My bad, I suck.

===========================

It had been several weeks since Dani joined the Clan, and another month had come, bringing the State broadcast. It was obvious that Andrew was in the lead, but having Sammy and Sam both be in the Second and Third Places caused quite a shock.

After that came the first Mimic, followed by Reese, Brandon, Renzo, Kuvali, Chris, and Damian.

There were some mentions of others, such as Nemo and Buster, but also Ribcage, Scratch, and Cammie. It was sort of a running joke that Cammie was stronger than his owner, even though John himself was actually enjoying the attention.

Only Andrew, Rebecca, Spot, and Reese knew of Ronald Royce’s movement. He was cut off from the Clan and was resentful for it. He had proven to be a danger, sweeping across the nation and bringing chaos. Unfortunately, the group had no idea what the capabilities of his powers entailed.

However, Clara Monti, the Spider Queen, was also making her way to Texas. She never returned messages and when some people were contacted, all they could hear was raspy breathing or strange crunching noises.

Back at the Capital, David was talking with John.

“Hey, do you think it’s her?”

“Who?”

“The Spider Queen! She must be that famous singer, right?”

“I don’t know. I only listen to rock...maybe some orchestral stuff.”

“No, man…she sings pop and plays the piano. To be honest, if it’s her, I would be too nervous to talk to her.”

“You do know that you’re the most talkative guy here, right? And that’s being compared to Andrew.”

“I heard that!”

“So?”

“Whatever.”

Andrew himself walked over and handed some papers to the two. The papers were lists of things to request for an excursion.

“I want you guys to set up a group in case Clara wants to fight. I doubt it, but just in case, you know? Anyways, it was supposed to just be David, but you happen to be here…Bill?”

“John.”

“Right, that. Anyways, have fun.”

The simple looking man turned to the young man with sideburns and spiky hair.

“Hey, do you think he’s doing it on purpose?”

“Maybe he has a lot of names he is supposed to remember. Don’t take it personally.”

“Fine. Who and what should we bring?”

“Well…if she is the singer, we will need to bring something comfortable, not that rickety wagon.”

“It’s only rickety because you go too fast in it.”

“Please, a vehicle needs to be comfortable no matter what speed it goes.”

“So what do you suggest? We also need to make sure we can set up some good guards or scouts.”

“Right…but they can’t get in the way of Miss Monti. She is a celebrity, not a prisoner.”

“Sheesh, do we have to make you her assistant?”

“Hahaha! Just making sure she has no problems! Don’t want any misunderstandings to happen!”

‘Wow, this guy’s a tool,’ John thought.

=========================================

Several days passed and the two were surrounded by 50 Elite Skeletons and driving a bus to transport the newcomer.

On their way, they cleared the highway of empty cars while also siphoning fuel. They sent some of the Skeletons to scout the vehicles for any goodies. Along the way, they found a portable radio that still had some battery power in it!

They didn’t have a cd port for the bus they were using.

“Hehehe, here, hear this!”

“What, you kept one of her albums on you this entire time?”

“Why not? Some people have pictures of their families, I kept my favorite idol’s bestselling cd.”

Soon, a rhythmical melody filled the air and a beautiful voice accompanied by a piano blared out loud for the whole road to hear. The Skeletons seemed to even jerk or tap their feet every now and then.

Chuckling at the funny sight, John couldn’t help but feel something was weird about the music.

“Hey, I think I heard this before.”

“Duh, it was in the number one spot recently.”

“No, no…the piano part. Where have I heard that?”

“What, was it some symphony or something?”

“No…more modern.”

“Huh? I thought you said that you listened to classical.”

“Kinda, but that doesn’t mean that I was listening to dead guys’ music. I attended some modern bands and orchestras before the apocalypse. I played a mean trombone back in my high school’s jazz ensemble.”

“Pbbt…what a dork.”

“Please, like your obsession for a girl you would probably never have laid eyes on before the apocalypse is any better.”

“But at least I get to see her now.”

“Sure. Stay optimistic.”

“Whatever. You are just jealous.”

The two kept bickering for a while, and then a new song started, although David reached over and skipped it.

“What was that for?”

“It was just her piano solo. She left it in as a sort of reminder of how she came to be famous, but it’s boring. Heck, I bet you’d like it.”

“Sure, go ahead and play it.”

“Fine.”

“When the piano started, John was completely shocked. He had definitely heard this before! But where? The song from start to finish never had any vocals, editing, or accompanying sounds. It was just the piano.

“So where did this Clara Monti come from?”

“Well, she actually started here in Texas, apparently. She grew up playing the piano and pretty much being really talented at it. She wasn’t a genius, but she was good for her age.”

John patiently listened, since there was nothing else to do as the Skeletons cleared the way, separating the oil and fuel into their respective containers.

“She wanted to attend an Academy for music and arts, but her father became ill so she took time off to take care of him. It was then found out that he had terminal cancer, and he didn’t have much time.”

“Damn.”

“But, it was curable.”

“Eh? Do you even know what terminal illness means?”

“Really bad, right?”

“No, that means incurable, you moron!”

“Oh. But it was really bad cancer!”

“I get that now…”

“So she decided to work wherever she could in order to pay for her father’s surgery. She started off in small clubs, taking gigs and such. From there, a producer saw her and helped her get to a higher place. Now she’s an idol!”

“But that’s not what she wanted. Did her father get cured?”

“I think so. I wasn’t paying attention.”

“You are a grade A idiot.”

“Shut up, you. I like her for her music, not her past.”

“That might sound good if she had a bad past, but if you don’t care about her sad past…then you are a jerk.”

David went quiet, choosing to ignore John.

However, that only lasted five minutes.

“So did you figure out where you heard the music?”

“Yeah. Several months ago, I wanted to set up a gig, but the guy in charge of the bar said he already had several nights booked. I wanted to go complain to the person, but they were up on stage already, warming up. So, I decided to wait and listen. Couldn’t hurt, right?”

“No, but if it were me, I might have just gone to another club.”

“Whatever, no you wouldn’t. She was beautiful, you might have tried jumping into her pants, or something. I am guessing she’s your idol. She looked better without all the lights and make up,” John said while tapping the cover art of the album.

David widened his eyes in surprise.

“So you actually met her?! What was she like?!”

“Well, she was quiet and didn’t want to talk all that much. When she finished, most people were either nodding off or ignoring her. However, I decided that it was great. Just not for clubbing.”

“True, her piano solo is boring.”

“No, it’s a lullaby. So I worked with her to ‘jazz’ it up a little. She started practicing her syncopation and liveliness.”

“Sink oh what?”

“Just know that it’s a style of music. She started enjoying herself as she managed to draw in some more listeners. I had finally convinced her to let me play as well, but the next night she was gone.”

“Damn, you got stood up! Hahaha!”

“I guess that was when she got picked up by her producer.”

“Oh, that makes sense! That’s pretty cool, how you set up her career. I guess I have to thank you.”

“Well…if this is her, then I think you might be in for a shock.”

“Why?”

“Look.”

From their view, it looked like the ground was moving. Kind of like that hazy shimmering you see on hot days over the asphalt. However, these were not mirages.

“Dude?! What the fuck?! Are those all spiders?!”

“Seems like it.”

They were at the bottom of a not so steep slope so when the ground started to shake, they had no idea what was causing it.

“Is that the spiders’ doing?”

“I don’t know, but according to the Radar, Clara is just about to come over the hill.”

They saw a ghostly figure wearing a white nightgown and long dry hair with little spiders crawling here and there. Then, the figure began to rise above the hill, but that was because she was riding a massive spider!

“Dude…I think I’m going to have nightmares…”

“Same here, David…same here…”