The spider doesn't register as odd- they're good mothers, or so he hears. But Gwen assisting makes it go easier, as it always does.

(In the same way you trace over a missing tooth, three other half-remembered figures clear away debris too. Someone sturdy as foundation stone and mountain rock, someone who thrums like telephone wire and surveillance cameras, a congress of the rats and pigeons, all picking away debris and helping survivors, just at their periphery.)

The more they pick out, there more there are to save. And when the blood gets under his nails, he knows it won't come out again.