The lights just went out. Cell phones stopped working. Computers are all dead. Even my kid’s Nintendo DS doesn’t work. The clock in the car stopped, hell, the car won’t even start. What in the hell will we do?
15 hours ago
It was a morning like none other. The sun shone brightly across the mountains surrounding the little town, the wind was calm, almost too calm; hell it was so calm it was hard to breathe. All of a sudden, a large red cloud completely covered the sun, the entire sky actually. It was like someone painted the sky red. Just then, the ground began to shake so hard that trees fell to the ground and roof tops toppled off the taller houses in the town. And then everything went dark.
I whipped out my cell phone, hoping to call 911, but the line was dead. Where was my son? Five minutes ago he was right here by my side, but with this darkness, I couldn’t see him anyway. “Dad?” “D—-a—d!” His tiny voice faded amongst the cries and howls of the others. I felt my way around, calling his name until I managed to find a tiny hand, cold from the fear he was dealing with. Taking my son into my arms, I ran for whatever cover I could find. Where was his mom? She had left for work just ten minutes before all this happened. I prayed she was alive.
We found shelter in a small house in the field across from the parking lot. There were others there, but I could not tell who they were. The darkness was blinding. One of them started a fire, and for the first time there was light, but not for long. Apparently light was not the only thing lacking. Oxygen was fading as well. Whatever covered the sky was smothering every bit of air that it could find; and we were feeling the effects. Groups of people gathered around us, and everyone joined in prayer.
Was this the end? Was this the way we would all go? Would we be making our maker soon? I shut my eyes, and holding my son tightly in my arms while he sobbed lightly, I too prayed. After all, what else was there to do?
The entire town seemed to be huddled together when it happened. Everyone fell into a deep sleep; well almost everyone. I was wide awake. Whatever was happening to the townspeople, causing them to lie down and accept whatever has happened here, I was not one of them, I was not willing to lie down and take it. Still holding my son in my arms, I pushed my way out of the crowd and onto the street.
I seen a tiny flicker of light about 300 feet from where I stood. I stumbled a few times, but in a few minutes, I reached my goal. The light I found was from a flashlight that someone had abandoned when this all began. Picking up the light, whose bulb flashed brightly, I shone it across the field, only to discover that we were not alone.
There, across the field I saw it, and I know I will never get the image out of my mind again. What appeared to be over one million lightning bugs descended upon a crowd of people who had been taking cover under a large tree The bugs were eating everything in sight, trees, rocks, even people! The bugs seemed to glow brighter with every bit of flesh that they claimed, and they were coming this way.
I ran back to the place where my group were sleeping. I tried frantically to wake them, but to no avail. With my son holding tightly to my shoulders, I carried him and we ran like hell. We were already in hell. Where to run in this darkness?
The flashlight’s beam was our only savior, as I noticed a large building just ahead. The door was swinging open, so I ran in, scanning the area for threats. When it looked safe, I fell to the floor, my boy in my arms, sleeping like the others. I tried to figure out what was happening, why the entire world had gone dark, why everyone except for me and a million lightning bugs were asleep, where my wife was, and how I was going to get through this day.
Thinking I was alone, I was actually starting to relax when suddenly, the doors began shaking, like someone was attempting to knock the building over. I peered out a crack in the window and seen that everyone who had been sleeping were now trying to get into the building with me. I ran to let them in when I noticed that something about them had changed, and for the worst!
Even in the deep darkness that shrouded them, I seen it. Their faces changed. Their skin color changed from a pink shade to a deep green. Their eyes glowed red. The dark red cloud that had covered our earth had changed everyone around me into Zombies!
I ran to take cover next to my son, but he was no longer the son I remember. He too had green skin and red glowing eyes.In place of his teeth were sharp fangs. D-D D aaaaa D-D-D-Y Y Y!!!!! He called out, and then he was gone. He rushed to the door to let the others in.
In total fear, I took for the back door, and out of the building. I ran as fast as I could, not looking back, too afraid to look back.
The sky had begun to clear, but instead of a blue sky, the red clouds had left us with a light orange sky. As strange as this was, at least I could see now. In the distance I could hear my son call out my name. Maternal instinct won out over fear, and I ran back to him, hoping to rescue him from whatever he became last night.
There he was, as normal as ever, in the arms of my loving wife. She and the others were sitting by a campfire one of them lit. Everything was back to normal…or was it???
…
When I reached the gathering spot, everyone there screamed. Some of them took cover behind trees, some gathered sticks and chased me. “A monster!” one of them said. I looked around, terrified that a monster may be behind me. I ran for my family, but they too screamed. I looked back again; nothing behind me, what were they so afraid of?
The crowd got up and ran for their lives. I chased after them, totally confused at why they were so afraid, but if it scared them, I was scared as well. The faster I ran, the faster they ran. My son cried when I tried to hold him, and my wife; my loving wife called me a monster.
“What were they talking about? Me, a monster? How could this be?” I asked. “Your face, your skin, it shouldn’t be this way, who are you?” said the woman who I married.
With that, she pulled a broken shard of an old mirror from beside her and showed me.
“Oh my God! What the hell?”
Everyone around me looked normal, but my reflection, my face, it was green, my eyes glowed like Satan himself. I covered my face and ran away from the crowd.
…
What had I become? What changed me to this…monster they speak of? Why did I suddenly have a hunger deep within for…BRAAAAIIIINNNNSSSS!!!!
Like a hungry dog, I turned and ran toward the crowd. On the outside I was a monster who wanted to tear at fresh flesh and eat it, and on the inside I was in battle. One part of me wanted to ravish the crowd and feed, the other side wanted to run with the others, away from the terrible beast that I had become. When did I transform into this thing? Was it after the red cloud had cleared and the others changed back to a form that looked human?
I couldn’t have been totally transformed at this point because despite my inner hunger, I still had reason, and fear. Rather than attempt to eat the slowest member of the crowd, I myself turned and ran. I ran until the cloud once again covered the sky. It was then that I noticed something. It was then that I changed back to my human form.
I had to check on something. with that, I returned to the large crowd of frightened people. I found out that my hunch was right. There they were, battling one another, feeding off of the weaker.
When the dark red cloud is among us I am human and they are monsters. When the sky clears, they are once again human and I am the monster. I must work while it is dark to find a reason, a cure to this dilemma.
Just then, the ground around me lit up. It was the lightning bugs. They all but disappeared when the sky cleared, but once it becomes dark, they return. What do they want? Where did they come from?
…
The bugs seem to like me. they must,I am still alive (if that is what you call a man who is a man by night and a monster by day), and the lightning bugs are all around me, illuminating my way as if it were daylight. I have managed to win them over somehow, and despite the fact that they have eaten so many, they seem drawn to me. Maybe they are waiting for the right moment, but for now I need them. Perhaps they are driven by fear. Right now I am too tired to be afraid.
With the light from the mysterious insects, I manage to find my way throughout the darkness. No longer do I have to run, instead I can gather my thoughts and try to figure out a solution to this dilemma.
The first thing I have to do is relax. I know that there is a research facility a few miles from here, perhaps that is the first order of business. If my hunch is right, there are others like me who want to get back to normal.
I am so hungry. The night must be almost over. The sun is rising over the mountains and already I crave human flesh. I had a plan but I cannot remember what it was. All I can think about is eating, feeding, savoring the tender flesh of those who are afraid of me. My lightning bugs are slowly disappearing again. I think I was planning something, can’t remember, all I can think about is tender human flesh mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…….
…
The morning was a rough one. They fought back, they almost killed me. Whatever made me into a monster must have also made me strong. I must be able to survive anything. Hell knows people fight back when you are trying to eat them alive. My scars healed in minutes. I know I must have taken a few of them, I see their carcases in decay beneath my feet.
This monster I become during daylight scares the hell out of me, thank heavens the darkness brings peace. My lightning bugs are back now, hovering overhead like a spot light, allowing me to see the horror I created during the daylight.
I am at the center now, I know this because they are outside the building, pounding on the door, looking for anything that is human or animal, anything that they can feed on. It is dark, I am human again, and they are the beasts now.
I walk down the narrow corridor because I hear someone tinkering in a room nearby. I find people. Not monsters but people. They too have lightning bugs swirling overhead. I knock to get their attention, and that is what I get. One of them turns towards me, yielding a large shotgun, aimed at my head.
“Stop Monster!” He says, until he notices that I am like him. He lowers his gun when he notices the bugs around me. “Ah, they found you.” He went on to explain that a team of specially trained scientists sent out the lightning bugs to find those who are human by night. He said that only those are able to be saved, at least so far.
As he spoke, one of the nightpeople bashed a door open, and the flesh hungry zombies stormed the complex, searching for the intelligent brains of the scientists, and for my brain as well.
…Between the horror of my former friends trying to break into the research facility and eat us, and finding out that only those who are human during the night can be cured, I searched the hungry savages looking for my lovely wife and my son. Although most were unrecognizable, I was unable to find anyone bearing any likeness to my family. Having narrowly escaped with my life, I vowed to search for them even when I become monster. I found a hiding place in a room that we barricaded away from the zombies, and as I and the scientists hid from them, we spoke about the plan and how we would survive this terrible ordeal. The night was long, and the zombies were even more savage than before. At least one of our genius researchers lost their lives to the madness that sought us, but finally the night ended. With that, all twenty of us once again changed to the monsters we feared most. Together we hunted, and despite my being more animal than human, I managed to search out and find my family. There she was, holding my son in her arms, protecting him from the savage that I had become. That is all I remember from that horrid day. When it was dark again, the remaining doctors and I gathered to talk about the plan. A serum was created. We all drank the mixture, created from the blood of the monsters and ours, day and night, human and monster. “Do you think it will work on the others?” I asked. “We already tried it on a few, and they appear to be responding to the cure.” Said the lead researcher. “Do you think I could get some to my wife and kid? They need it, I need them.” I said, hoping to cure the two I love so much. “You don’t remember? You found them yesterday, while we hunted. You tore them apart and ate them. The blood on your clothes is that of your own family” said one of them, to my horror.. “Noooooooo” I shouted, I found them so that I could help them, the monster who I have become took away the one thing I cared about in this mad new world…….
