THE MOMENT
"I couldn't have planned it better if I tried," Ian grinned to himself as he watched the group setting up camp. Three girls and two boys. They all looked younger than his 18 years, but there was no sign of an adult anywhere. Even better, it looked like two of the girls had some sort of vision disorder. They each wore visors covering their eyes; one with a translucent purple visor and the other wore a pitch black visor that hid her eyes completely. The other girl was the tallest of the group, while the two boys were average height. Ian decided it would be easiest to take them out one by one. He focused on the girl with the black visor first; he planned to make his move the moment she separated from the group.
Ian had the chance to practice his patience as he waited for any of them to slip away. He managed to pick out a few details as he listened. He learned their names and that they all went to a special school. Abby was the girl in the black visor and long sleeves. Eury wore the purple visor, and the third girl was named Lupe. The boys were named Felix and Todd. They were all still mostly excited about a Halloween party that happened over the past weekend as far as Ian could tell. He was glad they had fun, it made him feel less guilty knowing they enjoyed life for a bit before he took it away.
Not that Ian wanted to be a killer. He didn't mind killing, but it wasn't particularly fun for him. Being the youngest in a long line of assassins took the choice out of his hands. He hoped that once he graduated, he could start turning down jobs. But, until he had his license, he had to kill when he was told to. As his thoughts wandered, Ian noticed Abby excusing herself from the group. She walked into the forest alone and Ian followed her silently.
As Abby ventured deeper into the forest alone, Ian decided it was time to close the gap. He picked sped up his pace and moved closer to the girl without making a sound. In a smooth, practiced motion, Ian clasped his left hand over her mouth and put a blade up to her neck with his right. If she was his only target, Ian might have taken more time to toy with her. But, she wasn't and Ian had more bodies to get to.
"Sorry, Abby," he whispered as he slid the blade across her neck.
"Don't call me that," Ian heard the girl's voice from behind him suddenly. He looked down at the form he was holding and panicked instantly. He yelped and flailed his arms wildly to shake off the mass of spiders he had his arms around.
"I don't know you," Abby said as she took a step towards Ian. He stepped back as he tried to process the situation. He was 100% sure he grabbed her and had no idea how she got behind him. She wasn't normal; he gathered that much from the bundle of spiders she left in his arms. And, worst of all, he lost his weapon while trying to shake the spiders off.
"Abby! It's me, Ian!" he said. He had one chance to try and distract her. He was hopeful that the fact that he was a high school senior would make it more believable. "I go to Toku-high too!"
"Oh yeah?" Abby grinned and stopped walking. She reached her hand up towards her visor. "Then, I can really cut loose," Abby pulled her visor off but Ian wasn't ready. He'd seen, and caused, a lot of disturbing sights while trying to survive until senior year; but, there was no way he could have been prepared. Abby did not have eyes behind her visor. As she pulled it off, she revealed two black, hollowed out eye holes. But, worse than that, they weren't empty. With the visor gone, two large, live tarantulas peeked out of her eye sockets as she smiled at Ian.
As unsettling as the sight was, it got worse when hundreds of black spiders crawled out of her smiling mouth and her hair. The swarm crawled down her body and once the spiders hit the ground, Ian realized they were headed towards him.
Ian had always been proud of his ability to keep a level head. It was a big reason he made it to his senior year at all. Instead of standing around trying to figure out what Abby was, he realized he would be better served by running away. He only had to kill five people and Abby did not have to be one of them. He turned to dash away, but he only took a single step before he tripped.
Ian landed face down on the ground as spiders swarmed around him. He flailed his arms to knock them off as he tried to stand; but, he couldn't. And, he discovered what led to his fall. Thick webbing was wrapped around his ankle and half a dozen spiders were circling his leg, entangling it further. He tried kicking them off, but he ended up with spiders on both legs as Abby took a step towards him.
"You know, I don't think you actually go to my school," Abby said. "If you do...," she shrugged. "...you probably don't belong there if I can kill you."
"Abby, wait! No!" Ian pleaded. Sure, he was about to kill her; but, it wasn't fair that she tried to kill him back. She stopped walking and tilted her head at him.
"I told you. Don't call me that," she said. Ian became aware that more and more spiders were crawling onto his legs, arms, and shoulders. "I don't know you, so you don't get to call me that," she said.
"Okay! Sorry!" Ian noticed that the spiders stopped moving on him and hoped that meant she was on the verge of changing her mind. "What. What do I call you?" he asked. Ian hoped he could talk her out of killing him long enough for him to escape. She smiled down at him.
"You can call me...,"all at once, Ian yelled in pain. Every single spider bit into him at the the same time and he felt hundreds of different burning sensations around his body as they all filled him with venom. Fortunately, for Abby, Ian's screaming did not last very long before he blacked out. He wasn't conscious to hear her, but Abby liked the name enough to say it for herself. It made her feel good. "...Spider."