Black Rain Chronicles
Chapter 1: A Night On The Town
Standing outside my house and looking up the road for signs of headlights, I waited on my friends, Rusty and Haley to pick me up. I took a drag off of my cigarette and tossed the spent butt into the gravel driveway. Becoming anxious because of the wait I checked my phone for missed calls, and when that was to no avail, I began playing Tetris. It was around 3 or 4 minutes later when headlights came hauling ass around the turn before my driveway. I began walking down it to meet them at the end. Once they pulled in I jumped into the car, I said my greetings and they said their's back as we drove off down the road towards Concord, or better yet, our destination in Concord, a karaoke place we referred to as the Diner. Living out in bumfuck Egypt as we did, there wasn't much else to do. "Hey Rusty, you mind stopping at Walgreens so I can pick up some cigarettes man?", "Nah, that's cool man." Rusty replied. "So have either of you guys heard anything else about this Rabies shit or whatever it is?" Haley spoke up and said "No, not really… nothing more than whats been said the last few days… they keep saying its getting closer to us but I think its overblown bullshit." I nodded and said "Yeah… I feel you… if it isn't the war in Iraq killing all our mother's sons… it's a spill in the gulf… or something just as fucking fear invoking. I honestly stopped giving a fuck." We kind of chuckled at that and went silent for a while. The silence becoming too boring, I put my headphones in and turned on my Zune. I just watched the road pass by under the treads of the tires and letting song after song just drift through my ears. About 20 minutes later I saw the big, ugly, dirty ass sign that read "Concord Family Restaurant" and we passed it by as we sped into the parking lot.
As we got out of the car and resituated our clothes to make sure we at least looked as decent as we did upon entering the car in the first place. We lit our cigarettes and began our march up to those ever nostalgic doors. Being that since the NC Talking Heads Society, (a.k.a the basic rule Nazi government of NC) had outlawed smoking indoors, we stood out front and made idol chitchat with whatever other smokers had ventured their own ways into the parking lot. They all talked amongst themselves and I even through in a "Hey man, whats up?" every now and again. But ever since I had seen the more recent details in the news broadcasts, I just couldn't let my mind wander away from it, no matter how my opinion itself differed on the fact that it could simply be another fuckin' gigantic media disaster made from the parts of a small town influenza outbreak story… or making mountains out of mole hills as anyone else would say it. We finally flicked the useless stub of our cigarette butts out into the parking lot and we all headed inside to sit down. We noticed upon arrival that a lot of the patrons were gathered around the TVs and watching with utter awe. It did appear that since this morning the broadcasts seemed to have gotten increasingly worse. Last I had seen the outbreak had reached the heart of Alabama and on up into Georgia. But now the TV brought forth imagery from South Carolina. It was getting closer.
The waitress finally made her way over and asked if we needed anything. I pulled my gaze away from the TV and told the waitress to bring me a Killian's, and Rusty and Haley proceeded with their orders. Being an Irishman by blood, the good old hand of a pint was always the easiest thing to fall back on in times of crisis.
Time went past, as did empty bottle after empty bottle, and finally I was in an inebriated state. I began making small talk with Rusty and Haley, went up and sang a couple songs, talked to a couple girls and had a good time. I had finally succeeded in breaking the curse.
We left home after closing and walked on in the doors of my house at around 2:30. We broke out the pipe, packed it up, and passed it around a few times. "So… you guys just wanna chill here tonight? I mean fuck man… it'd be easier on gas since we're supposed to be up tomorrow to go get Billy." I said to them, "Yeah man…. Sounds like a plan to me…" Rusty said through chapped lips, looking at me with extremely heavy eyes and the gimpyest grin you ever did see. "Alright, well I guess that's the plan, then.. Just go to sleep wherever you fall… and don't fuck in my bed… especially not with me in it… I'm still sore from last time man…" At that Haley laughed and threw her shoes at me and we all just passed out where we were sitting on the bed.
I went to sleep in a state full of monsters and maniacs, as I usually did. Dreaming of blood and gore as I had every night since I could piss straight, Not knowing I would open my eyes in a place a phase worse than the dreams. A place where the monsters and maniacs were your own flesh and blood, coming after you… well for your flesh and blood. If I had known…. I wonder what kind of fucked up dreams I'd of had instead.