by Nora Penn
“Be careful.”
James nodded and headed up to the deck. He wasn’t actually worried about Steve. The guy seemed to be more of a fuck up than someone who he had to actually worry about. But still, he wondered how and why he was out here.
Before he stepped on deck, James strapped his holster and pistol on his belt, moving the holster around towards the front where it would be plainly visible.
As soon as he stepped on the deck, the figure in the motorized rowboat saw him and gave a wave. James neglected to give a wave back. He didn’t want to encourage any kind of friendship or companionship with the younger fellow.
“Hey buddy!” Steve called out as his boat came up alongside James’ fishing boat.
“Hey,” James said coldly. He wondered if Steve even remembered his name.
“Wow, man,” Steve said, smiling. “Is this your fishing boat? This sure is a real nice set up you got going on out here. Wow! How come you didn’t tell me you had such a sweet set up?”
James didn’t know if Steve expected an answer or not, and he didn’t actually care.
“How did you know I was out here?” the fisherman asked.
“I saw you take your boat out this way,” Steve answered. “And I was heading out to sea just now, to do some fishing, and I saw your motorboat tied up alongside this fishing boat.” The younger guy nodded at the motorboat that James took on his day trips ashore.
“I’m not in the mood for visitors right now…” James said in voice totally devoid of friendliness.
“Oh, I didn’t come to visit,” Steve said. “I just wanted to ask if you needed to make another trip into town. I figured I’d accompany you if you needed someone to come along.”
“No thanks.”
“You know what they say:” Steve added, apparently not hearing James. “Two heads are better than one.”
“I do pretty well on my own.”
“Oh, you’re out here all on your own? Must be kind of lonely, especially at night.” Steve prodded a bit.
At precisely that instant Carol moaned from the pain of her headache. The sound carried from inside the boat.
“Is that a little kid, I hear?” Steve asked, putting some concern in his voice.
James wasn’t sure how to answer so he stayed silent.
“Sounds like she’s in pain.”
Again James didn’t answer.
“That must be who you needed that Alpo Protein for…” Steve seemed to be fishing around for more info.
“Algopyrin,” James said.
“Yeah, that stuff. Man, your little girl must have a real bad headache. You should get that headache checked out. Do you want to take her into Boston? We should get her to a hospital or to a doctor’s office at least.”
Something about the way Steve made this suggestion made James think that this goofy kid might actually be worth taking along. Sure, he was a fuck up, but he wasn’t a bad guy. At least he hadn’t yet shown himself to be a bad guy. James didn’t trust him yet, but maybe he could help out on this one venture. James was thinking all this over when Carol cried out again. Each time he heard her groan it sent a shockwave of fatherly worry through him, which for him was a feeling worse than any kind of physical pain he himself might feel.
“Yeah, I better take her in to Boston,” he finally said, letting out a long sigh when he did.
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” Steve said smiling. “I’d be happy to help out.”
James did a gut check just then. He looked at Steve for a moment without blinking.
“If you could accompany us, I would appreciate it,” he finally said.
“Sure thing buddy.”
“Alright, let me get her ready for travel.”
“Mind if I come aboard and take a quick look around?” Steve asked with a hopeful tone.
“Sorry, but no. I’m not set up for visitors.”
“No problem,” Steve said, deciding not to press his luck.
“Wait here,” James said and headed back inside the fishing boat.
Hannah was waiting, with her arms around Carol, just beyond the doorway. The look on her face told James that she had been listening to the whole conversation. James thought that she might give him a hard time but it seemed that she was okay with the plan he’d come up with. Steve might be a fuck up, as James had said, but at least he could help keep her husband and daughter safe while she stayed on the boat and kept their home safe from intruders.
They didn’t talk too loud, because James didn’t want Steve to know he had an attractive woman on board. James knew how chaos tended to bring out the worst in men. Steve was twenty or twenty one at most, and probably a puppet to his hormones, just as James himself had been not too long ago. He knew that attractive women in a world full of horny men were more valuable than gold. The best way to protect Hannah was to keep her out of sight.
James whispered in Carol’s ear. “Don’t worry, Sweetheart. Daddy’s gonna get you the help you need. We’re going to go see a doctor who can make you better.”
Carol groaned again and sniffed back a tear. “Okay Daddy,” she said. James could hear the pain in her voice.
Hannah slipped Carol’s shoes on over her feet and tied them up. They were the light up sneakers she’d been wearing when the spiders first attacked. Hannah had put duct tape over the light up screens so they wouldn’t attract attention. She didn’t want spiders, or the other survivors, being able to see her daughter from afar.
“Remember to use that gun if anybody tries to mess with you while we’re gone,” James said, although the advice hardly needed to be repeated.
Hannah nodded and gave James a kiss. Then she gave Carol a long kiss on her cheek. Whenever people separated in this wild new world that was ruled by spiders, they never knew if they would see their loved ones again. Every farewell was bittersweet, since it could always be a final goodbye. Hannah held her daughter to her chest, savoring the moment.
“We have to go, darling,” James said at last. “Don’t worry, we’ll be back by nightfall.”
“Ok, sweetie,” Hannah breathed and wiped away a tear. “Don’t forget that I love you,” she whispered to her daughter.
“I love you Mommy!” Carol said in her high pitched voice. James worried that Steve might have heard his daughter use the telltale word ‘mommy,’ inadvertently revealing that a woman was on board.
“I love you too,” Hannah said. There were more kisses and hugs. James patted Hannah on her belly and told her take good care of Ben, their unborn child. Then he took Carol’s hand and led her up to the deck. James shielded her eyes from the sun so her headache wouldn’t get any worse.
“This is my daughter, Carol,” he said, introducing her to Steve without ceremony. Carol was too out of it to say Hi. Before Steve could say anything, James added. “Let’s take separate boats.”
“Are you sure, buddy?”
James answered Steve by putting Carol down in his own motorboat. He put a life vest around her neck and secured it for her. He took a floppy sun hat out of the motorboat’s storage and put it gently on her head to keep the bright sun off of her. Once he had her situated he turned back to Steve.
“The main dock is right by the IGE building, which is Ground Zero for the spiders. There are probably still a lot of them there, and maybe even more still hatching. We’d be better off if we land a little ways south of there and then take the long way up to the hospital.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Steve said, smiling. The bright sun was reflected sharply in his mirrored shades.
They took the two boats up the coast to Boston, a trip that took about half an hour. It took a little longer than usual since Steve’s boat wasn’t equipped for high speeds. The entire time James worried about his daughter. To his happy surprise, however, Carol seemed to improve along the way. By the time they neared the south docks of Boston she had stopped groaning and was even smiling. James wished they were going on a lazy sightseeing tour, rather than having to dodge giant spiders.<
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“Okay, sweetie, we’re going to be going into town, back to the hospital,” James told her as the boat neared the docks.
“Yay!” Carol said happily. “Can we get some candy?”
“Not this time, sweetie. We’re going to get in and get out as fast as we can. We need to hurry so we don’t meet any spiders.”
Carol’s face twisted with intense dislike. She remembered all too well how the spiders had attacked the Ice Cream Man while she was with her mother, and how she and her mother had narrowly escaped with their lives.
“Those spiders are mean!” Carol said. “Even if Mommy says spiders can’t be mean. Those are the meanest spiders ever!”
“They are pretty mean,” James agreed. “And that’s why we’re going to stay away from them.”
“Daddy?”
“Yes, dear?”
“Is your friend mean?” she asked, meaning Steve, who was behind them in his boat.
“That man isn’t my friend, sweetie. And I don’t know if he’s mean or not. I hope he isn’t. But whether he’s mean or nice, he’s going to help us today.”
“He’s helping us?”
“Yes. It’s good to have some help when you’re dealing with spiders.”
Carol didn’t respond to this. She merely looked thoughtfully at the cityscape of Boston as it loomed larger.
Chapter 8
When they got to the south docks, there were no spiders to be seen, a fact which enormously relieved James. He lifted Carol out of the boat and then he and Steve tied their two boats to the dock. As always, there was the chance that either boat could get stolen. But that was the chance they always took. That’s one good thing about the spiders, James thought to himself. As dangerous as they were, at least they didn’t steal boats. The same couldn’t be said about their fellow humans.
Speaking of fellow humans, there were a few other people in the vicinity. James noticed that an older couple had pulled an RV up with a small boat lashed atop the vehicle. The fellow, who looked to James to be in his late sixties, had a Hawaiian shirt on and a straw hat. The woman looked to be about the same age. James could see that they were trying to get the boat off the top of the RV and were having a tough time of it. He decided to walk over with Carol and offer them a hand.
The couple looked a little nervous but said Ok. James let go of Carol’s hand and helped pull the boat down from the top of the RV and set it at the edge of the water.
“Thank you kindly,” the older fellow said, and James told him that he was welcome. Then he took Carol by the hand and walked back over to where Steve was waiting. That was about as much communication with other people as folks typically had in the days that followed the spider apocalypse. James would like to think that people would band together more, but most of the time they kept their distance. He reflected that it must be even harder to survive for older folks like this couple and he was suddenly grateful that he and Hannah were still relatively young and able-bodied.
As James, Carol, and Steve walked along the dock, and through the city streets, Steve made a point of chatting. It was mostly small talk about Boston and about how awful the spiders were.
“Mommy says that spiders can’t be mean, but I think she’s crazy,” Carol said, not knowing any better.
“Mommy says that?” Steve repeated and shot a glance to James. “I didn’t know you had a mommy on board.”
James might have lied just then but decided against it. Inwardly he cursed himself for not taking the time to coach Carol.
“Yes, my wife. She stayed behind to guard the boat with a gun. Can’t have anybody trying to take our stuff.”
Steve gave a little chuckle and the sunlight blinked on his shades. “Well she must be a pretty little lady for you to keep her hidden away like that!” he said in a joking way, as if he were one of James’ close friends and were in the habit of making quips like this.
“My mommy’s beautiful!” Carol said happily. James gave her hand a little squeeze as they walked along.
“I bet she is,” Steve said and smiled.
James was about to make a response, something that held a hint of warning without being offensive to his daughter’s ears, when the three of them heard the telltale rustling of the spider swarm. It was the sound of thousands upon thousands of spider legs moving and mandibles chewing.
The three of them cast their eyes around.
“There they are,” Steve hissed and gestured with his chin.
James looked ahead and saw a black wave advancing from down the street. The spiders were still far away, but they were moving swiftly. The three of them had perhaps a minute to find shelter.
One of the tricks of staying alive in spider territory is to constantly keep an eye out for where to hide if the spiders suddenly show up. Buildings with doors or windows that can be opened and closed again are the best bet. Although most buildings by this point had fallen into decay or had been looted, with the windows broken and doors ripped off their hinges. Running inside such a place was futile, since the spiders could easily follow you and then kill you in the darkness. James looked around frantically, trying to spot a place where they could lock themselves inside.
“Oh shit,” Steve said with despair in his voice. James spun around to see what Steve was looking at.
Behind them, at a much closer distance than the wave of the spiders that loomed ahead, was an even larger swarm of spiders. This swarm was only a block away and was moving fast. The raucous rustling of hairy spider legs sent a shiver down James’ spine.
“Run!” he shouted and picked Carol up in his arms. His daughter started sobbing against his shoulder. He felt awful for her, knowing how terrifying this situation must be for a child.
James headed down a side street and noticed that Steve ran beside them. The younger fellow could have very easily run faster but deliberately held back to keep pace with James, who had his daughter in his arms. Despite the fact that James had serious doubts about Steve’s character, he appreciated the fact that he hadn’t run off and left them stranded.
“All of these buildings are fucked,” Steve said. Normally James would have chastised him for swearing in front of his daughter, but considering the circumstances it was acceptable.
“I see that,” James grunted as he ran.
Behind them the swarm of spiders came pouring around the corner and started advancing down the street they ran on. James could hear the chewing movements of their mouths. It was a sound that reminded him of boiling pretzels.
“We should try some of these cars…” Steve said.
The idea struck James as less than ideal, but the fact is that they didn’t have any other choice. The spiders would be upon them in a moment and they needed to be in an airtight shelter before that happened.
“Good idea,” James said.
Steve started pulling on the handles of the cars that they ran past. James was grateful that he had taken Steve along after all, as it would have been hard for him to do that while carrying Carol in his arms.
After they’d tried about ten cars, setting off several car alarms in the process, Steve finally pulled the handle of a car that had been left open by its owners. The car was a Volkswagen, probably the smallest car they could’ve found. Oh well, James thought. Beggars can’t be choosers.
“Get in!” Steve shouted and held the door open for James and Carol.
James cupped his hand over Carol’s head and held her as he ducked into the car. They crawled into the back seat. Steve jumped in after them, climbing up front. He slammed the door behind him and locked both his door and the passenger’s side door. No sooner had he locked the doors than the wave of spiders overtook the vehicle.
It was as if a wave of black lava had caught the car up in its flow. The Volkswagen was actually lifted off the pavement and carried along by the moving swarm. The windows of the vehicle were covered with the bodies of twitching, chewing, flailing spiders. Fangs and mandibles, claws and hairy legs, fat bulging bellies, and black
eyes like poisonous berries, all pressed against the glass, threatening to break it. As had happened the day before, James could swear that the spiders were whispering in a repetitive chant. “You cannot escape us. You cannot escape us.”
By some miracle the glass windows of the car didn’t break. The spiders were larger than even yesterday, but not so large that they could easily break the glass windows of a car apparently. An unexpected benefit of the spider’s size was that they could no longer squeeze themselves in through tiny openings like the vents in the car’s hood, or the opening of the exhaust pipe. Even though James was terrified, he was grateful for this fact.
James wasn’t the only one who was afraid. Carol by that point was wailing in abject fear. And Steve was visibly shaken. All around them the spiders gurgled and clicked and made a strange sound like the sound a door with a rusty hinge makes when it’s slowly opened. Something about this eerie whine made James think that it was the spiders’ collective cry of frustration. He knew the creatures were hungry and wanted the three of them for dinner.
The fact that the car was being carried along was another disconcerting element of their predicament. It was the feeling of having absolutely no control. They were like a feather caught in the breeze.
“Too bad we don’t have the keys to this thing,” James managed to say.
“I could probably hotwire it!” Steve shouted. James could tell by the way his voice was shaking that he was terrified. Carol continued to sob and wail in James’ arms.
James had to hand it to the younger fellow. Even though the car was tilting one way and then the other, and seemed on the verge of being flipped upside down, Steve managed to extract two wires from under the steering wheel mount and then work his magic. It took a few minutes – which seemed like an eternity for James and Carol in the back seat – but Steve was successful. There was a crackle of electricity and then the car roared to life. Steve sat back up in the driver’s seat, gripped the wheel, and stepped on the gas.
There was a sound that could only be called the spiders’ screaming. The wheels of the Volkswagen began to spin, catching the soft pliable bodies of the spiders in its traction and spinning them around, breaking the creatures, and spitting them out behind the vehicle. The spinning wheels turned the spiders into a sort of black mud. The spiders were frantically trying to get away from the wheels, but there were so many of them that they couldn’t move fast enough. Steve kept the gas pedal pressed down to the floor, spinning the car’s wheels, grinding up spiders, until the Volkswagen managed to “eat” its way through the spiders and back down to ground level. As soon as the car touched down on solid pavement, it shot forward like a rocket.