Infected

Chapter Two: Waking up to Armageddon

Chapter Two: Waking up to Armageddon

Fever burned behind Luna's tightly shut eyes, creating hot and blurred nightmares as the day slowly crept into the night. The alarm clock beside her bed read seven-thirty, but she wasn't in any state to care about the time, let alone what was happening right outside her home.

If she had been awake, she might have heard the FM radio announcment from the president himself on the issue that was not only sweeping the nation, but the entire world. But no, Luna lay tense and ill in a bed that wrapped around her like hot coals.

Her temperature was soaring and the warm clothes she had on earlier were now drenched in sweat. If she could move, she would have clawed the fabric from her steaming body and scream in the pain of being burned alive. Her fists clutched handfuls of damp sheets as her body shook with the effort to endure the pain that she only thought was in her nightmares. She had no idea that the pain and heat were all too real, making her lash out in the void of her mind. Soon a migrain slithered into her dreams and made the heat seem like child's play. It felt as if her very skull was splitting in two; right down the middle.

Though she could not manage to keep a stable thought, Luna saw flashes of what had been memories, but was now only a nightmare. She pictured Lucas being torn away from her by savage wolves, thirsty for his blood. She heard him scream, but could not run in any direction. She felt herself falling, falling deep into the ground, down into a cauldron of liquid fire.

A scream surpassed her throat as her skin turned to flames and started to peel at the edges, leaving only charred remains. Where the charcoaled peices of her skin cracked with the last bits of fire, dark coarse hair sprouted from the ashes like a pheonix from its death. She screamed as thick glossy fur swept across her body and her hands turned into large paws; her fingers into talons. Her screams morphed into a howl as she felt her back bone break and realign itself into a completely new design.

The pain was all she felt, and all she knew at that moment, and for the first time she thought that she was in hell. 'This is what hell must be like.' She thought as she thrashed in another onset of pain. She was now convinced that this was real; the pain, the heat, the change. She didn't want to admit it, but it was the only logical explanation to what she was experiencing. Yet instead of opening her eyes to flames and scorhced fur, she saw a ceiling fan, not far from where she lay.

She shakily let her hands run over her body for any signs of burns or other injuries, but found not even a scratch. Her breathing evened out as the last of her horrid nightmare began to disappear along with the pain that had ebbed the edges of her subconscious. 'It was just a dream...' She thought as she ran her hands through her now-tangled hair. "A nightmare..." She said aloud as she got to her feet and walked the short distance to her lime green bathroom.

She groggily twisted the faucet to receive the coldest water as she grabbed a fluffy hand towel from the rack that hung beside the shower curtain. Her eyes remained shut as she braced herself on the sinks' edges and sighed in pre-waking grumpiness. She mechanically cupped her hands under the now freezing water and bent to splash a handful in her face as she opened her crusted-over eyes.

She shrieked as the water droplets came rushing at her irises in crystal clear clarity and with speed so rapid that it felt like everything was going in slow motion. The water splashed to the floor as she stood against the bathroom wall facing the mirror which held a face so sharp and crisp, Luna faultered.

Her eyes glowed gold as her vision zoomed in on her always too-thin lips and pointed nose; the sight of her flushed cheeks leaping to sudden focus as she clutched the wall behind her. "What the hell..."

Closing her eyes, Luna took in deep ragged breathes and tried to comprehend what was happening to her. 'You're still dreaming, that's it. This is all a dream, nothing out of the ordinary in that.' She tried to reassure herself with only half conviction.