Aurora Sky: Blackout (Completed)

Chapter 20

The following day was fraught. Everyone moseyed through their routines quietly with the exception for Holly and her staff. The surgeon and her team spent the night with Juniors body observing what they could, jotting down notes about the subject on a spare yellow writing pad. It wasn't much that they didn't already know, but they did learn that the boy's skin had turned into what felt like plastic which had hardened his exterior, making it difficult for an autopsy.

Inside, his organs were caked white with collagen and his black blood was gooey like maple syrup that pumped through a black heart. His arteries and veins had been chewed away by nasty black parasites. But the discovery that really made them and the rest of the housemates nervous was the confirmation that the yellow venom discharging from the enlarged canines of the infected was in fact contagious.

The death of Junior, on top of the knowledge that the infection was communicable, struck a diminished chord within the camp, especially within the cousin Natalie Pfeiffer. Once she put together that her boyfriend, Ben, had probably turned and not died on the fourth of July, she was emotionally manic and on the verge of a breakdown. It took her cousins Kimmy and Krissy a few hours to talk her down from her hysteria and eventually she fell asleep worn out from crying.

The thought of turning troubled everyone, but it plagued Isaac all throughout the night and had even crept into his dreams. He dreamt he was in a small church he had never been to, listening to a sermon from a priest he had never met, when suddenly the doors burst in with infected. He tried to move his legs but they were weighed down and felt as if he were carrying blocks of cement for shoes. Everyone in the church of course scattered out quickly to safety, but he seemed to only be able to move in slow motion. A gang of infected speedily sprung on him easily, biting every inch of his body with their elongated canines. Their mouths and faces were covered red in his blood and their teeth dripped the yellow venom on him and inside of him. He could feel the infection spreading, coursing in his stiffening muscles and joints, pushing through every vein and organ in his body. When he stood up in his dream and looked through his black eyes into a black, white, and gray world, it startled him and instantly jerked him out of the nightmare.

He woke up in sweat drenched clothes with his mouth dry. Frantically he checked his arms and legs looking for bite marks, but once he realized it was only a nightmare he took some yogic deep breaths and calmed himself down. The abrupt noise of his waking woke up his cat Adam who lay tucked under the covers next to him on a skinny hospital mattress. His cats eyes were wide with fear and he perched up as if to run, but Isaac held him close and pet him. It's alright little fella, Isaac thought as he looked into Adam's big green eyes, just a dream.

    He laid down on his back and did a short meditation to ease his mind away from the nightmare. After five minutes of stilling his mind with quiet breathing, he made his way downstairs to the kitchen to a full plate of food waiting for him.

Paul, Krissy, Warren, and Arthur had put together a tasty, but moderate in calorie breakfast for the whole house. Everyone received the same portion: Two strips of crispy bacon, scrambled cheesy eggs, two greasy sausage links, a piece of buttered toast, and one fruit of choice, (Isaac chose a banana).

Freshly brewed coffee quickly become a rare commodity. With twenty-six people in the house and a french press that only served four cups at a time, it was hell to distribute for the coffee lovers. Most chose to avoid the long wait with either instant coffee, cold water, or hot tea from the bags that they had gathered from Petersburg Pantry. It was easy to boil large amounts of water, pots could easily be boiled over the stove, but Jonah creatively had built a rig in the fireplace in the living room that was capable of holding a huge colander.

    Isaac took a seat in the dining room next to his father Larry and his friend Rob as they chatted about plans to raid the police and fire station later in the afternoon. He dipped a peppermint tea bag into his cup of hot water, splashed a small amount of honey into his cup and sipped away. The eggs were nice and salted, the bacon was juicy, but crispy, same with the sausage. It was nice living in a house with multiple people that could cook, and with the addition of Lacey they now had years worth of knowledge and experience from a former pastry chef to throw into the mix for their house meals.