Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-26113663-20150131180627

Thanks to MrDupin for helping me with this.

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The explosion was the stronger than anything recorded in mankind's history, stronger than the volcanic explosion that buried Pompeii in 79 AD.

As I walked through the cold streets of Naples, in search of a home, I felt chills all over my body. It flowed like a river through my veins, which were slowly turning malignantly black, as time also continuously flows.

The city was locked down, and didn't allow anyone to get in or get out. If anyone ever did, they would be shot down, dead. Because I had the thing called “common sense”, I didn't dare to walk near the boundaries, or even show myself to the armed military personnel, in fear of they're going to shoot me with their rifles and tanks. I could die in any way, but not with heavy artillery, as I fear most of them.

Everything was covered in thick carpets of ashes, and made the streets looked like an ashen desert, almost lifeless and boring. Adding to do vagueness, no signs of life could be sensed, evidence of this was the sudden forceful evacuation of Naples' citizen after Mount Vesuvius exploded and scattered wrath all over the city. I could barely detect life, but they were just painfully dying stray animals. I wandered around the city, just to see decomposing dead bodies; they were unfortunate enough not to be saved by the government. What an unfathomable fate to be left behind, to die hopelessly.

I couldn't believe I'm walking through those ash-covered streets, and it barely gave me the most terrifying feeling and the saddest emotion I ever experienced. I just couldn't explain, why did it exploded?

I thought to myself, “These things must not happened, but it did. I wish I can escape this kind of torture that volcano put inside me.”

After several hours of walking around the silent city, I finally found a shelter I could stay in. It was just a hardly-cleaned apartment, but at least I had a place to live my life alone, and to die also. As I entered the dusty apartment, there were dirty clothes garbled on the floor. The stench smell made its way to my nose, it smelled something that was rotting or decaying bad. I ignored that odor and continued to clean the whole damn mess.

After some minutes of piling and burning bags of trash, I decided to store my clothes in the cabinet, and some miscellaneous items somewhere. I felt my stomach's low grumble in hunger, so I went to the kitchen and opened every cabinet to search for food, none of them had anything, only cheaply used plastic bags were there. My only hope of survival was the fridge; horror-stricken when I found it cleanly emptied.

I was getting hopeless? Where could I find food and supplies.

There was only one choice, to go outside and head to the nearest grocery store.

I grabbed my leather jacket, picked up my 9mm and put it under my jacket, grabbed my dying flashlight, and headed outside the apartment. The feels outside didn't change, it was still the same like several hours ago. My foot made depressions on the ash as I walk further and further, until I found the place where my survival relies. Great joy whelmed me up, and went outside in hunt for food.

Dark and mute, that's the only descriptive words you could describe that place. I looked around the area to see if there's a light switch, and there is, hanging loose under the 12th counter. I turned it on, and surprised by the variety of supplies I could find there.

Everything was still there, like it was untouched for months. All that I need was in there, complete and fresh, so I swiftly clutched the cart, unleashed my inner-vulture, and scavenged everything I could scavenge. My cart was full of canned goods, packed chips, warm drinks, and some other daily necessities; maybe it's worth thousands. Fortunately, I didn't need to pay, since everyone was gone, and I'm the only one living in that city.

I was wrong about that.

The store's lights flickered close-open, close-open, until it just shut down, and dimmed the entire place with abyss-like darkness. Suddenly, I saw a peculiar figure in my left eye, which I couldn't describe clearly, since it's very gloomy that time. I fear that I'm not alone, that I'm not the only surviving human there. I looked back, hoping to see that unknown being, so I could clarify its details.

I regretted ever doing that. I should just ran away and left that place.

A woman, a cashier apparent with her clothes, stood there, staring at me with her pure black eyes, as if like darkness itself was gazing directly at me. Staring at her eyes made me feel weak and helpless, until my eyelids became heavy, speedily brought me to sudden sleepiness, until I fainted and fell at the frigid floor.

I woke up in the sight of the shining sun, as I was blinded by the sunlight. It was already morning, so I barely stood by myself, fetched the grocery cart, and walked back home. I just couldn't forget what I saw last night. Was it real? Or I was just hallucinating? Still, I couldn't explain those things; their existence would remain a mystery.

The streets didn't seem to change a lot. There were still large layers of ash everywhere, but there was this thing that made me uncomfortable of my surroundings.

A trail, imprinted by, what it seems, a man's foot. I guaranteed that it was not mine, I hadn't ever walk to that path, the path that leads to Mount Vesuvius. It scared the damned thing out of me, and made me run away, in dread of seeing something heinously ridiculous.

I was in the front door of my apartment, I noticed that it was violently opened; opened by what? Or, maybe, opened by who? I couldn't control my paranoia. Am I crazy? I hope not.

Nothing was altered at any ways, everything was in their proper place. I went near my bed and sat down, recalling the odd anomalies I found yesterday and today. My abdomen suddenly stiffed hard, and I felt like vomiting. I dashed to the bathroom, and vomited out a dark-violet gooey substance in the sink; what the heck was that thing? I looked up and stared at the mirror, just to see my pupils getting bigger and bigger. Am I sick? If so, what was this disease? I had many unanswerable question.

I was getting sicker and sicker as time gone past. My head aches distressingly, at least once every two hours; it was like something was banging my head off. I felt nauseous every single minute, and I couldn't handle those anymore. My hands snapped up some medicines and put it inside my mouth. As I swallow the pills, I felt my neck hurt. What the hell was happening to me? Seeking for some entertainment, I popped the television and watched the news. I found something that I couldn't explain with common language; I didn't know if it was helpful, worrying, or both. It was news about Mount Vesuvius' explosion, and its effects to vulnerable people.

“I know that this may sound scientifically impossible, but the volcano's ashes can induce an unknown type of disease, which the scientists and chemist are still studying to. But there already hypothesizes released publicly. As stated by this hypothesis paper I'm holding, it says, 'When someone is exposed to the volcanic ashes or to any carriers of the disease, one may feel dizzy and nauseous every minute and every hour. Direct or indirect exposure to someone who had this disease can also harm you. As long as this disease progress to destroy your circulatory system, and nervous system, you can see you eyes' pupils dilating until it take up your entire eyes, making it purely black.' As stated by the professionals, this phenomena has never happened since human's discovery, and this is the first one.”

I jarred quick out of my seat, and thought about the things that happened.

I asked myself, “I've been exposed to the ashes for almost two weeks, and I'm not sure about that woman looking at me with her black eyes.

Of fuck! Jesus Christ, I'm infected! No! That's no truth. I don't have any infection or problems with my body.”

Plugging the television out was my only way of avoiding realization of truth, and I did it in just few seconds. I didn't want to be hopeless, or leave myself to die, although I want to die, but it's not the right time. I wanted to discover some more, and to see if there's possibility of survival.

I packed up my things and left the apartment, leaving me again homeless. Hesitant to go to places I didn't know well, I still went through the streets of neighboring towns. There, more creepy shit was happening, like when I saw shadows, man's shadows everywhere. There were countless anomalous things I saw there.

It was a foggy evening, while traveling the town's main cemetery, I admit it was god-awfully creepy walking across unknown dead people's tombstones, I saw some weird figure, that looks like man, standing in the fog still and unmoving. I didn't dared to get near it; no one knows what it could do to me, whether it was kind or malicious intents.

Walking outside the cemetery was the most relieving experience I ever had. I thought it was the first and last, but there's another one coming to get my inner chicken show up.

I walked pass a video arcade, looking inside, I felt very suspicious, a peculiar feeling I couldn't explain. there were pinball machines, arcade stalls, games, and other entertainment stuffs everywhere. In need of an important thing while roaming around, specifically a flashlight or at least batteries, I went inside. Everything was opened alive, like everyone was playing and then suddenly left. My suspicious instincts never failed, there were a bare-footed twin sisters, both of them playing an arcade game, wearing a washed-out sky blue dress paired with yellow belts. Furthermore, they sensed my presence, consequently turned away their faces from the screen to look at me. They slowly broke their eyes open, revealing the horrifying pure black eyes, pupils heavily dilated; they were infected by the plague. They were directly staring at my soul, and I couldn't keep up with my guts, so I ran away from that place, without even looking back.

I ran away, searching for a car to ride. Fortunately, I found this old worn-out farm truck. I started the engine up and rode around the town, in hope to see a house that I could stay in.

Nothing was more disturbing than seeing men, women, elders, and children looking at you with their eyes, with its pupils expanded to the maximum limits, erasing all the white parts of the eye. It was just so hard to ignore them, so I sped up my truck, and made it ran its fastest speed. Unfortunately, the engine suddenly broke down in middle of black-eyed crowd. Why now? I slammed the goddamned dog-tired truck and went out.

I darted quickly, and tried to escape the infectious people. I ran for hours and hours, until my fate decided, I was cornered by them.

I had nowhere to go. I thought I'll just sit in that place and wait for my terrible fate, which I didn't know actually. There were hundreds of them, and almost half of them were children and seniors, I couldn't handle this kind of feelings. I thought I'll just die there.

Everything changed as fast as lightning. They were already near me, but they ceased themselves from moving forward, but kept on moving backward instead.

I was very confused. What happened to them? And why didn't they continue to swarm me?

As soon as they disappeared out of my sight, I stood up and ran everywhere, hoping to find some answers.

I found the answers in a broken glass window. I stared at the glass pane, and stared at my reflection. My eyes were sheer darkness. I'm infected by the disease.

I'm now... one of them. --- 