Disease X

by Garrett Williams

  “Hey you, blondie,” He spoke looking directly at Heather. “Can you take him a moment?” He asked.

  Heather’s blue eyes widened brightly, but for some reason she nodded her head instinctively. Danny unhooked Alex’s arm from around his shoulder blades. He propped him up by placing his palm and pressing into his breast. Heather took Alex’s bare arm and wrapped it around her nape. Danny let go and the full weight of the body crashed onto her. She bent her knees in stress, then she took her free hand and wrapped two fingers around Alex’s back belt loop. She used whatever strength she had left, and lifted him to where his chin met with the back of her shoulder.

  The party then continued onward, except for Ashley, she had chosen to stay with Danny. Ashley’s eyes trailed off and followed Danny’s path. She slowly proceeded to shadow him, until he stopped short of the fiery blade that had sat alone on the crumbling pavement. Ashley stopped and watched him advance closer to the demented ingenuity. She followed as he had bent down and his fingers wrapped around the rubbery handle. He lifted the large, combusting bastard sword and gazed into the flames. The bright orange and yellow illuminated his face as he reflected on what had happened the past days.

  Ashley stared at him, concerned for at least a moment before she silently walked up from behind. She raised her hands and wrapped them around what used to be the sleeve of his jacket. Danny’s eyes trailed off behind him to the blue eyes of his concerned inamorata, they shown brighter than he could remember ever seeing them, and she knew that he was in pain. Her eyes radiated empathy and consolation. Deep inside of himself he knew that, even though he had desired to care for her, and the ones he loved most. He would also be forced to give up whatever urges had swayed his actions. His arm lowered the blade back down to his side, facing the hard ground.

  He brought his right hand around his torso and felt the fingers that were property to the misty eyes. What had it been that Merrick had to give up himself for others? Danny wondered this, because he knew that he did not truly care for them if he were leaving them unprotected. They exchanged glances…until the roaring sounds of blades closed in. the wind curled around them and everyone that had survived. Large machines filled the skies. Black birds with rotating metallic blades surrounded them. Danny turned and embraced Ashley as the winds and sounds had alerted him and the rest of his people.

  Heather had dropped to her knees in shock and the boy had fallen from her shoulders and onto the ground. She caught him from the back of his head and held him up. Where did they come from? Black birds circled them, large machine guns attached to the sides. Danny looked while keeping Ashley in his arms. Ashley soon gazed up at the buzzards and motioned away from his grasp. The flurry of gales ran wild, Heather looked up, her hair flapping back wildly.

  The only regret I have is the fact I can’t see into the future. Danny knew very well what he had meant, he wanted to see the boy grow…and Danny thought he would soon see him again. His grip loosened and the first sound through the cacophony he heard had been the soft flap of his cap impacting the ground. This was his chance, his redemption. He stared up at the buzzards intently, his fists red hot with whatever strength he could marshal. His gaze turned to an empowered scowl, his end near, as well as his new beginning. The buzzards hung primed on the perpetrators, their weapons loaded, their sights locked, the last resort had prepared…then the cockpit of one shattered…and fell to the ground. The sounds of shattered glass had broken Danny’s meditation, his eyes now wide with anxiety.

  The buzzard spiraled until it hit the ground in a scraping mess. The wreckage laid dead, stagnant. A whirling sound whispered into Danny’s ear, a draft blasted past him. He turned around, shocked at the assistance. He stared up and saw a figure hung above the evanescent haze that cloaked. He looked as though he had grasped an object – no, two items, then dove forward overhead. Danny turned again to face the buzzards. The figure had become as much a haze as the fog that had cloaked them had been.

  All Danny and Ashley witnessed had been nothing more than a shadow shown in front of the light that had blown past. The shattered glass filled the air like the former rain that had ceased. Black birds fell like black snow that had spiraled to the ground. A single buzzard turned to witness, only to be struck down as well, glass shattering the cockpit. A single drop of crimson impacted Heather’s cheek. Metallic pebbles and engine parts covered the boy like a blanket. Heather watched in amazement, mighty birds struck down like nothing more than mere pheasants. A buzzard turned and upon instinct, opened fire upon the shadow. The shadow proceeded nonetheless, against the current of alloys. A single black wisp circled the buzzard, sparks flying until the shadow had risen higher than any bird had dared to fly. It was a single shadow, similar to that of a young human. Heather stared intently at the shadow and gasped…there had been a scarf.

  Metal alloys dropped to the floor by Danny. He rushed over and picked one up to examine. What had the shadow really been? The figure finally dove down straight and penetrated the buzzard’s large mechanical tail. Whistles and sirens honked through the air as the bird spun and spun until finally it met its tail once more. It was a smoldering heap, metal blades scraping the pavement until finally dying in flames. Fire littered the floor around Heather and the survivors. The boy in her arms slowly nudged her arm. Her head suddenly swung down in shock at the boy’s apparent revival. Danny and Ashley looked around the sky in search of the shadow, until the flames closed in on them and Danny lead Ashley away, blade in hand.

  Danny stormed over to the small crowd. It could not have been more than one-hundred, counting themselves.

  Ashley followed close behind him shouting out, “Is everyone okay?!” there were no responses, but she could observe and see that there had been no lives lost by their eyes. Heather stared down at the boy. He fidgeted painfully, his eyeballs twitched inside of his eyelids. She assumed that he may have been dreaming, or rather feeling what had been going on around him. The smell of burning metals and concrete, the sounds of blasting and the crackle of flames. He could feel the hard ground and the heat of the flames around him as he slowly returned.

  Heather looked back up and noticed the shadow once more in the sky. The figure fell again and instead of a fatal blow, struck the ground softly, yet with a loud thump. He stood with his back facing toward her. He held two separate weapons in his hands, resembling automobile pieces. A single grey scarf dithered in what little wind there was. He sheathed his sword-like weapons on both sides of his hips. The shadow was young, perhaps no older than Heather and the boy themselves. A strap wrapped tightly around the back of his head. The shadow turned around and revealed that the strap had been a part of lenses. Black lenses shrouded his eyes like curtains. Long, black hair was stuck beneath his lenses while the rest hung at his temples and his nape. The boy standing at the front of them raised a gloved hand, his fingers free but palms imprisoned by leather. His fingers pinched the round lenses, he pulled forward. The lenses were removed and rested upon the top of his head. His pupils dilated extremely, from as large as a quarter to as small as a pebble. Then the black eyes settled, and returned to human size. Their savior had also been both of their deserters, Levi.

  Danny rushed through the herd, Ashley had ran to keep up with him. Danny rammed into the shoulders of the people that remained. They slowed Ashley’s pace. Danny was now in full search.

  He cried out, “Elizabeth!” over the chattering and panicked people. Elizabeth had been lost in the sea of ninety five people, scrambling for a place to hide when she heard his plea. She instinctively looked further into the crowd and shoved the knees and sides of survivors. The sea seemed as thick as molasses, and just as slow moving. Then a clearing appeared in the sea, a small pocket of air. Elizabeth had nearly fallen into the pocket when she spotted a concerned Daniel on the hunt.

  “Danny!” her young and shrill voice cried out from among the people. Ashely completely lost all record on Danny’s whereabouts. Danny’s eyes looked up and stared right at her from th
e sea. He swam through it steadily and exhaustedly until he could finally reach the pocket. He sprinted toward her then fell to his knees and embraced her with his free arm. She held him tightly with the ribbons that had remained of his jacket. Danny’s eyes shot up once more, he stared off straight past her, stunned at his thoughts.

  He looked down at her slowly, he did not see her…but the little boy, and a gloved military hand around him. The soldier embraced the scared child in his protection. He had blinked once in a white flash, the scene resumed as previous. He had taken his free hand away from her and grabbed one of her shoulders. The blade still sitting on the ground propped up by his hand. He held her back by the shoulder, he could see red, frightened eyes and the more he stared, he saw the mirror in her pupils displaying the soldier.

  Heather stared directly at Levi, stunned at his arrival. He looked down at the boy, gestating in her arms with nostalgic eyes. The boy struggled and his eyes slowly shook open. Through the blur he could perceive the figure of a familiar face. Alex had been in a state of perpetual hallucination and light headedness.

  “It…t-took you…long…enough,” He forced from his mouth. Levi merely gave a smirk at his remark. Alex’s lips grew into a small smirk as well as he stared off into the light. The orange red had been fleeting. As sure as the darkness would come, as would the warmth return as well.

  Heather swiftly glanced down at both the shaking boy and the boy that had left the both of them. What had he mean by “it took you long enough?” She became more and more confused, yet her eyes misted over with joy. Any feeling of betrayal had been rejected from her system. Levi was there, standing over the two triumphant.

  Alex’s vision blurred, his body battered and aching. Yet for some reason he had and unorthodox sense of relief, his rescue had come for him at last, he had initiation at last. He saw blurs of red and orange, the world around him had burned…except for him. Flame surrounded him, death followed him his whole life in the zones. People had hated him and yet there he was, in the arms of a kind young woman and lying below the one that left him. The soft touch of her fingers held his head gently. He remembered the white entity with red circles for eyes. He could not remember her. He had been blinded by the light, yet it felt warm to him, familiar. Her soft voice echoing in his brain, the blinding image he could not even comprehend had been beautiful.

  Dan finally rose to his feet and pulled little Elizabeth to his side as if she was a prized possession. He walked through this sea of disorganization and the weeds that had strangled the garden. The flower in the weeds had been extinguished, their entire garden had burned, yet he cared for his home no longer. He held the girl tight, as though his life revolved around her own. He swam through the ocean until he had finally met with Ashley again. She stood worried along the beach line. She spotted them in the swarm of humans and confusion and jogged to them hurriedly.

  Alex shut his eyes at last, his struggle over. He was worth something again. He smiled as hard as his body would allow him. He remembered when he killed for the first time, and for some reason or another, he felt as though he was proud. His cowardice deceased, his hesitation defeated, his fear made from warden to slave. The surge of emotion overwhelmed him until finally his memory of Julie flashed one last time. On the bus, her smile, the way her lenses magnified her warm brown eyes, her slightly curled auburn hair crawling down her back and shoulders. He took a friend like that for granted. He had taken the people he loved for granted. He merely enjoyed their company, and only in suffering does one understand the gravity of their existence. In his thoughtful memorial, his emotion of pride and poise swept over him and in the warm embrace of the fleeting light, he lapsed into a coma yet again.

  Dan had made his way to Ashley with the little girl at his side that he suddenly held dearer than his own survival. Ashley was beside them in a hurry.

  “There she is. Is everyone okay?” Dan said nothing to his inamorata, rather, he motioned Elizabeth to her with his right free hand, and Ashley took her at her side. Dan walked past the two, all the while examining the weapon in his left palm. It had turned to a dying flame and a whining and smoldering cerise. A white hot blade that had lost its flame, its passion for destruction or order. Dan had let it slump at his side with an intent stare in his eyes.

  Ashley turned, as well as Elizabeth, at the intensely seething hellish guardian. Dan passed a small collection of debris and roof insulation. As he walked he stared at the remains and spotted a small, out of place black tube. He scooped up the piece of giant intestine and clutched it tightly in his right hand. He made his way back to his vehicle and stepped away from the driver’s seat and around to the small hatch that had held the gallon compartment. He looked into the small opening and stabbed it with the pipe, submerging it into the clear and foul liquid. He bent the moderately long, shaft-like tube and the pressure poured out onto the ground. Droplets splattered his torn and soaked jeans and gave a cool and refreshing feel, yet stinking aroma.

  He guided the weapon underneath the fall of liquid and the sounds of water against metal reverberated into his damaged ears.

  “Danny!” Ashley had scolded him yet he continued. He finally raised the tube again and the waterfall died. The blade droned and simmered, until he raised it, this time defiantly to the sky. He looked straight at the baffled sea in front of him, the sounds of muttering and panic filled the air around him. He then focused whatever energy he had had left, no longer of anger, but of control. He had placed his finger at the base of the synthetic metal and with all of his might and strength, new flame emerged. It was ludicrously smoldering, so much more than ever before, and the flame was no longer the misanthropic orange and yellow, but a beautifully bright, hot blue. The blue roared, Ashley watched, stunned, and Elizabeth mystified. It roared so loudly that the chatter ceased, and every eye met his, including Levi’s and Heather’s. He lowered the weapon back to his side and the weapon cooled and returned to its bright natural colors. Authority at his side, he spoke.

  “I know what happened. It is indeed dire. We lost everything to those ‘peacekeepers’. Our families, our close friends that had been brothers and sisters to us, slaughtered by butchers. Yes, you’re right, it’s over,” Danny continued, then paused and stared off into the vibrant and fleeting light that would soon be swept away by darkness.

  “This world is screwed indeed. Injustice, murder of all degrees, including all ages,” Ashley thought back to the house that she had formerly called her home, the memory had made her cringe and mist her eyes. Levi stood intently and focused his eyes on the man he had never known. All he knew was that he was not standing over them for him, rather for another reason.

  “I thinks it’s time you’ve all earned the right to know why we call ourselves Immortals. Through the death, through the suffering, even in death, we live.” Dan remembered Merrick for the last time then and continued, unscathed by the memory. “We die…and yet we live on nonetheless. Because we stand for something. Our message lives on in the hearts of children and grown adults alike. We have always believed in freedom, absolving. Our leader died, and yet we continue to fight for that peace and forgiveness, that is why he is immortal, not dead.”

  The people muttered about themselves aloud. Their garden burned, all because of the mistake of one man, Dan knew this well. The ruin had been because of him, and it was the time of judgment. “We can’t stay…not anymore though. We’re leaving.” Gasps and groaning came from the small bay of confusion. A single bald man approached him, his fingers tipped in frost.

  “The hell you saying?!” He scorned maliciously. Dan raised his bright burning blade and narrowed the point toward him in a swift and sudden movement.

  The man backed away startled and with sweat beading down his throat, he stood for several minutes until he gave up and gave him one last angered look, then returned to the sea.

  “I know it isn’t the happiest idea in the world, but I’m in charge, I decide what’s best.” The smoldering wreckage flooded them al
l, their garden had been lost, their paradise and sanctuary eviscerated, they were being banished by the fiery steel. “I don’t want anyone to die trying to resurrect this place, it’s not worth it. And we don’t deserve this place you know? We’ve all done bad, let’s just start over…and get moving.” The bay were unconvinced, until they looked around them, and saw that it was hopeless.

  Dan walked around the bay. He walked slowly, examining the eyes that watched him silently, some with anger and hate, some sad and crying, others depressed, others openly begging, some staring at the ground in disbelief, finally, those following him over to Heather. He knelt on both knees and began to, almost in a trance, raise the boys arm and wrap it around her nape. She rose to her feet shakily under the limp weight of the body. Levi watched her struggle, until he finally decided to take his feet and carry him as though he were on a stretcher. He dangled and swayed like a cradle. Heather wondered if inside he found it blissful.

  Levi did not understand why it was he had sided with the man, perhaps a sort of bond, a feeling he could not describe about someone. He left it alone for the time being, and followed far behind him. Ashley and Elizabeth ran up to the front of the swaying and reluctant wave and joined Dan. He looked over and then back toward the light earnestly. Ashley guided her hand into Dan’s inner arm and wrapped her own around it. Dan continued as it had been normal, though he finally realized how true her feelings for him were, and what that meant to him. He allowed her to rest there, he did not notice, but he felt a brief moment of moisture on his arm, the rain had ceased long ago.

  Alex was cradled, unknowingly leaving the safest place in his world. His survival was at stake, but it did not matter. He was happy, it was truly a good day, no, a fatefully appalling day. He was no longer a coward, and his dreams told him so.

  The reaper and his posse shared merry grins and hopeful exchanges. Time to reap the rewards, the Reaper thought to himself. The sea walked into the fleeting light, but knowing that it would return as sure as the darkness would come.