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Things had been getting bad since the bleach blonde showed up- scratch that- things had been getting worse.
Things really started going sideways when Lottie had gotten bitten by a radioactive spider in her dad’s lab, but that had happened over a month ago, and a lot has happened since then.
So as Lottie swung through New York, peacefully ignorant (this will be a trend as you soon may see) of the oncoming danger (this: inevitable deadly danger- will also become a very popular phenomenon in her life) she didn’t know shit was about to get impossibly worse.
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Lottie woke up like she did every morning, in a big bed, in a big penthouse in one of the most expensive parts of Manhattan- as if it wasn’t expensive enough already. She groaned and switched off her alarm. Even though it was summer break, she only had about 2 weeks of good sleep because right after was when her internship began and she had to set the clock to 7. She packed her things neatly in a crossbody quietly shuffled out the door.
One of the perks of being the daughter of the owner of one of the biggest scientific research labs in the country was being able to get an internship without actually undergoing the rigorous application process. Not that Lottie wasn’t deserving of the opportunity at all. She only found comfort in a few places. Her school, the park across the street where she usually met friends when she had the rare occasion of a free afternoon, the movie theater, and her dad’s lab.
She never really thought of her actual home as home. Her parents were gone most of time, and when they were actually present it wasn’t like they seemed to care too much. There were barely any good memories in that house anyway. Lottie liked to spend as much time away as she could, which is probably why she joined so many extracurriculars.
School would be starting in a few weeks and since she didn’t have anything else to do during she summer she decided to take her dad up on his offer. Although she was initially hesitant, what with the having a leg up over the people who actually worked their asses off to get there, she accepted anyway. It would be good experience for college, and it wouldn’t be like she didn’t have any knowledge of science at all either.
Lottie was attending one of the most prestigious and elite science schools in the country. Arguing she only got in because of her dad’s influence would be futile after having a look at her grades and accomplishments.
She was majoring in biology and physics, and could proudly say she was the editor of the Parker Science Academy weekly news paper. She’d been getting straight A’s since freshman year, not to mention the handful of awards she won from participating in various contests across New York. And in case you didn’t know, New York is fucking huge, so of course there are way more science nerds than you’d think.
Lottie always had an interest in science, which may or may not have been fueled by her dad. It was the only thing they had in common. It wasn’t like she was forced to do it- although it was expected of her- she enjoyed it. Being at the lab and working on a new project made her feel like she actually had control over something in her life. She was in her element there.
Ever since childhood she had been constantly fed different aspects of his work. Whether she had been tagging along with a nanny and slipped away to watch scientists peer through microscopes, or she needed information on vaccines for a school project so her dad had an employee give her a tour of their Virus Research Wing because of course he was too busy to do it himself, she always had knowledge at her fingertips.
Her dad’s lab studied a lot of things, it was a lab after all, but the one thing they specialized in was genetic engineering. Her father had actually tried to grow wings on pigs. It hadn’t worked of course, but it had gotten him a lot of publicity.
In the basement of the building was a special high clearance area that was subject to a lot of speculation not only from the public, but from her and her friends. She knew he was working on something pertaining to testing on animals, but Lottie always wanted to see it for herself. Mari was convinced it had something to do with aliens and Area 51. Her father wasn’t as present as she wanted him to be, but she knew he was an eccentric man with expensive taste. Whatever he was working on was huge.
The sleek black Bentley drove past the front of the lab, which was a tall shiny skyscraper covered in windows, towards the parking lot. The driver maneuvered to a special spot designated for her dad and pulled in. Her father grabbed his briefcase and hurriedly stepped out stepped out without a word. Lottie made her way to the 10th floor which was where they were giving the orientation.
A tall ginger woman with frizzy hair, looking a little too energetic for 8:30 am was standing outside of the elevator. A sizable group was gathered around her eagerly waiting to begin their opportunity of a lifetime.
Despite Lottie being good in school, ever since she was a kid, she had trouble with focusing and keeping still. She remembered how her dad got a call from her teacher in 4th grade when she wandered off from the class at a trip to the zoo and somehow got into the feeding area of the tiger enclosure. Her dad had been livid, her mom had to hold him back. It wasn’t funny at the time, but it was a great story to tell now on what lead to her ADHD diagnosis. Lottie wished he still cared like that still, just enough to get mad, or feel anything towards her besides indifference.
She had been thinking about sneaking off to explore for a while. She had been at the lab enough to know that her dad ate in the courtyard for lunch at 12:30, so all she had to do was endure a little more of some old guys boring blabbering until she could break into the top secret basement level.
She lingered in the back of the group and somehow managed to escape when the woman turned around, she speed walked to the hallway and checked a clock mounted on the wall across from the elevator.
She had about 20 minutes to waste. Easy.
She pressed the down button on the elevator and swung her mini backpack off her shoulders. She took out a book she had been reading, it was about a girls soccer team that had crashed in the wilderness and had to resort to cannibalism. It wasn’t every interesting and the writing sucked, but Lottie was bored and it was something to do.
She stepped into the elevator and lazily flipped through the pages. She barely noticed when the elevator stopped early to pick someone up. Lottie looked up when she noticed the lack of movement and spotted a girl walk into the elevator. She moved so that she was across from Lottie.
In spite of herself, Lottie kept stealing glances at the other girl. She looked young, about Lottie’s age, so she was probably apart of the program too. She was short and had bleach blonde hair, her eyes were green and she was wearing just a slight bit of eyeliner.
Lottie wasn’t going to lie, the girl was pretty. It wasn’t like they were ever going to see each other again, let alone interact, so she just focused on that book and waited for the elevator to hit her floor. Eventually the heavy silence started annoying her, even though she had only been reading for about one minute, and she swung her backpack off her shoulder to stuffed the book back in again, not bothering to mark her page.
She started tapping on the bars behind her and the other girl cleared her throat. They made eye contact for a split second before Lottie hurriedly looked away, a blush already starting to spread across her cheeks.
“So where are you headed?” The Lottie asked after a few more seconds of the dull taps of her nails on the metal made the lack of sound unbearable again.
“Ground level,” she answered plainly, not bothering to look up at Lottie. Her voice wasn’t too low, and she had a little bit of a New Jersey accent. Lottie didn’t mind it because it honestly just made her more attractive.
“Me too,” Lottie answered, and with that they fell into another thick silence. She cursed herself for trying to make things less awkward- even when they weren’t- then failing miserably and making things even worse. Typical Lottie move. She shouldn’t even be surprised anymore.
As soon as the elevator slowed down and came to a halting stop, she hurried off, and the girl soon followed. The lobby was bustling with people, hopeful faces of wide eyed interns stared as a guide was directing them to the elevators and handing out maps.
Lottie cursed as she stared at the growing crowd, this was going to slow her down for sure, but I’d at least add some cover in case anyone had spotted her.
She began quickly weaving through groups and workers hurrying off to their labs, keeping her head down the whole time. Finally she stumbled behind the receptionist desk and slipped away into the hallway behind it, which was thankfully empty due to all the employees being occupied with the crowd forming in the lobby. She swung open a door and started dashing down the steps, two at a time.
Finally she found herself in front of a huge metal door with the words, “AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY,” plastered across. Technically Lottie was authorized since she had a clearance card. How she’d gotten it wasn’t important though.
She swung her bag off her shoulders and fished in the pockets for a dark green card. Just as she was about to swipe it she heard a noise behind her. It was quiet, just a tap, but it didn’t sound like a fan starting or just a noise you’d usually hear in the basement of a huge skyscraper. It sounded like a footstep, like someone was following her.
Lottie immediately shoved the card in her pocket and whipped around, being careful to make as little noise as possible. Behind her she could see the base of the winding stairs, but she couldn’t spot anyone. Maybe it was just her imagination, if someone had really been following her that closely she’d be able to see them or at least hear them running away because it wasn’t like there were many places to hide.
Lottie let out the breath she’d been holding in and swiped the card. It made a tiny beeping sound and the light turned green. She heard a click and grabbed the handle of the door, almost immediately she snatched it away. The handle was so cold it sent the sensation of thousands of little needles being pricked into her hand.
Lottie should be horrified but it only made her curiosity grow. She braced herself then grabbed onto the handle a second time, pushing the door open. It was heavy and she peeked inside, the lab was completely empty. She swung it open and stepped inside, letting the door slam shut behind her.
The lab was freezing and it took Lottie a moment to adjust to the cold before taking in her surroundings. She really wished she had some kind of sweat shirt or that weird girl in the elevators leather jacket.
The lab was circular and the lighting was dark. From floor to ceiling it was covered in a dark grey chrome material. In the middle there was a platform and there were about 10 pedestals encased in glass forming a circle around a desk situated on top. Behind it there were 4 large metal structures sectioned off by bars that reached from the floor to ceiling.
Lottie stepped inside further turning around to get a look from where she had been standing, and only then she had noticed a large screen looming above the lab. It was covered in different charts that she didn’t have time to analyze yet, so she snapped a picture for later.
This wasn’t anything like she had been expecting. She didn’t think her dad was a mad scientist or anything, but this looked a little more like a government weapon testing facility more than anything. Maybe Mari wasn’t too far off with her Area 51 theory. Honestly, she was surprised her dad could make something as cool as this. It looked like something out of a sci fi or superhero movie.
Lottie walked towards the pedestals surrounding the desk, which looked strangely out of place. It was wooden and the top was completely clear save for a few papers and pens strewn across. She peered past the glass in the first pedestal only to find it was completely empty. She walked over to the next one and saw a little spider crawling around in it.
It was small and sleek, completely black except for some neon green markings on the head. She’d honestly never seen anything like it, but it relieved her a little. Her dad was probably just working on some ground breaking study on a rare species and he didn’t want any other rival labs to find out about it.
The spider didn’t look like a black widow or even something that’d exist somewhere deep in a jungle. She figured this was gonna have to be something she looked at later, so she snapped a few pictures before wandering off to her dad’s desk just a few feet away.
She had barely examined the papers before her attention was drawn to some movement out of the corner of her eye. Right over her fingers the tiny spider was crawling. The subtle tickling feeling was amplified as she felt herself begin to panic. She was stunned for a second before the spider stopped moving completely and bit down right on her ring finger.
Without thinking, she snatched her hand off the desk and frantically shook it. In her surprise a few papers had gotten knocked off the desk. She knelt down to pick them up and arrange them just as they’d been before she came in. Lottie couldn’t afford to be caught, and whatever type of spider just bit her, she knew it wasn’t good.
She sprinted out of the lab, flung open the door and started bolting up the steps. A thousand terrible scenarios started running through her head.
What if the spiders were carrying some kind of deadly contagious virus, like the next black plague, and her dad was trying to keep them isolated so its wrath would never be released to humanity. Maybe they were vital to some project that’d change the world and she’d just compromised it by killing one of the integral pieces?
As soon as Lottie made it up the stairs, her heart began beating so fast and violently it felt like it could pump out of her chest. It was like a feeling you get when you drink too much caffeine. Lottie stumbled as she felt her head go dizzy. That was it, she was really going to die like this.
She dug around in her bag for a water bottle, but of course she’d forgotten it, because the universe couldn’t throw her a bone and make at least one thing in this day go according to plan.
She powered forward, and managed to stumble down the hall past the desk, no longer caring about who saw her.
“Good morning Lottie!” The receptionist turned to her with a smile on her face. Her vision was blurred so Lottie couldn’t exactly make out which one was greeting her. That should’ve scared Lottie, but with all the unbelievable shit that’d happen today she couldn’t even be bothered
“G-good morning,” She was barely able to manage a smile, and winced as she forced her back up, trying to appear as normal as usual. She was just glad she wasn’t questioning why she had been in an employee only area.
Lottie felt her stomach drop as she stared at the lobby which was still very much full of people. She gulped and moved forward on wobbly legs, still keeping her head down. All around her people were excitedly chattering and bumping into her, it all felt too suffocating, it was all too much for her.
Her whole body was suddenly rocked with a shock of chills, starkly contrasting the sweat dripping down her forehead. It felt like being plunged in a tub of icy water. She was suddenly hyper aware of her heavy breathing and dry mouth, making her need for water even more apparent. Even more alarming was the dull ache where the spider had bitten her, it was the only part of her hand that didn’t feel numb.
Lottie had only stopped to rub her temples for a second. She just needed to make it up the to nurse where she could get a drink of water or at least an Advil. It hadn’t registered when she’d started to lean to the side, or when a crowd had started to form around her, and why she was even on the cold marble floor to begin with.
The last thing she saw before she passed out cold was a blurry face with bleached hair and a possibly worried expression hovering over her. Lottie was sure she was at the brink of death, or at least a coma. But if she was dead at least future Lottie wouldn’t have to deal with the consequences of sneaking into her father’s lab and getting bitten by a radioactive spider.
Although Lottie made one bad decision that changed her life, just because she learned that her actions do in fact have consequences, doesn’t mean she stopped making them at all. So yes, this is the part where things start getting worse.