Prompt
Being bitten by a giant spider is uncomfortable enough, but worse than the sharp pain you feel on impact are the linger effects of the bite. Being bitten can cause nausea, dizziness, fatigue and hallucinations. These symptoms can begin immediately after being bitten or can manifest up to a few hours after the toxins are introduced to the bloodstream. These symptoms may only last for a few hours—or up to 72 hours. You, or someone you know, has the misfortune of being bitten; no medicine seems to help this ailment, so you’re stuck weathering this one out on your own.
It was only getting worse.
She'd been on her way out to her car from a particularly painful shift at work when the spider had come out of nowhere. The garage was suspiciously dark anyways - one of the many complaints staff had put in to the hospital administration that ignored them - but she hadn't expected the skittering to be anything more than a spooked stray.
When the beady little eyes and long fangs appeared from the shadows, blue eyes had widened and she'd taken her bag to it - the only weapon she had available on hand. Turning into Captain Angelite would have made life so much easier but with the cameras in every angle.... no, she couldn't risk it. Too much potential for things to go wrong.
A well-placed slap had the spider skittering off to only god knew where but not without the cost of having those sticky, horrifying fangs planting themselves into the side of her arm. s**t. s**t.
Oversized spiders and their bites had come into the ER seven or eight times already this week. There'd been a rumor about something happening at the Botanical Gardens, but nobody seemed to have a clear explanation of anything. Julianne wouldn't have believed the spider rumor, honestly, had one not accosted her, herself.
Having treated the bites in the ER, however, already told Jules that she was in for a rough time. None of their antivenom seemed to have any effect on the patients, the wounds only proving to grow worse and worse before finally getting better.
Sucking in her breath between her teeth, she continued to her car and made her way home, wrapping her sweater around her arm in the meantime. Heading back to work would only delay the inevitable of we're sorry, we can't do anything for you Julie and a copay she didn't want to bother paying. Ugh.
By the time she made it home, it was already burning. Her first course of action was to knock back two pain pills smuggled away in the back of her medicine cabinet back from a previous root canal. Then, fetching some of her first aid paraphernalia from the bathroom, the tired nurse made her way into the kitchen.
Running hot water in the sink, she winced and hissed as she cleaned the wound. Sanitizing it only proved to sting further, teeth gritting against one another as her eyes squeezed shut. Hell - even stitching herself after a battle gone awry didn't hurt as badly as this did. The venom was obviously taking effect and making her worse for wear because of it.
The following hours were spent in bed, the gauze wrapped wound elevated on a pillow while she did her best to ride out the pain. The first hour brought along with it waves of nausea and several visits to the bathroom. It wasn't like she'd really wanted that dinner anyways....
Second hour brought on fierce cramps and headaches. Maybe she'd gotten a tad bit dehydrated between bathroom visit three or four?
Third hour brought troublesome dreams and hallucinations. She knew in the back of her mind that the shadows scurrying across her bedroom wall weren't anything but figments of her imagination, but even the attempt at consoling her own addled mind didn't suppress the racing heartbeat pounding in her chest.
Every now and then, she'd glance at her phone with the desire to call someone for help.... but who was there to even bother, these days?
No, she'd just have to suck it up.
Somehow.
WC: 588
