Post by Ellie on May 29, 2005 15:53:25 GMT -5
GOO
Renee watched the flames touch the sky as the giant building burned. She had removed all she could, but it was the smell, the smell of death. So many gone. They had started to take the sick here to the university after the hospitals filled up. The town rushed themselves to the place, in search of a cure. After a few weeks, the rumor of a cure was proven fake. And the people, who weren’t sick yet, went mad.
Her eyes were still locked on the ravenous flames as they swallowed the buildings. She could feel the first lick of heat on her skin. “Time to leave,” she told herself aloud. She turned, and went still.
“Help me,” a man said in front of her. His eyes were bleeding, and his skin was peeling from his face. He reached his bloated black hands out to her. “Help me, please.”<br>
She took a few steps back, shaking her head. “No, no, no, no,” she said repeatedly.
He followed in front of her, his hands reaching for her. She didn’t want them to touch her. She knew what they felt like on her skin, and she couldn’t do it again.
He’s not there, her head said calmly. She covered her eyes with her own normal hands. “He’s fake,” she said to herself, as her head counted to ten.
After a bit, there was silence. She removed her hands and looked, and the vision was gone. Shakily she let out a long breath, and breathed in deeply. The smoke entered her lungs sharply threatening to close her throat. She coughed, and turned to the fire. The thick black smoke filled the sky.
She needed to leave. First, she needed to get something to drink for her throat. She walked to the road, and turned towards Yosemite Lake. As she entered, the wind had picked up a little. It was now August; the lake should have been filled with families and crazy university kids. She walked along the paved road, making her way to the snack bar.
The plague had hit them quick. Hitting them in early May. It started with the animals. At first you would come across piles of goo with bones and hair or feathers protruding from it. And then it hit the bigger animals. It seemed like a bad case of animal parvo was going around. Cats, dogs, house animals all started to get sick. First they would start to loose interest in eating or drinking, and they had no energy. Then they started to vomit. And then the blood, it was the blood that grossed her out the most. Finally it was as if their bodies started to melt, as if they were candles, until there was nothing left but a pile of goo, bones, feathers or fur.
It was a bad sign something was going on. But it got worse, it started to leak out that whatever was making the animals sick was jumping to humans. People were frightened, what a report. Really what a way to die. They had known the symptoms, and it was frightening.
And it hit quickly. There was no protection, there was no cure, there was no time to even find what or who had released such a germ onto the world. “I hope they’re happy they’re dead,” Renee said as she turned onto the small path that would lead her to the snack bar.
She didn’t mind talking to herself, it wasn’t as if anyone would catch her and think her crazy. Hell, she hadn’t seen anyone in two weeks. Well, not counting the horrible visions she had. She reached the snack bar, and tried the door. It was locked. “Figures,” she said to herself.
She walked to the front, and looked out at the water. It looked so lonely, so untouched. She shivered, and turned to the front of the snack bar. She saw the lock on the front of the store. “Ah huh.”<br>
She walked to the other side where there was yet another door, this one with a glass window in it. “There’s always a way.”<br>
She found a big rock without having to look on the beach. She threw it into the window. The sound of it shattering was loud to her ears. She knocked some of the extra glass out of the way before she reached her arm in. She didn’t need to get hurt or get some horrible infection. She laughed thinking of it, as her hand slipped into the window and found the lock.
She pushed the door in and stepped over the glass pieces. It was dark, but cool in the shack. Valley summers sucked. The heat was horrible. This summer’s high was way over a hundred degrees. She let the coolness wash over her heated skin. The slight darkness in the shack started to envelope around her, and she got a bad vibe from the place. She should just walk out and leave, but her throat cried in protest.
She reached over to the wall, her hand searching for a switch. She finally found it and flipped it on. The fluorescent light hummed to life filling the shack with a sick yellow color. In front of her, lying in the corner was a blanket covering something. She started towards it. Her hand reached out, but she stopped herself.
“You are a stupid girl. Do you really want to see what’s under there?” she asked herself.
She thought it over for a while, and shrugged. “Curiosity killed the cat,” she said as she reached for the blanket. Her hand grabbed the itchy material, and she pulled it off. It gave way from the object with a sick slurping sound. She let it fall to the ground revealing her prize.
The bloated face of a scared teenager looked up at her with blood filled eyes. The human body didn’t exactly melt, like the animals. It was either to big, or the virus didn’t live that far into the destruction of a body. At first you got sick, a very bad case of the flu. She had got it along with her family. But as they all advanced to the next stage, she got better. The next stage was the destruction of the blood vessels. The blood filled the hands and feet, and then started to pour out of any hole it could. And as the blood started leaking from the eyes, the skin started to get waxy and gooey and started to peel off in sickening chunks.
She stared down at the scared face of the teen. His skin had peeled before he died. He must have been so scared here alone, as he died. Congealed blood had formed a puddle around him. “Poor kid,” she said. She bent down and picked up the blanket covering him back up. There was no way she was going to touch him, so the blanket seemed the best way.
She grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator. She had no idea how long the electricity was going to last, but it was summer and power was good. She left the shack, and started back to the road. The sound of a motor came closer, she duct behind one of the smaller buildings.
“Hello?” A voice she recognized said loudly.
She was going to move. “Don’t you dare,” she said to herself in a whisper.
She stayed behind the small building. “You’re right.” She waited until he left.
“Guess I’m going to have to take the short cut home,” she said as she started walking.
“You think,” she replied. “Wish it was strawberry season would be able to stop and grab some from the field.” She paused. “I’d have to grow my own strawberries this fall.” She sighed and continued walking.
On her long walk home, she stopped in the shade by the sun scorched fields. She shook her head, “What a pity.” She was almost home. Flies where heavy in the air from the rotten vegetables. The owners of this small but nice field had once taken very good care of it. And it had brought them some money. Now that they were dead so was their land, what did that mean for the rest of the area?
She shook her head. “You have no time to think of this stuff. You have to think of yourself first. And I’m not ready for the power to go out. I need to be.”<br>
She started home, waving the flies away from her face. She didn’t want to come back this way again. Too many flies. “Glad they don’t bite.”<br>
“Yeah really.”<br>
At home she took a shower, and fell into a fitful sleep full of people she knew asking her to help him. She finally woke up screaming she couldn’t help them. She lay there bundled in her blanket, even though it was hot then hell.
Later that week she found herself at the library, she had made a nice section of all the books she liked. She sat in one of the fluffy beanbag chairs reading as she heard the horn honk again. She didn’t even give it notice. Lucas had been at it all week.
She had spotted something shiny in a store window as she walked down Main Street Friday morning. The shiny object stopped her and she crossed the street not checking the street. The screech of tires made her snap attention to the road she was on. The car stopped not hitting her but close.
“What the fuck,” she said hitting the hood of the car. “Watch where the fuck your driving Lucas.”<br>
“Renee,” he said. He opened his door, and got out of the car. “Are you ok?”<br>
She looked down at herself. “Yep, okay.”<br>
“No. I mean you ain’t sick?”<br>
Renee watched the flames touch the sky as the giant building burned. She had removed all she could, but it was the smell, the smell of death. So many gone. They had started to take the sick here to the university after the hospitals filled up. The town rushed themselves to the place, in search of a cure. After a few weeks, the rumor of a cure was proven fake. And the people, who weren’t sick yet, went mad.
Her eyes were still locked on the ravenous flames as they swallowed the buildings. She could feel the first lick of heat on her skin. “Time to leave,” she told herself aloud. She turned, and went still.
“Help me,” a man said in front of her. His eyes were bleeding, and his skin was peeling from his face. He reached his bloated black hands out to her. “Help me, please.”<br>
She took a few steps back, shaking her head. “No, no, no, no,” she said repeatedly.
He followed in front of her, his hands reaching for her. She didn’t want them to touch her. She knew what they felt like on her skin, and she couldn’t do it again.
He’s not there, her head said calmly. She covered her eyes with her own normal hands. “He’s fake,” she said to herself, as her head counted to ten.
After a bit, there was silence. She removed her hands and looked, and the vision was gone. Shakily she let out a long breath, and breathed in deeply. The smoke entered her lungs sharply threatening to close her throat. She coughed, and turned to the fire. The thick black smoke filled the sky.
She needed to leave. First, she needed to get something to drink for her throat. She walked to the road, and turned towards Yosemite Lake. As she entered, the wind had picked up a little. It was now August; the lake should have been filled with families and crazy university kids. She walked along the paved road, making her way to the snack bar.
The plague had hit them quick. Hitting them in early May. It started with the animals. At first you would come across piles of goo with bones and hair or feathers protruding from it. And then it hit the bigger animals. It seemed like a bad case of animal parvo was going around. Cats, dogs, house animals all started to get sick. First they would start to loose interest in eating or drinking, and they had no energy. Then they started to vomit. And then the blood, it was the blood that grossed her out the most. Finally it was as if their bodies started to melt, as if they were candles, until there was nothing left but a pile of goo, bones, feathers or fur.
It was a bad sign something was going on. But it got worse, it started to leak out that whatever was making the animals sick was jumping to humans. People were frightened, what a report. Really what a way to die. They had known the symptoms, and it was frightening.
And it hit quickly. There was no protection, there was no cure, there was no time to even find what or who had released such a germ onto the world. “I hope they’re happy they’re dead,” Renee said as she turned onto the small path that would lead her to the snack bar.
She didn’t mind talking to herself, it wasn’t as if anyone would catch her and think her crazy. Hell, she hadn’t seen anyone in two weeks. Well, not counting the horrible visions she had. She reached the snack bar, and tried the door. It was locked. “Figures,” she said to herself.
She walked to the front, and looked out at the water. It looked so lonely, so untouched. She shivered, and turned to the front of the snack bar. She saw the lock on the front of the store. “Ah huh.”<br>
She walked to the other side where there was yet another door, this one with a glass window in it. “There’s always a way.”<br>
She found a big rock without having to look on the beach. She threw it into the window. The sound of it shattering was loud to her ears. She knocked some of the extra glass out of the way before she reached her arm in. She didn’t need to get hurt or get some horrible infection. She laughed thinking of it, as her hand slipped into the window and found the lock.
She pushed the door in and stepped over the glass pieces. It was dark, but cool in the shack. Valley summers sucked. The heat was horrible. This summer’s high was way over a hundred degrees. She let the coolness wash over her heated skin. The slight darkness in the shack started to envelope around her, and she got a bad vibe from the place. She should just walk out and leave, but her throat cried in protest.
She reached over to the wall, her hand searching for a switch. She finally found it and flipped it on. The fluorescent light hummed to life filling the shack with a sick yellow color. In front of her, lying in the corner was a blanket covering something. She started towards it. Her hand reached out, but she stopped herself.
“You are a stupid girl. Do you really want to see what’s under there?” she asked herself.
She thought it over for a while, and shrugged. “Curiosity killed the cat,” she said as she reached for the blanket. Her hand grabbed the itchy material, and she pulled it off. It gave way from the object with a sick slurping sound. She let it fall to the ground revealing her prize.
The bloated face of a scared teenager looked up at her with blood filled eyes. The human body didn’t exactly melt, like the animals. It was either to big, or the virus didn’t live that far into the destruction of a body. At first you got sick, a very bad case of the flu. She had got it along with her family. But as they all advanced to the next stage, she got better. The next stage was the destruction of the blood vessels. The blood filled the hands and feet, and then started to pour out of any hole it could. And as the blood started leaking from the eyes, the skin started to get waxy and gooey and started to peel off in sickening chunks.
She stared down at the scared face of the teen. His skin had peeled before he died. He must have been so scared here alone, as he died. Congealed blood had formed a puddle around him. “Poor kid,” she said. She bent down and picked up the blanket covering him back up. There was no way she was going to touch him, so the blanket seemed the best way.
She grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator. She had no idea how long the electricity was going to last, but it was summer and power was good. She left the shack, and started back to the road. The sound of a motor came closer, she duct behind one of the smaller buildings.
“Hello?” A voice she recognized said loudly.
She was going to move. “Don’t you dare,” she said to herself in a whisper.
She stayed behind the small building. “You’re right.” She waited until he left.
“Guess I’m going to have to take the short cut home,” she said as she started walking.
“You think,” she replied. “Wish it was strawberry season would be able to stop and grab some from the field.” She paused. “I’d have to grow my own strawberries this fall.” She sighed and continued walking.
On her long walk home, she stopped in the shade by the sun scorched fields. She shook her head, “What a pity.” She was almost home. Flies where heavy in the air from the rotten vegetables. The owners of this small but nice field had once taken very good care of it. And it had brought them some money. Now that they were dead so was their land, what did that mean for the rest of the area?
She shook her head. “You have no time to think of this stuff. You have to think of yourself first. And I’m not ready for the power to go out. I need to be.”<br>
She started home, waving the flies away from her face. She didn’t want to come back this way again. Too many flies. “Glad they don’t bite.”<br>
“Yeah really.”<br>
At home she took a shower, and fell into a fitful sleep full of people she knew asking her to help him. She finally woke up screaming she couldn’t help them. She lay there bundled in her blanket, even though it was hot then hell.
Later that week she found herself at the library, she had made a nice section of all the books she liked. She sat in one of the fluffy beanbag chairs reading as she heard the horn honk again. She didn’t even give it notice. Lucas had been at it all week.
She had spotted something shiny in a store window as she walked down Main Street Friday morning. The shiny object stopped her and she crossed the street not checking the street. The screech of tires made her snap attention to the road she was on. The car stopped not hitting her but close.
“What the fuck,” she said hitting the hood of the car. “Watch where the fuck your driving Lucas.”<br>
“Renee,” he said. He opened his door, and got out of the car. “Are you ok?”<br>
She looked down at herself. “Yep, okay.”<br>
“No. I mean you ain’t sick?”<br>