Gray Widower

Gray Widowers are deadly, spider-like predators, each about the size of a dog, which have the ability to produce corrosive spider-webs that can burn through materials like clothing and flesh.

History

Novella

Due to the pharmacy doors being left propped open when the mist reached the pharmacy, the pharmacy patrons were smelled out by a pack of Gray Widowers which proceded to overrun the pharmacy and slaughter the patrons.

About a day later, when an expedition of survivors from the nextdoor grocery store arrive for medical supplies, they are attacked by the Gray Widowers, which use the mist as camouflage and their acidic webbing as projectiles. The Gray Widowers manage to kill three of the survivors with their deadly webs, but three of the remaining survivors manage to escape back to the market.

During the escape from the market the next day, a large Gray Widower attacks Hattie and cocoons her in its webbing, killing her.

A Gray Widower before attacking Myron

Shortly after, another Gray Widower tries to follow David into the Scout, but David closes the door on it before it can get in. With all the doors and windows of the Scout closed, the scent of the survivors within is cut off from the Gray Widower, making them practically invisible to it. Thus the Gray Widower abandons the Scout when it cannot pick up the occupants' scent.

Film

Gray Widowers apparently attacked the Draytons' home when the mist reached it, killing Stephanie and cocooning her body to the broken window in web silk.

Due to the pharmacy doors being left propped open when the mist reached the pharmacy, the pharmacy patrons were smelled out by a pack of Gray Widowers which proceeded to overrun the pharmacy, capture and cocoon the patrons in cobweb-like webs and lay thousands of Gray Widowletts under the MP's skin.

About a day later, survivors from the Food House nextdoor arrive at the pharmacy to collect medical supplies in time to witness the MP hatch his Gray Widowletts.

The Gray Widowers then reveal theirselves to the group and launch an attack, killing Bobby and Mike and feeding their bodies to the newly-hatched Gray Widowletts.

The next day, during the escape from the market, a Gray Widower attacks Bud, Myron and Ambrose, killing Myron.

Ambrose is soon after attacked, surrounded and killed by a pack of Gray Widowers in the parking lot.

A Gray Widower attacks David's Land Cruiser

When David leans out of the Land Cruiser to get Amanda's gun, a Gray Widower attacks the car. When David gets back into the car and closes the door, the Gray Widower attempts to break in through the windscreen. However, with all the Land Cruiser's doors and windows closed, the occupants' scent is cut off from the Gray Widower, and thus, it gives up in seconds when it cannot pick up the survivors' scent, and abandons the Land Cruiser.

When David's group is driving south through the mist, they discover a school bus which was attacked by Gray Widowers (due to broken windows and open doors) when the mist reached it, and the children's bodies cocooned in web silk.

Anatomy

Novella

The Gray Widowers are described as black with yellow piping, 12-14 multiple-jointed legs, promegranate-like, pinkish-red eyes and appearing almost entirely different to spiders.

They can also fire strands of their corrosive webbing as projectiles from the oval-shaped orifice on the upper-belly, and produce low, vibrational, mewling noises.

Film

The boils on the MP's skin, about to hatch Gray Widowletts

In the film, the Gray Widowers are greyish with eight spiny legs, long, thin spines, a wasp-like abdomen, four eyes, a spider-like thorax, and a skull-like head. They also produce vocal sounds ranging from low, vibrational growls to high, piercing shrieks.

Like in the novella, they can produce corrosive web strands and fire them as projectiles, but they can also lay eggs in living hosts. These eggs will appear as thousands of bulging boils on the host's skin, which each burst open after about a day to release the new hatchlings.

The hatchlings, Gray Widowletts, appear identical to the adults, except they are a brownish colour, and the size of terrestrial spiders.

Life Cycle

In the film, the Gray Widowers have a parasitic life cycle: they capture living hosts and lay thousands of eggs under each one's skin. After about a day, the eggs hatch into thousands of Gray Widowletts which eat their way out of the host's skin, killing it.

Gallery

A Gray Widower shocks Jim

A Gray Widower menacing Jim

The MP hatches Gray Widowletts

Early concept art for the film

Trivia

• The Gray Widowers' acidic webbing appears to be based off the corrosive blood of the Xenomorphs from Alien and its sequels.
• The pharmacy scene in the film is clearly based off a scene from Aliens.