AN: Hey guys, Nick's away, probably at some Halloween party or just dying from the overload of work we've been giving him, so you're stuck with the Llama for the Halloween special (sorry!). The Awesome Tuney wrote this for us, and it certainly had me laughing, I hope it does the same for you guys.

Haaave fun and Happy Halloween!

The Symptoms of Rampancy

Arika Myles

Written by TunelessLyric

"By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes."

- William Shakespeare

Alex finished putting his armour away; feeling pleasantly tired after the full session the team had put in this morning. He ran a hand through his hair and shut the door of his locker, rolling his shoulders in order to lose . Behind him, Jackson and Will joked loudly and Jason was heading outside.

"Look, I have some things to do now," Alex said to his male teammates. "I'll catch you later, 'kay?"

"Sure thing." replied Will. Jackson dipped his head before returning to chatting with the other Runner.

Alex palmed the door open and stepped outside. He took about a step before something wispy plastered itself across his face. All thoughts of the beautiful sunny day – the slight breeze to keep the temperature comfortable, the party he was going to later – all of it drained from his mind when the spider web caught him.

Letting out a squawk of shock and fear, his hands came up to brush it away. "Get it off, get it off, get it off!" he shouted, voice high pitched, almost feminine, in his panic.

Of course, wiping web off his face only transferred the sticky trap onto his hands. Alex hopped around in the parking lot, flapping his hands like a demented chicken. Finally he regained enough sense to peek down at the web. He whimpered a little when he saw how entangled his fingers had become in the web, trussed up like little sausages.

Slowly, bit by bit, Alex eased the tendrils away from his skin. In a few short minutes, he was free.

A sharp pinch on his forearm made him glance down warily, bringing his brief moment of exultation to an abrupt end. A large, black spider had decided to sample the Runner. Alex paled and let out a yelp. Small skittering noises drift up from his feet. He felt more pinching sensations on his legs.

He wanted to run. He wanted to shake them off, slap them away, anything. Instead he was frozen in place. Only when the painful biting feelings reached the sensitive skin under his jaw could he move.

Alex lifted his hands to his face, shivering when he saw them. Countless tiny puncture wounds covered the bare skin and definitely stretched into the sleeves of his t-shirt. No doubt the spiders had also bitten all over his legs. He lowered his gaze and felt his heart rate ramp up about twenty beats per minute.

A writhing brown mass between his running shoes made the ground appear to heave and lurch under him. The individual spiders he picked out made a queasy wave roll through his stomach. Brown recluses, black widows and many unrecognisable varieties were crawling up his pant leg. They all were extremely venomous, carrying enough neurotoxin to kill him in minutes and he was standing right in the middle of them.

He began gulping in air, hyperventilating. How many times had he been bitten? How long did he have left? Would they leave anything of him behind when they began to eat him? How would they explain it to his family! His heart thumped faster and faster as he well and truly panicked.

The poison must have reached his brain because he swayed on his feet, vision turning dark. Or maybe that was the terror? He forced himself to stop trying to claw each tiny body from his skin. He caught sight of the bites all over his arms. Every wound is swollen to the size of a large grape and black bruises spread under the masses. Alex whined and clasped his hands behind his back.

Another wave of nausea forced him into a squat, the spiders running frantically up and down his legs. His blood seemed to be on fire. The venom was spreading.

He sat down, unable to remain balanced. His hands went to the ground to steady himself. Alex felt the hairy bodies squish sickeningly under his weight. He lays back, tired. His head drops heavily into the nest.

There wasn't fire in his blood any more. It had turned to icy shards, numbing his entire body from within. Alex pushed hair from his eyes and nearly dissolved into wild panic again. The ends of his fingers were blue.

He shook his head with a low moan. He dropped his hands and gave in. It was just too much work to stay awake any more.

He was just...so...tired...

Arika smiled and leaned back in her seat. The rest of the team stared blankly at her.

"That…" Jamie began, before pausing, as if unsure of how to continue.

"Is really messed up, Arika." Sophie added, finishing her teammate's sentence for her.

The boys gaped at the Tank, Alex in particular, leaning slightly away from her, as though . Kiara had her hand to her mouth, eyes wide. Ellen shook her head and sighed.

Alex wrung his hands. "But… why spiders? What a horrible way to die!" He shuddered. "I hate spiders."

Arika rested her head against her hand. "That's the whole point! It's supposed to scare you, not be a freaking bedtime story. Come on."

Jackson rolled his eyes. "Come on, Cross. Man up a little. They're just bugs."

"Oh, and if she told a story about, say, you being shown up by a girl in the middle of a game, you wouldn't have a problem?" the Runner shot back, flashing a wry grin.

The team captain's face flushed and he sat back in his chair. One finger began idly drawing patterns in some spilled water on the table, but he didn't reply, Alex's dig obviously having got to him.

"Well, that makes things interesting." Jason muttered, eyes wandering along the wall behind Ellen.

Arika leans forward, a wicked grin in place. "So, any particular girl in mind? A Siren, maybe?"

If Jackson had been embarrassed before, now he was mortified. "Never. In a million years. No!"

Ellen burst out laughing, until Sophie pounced on her. "Oh, you think that's funny, do you?"

The main Defender's eyes widened slightly, but she shrugged it off. "Come on, I am not afraid."

"Really?" Jamie draws out the word. "Let's say, hypothetically, of course, a certain someone we all know shot you down majorly. Reaction?"

Ellen ducked her head and dropped her gaze to her lap. She mumbled something and most of the team turned their attention to Jamie.

She spread her hands innocently. "You guys'll never figure it out!"

Arika was reminded of the sleepover at her apartment. "Water…" she mused. During PoTC, Jamie had nearly freaked when Elizabeth almost drowned. "You don't like water." she added louder.

"Oh, my god! I nearly drowned in my friend's pool! That is terrifying, no one should ever swim, it's dangerous!" Jamie said vehemently.

"How old were you?" Will asked, leaning forward to see around Kiara.

Jamie grimaced. "That was a year and a half ago."

Ellen sat up. "You are going to learn how to swim. I will teach you myself. No getting out of this."

"What are the rest of you afraid of?" Alex asked, leaning his elbows on the table. To Arika, it seemed as though he was still trying to get past her story.

"Heights," she volunteered, feeling as though she should be honest after putting the team on the subject.

"Really?" Ellen asked, smiling slightly, and Arika felt embarrassment well up inside, her cheeks flushing.

Arika ducked her head. "It's stupid, I know. It isn't like I'd have to really worry about it. I also don't like subways."

"Because of your brother?" Kiara tilted her head, as though surprised she brought that up.

Despite the wash of emptiness at the mention of the accident that stole her older brother and mother from her, Arika manages to smile thinly. "Yeah."

Breaking the somewhat uncomfortable silence, Will said, "I'm afraid of bats."

Jamie's eyebrows rose. "Bats? Is that why you make us go outside before you after late practices? Are we some kind of sacrificial offering or something?"

"I've always wondered about that." Jackson added, elbowing his friend in the ribs lightly.

Will shrugged. "Yeah, you didn't figure that out after that bat was in the training room?"

Alex had to put his head on the table, he was laughing so hard. "Your face when you walked in!"

Will's lips pressed into a thin line. "I still don't see why that was so funny." he mumbled.

Kiara spoke up then. "Zombies scare me."

Jason stared at her, mouth slightly open. "But they're so cool."

The other Tank shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "How could a walking dead person be cool?" she retorted shortly, eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"Probably the same way we find your deepest fear cool." Sophie said pointedly.

At that, the Defender's mouth shut with a click. "No one thinks fire is cool."

The rest of the team exchanged a glance. Arika did think fire was cool. Well, interesting, not cool. To each their own, she supposed. The Tank turned her attention to Sophie. The Runner hadn't revealed her own fear yet.

Sophie shook her head with a sigh. "Okay, okay. No laughing, but I'm afraid of the dark."

Arika was stunned. The idea of the Runner being afraid of the dark didn't really match up to her personality. Her phone goes off unexpectedly, making most of the Rampancy players jump. "Sorry, guys, I should grab this."

She stands up and heads outside, phone in hand. Well, that had been an enlightening time. Sometimes she forgot that the team was just a bunch of regular people with regular fears. Well, and some not-so-regular fears.

After all, it wasn't like they were all that likely to come across any zombies anytime soon.