The Sickness

[Sreeya]

She was curled up behind the bed, crouched on the ground. The wooden floor still felt warm from when they had the heat on. She watched her tears beginning to collect on the surface, and she could hear her own labored breathing. Brynn was shaking uncontrollably, hearing the consistent thud against the bedroom door. It was accompanied by a raspy growl and groan, but the thuds were almost rhythmic.

The news report had begun a week prior, and no one seemed to really believe it at first. There was talk of a sickness that began to plague people, and everyone was convinced it was only from the farmlands in Iowa. It would never get to a city like Cedar Rapids, and her parents had ignored the calls for evacuation.

That was when her father had come home from work earlier today and began to sweat profusely. He muttered something about having gone to a meat plant for auditing, and he wasn’t feeling well. He began to twitch and convulse, and Brynn watched as he lashed out at her mother, moving with inhuman strength.

Brynn had seen enough in the news reports to run, rushing upstairs to shut the door to her bedroom and lock herself in. She hadn’t thought to go outside, and she began to regret her decision now.

Her parents had the sickness, and they were going to kill her.

She didn’t process any of it, and she was sobbing quietly on the floor. The sickness twisted their minds to where they couldn’t perform basic cognitive tasks like opening doors, but that didn’t stop her from pushing a desk to block the way. The thuds kept getting louder and louder, and she knew it wouldn’t be long till they broke through.

Brynn finally rose to stand, turning to window and opening it. An icy chill flowed into the room, snowflakes serenely dropping from above. She ran to her closet, gathering up her coat and a backpack. She packed her laptop, a flashlight, cellphone and wallet. She had no food on her, and would have to manage.

She punched out the net behind the window, glancing down at the landing from the second story window. Brynn quickly tied scarves to her bed post, using them to hoist herself out. She walked down the side of the house enough to lower the distance and let go, landing on her feet on the ground.

Brynn put up her hood and looked around, her breath escaping in a fog as she looked around. She had no idea where to go, but perhaps the corner store down the street would have some people. Trying not to think about her parents, she quickly broke into a run, her heart racing as she tried to come to terms with the fact that they were dead.

@Phoenix @Orbit

 

[Orbit]

Drake couldn't process what was happening. When the sickness struck, he had woken up from his room and heard groaning in his roommate's room. He was worried at first but he didn't think anything of it when he opened to door to find out what was happening. The next thing he knew his roommate was on top of him, clawing at his face and trying to bite into Drake's neck. All of it was almost a blur because he tried to block it from his mind, remembering at least trying to reason to whatever the thing was that used to be his roommate. That's when Drake recalled grabbing his friend's old baseball bat and using it to defend himself. There was a lot of blood and Drake vomited a few times afterward, wrapping his mind around what he had just done and what it all meant.

Drake didn't really watch TV and was disgustingly behind on current events and he turned on the TV and hoped that he could catch something on the news. He flipped through every channel and they relayed the same thing over and over, some sickness was sweeping through the country and nobody knew how to stop it. They suggested that people stayed in their homes and waited for the military to come and handle this. Drake glanced back at his roommate's carcass, wondering how many more people were affected. Listening to the news, he had spent days in his apartment, scraping by with the food and water he had but he was going to run out eventually.

That was a few days ago, now Drake out in an open street as he walked on the sidewalk. There was little left to do when he ran out of supplies and the groans and thuds he heard throughout his entire apartment complex didn't help matters either. Unfortunately, Ceder Rapids went through a recent snowstorm and it was just then starting to ease up. It was brutal and cold outside even when Drake was dressed suitably for it but there was a corner store he knew about that wasn't too far from his place. He was hoping that at least he could find cans or some water bottles.

It didn't take long for him to find it, the sign with the store's name no longer vibrant in color but still hanging above the door to point it out. Drake approached the front carefully as he found the top half the glass door was boarded up but the bottom was broken glass and a tiny entrance he could crouch through. Checking his surroundings before he entered, Drake carefully navigated through the hole before entering and standing up to his full height. The hole was the only thing that provided light inside as the rest was covered in shadows and the only thing that could be heard was a slight breeze through the boards. His fingers tightened around the baseball bat in preparation, taking a cautious step forward as he started to explore the store in hopes for food.

 

[Phoenix]

Jack had come home from work and collapsed onto his bed. Between full time school and a part time job, he spent most of his time being exhausted and had next to no time to watch the news or keep up on the general happenings of the world. When he heard a loud thumping on his apartment door later that night, he grumbled and went to investigate, putting his eye up to the peep hole only to see a man bleeding from his mouth and pale as death.

His first instinct was to call 911, but doing so only elicited a busy signal. The sounds of moaning and shuffling feet drew his eye once again, and more of these... people came milling through. Other calls out got him the same "line is busy" spiel, but an internet search turned up slightly more helpful results. A plague? What was this, some sort of chemical or biological weapon? Probably the Russians, it had to be. I'll just hunker down here and wait it out. I'll get a bag ready to go if I need to head out, he thought to himself. He was going to need that sooner rather than later.

He didn't know how the fire had started, but by the time he realized it was going, he already couldn't access the front hallway of his apartment. With the fire raging, he climbed down form his second story balcony - carefully but quickly skirting along the steel girder outside - and dropped into the small courtyard. The nearest building was a corner store, and he made for it without haste. He didn't want to be caught out with these sick people if he didn't have to, and it was likely his burning apartment building would just become a beacon.

He saw movement at the store, and his first thought was "infected people" as he crept closer and prayed it wasn't going to be someone trying to attack him. He clutched the hammer in his hand, as he gently pushed on the door only to have it not budge before finding a small hole that he crouched down and peeked his head through. @Sreeya @Orbit

 

[Sreeya]

As Drake entered, he would find the aisles mostly empty and the store silent. However, as he walked into one of the food aisles, he would barely be able to make out some movements. There was a sick, squelching sound as bones cracked. The noises of viscera being pulled and chewed were audible, along with the inhuman noises of what used to be a human.

Two of the sick were crouched over the body of a woman, rapidly yanking out the intestines like rope as they fought over them to gnaw and tear at them. They didn’t notice a human at first, but one shoved the other. The second clashed against the shelves behind it, sending a can toppling to the ground and rolling away. It would roll towards where Drake was standing, and if he remained there he would be spotted at once.

The sick began to crawl on the ground after the can, having caught the delicious of scent of something new.

Meanwhile, Brynn had made it towards the store in time to see someone pause and look at the door. She didn’t move for a bit, afraid to startle it if it were sick. However, from the way the figure held a hammer and began to inspect and crouch, she doubted that it was. She stepped closer, watching the practiced and methodical way he peeked his head through. Sick weren’t smart enough to do that and would simply slam into the door….right?

Brynn had no weapons on her, and she looked around in fear, still out in the open. She shuffled towards the door before the man could climb through, whispering softly, “Hey!” She hoped he would know she wasn’t sick by the sheer fact that she could speak.

@Orbit @Phoenix

 

[Orbit]

Drake gave the first aisle a quick glance but found nothing. Mostly empty provisions and cans that were left behind from some past looters. He would need whatever luck there was to help that some food and basic necessities were still in the building. As Drake was approaching the next aisle that's when he heard the noise, at first he thought it was more looters just eating their dinner right there and his fingers tightened around the bat in preparation. When he turned the corner however it was much worse then he thought. He found two of the sick gnawing on a human body, ripping out intestines and other organs and eating it like it was the last meal they would ever feast on.

It was the first time that Drake had seen a human body ripped open and another first to see another humanoid start to eat it. He instantly covered his mouth with one of his arms, bile rising to the top of his throat as he tried not to puke right then and there. That's when one of the sick got pushed, knocking over a shelf as a can rolled right over to where Drake was standing. He quickly and quietly took cover behind the shelf, sweat now dripping down him as he grabbed onto the bat with both hands now. The footsteps of the sick who were attracted to the can were as loud as day and it couldn't seem to stop groaning either.

It was about to reach the end of the aisle and Drake slowly raised his bat, his gaze locked to the side as he waited for the right moment. The second he saw the creature's nose become visible, he rounded the corner with the bat in full swing behind him. It was aimed right for the sick's head and it found its target, connecting with the creature's jaw as it broke instantly and knocked the sick into the nearby shelf. Drake exhaled loudly, thinking he got the first one as he brought his attention to the second. Just when he was about to step forward, the first one he had hit groaned once more, pushing itself off the shelf before slowly twisting its head to look back at Drake. Its jaw hung only on one side of the creature's face, it's tendons and ligaments able to be seen through the rotting skin. "Shit." Was the only thing he could murmur before the sick launched itself at Drake with arms outstretched.

Outside, the two only would get a few seconds to converse with each other outside of the store before they would start to hear their own groaning outside. If they looked down the street, they could find a small pack of them moving in a little clump. It was about fifteen to twenty sick in total but they weren't coordinated. In fact, they just appeared to be walking down the street in a straight line. The only problem was that they would pass right by the corner store and the two fresh-looking meat to the sick.

If the two entered, they would find Drake pressed against a shelf with the middle of his baseball bat in one of the creature's mouth to prevent it from biting him and keep it at arm distance. The two would twist back and forth, mostly Drake causing it to not let the thing bite him. He seemed preoccupied with that and was completely unaware of the second one that was drawn to the noise and quietly stumbling to the little scuffle to get its chunk of flesh.

 

[Phoenix]

Jack was still looking through the hole and preparing to make his way inside when he heard someone whispering "hey" behind him. He hadn't heard her coming, and it actually made him jump when he heard it, quickly spinning around with the hammer in hand. He felt like he was on the verge of a heart attack as he tried to catch his breath again. Unlike the other two, he had yet to have his first real encounter with the infected and didn't really fully understand the extent of the situation, but clearly whoever this was looked... normal.

Hi, do you... but before he could say anything else, he heard scuffling from inside the store. Someone was in there fighting and knocking things over, and down the street came the sound of more moaning. He may not have met the infected yet, but he had learned from his hallway that moaning = bad.

Come on! he said, quickly ducking low and virtually crawling into the hole. He didn't know what horror was waiting for him inside, but whatever it was, he knew it had to be better than the dozen moaners outside.

As Drake and the infected came into view, Jack got his first up-close, unobstructed view of the infection. It was horrid. Blood and pus poured down its face, and the skin looked ready to peel off at any moment. Jack ran forward and swung the hammer into the back of the infected. He could hear the crunching sound of cracking ribs, and the creature was at least knocked off of Drake, but it seemed unfazed by the fact that it had a hanging jaw and broken rib. It still kept coming, arms out and looking to grab Drake once again. He looked so juicy, dang it!

Meanwhile, with the appearance of two new victims pulled the attention of the second infected. With Jack having rushed past, it noticed Brynn and immediately seemed to lock onto her, arms outstretched as it stumbled forward to try to grab onto her. @Sreeya @Orbit