I like to share one page from my book, let me know what you think.
Behind the sticky white ropes that hold the doors shut is a large desk, hallways branch off in every direction around it. Then I see the unmistakable cocoons covering the walls, some full of half-eaten people. I reach my arm through the gap in the doors and rip away the webbing; the elevator finally opens all the way.
A gurgling sound comes from behind the desk, and I step around lightly to see what it is. One of the special soldiers is encased in webbing on the other side, a dog-sized spider shakes the man, trying to rip his flesh off but is unsuccessful.
The spider lifts its head in my direction and hisses. What I see shocks me, causing me to step backward and trip over a partially eaten body. The spider has the face of a human, with razor sharp teeth that almost resemble fangs. It’s back was encased in a rock-like armor, similar to that of the bear.
The strange creature spits webbing, but I leap over the desk and out of the way. Suddenly, I hear rapid movement coming from each of the halls around me, growing louder as what I presume to be more spiders make their way to me. I realize that I’m right when dozens of spiders come into view from each hallway. I tell Mrs. Hayes and the captain what is going on.
“Do what you can to stop those things and find anybody alive.” Mrs. Hayes says. “You are the last of the defense. If you can’t stop them, we will have to purge the third floor. You have thirty minutes unless we hear from you that it’s all clear.”
The spiders continue their way down the hall as the spider in the room with me leaps in my direction. I catch it in the air and smash it against the desk with enough force to crack open its hard shell. Green goo spills from the spider, covering the floor beneath it and spraying onto my arms and clothes. The smell of mildew assaults my nostrils.
I look to the other spiders that were finally making their way into the room with me. They stop for a moment before crawling around again like they can no longer see me. Whatever this goo is that came out of the spider is hiding me from the others, so I take the opportunity to try to find someone alive.
I rush through the hospital halls, checking room after room for signs of life. I find officers, doctors, nurses and even some patients, but they are all encased in webbing and partially eaten; none were alive. After searching nearly two dozen hospital rooms, I knew that it would take me too long to search them all, so I head back to the center where the large desk is.
The person encased behind the desk began to move, so I walked over and began pulling the webbing off of them. I told the person to keep quiet, I’m still not sure how the creatures are able to hear us. I pull away the last of the webbing, and before I can get a look at the person I freed, the spiders in the room take notice and start moving our way.
“I think the creatures couldn’t see me in the webbing,” a familiar female voice says. “It somehow blocks body heat, which they must use to see. Whatever that slime is all over you probably hid you as well.”
When I face her, I instantly recognize her as Alley Garner, the woman I started training with almost a year ago. “We don’t have much time,” I tell her, “help me take these creatures out.”
“Let’s do it,” Alley says, getting to her feet.
Webbing whips through the air towards us, but I block the spray with a computer chair and throw it at the nearest spider, pinning it against the wall. Another spider leaps at Alley, and she flips over the desk, kicking the creature into an open filing cabinet. It tried to climb out of the drawer, so I ran over and slammed it shut, severing the spider in half.
When I turn back around, I see that one of Alley’s hands is caught in webbing. A spider jumps at her, and she does a roundhouse kick, knocking it into three more spiders and sending them all into the wall. Spiders keep crawling toward us, their heavy legs thumping louder the closer they get. I shout to Alley over the noise, telling her we have to find the rest of the team.
“I think I know why they’re following me,” she yells back, jumping over the desk and running down the hallway to the right. I follow closely behind, blocking attacks from the oncoming creatures, smashing them with anything I can grab along our way. We get to a heavy glass door, locked with a card scanner. “They’re in here,” Alley says as I peer inside.
I immediately recognize the woman I helped from the big spider a few days ago. She’s stuck to the wall in the corner of the room, a cocoon covering most of her body as she stood encased without moving. Beneath her are large egg sacks, the size of a beach ball, already opened. Looking around the rest of the room, I see a lot of spider creatures crushed on the floor and against the wall, all dead. The rest of the team members are stuck around the room, webbing covering parts of their bodies as they struggle to get free.
One of the men attached to the wall saw Alley. His voice sounds muffled through the glass. “Hey! It’s Alley, she brought help.”
I ask Alley to get the door open while I watch her back. Dozens of spiders crawled along every surface toward us. Alley’s startled voice brings my attention back to her. “Oh my God! This is where the spiders are coming from.”
My eyes follow where she points to the corner of the room. The encased woman still looks unconscious as a sack slides out of her cocoon. Six more spiders break their way out, and it’s hard to imagine how they all fit. They move towards the remaining team members, and each does their best to fend off the creatures, swinging wildly from within their cocoons.
I turn back to the hallway just in time to smash two more spiders before they attack. I urge Alley to hurry to get the door open, and she says, “I almost got it. Just a few more seconds.”
Alley continues fidgeting with the scanner by the door, and after a few more seconds it finally slides open. Alley and I rush inside the room and push the door shut as spider after spider leaps against the glass. The team members managed to take care of the spiders in the room with them, but I ask Alley to watch my back as I free them, just in case.
I frantically pull at the web of each person, and when I get one down, they help me work on the next person. We get to the last person as the woman in the corner speaks. “It is done.”
The lower half of her body began to move against the webbing, stretching it until it busts apart revealing her newly formed spider legs. Her two front legs have huge claws that appear to be dripping black liquid; the lower half of her spider body is armored in stone. Two more eggs fall out of the cocoon with her, breaking open. A dozen large spiders escape and crawl up the woman spiders back. The woman spider looks up at us and says that she needs to eat. I grab the hospital bed and use it to shield us just as she spits webbing in our direction, then toss it at her, knocking the spider woman against the wall.
I look at the clock on the wall and inform the rest of the team that we only have two minutes before they purge the floor. Everyone gets their weapons ready and runs to the door. I stop them, standing in front of the door and tell them about the spider blood. Everyone takes a moment to cover themselves in the green goo, and I try to help as many as I can.
mgshepard 