It wasn't how the books and movies said it would be.
The total destruction of the world was a slow burn.
At first, the usual chipper news articles were story after story of murder, dismemberment, and molestation.
Bodies were being fished out of waterways. Others simply disappeared and stagnated into cold-cases.
Violence was anywhere in the world. I just watched on while eating my hot dinner, thankful it wasn't anyone I knew near me.
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Next, bombs dropped overseas.
Countries that were brothers suddenly started pushing for more land. With it came the casualties when gunfire tore through hospitals, streets, and quiet farming towns.
The effects of the warfare were felt worldwide.
Over here, it was the usual call for action on the TV and petition being passed around. After that, it was the fuel prices.
With fuel skyrocketing, people felt the choke-hold. With no end in sight, syphoning started.
People didn't take kindly to having what was theirs stolen. The violence rose from there. Stabbings and beatings increased into numbers I had never seen so close to home.
With violence, paranoia was born.
What if we were next? What if people moved from fuel and started looting homes?
Cars were abandoned on the side of the roads. Pushed off the tar, only those who could afford it still drove to their jobs. That made them targets.
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It was easy to see how savage people could be when stripped of basic necessities.
It was called a simple 'economic decline' by the government. Apparently it was to be expected.
Electricity bills shot upwards by fifty percent. Produce in the stores followed suit. Suddenly a bag of potatoes cost as much as a two hour wage if you worked above minimum.
People thought they had a loophole. They tried growing their own vegetables, but the government cracked down on that too.
Seeds were near impossible to source, or too expensive to pull from produce on the off-chance they'd grow into crops.
Things simply just weren't growing.
Conspiracy spread that it was from the planes that seeded the clouds in the skies. With chemicals spilling into the fluffy whiteness, it would rain down and kill anything growing out in the open, forcing people to buy from the big companies.
I thought it was ridiculous when I ate my can of cold beans by candlelight while staring at the blank tv screen. But, I had noticed my skin had become so much more irritated when I had been caught out in the storms lately.
Flaky, scaly skin peeled across my body. Water wouldn't soothe it. Creams slathered across only gave a temporary relief.
I went to the doctors who prescribed medication that wasn't covered by any discounts. It was only enough for a week. I couldn't afford to go back and get more, so cream was it.
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With colder and wetter weather, sickness spread.
As usual, the colourful ads for medicine popped up like a plague. Bottles and pills lined shelves, all locked behind cases so people couldn't steal them without being noticed.
They were cheap. Too cheap. Still, it was relief.
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It was only a distraction from the bigger danger looming.
Disguised as a common cold, the virus was discovered far too late.
Spread already in society, this new threat couldn't be controlled with pills and liquid medicine. But, with it undistinguishable from a simple flu, that's what people took as they prayed it wasn't anything worse that would pull them from work.
Then, the bleeding started.
The first symptom that had progressed.
Finally, there was something to tell it apart. But, it couldn't be controlled without forking out for health insurance or some sort of serious medical intervention.
We thought it was just irritation from all the coughing. Turns out, that's how it started. After that, it peeled away the skin inside your throat so it would keep bleeding.
Normal doctors wouldn't deal with it. It was far too dangerous when people could splatter blood at any time through coughing or vomiting.
All sorts of other diseases lived in blood too. It was only another way for it to spread.
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Scaly skin and bleeding; people were becoming unrecognisable.
With blood loss came deficiencies. Pale skin and breathlessness was common to see swaying around as people struggled to make a living.
Even those with other medical issues presenting similar issues were clumped into the same category and avoided.
People scattered when others vomited red, congealed puddles. If someone collapsed, nobody helped. They were too scared to get close to anyone visibly infected. Usually they died by choking on their own vomit before medics could reach them.
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Only when one of the bigger officials contracted the virus did serious action finally take place.
Everyone was locked down.
Those still privileged enough to drive were ordered not to. Special permission had to be granted and sighted by the patrolling police to be cleared for any sort of essential travel.
Shopping centres were abandoned; just like the rusting car-lined roads.
All passenger ships were stranded. Those who lived isolated were left to fend for themselves.
They thought it would help control the strain. It only made things worse.
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Food was dropped into towns like some sort of free-for-all aid.
It was humiliating to be a developed country that was dipping into third-world tactics.
At first, it was monitored. People lined up, kept their distance, paid, and collected their food.
It was sort of organized. Of course, you got the occasional person who had something to say about it, but it was usually dealt with quickly.
As the lockdown progressed, the professionals that accompanied the drops dried up.
Then, the drops were completely unmanned.
That's when shit hit the fan.
Because there was no-one to lay out justice if someone took too much or stepped out of line, people treated the drops as their own personal pantry.
Fights started. Riots followed. Different towns and cities had their own sort of havok being wrecked across it.
Drops became a timed event. Once a week people would make sure they left their homes to tear away the basics for their own families before the usual greedy arseholes showed up to claim the rest.
It was always the same place. I don't know why they didn't change it when they saw it being circled by savages, but I guess the pilots in the helicopters that winched down the crate didn't have any say either.
They were safe in the sky. Nothing else mattered.
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The crates became guarded by those getting fat off the supply. Like some sort of hierarchy, the people sat up apon the food like a throne and demanded compensation from those stupid enough to try and barter.
Usually, they ended up dead.
Who knew what they did with the bodies? I never saw a dug grave, and apparently it wasn't bad enough for any official to try and punish them for it.
They probably all gave up too when they realized that putting their lives on the line was far too risky when the people they were supposed to be saving were mauling and looting them instead.
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With gangs grouped together over the food, they all infected each other.
Even with the supplies, they turned into disgusting, wheezing, scaly things that barely looked human anymore.
Their eyes were dark and sunken from exhaustion and the glint of bloodlust. Their mouths had developed into crusty voids from the dried blood turning to clay on their skin. Fresh blood always burned so brightly when it was coughed and vomited on the grounds around their precious food.
It wasn't the zombie apocalypse that movies glorified so often. It wasn't even an all out chemical warfare that other countries turned to for a clean slate.
It was just something else entirely. Too weak to be a threat, but too contagious to be saved.
Destruction was a slow-burn. We were all totally fucked and nothing could ever save us from this ticking time-bomb that would destroy the world as we knew it.
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