The Last of Her Kind Ch. 06

"Fuck!" He screamed, running past Jeffrey and nearly pushing down their waitress who had come to see why two grown men had walked into the women's bathroom. Both of them were outside of the restaurant in moments, circling around to the back. Cyrus pulled the metal tube from his jacket and held it up as they turned the corner of the building.

There was no sign of the Arachne, but her prints were everywhere. She had crawled up to the roof of the building. Running around the outside, they found where she had descended, her prints moving toward the far side of the parking lot and then abruptly vanishing. They looked around, scanning the area, before Cyrus yanked open the panel on the tube.

"What are you doing?" Jeffrey asked.

"Figuring out what happened." If she had left the area not too long ago, the watch would play it out. He scooped what was left of the fluid out of the tube and stuck it in the watch and activated the time piece. His stomach flipped instantly, and he crouched down on the ground to watch.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Jeffrey shouted when he saw what happened in reverse.

Cyrus said nothing, afraid that he would throw up.

Darren stuck to back roads for most of the night, stopping only occasionally to check his map. A small headache was forming behind his eyes, and he pulled in to a gas station to grab a drink and fill the canteen. He topped off the bike before setting off, using the map to find his way to the other side of the forest.

His squad-mates were largely silent, their voices floating on the breeze. The sun was coming up when he finally turned on to the main road, heading north along Interstate 84. He nearly passed out, the steady roar of the engine lulling him to sleep. Pulling over onto the side of the road, he found a small ditch hidden from view by thick bushes. Moving the bike out of sight, he found a comfortable spot in the shade and lay down, wadding up the jacket to use as a pillow. He closed his eyes, determined to take just a quick nap so that he could set out once more.

Somehow, he could feel her touch, even from so far away, and his mind quickly drifted to the jungle, and then back. Like a pendulum, his consciousness swung back and forth, eventually settling on a dock in Texas, several years back. Puzzled by the change in scenery, he walked along the old planks of Grand Mill Pond, his childhood fishing hole.

A dark figure coalesced on the edge of the dock, a fishing pole in the water.

"Susie Miller showed me her tits yesterday." It was an eighteen-year-old Dwayne, his face hidden beneath the wide brim of a red Ford hat.

"Liar." Darren sat next to his brother. Taking off his boots, he put his feet in the pond, sighing at the phantom chill that traveled up his legs.

"No, it's true!" Susie Miller, who was the same age as them, had been a longtime crush for both of the boys. "I helped her find her dog, and she showed them to me afterwards for helping."

"Bullshit." Darren couldn't help but smile, his dream now in charge of the dialogue. A few moments passed before he spoke up again. "So... what did they look like?"

"Fucking perfect." Dwayne turned to face him, a cigarette dangling from his lips. He was always stealing cigarettes from their dad, but was too much of a pussy to actually smoke them, so just burned the tip to look cool. "They were like... just, round and beautiful."

"What about her nips?"

"Silver-dollar sized." Dwayne made a circle with the thumb and index finger of his free hand. "Absolutely perfect."

"Did she let you touch them?"

"Hell yeah!" Dwayne's face darkened. "No, not really. I didn't even think to ask."

"Did you ask her out?"

"Nah. I mean, if she showed them to me, then who else is she showing them to?"

Darren wanted to point out that Susie Miller was probably trying to impress his brother, or that maybe he was the only person she was showing her breasts to, but his lips were like mud, unable to move.

"Nice." He looked out across the pond. "Anything bitin'?"

"Nah." Dwayne reeled in his line, tugging just hard enough to reveal the bloodied arm of a Vietnamese soldier. "There's nothing good out here to catch anyway."

"Then why do you keep coming here?"

"Cause anything is better than being over there." Dwayne's body expanded, his shirt splitting up the back and revealing the olive green fabric beneath. His brother was an adult once more, but he still wore that Ford baseball cap and held onto his fishing rod. "Nobody likes it over there."

"Ah." He looked across the pond, and saw that instead of thistle and an old farmhouse on the other side, it was a dense jungle swarming with shadows.

"So what's next?" Dwayne dropped the fishing pole into the pond. It vanished quickly beneath the murky depths. "After you find Ana."

"I'll probably go with her. Wherever that is."

"Not really a plan." Dwayne pulled the Snickers bar from his pocket and offered Darren half. Darren wanted to decline, but he wasn't in full control of his body. "After you go... wherever. What then?"

"I don't fucking know." He took a bite of the Snickers. It tasted like sand inside of the dream, but he swallowed every grain. "I just... I don't know that I can be without her."

"Do you love her?"

"Sort of." He couldn't lie to his brother. "I'm in love with the idea of her."

"You into bugs?"

"It's not that. You said it best. Anything is better than being over there."

Dwayne grinned. "As long as we're being honest... did she show you her tits?"

"Fuck yeah. And they were perfect." He could see them in his mind, those milky white orbs with pale blue nipples.

"You've got some strange tastes these days." Dwayne pulled the Snickers bar from his pocket. It was whole once more, and he opened the wrapper and broke it in half and gave it to Darren. This chunk tasted like sand, too. It made his gut heavy, like lead.

"I like how she makes me feel. If I had to pick a drug, I could do a lot worse."

"She's half a spider, man." Dwayne handed him another half portion of the Snickers bar, and Darren ate it as well. His whole body was inexplicably heavy now. "Do you think you could be happy with a girl like that?"

"I'm happier than I was." He looked at the water. The shadows had parted beneath the surface enough to reveal a bunch of mottled gray hands that opened and closed beneath the surface. He wanted to pull his feet free, but couldn't move.

"That you are." Dwayne smiled, handing Darren another bite of Snickers. "And alive, don't forget that. You might be tempted to toss it away, but I promise that you aren't winning any prizes. Me? I'm not one to judge. Just want to sit here and fish."

"You aren't fishing." Darren looked up at the sky. Dark clouds had gathered on the horizon.

"But you are." Dwayne pointed at Darren's feet. Icy cold hands grabbed him by the ankles and pulled, yanking him off the dock. Darren raised his hands to cry for help, but his body was now full of sand, and he sank beneath the water where the shadows were waiting to pull him apart.

He opened his eyes with a start, staring at the morning sky up above. The clouds in the real world were dark as well, and it was impossible to tell how long he had been asleep. Taking a deep breath, he stood up and grabbed the Harley by the handlebars to walk it back to the road. He didn't see any traffic, and was back on the road pretty quickly.

An hour later, he turned off the interstate and headed north. There were a couple of small towns on the perimeter of the forest that were worth checking, and the first one was an immediate dud. It was a small community with very little traffic, and Darren figured that Ana would be looking to hitch a ride.

No, that wasn't quite right. He knew that she would be looking to hitch a ride. She needed to remain unseen, which meant something large enough to sneak into. The largest car he saw on his trip through town was a station wagon, and while it would be large enough, he doubted she could sneak into the back without being spotted.

Leaving town, he stopped on the side of the road to check his map once more. The others huddled over him, scrutinizing the map with him.

"I'm still thinking she'll skip through," Hayden said.

"I don't know." Little Mike tapped the town Darren had just left. "If she had found a ride, this idea makes a lot of sense."

"So how do we tell which town she went to?" Dwayne looked up at Darren. "Think."

"She's lived here long enough to have at least heard of these places." Darren squinted at the names on the map. "But I doubt anyone would just casually mention a town as a great place to hitchhike."

"So then she might have just used a map like you did. Maybe even this one." Dwayne pointed at the map again. "If you weren't sure where you were going, but wanted to hitch a ride, what would you do?"

Darren read the town names again. "I would probably aim for one of the larger towns to increase the odds. Bigger towns have bigger names." He tapped the next town over. "Hopefully she will swing through here."

"She could actually swing, you know." Little Mike held up his hands when the others glared at him. "No, seriously. She's a spider, so she probably... never mind."

The Harley roared under Darren as he drove north, the wind ripping through his hair. He squinted, keeping his eye on the road, and found himself following a semi into town. Smiling in spite of himself, he took a quick trip through town hoping he might spot Ana. The main street had a couple of small shops, so he pulled over at Hardy's Hardware and walked inside.

The old man behind the counter was busy sorting saw blades into a box when Darren walked up. The man looked up, a ratchet in each hand.

"Help you, son?"

"Yes. I'm trying to find a friend of mine, a woman in a wheelchair. She's pale, and—"

"Ain't seen her. Told your friends the same." The man stuck a pair of blades in the box and then folded it up. "But I've been doing inventory, so wasn't paying attention."

"I... I see." Darren opened his mouth and then closed it. The owner looked at him, waiting to be asked something else. There were only two people who could be asking about Ana. "So, about my friends. We split up a bit ago and lost track of each other." If he couldn't find Ana, then the next best thing would be to find the men tracking her. "Any chance you remember how long ago were they in here?"

"Dunno, been maybe an hour? They were headed down to 3rd, last I saw." The man pointed over Darren's shoulder. "Took a right at the bookstore. Looked like law men maybe. You don't look like a law man, though."

"Of course not. I'm a family member, just trying to help. Thank you, sir." He gave the man a wave and backed out of the store. A quick trip down to the bookstore revealed that a woman in a wheelchair had been there earlier, as well as two men looking for her. He assured the cashier that it was just a case of a misplaced friend who needed to be picked up, and then went on his way. Stepping outside, he looked up and down the street, wondering where she could have gone.

"Stay focused," Dwayne cautioned him as Darren paced the sidewalk. "Remember why you're here."

"I'm here to find Ana."

"Yes, but why? Why is she here?"

Darren looked around to make sure that nobody was watching him. "Because she is trying to catch a ride."

"What kind of ride?"

"Dunno. Truck, trailer, something big."

"And where could you find those?"

"Gas station."

"True." Dwayne crossed his arms. "But wouldn't it look suspicious for her to just sit around a gas station?"

"I guess."

"So where could she sit and wait? Where could she go that allowed her to watch traffic and hitch a ride, but not draw attention to herself?"

"Maybe..." Darren looked over Dwayne's shoulder. There was a large diner on the corner, the lot already full.

"There ya go." Dwayne grinned and vanished into the shadows as Darren ran back for his bike. He hopped on and rode the bike down the road, his eyes on the front window of the diner. There wasn't much to see, but his eyes locked on a man with a large grey trench coat sitting just inside the bay window. Across from him was his partner, Jeffrey.

"Assholes," he muttered, pulling into the parking lot. Now that he had found them, he needed to follow them, figure out where they were going and then stop them if he could. Looking around the parking lot, he tried to figure out where a good place to hide would be when he saw a dark shadow move across the top of the diner and then drop down behind a parked sedan.

"Ana?" He whispered her name, his heart pounding in his chest. Giving up on hiding, he dismounted, and took the knife out of the saddlebag and strapped it to his belt. Running across the lot, he knelt down behind the cars. "Ana, are you there?"

"Darren?" Her voice was quiet and loaded with disbelief. Turning around, he spotted her face underneath a van. "Is that really you?"

"We need to get you out of here. Now."

"How did you find me?"

"I found that slip of paper you dropped. Listen, those assholes tried to kill me and they're inside the diner right now."

"I know. Darren, please. Just walk away." She was moving back into the shadows.

"Never." He stood up and looked at the van. It was locked. He ran around to the other side, skipping the sports car, and then settled on a station wagon. The driver's door was locked, but the passenger door wasn't. He let himself inside.

"What are you doing?" Ana hissed. Darren popped the trunk and unlocked the driver's side door, freezing momentarily when he heard someone coughing near the entrance. It was a pair of men headed for a work truck, and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Get in." He left the back open, and Ana moved surprisingly fast, her body squeezing into the back of the wagon. Behind the steering column, he used the tip of his knife to bust off the steering column cover. In the dim light, it was hard to see the wires.

"Brown to white," hissed Little Mike.

Darren found the correct wires and twisted them together. The lights on the dash came on.

"Now sparky sparky." Little Mike pointed at another wire farther in and Darren touched the wires together. The starter kicked in, and the wagon turned over, the car rumbling pleasantly as Darren shut the door.

"You know how to hotwire a car?"

Darren shrugged and put the car in reverse. "A friend taught me. Just in case I lost my keys in the jungle and Charlie was up my ass." He backed out of the spot, put the car in first gear, and eased out of the parking lot. Once out of the lot, he headed for the edge of town as quickly as he could, casting one last sorrowful look at the bike Walters had given him.

They were back on the highway in just minutes, and there was plenty of gas to get them to the Interstate. They rode together in silence, Darren not entirely certain what to say. It was almost an hour after they had left the diner when Ana spoke up.

"Why did you come for me?"

Darren looked in the rearview mirror. Ana was leaning over the back seat, her hair draped over the headrests and her long, black legs sprawled across the wood paneling of the wagon. When she blinked her many eyes, it was like a ripple across her forehead, starting at the top left and working its way down and across.

"If I'm being truthful... I don't know." It was miserable to say out loud, but there it was, but he refused to lie to her. "I just feel like, I don't know, maybe I can't live without you."

"That's the venom talking. When I bite you, it makes you susceptible to—"

"Oh, I know. And frankly, I don't give a shit." He met her gaze in the mirror. "If nothing else, the main reason I came was because you were in trouble and I thought you could use a friend." He turned his eyes back to the road. "What happened to your wheelchair?"

Ana slumped against her seat. "Wouldn't fit through the bathroom window."

"Oh." Another minute passed. "It's weird seeing you without your glasses."

"I still have them." She pulled them out of a pocket and slid them on. Her extra eyes disappeared. "Might be better to wear them in case someone looks in here."

"What do I hear rustling around back there?"

"Just some books I bought. They're in a bag."

"I see."

"Hey, Darren?"

"Yes, Ana?"

"... thank you." She moved backward, vanishing in the shadows, her legs curling into the darkness. He wondered if she would speak some more, but a soft sigh was followed by the sound of gentle snoring.

With a big grin on his face, he drove onward. The miles were easily gobbled up by the station wagon as the sun set, and he pulled over just past the Oregon state line to put some gas in the tank. He opened the back long enough to toss his jacket over Ana as a blanket, and she pulled it over her torso, smiling before falling back asleep.

The station wagon pounded through even more miles, and the only company he had was the stars in the sky. He couldn't help but gaze in wonder at the celestial canvas that had been painted above, his heart full of hope and promise.

It had been over an hour since he had seen another car, and he wasn't paying attention when he passed a sign announcing that Buchanan was up ahead. It must be a small town, because he didn't remember it from the map. Fatigue was creeping across his shoulders, and he wondered if he should pull over.

Behind him, a car with only one headlight appeared, then disappeared behind a hill. Darren rolled down his window, hoping the cool air of the night would revive him. The headlight appeared again, then vanished. Whoever was driving it was certainly in a hurry, and his eyes flicked to the rearview mirror again.

"I'm getting a bad feeling," Dwayne told him from the passenger seat. "Maybe you can pull over somewhere?"

Darren pushed his foot down on the accelerator, the speed limit no longer a concern. "There's no way it could be them."

"Why not? They found her before."

"What?" Ana sat up in the back, her glasses askew. She pulled them off to wipe them clean, then turned her head to look out the back of the car. "Oh shit!"

The Harley Davidson came roaring up behind them, and Darren's palms broke into a sweat. Licking his lips, he focused on the road ahead, then gazed in the mirrors. The Harley swerved into the left lane and sped up, so Darren slowed down and swerved toward them, trying to knock them off the road.

The Harley dashed forward, both of its riders regarding Darren with absolute hatred as his bumper missed by inches. Fire was coming out of the tailpipe of the Harley, a stream of blue light streaming from the wand in Cyrus's hand into the engine proper. The cycle moved back and forth, easily able to outpace the station wagon, and Darren scowled, unable to ram them from behind.

Cyrus lifted his arm, and the blue light faded, causing the cycle to slow. Seeing his chance, Darren floored it, aiming for the back of their bike. Cyrus turned around and winked just as Darren hit them.

The Harley blew apart into motes of light that washed over the station wagon, and Ana was crawling over the back seat of the car.

"On your left!" she screamed, and Darren turned to see that Cyrus and Jeffrey were in the lane next to him.

"How?" Darren yanked the wheel to the left as Cyrus pointed his wand at the car. A flash of blue light blinded him, and Ana cried out behind him.

An invisible fist struck the station wagon, crumpling the driver's door and pushing the car off the road. The station wagon bumped over several rocks, tossing Ana around the backseat, and then the wagon tumbled end over end down the embankment. Darren was tossed from his seat, and he heard the loud crunching of metal around him, followed by Ana's screams. Powerful hands grabbed his shoulders, and the last thing he saw was the night sky above, with all of its stars gazing down at him with blazing judgment.