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 […]
by Kristin Lennox Dr Shepherd gently covered the body, the sheet blossoming red over the eyes and mouth. Exhausted, he spoke into a hand-held recorder. “Patient 47 entered end-stage I-GRID after experiencing continued seizure activity throughout the night. Death was rapid following complete organ failure.” “This concludes the Thymenozine trials, as Patient 47 was our […]
by Liam Hogan It was easy to catch and we willingly caught it. A disease that consumed fat, leaving us pounds, stones, lighter. Spread by saliva, spread by touch; tables of finger food which the infected browsed before everyone else tucked in. Epidemiologists threw up their hands in horror at these super-spread parties, but weren’t […]
by Louisa King Lena couldn’t bring herself to swallow any more of them, despite their sugary coating. Even scorched black and long dead, the thought of them scuttling down her throat persisted. But four years of post-flood crop blight and stem rot disease had left little choice in the supermarkets. She stroked her nascent bump, […]
by Katherine Sankey The winter was the harshest the village had seen. Drifts choked the houses. Blizzards blew. Each home was isolated and fearful of the howling at night. Desperate to feed his wife and child, Bram dared to go out and hunt. He returned late that night with a large wolf, which he had […]
by Fred W. Barlowe Dennis stood on the hilltop and surveyed the endless forest. Stars flickered through the darkening twilight. To his left he heard panting and turned to find a man stumbling towards him. “Do you know…how to get out of…this hell?” “Hell? This beautiful land?” “Every night there’s a full moon…” The man […]