Short Stories

Stadium

At first the crowd was unaware, the roars of the people drowning out any warnings that could have been uttered. Everything was at first sight normal, yelling supporters, hard working players. Ethan was sat on a plastic chair, one of those that try as you might, would never get comfortable. Light caught on some metal object across the arena, drawing his attention away from the game. Some idiot was starting a fight and security moved to disrupt them. That's when it happened. Before the arena was loud, whole and safe. Next moment, everything was white.

A shrill sound echoed through his skull, reverberating back and forth. His whole body ached and a unknown pressure pushed down on his legs. Half blinded by the white light from before, he tried to stand before falling due to the pain that suddenly reared up. Ethan shouted out in frustration, but it seemed like he was drowning. Voices of despair and pain seemed far away, and he almost succumbed to the powerlessness he felt. 

Ahead, a hole in the pitch caught his attention, the light flooding from it and spreading over the astro turf, like ink across a page. It looked like a tear and Ethan felt his natural instincts take over as panic set in. The tentacles of multitudes of colour slowly advanced towards the stadium seating area - or what was left of it. Turning around to see what pinned him, a giant slab of rock met his vision and he swore, not that he could hear it. Sound was slowly filtering back, but it was uneven and only in the right ear.

Once the tendrils reached the edge of the pitch, it blindly examined the fence. Ethan gave up on escaping, excepting his fate, and watched the abomination with an  apprehensive interest. It poked around, spreading up, before deciding to move backwards and drive forward into the gate, tearing the metal and propelling forward. It flopped on the floor, caught of guard, then reached around for something only known to itself. 

Ethan felt himself tense and forced himself to release his breath. Now less than 20 meters away, the tentacles continued their uncertain path up the chairs, curling round the legs and multiplying. Various tentacles grew thicker and crushed chairs whole, while others stilled.

A drop of something landed on his head, and he slowly looked up, wary of the dangerous organism ahead of him. A pinkish-yellowy-purple coloured curl of colour posed above him, and besides his best instincts, he exhaled in shock. Cringing, Ethan froze, wary of the main mass coming closer every second. 

Another drop landed on his face, and he saw the liquid had come from the tendril. It sunk into his face, surging amounts of pain making him quickly grab him face. He remembered a moment too soon of the tendril above him, and when he turned round again it was already poised to attack. He sent one last prayer that his family would be okay, before it rushed towards him and absorbed into his skin, killing him instantly.

The rest of the stadium was almost deathly quiet, safe from a few lonely stragglers who moaned in pain, then were quickly snuffed out by the mass. The once full, joyful aura was lost, and the battle had only just started, no matter how one sided it may turn out to be.