The sound of the walking dead eating the patrol of orange coats died behind the young mage. Albie watched the corners of the streets for cobwebs. His rat Bags sat on his shoulder sniffing the midnight air and tickling Albies ears with her whiskers.
"What spider do you want to find Albie?" asked Bags. "They are nasty to eat. Mean poison and not very big. Except the no web spiders. Still not much food."
"We need something that can spin webs," Answered Albie. "A spider to become a monster. Something that can catch those nasty orange coats. Then store them away to eat later."
Albie grabbed a wolf spider off the ground. Decided it was not to his liking and held it up to Bags who took the spider in her paws and began chewing on it with gusto. The pair walked down the street looking for spiders. The occasional sound of musket fire braking up the night. A long-legged spider climbed on the wall. It was the kind of spider a naughty child might torment by removing its legs. It was not what he wanted. Bags thought it was a crunchy enough snack.
Albie strolled through the dark back streets dodging patrols heading to investigate the gun fire. The group of ten undead couldn't hope to beat all the orange coats. The dead men felt no pain or fear, but enough musket balls would shred them to unusable taters. Scab decided when the death pleased him. Whether they fought to annihilation or retreated for the night was up to him. If they were to lay still in a street they would not be out of place. More bodies in a city populated by corpses. Scab might decide he wants to see how many orange coats ten walking corpses could kill. Looking through Scabs eye he saw him send out the other ten corpses as the other group returned. Bodies bloated by the flesh they had consumed. They began placing bodies on the broken alter. Scab seemed to be searching for the most intact. He walked over to the alter and forced one of the bloated corpses to spit out the contents of its stomach. A mass of writhing black liquid escaped the corpses rotten lips bathing the body on the defiled alter. The corpse on the alter began to move and a twenty first corpse began walking the streets.
Scabs ingenuity impressed Albie. A swell of pride filled the mages aching chest ass he saw through his creations eye its ability to create on its own.
"You are very clever Scab," thought Albie to his creation.
"Thank you, father," was Scabs response.
Albie was halfway to the hospital when directed his attention to a large web. It was under a rain gutter and was dense enough to be seen from the street.
"Tasty! Yummy! Egg sack if no fear poison." Thought the rat.
Albie had Bags scurry up the gutter and look at the nest. The cocooned husks of many insects had become a part of the nest. Bags looked inside but saw nothing. She probed it with a paw. The rat almost found its tiny claw stuck to the nest. A pair of forelegs emerged from the nest threatening the attacker. Bags recoiled from the spider and hissed. Albie beckoned Bags to return as he reached up with his walking musket to disturb the nest. The spider charged Albie down the musket. It reached his hand and upon touching his pail skin dried to a husk and died. The young mage searched the small silk pouch for signs of life and discovered an egg sack.
"Well spotted Bags," said Albie scratching the rats head.
Bags enjoyed the praise and attention. Happy to have pleased her master.
The two arrived at the hospital as the sun was rising. The sound of muskets became more frequent in the early hours of the morning. The racket stopped at sunrise. Albie saw through Scabs eye the Wight and his servants were playing dead.
"Bags," said Albie to his companion. "Go to the building were the men sat around the table for me. I want to know what kind of stories they are telling after last night."
"Okay." Responded his rat scurrying down his leg and off into the streets.
Albie took the spider eggs to his lab and began preparing to experiment with the spider egs he had found.