()%The Thing Within #ONC2023

Chapter 1

I hung on for the life of me and was just about to begin my ascent when the quaking stopped. I waited till I was sure the quaking had ceased and climbed back down. Astounded, I was, to see that the crack had increased in size to almost three feet. I peered through the thick glass, my eyes peeled for the creature, but it was nowhere in sight. Where had it gone? And then I saw its limbs crawling through a newly formed crevice on the other side of the dome. But, it couldn't be! Perhaps my eyesight had deceived me? I glued my eyes through the crevice, and the more I looked, the more I swore daylight burned brighter than I knew was normal on the other side. Was there some other world on the other side?

*     *     *

Meanwhile in Catherina Island

Three Months Later

"The world did not end in a bang, or a whisper, but rather one scream at a time."

"Hell is empty and all the devils are here." - William Shakespeare

It had been three months since the virus first reared its ugly head at mankind. A new novel virus they called it, in the beginning. It spread so quickly, across the continent and through all countries before the world of Crisium could even dream to be prepared. Each day, more and more deaths filled the news, as humanity was brought to its knees, at the threshold of death. Many lived and relived the hellish sorrow of saying goodbye to countless close friends and relatives.

Now, I feared death crawling up on me again after claiming the lives of my grandparents just a few weeks ago. Now, it was my parents' lives at stake. Today it was three days since they came down with the most dreadful symptom—a deadly fever. Nothing I tried had worked. And that included everything in the book that I knew of—drenching them in cold water, using the tinctures that the doctor had ordered, and even trying my own herbal mixture. Nothing worked.

Defeated I sat beside their bed, waiting, for a miracle perhaps.

My mom's frail voice greeted me. She seemed to be somewhere between sleep and waking. The past days her mind was wandering profusely. "Oh, Aria. G-e-t—s-o-m-e—res." Before she could finish she broke out into a coughing fit. Tired, she soon dozed away again.

And somehow I too, nodded away. Not sure how long I slept, but I reckon I was glad for the rest. Glad until that chaotic sound filled my brain.

Was I hearing gunshots? Yes! It had to be gunshots followed by screams, and more screams, which were followed by more shots. It sounded like a massacre somewhere in the distance. So, the rumors were true, and now it had reached our village. Only, I was robbed of my chance to react to the peril outside, for my attention was fixed on something else. Before me, my mom lay unbreathing, with her eyes opened and looking upward as if at the ceiling. I wiped my eyes as recognition dawned on me. She was no more. Just then, the sound of my dad's ragged breaths intensified as I turned my gaze upon him. I held him upward, trying to help him breathe better. The terror in his eyes must be from his sensing his lungs depleting, and his inability to maintain the amount of air needed to sustain his life. Little by little I watched him, my eyes welling up with tears—his breaths getting shorter and shorter, and dangerously shorter. I tried to think of what might be going through his mind. Was he aware that he was dying? Was he scared? Had he realized that Mama had gone already? My eyes overflowed with tears which cascaded down my cheeks and pooled at the base of my neck. I waited for a breath. And there it was. I waited again for it, but it never came. Still, I waited. Anytime now, he'll breathe! Only, it never came. My overflowing eyes blinded me for a moment before I dabbed at my eyes with my sleeve. He was gone. They were both gone!