Other members lived north to south, Buffalo, St. Petersburg, Miami, Northern Maine, and Indianapolis. While we played with the idea for mere entertainment, the thought of us coming together and living as a small forum society piped our interests. Everyone had already agreed that if this crisis was ever to be resolved, that we would meet in Kansas. Why Kansas? Well, quite honestly, I don’t know, but it was what we agreed on. I guess the thought of us ever being able to meet each other was enough of a fairy tale to keep us going.
RRWRDRAGN99: You’re up late
DR. YLSRUS3390: Yeah, no. Eight isn’t my bedtime.
RRRDRAGN99: Well the contmin8td don’t care bout bdtme.
DR. YLSRUS3390: C’mon, we can still type, can’t we? There’s no reason for your shorthand.
DR. YLSRUS3390: lest a contaminated took off your hand.
DR. YLSRUS3390: that is the only exception.
RRDRAGN99: oh please. I haven’t seen anyone roaming in St. Pete in over a week, other than bums.
RRDRAGN99: besides, how am I supposed to tell a hobo from the contaminated?
DR. YLSRUS3390: poke it with a bottle of whiskey.
RRDRAGN99: I’m not giving up my whiskey!
DR. YLSRUS3390: Oh please, you’re too young to drink.
RRDRAGN99: Then let the government officials monitoring this conversation come arrest me.
RRDRAGN99: No knocking on my door. I think I’ll be okay.
DR. YLSRUS3390: ha. Ha.
DR. YLSRUS3390: Have you heard any news?
RRDRAGN99: Yeah. The president is telling us to stay in our homes and be safe.
RRDRAGN99: I hear it whenever I turn on the TV.
DR. YLSRUS3390: Same.
DR. YLSRUS3390: How about any real news?
RRDRAGN99: Well, I found a video in the newest uploads section of YouTube, but it’s kinda…
RRDRAGN99: gory.
DR. YLSRUS3390: Gore? Really? I’ve been on the internet for a while now. Try harder.
RRDRAGN99: no man, this isn’t anything that you’ve seen before. Guaranteed.
DR. YLSRUS3390: try me.
RRDRAGN99: Okay, but if the feds come for me after this one
DR. YLSRUS3390: Just give me the link.
RRDRAGN99: www.youtube.com/watch?vm=66gCyK&track412
DR. YLSRUS3390: Okay I’m gonna watch so brb
RRDRAGN99: You just used shorthand…
But before I could read more, I clicked on the link. It is still kind of amazing, the internet, even in its barren state it is probably the most effective way to relay information across the world, especially in such dire situations. I could not call anyone, could not text anyone, but chatting online was easy as day. God bless the free internet.
The webpage loaded, my chrome loading circle rapidly circling itself. The flash player was starting (thank god for no more of the flash update notices when I booted up), followed by the side videos and automatic advertisements starting up. It almost surprised me when the video started without any ads interrupting my viewing experience.
It started with the famed and horrendously vomit inducing shaky cam experience. I noticed it to be more of a fluke as the camera man’s hand was just probably crap for holding a digital recording device. The camera was erupting across a ground of flat brown and green grass yard. It finally stopped moving as the camera man was noticeable in the background, heavily breathing. It took the camera a minute to adjust to the light of the sun, as the inexperienced camera man did not understand to hold the camera away from the light, not towards it.
Once adjusted and in view, a little boy was walking across the yard of the man’s property, or what seemed like his property. His movements were sluggish but quick, though he dragged his feet. After that fast image, the cameraman whirled the camera to his left, showing a tall man with a heavy build standing behind a tree, fire axe in hand. The camera shifted to his other side, showing another man, still tall but with a thinner build and a mullet behind a garbage can, his hands wielding a sledge hammer.
The camera focused back on the little boy. It was then that I noticed that he boy wasn’t dragging his feet, but he was literally dragging his feet. There was a sharp incision where the leg met the foot, letting the foot of the boy bend in an awkward position where his Achilles tendon was the only thing holding his foot to the body. No blood dripped behind the boy’s open wound. Every step stretched the skin leading into the foot.
The camera readjusted to a closer zoom. The noise of the zoom must have startled the boy, as his head turned immediately to the cameraman. The camera showed a full high definition viewing of what the contaminated would look like to anyone wondering.
On a normal, uncontaminated day, the boy would have had sandy blonde hair in a mushroom cut. On a normal and uncontaminated day, the boy would have had deep blue eyes and a chocolate stain on his superhero shirt from eating the snack in his lunchbox on the way to school. On a normal day, the boy would not have hissed at the cameraman, bearing blood red teeth for the six other people on the forum to view in stunning high definition.
But this was no normal day.
The boy was a pale color, as if the blood was all but drained from his body. His eyes were not a deep blue, but instead a piss yellow with no noticeable pupil. His arms were scratched up. No
