month has passed since you were stung.  Your body has changed as well.”

Wiping my nose, I said “What -sniff- what do you mean?”

“When that Cleaner attacked this place, you had the quick thinking skills to hide instead of run.  You knew that the enemy was bigger, stronger and faster than you so you opted to use the one advantage you had over the lumbering oafs- Stealth.  In doing so, you’ve proved yourself a worthy candidate to receive her majesty The Queen’s blessing.  The venom that you were stung with facilitated that, and now you have power that can only be dreamed of by us lesser beings.”

“Woah, woah, woah! What are you talking about?  I don’t feel any different at all! I’m still just plain old me.  Please, I need to see if my mom is ok.  Just let me go…”

“Is that so?  Very well, I will let you go under one condition.”

“And that is?”

“Fail to free yourself three times in a row.  If you can’t break my web off yourself after the third attempt, then I will do it for you.”

“What kind of weird condition is that? But whatever, here goes-” I said, But then I was cut off by my own attempt to get free.

I yanked my foot up as hard as I could and, while I couldn’t break all of the spiders webbing, I did pull up all of the linoleum tiles that it was attached to.

“What the-!?”

“As expected.” The spider said smugly “Now, would you stop acting so rashly and listen to what I have to tell you? There’s something you’re going to need to learn about yourself before you go up there.  Something that’s sure to make you upset.” 

I hesitated, unsure of what to do now.  If what the spider said was true then I had become a metahuman, something that until now only existed in comic books and video games.  On the one hand it would mean that I now have super powers, as the linoleum dangling from the webs on my feet would indicate.  On the other hand…

“What about myself would upset me so bad?  You’re telling me I have some kind of super strength, what’s so awful about that?”

“…All power comes at a price, lad.  You’ve been in shock ever since you woke up so you probably haven’t noticed it yet, but take a look at your hands."

I did as the spider asked, though it confused me for a moment.  I couldn’t understand what I was seeing when I looked down and found my forearms covered in some kind of hard brown material.  For a moment I thought it was armor until I realized that I could still feel things whenever I touched them.

I looked up at the spider, my eyes filled with fear as the realization hit me. But he just shook his head and pointed to a men's restroom near the exit.

With trepidation I slowly walked into the room, now painfully aware of some of the ways my body had become different.  My footfalls were much heavier, and my eyes seemed to be able to take in much more of my surroundings than before.  Indeed, even though I was certain that both of my eyes were looking in front of me I could also feel my eyes looking to both the left and the right.  I became aware of the fact that I could see quite far into the fog too even though a month ago I hadn’t been able to see through at all.  When I opened the bathroom door, I thought I saw something else rise alongside my right arm-which I noticed was now the same brown material as my hands and was covered in long hairs that weren’t there before.

Finally I stepped in front of the mirror, which was surprisingly not cracked or damaged, and got a good long look at my new form.

I was a monster. My new head was bulbous and I had no neck to speak of.  Eight gigantic red eyes gazed at me from within the mirror, and alongside my arms were a second and third pair of arms that were longer and extended from my shoulders and down my back.  Those two were thick, segmented, and ended in the same stubby nubs that a spider's legs ended in.  My chest and abdomen were now much broader than before as well, with the armor like material forming into the shape of thick human muscles.  On a human it might have looked good, but on me it was just grotesque.

For a moment I thought I would start crying again, but before sadness could drive me to tears something else took over.  Something that I had been repressing ever since I was told that my mother would pass away.

Madness.  All of the sudden the urge to cry was gone, replaced completely by the urge to laugh.

“Kakakakaka!” I laughed, or at least I tried to.  I couldn’t help myself, this was all just too much to take in.  My mother, the fog, giant bug monsters and now this?

It broke me.  Maybe it was bound to happen eventually.  Maybe after I’d been shuffled around the foster system for a few years.  Or maybe a few months down the line after trying to survive this fog.  Or maybe when I was an adult and the trauma of seeing giant insects kill dozens of people finally caught up with me.

Whatever the case, at this point I was nearly beyond reason, and probably would have lost my sanity forever if it weren’t for a single person that was there to bring me back from the brink.

“Young Master…” a voice said, approaching me from behind 

“You are not a monster.”