by Nora Penn
BITE ME SPIDER
Nora Penn
Amazon Kindle Edition
BITE ME SPIDER
Copyright 2017 by Nora Penn
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 1
On the seventh floor of Massachusetts General Hospital on the north side of Boston, in a small white room at the end of a hallway, a family of three was gathered. The mother, a frail-looking yet beautiful woman of thirty or so years, with a smooth round head hairless from chemotherapy, slept in the hospital bed, while her husband and daughter waited at her bedside. The daughter was six years old. She had light brown hair and a face that looked like her mother’s, with the exception of her bright blue eyes, which she got from her father. The father, broad-shouldered and bearded, with eyes the color of an arctic sky, held his daughter while he looked at his wife with an expression of deep concern.
An old black and white model TV, donated by some charity, was mounted in the upper corner of the hospital room. At the moment the TV screen showed a large black spider walking along the sticky strands of a tremulous spider web. The volume on the TV was low but a voice-over could be heard lending its narrating to the sinister image.
“The Black Hermit Spider’s venom has been known to kill mammals as large as a water buffalo or even an elephant. With a toxicity level three times more deadly than the venom of the Hooded Cobra, the Black Hermit is the world’s most dangerous insect. Rather than attack the neurochemical system, like most spider venoms, the venom of the Black Hermit Spider works instead on the cellular level, triggering a gruesome form of necrosis that causes the flesh of its victim to rapidly swell and turn instantly gangrenous.”
The TV screen showed grotesque images of spider bite victims, with absurdly swollen limbs and body parts. The camera zoomed in on a man who had a head the size of a basketball.
James Dresden, the father, winced at the awful image and covered his daughter Carol’s eyes, grateful that the TV was in black and white and not color.
“But what we have discovered in 2020…” the television narrator continued. “Is that science still has a few miracles up its sleeve…”
The TV screen switched to show the outside of a red brick building. James Dresden recognized the building as Massachusetts General Hospital, the very building they were gathered in.
“Medical researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, have learned how to transform the deadliest of spider venoms into a miracle cure for cancer. The hospital’s Innovative Genetic Engineering Center – or IGE, as it is better known –is using genetic engineering to modify the venom of the deadly Black Hermit Spider.”
James Dresden put his hand over the frail hand of his sleeping wife, Hannah. On the TV, the exterior shot of the hospital was replaced by the animated image of a DNA helix. The DNA helix turned slowly like a lock of hair being braided.
“The genetically modified venom, introduced into the body of the cancer patient, locates cancerous cells and attacks them exclusively, reducing the cancerous tissue to a residue that is carried away by the bloodstream and evacuated from the body.”
At that point there was a gentle knock on the hospital door.
“Come in,” James called out.
A stout nurse entered the hospital room, carrying a glass terrarium with a large spider inside it. She carried it by a handle like a suitcase and then set it on a card table at the foot of the hospital bed.
The nurse nodded at James and Carol and then flipped through a dossier that she kept cradled in her arms.
“Hannah Dresden?” she asked.
“Yes, this is her,” James said and reached over and gave his wife’s shoulder a gentle squeeze.
“Rise and shine, Sweetie,” the stout nurse said in a kind yet firm voice.
Hannah’s eyes fluttered open slowly. Her big brown pupils slowly scanned the room. She blinked and saw her husband, her daughter, and the nurse. She blinked again and saw the terrarium at the foot of the bed. A spider the size of a human hand was watching her with eight eyes on tiny stalks. It reared back and waved its front two legs at her, as if in greeting. Hannah shuddered slightly, but at the same time she was grateful that the nurse and the spider had finally arrived. That ugly little spider was nothing less than her salvation.
“I know you’re scared, sweetie,” the nurse said in a friendly way, “but this little bugger is about to save your life.”
Hannah opened her crusty lips and whispered in a dry voice. “Thank you.”
“You are the example that the IGE miracle spider is not just for the rich! Now we will go ahead with your cure before the state judge revokes the permit!”
The nurse was extremely enthusiastic. Her emotion was in stark display to the emotions of the family, who were cautiously optimistic rather than too sure of their success. From the concerned looks on James and his daughter Carol’s faces it was obvious that they had gotten their hopes up more than once before, only to have them dashed.
The nurse waddled around the bed with her dossier. She flipped a few pages and then handed the dossier to Hannah, who took it with a weak grip. The nurse pulled a pen from behind her ear and gave this to Hannah as well.
“Sign here dear.”
Hannah did her best to operate the pen with her fragile hand. She managed to leave a thin scribble that would suffice as her signature. The nurse took the pen and dossier from Hannah and laid them down on the bed. Then she gently rolled up the sleeve of Hannah’s hospital robe, revealing the upper portion of her left arm. She gently placed a pillow under Hannah’s elbow.
Smiling kindly, the nurse put on a pair of rubber gloves. James and Carol watched this whole operation with intent stares. Everyone in the room was silent as the nurse opened the glass terrarium. Using a pair of forceps, the nurse reached into the portable habitat and closed the forceps around the spider’s black abdomen. Hannah, watching carefully, noticed that the spider’s fat belly compressed under the forceps, like the yolk of an uncooked egg. She could tell that the beast – while normally considered the deadliest insect known to man – was actually quite fragile.
As the nurse carried the fat spider over to Hannah, she let out a sympathetic sigh. “I don’t really understand why we need the spider for this. You would think that we could just extract the venom. Ah well, the scientists must know better.”
She placed the spider on the pillow, next to Hannah’s left shoulder.
The hairy beast seemed unsure of what to do at first, as if it needed to remember its inherent nature, which is to bite anything that moves. Hannah noticed its reticence and decided to help it along.
“Bite me spider!” she said in as enthusiastic a voice as she could muster.
The spider, as if understanding Hannah’s command, crept forward on its hairy legs and reared back. Two long fangs descended from its many-eyed face. Hannah squinted in anticipation as the hairy spider sank its fangs into the soft white flesh of her shoulder.
The frail woman cried out with a tiny yelp of pain. Her daughter Carol’s lips quivered in a combination of fear and empathy for her mother. James, watching the entire scene, stayed silent, but a solitary tear rolled down his left cheek.
The expression on Hannah’s face was one of intense pain, and then a strange look overtook her features. It was a mix of sleepiness, relief, and happiness. And it seemed to mimic in some small degree the expression that one displays upon dying.
Chapter 2
One year later…
Hannah Dresden and her daughter Carol walked along Summer Street in Boston. The water of the Bay glimmered crystal blue in the distance. Hannah was wearing a long gingham skirt. Carol had her school clothes on, replete with her light up sneakers and her One Direction brand backpack. As they walked they turned and headed up the wide dock that jutted into the Bay and passed the Innovative Genetic Engineering Center, which was located right on the water. IGE was the laboratory where the genetic engineering of the Black Hermit Spider’s venom had been carried out. For that reason, the place had a special significance for Hannah.
“You’re going to love being a big sister…” Hannah told her daughter. She said this with one hand resting on the crest of her belly, which revealed her as being a few months pregnant. The young mother walked with a slight waddle. But for all that, she was picture of perfect health, with a full head of light brown hair and a rosy glow in her cheeks.
Carol smiled about the prospect of having a little brother.
“Do you think that Ben will like Peppa?” she asked. Ben was the name that James and Hannah had picked out for their unborn son. Peppa was Carol’s favorite cartoon character, a little pink pig that snorted a great deal and caused a lot of trouble for her pig parents.
“Oh, I’m sure of it,” Hannah laughed. “But it’s up to you to introduce him to Peppa.”
“Yay!” Carol squealed happily. But then her expression suddenly became worried.
“Mommy? Do you remember when you were really sick?”
“Of course, dear,” Hannah said softly. “That was a very scary time for all of us.”
“How did you get better? Was it that big mean spider that bit you?”
Hannah smiled as she waddled along. “Yes. Although I wouldn’t call the spider mean.”
“You don’t think spiders are mean, Mommy? Because they seem pretty mean to me!”
“No, dear. Spiders are neither mean nor nice. They just are. Humans are the only ones who can be mean. Spiders just want to live, just like all of God’s creatures.”
“Are you sure, Mommy? Because that spider sure looked mean. I think all spiders look mean.”
Carol laughed. “Well, I think what you call mean is what I would call dangerous. And yes, the spider was very dangerous. Although this spider was a very special spider. The thing that made it so dangerous – its venom – is the same thing that saved me. Instead of hurting Mommy, the spider’s venom just hurt my cancer. The cancer is the thing that was hurting Mommy, and the spider helped Mommy to get rid of it.”
“So the spider was really a good spider?” Carol asked with a puzzled expression.
Hannah paused before responding. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond. If her daughter was a little younger she would have said Yes, the spider was good. But when she looked at her daughter she decided that she was just old enough to understand a more truthful answer. “Not exactly, dear. Just like I said that spiders can’t be mean, that they simply want to survive…well, they can’t be nice either. Only human beings are nice.”
“What about dogs?” Carol asked. “Dogs are nice, aren’t they?”
“I suppose they are,” Hannah laughed. “Most of them anyway.”
“And what about little kittens? Aren’t they nice?”
“Yes, kittens are nice too.”
Carol held her mother’s hand as she toddled along. From the look on her face it was obvious that she was trying to understand her mother’s words.
“So why aren’t spiders nice?” Carol asked with her bright eyes sparkling.
“They just aren’t, sweetie. Spiders are neither mean nor nice. I guess there’s something different about spiders, something that separates them from dogs and kittens and other animals that can be nice.”
“Mommy?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Most people are nice, right?”
“Yes, dear. Most people. But not all.”
Carol was quiet for a moment. But Hannah knew that it would only be a few seconds before she asked another question. Her daughter was in the stage where she wanted to know everything about the world. And what’s more, she was unusually bright. Hannah suspected that one day her daughter would be a doctor or a scientist, which is why she was carefully trying to answer all of her questions as best she could. She knew that she was building a foundation for her daughter that would serve her for the rest of her life.
“Mommy? How do you tell a nice person from a mean person?”
Hannah smiled wryly. Although she didn’t say so, she often wondered the same thing. The fact is that sometimes it wasn’t so easy to tell.
“It takes a lot of practice, Sweetie. Usually a nice person smiles, like this…” she imitated a nice persons’ smile. Carol smiled back at her.
“And a mean person frowns, like this…” Hannah made a mean face by sticking out her lower lip and screwing up her eyebrows. Carol giggled when she saw this.
Hannah looked up and saw that they were nearing a man with an ice cream cart.
“That man looks nice…” Hannah said. “What do you say we buy some ice cream from him?”
“Yay!”
Indeed, the man at the ice cream cart did look very friendly. He was a little chubby and had a wide smile. He looked like the kind of man who loved selling ice cream, the kind of man who enjoyed being a bright spot of his customers’ day.
“What kind of ice cream would you like?” Hannah asked her daughter.
“Chocolate! Can I have two scoops?”
“You can have chocolate. But you can only have one scoop.”
“Okay Mommy.”
Hannah turned to the Ice Cream Man, who smiled and asked them for their order.
“One scoop of chocolate ice cream please, in a plain cone.”
She paid the man and took the cone from his hand, handing it to her daughter. Carol began to lick the scoop and they walked on.
“How is it, Sweetie?” Hannah asked.
“Delicious!”
“Good. Now, sweetheart. I’m going to explain something. It might not make perfect sense, but it’s important that you listen, because it’s information that will help you in life.”
“Yes, Mommy,” Carol said and took another long lick.
“Sometimes people look mean, but underneath their mean face, they’re actually nice people.”
Carol thought about this.
“And sometimes…” Hannah continued. “People can look really nice, but underneath their nice face, they’re actually mean.”
Carol thought about this also. From the look on her face it was obvious that she was mulling over the information.
“But Mommy? If a mean person is wearing a nice face, how do we know that they’re not really nice?”
Hannah was thinking over how to answer this when her phone rang. She decided to hold the thought for an instant and see who it was. If it was anybody else besides James she would simply call them back later. She eased the phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen. It was James.
“One second Sweetie…” she said to her daughter and swiped the screen before lifting the phone to her ear.
“Listen Hannah…” Her husband’s voice was tense, even frantic. “You and Carol have to get to the dock. As soon as possible! You have to get to the dock between the Aquarium and the Intercontinental!”
“We’re on the dock now. What’s going on James?”
“It’s the spiders!” he shouted. “They….” And then the line went suddenly dead.
Hannah turned and looked at her daughter, who was watching her with a worried expression. Before she could speak there was an enormous explosion from just behind them.
BOOOM!
Hannah turned as fast as her body would allow, while holding her very pregnant belly. Carol screamed.
A building that she recognized as the IGE building, where the research had been done on genetically engineering the Black Hermit Spider that saved her from cancer, had been reduced to rubble. If the explosion had occurred just a few minutes earlier, both she and her daughter would have been killed. As it was, she could see bodies strewn willy-nilly amongst the piles of bricks and mortar. Wounded people were running around, screaming. A billowing cloud of black smoke issued from the blast sight and blocked out the sun up above.
“What the fuck?” Hannah muttered, momentarily forgetting her rule about not swearing in front of Carol.
As she and her daughter looked aghast at the gruesome scene, an incredibly strange sight met their unbelieving eyes. There was a “bubbling up” of some tar-like substance. It was a cresting wave of inky black liquid – or at least it looked like a liquid – that poured over the building’s destroyed remnants and flowed out onto the dock. The black wave seemed to shimmer and writhe. It wasn’t until the wave of black liquid moved a little closer that Hannah could see what it actually was…
A wave of Black Hermit Spiders.
She suddenly understood James’ cryptic message.
“Run!” Hannah screamed to Carol.
They both turned and started to run towards the end of the dock. Hannah’s big belly made running difficult and so it was more of a fast paced waddle than an actual run. Her daughter could have run much more quickly, but instead stayed alongside her mother and pulled on her mother’s hand. Her ice cream cone had dropped in the midst of the chaos, leaving a creamy brown smear on the cement dock.