Marine Park, Brooklyn, New York The digital clocks in Spider's empty bedroom set off a series of technological events of greater and lesser importance. Lights downstairs in the lounge and kitchen turn off. Softer lighting upstairs in the en-suite bathroom comes on, security lights outside continue to shine brightly, and downstairs the sound-proofed basement is plunged into absolute darkness.
Lu Zagalsky had been terrified the first time the lights had gone out. Her heart had tried to crack through her ribcage and make a run for it. The darkness seemed alive with some slithering, satanic shape that somehow felt out her face and tried to smother her, tried to suck and swallow her into the endless blackness. Now, though, she's almost grateful for the dark. The pain from her broken nose is nearly bearable, but her eyes feel as though they've had acid poured in them. Lu's thirst is ferocious. There isn't anything on earth she wouldn't do for a single glass of water. She'd heard somewhere that you could survive a long time without food, but you still had to have water. What she didn't know of course was that one day she would get to find out first hand exactly how long that survival would be. Lu is comforted by the fact that she's almost completely got over the hunger pains that were so severe for the first day after he left her. Now, she isn't hungry at all. Sadly, it's nothing she should be pleased with. After two days without food, sensors in either the gastrointestinal tract or in the mesenteric veins that drain the gut, send signals to the brain killing off the hunger pains and shutting down the digestive system. Lu's body is starting to do what will probably be irreparable damage to itself. It is starting to eat itself.
The lights in the basement come on again and her eyes burn with pain as she blinks into the brightness above her head. Upstairs, another digital clock triggers another device. A recording machine is activated.
The cameras around her start to pan, zoom and focus.
A digital hard drive whirrs into action to capture what Spider is sure will be the last hours of Lu Zagalsky's life.