The Curse

The World Outside

Something woke Jillian up. She thought she heard someone tapping on the window. Pushing John's arm to the side ( They had cuddled to sleep ), she went to the window and peeked through the blinds. She squinted in the distance. Nothing at all. " Maybe I imagined it," she said to herself. She wanted to drop off again, but it was 6 am and although the bed looked inviting, for some reason she couldn't go back to sleep. Besides, John was stirring. In about 5 minutes he was up. "Morning," he mumbled in his hot morning voice. "Morning. And stop doing that," said Jillian, giggly all of a sudden.

"Stop what?"

"Stop using that sexy voice," she said, pretending to be stern. "It turns me on," she said, her voice becoming dreamy.

"Oh I can't do that. It comes with the hot boyfriend package," said John giving a sly grin.

Jillian gave him a friendly punch. "Soo," he began," Why is it so dark out here?"

"The blinds are drawn, silly. Besides it's still dark outside."

"It's like 6:20 right now. How can it be still dark outside?" said John with his eyebrows furrowed.

"I don't know," even Jillian sounded worried," It looks as if it's midnight right now."

As they freshened up and went to the living room, they saw Filip and Anthony talking in hushed voices. " What's up?" she said, taking a seat.

"I don't wish to alarm you but if we don't manage to get any supplies today, we are gonna starve from tomorrow," Filip voiced, grimly.

"Why don't we head over to town? I know those things are out there, but we can try, right? I can go over if you want me to. By the way, where are Jackson and Sophie?"

Filip was about to open his mouth when Jackson came down the stairs followed by an irate Sophie. "Why do you look so stormy?" asked Anthony," What is...."

"Ask him," she hissed angrily," Kicked me off the bed that arse ." Jackson scowled darkly at her. "I did not. You must have fallen out yourself."

"Shut up!" Filip retaliated. Both of them stopped arguing, but kept glaring at each other. " Thank You. Now back to our discussion. Yeah, I think Jillian and me should go to town. Anthony can look after you lot."

" We're not babies...." began Jackson indignantly.

"I was aware of the fact," he said in a sarcastic tone ,"But stay together and don't go off on your own," he added sternly.

Jillian and Filip started off on their bikes down the hill. This short trip down the hill left them astounded. There was not a trace of their neighbourhood. It was just a vast expanse of sandy desert, at the end of which was, what looked like an overgrowth of trees. Heck, apple trees don't grow on sand. But on close observation, it was not an apple tree......

"Let's go back," said Filip, shuddering slightly ,"There's no town."

"What about the food? We are running out."

"I....." He did not know what to say.

"We could pluck some of those apples over there," Jillian interjected as she went closer to the tree.

"Wait!" Filip called out,"Don't eat it." Jillian had plucked the fruit and was about to devour it. "We should cut it open first. It could be poisonous." So they did. It was a strange fruit. The outside looked like an apple. But the insides were divided into segments and looked rather juicy - like an orange. Jillian was taken aback. It smelt all right. "Do you reckon we should try this?" asked Filip. "I don't know," said Jillian, eyeing the fruit as though it were something dangerous,"Everything is so weird. First of all there is nobody out here, no houses nothing! Our phones are not working, the sun hasn't risen yet although it's probably 7 by now. And that strange creature as well. Do you think those are aliens?"

"I never believed in all these , but you know, nothing's impossible right now," he murmured." Oh and by the way this tastes sweet," he said, taking a bite out of the fruit," Definitely not poisonous so it is probably not gonna kill us." Jillian winced at the forced toughness in his voice. Nevertheless, she filled her bicycle basket with about a dozen of those 'apples'. As they were about to mount their bikes, they heard footsteps coming their way. "Quick, behind these bushes," Filip hissed. It was not a very comfortable place to hide, as it turned out, since the nettles in the bush scratched them horribly. But there was no other place to hide and the footsteps were coming nearer every minute. And with it came a whiff of putrid smell. Both of them wrinkled their noses in disgust. And then they saw it. Unlike the previous creature, this one was as big as them. It's shape was like that of a human, but then it was not. It's face was tilted, as though it had been severed from the neck. It was roaming about like a zombie would, dropping bits of flesh as it walked, or rather staggered. Its face was definitely not a sight to behold - it looked extremely mutilated. It had a long arm - and instead of fingers, it looked like it had a gun at the end of its arm. Jillian gasped. She had seen this creature in her dream. But dreams aren't real. Was that dream a warning, then? But how........

Unmindful, Jillian sat on a thin, dry branch. There was a crunching noise. The creature became alert and stopped dead in front of the bush. Jillian and Filip held their breaths. "Please don't come this way, please don't come this way," Jillian pleaded in her mind. Someone must have heard her prayers, since it went away after a short while. Both of them heaved a sigh of relief. "We should go back. The others will be worried," Jillian said.

"You go. I want to go deep in there. To see what's happening, exactly."

"Look, I am not letting you go alone. I am coming too."

"I don't want to risk your neck..."

"I am not going alone," said Jillian adamantly, crossing her arms.

"Fine," muttered a disgruntled Filip.

So they set off, down the narrow sandy stretch. What would happen? What would they find? Would it be dangerous?