Enough to kill elephants

[RANDOMMOSAIC]

Worse than the disease

Marv took a long drag on his Newport outside the clinic. They had been waiting for two hours so far, not too bad considering
the demand. NYF14 had just become available to the public and was already projected to be on back order for 3 months
minimum. Batches of the vaccine had been sent out hospitals and clinics all over the country, but they barely scratched the
surface of the demand the scare in New York had created. The media had exploded with responses to the news, ranging
from human interest pieces featuring housewifes and children showing up 5 hours early to be amongst the first to recieve
the wonder drugs, to interviews with the pharma reps singing the praises of their creation, to Tea Party members releasing
staments that amounted to gloating and I told you so. "Thank God Obama care hasn't taken effect, If this type of pandemic
were to strike us when our health care system was weakened by the new socialist regime who knows what state the country
would be in."

Marv ground the butt out under his heel and went back inside the lobby. Jimmy looked up for a moment and then returned
to reading a year old issue of Rolling stone. " Have you heard of this Glee show? what a horrible Idea, I give it two episodes."
Jimmy said strecthing his arms out. "Jimmy you don't watch television at all anymore, do you?" He shrugged,"Mostly
discovery channel." Jimmy had not heard about the release of NYF14 on the local news. Being a registered nurse at one of
the local clinics distributing the vaccine, his mother had advised him to show up before the doors opened. Marv had a seat
and settled back in. The waiting room was full of co-workers and old classmates. He amost nodded off as the receptionist
called another four names, including himself and Jimmy. The green tile in the corridor was dated and very clinical, It had
been pretty much unchanged since the last time Marv had come here as a child. There was something off putting about the
recognition of the long forgotten sights and smells. An attractive young woman in scrubs led them to large room divded by
privacy partions, and directed them each to have a seat in theIr own curtained off area. After a short wait, nurses wearing
blue clinical masks came to administer the vaccine. Marv relaxed after the intiall pin prick, breathing a short sigh of relief.
One less thing to stress over.





The last living souls

The impact knocked the wind out of Jared for a second, he pulled himself to his feet and continued sprinting down the
back alley. This was a shit situation to be in. He grimaced at the low visability as he ran head long toward the fire escape
barely visable in the distance. Looking back just in time, he zagged to the left to avoid the full garbage can flying through
the air. The sound of the metal against brick and bottles breaking resounded down the alley. "Shit, this is getting too loud,
he's going to bring the whole neighborhood down on me!" Realizing stealth was no longer an opption he drew the Bersa from
his holster and turned to face his attacker. The darkness was thick, palpable. He choked on it as the Infected man stepped
into view. Still obscured by shadows, Jared could see the tall man moving forward more slowly than before, as if confused
by the sudden shift from retreat to defense. As the man stepped into the moonlight, his face now visable revealed the tell
tale red inflamation of the face, his eyes dialated and bleeding. He was still in the first few days of the agressive stage, he
was at his most dangerous now, his organs had not started shutting down yet. His heart rate was a frieght train, he was
swimming in adrenaline. He was oblivious to pain and injury, the only thing left was primordial rage. Jared breathed in sharply as he switched from safe to fire.The beast began to close the gap slowly , thirty feet away. Doing his best to control his breathing, Jared acquired his sight picture and popped off three rounds center mass. The sounds boomed against the walls like three explosions. The tall man howled out an inhuman sound, gutteral and wet, and then sprinted at Jared, arms outstreatched to grab and tear flesh. Fighting every urge to run, Jared fired four more times in rapid succession,finally striking the the diseased man throught the bridge of his nose. It fell before reaching him, a bloody gurgling heap.

Without stopping to breath, Jared turned and continued his race to the fire escape. He could hear shrieks in the distance,
breaking glass. The city had heard and was on it's way to him. He lept up pulling the rusted ladder down, climbing to the stairs and made his way quickly to the roof, he could hear the chaos in the streets and in neighboring buildings. He ran to the make shift bridge his people had placed between the two adjacent roof tops, and crossed over hearing unkown noises in the alleys below. He put as much distance as he could between him and the corpse he had left in the alley. He ran untill his body refused to go forward. He slumped against the nearest wall and caught his breath. He strained to hear noises off in the distance now. He pulled himself up and continued back to the apartment with his cargo, a rucksack full of ramen and canned soup.

[Ike]

Moar!!!!! Please!

[RANDOMMOSAIC]

....But you may feel a little sick


The noon day sun burning his back, Jimmy pushed through the discomfort and continued working. On most days he didn't mind the physical aspect of landscaping, but today every movement was labored. The morning had started off great, he woke up feeling an odd kind of clarity he wasn't sure he had ever felt. It was if he knew everything was as it should be in his life. He hadn't felt this kind of unburdened contentment since high school when his whole life was in front of him. And now, for some reason he felt like he was falling apart. He found a stopping place and made his way back to the work truck. He crawled in the cab, started the engine and turned up the AC. Reaching in the back seat, Jimmy got a gatorade out of the cooler.

The pressures of the world had felt a little too real for him lately, he had always lived his life by a certain set of esthetics. His gypsy lifestyle had always been a choice, the product of philosophy, not failure. He was free,unchained to a preset convention. It was the rest of the world that was missing out, always too busy doing what society expected of them to experience what the world had to offer. He had done his share of travelling, roadtripping, hitchhiking, uprooting so many times he wasn't sure the roots would ever grow back. Except.. it seemed like his traveling days were behind him, but he wasn't settled down either, just in this wierd state of life niether here nor there. Not ready to slow down but no longer moving.

Jimmy mopped the sweat from his brow with a bandana, he noticed his forehead felt hot to the touch. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small bottle of ibuphropen. He tossed two in his mouth andhed them down his throat. Must be getting a little sick from the vaccine he thought, but that was to be expected, right? Flu shots had always made him a little sick, but it was better than the alternative. He felt a little better already, and went to shut off the engine when he noticed his reflection in the rearview mirror. A rash was running down his neck to his chest, "What the fuck?!" He moved to climb out of the cab, as if somehow to get away from the man in the mirror. He found himself off balance, and unable to react as the ground rushed up to meet him.

The light burned his partially dialated eyes when he opened them to find himself surrounded.AYoung man in a blue jump suit kept asking him his name, if he knew where was. He stumbled over his words, trying to respond but nothing came out. He felt himself being lifted, saw the tree branches move by in a blur over his head he was the pressure on his chest as he was strapped to the gurney. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was forgetting something, were the keys still in the ignition? He tried to ask the ask the people that moved arround him in a haze but still couldn't find the words to say. He could feel his body lifting again, though he was still tied down, it made him feel strangely weightless. Everything grew darker and he thought it might be okay to just let it go.




She new she was dreaming when the dogs all stopped barking and started calling her name. She was standing in what must have been a residential neigborhood, she could see the evidence of a thousand broken lives laying in the street. The gutters were filled with bodies and broken furniture. Thick smoke hung in the air from the burning houses lining the streets. A pack a domestic dogs were roaming the streets, as they were now all ronnin with no living master to care for them or direct their efforts. Instead,they prowled the charred remains of the city looking for food. They howled off into the distance, seeming to lament the loss of life, the destruction that surrounded them.... and then they noticed her watching. She took a step back as all the dogs approached her slowly, quietly. She couldn't run, she didn't remember how. They started to bark out her, some growling with thick threads of drool running down their blackened bloody mauls. As intense as it all was it wasn't untill they stopped barking and started calling her name that she knew she was dreaming. "Jane! Jane! Open the door!"

What the hell?!" Jane sat up in the hotel twin bed in a cold sweat, it took a second for her to remeber where she was, Kansas? No Nevada, she was in Nevada now. The loud banging at the door brought her back to reality, she jumped out of bed, pulling on a pair of jeans and a pair of shoes. She grabbed her back pack and ran into the bathroom.Shelocked the door and climbed on the toilet and opened and attempted to climb out the tiny window above it as she heard the door being battered down and feet moving quickly to the bathroom door. She tried desprettly to fit through the tiny space oblivious of the metal frame tearing into her skin. The bathroom door opened in an explosion of sound and motion and then she felt hands pulling her back in. The held her against the wall, she saw her own terrified face reflected in the eye pieces of their gas masks. She was spun arround and slammed against the wall, she could feel them restraining her, binding her wrist together with thick plastic zip ties. She felt needle piercing her neck as the gloved hand muffled her cries for help. She felt her self slipping as the room faded into darkness.