The Pandemic

[Olivia Cycien]

Angel heard a commotion on the other side of the river. She had been walking along, not thinking about anything and enjoying the feel of the sun on her arms, when the noise started. There was a sound like someone was screaming or crying. Then a rougher voice telling whoever it was to shut up. With a frown Angel drew her gun and began moving cautiously toward the noises.

The noises seemed to be coming from a clearing but Angel couldn't see what was going on because there were a great many shrubs in the area and it was too far away to get a good view anyway. She saw a bridge up ahead and started making her way towards it, moving from bush to bush, trying to stay as low as possible.

She moved near a particularly scraggly looking shrub and peeked around it. She saw that she was almost to the bridge now. There was another shout and the sound of cloth tearing in the distance. She had to get a move on!  She eyed the rusted out steel bridge. She would have to cross it to get closer, and she would have to do it fast. She approached the bridge with trepidation.

Suddenly, she paused and looked around, holding the gun ready, alert for any bandits that might be hiding on this side. It was possible that they could be smart enough to lay a trap. Sure, why not? They could make a bunch of noises on the other side, then when someone stupid enough came to the rescue, the bandits could take them out. Her crystal blue eyes narrowed as she considered this possible scenario.

[Fiver214]

He had fallen farther than he had anticipated. Cursing himself, cursing the world, and cursing his eyes, Aidan slowly picked himself up. He felt the dark brown mud slowly sliding down his chest matting down his once-purple shirt, and heard the blue river run its course beside him. He listened to the birds, and the bugs, and how the air stirred the leaves of bush, tree, and the grass. The world around him was lush with greens and blues, and a little white tinting the sky.

He saw none of it. Aidan was blind; and after a moment to shake off his startlement, quietly thanked Above for allowing him to have even gotten this far ─ mud or not. He searched with his hands in the mud for his staff ─ a true staff, with heavy, hard black-painted wood over a metal insert. In what felt like a previous lifetime, he had carried it around as an almost status symbol; a blind man with an expensive staff ─ not a cane, or a stick. A staff that he had been trained for. Now, it was his lifeline. Without it, his stumbling would have gotten him killed by now, and without it he would have been robbed several times over by bandits.

He found the staff with his left hand, and with a small grin of satisfaction drew it to him and rose. Then he began walking again, like he would in past days. Days before the superflu. Aidan had noticed the flu long before the news, or the general populace. He had heard it: the coughing, the sneezing. He had felt the heat of fever rising off the bodies of people who realized too late just how badly that fever would strike. He had even felt it in him, for a time. The flu laid itself into the bones of the diseased, and like a great anchor, drew the diseased down into a sleep so deep that they dissolved into their dreams.

Aidan had woken up, with death filling his nostrils. A dead sister, a dead city, and the promise of starvation and disease to follow had driven Aidan out, into the country to look for a new life.

He wiped his free hand on his pant leg, and then drew his extra pair of black glasses out of their case in his pocket. He had felt the first pair snap at the center when he fell. Then he began to walk again, feeling with his cane and his other senses to find his way through the dark world.

[Olivia Cycien]

She whirled at the bout of cursing raising her gun. A short distance away a man was just picking himself up off the ground. He was covered liberally with mud. She watched as he fumbled around and found what looked like a walking stick. When he stood up she realized he was blind and lowered her gun slightly, looking back over her shoulder in the direction of the bandits. She hoped they hadn't heard the man cursing.

She moved toward him as he was putting on a pair of sunglasses. She wondered if his blindness had been caused by the superflu. She had watched both of her parents succumb to the dread disease. In the background someone on the TV had been yammering about how this was just a mild case of the flu and that people should not panic. Yeah, right.

A few nights later the looting had begun. She had heard glass breaking and shouting as people ran into the buildings along the street. They took what they wanted and God help anyone who got in their way. She had decided it wasn't safe to stay there any longer.

She had found a backpack sitting in the hall closet. It had been her father's. She remembered him wearing it for the hikes he had taken her on as a little girl. She had cried as that memory came to her, hitting her with unexpected power. She had sat there on the floor in the hallway and cried for her lost father and mother, then she had gotten up and filled the pack with a few necessary items.

The gun she had gotten from the desk in her father's study. Right now it was a reassuring weight in her hand as she approached the blind man. When she was about three feet away, she risked another quick glance over her shoulder, then she turned her attention back to the man and called out to him softly.

"Hey there mister! You'd better tone it down, there's bandits nearby."

[Fiver214]

"Hey there mister! You'd better tone it down, there's bandits nearby."

Aidan hadn't noticed her until she spoke, and froze when she did.

"Mister is my father; my name is Aidan," he introduced himself instantly. What could he do? If she had the jump on him, he could try to fight back, but if she had a gun, he would die. Besides, she hadn't struck at him, and had instead warned him. That was a good sign.

He eased himself back into the brush without another word, wondering if she would follow or if she would stay. Regardless, he'd be moving away from the bandits she was warning him about. Them he had been listening to for almost an hour. The way the stomped around, you'd think they were a herd of cattle stampeding about.

[Olivia Cycien]

She frowned and let out a low sound of frustration. She was frantic to get over and help whoever was in trouble across the river, but the man was backing into a bush that was right next to the river!

She hissed in an irritated stage whisper. "Your name isn't going to matter much if you end up taking a swim. Stop backing up!" She looked around again, gun ready in case of trouble, saw nothing and slowly moved toward Aiden, hoping he didn't back up further.

[Fiver214]

"I'm not taking a swim. I'm following the river," Aidan said.

It was what he had been doing since he had abandoned his home. Following the river had made the most sense, given his ability to listen for it and use it as a guide. Its presence had often comforted him during the nights he had spent alone. He had managed to fool himself each night into thinking that the bouncing sounds of the river were words being tossed up. It was a very romantic illusion, he thought.

The woman wasn't a nice addition to that illusion, judging by the demand in her voice. The way she moved sounded to him like she was tense, or small, or both. Aidan didn't feel any sympathy for her; in all likelihood, she'd abandon him once she figured out he didn't have anything to offer. A surprisingly peaceful person, but she'd follow the same trends as the others he had run into.

"I'm fine." He began to listen for holes in the sound of the river -- places where the sound seemed to fade in the background. Those holes marked bushes, trees, people, and if the bandits were alerted, he'd probably be able to hear their sudden silence too.

[Olivia Cycien]

With a last glance in the direction of the noise, Angel frowned and re-holstered her gun, then followed the blind man into the bushes. The sounds of screaming had stopped so what ever had happened to the person or persons on the other side of the river was over. There wasn't anything more she could do for them and she would only get caught if she tried to help them now.

She was relieved to see that he was correct, there was enough ledge to walk on the other side of the bushes without taking a dunk. She wondered where this man had come from and how he had gotten this far. She caught up to him and walked a bit behind so as not to overcrowd him.

"Sorry if I sounded abrupt Mr. Aidan. Bandits always make me nervous." She kept her voice pitched low and continued looking around trying to see everywhere at once. She just hoped they could get away without getting spotted. The silence across the bridge was starting to make her worry.