Page 71 - Demo

71through it. She sensed or noticed a tiny movement at the far end and something only reachable by passing through the density of webs stretching from the wooden joints above to the hard ground below.She aimed herself at whatever moved, and closing her eyes, stepped forward. The webs pulled against her body, coating her with a shroud of silver grey netting as she tried to shut out the disgust and revulsion she felt. The webs stuck to her face and covered her lips, her breasts, torso, arms and legs.She stopped and opened her eyes. The distance she had covered meant she was just half way. She wiped the webbing away from her eyes, and saw it clearly then, the shape of a curled up spider on the ground and against the wall. It twitched but hardly moved much at all.She closed her eyes and stepped forward, one horrific stride after another, until she bumped up against it, causing the spider to become more active as she felt a leg come around her waist. She opened her eyes and saw in the torchlight reflected from the ground, a large dark eye staring at her.She reached out her finger tips and touched the body of the thing in front of her.%u201cI know you%u2019re dying. I came to show you that you were successful. She lifted the matchbox so its eye could see it, and slid the drawer open to show the tiny spiders inside. She closed it again. %u201cHundreds of your children are now out in the world, not trapped here in this cellar as you have been. You are not going to die alone.%u201dThe spider removed its arm and slipped down to lie on the floor. Elaine got down onto her hands and knees, crawled forward until her naked body was against the soft underbelly of the spider. She put an arm around it and switched off the torch. %u201cI will stay with you. I sense you have minutes remaining. I%u2019m Spider