I should have prefaced this before with the first chapter, but this was an exercise to so how well I could do by trying to write a chapter a day. I wanted to see if I was capable of such a thing that serialized Webnovelists do every day.
Enjoy.
Harris could do nothing but sit in unnerving silence as he kept hearing more and more screaming,
That same soft, piercing sound,
Then a sudden quiet.
After a while, he became tempted and carefully scooched himself closer to the handle of the van's doors and jumped and snatched them back once the screech of terror split the air.
"...Mother of Mary..." Harris hissed, unsure if he could handle this tension any longer.
But he had to, for his daughter's sake,
What would happen to her if he died or disappeared?
He didn't want to think about it,
Yet he did,
Enough to picture her in an orphanage, sitting by her lonesome -
No friends,
No family,
Only bullies,
Only those that would give her empty promises,
Many tunnels but no lights.
He put a fist to his forehead, prayed to god for strength to help him push forward. Then his head perked up upon hearing that strumming again - the Lady in White has found another prey to put on her web.
He held his breath,
Stayed stone still despite the pain in his knees of staying in this position for so long,
And the screeching of metal made him scream - claws tearing open holes through the van's back doors that made Harris able to see that the Lady in White was smiling, her hands turned into white claws. Her smile so wide that it seemed like her skin was stretching itself to make it possible.
He aimed his pistol as the Lady in White kept scraping her claws on the metal, making the hole wider.
He couldn't do it.
Lost the nerve.
Someone like her couldn't be sane, no way she was a normal person despite everything,
And yet the thought slipped into his mind,
And that was what got him caught.
The Lady in White zipped him out of the van, but before she could web him and take him to the web her head suddenly perked up and her smile vanished at once. She glanced around - Harris didn't understand how she could see with her eyes covered.
Then soon after she turned her head, it swerved to crane forward to look Harri's face with the same eeriness of an owl turning its head. He trembled at the sight, breathing out fearful puffs of air that he could feel flow back to his face due to how close she was.
She let him go,
A woman having hoisted a fully grown man like it was nothing,
And as he plopped to the ground, his hand that held the pistol was snatched by the webs that shot out of her two fingers and stuck it to the ground.
He tried pulling his hand, it wouldn't budge.
He looked up at the Lady in White, fearful of what was to happen next. In doing so, he saw the giant web she had
made nearby, with cocoons that he could only assume were of everyone in the cohort.
Except Freddie,
His cocoon was still on the ground.
Whatever was to happen next, he was forced to be a witness to whatever spectacle the Lady in White was planning, not expecting to see another woman in white land with soundless grace onto her haunches. He stared on. He glanced back and forth between the Lady in White and this Maiden in White with her flowing black hair. He couldn't see her face for she had that same mask on the lower half of her face like the Lady in White before. As well as her long side bangs obscuring the top half, the bridge of her nose and forehead barely visible. Even her outfit was eerily similar to the Lady in White, only with her she showed some skin on her arms, legs, and even her shoulders unlike the former who was totally concealed.
The Maiden stood,
Turned to look at the web the Lady made -
Harris couldn't help but think that with her back turned to them, her silence, looking up at the web, she seemed disappointed. But also something else, he couldn't help but think of the word 'ashamed.'
The Lady bared her teeth and growled,
Causing the Maiden to look back at her, still silent.
Time stood still as they stared at each other for a moment that stretched itself too long for comfort. They leapt for each other, shooting webs in their flight - one of them flew past Harris's head and another nearly got him where the sun didn't shine.
They slung their webs - The Maiden zipped down to the ground,
The Lady flew over her with her kick striking empty air,
While a moment later, as on as the Lady flew over her head, the Maiden flipped back from her crouching position, flinging the Lady into a shipment container.
Boom!
The impact caused the metal to dent,
And if it had hurt the Lady, she made no sign of it as she quickly recovered from the impact, clinging to the metal like everyone's two friendly neighborhood web-slingers.
The Lady growled and darted off the shipment container's side, flying towards the Maiden like a bullet.
The Maiden zipped with her webs, propelling her to the Lady and her kick landed squarely on her chest, causing the Lady to yelp. A flurry of punches then wailed on the Lady, throwing her head thrashing back and forth. A hand shot out to grab the Maiden's throat, the Lady cried out when she slammed her to the side.
Boom!
The Maiden returned the favor before the Lady's leg shot out, slamming into the Maiden's abdomen and sending her flying back a few feet before the Maiden's hand smacked the shipment container to catch herself. For a moment, they stared at each other, both of them panting - the Lady holding her head, the Maiden holding her throat.
Harris eyed them wearily - thinking that there was new spiderperson in town was enough. Now two? He couldn't help but think about the first Spiderman wearing that black suit.
They lunged again, dashing on the side of the shipment container as though they were sprinting on the ground. Their attacks were too swift for Harris to follow properly, but the swish of their arms and legs were enough to imply how strong they were. Up and down the ladder of shipment containers - high up, down low, to a new set perpendicular or across, webs shooting out like fireworks, and swishes like billowing winds.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Any hit missing their target and hitting the containers like the clapping of thunder.
The Maiden landed a kick that threw the Lady tumbling to the ground. The Maiden zipped her webs to propel herself like a slingshot, her leg out for another kick.
The Lady quickly recovered and ducked down in a split the moment she saw the initial movement of the Maiden. As the Maiden went over and past her, the Lady turned her torso to web the Maiden in White -
The Maiden in White swung her arms and legs to give herself momentum to dodge by twisting her body,
The first shot missed,
And the second shot, following close behind the first, took hold of the Maiden's leg - the first being a projectile to trick her.
The Lady used both of her arms to tug the webline and the Maiden was flung towards her. The Maiden arms snapped forward, in the direction of the Lady in White -
Pew pew-pew pew-pew!
The Maiden shot her webs in large projectiles from her wrists like she were shooting pistols, all them of flying towards the Lady despite almost tumbling in the air,
The Lady rolled forward onto her hands, and with the push of her arms and the kicking of her feet she leapt up to avoid the first few shots. The rest were still flying towards her as she got into the air, their trajectory gradually changing with the Maiden's aim.
Pew, pew, pew!
The Lady shot her own web projectiles to shoot the ones that didn't miss her out of the air.
They were ever getting closer to each other -
The Maiden from the web pull by the Lady,
And the Lady in the path of the Maiden, about to go over but not having enough time -
Their webs shot out,
And caught themselves on each other, creating two parallel web lines.
At once, trying to out speed the other, they pulled taut, sharply turning them in a half circle before they both slammed into the ground.
It had only been so much as five minutes when this fight had started and already Harris knew that he was out of his league, should either of them beat the other and head for him, when he could just barely catch what was happening in that whole air battle.
Shooting projectiles out of the air,
Trying to out speed each other by seeing who could hit who,
This seeming hate for each other -
"...Anderson and Smith here..." Harris hissed, trying to keep himself calm, as he managed to finally fish his pocket knife with his free hand out of his right pocket, and was now currently trying to cut himself free.
He had managed to pierce the webbing and was currently sawing through with little progress when the two women jumped back to their feet.
The Lady rushed for the Maiden, throwing punches and kicks in rapid sequence, one after another, that her form began to blur, While the Maiden went on the defensive and dodged every single attack. Any move she couldn't dodge, she cancelled the momentum of each by striking the limb or the part of the body that focused on that momentum. If the Lady was going to kick, the Maiden kicked at her thigh or her lower core near the hip.
The Lady in White cried out in frustration, her speed waning from the anger, wanting to get a hit in.
Slap!
The Lady's head snapped to the right in accordance to the Maiden's slap.
Slap!
To the left.
Slap!
The Maiden then leaned forward as though speaking to the Lady in White despite her mouth not moving,
The Lady covered her ears, her pursed lip indicating that she was wincing before they barred in a hard grit..
The Lady's hand reeled back, her fingers turning into claws,
And slashed them at the Maiden,
Who didn't move, despite Harris feeling that she had every capacity to dodge it like before.
The moment the slash followed through in its arc, after a few streaks of red followed the Lady's clawed fingers, the Maiden's head flew back while the Lady screamed, stumbling back, and held her head before that clawed hand reached for her stomach.
Then something changed, the Lady froze and her jaw dropped.
She gingerly brought up her clawed hand, stopped, then tore the right side of the mask covering her eyes and gasped, covering her mouth with her free hand upon seeing the blood on her claw. She bumped into Freddie's cocoon and was startled. She froze again, Slowly, she turned to look at the web she made,
Then back to the Maiden, who was using her web to cover the gashes on her stomach.
There was a pause,
Then the Lady began to hyperventilate, her paced breathing indicating panic. She held her head before being reminded of her web claw by its now wet texture and frantically shook her hand in frantic whimpering. The webs fell away, becoming undone in white confetti.
Police sirens went off in the distance. The Lady jumped to the top of a shipment container and zipped away,
The Maiden looked at Freddie's cocoon for a moment before her hand became a web claw as well and stabbed it through. Pulling it back, it was red. She dismissed it, falling away like it had with the Lady in White, and zipped over to Harris, holding her stomach, a red spot growing where she had patched it over with her webs.
Harris held up his free hand, not wanting to trouble her, preferring jail time over whatever she could want with him. She stooped down, cut his hand free with a clawed finger, and snatched him in her hand before she zipped into the air. Harris couldn't help but yelp seeing the ground suddenly shrink before his eyes.
It was only a moment of swinging but he felt like a bobbing yo-yo before he was put down, still along the docks, in a secluded area away from public eyes. Soon after, the Maiden in White leaned against a nearby wall, holding her stomach. Harris put his pistol on safety and holstered it in his jacket.
"Hey..." He said, reaching out, then pulled his hand back when the Maiden looked at him, soon raising his hands.
The Maiden stared at him for a moment before making a cut with a clawed finger in her outfit at her chest.
Thereafter, she put her fingers in and pulled out ten one hundred dollar bills. She shoved it into his hand, curling his fingers around them, before ruggedly pushing herself from the wall and zipping away.
Harris watched her disappear into the night,
Then looked at the money she gave him, fear worming into him -
How was he going to get consistent pay now?
Cindy was back in the abandoned water tower, her sobs echoing around the interior as she hugged her knees -
She had lost control.
After that officer got killed,
After that one guy almost got killed,
How that one guy wanted to kill her no matter the collateral damage.
She couldn't get it out of her head -
She got that officer killed.
She had been reckless and zipped a little too low, enough for that officer to see her and follow her into that shipyard. She kept playing it back in her head - how his head snapped back, how he crumpled to the ground.
She banged her fist against her head -
Once,
Twice -
Her grunts grew into whines
- Thrice,
Four times.
She sobbed again.
All because she wanted to get the Calling out of her system quicker, so she would have to worry about at a later time than usual.
All because of this...
Because of it!
She never asked for this!
Any of it!
She let herself ride her emotions out. At the end, she ended up on lying on her side, staring blankly at the wall, eyes red, stray tears still falling, feeling empty inside.
Did that officer have a family?
Any loved ones?
How will they feel once learning that they are dead?
And they are dead because of her.
Because the Calling took control of her,
And because of that, she...
She can still see the blood, smell it, feeling the pain she had caused carry over to her.
She hugged herself, bringing her legs up.
It was colder tonight,
But that was fine.
It was a salve against the heat of despair. A treatment. For the heat was not made of embers. No. She remembered. After losing control, she remembered the joy of hunting all of those crooks down, teasing them like a cat to a mouse, her smile.
How she tormented them in chase.
And how she -
She forced herself to stop.
She closed her eyes, trying to will herself to sleep.
It didn't work, but eventually she drifted off to the solace of the unconscious,
And had vague dreams of sutures.