As we dashed through the street, the sound of doors slamming shut and windows closing echoed behind us. Not like I can blame them. I would have done the same thing a few days ago. In their eyes, a wild and untamed beast had apparently abducted an unsuspecting damsel in distress for his twisted pleasure.
"We have to get off the street," he said urgently.
We quickly turned down an alleyway and came to a manhole.
"You can't be serious," I protested.
"Do you have a better idea?" he scowls, his tone impatient. "By now, everyone in Phoenix, includin' the bloody military knows where we are."
With no other options, we climbed down into the sewer.
"I can't believe we're doing this," I muttered, gagging with every breath at the putrid smell that hung heavy in the air.
"You want to stay alive," he replied.
"Can I think about it?" I said nearly throwing up in my mouth.
The murky water was ankle-deep, and with every step, we stirred up a foul sludge of human waste, garbage, and who knows what else. The walls were slick with slime and grime. The thought of all the bacteria and diseases lurking in the filthy water made my skin crawl.
"I... I don't know how much longer I can take this," I gasped, retching with every breath. "I don't want to die down here."
"You're not going to die down here."
"Not all of us have superhuman healing abilities or survived a pandemic. And for all we know, this is how it started. Someone fell into the sewer, and before you know it, boom. Outbreak." I shook my head, trying to clear the image of a viral outbreak spreading through the sewer system from my mind.
Think happy thoughts.
Sunny meadow. Tiramisu. Coffee cake. Spatula.
"That's how you really think this all started? The sewer?"
Well, no, not exactly. There are hundreds of rumours and conspiracies out here about how it all started. Diseased animals. A mad scientist created the virus in his secret lab while attempting to create a new type of energy drink. Aliens brought the virus to Earth as part of an extraterrestrial experiment. That was my aunt's favourite. A magical curse cast by a group of witches. Contaminated fast food, with infected fries and coffee being the culprits. A group of zombies escaped from a secret government research facility. My favourite— bad karaoke singing. Then you have the official statement by the CDC. A toxic spill in the water supply of a small town in Canada somewhere. A truck carrying hazardous chemicals veered off the road during a bad thunderstorm. They retrieved all of the containers; however, one had a leak. People in the town started getting sick and started attacking each other and then boom, outbreak.
"It's better than a tone-deaf karaoke session," I grumbled. "What do you think actually happened?"
I only now realized I had never questioned the information fed to me or given it a second thought. I had accepted what was echoed a million times on television, assuming it to be the absolute truth without delving deeper.
"What do you know about the town that initially reported the outbreak?" he questioned as we trudge through the filthy water.
"I think it was somewhere in Canada?" I shrug.
"Do you know the name or its location?" he pressed further.
"No, not specifically. But I'm sure I can dig up some articles online that must have some information about it." It must have been somewhere on the news, and I just missed it.
ESTÁ A LER
ALPHA WAVE
FantasiaWhen my parents kicked the bucket, I thought that was the universe's way of saying "screw you" to me. But little did I know, life had an even bigger "screw you" in store. Then one sunny summer day out of nowhere, the Infected appeared. And man, were...
