Infectious

The Last Halloween Part 1

Three Trick or Treaters gathered at the top of the steps.

Lights off meant "No Candy", but the fluorescent Halloween decorations covering the roof and door told an entirely different story.

Looking towards each other and smiling the kids knocked on the door heavily.

"Trick or Treat!"

They said it without much concern for the person inside, all they wanted was candy.

"Trick or Treat!"

They yelled again, getting no response.

"Trick or Treat!"

The third time the door opened, it was dark inside.

The children starting to move forward but then signs of life, a man comes out of the darkness; he stumbles forward almost landing on the children.

"Trick or what?"

He says irritated and confused. He then looks down towards their candy containers as drool slips down his chin and to the floor his eyes swollen red.

The children look at him uncomfortable.

"One secconddd"

The man says, as he turns around and heads back into the darkness.

He eventually comes back out holding a bunch of candy, putting it into each of their containers before they have a chance to refuse.

"Enjjjoyyy"

He says looking worse for wear. They are about to turn around when the man projectile vomits all over them before proceeding to collapse onto the ground in front of them.

Horrified the children run off the steps away from the man. They run past a woman who is holding her young child in her arms.

She looks down noticing the man and walks briskly towards him.

"Sir?"

She says after nudging him with her free arm, then noticing the vomit on the ground in front of him.

"I think somebody's had too much candy"

She pulls out her phone from her left pocket and starts to dial an ambulance, juggling her child on her right hip at the same time.

The children run to their house, going inside the front door.

They race each other to the shower arguing over who gets to go in first. Eventually a decision is made and the shower can be heard running as the pile of soiled clothes lies on the floor.

Their mother who heard them come inside walks towards the bathroom seeing the items on the floor, showing some disgust as she picks them up and takes them towards the laundry sink.

Washing the contents in the sink she doesn't use gloves cleaning them by hand, the smell is awful and it takes her breath away, she reluctantly continues, trying to scrub them clean.

Outside in the street's it's dark; the man has been taken away to hospital and his house is quiet as people are still wandering around getting treats for Halloween.

The children outside are happy, going door to door saying Trick or Treat for lollies for their Halloween candy buckets.

In the boys house the mother is still cleaning the clothes, the room around her starts to become blurry as she squints trying to get her eyes to focus.

She loses grip on the sponge she is holding and it slips to floor with a thud of water and soap attached to it.

The leftover vomit on the clothes starts to change; it looks like it's simmering. Like water that has just boiled.  Unsteady she slips on the wet ground hitting the back of her head on the wall.

Outside a group of children in costume run down the street, boasting about all the candy they have collected. A girl dressed as a witch starts to eat her candy.

Back at the house the mother is barely conscious on the floor,  she struggles to get up. Her vision is almost gone now. She looks down at her arm which is covered in rashes.

The inside of an ambulance comes into focus, the man who was unconscious, is slowly waking up. The paramedic inside with him begins to look through the man's wallet, looking for identification. He comes across a card with the name Candy Man on it.

The man is almost fully awake; his eyes flicker back and forth. His arm reaches out and grabs the paramedic hard, the paramedic struggles to release the man's grip. He yells for the paramedic up front driving to stop the ambulance but he isn't responding.

The children are approaching the laundry, the mother's eyes now open start to change milky white. She isn't concerned about her ailments anymore.

The paramedic at the front starts to increase speed, he continues to increase until he drives into a pole, killing everyone inside.

The card that came from the man's wallet lies in a pool of blood on the debris covered road. It's flipped over and a quote can be seen in fancy letters.

The card says "Get your candy delivered this Halloween." 

Candy Buckets sway in the breeze as Trick or Treaters carry them back to their homes.

A busy factory is in the process of making candy. The candy moves from conveyor belt to boxes which are labelled Candy Man. The candy unknowingly becomes contaminated by bats that have been coming into the factory through a broken window at night, contaminating surfaces.

The company which was recognized by the world as a good clean brand had secretly been holding back on sanity procedures and not cleaning down equipment before using it for the making of the candy.

The man, who had been working there, thought he would have a sample of the candy before he left to go home for the night; he was the first one to get infected.  The rest had the candy delivered to their home, maybe picked them up at the store, or got it from a neighbour whilst innocently knocking at their door.

Children, who had been enjoying their candy an hour or two before, started to throw up the candy. The parents who had enjoyed the candy with their kids also became ill. 

People starting collapsing on the streets, the world spinning around them, and others who had started their feast of candy earlier started to become aggressive attacking each other in the streets.

Blood dripped down one set of stairs where a father pulled out the owner and dragged her down the stairs before eating her like a rabid dog.  Halloween decorations lay scattered on the floor.