I was scrolling through the news feed on Andy's phone when the car slowed down by a rundown mall. There was, in fact, a walk-in clinic. But it had seen better days.
There were five other cars in the parking lot. A sandwich shop and a corner shop on both sides of the clinic were flashing "Open". But it was as quiet as the palliative care unit, where my grandma spent the last year of her life.
"It's a lunch break on Friday afternoon. Where are people?" Jess asked what we all were thinking.
After reading multiple posts from all over the world, my best guess was that they were dead. But I kept those optimistic thoughts to myself. I didn't share the news report with the crowd either. Andy was too worried about his mom. And Jess was still sobbing every few minutes.
"Maybe hang around until I confirm they are open?" I asked, looking at the clinic door.
"Sure thing," Andy said.
He kept the car running while I opened the door and stepped outside.
I hiked the duffel bag up my shoulder and limped towards the clinic's entrance.
The silence was intense. I could hear wind rustling through the tree branches, but there were no bird sounds.
The clinic door was unlocked. I opened it and stepped inside. The lights were on, the reception area had some papers strewn around, but otherwise, the place looked fine.
"Hello, is anyone there?" I called, propping the door open with a stool.
I stepped further inside and had to cover my nose when I caught a whiff of an acrid smell. The aroma of a fresh compost pile on a hot summer day crawled into my nose and clung to my mouth like a fatty residue on the sides of a plastic container.
I looked around one more time, but nothing seemed to indicate where the smell was coming from. The door directly to my right had a bathroom sign, and the one to my left said "Employees Only". So, the three doors behind the reception must be the doctor's office and exam rooms.
I decided to check the "Employees Only" room, hoping that someone would be inside. Embarrassed by my own actions, I grabbed a small corner table by the leg. The whole thing made me unbalanced, but it was better than walking with nothing in my hands at all.
Through the small vision panel, I could see the flickering lights in the room. There was a puddle of something brown on the way to the door. But it wasn't the source of the smell.
I carefully pushed the door with the corner table and looked around the room. It took me a few long moments to comprehend what I was looking at. Half of the room was covered in grey fluffy netting, like someone had sprayed Silly String all over. A piece of something padded thick with the strings was sticking just on the periphery of the open doorway. I stepped closer and noticed a hairy black pole moving towards the opening.
My lizard brain must have realized what I was looking at even before the spider came into view.
I turned towards the door and, with a barely conscious effort, [Leaped] outside through the open door. The table got caught on the doorframe and fell out of my hands. But I was free. The pitter-patter of legs on the linoleum floor chased me out of the building and through the parking lot.
I fell into the passenger seat, shaking and out of breath.
"Drive, drive, drive," I whisper-yelled at Andy.
He must have seen the monstrosity, because his bug-eyed expression was almost cartoonish when he turned the car back on the street.
I frantically patted myself all over, not even wincing as I disturbed my multiple injuries.
"What happened?" Asked Jessica.
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"Spiders! Do you see any spiders on me?" I shouted.
"No… No, you are fine." She caught my hand, going over my hair for the third time. "Chloe, you are fine. What happened?"
My hands were shaking when I squeezed them on the duffel bag strings.
"Can you put on your seatbelt already? The beeping is annoying." Jessica asked.
I hadn't even noticed it in my panic.
"Yes, yes, of course," I took a few relaxing breaths and noticed that we were back on a highway. I took off my bag and put on the seatbelt. The beeping stopped.
"The entire room was covered in webs…" I finally explained to the waiting Jessica. "The spider was the size of…. I don't know, a German Shepherd. It was hard to tell with all the legs and fuz…" I choked on the description, and a shiver ran down my spine when the picture came back up in my mind.
"You think it killed all the people?" Andy asked.
"I don't know, but it definitely smelled like it did."
"Insanity, this is insanity," Jessica mumbled.
"I wonder when it started…" Andy said. "That coffee shop where we met, it was so quiet this morning. There are always people there. You know, weekday morning, everyone loading up on caffeine before work. Do you think it started last night?"
"Maybe," I said. "There were so many webs out there. I doubt it's possible to make so many webs in just one morning."
"Listen, I am not implying anything, but you do have a head trauma. Maybe you saw a dog and took it for something else?" Jessica suggested.
I chuckled. Somehow, her comment reminded me of my father. And added to an already melting surreality around us.
"And your husband was killed by a pack of wolves?!" I asked.
"I did not see exactly… Maybe, and even then…" Jessica released a stuttering breath.
"Wake the fuck up, Jessica! We are in the middle of a monster invasion! Like real fricking monsters, dinosaurs, gigantic spiders and whatever those small green creatures on the internet are…"
"Just listen to what you are saying!" Jessica interrupted my panic-induced rant. "What is more reasonable, that you have bumped your head and have a hard time remembering things, or that aliens are invading Earth?"
"Ok, Ok!" Andy yelled over us. "It's been a stressful day. Let's reset."
"Turn right on Glendale," Jessica said after a short silence.
I looked around. "Glendale vineyard," said a sign by the turn.
"Wait, there is only a vineyard at the end of this road," Andy said.
"Yes, we… Hm, I live there." Jessica answered shakily. "Look, sorry. I didn't mean to go off like that. It's only… He's dead, you know. So. Let's reset."
"Yeah, we understand." Andy supplied.
The narrow road to the winery was well-maintained. There was an electric fence warning sign, and Jessica had to come out and talk to the intercom for the gate to open. The drive to the mansion took another five minutes of awkward silence.
Two people rushed out at the sight of the approaching car. An older-looking man had a rifle on his shoulder. A woman was wearing a maid's uniform. I don't know about Andy, but I was feeling out of place in my dirty clothes and rusted Ford Focus.
Andy stopped the car and went out to help with the body. I stayed in the car, but opened the window.
"Oh, Mrs. Glendale, we were so worried," the maid said as soon as Jessica stepped out of the car.
I could hear Jessica starting to cry again and telling them the story of what had happened. And, yep, in her story, they were attacked by wolves.
"No, we didn't receive any texts," the older man replied to Jessica's question. "All the cell phones are down, but the landline still worked an hour ago. Your parents had called. There's been a wildlife intrusion on their property."
They started to walk towards the house, Jessica somehow through tears, directing the procession of Andy and one other man carrying her husband's body. Meanwhile, the maid was supporting Jessica up the steps to the rustic porch.
The older man headed to the car and opened my door.
"Mrs. Glendale said you were injured. I'm not an expert, but I have some EMT experience. I can take a look if you would like?"
"Sure. Sounds good."
It was more than I expected from Jessica after her outburst, but I wouldn't say no to this help. Who knew what the rest of the hospitals looked like right now?
The man wanted to help me out of the car, but I climbed out, using one of the walking sticks for support. Walking on my own was hard, but I was still capable of it.
"My name is Chloe," I introduced myself as we slowly made it to the house.
"Noah," he said.
He walked me through the house into the guest bathroom.
The space inside was as fancy as the outside. Heavy wood furniture with iron hardware, terracotta tiles, and thick cream coloured plaster, exposed wooden beams crossing the high ceilings overhead - I felt like we were in the invite-only summer club.
In the bathroom, I sat on the solid wood bench so Noah could inspect my cuts. Who even had a bench in the guest bathroom?!
After a peroxide soak, Noah helped me undo the dressings. In the strong fluorescent light, the cut on my leg looked even worse. It was clear that the infection was already festering inside. And it hurt like hell, too. Noah stared at my forehead for a bit, then finally gave his verdict.
"You should shower first. Just don't scrub these too much. After we apply the dressing, keeping these dry would be a priority."
I nodded. I was hella excited to shower, too.
"There is a robe in that closet, and Maria can wash what you are wearing while we apply the dressing." He added before leaving me alone in the room.
Chloe's Deck (2/10):
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Blue Card: [Leap]
Instantly leap forward up to 6 feet. Beware of obstacles. Cooldown 30 minutes.
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Blue Card: [Heal Wound]
A small burst of healing for a single target area you touch. Cooldown 1 hour.