When Darkeness Breathes...

XIX. Survivor

There was an outbreak when I was just barely a teenager. I remember hearing about it first on the news, then through whispers. Lots of people were getting sick and people were supposed to stay away from the infected, from those that showed signs of the infection. I remember the fear that started to spread when people whispered about the sickness, because people actually started dying from it.

Young people. Young adults, those that were previously healthy. Their hearts were exploding, or their stomachs. It depended on which direction the virus took. I remembered hearing about a young man on the news. He wasn't much older than myself. His heart ruptured, virtually exploded from the stress the viral infection put on it.

We were told not to worry about it, as we watched it from afar. As the scenes passed across the television screen for us to view.

I can not really recall how it happened at first? But I do remember thinking that something felt very wrong. That I was not right within myself. It wasn't long after that, that I recall getting hot, very hot. It felt like I could melt under the heat of my own skin. At first, it was just the basic flu. Nothing to be fearful of. But the heat was so hot, so demanding! It consumed. I was just so sick. Then I just could not take it anymore. I remember being weak, just wanting to sleep. One step after another. Sweat tpouring off of me. Praying for the ache, for the pain to go away. I was so close, so close to home. I went down a flight of stairs, headfirst. I do not remember more than taking the first two, I don't remember the fall, or ending up at the bottom. I don't really remember much of anything for days. But I do remember the stomach pain.

The stomach pain was excruciating! When it hit. Like an explosion had gone off within. Pure acid eating me alive! From the stomach upward. I wavered, I cried, I swayed. It was all belly up from there, as the flight of stairs broke the fall. So close to home...

Coming to, to a doctors kind face. His kind hand on mine. "I was a lucky one." He said. "So many people have died with it. My stomach having had a partial rupture. The contents moving upwards and out of the esophagus. Literally an acidic explosion. I was recovering, would recover. But some symptoms would remain. A reminder of my strength and survival." He said.

A failed plan. One they would not forget so soon. It only made them more determined. How could humans be so resilient? How could they adjust and endure to survive when the odds were stacked so against them? It was there, the truth was somewhere, as they (1) believed, in the DNA.

*They (1) never understood...

(1)=They_The Grey's

©2016 Aelfwynn MacGregor,AMB