I catch the subway home and flop down on my bed, face first. The disappointment still lingers in my stomach and I can't help but feel like I'm being selfish because I know this is what he loves, saving people, bashing crime and yet I still feel a sting whenever he ditches me. Okay, so he doesn't ditch me exactly but...
I should be use to it by now and I am definitely not one of those girls who are dependent on their boyfriend, at least I don't want to be because that would suck.
The next few times we meet outside of school, it's like our plans are doomed from the beginning as there is always a lead that sparks up, which could direct Spider-Man to the giant lizard. Peter missed this science competition/quiz-there was a hit n' run car barreling through the streets of NYC-that he never normally does. I feel like I haven't spent longer than five minutes with him over this part week.
"Gwen?" Peter calls into my phone, he sounds slightly muffled so I assume he's in full Spidey gear.
"Good evening, Sir. Who is speaking?" I joke.
"Gwen? Seriously. Where are you?" a note of panic is evident in Peter's voice.
"Coffee shop."
"Near Oscorp by any chance?"
I look up and see the Oscorp building towering above me. "Yeeees." I draw out.
"There's something I need you to do."
Ten minutes later I'm in Oscorp holding a test tube shaped vial full of blue liquid. I press the timer and it starts to count down from sixty.
CLASH. CLASH. CLASH. I jump and turn around, inspecting my surroundings. Nothing. What the hell?
I approach the door of the lab and the smell hits me first and I jam my knuckles into my mouth but the smell is like a poisonous gas that seeps through all the gaps and starts suffocating me. I tilt my head a fraction of an inch and I stop breathing all together. OH. MY. GOD. My muscles lock up as blood rushes to my head and creates a pounding rhythm in my ears, matching the increasing speed of my heart rate; my heart is lodged in my throat and I can't breathe. I can't move as my whole body is frozen in place.
The beast staggers down the hall, not catching sight of me just yet. Its skin scaled green like a crocodile with a tail extension that has a diameter of one whole metre and whips around like a dog when it gets overly excited, but this is no happy dog. This tail carves dents in the wall as the beast moves further forward. Striking at anything that blocks its path. Forward. Towards me. My body snaps out of it at that instant. I feel my muscles loosening up as blood pumps to my heart and adrenaline courses through my veins. I retreat back slowly and sprint for the vial of blue liquid when I hear the door of the lab slam against the wall.
Crap.
I shoot down to my knees and scoot around the worktops, keeping an eye on the sharp icicle-like teeth that protrude from the gaping mouth of the beast. My back hits a cupboard and I crawl into it, my heart still in my throat. I press up against the wall and clamp a hand over my mouth trying and failing to steady my breathing.
The beast prowls around the room, sniffing and clawing. His eyes reflecting the chaos outside. And I'm just sitting here praying that he leaves soon because I need to give Peter this vial. It suddenly feel so cold, goose bumps coat my skin and I look up through the crack in the door and lock eyes with yellow ones.
Double Crap.
I am rewarded with a bone-eating grin as saliva slips down its chin and an arm brushes aside the door.
I'm going to die. I squeeze my eyes shut.
Oh my god I am going to die and-
The beast lets out another sound of rage.
I feel myself getting lifted off the floor and I'm praying its Peter but I know, I know it's not. I whimper. Whimper? Seriously, Gwen. Stuck. It. Up.
My eyes bolt open and wind cascades all around me at a violent speed. I am looking down at the streets below. I am hanging out of a window and all breath escapes me.
"Come and get her, Spider-Man." The lizard bellows. Its claws griping at my flesh through the dress I'm wearing. And I only now notice the pain. My skin ripped and the hot feel of blood spreading across the surface of my back.
Then I'm falling.
I am falling to my death and there's no one to save me.
