by Chris Clemens When the mushroom sickness takes over, you’re conscious for a while. Awake. Paralysed. There’s a frantic back-and-forth while it seizes control of your muscles, puppeting limbs like an unfamiliar vehicle. Convulsions on the kitchen floor. If you’re lucky, loved ones will find and kill you. If not, you might watch yourself vomiting […]
by G.B. Dinesh When the contamination happens, the genetic engineering laboratory is sealed off automatically, containing the turbocharged plastic-eating bacteria and the three microbiologists within the laboratory. Ted begins hyperventilating. “It eats plastic,” John says. “It can’t survive in our bodies.” “I’m worried more about the quarantine process we’ll have to go through,” Anna says. […]
by Sophie Wagner Men and women alike writhed in pain on the ground of the birthing ward as babies slithered between them, smearing black goo everywhere. Monica screamed in agony as her arm pulsated, the purple gargantuan pouch attached to it nearly bursting. The man beside her was already cold, despite his birthing-sack popping moments […]
by Jessica Gleason Candace, using her neon polished nails, picked a cornflake-looking scab from her sallow arm. The black wound beneath smelled of rotten fruit, sweet and rancid. She dug a finger into the gaping hole and revelled in the pain it brought. Coughing, she wiped blood and spittle from her mouth, and laughed as […]
by Don Money It was only a matter of time until viruses caught up with technology. From the moment Griffen woke and his right hand clanked against his bare chest, he knew it was the virus, Metallicum Caro, metal flesh. The news coverage of the nanite virus that jumped from artificial intelligence machinery to human […]
by Kai Delmas Sammy found the body in the woods. We didn’t believe him at first, but he led the way and showed it to us with a proud smirk. Mushrooms were growing from its eyes and ears. Some fat and brown, others poisonous, red with white dots. We should’ve stayed clear. But Daryl dared […]
by Mary Kuna My last line deleted itself, and words I hadn’t typed appeared on the screen: IT’S TOO LATE TO STOP WHAT’S COMING. “This is the strangest virus I’ve ever seen,” I muttered. NOT AS STRANGE AS THE ONE YOU’RE GOING TO GET. How could they hear me? Was someone controlling my computer and […]
by David Staiger Dr Nores emerged from the isolation lab exhausted, relieved, elated. She’d dismissed her assistant four hours ago, ostensibly to sleep. This strain had been the most virulent they’d ever encountered. It spread rapidly, killed surely. Combating it had taken every bit of focus and ingenuity. But the vaccine worked. She knew that […]
by Ajaye Nic Another outbreak hits the city and it’s my turn to wake with bleeding gums and no teeth. I ring the hotline, get hauled off for tests, and spend three days in Z-ward waiting for my new teeth to grow. It’s excruciating. No wonder babies do all that crying. My new teeth are […]
by Pauline Yates The new virus spreading worldwide should be named after a clock. The nosebleeds begin exactly six hours after infection. At seventy-two hours, vision loss occurs. That surprised everyone. Many people died after crashing their cars or falling down stairs. They were lucky, I suppose. Brain rupture occurs bang on ninety-eight hours; a […]