Chapter 26

The two of us stayed huddled in that bathroom for a little over a week before we were forced out by my growing hunger. In that time Fang and I managed to piece back together some semblance of sanity for me to operate with. I doubted that I would ever be able to return to the way I was before-or if the way I was before could even be considered sane, but for now Fang and I made it work.

The first thing I did was check the cafeteria, and while I found a lot of unspoiled food, none of it satiated my hunger. Fang had said nothing when I suggested eating normal food, instead choosing to let me learn my lessons the hard way. When I finally did ask him why nothing would fill me up, Fang had this to say.

“Young Master, you are a Lord and a Lord requires food of only the highest nutritional value. Did you really think stale potato chips and cookies would be able to satiate you?”

“Oh. Then what should I eat?”

“Meat is usually a good bet, though for the best result I would recommend Her Majesty's subjects.”

“Ok, where can I find them?”

“Well I could call some of my scouts over here if you would like, however…I believe it would serve you better to hunt for your own food. Perhaps a Cleaner would suit your palate.”

“Am I really strong enough to fight one of those guys though?”

Fang scoffed at my question and said “ But of course you are, they are no match against the power of a Lord. Have faith in yourself as I do, young Master.”

“Ok.” I said flatly. It wasn’t that I was scared-I wasn’t sure if I was even capable of feeling fear at the moment- I just didn’t want to bite off more than I could chew and get myself killed.

As if he had read my mind, Fang said “You truly needn’t worry Master. As long as you keep your wits about you the Cleaners won’t even be able to put a scratch on you. Such is the differential in power between a Cleaner and a Lord.”

I nodded, convinced and the two of us walked back to the Lobby and out of the hospital entrance. It had been my first time outside since the fog came and I was surprised by how much Dayton had changed in just a month.

The buildings around the hospital were damaged in much the same way as the hospital itself was, with craters and cracks scarring parking lots, and entry ways destroyed by massive bodies that had slammed into them. Some buildings had shattered windows too, as if something had crashed into them on the upper floors. Or even more morbidly, as if something has jumped out of them. There were even some smaller buildings that were now just great piles of concrete, rebar, wood and drywall.

Plant life had run amuck. Vines and grass had grown everywhere they could and the trees were becoming green again, despite it being mid autumn. Somehow this fog had a greenhouse effect that was keeping the temperature and humidity high enough to sustain plant life.

“The world is changing…” I said in a monotone.

“Indeed. Come, let us search for your prey. I will send my drones out to watch for Cleaners from the sky whilst the two of us hunt from on the ground.”

We didn’t bother looking inside of buildings, instead we flitted between alleyways and scanning the wider streets for signs of recent Cleaner activity. We found many pockmarked roads and busted up apartments, but nothing fresh within the immediate vicinity of the hospital. Perhaps it was because Fang had marked the building as his nesting ground, but for whatever reason it looked as though there hadn’t been any activity in the area since the first day of the attack.

The two of us were about to expand our search area when we got a message from one of the scouts alerting us to the presence of a cleaner a few blocks ahead of us.

"Be sure to learn from the great brute while you fight it, your DNA comes from the same family as theirs does."

"Ok."

We found the monster a few hundred meters away from the hospital, holed up inside of an abandoned fast food joint. When it noticed our presence, the spider left it's hideout in favor of using the four way intersection outside for our battle.

"Tch, so a Lord has already been born in this area?" Came a gruff, feminine voice inside of my head.

"You can talk too, huh?" I asked, answering the spiders question with one of my own. It might have just been my imagination, but it looked like the spider was shaking a little bit. With every couple of steps I took forward, the spider would take a step back.

"Are you scared?" I asked, a bored tone overtaking into my voice. I had hoped that a life threatening battle would do something to jump start my emotions, but this would be no good if the spider was frightened. "If you're not going to put up a fight then I guess I should just eat you."

The spider stiffened again, and stopped backing away from me. "You…!" she said, rage coloring her voice. "I will NOT back down from you! Just because you are a Lord does not mean that you're stronger than me, you arrogant little brat!"

"Oh, ok." I said simply, glad to have someone to fight against now.

The Cleaner took a step forward...then another step..then another, and with each one it's movements became slower and slower. Meanwhile I was just standing there, waiting to meet her to attack. Fang had told me that Cleaners were violent and aggressive warrior types, so I fully expected her to make the first move.

But that didn't happen. After attempting to take a fourth step forward I heard her voice inside of my head shriek " Damn it, nooooooo" and then the Cleaner turned around and ran the opposite direction from where I was standing.

For a moment Fang and I just stood there, stunned, then Fang yelled " After her!" And the two of us gave pursuit. The chase didn't last long.

Compared to a human the spider was lightning fast and terrifyingly strong, but compared to me? It was like she was moving in slow motion. When I caught up with her I jumped into the air and onto her back, where I began pummeling her with all six of my arms. She was able to withstand the onslaught and continue running for a moment, but sure enough she was soon forced to her knees.

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I hopped off and landed smartly a few feet behind her, raising my arms to fire urticating hairs. Likewise, the females spikes bristled and readied themselves to dislodge.

We stood like that for a moment, just a moment, then we fired off our hairs in unison. Most of our attacks hit their targets, with a few colliding in mid air. But where hers only thunked uselessly against my carapace, mine penetrated her through and through, leaving her backside a shredded, bloody mess.

Yet still the spider tried to run away, it's front legs supporting it's entire body weight now that it's rear ones had been ripped apart. I casually followed her lumbering mass, as her speed had been reduced to that of a humans, slowly catching up to her and breaking her remaining legs with a series of swift kicks.

"Please…" she pleaded, lying in a broken heap on the ground "Spare me...we have no choice but to follow her Majesty's orders but...but we didn’t want this. We have been used as fodder...for the next generation...for the new Lord's...for the soldiers that will come after us. We desire war and carnage, but not like this! There is no glory to be gained from fighting giants!"

I couldn't believe my ears, so I said " No honor in fighting giants? No glory in being used as fodder? You've killed tens of thousands of innocent people who had zero chance against you and now you're trying to tell me it's not fair that what goes around comes around? Get bent." I finished, punctuating my sentence by raising my foot and stomping it into her skull.

Her grey matter splattered all over the ground leaving a messy pile where her head had been. At Fangs urging I dragged the rest of her body back to the hospital, as he believed that it would be a bad idea to expose myself while eating. When I finally did eat the thing I was pleasantly surprised by it’s flavor, with the texture being quite soft and the meat tasting delicious.

“Do all bugs taste like this?” I asked Fang, a faint glimmer of joy showing itself on my face.

“I wouldn’t know Young Master. I actually expected you to be displeased with the Cleaner’s taste, but if it’s really that good then I am happy for you.”

Shrugging at his noncommittal answer I returned to my meal, savoring the delicious meat.

A few hours later I was once again standing at the foot of the staircase, mentally preparing myself to go up. I had decided to do this after the two of us let the bathroom and yet now that I was here there was a sense of apprehension that pervaded my mind.

Of course I knew that the humans would be frightened of me-even if I told them that I meant them no harm. I was prepared for that and to be honest I didn’t really care if they rejected me or not. What worried me was how I would react to seeing my mother again.

Before my transformation I had been dubious about her personality while believing that she was still essentially a good person. But now that I could see past that childish rose tinted view of the world, my opinion of her had dropped off significantly and I could only feel anger at her for foisting her poor life choices onto me. I wasn’t sure if I would even be able to look at her without becoming so enraged that it threatened my sanity again. I wanted to just leave this place and forget about everything but something…something inside of me was telling me that I would never be whole again if I didn’t see her just one last time.

And so, with my Fang by my side, I finally ascended the stairs to pay my mother a visit. It might have just been my imagination, but they looked a lot more worn than I remembered. The cold cement was cracked and the whole stairwell felt colder than the lobby had been. Though that might have just been my imagination.

I peeked through the door on each floor to see how many people were still here, but it was pretty apparent that the number had been dwindling. The noise on floor two was pretty much nonexistent, and floor three was quiet as well. Only when I got to the fourth floor did I finally hear some signs of life.

There were footsteps moving around and the place smelled cleaner than the other floors had smelled. Cracking open the door of the Hem/Onc ward, I peeked inside to see what the commotion was. Unexpectedly, it was the doctor who had told me to wait outside of my mother's room the day the fog came. He was going door to door checking on the people inside of each room and writing something down on a clipboard.

Quietly, I closed the door again and checked the remaining four floors for any other living persons. Unfortunately, it was all silent above the fourth floor, leaving me to wonder if all of the able bodied doctors, nurses and patients had run away in the month I was transforming, leaving that one man to care for the patients who couldn’t flee.

Well, it was good for me anyway. One man wouldn’t be enough to drive me off, and that one man happened to be taking care of the only reason I was still here.

Opening the door of the Hem/Onc ward again, I strolled inside.

“Misty, is that you? Thank heavens, I thought I was the only one left-” the doctor said, smiling as he walked into the hallway from one of the patients rooms..

Then he saw me and paused, turning pale as a ghost.

“N-No…” he said, slumping over. “Please, this can’t be happening…I thought we were safe…”

He sounded perilously close to tears.

“I’m not…going to…hurt you.” I said, struggling to get the words out.

“Wha…? You can speak” he said. He was still pale, but the fact that he was speaking to someone intelligent seemed to have calmed him down a little.

“Yes…where is…Pansy Perkins?…Is she…still alive?”

“Perkins? Y-Yes she is but….well if you don’t mind my asking why do you want to know?”

“…It’s me…doctor…It’s Peter.” I said.

The doctor's eyes widened as he did a double take, openly staring at me. His mouth opened then closed a few times as he tried to process what he had just heard. Finally he had gotten over his shock enough to ask the obvious question.

“Peter…what has happened to you my boy?”

“Too much…maybe I’ll tell…another time…take us…to mom.” I asked, Fang popping up behind me.

The doctor gasped when he saw Fang, but when the spider made no move to attack either of us he calmed down again. Perhaps it was his bedside manner training, but this man was quite adaptable.

“I..Yes, alright. But before I take you to her there’s something you need to…no, no it will probably be better for you to see it yourself.” The doctor said, tripping over his own sentence a few times. It was obvious that he hadn’t had any decent conversation in a while.

He led us to the same room mom had been in when I left her. The door was shut tightly and before we were allowed in the doctor had just one thing left to say.

“Just…just don’t be too surprised by what you see. Her condition is common with the type of cancer she has and…well here it is then.” he finished, opening the heavy wooden door and letting it slowly slide on its hinges.

Like before her bed was sat next to the window, with a dull grey light coming into the room from the fog outside. Unlike before however, a bedpan sat by her bed and there were candles casting a soft glow around the room. Mom was awake and staring out the window with a blank look on her face, as if she weren’t really seeing what she was looking at.

At first this didn’t surprise me, as there wasn’t much to see in the fog. But after trying to get her attention it became abundantly clear what was going on.

“Mother…i’ve come…to see you.” I said, approaching her bed.

She didn’t turn her head, or say anything or give any indication that she had heard me at all.

“Mom…I’m here.” I said, a little more loudly.

Still no response.

“I said…i’m here! Do you…not care…that your son…is alive!” I shouted, now thoroughly frustrated by her indifference. Then by chance her head tilted in my direction and I got a good look at her eyes.

There was nothing in them. Not fear, nor understanding nor intelligence. Just a blank, neutral expression that made me realize what was happening.

I didn’t turn around, I just said “She’s already…gone.”

It wasn’t a question, but the doctor still said “Yes. After the fog came her condition deteriorated rapidly. The most I could do for her was take the pain away and make her comfortable. I’m…I’m sorry Peter.”

I nodded and said “Thank you doctor….Could you please...leave me alone...with her?...You too Fang...let us be...for a while.”

“Of course, take all the time that you need.” the doctor said, leaving the room while holding the door open for Fang to follow.

“Will you be ok?” My spider asked

“No.” I replied

Nodding, Fang followed the doctor out and left me to my thoughts.

For a while I just stared at her, and her at the fog. Neither of us moved much, or said anything-not outwardly, at least. Although inside…

“It’s funny…all this time I thought I would be mad at you. You wouldn’t believe the hours I spent thinking up the perfect arguments to make you see just how royally you screwed my life up. I wanted to have you begging me to forgive you just so I could say ”No!“ and then make you regret the things you’ve done even more. After all, the only thing being your son has given me is grief and madness.” I paused, letting my emotions finally return.

“ So why…why do I feel so sad right now?”

My fists were clenched a lot tighter than I remembered them being.

“I mean, you’re irresponsible, you were never home, you never cooked or cleaned or any of the things the other kids' parents did. I…I guess you did take care of me when I got sick though. But your chicken soup was terrible…”

I didn’t know why, but my chest felt tight.

“At least you always remembered my birthday…every year we went to that pizza place with the cheesy singing animatronics. I guess you had your moments, huh? Even after all of the stuff you did, you’re still my mother…that’s why…that’s why it's so hard to stay mad…”

My vision had gone blurry and something warm was running down my face.

“But It’s not fair…you…you can’t just leave without…without hearing what I have to say…you…you didn’t even say goodbye…i…didn’t get to tell you that I still love you…I just wanted…I just wanted…wanted you to…”

I stood over her bed and held her hand for a while after that, and if you had been listening in you might have heard the sound of a gruff voice whispering something.

Something that sounded like “I love you.”

But it couldn’t have been me doing that. Never me.