Red Sun Sky

Why. Why did this have to happen, Why us. Shaking the thoughts out of my head, I adjust the position of my arm, sliding it off of the decaying body of a middle aged man. Most of his chest area is missing, and a white foam coats the edges of the ripped tissue. I grab the handle to the right of me, and use my last bit of strength to pull it forward. My seat reclines back to a more comfortable angle, and I curl up into a ball, pull a bloody sleeping bag over me, and fall into a deep sleep.

The harsh red glow of the sky wakes me, just as it has every morning since the sun died. I sit up, the muscles in my back stretching and aching from the metal supports in the car seat. I squint my crusty eyes and look through the shattered windshield of the 2046 Honda Civic I slept in last night. I slide my HK-M27 high powered German assault rifle off the dashboard and into my lap and grab my emptied backpack to start packing again. I reach into the glove box and take a folded piece of paper. It is worn and ripped in multiple places and has blotches of dried blood on the back. On the front, there is a map drawn in black pen. I stuff it in my pocket and get back to work. I pack the rest of my water, a few pairs of clothes, and my raging bull magnum into the pack, and kick open the door. I’m standing on a partially collapsed overpass, leading into what used to be the metropolitan city of Denver. My journey started in San Diego California, in the spring of 2046. That was when the sun died. It happened over the period of a few days, but more than half of the world’s population was killed by the light let out by the explosion. I only survived because I was deep in the earth in a bunker. Because I knew it was coming.. I check my watch. “12:33” it shows. I start walking towards the city, towards what the map calls “safety”. The energy from the sun caused a form of algae found in most ponds and streams to reproduce like crazy, and inside the plant cell’s nucleus, bacteria formed. That bacteria became known as caprocehia debunod or CD. It also happened to be extremely contagious and extremely deadly. When the bacteria gets into the body, it travels to your stomach and eats away at it from the inside out. It eventually creates a hole in your chest area, like on the body in the car. But the weirdest thing about the bacteria is that once the victim dies, the bacteria becomes non-contagious. It can only be passed from living body to living body. That is why I am alone on this journey. And because everyone I knew is dead.

I follow the underpass into a tunnel that leads into the center of the city. It is filled with vehicles, mostly emptied, with all things that could be useful taken from them. I keep walking, fully aware of all the dead bodies strewn all over the road. After ten minutes, I'm in the city, staring up at all the abandoned high rise buildings.. My map tells me I should find a restaurant called “Romani's”, and take a left down the street next to it. It doesn't take too long to find it, and soon I am walking down the street.There are rundown apartments on both sides of the streets, covered in smashed windows and graffiti. Something scuffs the ground behind me, and I quickly turn around and point my gun at it. Its a plastic bag. I laugh to myself, and keep moving. I reach into my pocket and pull out my map. Its coming up on the left. I keep it out as I make my way to the building.

“After all this time, I’ve been looking for a convenience store!” I say out loud, but I open the door and go in. I look around for a little, walking past all the empty shelves, and find myself at the back wall. There is a hole blown out and steps leading down. I take a deep breath, and start walking down the dark passageway. The air around me is damp and cool, and the walls are roughly carved into the ground. There was no lighting whatsoever, so I had to feel my way along. As I kept walking, I heard strange noises from ahead of me. Becoming more cautious, I quietly reached into my bag and pulled out my revolver. Pointing it ahead of me, I moved ahead. Just as I start becoming comfortable with my surroundings, the barrel of my gun bumps into something. A wall. “Dammit!” I yell, quickly realizing how loud it was. I become silent., and prepare for the worst.

Nothing happens. After a minute in silence, I felt ahead of me, touching the wall. “If this is it I’m gonna be sooo pissed” I think to myself, feeling for another way to go. I drag my hands along the wall, and when I get to where the other side should be, there was air. “Good” I think to myself, and let out a sigh of relief. I keep moving, trying to more aware of what is in front of me. I walk for a few minutes, and start seeing a faint glow on the sides of the passage. I point my gun ahead of me and press against the left wall. As I keep walking, the light becomes increasingly brighter. The closer I get, I start seeing shadows. Moving shadows. I load a bullet into the chamber and make my way to the corner of the doorway. I hold my breath, say a prayer, and jump out into the light.

“What the...?!!!” I scream and take a step back. In front of me are what appear to be humans but with no mouths, noses, or hair. They are wearing old ripped clothes, and no shoes. At first they seemed like they didn't notice me, still toying with small pieces of metal, all staring down at their hands. But one by one, they got up, and turned towards me.





“Uuuhhmmmm....Uhhhh.... Hii?” I say to them cautiously, still slowly backing up. No response. Suddenly, they all lifted their arms, all at the same time, In a synchronized motion, they tossed the pieces of metal into the air towards me. Instead of falling to the floor, they started floating, and coming together to form a long oval, with a pointed, glowing tip.. Thats when I turned and started running. I make it to the bend in the tunnel just as something down the hall explodes, throwing me to the floor and knocking me unconscious. I wake up after a few minutes, and wipe the sweat off my forehead. After a minute of lying on the ground moaning, I slowly get up, and walk to the corner. As I look around the corner, I see the remains of the creatures, lying dead on the floor. I move cautiously towards them, looking around at all the damage caused by the explosion. “It must have been that floating thing” I think myself, moving the table out from the entrance of the room. I walk in, and immediately a metal safe at the back wall catches my eye. I walk up to it and my eyes focus on a burnt label on the top left corner of the safe. Tears start flowing out of my eyes as I read it out loud to myself. . “CD CURE”