 I've always been intrigued by things smaller than us. I would buy those insect kits and keep grasshoppers and butterflies in them, feed them leaves, and in the future I'd learn that most insects need to feast on other ones. My name is Marcus Trent. I finished college with a degree in biology and began specializing in insects. In college I met my good friend Nolan. Unlike me, he was also invested in invertebrates. But unlike me, he usually gravitated towards arachnids, spiders, scorpions, all the stuff I don't like getting too close to. I'm not afraid of spiders even now. Just always made me so uncomfortable. The way they trapped flying insects and complex structures of silk and webbing. Bodies and moss that were usually flying freely in the sky were stuck waiting for death to come slowly crawling towards them. Just stuff like that always made me feel uneasy. But Nolan was fascinated by them. It was about three months after graduation. I was set to be moving to Colorado to study under some high level entomologists. But Nolan came to my apartment that morning. He was excited. He pulled out his phone and showed me a video. I saw a young man walking through the woods. The camera recording him walking was shaky. It was someone using their phone camera. Here it is, John. The man said, pulling out a hunting knife, pointing left. John turned the camera towards two trees about three feet apart. Between them was a large spider web. As the camera got closer, I noticed the web had a weird blue tint. The man with a knife smiled at the camera. I could tell it wasn't a particularly intelligent one. How about we do any future hikers of service and cut this out? The man prepared to start sawing into the webbing. You ever see a web this big before, John? He struggled to cut the web. It seemed like the knife wasn't making a single dent into the silk. The man got frustrated and swung his knife down like a sword. I heard a yell of surprise as the knife blade broke, a piece of it flinging into John's leg. The phone camera fell to the forest floor and the video ended. What the hell? I was definitely puzzled. Now spider webs that can't be cut aren't a new thing, but the coloration was odd. Nolan explained that the video came from Montana. Normally, you expect these kind of things in like Brazil. He insisted that we go and investigate it and while I disliked spiders, the chance to discover a new species of arachnid was enticing. But a few days later, Nolan paid for a plane trip to Montana. We were to set up shop in an apartment near the forest trail where the video said the web was found. Upon arrival, Nolan was already jumping to go to the forest. I obliged and we went head first into the wilderness. For the first few hours, we didn't find much on the main trail. Finally, around 1pm, we found the web from the video still standing. It actually was blue. Nolan took pictures and told me we should continue into the woods. I told him going off the trail may not be wise. The sun would be setting in a few hours. Nolan said we wouldn't go far and he brought orange flags to mark the way. I think it was 3pm. We were in a pretty beautiful spot in the woods. I saw a couple passing rabbits and squirrels. I began snacking on one of the peanut butter granola bars I packed when Nolan caught my attention. Woah, there's a dead bear. I turned to see Nolan facing into the distant trees. Through the trees and brush, I saw the lump of black fur. I wondered how Nolan knew it was dead. As we got closer, I saw the splotches of red and the lack of breathing. I don't know why we even went up to it, but we all know that curiosity is a damn thing. We inspected the body of a black bear. Its fur was caked with dry blood. Nolan bent down and gestured towards me. Marcus, come look at this. I knelt down next to him. He pointed to a small set of holes. Upon inspection, they seem to have been opened from the inside. I tried to make some reasonable conclusions on how the bear died, but Nolan isn't always a fan of theories and speculation. He likes to get his hands dirty to find answers. He took out a large knife. Don't know why he brought it. Maybe he wanted to test the web strength against something tougher. Now he used it to cut into the bear's fur. He cut into its stomach area, serrating a chunk to pull out. After about 20 minutes of cutting, with me trying to wait patiently, Nolan triumphantly pulled out a jagged patch of bear opening a large hole in its stomach. I took out a large flashlight and sent the beam into the dark abyss of its insides. The beam bounced back with a glimmer as the light touched it. Nolan peered inside. I made the mistake of looking closer into the void of its stomach. There were no organs from what I could see. The inner membrane of muscles was covered and woven together by spider webs. Two tinted spider webs that crossed between muscles and exposed bone. After we both calmed down, we decided to head back to the trail. I could tell it was getting dark. As we walked, we began speculating. Our thoughts was the bear must have died from natural causes. Then the spiders found it and used it as a home to survive during the winter. Of course that meant they were eating massive bear organs. We didn't dwell on what else these spiders might eat. We were about halfway back to the hiking trail when Nolan stopped suddenly. I turned and saw his gaze dead set into the trees. Off by only a dozen feet or so was a man. He was dressed in hunting ammo and gear. He didn't have a gun on him, so I didn't see what was wrong till the man started to walk. The way he moved was wrong. His legs nearly tripped over themselves constantly. His head kept swaying, almost like it wasn't fully connected to his neck. Nolan pulled out his knife. I told him we should leave, but he told me that maybe he was lost or hurt. Maybe he knocked his head on a tree and got his brain damaged, but he still left his knife out. He called out to the man, asking him if he needed help. The hunter turned, his head swaying as he did. And he began running. He charged toward me, pushing Nolan aside and tackling me to the forest floor. I struggled to push him off. I could tell he was very physically strong. I watched as his loosely fitted head opened and revealed a stretched looking jaw. I thought I started to see something moving up his throat. Suddenly, the hunter jolted into stillness. I pushed the now limp body off of me, seeing the large knife protruding from his back. It looked like Nolan stabbed him directly in the spine. Nolan was shaking, asking me what we should do. I told him we can explain this as self defense. I was proof enough with all the dirt on me in the pain I was feeling. But Nolan stopped listening to me. His eyes looked behind me, where the body was. I turned and saw the man's body was shaking. Maybe it was postmortem reactions to the knife piercing his spinal cord. But then I saw his throat was still bulging. Something was moving inside his esophagus. His mouth opened unnaturally wide. And this time it was being pushed open by a set of four white spindly legs. Emerging from his throat came a white and silver spider about the size of my palm. It had long hairy legs. Its six blue eyes turned in our direction. It pulled its front limb, bearing a set of deep blue fangs. I could see the green venom dripping from them. The fear of the spider itself nearly made me forget that this spider was just inside a living person. Or was he even living in the first place? The body continued shaking as we watched in dumbstruck fear as more silver legs erupted from the body. Some spiders used his mouth, but others made holes from his back, slipping between rib bones, some even seeming to break them. We didn't bother to watch much longer. We made a mad dash through the woods, the scuffling of the eight-legged army behind us. I didn't think they were going to chase us, but they were clearly out for blood. I didn't look back much, but I could tell more of the spiders were abandoning the chase. I didn't know if they were giving up, or they knew the frontrunners would get us. As if to answer, one of the few remaining spiders launched itself onto Nolan's leg, a line of silk anchoring it to the floor. Nolan fell hard, I turned back to help, but I could tell he was a goner. Nolan yelled for me to run as the spider's sapphire fangs injected venom into his neck. It must have been a fast toxin, I could already see the light fading from his eyes. I managed to make it back to the trail, then to my apartment, where I'm now writing this a day later. I haven't reported his death yet, I plan on bringing the little evidence I have to convince the police force to bring more than a few men to the woods. They'll probably only find the hunter's body, who is now mutilated with holes, Nolan's knife still planted in his back. But if I can prove these spiders are a threat, maybe they'll send in professionals to help kill every last one of them. I normally don't condone the killing of natural species, even ones that harm human beings in the wild, but as I put more thought on what I saw, I know those spiders aren't a normal species of animal. I figured out something, the webs. That was how they could control the hunter's body. They use their webs to rewire the body's nervous system. Then an individual spider would be in charge of a nerve that would function the body. First off, this implies they have a complex and fast way to communicate between themselves, but that's not unusual about animals. The deeply disturbing aspect is that the spiders knew the anatomy of different animals well enough to rewire their nervous system. This meant they knew how to essentially mind control their victims. And finally, that's why they came after us. We broke their host spinal cord, which made their control mute. And why they stopped chasing after they grabbed Nolan. They didn't need to host, not until they start reproducing more and more. Nolan was a good friend. We had dreams to partner together in studies on micro ecosystems and insect biology. And now the thing he invested his education to and loved so much was what killed him. If this was a story, I'd laugh at the irony, but in reality, it's tragic. All avenged Nolan, I don't care if he wouldn't want them dead. The spiders are a threat. And the web by the trail shows they're getting closer and closer to targeting humans. If you find yourself in the woods of Montana, or on some hiking trail, and you find blue spider webs or see an animal or person that is moving strangely, drop what you're doing and run like hell, curiosity is not worth losing your body to those things update. I'm still in Montana. I'm no longer in the apartment Nolan had purchased, but I'll get to why later. First, I took some advice to test the webs. I got nowhere. I used a lighter to try to set them alight. Nothing happened. I didn't even bother testing sharp tools or even chainsaws. I knew from the video that brought us here that sharp objects or brute force wouldn't work. Maybe a car could crash through it, but I'm not willing to test that. So the webs are basically invincible, which provides a problem. If a spider were to get you with a web, you'd be trapped since the connection was so strong. When it comes to close combat, the spiders are in that perfect size of scary big but small enough to avoid direct hits. They also were fast, which was a given. The idea of spiders being slow stalkers is inaccurate in most cases. Spiders are extremely fast. And these were no exception. I've occasionally pondered on what to call the spiders. But if my goal is to kill them, it seems kind of unnecessary to name them. However, white phantom spider has been the best thing I've come up with for their color and their ability to possess their victims. So that was after just one day. Between testing, I've been discussing with some friends on suggestions and theories. One of my friends mapped out a plan to use the bodies of the hunter and bear as evidence of the spiders. But now it doesn't matter because on Thursday I heard from chattering neighbors they had found the hunter's body. So I don't have to worry on that issue. Just need to wait for the autopsy, which I heard was in two days or so. I don't feel comfortable giving my specific location. And in the previous post, I felt it was irrelevant to bring up the location of the town I was holding up in. But I guess I'll go into details for a bit. The town is relatively small. It's basically made up of a big road connected to a nearby highway. The town sees lots of travelers coming in for various reasons. The apartments make plenty of money here. So do the hiking trails. The forest, the white phantom spiders and habit aren't a park or anything. A few trails were put in and they have hunting seasons. But otherwise not much of it sees human contact. My hypothesis is that the spiders originated somewhere deep in the forest, some kind of mutation maybe or a species naturally evolving. But recently, using their hosts such as bears to move safely through the forest, they're getting closer to the town. God, I can't imagine the panic that they would rain if one of those walking corpses came stumbling into my town. Thursday was mostly me just sneaking into the woods and nervously continuing test. I tried different and random chemicals on the webs. Also, there are more and more webs closer to the trail now. I've heard a few townspeople mentioning the blue webs to each other when I went shopping for the chemicals. I tried bleach, alcohol, almost any weird thing I could find that might weaken or dissolve the webs through some strange chemical reaction. That day of testing brought nothing good. Luckily no one has spotted me doing these yet. I've picked some new webs I found further from the trail, but not too far of course. For protection, I brought along a baseball bat I bought Wednesday and a can of hairspray that combines with my lighter and turns into a mobile flamethrower. A lot of you mention to use fire. Of course I can't go setting random fires in hopes of killing the spiders, but if I get attacked, a quick spray of liquid flame might do the job. One fear I have with being attacked is that they'll use Nolan's body. I know he's far past dead by now, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to burn his body down to stop the spiders. I've told myself at night, I'll be able to do it once the time comes, but we'll have to see. It's Friday now and I ended up making an acid that was able to corrode metal screws I threw it in. Honestly looking back, I feel like a stupid amateur in high school. You'll notice that whenever you do something you have literally studied your whole life, it should feel obvious and easy to do, but give someone something new to do and it makes you feel utterly clueless. I recently went to one of the further out webs I was using for tests and used a new acid. I get to the web which is resting between a low branch on the tree and its base. To visualize, it's like a web that is made between the wall and ceiling still two dimensional, but slanted, you know. I started to apply the acid on the web using the glass beaker I had covered on my way here. Of course, the acid did nothing and just dripped to the forest floor, burning the leaves and grass. I sighed with disappointment and prepared to head back. As I dumped the rest of the acid out of the beaker, I felt a massive force hit my back. I turned and saw a dangling blue web attached to me so they can shoot their webs like projectiles was my first thought. The next far more reasonable thought was pure panic. My instinct was to rip my shirt off and luckily the web was only stuck to the cloth. I picked up my baseball bat and turned to the higher branches where another web swung out at me. I dodged it and saw the white forms of phantom spiders dashing between leaves. I knew fighting was a bad idea, so I ran keeping an eye out back to see if they pursued. I saw a pair of white silhouettes jump down from the tree and dash towards me. Thinking quickly, I jumped to the side as I saw one prepare to use that anchored web jump they had used on Nolan. I pulled out the hairspray and my light and sent a wave of flame crashing into the two spiders. I put the can away and continued sprinting through the forest. As I got back on the main trail, I saw a young couple jogging towards me. I screamed for them to get out of the forest and continued running shirtless back to my car. That night was obviously crazy for me. I've been getting careless these past few days. I forget that I easily could have been the one that was grabbed by the spiders. My body right now could be the one shambling through the trees until it decays and becomes useless to its eight legged host. Anyways, the decision is to stop web testing. I honestly couldn't come up with much else to test with besides a chainsaw, which I really don't want to end up with like that John guy from the video. A lot of my friends want me to set Montana on fire, so I hope the small bit of pyrotechnics on Friday satisfied your fiery appetite. I finally got some rest last night, waking up at 6am this morning, getting a quick shower and starting getting ready to leave when my apartment door opened. I saw the landlord standing there and a police officer walking into the room. Now I was a little nervous when I saw his right hand was resting on his unclipped gun holster, but pure dread said in when I saw he had Nolan's knife in the other. I'm guessing he did that on purpose because he got exactly the reaction he wanted. You recognize this, don't you? We found out it belonged to your friend, Nolan Mantings, who has been missing for the past couple of days. And this knife was in the back of a hunter who has been missing for weeks. Care to explain? I was genuinely dumbfounded, I honestly thought they wouldn't have found some way to link me to the body using Nolan's knife. Have you done an autopsy on the body? I blurted out. The officer looked confused. I sighed and realized trying to explain the spider situation was pointless. Maybe I could negotiate at the police station with someone more skeptical. I lifted my hands up to be cuffed and the officer approached me. As he pulled the cuffs out, he set the knife behind him on the shelf. But besides the metal shuffling off the cuffs, I heard another distinct metal sound. It sounded like a screw being undone. To my right, I heard the clang of metal hitting the floor. Looking down, there lay the metal covering of the single air vent the room had. What the hell? The officer said, looking up at the vent and pulling out his gun. I looked up and my heart nearly crashed. A phantom spider laid in a pouncing stance on the vent. It jumped with lightning speed, landing on the officer's shoulder. The spider didn't bite the officer. I'll explain in a second more, but instead the damn thing took one of its legs, a long talon extending from the tip, and it thrusted the claw into the officer's neck. I think it hit an artery because the guy started bleeding like a park fountain. I then cowered to the far wall, expecting the spider to come right for me and try to shove itself into my throat. Instead, the spider started to retreat across the floor, making a beeline to the air vent when the landlord walked in. The spider turned and stared for a second, looking confused. I took this opportunity to grab Nolan's knife and sent the blade crashing into the spider's body. It began spurting orange blood across the ground, its legs twitching wildly as it tried to get out from under the giant blade pinning it. I ignored its death throws and I yelled at the landlord to help. He used my bedsheets to tear out a cloth to stop the bleeding as best we could. I looked out the window and saw a police cruiser and another officer sitting on the hood of the car. Hey, officer, call for an ambulance and get in here. Your partner just got his artery ripped out by a spider. The man couldn't hear me very well and looked very confused, but he must have realized the important part that his friend was dying because he called for an ambulance and later I found out a lot of backup. So yes, this is why I'm no longer in my apartment. I'm in a police station now. Don't worry, I'm not locked up, otherwise I wouldn't be posting this. Last I heard the officer got to the emergency room and is being patched up. He should be fine. Now thanks to the landlord seeing the spider and me having killed one and showing it off to the sheriff, a man named Logan Dunty helped keep me from being locked up for presumed murder of two people and attempted murder of a police officer. I've had some time to think on this. Right now, Sheriff Dunty didn't need much convincing that yes, these spiders were a threat as one of them just put one of his men in the hospital. I also had the video of the web that had brought me here in the first place. But when they went to check the hunter's body in the morgue, I helped in opening it up to show the webs beforehand. We noticed the body had extra holes and tears. The morgue was also a mess. Someone was in here apparently or something. We opened up the body. Maybe the spiders were erasing any trace of their existence. Maybe they were trying to frame me for murder. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's already been established that these guys are smart enough to know anatomy. The assassin spider even knew where to hit a major artery. That's why he didn't bite the officer or try to kill me. Their venom would give my story some merit, but a stab in the neck, not so innocent looking. And that's why it stopped when the landlord came in. It didn't plan on another witness and I don't think it knew what to do. The sheriff has sent the evidence to a friend of his that's in the army or something. Dunty says that they will send someone as soon as possible to assess the situation. Until then, the sheriff sends he trusts me and believes in me enough to let me walk freely in the station. I've already given a semi-decent unprepared presentation on the phantom spiders and their known and theorized abilities and weaknesses. The town is being put on a small lockdown and the forests are off limits to all civilians. Some people said that it's an overreaction. But I know that it may not be enough. The spiders are much more intelligent than we first thought and the spiders are trying to hide their existence. They wanted the element of surprise. Maybe this random graduate has foiled their plans to sneak into the town and eat everyone. Or at least that's what I presume they want to do. The truth is I don't know what's going to happen next and I just hope I'm able to come back and give you a further update. Goodbye for now and wish me luck.