Month: January 2017

“I want to start this story out, with one important fact, one fact that will ensure as you hear this, as you take all this in, you will know, that none of this was my fault. You may, at times think, maybe I had something to do with it all, but I can assure you, for the sake of any future arguments, I, Tim Malone, did not have, or ever did have, any underlying, self absorbed intentions, other than to ensure a fair and just outcome was reached so that everyone involved would benefit,” He says, as he stares down the camera lens, he tucks a finger down between the collar of his shirt and his throat, and pulls it lose.

He clears his throat, takes a mouthful of water from a glass that he holds nervously in his hands, and smiles, “Two days ago was when it started, or ended, I’m not sure anymore what you would call it, either both, or whatever, but two days ago was when Trevor Malduver unsuccessfully attempted to free what he thought were refugees from a government holding centre, somewhere in the arse end of the city. Stupid fucker didn’t realise they were locked away for a reason, ” he says, as he reaches up to his collar again, and pulls on it once more, this time  unbuttoning the top of the shirt.

“If Trevor had done his homework correctly, he would’ve found out that they were being held for a reason, but he didn’t, and he, well, he freed the infection from it’s chamber, and they ran, spreading their disease to everyone,” he hangs his head and looks down at the floor, he feels the tears well up in his heads, and watches as they drop and slash onto the concrete floor. “T-T-This, this disease took my family from me, as I’m sure it has to many of you out there, but unlike you, I don’t sit waiting, hoping, for the government to find a cure, hoping that they can save my family,” he says, as he looks up at the camera once more, his eyes red, his skin puffy.

All emotion drops from his face, and he stares blankly into the camera, “There is no cure, there is no saving those infected, the only way to survive is to kill, to run, and if you don’t, if you can’t do that, then, the best this to do, is, kill yourself,” he says as he raises a revolver to the side of his head. “My name is Doctor Steven Templeton, I created this virus, I built this weapon, this killing machine, and, it is, unstoppable,” he says as he pulls the trigger, removing half his head.

END

“How excited are you kid?” He says, looking over at the young man, his face pale, his eyes wide, and his mind, well, his mind somewhere else, he looks over to the older man, and smiles nervously.

“Shitting myself if you want me to be honest,” he says, the older man laughs.

“It’s going to be like that for the first few times, but, you’ve got talent, and all you need to do is hold it together, out there, and slowly, you’ll becoming better, and the people, well, they’ll see it too, and, then, nothing can stop you from climbing the tree but yourself.”

He bites down onto his bottom lip nervelessly, as his eyes dart to the ground, then back up at him, he feels his fingernails dig into his calves, and clears his throat. “I-I-Is it really that easy?”

“Sure, why not,” he replies, shrugging his shoulders.

“Why do so many fail then? Why are there so many who wanna be great, but only a few who mange it, if it’s so easy?”

The older man laughs again, “I never said it was easy, I said it all relies on skill, determination, follow through, drive, all that shit, you’ve got to wanna be the man, to be the man, you can go out there then times a week, thinking you’re the man, not giving a shit about everything else, and just doing the best god damn thing you can do, and honestly, you won’t make it,” He says, as he gets to his feet and stretches his tired, old muscles. “But, if you go out there, and you work hard, you work with everyone else, you do what is asked, and you concentrate on getting better, getting confident, and, getting the other guys behind you, then, you’ll knock the roof off, trust me on that.”

“So, what? You’re saying be part of a team, be out there for everyone, and not just for myself?”

“Yeah kid, that’s sort of it,” He says with a smile as the door to the room opens and a sweaty man pokes his head in.

“You boys are up, the kid ready?” He asks the older man.

He looks over to the younger man, and then over to the man at the door and smiles, “Yeah, the kids ready to have his moment in the sun.”

“Well then, lets get ready to rumble folks,” the man at the door says, as he leads them out, towards the ring.

END

The darkness save no man or woman, it allows neither a reprieve, it only wants their lives, well, that’s how it seems to me anyway.

When it first appeared, the news stations reported it to be some unknown act of nature, they of course, were wrong, in every way.

His name was Marcus, he was, what you would call, a nerd. You know, awkward, clumsy, brilliant, all rolled into an unflattering package riddled with bad breath, excessive sweats and a high pitched vocal setting, basically Marcus ticked every classic nerd stereotype, ever made.

Anyway, Marcus was the reason the darkness started to swallow everything, he’d been working on some assignment for the research university he worked for, that was trying to decipher some ancient rune stone that was found on the dark side of the moon, I know, seriously, they found a stone with a ancient message on it, on the moon, and no one raised an eyebrow, all too late they realised that once they deciphered the coding, it set a chain of events in place that would bring this hunger to our home world, a hunger that wanted nothing more than to feast upon everyone of us.

Now, as the days count down, and the darkness spreads, I wonder, when will my turn be. When will I pay for my role in all of this, or, am I curse to see the end, to see how my intellect, which I once thought was vast, unrivaled, be reduced, to that of the destroyer of my species…

“So this is really what he was talking about?” She says, turning towards him, his face screwed up with anger.

“Obviously,” he hisses, as he darts her a look that sends shivers running down her spine.

“Don’t take it out on me, you’re the one who let him go, you should’ve put a bullet in his head when you had the chance.”

“DON’T FUCKING LECTURE ME SALLY!” He yells, tightening his hands into fists, his teeth grind against each other, and he feels one of his back molars crack under the pressure. “You wasn’t there, you didn’t see what I saw, you didn’t have orders to follow, if I knew for sure he was responsible, I would’ve put more than one in his head. But it wasn’t my choice, I was just a hired gun, I did what I was asked to do, and I did it, not like you, you knew what he was like all along, you knew he was rotten, you could’ve done more to stop him, made sure he was taken care of,” he says, her cheeks go red, and she bows her head.

“I-I-It, it wasn’t meant to come across like that, I though, I-I-I, I thought maybe I could, well, maybe I could…”

“What? You thought you could save him?” He says, then lets out a laugh. “Some people can’t change, no matter what you hope, no matter what you do, some people are just too far, and Garret is one of those people, had you’ve let them know what he was fully capable off, what they were really going up against, we wouldn’t be standing here, looking down at these mutilated carcasses, we’d be somewhere else, having nothing to do with each other. I just honestly don’t understand why you kept that sort of inf….” His words comes to a stop, and his eyes shimmer, as if something leaves them, and then, falls forward, a knife sticking from the back of his head.

She locks eyes with Garret, and he smiles, she wickedly smiles back.

“Hello, mother,” he says softly.