I'm so exhausted, I'm forced to rest. Lying still, I notice a faint breeze gently stroke my cheek, so gently, like a mother soothing a child. This is it. The end. Part of my mind refuses to believe it, the part that's still awake, not exhausted from the initial adrenaline surge that pumped through my body when I first became trapped in this nightmare. 

I struggle again against my silk bonds. Silk! I snort. They say it is expensive. Fancy ladies may wear it, but my bonds aren't any silk. The tensile strength of my shackles matches steel. I begin bucking and writhing, a wild animal. If only I could scream. 

They say this happens to my kind. I know I'm considered lowlife. Foul. Vermin. Diseased. I've heard of this happening before. I probably even saw it but choose to look away, to not see the reality of life that plays out every day in front of us all. A tangled in a web of lies. They say that too. But I'm not in a lie. This is real. The truth. A tear runs down my cheek.

I hear him coming now. Him. My captor. He's so smug, not having so much as broken a sweat. He has exerted none of his energy whereas I am spent. Cunning of him, this tactic. I feel his steps. I sway. They could rock me to sleep like a babe a cradle if I didn't know he was going to kill me. He stops and looks me over, his eyes raking hungrily over my body. 

He readies the poison and injects it forcefully into my abdomen. I feel searing pain then my muscles relax. There will be no more struggle.

He's wrapping me tighter, despite my paralysis. Why? Then I realize he's taking me somewhere. Somewhere else. I remember something I heard them say. If a man points a gun at you and tells you to get in a car and he'll shoot if you scream, scream. But I can't scream. I'm a limp noodle. My voice is gone. So is all hope.

He drops me roughly on the ground. It is cool and damp. I imagine it is dark too, but I can't see. In the last moments, I marvel at a calmness that overtakes me. Perhaps it's because I couldn't move even if I tried. There is peace in surrender. 

Another injection. This time the pain doesn't cease it just builds and builds spreading from where his fangs pierced my chitin. He sucks out my guts through hairs on his chelicerae. I black out into oblivion.

________

Author's note: According to my in-depth research... Ok, ok, Wikipedia says that the tensile strength of spider silk is greater than the same weight of steel with better elasticity. Industrial uses are being looked at such as bulletproof vests and artificial tendons. 

chitin = a type of fibrous protein that forms the exoskeleton of all arthropods

chelicerae = the spider's primary weapon, a pair of jointed jaws in front of the mouth, sharp fangs are housed inside of it