The Last of Her Kind Ch. 05

Still, she had the element of surprise. They still didn't know who she was, and she needed to use this to her advantage. She couldn't go home now, couldn't access the meager possessions she had collected. They were looking for her now, and she didn't want them catching on. What she could do, however, was vanish in the middle of the day, run to the sanctuary Emily had offered her and live out the rest of her days in peace.

Her belly ached, causing her to groan. She still needed to become pregnant with Darren's seed, and her efforts at self insemination had failed so far. Already, a battlefield had been drawn in her mind, the war between logic and instinct now begun. If she ran, she wouldn't have time to find a suitable mate, and the longer she had spent with Darren, the more attached she had become. It seemed stupid, but their faux dates that ended with a blowjob had become the highlight of her day. Those intense moments of intimacy had connected her to another being in a way she hadn't expected, and the thought of leaving such a connection behind was painful.

However, the thought of being unable to reproduce scared her even more. She could take a chance and harvest his semen again before she left, but there was no guarantee it would work. Attempts had been made with her own hands, an old turkey baster, and even some plastic markers to push his seed deep inside of herself, but the efforts had been for naught. Her body hungered for this pregnancy, and every instinct in her body demanded that she do it right.

She dismissed the spider in front of her, and it departed with a wave, vanishing into one of many cracks in the window frame.

They were going to wait in her home to ambush her. She needed to act now, but how?

The best option wasn't ideal, but none of them were. She would have to leave today, to sneak away before the trap could be sprung. Clearly they hadn't sussed out her true identity, which meant she still had the element of surprise on her side. She took the long ramp around the outer wall of the library down to the main floor and made her way into the staff bathroom, locking the door behind her. She opened a secret compartment in one arm of her chair to reveal the thick wad of cash she had stashed away. Unrolling it, she pulled the piece of paper from the middle and read the numbers again.

She had looked it up on a map more than once and knew right where she was going. It was a patch of wilderness with no accessibility to cars or hikers, and she knew it was where she had to go, and she needed to leave today. She tucked the scrap of paper in her pocket and put the money back inside the wheelchair. Once she left, she knew that the Order would catch on to her deception, so she would lay a few more false trails of her own.

Leaving the bathroom, she continued her rounds, watching the man surveilling her home. After almost forty minutes, he left, walking out the front door and then down the street. She rolled over to the desk and found Louise stamping cards and humming to herself.

"Hey, Louise?" She cleared her throat for the librarians attention.

"Yes, dear?"

"I'm not feeling super well and was planning on going home early, if that's okay."

A frown of concern rolled across Louise's face. "You're never sick. Of course, I'll close up for you."

"Thanks." Ana put a hand on her stomach for emphasis. "I appreciate it."

"Do you want me to come check up on you?" Louise asked.

"Um... actually, I was going to have Darren help me out. I'll write a list of some things I need from the store for later that I'll take to him, if that's okay. I just want to sleep, and he'll be there in case I need anything."

"I certainly am glad to see how close the two of you have gotten." A smirk crossed the older woman's face.

"Um, yeah, I guess." You have no idea, Louise.

"Call me in the morning though and let me know if you'll be in. And if you need anything." Louise leaned forward across the desk and gave Ana's bicep a loving squeeze. "Can you do that?"

"Of course." I'll miss you so much. Ana turned her chair around and rolled over to one of the desks and scribbled a quick note to Darren. Those men were waiting for her and she couldn't have him going home, not yet. If they started asking him questions, she'd never get the chance to breed and would have to flee.

She did, however, know what would get him moving.

It was tough to find him, but she eventually spotted him outside, cleaning up the garden bed. Bent over the begonias, he made a few soft snips of the clippers to remove some dead bulbs from the bed, then tossed them into a bucket.

"Hey," she called out to him, trying hard to avoid looking at the church. "The sheriff called."

"Walters?" Darren stood up, suddenly all business.

"Yeah. He needs your help with something right away." She handed him the slip of paper. "Told me to tell you to meet him at that address as soon as possible."

"Okay, I guess I'm off." He rubbed the dirt off his hands and picked up the bucket. "I just need to put these away first."

"I got them." She grabbed the bucket out of his hands and picked up the clippers. "I could use some fresh air anyway."

"I...uh..." He rubbed the back of his head, a slight grin crossing his face. "Yeah, sure, no problem."

"Do you know where you're going?" Ana asked.

"Street sounds familiar, I'm sure I can find it." He pointed down the road. "That way, right?"

"Yep. Six blocks and then turn north across the bridge. It's the building with a red roof on it near the top of the hill."

"Okay, well, I guess I'll be back later." He wiped the sweat off his brow and broke into an easy jog, casting an odd look at the church once he got to the end of the street.

Ana clipped a few flowers and then rolled her chair around the corner of the building before tossing it behind some bushes. She headed toward the path she had led him down for their first date, but forced her chair to pass between a thick pair of bushes, the branches scraping at her sides. The address had been for the dugout at an old baseball field that rarely saw any use. She tilted the chair forward, her front legs walking on the ground to carry it over a pair of rocks before setting it down on an old trail that few people knew about.

Moving as swiftly as she could, she followed the old trail down to the river and then alongside it. Sensing no humans nearby, she crossed over to the other side, rolling through an inch of water. Once across, she rolled through the brush until she emerged on the sidewalk behind a real estate office. Her legs spun the wheels quickly from inside as she raced to beat him there.

It was an easy jog, but Darren's mouth was dry from the heat. Licking his lips, he ran across the bridge and saw the street name he was looking for. Satisfied that he was on the right track, he slowed down a bit when he came to the hill.

If Walters had wanted him so badly, he wished the man had come pick him up. Then again, if the man couldn't break away from his work, then it was likely that it was super important anyway. There were only a couple of buildings up the hill, and they soon vanished behind clusters of trees and brush. A long wheat field lay before him, broken up by a large patch of dirt and a parking lot. He slowed down, his eyes on a building with a red roof.

Something didn't feel right. He didn't see Walters' car or anyone else for that matter. Maybe Walters was still on his way? He slowed down to survey the terrain.

Seeing nothing, he continued. The dugout building had a door that long ago busted from its frame, and he stepped inside for a quick peek. Seeing nothing, he walked back outside—only to have his world go black.

The universe was a fog of voices and shadows, his mind floating in a pool of memories. He was in the jungle, the church, his old elementary school, a military jeep on patrol. He was everywhere and nowhere, his mind tumbling like a stick in a river.

Everything eventually came into focus, but there wasn't a lot to be seen. The walls of the dugout had been exchanged for stone, and the ceiling for sky. Looking around, he realized he was in a type of pit, and the sky told him that some hours had passed.

When he tried to turn, he realized he was restrained. Puzzled, he turned his head to look at the ropes binding him and was horrified to see that he was pinned up by a giant, sticky web.

"Help!" he cried out, convinced he was dreaming, but not entirely sure. He wiggled his whole body back and forth, but the webs were like steel bands. Letting out a few more screams, he let himself go limp, hanging in the air. He is feet were easily two feet off the ground, and he realized that he had been stripped naked, his cock hanging limply in the open.

"Darren." A dark figure emerged from a gap in the rocks, rolling forward in her chair. "We need to talk."

"Oh, Ana, thank God! Do you have a knife or something? I need to get out of this. Where are we?"

"A small box canyon, out on the edge of town. Nobody comes out here anymore. The hunting is no good and the trail gets too dark at night." Ana let out a huge sigh and rolled closer. It took a second, but Darren realized that she hadn't pushed the knob on her chair.

"Why are we here?" he asked.

"This was something I was really hoping to avoid." She shook her head, her hair shimmying across her breasts and shoulders. "Truly."

This had to be a dream, Darren thought, flexing his arms. Certainly he had gotten tangled in his sheets at home, the sensation transferring to this lucid dream world he had found himself in. Still, he somehow remembered being summoned by the sheriff, but nothing after he had arrived. Was the whole day just a dream as well?

"Look, cut me down and we can talk. I'm... I really don't like it up here."

"I wish I could." Ana hung her head now, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. "I... can't let you down. Not yet. There's something I need first."

He stopped struggling, contemplating the small woman before him. "What do you need?"

"I need... lots of things." An inner war played across her face. "My life is complicated, Darren. I mean to say, it was super complicated already, but even more so the moment I met you."

"This is a weird way to break up with a guy."

"We can't break up, Darren because we were never truly together. You knew that."

He shrugged, sending a ripple through the web. "Okay, that's fair, but I also think it's only fair you tell me what's going on before they show up."

"They?" Ana looked over her shoulder. "They, who?"

"Charlie. My squad. Cutter. Ana, my dreams have been shit for a long time now. Up until recently, I'm not even sure I could properly sleep. That being said, I fully expect this dream to change soon, and I suspect it won't be pretty." He wiggled his arms for emphasis. "But don't worry about me. I'll still wake up in the morning, good as new."

Ana sighed and just shook her head. "You're not dreaming, Darren. The web is real."

"I don't see how it could be." He tensed up again, feeling the web stretch a little. "This is just like the giant one in the steeple. That's probably why I'm dreaming about it, I haven't taken care of it yet."

"You know about the web in the steeple?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I didn't tell you, because I didn't want to freak you out. Thought maybe I would clean it up, but it's not like it was hurting anybody, so I haven't done it yet."

"How are you feeling right now?"

"I'm... feeling good, actually." He flexed his arms again. "It's weird, but I feel like I should be scared right now. I'm just kind of... relaxed."

"That would be the venom kicking in." Ana rolled forward, indecision in her eyes. "I... this web is mine. The one in the church is also mine."

"I guess I don't follow. Do you have a pet spider the size of a horse or something?" He exaggerated a grin at her, expecting her to laugh.

"No. Darren, I need you to listen to me. This isn't a dream. You are awake. And this is my web."

He shook his head. "How? How is such a thing possible?"

"I..." She looked down. "I'm going to show you, but I want you to know something. I'm not completely in control here, not anymore. If it was up to me, I would have just walked away and left you behind. There are people here, people hunting me. They aren't after you, so don't worry about that, but if they knew I was here, they would kill me."

"Why?" Darren's tone was now serious. "Did you do something?"

"No. I didn't, but my family did." She let out a sigh. "Darren, my family was wiped out by these people in Europe when I was still very young. I can't even blame them—my family did some terrible things. But now... now they want to finish the job. And I have to go."

"Ana." His dark eyes bored into hers. "I could protect you. Walters could protect you. Whoever these people are, we can stop them."

"No, you can't. And even if you could... you might not want to." She rolled backward, away from him. "I'm about to show you something, but I want you to promise me something first."

"Anything."

"Promise me you won't scream." She bit her lower lip. "If you scream, I'm not sure what I will do."

The gears in his brain turned, but he had no answers. He thought back on his life, in the moments where he had truly lost control. If what she had to show him really was so scary, it wouldn't matter what he promised, because he sensed it was going to happen either way. "I'll do my best."

"Okay." She tugged her boots off, and the first thing he noticed was that she didn't have feet. Not normal feet, anyway. It was like a flattened horse hoof, pressing into the cool rock.

Wiggling forward, she undid some velcro on her tartan skirt and shifted forward. Somehow, she stood on her front two legs, her face frozen in a wince as if she was lifting something heavy.

"You... you can walk?" he asked.

She ignored him, her body coming out of the chair now, but it was more than that. A large black mass extended behind her, and pair of metal poles emerged. He blinked, his brain trying to settle on what it was he was seeing, his heart racing as he watched the metal poles bend and settle on the ground like a pair of insect legs.

More followed. A thick, black abdomen that looked like it was made of metal, and four more legs. The chair was, in fact, hollow, and her body expanded a bit, revealing that she now stood on eight black legs. Her skirt dangled over her pelvis, and from the waist up, she was as beautiful as ever, her pale skin glowing eerily in the shadows.

From the waist down, she had the body of a spider.

"Darren." She took off her glasses and her whole face shifted. Her hair slid away from her face, revealing several almond shaped orbs that now regarded him coolly. He could see his own reflection in each of them, realizing now that he was looking at her other eyes.

She waited for several moments, allowing him to take it all in. His mind reeled in horror, but also fascination. It didn't make sense, seeing a woman's body melded with that of a spider, and his first instinct was to scream, to fight his way free.

However, he noticed the way she regarded him, holding up her chin and waiting. She was expecting to be rejected, to hear his inner fears manifest and, in turn, be shattered. In this moment, she was far more afraid of him than he was of her.

"Well?" she asked, her front leg tapping impatiently.

"I... this is a lot. I don't know what to say."

"You're scared, aren't you?"

"This is quite the shock, but I don't know that I'm scared." He looked at her legs. They seemed smooth at first glance, but he could now see hundreds of fine hairs that hooked upward like barbs near the bottom. His eyes traveled up along her body. Other than the extra eyes on her forehead, she was still very much Ana. "It's kind of weird seeing you without your glasses."

"I see." She blushed, then rubbed her stomach. "Um, so you're not freaked out?"

"A bit, I guess. This is like one of my dreams, only you aren't trying to kill me."

"You dream about giant insect people?"

"Not quite. I dream about the jungle, and I see their faces everywhere, the people I've met, the ones who died. In the rocks, the trees, the mud, and yes, even the bugs. I'm still not entirely certain that I'm not dreaming, to be honest."

She walked toward him, the movement in her legs smooth. Her legs extended until they were at eye level with each other.

"I am the last of my kind," she told him, her voice quiet. "And I planned on keeping it that way, but... nature has a way of getting what she wants." She touched his face with one hand, tracing his chin with the back of a finger. "I don't want you to hate me for this, but it's something I have to do."

"Ana." He didn't know which eyes to look in, but settled on the human ones. They were familiar, and if he didn't know better, she was still that girl in the wheelchair that he lived with. "Talk to me."

"I have to mate. Need to. And I can't hold back much longer."

"You and I have already done... some stuff. I guess I don't see the big deal here."

"My kind captures men and uses them. And when they're done..." she leaned in close and lifted her lips, revealing the sharp fangs beneath her lips. "We eat them."

A cold chill went through his body. "Do... do you have to? I mean... kind of hoping you don't."

"My venom keeps you from struggling, from trying to fight your way free, to make it easier. You are actually far more scared than you realize, but..." She shivered again. "The point is that I don't want to eat you. I don't want to go down that path and I never have."

"Then don't. I don't see what the problem is."

"Darren, half of me might be human, but I'm all predator. I rely on my instincts to survive." Her lips were near his, and she licked them hungrily. "I want to say that I am in control of things, but I'm not. The fact that we are even here having this conversation is proof of that."

Darren shook his head in disbelief. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because I want to give you a choice." She took a step back. "I wasn't planning on it, but I think back to how kind you've always been to me. I want to mate with you, to bear your children, but I might kill you when we are through. And I don't know that I could live with myself if I did. So I want to give you a choice. Tonight, I have to leave town, to keep from being caught by the Order, the men who are hunting me. If I give myself a head start, I'm sure I will find someone else, someone I don't care about, maybe even someone who won't be missed. But I need your answer soon, before I can't hold back any longer."

"You want sex, but you also might kill me?" Darren could see the lust in her eyes, hovering just over the flames of intelligence. She was on the edge, emotionally and physically, and he realized that it didn't matter what he chose. If he denied her now, than she was likely to pounce anyway, consumed by her own hunger.

"I might. When we are finished, I might turn on you, consuming you that my children might live." A single tear formed in her eye, then rolled down her cheek. She stepped close enough that he could feel her breath on his face. "I don't want to do that to you. I've never felt the way I do when I'm with you. I don't think it's love, not yet anyway, but in a different world, maybe..."

"Ana." He placed his forehead up against hers, closing his eyes. She was far more human than she gave herself credit for, and he didn't know how to make her see it.

No, he did. He could grant her request, and take that leap into the strange unknown. He was dimly aware that his thoughts were heavily influenced by whatever venom was running through his veins right now, but he supposed it didn't matter.

And if it killed him? He nearly laughed. Ever since Vietnam, he had been a dead man who just hadn't heard the news yet. Maybe Ana was fighting her own instincts, but it was time to rely on some of his own.