Bite Me Spider: An Eight-Legged Nightmare Page 11

  James ran over and was just about to swat the spider off the old man’s arm. But the spider struck first and drove its fangs into Bill’s exposed flesh.

  “Arrrgh!” Bill cried out in agony.

  James slapped the spider off him a split second later and then shot the beast as it tried to crawl off, leaving a stain on the parking lot.

  “Did he get you?” James asked, although he already knew the answer.

  Bill clutched at his shoulder with trembling fingers. When he pulled them away he looked down and saw two red bite marks, with a stream of blood trickling from each. He nodded solemnly with gritted teeth.

  This was bad news indeed, but James couldn’t pause for long. He turned back to the advancing spiders and began firing double-time, making one spider after another explode in a shower of black slime.

  “Take that, fuckers!” he shouted as he blasted, newly enraged by the attack on his friend.

  As he fought off the horde, he fully expected the rapid necrosis to overtake his friend, causing the old man to bloat and explode in an abundance of gangrenous flesh. But for some reason this didn’t happen.

  After James delivered a few more rounds of gunfire, the spiders began to tentatively retreat. James knew that the spiders wouldn’t be away for too long. Rather they were just regrouping.

  James knew that they would have to either beat a hasty getaway in the RV, or somehow convince the gatekeeper inside the door to let them in. If they left and came back later he knew he would be in the same situation, having to convince someone who didn’t care about them one way or another to let them in without whatever password was required.

  “Hey!” he shouted to the figure that was no doubt still behind the warehouse door. “Let us in or I’ll drive through your front door!”

  He knew he was in no position to make threats, not when the unseen gatekeeper most likely had a weapon aimed at him from the door slot, but the fact is that James wasn’t thinking very clearly. He was sick of fighting off giant spiders and he wanted his daughter’s damn medicine.

  “I tell you what, motherfucker. You trade me those semi-autos and I’ll let you have your daughter’s headache medicine or whatever it is.”

  “Fine!” James shouted. “Now let us inside!”

  He knew he was being overly aggressive without the muscle to back it up, but he was proceeding with the philosophy that a good offense was the best defense. What’s more, he could hear the boiling pretzel sound again – this time even louder than before – and knew that the spiders were on the verge of making a second attack.

  To his and Bill’s surprise the door opened.

  “Well, get your old asses in here!”

  Both James and Bill hustled inside. The door was rapidly shut behind them.

  Chapter 18

  The inside of the warehouse was as dark as a tomb, due to the fact that all the windows were boarded up. The only light came from slats in the covered windows. It took James a few seconds for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

  “What are your names?” a voice demanded from the shadows.

  “I’m James. This is Bill. What’s your name?”

  “I’m Doctor Feelgood.”

  James very much doubted that the man was in fact a doctor, and furthermore he seemed to excel at making people feel bad, rather than good.

  It was to James’ mild surprise, therefore, when his eyes adjusted enough to see a man standing before them in a white lab jacket, with a stethoscope hung around his neck.

  His garb was the only doctor-like thing about him, however. The young man’s face was the grim visage of your average city thug. There was a callous look in his eye and in his hand was a pistol. James wondered how close they were just now to getting shot.

  “Well, Dr. Feelgood, do you have any antiseptic I can use for this bite on my arm? A bandage would be nice also…” Bill grunted in a manner that was far from friendly.

  The man in the doctor’s outfit looked at the older man with a snarl. “Yeah, I think we got something like that…” he said with reluctance, as if the idea of helping the old man was against his moral code. It was obvious that any assistance he provided would be given begrudgingly. Even so, Bill obviously had to take it.

  “What kind of weapons they got?”

  This question was asked by another voice that came from deeper in the darkness. The owner of the second voice stepped forward from the gloom. When James saw this second man’s face he got a jolt from how ugly he was. Not only was the second man a surly looking character. He was missing his nose.

  James knew that cocaine addicts – serious ones at least – ran the risk of having their nose cartilage deteriorate. He suspected that that was the case with this fellow. Either that or he had lost it in a fight with a spider. The front of the man’s head had a hole in the center of it, where one typically sees a pair of nostrils. The hollow nose-hole was unpleasant to look at, to say the least, and it gave the man’s face a skull-like appearance.

  “What kind of weapons you got, old man?”

  James thought it was funny that the man without a nose called him ‘old man,’ when he was probably around his same age. What’s more, the fact that he was missing his nose made him look much worse for wear. Nevertheless he decided to ignore the insult.

  Bill answered the man with no nose, telling him the names of the weapons they carried. James noted that Bill refrained from naming most of their weapons they had on hand, a choice which he thought was quite wise. While James was desperate to get the medicine he needed for Carol, he knew that they would need weapons to ensure their safety, not only while they were there at the warehouse but on their way back home. Also, James didn’t like the idea of Bill giving all his weapons away to common thugs. The idea irked him and made him feel bad for getting the old man wrapped up in this mess.

  “And what kind of drug you need?” No Nose asked James.

  “Algopyrin.”

  “Algo what the fuck?”

  “It’s called Algopyrin. It’s for my daughter who gets bad headaches.”

  “Gimme that rifle.”

  James looked to Bill, who nodded that it was okay. James handed over the weapon.

  No Nose looked him up and down, as if deciding whether or not he was on the level. Then he turned to the darkness.

  “You!” No Nose shouted to a third figure who was lingering even deeper in the shadows. This third man stepped forward. He was squat and fat, with a broad head and a toad-like face.

  “Yeah boss?”

  “Take this old ass faggot to the back to get him whatever drug he needs. Don’t give him none of the good shit! Just make sure he gets his Alpo Ripin or whatever the fuck it is. And give that old man some antiseptic or whatever the fuck, and a bandage.”

  “You got it boss.”

  “Wait a second!” No Nose said harshly. “Get back over here!” he was talking to James.

  “What?” James turned and asked in a voice that was probably a little too surly.

  “You got any other weapons on you?”

  Before James could answer, No Nose told him to lift up his shirt.

  James did as he asked, and revealed the snub-nosed revolver that he had hidden in his pants.

  “Trying to pull a fast one, huh?” No Nose sneered. “Take his gun…” he instructed Toad Face.

  Toad Face took the snub-nosed revolver.

  “Now go on and take him back. But keep a close eye on him. I don’t trust this old ass buster.”

  The toad-like man nodded and then told James to follow him. As they walked away, James could hear No Nose and Dr. Feelgood talking to Bill about what kind of weapons he had. He could hear them say that as soon as the spiders outside were gone, they would head out to the RV to see what was on hand. James was worried that something would happen to Bill while he was away and made a mental note to get back as soon as possible.

  Toad Face led James through the darkness. There was only enough light to see a few feet before them. As they walk
ed through the gloomy warehouse, James became aware of a pungent smell. It was the stench of unwashed humanity. He also heard groans and pitiful sighs. He looked around with his slowly adjusting pupils and saw a row of mattresses lined up on the floor of the warehouse. Half-naked figures were stretched out on these stained and wretched mattresses, clutching at dingy sheets or strewn about like corpses. It was obvious to James that the people here were all drug addicts. They were at the warehouse to nod off while under the influence of their drug of choice. The fisherman shuddered as he considered their abject existences. They were slaves, not only to the thugs who ran the place, but to the substances that coursed through their diminished anatomies. A sense of imminent decay hung over the place like a specter.

  At the opposite side of the large room was a dispensary of sorts, with a long counter and various windows lined up, like one might see in the rear of a pharmacy. Beyond the dispensary windows James could see row after row of medicines and medical supplies. He was reminded of what the nurse who gave Carol her MRI had said about the warehouse, about how every team they sent there was lost and never made it back with the supplies.

  Toad Face waved James over with the snub-nosed revolver.

  “Tell the girl what you need…”

  James leaned against the dispensary window and saw a young woman in a nurse’s uniform. He was instantly struck by how different she looked. Unlike “Dr. Feelgood,” with his lab jacket and stethoscope, the nurse didn’t seem to be pretending to be a medical professional. She appeared to be an actual nurse, who had either worked there before the thugs took the place over, or was part of the hospital team that had been sent out for supplies and had never returned.

  Toad Face lingered by his side like a shadow, and so James was on his best behavior. He didn’t make small talk with the nurse but simply told her the name of what he needed.

  “Algopyrin. Please”

  “How much of it do you need?” the nurse asked.

  “As much of it as you can spare…” he said hopefully.

  The nurse stepped away from the window for a moment and tinkered around in the supply area. Toad Face, meanwhile, looked around aimlessly. James got the impression that he was the least capable of the thugs and generally didn’t take his role too seriously.

  As the nurse was gathering the Algopyrin, James put together how the operation there worked. The thugs had taken over the warehouse and were running it as a sort of opium den, letting drug addicts use the place to get their fix. He imagined that payment for the drugs and place to crash consisted of either sex, or in the case of male customers, by providing access to their strung out girlfriends or family members. It was truly an awful place where soul-eviscerating deeds happened as a matter of course. James wondered how many ruined lives had ended there.

  As he watched the nurse work he surmised that she was the only “normal” person there, but imagined that she was routinely exploited by the thugs. He shuddered to think of the indignities that she must be subjected to on a daily basis and it made his heart burn with a need for vengeance. She was somebody’s sister or daughter or girlfriend, he thought, and if he were that father or brother or boyfriend he would want someone to come in and not only rescue the nurse but avenge her.

  The nurse came back with a dozen boxes of Algopyrin, which she then packed in a bag. As she passed the bag through the dispensary window, James muttered a cryptic phrase about wanting to give her something for her trouble. He reached down, lifted his pant leg, and came back up with his fishing knife in his hand.

  As Toad Face turned to see what James was up to, the edge of the blade of the fishing knife passed through his throat, sending a shower of ruby colored drops flying through the air.

  Toad Face put his hand to his bleeding neck and gurgled as blood poured from between his fingers and out of his quivering mouth. As the thug sank to the ground, James handily relieved him of his gun. Luckily the moaning and sighing of the addicts covered up the muffled sound of the Toad Face’s death throws.

  “I’m getting you out of here,” James hissed under his breath to the nurse.

  She looked at him with eyes wide open in surprise, both at his having killed Toad Face and at his declaration that he was rescuing her. Despite her shock she managed to cough out the word “Okay.”

  “How many of them are there?” James asked.

  “Just the three of them,” the nurse hissed, still shocked at what was happening.

  “Okay, stay here,” he whispered.

  He knelt down to wipe his bloody knife off on Toad Face’s shirt as the two-bit thug clawed at the dusty floor and inhaled his last gasping breath. Armed with both his gun and his knife, James nimbly walked back through the warehouse, being careful to avoid running into the addicts moaning in the shadows on their mattresses. As he neared the front of the warehouse, he could hear No Nose and Dr. Feelgood berating Bill for either not moving fast enough or for not having the exact type of weaponry they wanted. As soon as James got into range he threw his knife. It flew across the intervening space and buried itself in the back of Dr. Feelgood’s head.

  Before No Nose could fully register what he had happened, he turned to face James, who had already lifted his gun.

  The thug barely got out the words “What the…” when the bullet entered the hollow place where his nose had been and sent his brains flying out the back of his skull with the force of a watermelon dropped from a ten story building.

  Bill walked in through the front door just as the shot was fired.

  “Holy mother of God!” Bill muttered and almost dropped the weapons that he held in his hands.

  “Sorry to surprise you like that, Bill.”

  The loud blast shook the older man. As soon as he saw that James was the one who had fired, his facial expression turned to one of enormous relief, even though the shock of violence still lingered there. James was sorry he had to do such a gruesome deed in front of the older fellow, but he didn’t see any other way around it.

  “How did you manage to pull that off?” Bill said with a slight stutter as he looked at the bodies of the two thugs on the floor.

  “I’ll explain it on the way to the hospital…”

  “The hospital?” Bill asked, more confused than ever.

  “There’s a nurse here who has been kept as a prisoner. We’re going to take her back to the hospital. And while we’re at it, we’re going to bring them some much needed supplies.”

  Bill nodded as he began to understand the plan. Despite the awful shock of the tumultuous events, he was impressed by the younger man’s gumption and noble spirit.

  James ran back to the dispensary and explained the plan to the nurse.

  “Do you think you can do one last job and tell me which supplies the hospital needs the most?”

  The nurse said of course and thanked James for rescuing her. She said her name was Doris. James told Nurse Doris that she was welcome and walked behind the counter to help her pick out the supplies. He was sure to snatch up the bag of Algopyrin as he passed by the window, reminding himself that even though he was bound by duty to do this good deed, he didn’t want to take any longer than he had to. After all he wanted to be with his family and give his daughter the medicine she needed.

  He also made a point of grabbing some antiseptic and bandages for Bill. As he gathered the items he shook his head, amazed that the spider bite hadn’t killed the old man by that point. Maybe the spiders are changing, he thought to himself, and this thought gave him hope. When he got back to Bill, he helped the old man to clean and dress the wound.

  As Nurse Doris, James, and Bill all worked to load up the RV with the most essential medical supplies, they had to constantly step around the twitching bodies of the addicts on their stained and wretched mattresses. It seemed to James that their discomfort had increased over the hour or so they had been there. When they had the RV packed to the absolute limit, James asked Doris what she thought they should do with the helpless brood.

  “W
ell, they’ll all need to be entered into a detox program. Some of them will be successful in kicking their habit. Others will end up back on the streets or in another flop house like this one. That’s just the way it is.”

  “What should we do with them now?” James asked.

  “I can give them all a gentle sedative, to take the edge off and help them sleep through the night. And then tomorrow the hospital will have to send more people out to come get them. I’ll oversee the procedure to make sure they have access to the help that they need.”

  James was impressed with Doris’ attitude. He knew that her existence at the thug’s drug den couldn’t have been a pleasant one, and yet here she was, still willing to help others. Again, he was touched by the sheer strength of the human spirit, even in an age as desperate as the one they found themselves in at present.

  After the nurse gave out the shots, the addicts all slipped into a deep stupor. Their moans of pain and agony became hums of drug-induced contentment. James was able to locate a key to the place, which he then gave to Doris, so that they could lock up the warehouse and keep it secure from both the spiders and any new gang of thugs who might want to take over the operation. Doris assured him that she would return with more hospital staff the following morning.

  As they drove to the hospital in the RV, Nurse Doris told James and Bill the story of how she had been captured and then was forced to work for the thugs. It was when the hospital had sent a group of doctors and nurses to gather supplies. Doris had volunteered for the effort, even though she knew it was dangerous. Other parties had already been sent by that point, and none of them had made it back. She soon learned that the earlier parties had all been killed. The lab jacket and stethoscope that Dr. Feelgood wore had come from one of the doctors who went on an earlier mission, she added. They had killed him, along with the others. Hearing this reminded James that humans were indeed even more dangerous that spiders.

  Although neither James nor Bill had asked her about the topic directly, Doris mentioned that she hadn’t been sexually assaulted, although she had been routinely mistreated the entire time. As she explained, all three of her captors were addicted to cocaine, which rendered them all but impotent. And so she was spared that particular brand of horror. Both James and Bill were relieved to hear this.