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[color=white][h2][i]p r o l o g u e[/i][/h2][/color]
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[color=white][sup][i]d a w n[/i][/sup][/color]
[b]THE SOUND OF RUGGED, BREATHY SNORES[/b] filled the silent, nearly dark bedroom. The source of the snores, a young woman, lay fast asleep in a crumpled heap on her queen-sized mattress, her mouth slightly open and a trail of drool running down her cheek and onto her pillow. There was a gentle snuffling of air through her nose, but gradually, as she rose from her nightmare and awareness grabbed hold of the consciousness, it became a wheezing and whining sound interspersed with violent trembling of her body. With a dropped jaw, buggy eyes, and sweaty palms, the young woman’s hot, salty head popped up from the warm pillow in a heart-pounding state of emergency. After a split second of massively intense panic, it suddenly dawned on her that she was still in her small, apartment bedroom. 

The only source of light came from the flat screen television that was mounted on her wall. She could see that the ten o'clock news was on, but struggled to read the alerts without her glasses. Rather than patting around for them, however, she simply grabbed the remote and turned the volume up, only mildly curious as to what [i]Sharon Stanfield[/i] had to say.

[i]“The state of New York is being hit with one of the worst sicknesses it has seen in years, with each borough reporting widespread illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — four times as many as this time last year.”[/i] Sharon said as she stood in front of the doors of the local hospital. [i]”The Barracuda Virus is rapidly spreading, and experts warn that teenagers and young adults are particularly vulnerable.”[/i]





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[color=white][sup][i]t w i l i g h t[/i][/sup][/color]
She lay sprawled across her mattress, staring blankly at the ceiling. Her skin was as white as a sand dollar bleached by the sun and covered with cold sweat. Her stomach was completely empty, its contents having previously been vomited out onto the pristine white carpet next to her bed. Her body ached all over; it had gotten so bad that instead of getting out of bed to use the bathroom, she'd relieved herself in that very spot. She didn’t want to believe that her time had finally come; after living only twenty-five short years of life, there was no way in Hell that she was ready to meet her maker. After all, she'd just landed the woman and career of her dreams. She was going to fight to the very end. 

On the television, Sharon Stanfield of the Channel 12 news stood, yet again, in front of the hospital doors. The young woman could only catch bits of what the woman was reporting as she faded in and out of consciousness. [i]“Schools closed… one hundred fifty deaths and counting... CDC astounded by exponential spread…”[/i] In swift motions, she grabbed the remote and pressed the power button, not wanting to hear anything more about The Barracuda Virus.  







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[color=white][sup][i]d u s k[/i][/sup][/color]
[i]“Hey sweet cheeks, get ready for the best damn chicken noodle soup of your li—”[/i]

A limp hand hung over the side of the memory foam, fingers outstretched and palm raised to the sky. A noise caught in the back of her throat, choking her as much as the deathly stench; something akin to expired paint. Tears were released from their hold, gathering up and streaming down her cheeks as she turned almost the same color as her dead girlfriend that laid before her. She'd only been gone for a few weeks on business. She knew that her girlfriend had caught some sort of virus while she was gone, but she didn't realize that it would [i]kill[/i] her. Had she not done enough? How had she not been there? Why was [i]she[/i] the one to have the woman she loved ripped away from her?

As the older woman held the younger woman's hand and wept, the all to familiar voice of Sharon Stanfield blared through the television speaker. The woman, too distraught, could only catch a bit of what the reporter was saying. [i]"City declared safe... four hundred thirty-two lives lost... vaccinations... back to normal?"[/i]

[b][i]Normal?[/i][/b]

Nothing would ever be [i]normal[/i] again.
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[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FDSXxhg.png?1[/img]
[color=white][h2][i]n o v e m b e r   1 0 t h,  2 0 1 7[/i][/h2]
[sup][i]and so it begins...[/i][/sup][/color][/center]