WorldLost- Week 1: An Infected Novel
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Authors: UNKNOWN
WorldLost:
Week 1
An Infected Novel by John
Rutherford
Copyright © 2016 John
Rutherford
All Rights Reserved
This is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely
coincidental.
To my family and
friends. You know who you are.
Beginning
I woke to what had to be the worst hangover I’d ever had in
my life. All I could think was “w
hat the hell is going on?” My head was pounding like there
was a crew of jackhammers working on the millimeter space between my eyes. My
mouth felt like sandpaper, I literally had grit between my cheek and gum and
all over my tongue. The simple act of opening my eyes was painful, god my eyes
hurt. I really tied one on last night; I’m surprised I’m alive. What the hell
was I thinking, what happened last night, how the heck did I get home? What the
hell is all that noise? Are those sirens, gunshots? Really, screaming?
What the hell is happening to my world!!!
That’s what I was thinking and in my head, it seemed I was
yelling it to myself as I lay in my bed with my pillow over my head. I was
praying to every god out there to make my hungover mind relax, turn down the
volume and be calm.
I swear to you God, I will never drink that much again. I swear
I swear, I swear. Please make the pain stop.
What is all that noise?
With all the strength I have,
I peek out from under the pillow, opening my eyes to
look around. Thank God I am in my apartment, for a minute there, I wasn’t sure.
At least I could get up when I wanted, wonder to the bathroom to take a piss,
get a drink of water and go back to bed without having to use my brain. There are
some positives to being single and living alone.
I slowly climb out of bed, having to sit on the edge for a
minute to let the world stop spinning and slowly make my way to the bathroom.
With one hand against the wall, I lean over the toilet and relieve myself. I
reach over and grab the bottle of aspirin, struggle to open it….damn child
proof locks. I finally get a couple out and wash them down with some water from
the tap. Standing back up, I take a look at myself in the mirror and notice
that I look like the living dead.
My eyes were bloodshot, there were dark bags under my eyes,
my cheek color was greenish and I was perspiring at my hairline. I was shaking,
my hands, my body, I literally had the shakes. Jesus, I was really messed up.
All of that is too much, my head began to spin and I threw up everything in my
stomach from last night. The smell hit me right away, which made me continue to
My aim at the toilet is poor and most of the vile liquid hits the side of the
bathtub next to the toilet, the two aspirin sticking to the far wall of the tub
like two little white eyes looking at me. God that is a disgusting mess of
yellowish green chunky bile all over my bathroom floor and walls. What the hell
did I eat last night?
I rinse my mouth out with tap water, take another look in the
mirror, seeing the same sick me looking back and shake my head. I get two more
aspirin and then decide that sitting down would be a good idea.
I don’t remember anything from last night after I had that
last dance with Amy and Butch. I’m pretty sure another shot of Jack Daniels or
two or ten was a part of the rest of the evening, but I couldn’t really
remember for sure.
How much did I spend last night on drinks to feel this
shitty?
I make my way back to my bed, sit down and then fall back
with my legs hanging over the edge. I roll my head to the side and look at the
clock on my nightstand. It’s 12:15 and if I had a job anymore, I would have
been four hours late to get there. Unfortunately, I had been fired yesterday so
being late today wasn’t a problem, but then again, getting fired wasn’t a good
thing either.
How funny is that? Get fired, and then decide it makes sense
to go and celebrate being fired with money you don’t have. My credit card
company was going to love me this month; spending money like I got it, but
really not being able to pay the bill. What a fucking idiot I am sometimes. I
really need to try and be a better person, do more for myself, think before
doing…..Who am I kidding?
I should reach out to Amy and Butch, I wonder if they still
consider me a friend. I needed to make sure I didn’t do anything to run off the
only family I had in this world. In order to do that, I had to find my phone.
Where the hell is my phone? I sat up and started to look
around, once I could focus my eyes. Five minutes later and the phone was located
between the box springs and the mattress of my bed. What was I thinking last
night that would make me think that this was a good place for my phone?
I only had a quarter of a charge left, so a charge would be
needed before I left for the day. I grabbed my charging cable and plugged my
phone in. I punched in my code and opened the text message app.
“Hey buddy, what’s going on?” I typed in and hit send to text
Butch.
“Hey girlfriend, how’s it hanging?” A text to Amy was on its
way.
I set the phone down on the nightstand and then I realized
that the noise from outside was still there; the sirens, the occasional scream,
the honking of a car. Why all the noise?
I grabbed the tv remote and turned on my flat screen tv.
Maybe the news has some information on what’s happening in the world that is
causing so much of a ruckus outside. Maybe I should get off my lazy ass and
take a look outside.
Nope, that would mean standing up again and the last time I
did that, it did not end up well. That reminds me, I need to clean my bathroom.
That can wait, better to lie in bed, let the aspirin take a hold and zone out
on some TV for now.
Once the TV was on I notice that m
y normal channel is off the air, only
the fuzzy screen of TV snow is on. I flip the channel to another favorite
station, but it is only showing an empty news studio, there is no news anchor
sitting in the chair, no sound, just an empty studio with a banner running
across the bottom of the screen stating, “The government has declared a state
of emergency for all states, all counties, and all cities. You are advised to
stay IN your home. Martial Law is in effect. The military is working with other
agencies, including local law enforcement, patrolling the city.” and then it
was repeated. Over and over again with a blank news studio in the background.
What the hell is happening? Is this a joke?
I flip the channel to another local channel. This one has a
woman sitting at the desk and she is looking around nervously. She gets the go-ahead
from someone behind the camera. “What you just saw was live. I can’t begin to
explain what is happening or why people are acting this way. Reports like the
one you just saw are coming in from all over the city. We have not been able to
get a hold of the police, the military or anyone with authority, so there has
been no official comment on this escalating problem.” She said.
I’d really like to know what the old information was, how
about repeating yourself, I think to myself.
I decide to try other channels, but all I find are channels
with off the air notices or snow or blank screens. So I muted the tv and
turned the radio on next my bed. My normal rock station only had an emergency
message stating to stay home and not to go out until further notice. I scrolled
through the numerous AM/FM channels, but only got the same message.
I checked my phone to see if Butch or Amy had replied, but
there were no new texts or messages from them. Well, this is disturbing. I sent
another text message to both of them. If they didn’t respond in a few minutes,
I’d make a phone call.
My headache was finally going away so I got up slowly and
headed to the small kitchen to get a drink of water. Maybe I should eat
something while I am at it. My apartment is basically one large room with a
balcony and a bathroom. Nothing special, but it was on the 5th floor and had a
pretty good view of the city street. I got to the sink and turned on the cold
water to let it run a minute before getting a glass. As I was standing there, I
looked outside and noticed that there was quite a bit of smoke in the sky, like
a large fire was active in the area. Having lived part of my life in the
forest, I’d seen numerous forest fires and the smoke and color in the sky today
was very different. It must be due to the various building materials burning
somewhere in the city and the smog that the city of Charleston always seems to
have lingering overhead. This had to be a big fire to cause this much smoke.
This wasn’t a good start to my day.
After drinking a glass of water and watching the city from my
kitchen window, I realized that I was continuing to hear the screaming, the sirens,
and the occasional gunshot. From the kitchen window I couldn’t see down to the
street, so I decided to move to the balcony door to see what was going on, it had
a better view of the main street in front of my building.
On the short way to the balcony door, I grabbed an apple out
of my fruit basket and took a bite. The apple was sweet, almost too sweet for
my stomach, so I dropped it on the coffee table next to my couch. I’m going to
have to get some food, something hot and spicy to help get rid of this
hangover. Maybe I should do the old hair of the dog trick, drink a beer and
have a shot to help jump start my body today. Why not, I don’t have to go to
work today.
I turned around and opened the cabinet that I keep my liquor
in. I pulled a bottle of Tequila out and set it down on the kitchen counter. I
went to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. A cold PBR; nothing better to help
with a hangover. I opened the tequila bottle, took a pull and then chased it
down with a swig of the beer. My body did the tequila shake causing me to grab
the counter so I didn’t fall down. Damn, this might have been a bad idea. I
stood up straight and took another drink of the PBR and waited for a few
seconds. I picked up the tequila, took another pull and then another chaser of
beer. I might have a drinking problem, I thought to myself, but then the
throbbing in my head slowly started to go away and my somewhat blurry vision
was clearing. Nope, no problem with drinking. It was one thing I was good at.
Got to love the Hair of the dog.
I walked over to balcony door and pulled the curtain to the
side. Instantly I was blinded by the sun. It was summer and the middle of the
day, so it made sense that the sun would be up, but damn, it was bright. Just
another rude awakening to help make my day be so great.
As my eyes adjusted to the light I looked across the street
and noticed my cute neighbor standing in her balcony window. She was looking
down at the street, standing in her underwear with no bra on. Chest bouncing
against the glass door. Now that is a good way to help get my day turning to
the positive. Should I open the door and go out on the balcony to see what she
was looking at. She really seemed interested in something on the street. Going
out on the balcony would risk being seen by her. Maybe I should stand here and
soak in her beauty.
Damned if I am going to ruin a good thing might as well enjoy
the show.
I’ve always wanted to meet her, but I could never get the
nerve up. I’ve watched her go through three boyfriends, and most of what I’ve
seen is that it was the boyfriend's loss and not hers. She was banging hot and
based on the sex shows she put on with the boyfriends, she was experienced in
the art of seduction and liked to control the activity in the bedroom. I would
have given my left nut to spend fifteen minutes with that goddess.
Once, Butch and I were in a competition to see who would get
the nerve up first to find out what her name was and try to score with her. We
discussed all the different ways we could meet her. Accidently bump into her at
the corner store. Wait for her outside of her apartment building and strike up
a conversation. We came up a lot of different ways over time, but never got the
balls to actually do any of them.
One night, Amy came over to my apartment as Butch and I were
camped out on the balcony watching the women across the street entertain her
current boyfriend. She was putting on a quite a show and we were so involved
watching and talking quietly about how we could end up being the next boyfriend
that we didn’t hear Amy come in the front door. She had a key in case I didn’t
answer or for an emergency. We’re not even sure how long Amy stood behind us
and watched the show or what she heard us saying. When Amy finally spoke, all
she said was “Neither of you has the balls to meet someone like her…... but I
do. I’ll have her name and horoscope sign before the day is over. Mark my
words.” and Amy promptly turned and left the apartment. The next day, she
informed Butch and me that the woman’s name was Carrie, she was a Scorpio and
that Carrie was bisexual. I’m not sure how she knew this as Amy wouldn’t give
us any details, but the smile on her face when she made this statement pretty
much explained how she knew. Amy was a go-getter, I’ll give her that.
As I was standing there, remembering that interesting tidbit
from the past and basically being a peeping Tom, I noticed that my secret
girlfriend, Carrie, was banging her head on the window. Not just a slight
rhythmic banging, like you might do to a favorite tune you were listening to,
but out right head banging on the glass balcony door. She was at a
Six Feet
Under
heavy metal concert and was head banging with the best of them. She
was banging her head so hard I started to see a dark liquid spread and stick to
the glass of the sliding glass door. She was being so violent that the door was
beginning to crack. It finally gave way and Carrie stumbled out the broken glass
door, bare feet getting cut to shreds from the glass on the ground as she bumped
into the balcony railing. She continued to move forward against the rail and fell
right over the balcony rail, falling to the street below.