She crept behind the altar and saw the hidden hallway that led to her father’s office. The cries of the people were getting lower and lower. She could now hear individual pleas for help.
She was running out of sand.
“…and lead us not into temptation…”
She looked through her father’s office. Margie knew that things were only going to get worse and, at this point, anything would help her.
She opened the drawers in his desk.
“Come on dad, you cheaped out at Christmas. Give something nice. Show me you love me”, she said as if someone else was in the room.
In the bottom drawer was her father’s revolver. It was a small thing, but it would do. It was loaded. The weight felt good in Margie’s hand. It gave her some sense of comfort.
She thought about the gun for a second. Why would a preacher carry a gun with him? Margie didn’t care anymore. As far as she was concerned, it was a blessing.
She looked through the window she had come in here for and checked outside. There were a bunch of cars left in the parking lot.
“I should have tried to grab someone’s keys back there. It’s too late now.” She whispered to herself and then sucked her teeth. She breathed in and held her breath. She opened the window quickly and ran out to the parking lot.
She forgot to finish her prayer.
“…And Lord, deliver us from evil…”
Tires suddenly screeched.
“Margie! Margie! Get in, quick!”
Mr. Fontaine pulled up in his red truck. There was room for one more.
Margie got in and they sped off. They were safe for now. She looked back at the church she practically grew up in and thought for a moment of those that were left behind. She remembered the times she had in there and how she saw pretty much all that she knew disappear in the worse way possible.
She had quick flashbacks of watching her friends and neighbors get pulled away. The noise those, those things made when they bit into you.
She thanked God. It could have been her. She looked at her new companions and became drowsy.
“…Amen.
My Network
Matt spent the next few weeks online. He wasn’t the only one that saw the graphic news report. The media tried to block it out. The reporter and his camera man were ghosts on television, but the advent of the internet made sure that no one forgot about it and was constantly reminded of it. The video was streamed all over and became a cult favorite.
What were these creatures?
Why are they spreading so fast?
Who was patient zero?
These were the biggest questions on the internet forums that Matt frequented.
Day by day, Matt would talk to his friends online. He lived his life as a loner mostly. He didn’t have too many people close to him in the outside world. He worked out of the home as an IT support person and his weekends consisted of pizza and the occasional online game, along with sci-fi re-runs.
His online friends were his family, and to most of them, he was the same. As they tracked the “attacks”, which the news called “civil disturbances”, some of them began to disappear. They would always begin the same.
“Hey guys, the power has been going on and off here.”
“I’m seeing a lot of sirens.”
“My neighbors have been acting funny/gone missing.”
“There are a lot of weird people walking around.”
After that, Matt would lose another part of his family and his circle would shrink.
Within the course of a few weeks, Matt was down to a few friends, including his closest one. He actually knew him by name, Mark. He and Mark had been close for years and they both worried about each other. Matt knew that Mark lived west from his location and that was about it.
“Matt, there are a lot of weird people walking around my block. I haven’t seen my neighbors in a while”, the flashing instant message window flashed with urgency.
Matt felt his heart sink; he knew the signs at this point. He knew that he would probably lose his best friend soon.
“Mark, here is my address, there are a few brown outs here and there, but there haven’t been any attacks here really. If you’d like, you can stay with me until this blows over.”
Message sent.
Message not received.
User offline.
That was the last time Matt heard from his best friend.
“I-I’m all alone now, aren’t I?”, Matt said to himself. He had no one else to talk to. He texted Mark, but never got an answer and he would never receive one.
It wasn’t until a few days later when Matt’s internet access was cut off that he felt the stress of the situation. He had lost his pacifier.
Matt spent too long sitting at his computer, staring at the desktop. He clicked on the icon that took him to the internet, but the same thing over and over again.
“Page cannot be found. Cannot find server.”
The computer seemed to mock him at this point. His mind quickly filled with fear. He was entering the mire that his friends had disappeared into.
“I’m next, I’m the last one”, he thought to himself.
Matt held a glimmer of hope. He prayed his internet would come back, he prayed that he would hear from his last and best friend, he prayed that he would be okay.
He fell asleep in his chair. The loud and scary tone of the emergency alert system was blaring on TV. A muffled voice, difficult to understand, but filled with urgency warned whomever would listen.
Matt had a hard time understanding the message, “Do not…call authorities…contagious through bites, fluids, mucous membranes…head to Fort Edward...quarantine…travel lightly…avoid…”
The lights turned off, the only contact Matt had in what seemed like an eternity was gone. Matt looked outside the window to see the sun going down. The last rays of sunlight showed him all the glass on the floor, doors wide-open, boarded windows, and a body on the floor. Near his apartment, he saw bloodstains painting the street.
Matt finally began to panic; he felt his heart about to burst out of his chest.
He heard a man screaming in apartment above him. There are items being thrown around. Something breaks. The man is running. There is a thud. He trips. He screams, he screams at his pursuer. It is impossible to make it out. His screams get higher and are now filled with both fear and agony. He is crying. There is another thud, but softer. Whatever was chasing him must have fallen down on him. His screams fill Matt’s ears. The change in pitch let him know that he is in mortal danger. The screams die down as they turn into sobs.
All is quiet again.
Matt heard running in the hallway.
“HURRY UP! COME ON!” Matt tries not to make himself known; he walks to his door and makes sure the door is completely locked.
He spends a few hours forcing himself to eat whatever food will go rotten soonest. There is no more power in his apartment now.
His heartbeat has been elevated the entire time. He fills up his bathtub with water and becomes lost in the noise of the water filling up and zones out.
“What happened to us? Is Patient Zero really real? What do I do?” Matt’s thoughts were quickly interrupted by scratching at his door.