________
Contagion
-----A flash, followed by a moment of silence before you're disrupted by the cracking of thunder in the distance.
-----It's raining....
-----You open your eyes, and you're outside.
-----Not exactly sure how you got there.
-----You feel sick. Nauseated. Bile rising to the back of your throat.
-----Take a deep breath. Hold. Swallow.
-----Good.
-----Okay, now breathe out.
-----Examine your surroundings.
-----You're in the great forest.
-----Clothes are drenched.
-----Fur matted to your skin.
-----You're cold.
-----Chilled to the bone.
-----Shivering and fidgeting.
-----Get up.
-----You struggle with it, stumbling around until you find your balance.
-----Arms folded over one another.
-----An alarm sounds in the distance.
-----This catches your attention.
-----You think you hear it coming from the northeast......
-----The sky changes from gray to black.
****************
My name won't come to me.
Neither will the location.
It's all very familiar. Very familiar and very hard to place.
-----Keep marching.
Who is this?
This voice that drives me?
Is it my will? My instinct?
Is it God?
Or am I just crazy?
-----The palm of your hand drags across your soaked face.
-----Inhale.
-----Exhale.
-----Now, keep going.
Aimlessly wandering through a forest, though I feel like I've been through here at least a hundred times. My feet do the thinking, gliding beneath me as if stationed on some sort of track.
Sometimes it feels like there's a greater scheme to things, one that's taking place right before your eyes, and yet you still cannot see it happening,
-----The alarm is sounding again. You know what that means.
Civilization.
Maybe some sort of sanctuary.
-----That's right. You have to find it.
Have to find the sanctuary.
Lightening flashes, thunder booming about two seconds after.
Startled. Jump slightly.
-----Calm yourself.
I can't.
-----You can.
How can you be so sure?
Just who are you, anyway?
Getting tired.
With each step, my foot sinks down to the ankle in mud. My shoes have long since been swallowed in the muck.
Fall to my hands and knees, and start to sink.
-----Worrying about petty shit like that will only slow you down.
-----Keep your eyes on the prize.
What's that?
What is the prize?
-----The one you're focused on,
he says
-----is life.
-----From there, the prizes only get bigger.
-----From there the prizes only get better....
*******************
Help me.
-----I can only guide your way.
-----I cannot hold your hand.
I don't know what I'm doing.
-----Maybe it's better that way.
How?
-----The less you know, the less you can fuck up?
What does that mean?
-----Stop asking so many questions.
Okay....
Force myself to keep going.
The alarm is getting louder.
-----You're getting there.
I don't know how much longer I can hold out.
-----You'll make it.
-----Keep at it.
-----You'll be fine.
-----I promise...
******************
My chest hurts.
Getting light headed.
I'm feeling sick.
-----You can hack it.
-----Keep going.
Fall to my ass.
-----Get up, you worthless bastard.
Massive headache.
Hand touches moves to the top of my head.
Gloved fingertips come back, all red and blurry.
-----You're so close.
-----You can't give up now.
I'm sorry.
-----You're so fucking worthless.
Fall to my hands and knees.
Wrist deep in mud.
Vomit.
A puddle of red splattering against a mess of brown and green.
-----You're okay, god damn it.
-----Get up.
I don't think I can.
-----I know you can. Get up.
Crawling.
Inching forward.
Face first into the mud.
****************
Stop it.
Stop trying to control me.
I'm not a marionette.
I see no strings.
-----Just because you see no strings, it does not mean there are none there.
-
I can't let this happen.
*******************
Flashes of light.
Can't keep my eyes open long.
-----You'll be okay.
Lights rushing over head.
My brain hurts.
I don't think it's working right
-----You're going to make it.
Everything's blurry.
Too blurry to make anything out.
-----Even though you're worthless.
I'm n-
************************************
"He's still alive! Help me carry him!"
************************************
"Hello?"
...
"Are you awake?"
Voice. Male.
"Nnhnnn.."
"Why don't you try opening your eyes for me?"
"I....."
Force my eyes open, but it's too bright.
The light is overwhelming.
"Thaaaaaat's iiiiiit..."
Eyes close.
The light above is so bright I can see it through my lids.
Outlines of my veins.
"It's too bright.."
"Hit one of the light switches."
"Yes, doctor," female voice says.
Things get dimmer.
Lids pry themselves open once again.
Everything bleeds together.
"Where am I?"
"You're at Knothole villiage, sir."
"Knothole..?"
The silhouettes standing over me come into focus.
"Are you alright, Mister??" female voice asks.
"I...
What happened? "
*everything goes black*
"What b i t y o u , -
**?
**r
**e
**t
**s
**i
**M
*
?tahW
******************
"Mister?"
"We lost him."
"Pulse?"
"He's still alive, but he's lost consciousness."
****************
Silhouette has something in its hand.
Something long and slender.
A syringe.
Why can't I move?
Restrained by the wrists.
Strapped to a gurney.
Muscles twitching madly.
Skin feels itchy.
Pin pricks all over.
"Stop," I mumble out.
The syringe stabs into my arm.
"Relax, now," he says, pushing down the plunger. "You don't want to break the needle off, do you?"
An explosion in my arm, an explosion that starts in my arm and blossoms out through my blood stream. It hits my heart and with each beat the warm numbness expands outward to the tips of my toes and fingertips.
Air evacuates from my lungs, and I feel myself going pale.
Head is light.
Dizzy.
Things go back the way they were.
Blurry.
Eyes hurt.
Can't keep them open.
?evom I t'nac yhW
.
.
.
....struh niarb yM
******************
-----I hadn't counted on this.
Counted on what?"
"What's that?" male voice asks.
His voice is muffled.
"Nothing, I say."
Open my eyes.
Still hard to see.
Same room.
White ceiling and walls.
A large mirror to my left.
I'm black smeared in brown and red.
To my right stands a man in a strange uniform
.Some sort of suit that covers your entire body.
His breathing amplified through his mask.
I'm staring at him through the mirror.
"What's going on?"
"You're sick, I'm afraid."
"Sick."
-----But that's okay.
"Sick?"
"Yes," male voice wheezes. "We're afraid you might not make it."
-----It's only a matter of time.
-----At least one of them caught it.
"What do you mean?"
".eid ot gniog er'uoy diarfa m'I .retsiM ,yrros ylurt ma I"
-----It's okay, my boy.
-----You've fulfilled your purpose.
-----I'm proud of you, Shadow.