Chapter 108: Physical Changes

— "C-Can you believe this? We find out Peter is Spider-Man, and now we're being chased by a monster… If this is a nightmare, I'd really like to wake up now…" Miles said in a shaky voice.

— "Do you think… do you think he's okay? I'm worried about him…"

— "Me too. But you saw what happened. That thing just knocked him out, then came after us. With a little luck, Peter will wake up and come save us."

— "I hope so…"

A few seconds passed in heavy silence before Miles suddenly realized something. He slowly turned his head toward Anya, observing her with a mixture of curiosity and confusion.

The young girl quickly noticed his lingering gaze and, understanding what seemed to be going through his mind, felt her cheeks turn slightly pink. She immediately looked away, visibly embarrassed.

— "I didn't think you could be so sweet when talking about him…"

— "Shut the fuck up, Miles. And if we make it out of here, you'd better not tell him about this."

— "No, you shut up. We're going to make it. Everything's going to be okay, we just have to-"

— "WHERE ARE YOU?!"

The symbiote's voice suddenly echoed through the hallway, abruptly interrupting Miles. The two teenagers immediately froze and exchanged nervous glances, realizing that the creature had moved dangerously close to their position.

Outside the storage room, the symbiote was now in the hallway on the top floor, only a few doors away from where Gwen, Miles, and Anya had taken refuge.

The enormous black creature moved slowly forward, examining the different doors it passed along the way. Its long claws scraped against the surfaces within reach, producing a piercing screech that echoed through the deserted hallway. Every new sound seemed deliberately calculated to unsettle the teenagers even further, as though the monster took pleasure in reminding them of its presence.

It knew its prey couldn't be far away.

An unsettling laugh then escaped its enormous mouth.

— "MILES! ANYA! CAN YOU HEAR US?! Yes… I'm sure you can. You know… we're not really after you. What we want… is Gwen Stacy!"

Inside the room, Miles and Anya immediately exchanged astonished glances. Confusion was written all over their faces. They had expected the creature to continue threatening them, but certainly not to call them by name and specifically single out Gwen.

— "If you give her to us… we'll let you go. One life in exchange for yours. Doesn't that sound… reasonable…?" he said, writhing his tongue outside his mouth.

Hidden behind their desk, the two high school students remained silent for a few moments, trying to process what they had just heard. Then, taking care not to raise their voices, they began whispering to each other.

— "W-What the hell is going on?! How does that thing know who Gwen is? And how does it know our names?!"

— "I'm just as confused as you are! But more importantly… why does it want Gwen?"

— "What do you think?! It wants to kill her!"

— "But why?! She hasn't done anything to it!"

— "She's Peter's girlfriend, and HE'S Spider-Man! So I don't know… maybe it's trying to make him suffer?!"

This possibility only intensified Anya's anxiety. She nervously brought her hands to her head and began scratching at her hair in agitation, unable to understand how an evening that was supposed to involve a simple outing with friends could have spiraled so completely out of control.

— "Fuck… what the hell have we gotten ourselves into…?" she wondered in a small voice.

She eventually let out a long sigh, and silence settled between them once again. For several seconds, Miles and Anya remained lost in thought, confronted with a situation they had never imagined having to face.

The creature had just offered them a deal. A chance to survive, to leave the school, and to escape the threat hanging over them. But that freedom came at a price: handing Gwen over to a monster that had openly announced its intention to harm her.

The mere thought of considering such a possibility filled them with a mixture of shock and disgust. Gwen was their friend, someone precious whom they had carried all the way here to keep safe. The idea of abandoning her in the hands of that creature seemed utterly horrifying to them. Yet their fear of dying was very real, and they couldn't ignore the danger drawing closer.

— "But then… what are we going to do about Gwen…?"

Meanwhile, a few meters away from their hiding place, Gwen remained lying behind the shelves and heavy cardboard boxes concealing her. But although she still appeared unconscious, strange changes were beginning to occur inside her body.

Her breathing, which had been relatively steady until then, gradually became more difficult. Her body seemed to be struggling against a growing discomfort whose intensity continued to increase, while sweat spread across her face and skin. She drifted between brief moments of consciousness and deep unconsciousness, unable to truly regain her senses.

Her muscles also began contracting uncontrollably. Her fingers, in particular, curled tightly against the floor, gripping it and then releasing it in irregular movements, as though something was now completely beyond her control.

Then, after a few moments, an even stranger phenomenon occurred.

Small slits gradually appeared on both of her wrists. Through these newly formed openings, a mysterious substance began to slowly seep out, while Gwen, still trapped in this altered state of consciousness, remained unable to comprehend the changes taking place.

At that very moment, a deafening crash echoed from the other end of the room.

The entrance door had just been violently torn off its hinges and hurled across the room, passing dangerously close to where Miles and Anya were hiding. The two teenagers jumped, petrified by the brutality of the intrusion.

Then, amid the oppressive silence that followed, heavy footsteps began echoing between the shelves.

The symbiote had entered.

Its imposing silhouette slowly advanced through the enormous storage room. As it moved forward, certain boxes and pieces of furniture were shoved out of its way, while its gigantic build forced it to move several obstacles cluttering the passageways. The sounds of these objects striking the floor or the shelves allowed the two teenagers to follow its progress without even needing to look at it.

Miles and Anya exchanged another glance, but neither dared utter a single word. Yet the same question now occupied both their minds: what should they do about Gwen?

Should they really consider handing her over to save their own lives?

The closer the footsteps came, the more unbearable that question became. Their hearts were pounding at a frantic pace, and their hands trembled despite their efforts to remain still. They knew the creature might eventually discover them, but no decision seemed possible when faced with such a terrible choice.

Suddenly, the desk behind which they had taken refuge was violently lifted into the air.

The disappearance of their hiding place immediately exposed them to the enormous figure towering before them. Miles and Anya looked up, discovering the symbiote staring down at them with a beastly grin, visibly satisfied to have found them.

— "Found you."

Meanwhile, inside Gwen's mind, everything was strangely silent.

There were no more hallways, no storage room, no screams or footsteps. Nothing that had surrounded her just moments earlier seemed to exist anymore. She felt as though she were standing in the middle of an immense void, in a place whose boundaries and true nature she couldn't make out.

Disturbed, she tried to understand where she was and how she had ended up there. But before she could even come up with an answer, something suddenly caught her attention and frightened her so badly that she hurriedly stumbled backward, lost her balance, and fell onto her back.

Her eyes widened, and her breath caught in her throat from sheer terror.

Standing before her was an absolutely gigantic spider.

Suspended from its web, the creature clung to a ceiling that seemed to stretch into infinity. It was slowly working on building its nest, moving its long legs with unsettling precision. Yet despite its activity, its eyes remained fixed on Gwen, as though it had been watching her from the very beginning.

But it wasn't just its enormous size that disturbed the young girl.

The longer she observed it, the more a familiar feeling began to take hold of her. She recognized this spider. Its appearance, its characteristics… everything matched the creature that had recently bitten her.

It was the same one.

— "W-What's happening…?!"

Gwen tried to control her panic, but the strangeness of the situation made every passing second more distressing. She understood neither this place, nor the spider's presence, nor why it seemed to be staring at her so insistently.

That was when a hand gently rested on her shoulder.

Startled, Gwen abruptly turned around, afraid she might discover another terrifying apparition. But instead, she found herself face-to-face with someone she knew better than almost anyone else.

Her father stood before her, a gentle smile on his lips.

— "D-Dad? Where am I?!"

— "Gwen… you need to wake up."

No sooner had those words been spoken than Gwen's eyes suddenly snapped open, instantly bringing her back to reality.

She was still lying in the storage room, behind the shelves and boxes where Miles and Anya had hidden her. Yet something had profoundly changed.

The intense heat that had overwhelmed her body gradually began to subside, until her temperature slowly returned to normal. The nausea that had tormented her also disappeared, taking with it the feeling of sickness that had preceded her loss of consciousness.

But that relief was nothing compared to the strange sensation now spreading throughout her entire body.

Gwen felt good.

Surprisingly good.

Far too good, even, for someone who had collapsed just moments earlier. The sensation seemed as inexplicable as it was unusual, as though her body had just undergone a transformation whose true nature she still knew absolutely nothing about.

As she tried to regain her bearings, she lowered her eyes toward the floor beside her. Several unusual marks immediately caught her attention. Small sections of the surface appeared to have been torn away, leaving behind irregular traces she didn't remember seeing before.

Intrigued, Gwen examined her hands.

She then discovered that tiny fragments of the floor were still stuck to her fingertips, as though they had adhered to the surface with enough force to tear small pieces away from it.

She remained stunned by this discovery for a moment, unable to understand what it meant. But a new sensation quickly drew her attention elsewhere.

A faint tingling sensation was running through her wrists. Gwen gently rolled up her sleeves to examine its source, and what she discovered almost took her breath away.

Small slits were now visible on each of her wrists. A mysterious substance was still seeping slightly from them, revealing a phenomenon she had never imagined witnessing on her own body.

For several seconds, she stared at these openings without moving, trying to gather her thoughts. Her gaze shifted from her wrists to the fragments of flooring clinging to her fingers, while recent events slowly began to take on a new meaning.

Then, as she began to realize what these changes might mean, a nervous smile gradually appeared on her lips.

Excitement and apprehension mingled in her expression. She still had no idea of the extent of what had just happened, but one thing now seemed obvious to her: her life had truly changed forever.

TO BE CONTINUED.