The Outbreak

CW : Kinda Long

Orissa stopped by a clothing store and chose a black hoodie and tights, leaving her old clothes in a changing room. When she entered the store, all eyes were on her, and now that she'd changed, she could feel some gazes, but it was a lot less than before.

"George... He's first then?" Orissa left the store and merged with the crowd, her senses constantly flaring up as her eyes tracked everyone's movements even as her ears did the same.

"Something happened in Sapphire City and we've seen the videos, but the government won't even release a statement?! What are we, cattle?! We need to know the truth of what happened in that city!" Orissa looked at a large screen on a building where a very animated journalist spoke with such conviction even pastors would feel inferior.

"If only you all knew, would you still want to come out at night?" Orissa smirked looking at the endless stream of people walking past her, but she shook her head and continued forward.

Not many would buy land in a city, but George, who was really wealthy did so, with money he'd gotten by doing things people generally frowned upon was a perfect target since no one would investigate much if his money or the person himself vanished aside from those under him.

"Lidia? Can you tamper with cameras and lights?" Orissa dialed Lidia's number who picked up before the first ring had barely started.

"Hacking? Yep. To be honest, I'm better at hacking into things than anything else." Lidia's prideful voice sounded so Orissa chuckled and asked her for her help.

"I don't want to leave traces of myself, so can you deactivate the cameras? No lights would be good too since I can move without being seen and avoid fighting." Orissa stopped on the corner of a large estate that looked out of place, but she didn't linger long because Lidia acted.

The entire estate's lights went out, and seeing that, Orissa leapt over the fence and headed to the manor, staying in the shadows while moving silently but swiftly.

"I can hear a few people, and the man of the hour should be somewhere on the second floor." Orissa bent slightly and then leapt up, catching the window sill and swinging herself into the manor.

"Did you hear something?" A voice came from outside the room and the door opened. A light shone inside but the two men armed with pistols only felt a breeze blow past them and found nothing in the room but shards of shattered glass and a broken window.

Orissa didn't even bother to kill them, relaxed as if she were taking a stroll while listening for more people. Now that the lights were off, if George didn't have guards with him now, Orissa would admit he was brave. Foolish, but brave. She stopped midstride and then a smile appeared as she accelerated and vanished into the darkness.

...

George wondered what he was paying the maintenance workers for if he couldn't even have power when everywhere else in the city clearly did. He called four guards to him, two outside his door and two inside the room with him.

Having made money the way he did, he knew he had enemies and was worried this could be an attack, but aside from a broken window, no one found anything unusual and even the guards at the gates were still alive.

"Sir, should we relocate until the power comes back on? Even if it was an error, it shouldn't take them this long to restore it." A guard who had worked for George for years, carrying out all manner of jobs asked while holding his pistol tightly.

"It's too quiet to be a large scale attack Ash, and I have four trained men guarding me, but to be safe, let's move to my safe room." George gestured and the other guard opened the door and checked the hall to make sure it was safe and was relieved when the two guards turned to him.

"We have to get him to the safe room." George was in the middle of the four, moving at a brisk walk to the safe room. Originally, he wanted the safe room to be in a more convenient location other than the basement, but what good would reinforced steel walls do if someone cut through the floor?

"Hey Mack, why are you so quiet today? Don't you always talk about your wartime kill count and how good of a shot you are?" One of the guards who was outside turned and mocked Mack was the guard who had opened the door.

"Aren't you just a baby face? If you want to fight, after the power comes back, don't run from m-" One moment, Mack was talking normally, and the next, instead of five people, four were left in the long hallway.

"Mack?!" Sweeping their lights around to light up the dark, not a sign of Mack could be seen. It was as if Mack was never there from the start. Goosebumps rose on their arms when they found nothing.

"Mack, come out! This isn't funny!" George wanted to just head straight for the safe room, but seeing how Mack disappeared, he didn't think he would be safe because not even he could guess what happened.

"AHHH! NO!" Mack's terrified voice echoed from behind them, which made them spin around, weapons aimed at the darkness, but nothing was there. 

"F*ck!" George turned and then his face went pale as a sheet as if had seen a ghost. Aside from him, there were now only two other guards. In the time they turned around from when Mack's voice sounded to when he turned back was less than three seconds, yet another person had vanished as if they hadn't existed at all.

"Jaques?!" He wasn't the only one who realized they were down another person and the sound of hurried breathing kept occurring which only unnerved them even more until George turned to his two remaining guards.

"Stop it!" When the two shot him confused looks, he used the light to observe them, and although they were pale faced and on edge, their breathing wasn't erratic, but then neither was his own.

"One~ Two~" An incredibly melodic voice drifted over from behind, but because of the prior events, no one wanted to meet the origin and George turned and hurried forward, rushing like an enraged bull.

"They are all gone~ gone into the darkness~ Three~" A chilling giggle with a hint of madness came from behind again, and when George looked over his shoulder, aside from Ash who was also running behind him, the hall was empty.

"How are we not out of the hallway yet!?" Ash growled angrily because aside from George, he was the only one left. George took a deep breath and tried to calm down, but the sound of footsteps came from up ahead.

"Did you call someone?" George looked at Ash with hope, but it was quickly snuffed out when he saw that Ash was already backing away from the sound while shaking his head rapidly.

"Won't you stay~? Please, let's be friends Ash~ Best friends~ forever and ever~" The sweet voice came again, and Ash turned and fired several shots into the darkness and everything was silent.

"Friends don't hurt friends~" A voice whispered in his left ear while a cold breath raised the hair on his neck. He spun around and saw something as his eyes widened, then the gun fell from his grip and he charged into the darkness.

"Yes! We're friends! Friends! Come back!" Watching his last guard literally lose his mind, George wanted to run after him but Ash quickly vanished and everything returned to stillness.

"Four~ Gone into darkness~ Five! Five? Will you be my friend too~" The voice came again from the opposite direction again, and George couldn't maintain his calm and rushed to pick up the gun when a cold breeze blew from behind him.

He knew he was indoors, and the power was off, so where did this breeze come from? He turned in panic and heard something grinding against something behind him and turned again and saw nothing.

"This?! What exactly did I do to deserve this?!" George turned and picked the gun up and aimed at the darkness shakily, but he didn't get a chance to shoot because something icy cold touched his cheek, but he couldn't see anyone close to him!

"Come out! COME OUT!" George yelled, his eyes red with tears spilling out, but it was silent again. He shakily turned his head and saw a face looking at him, but the eyes were clawed out and bloody but the mouth was smiling!

"Ash!?" George automatically aimed at Ash who had suddenly appeared behind him, but Ash slumped to the ground and went still, looking as if he had been dead for hours, not mere minutes!

"Are you very tired friend~ You can rest~ Just close your eyes and it will be over~" The voice tickled his ears and the only sound he could hear was his blood roaring in his ears like a river.

"They're waiting for you~" The voice sounded like a demon's, beckoning him to the deepest pits of Hell! He turned and saw three bodies laying in various positions, but their eyes were like Ash's, bloody and torn.

"No! NO!" George pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger, his eyes revealing madness and despair all mixed into one. When his body hit the floor, a black haired beauty walked over, her eyes glowing purple with a small smile on her face.

"That was pretty amusing." Orissa looked at the bodies and scoffed. They had done all kinds of bad things, but couldn't resist fear in the end. Were all humans so fragile?