Corrupted Juices Ch. 02

Chapter 2 -- Flash in the sky

Cody finishes his morning routine with a cup of hot coffee and turns on the TV for the morning news. He just catches the end of today's lead story.

"... from scientists at the Meyer-Womble Observatory that they have spotted a herefor undetected truck-sized comet in the sky above the state of Colorado. The celestial object has been named the Summers-Thrace comet, after the two astrologists that first discovered it. It is estimated that the comet will enter our atmosphere at around 9 o'clock this morning, somewhere above the Rocky Mountains. We have been told that an actual impact with the earth's surface is unlikely due to Summers-Thrace's size. It will most likely burn up in it's descent. A sonic boom might be heard, followed by a bright flash.

An explanation is yet to be given as to why this comet has remained undetected for so long. We will keep you updated as we receive further information from the Meyer-Womble Observatory.

In other news today..."

Cody turns off the TV, puts on his coat and heads out. Riding his bike on W Elisabeth St to his job at Colorado State University, Cody was going on automatic pilot, not really paying anyone or anything any special attention.

He's suddenly pulled out of his day dream by the fact that the pedestrians he's passing stop what they are doing and are looking up at the clear fall sky. He stops riding his bike and moves onto the side walk to get a look at what's got everybody so interested. He too looks up and, sure enough, there's the fireball in the sky that the news spoke about this morning. But instead of burning up, the fireball only seems to get bigger as time goes by.

Suddenly it becomes clear that the comet hasn't burned up as predicted, but has instead broken through the top layers of the earth's atmosphere and is barreling down at a break neck speed. Cody's eyes follow it down, heading west beyond the Horsetooth Reservoir and into the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forest. Gasps are heard all around him as a bright flash lightens up the morning air.

The morning air takes on a pronounced shimmering look. Like it's filled with an uncountable number of tiny mirrors, reflecting the sunlight every which way. A few moments later, Cody and everyone around him is hit with a strong, warm wind that has a slightly sweet and burnt smell to it. Some people around him start coughing while others, like Cody, seem to have no reaction at all. Except for a faint smoke plume in the distance, the horizon shows no further signs of the impact. So Cody gets back on his bike and continues riding to work.

The following days go by like any other, without much news updates on the asteroid impact. The fires in the National Forest following the Summers-Thrace's impact were quickly subdued by the local fire department.

An explanation has yet to be presented for why such a relatively small asteroid didn't burn up when entering the atmosphere. No trace of the asteroid was found at the crash site, but the air around the area kept an intense, shimmering quality about it for days.

By the end of the week however, there's a growing sense of alarm in Fort Collins as local news stations are reporting on small riots around what looks like to be quarantined neigbourhoods. Cody had spent his evenings after work gaming online so he hadn't followed any of the news stories. He had picked up little bits here and there from friends but hadn't really payed it much attention. The things they were saying were crazy.

He had seen a part of a story about how the firemen who were at the asteroid impact all needed to be hospitalized with what seemed like extreme symptoms of rabies. On Thursday, one of his online gaming friends had sent him a short video of a group of people running after a woman the past night. True, the chasers were a strange group, especially the way the moved. A better word would've been jerked. But the video was dark and the party ran behind a corner after only a few seconds. He didn't reallly know what to think of everything going on but had decided that on Friday he'd ask his boss for a few days off next week so he could go to his parent's cabin at Grand Lake. He didn't feel like staying in the city so Friday after work, he would go home, get his car from storage and head out.

At work that Friday, Cody had been swamped all day and had only heard snippets on the office radio here and there.

By 4 o'clock the office is pretty much empty except for the 2 interns that always seemed to be around. He hears them discussing weird sightings caught on video later in the afternoon. It went like ".. but this other's guy's video was the clearest. You could see a group of what looked like car crash victims just milling around in the street and then charging other people who crossed their path. Really Stacy.. It looked like a scene from a zombie movie!"

Right then Cody can't stop the laugh that was building inside from escaping his lips and he's instantly rewarded with a couple of glares.

The thin blonde, Stacy, walks over to him and the other, Cody thinks her name is Debby but can't be sure, follows with quick short steps. "What's so funny Cody? Haven't you been following the news this week? Or Reddit? All these video's that are being posted, I wouldn't really say there very funny."

Cody straightens his face and throws up his hands in a defensive way, saying, "Hey, sorry girls, I didn't mean anything by it. But zombies on the news? Come on."

"Yeah duh, Cody," Stacy says. "The news is keeping it pretty tame compared to what's being posted on the subreddit r/zombies. First it was the crazy people, most of them injured themselves, chasing other people and dragging them away somewhere."

Debby interjects with, "But now there's something new. This morning a video got put up on Reddit of this bald guy walking around with a bunch of crazies around him, attacking a bunch of people. Here, take a look." She pulls out her cell and after a few taps gives it to Cody.

The video opens on the inside of a scantilly lit apartment, on what must've been the first floor. There's muffled whispers on the background but Cody can't really make out what's being said. The camera turns and it's a view of a street.

"Where was this shot?" he asks Debby.

"Shhhh! Keep watching!" she answers while frantically motioning him to keep watching the video.

For a few more seconds the street remains empty, but then he sees a couple shadows emerge from under some trees. 3 people are running out from under them and around a house. Suddenly, a shape jumps from the open porch of the house into the group, knocking them all down. 2 more shapes jump from the house, into the writhing heap of bodies.

Cody hears a scream quickly ending in a low gurgling sound, followed by a dark liquid spraying the asphalt. "Did they just kill that guy?" Cody asks, not believing what he's seeing.

"Look at the house," Stacy says.

He sees a figure standing right at the edge of street light's radius. It takes a step and Cody gasps.

"That's right," Stacy says. "Looks pretty bad, right?".

"That fucker's huge," Cody whispers in awe, his eyes not leaving the screen.

The new figure in the video is clearly a man. Unnaturally pale skin, bald head and completely naked. But that isn't the shocking part. Between the guy's legs there are 2 of the biggest balls Cody had ever seen. They were hanging about halfway the guy's thighs and looked to almost be the size of 2 cantelopes. He's all too aware of the slight blush that comes over his face. As far as Cody can see, the guy was sporting one outrageous hard on too. One of the two still living people from the group on the ground was able to crawl free and got to her feet.

"It's a girl," he says while keeping his eyes on the screen.

One of the crazy people that jumped from the house breaks from the pile and goes after her. The other 2 drag the last victim, who seems to be a man in his 20s, towards the bald one. The victim is screaming hysterically as the two restraining him flip him on his stomach and rip away his pants. The bald guy slowly walks around the squirming man and drops to his knees behind him. Cody can see him bending down closer to his victim and suddenly theres a scream louder than any before.

"Oh fuck! Is that thing doing what I think it's doing?" somebody says loudly behind the person filming the scene.

The camera starts shaking and Cody hears somebody else making shushing noises. The camera comes back in focus and the face of the bald guy is turned back, looking right at the people filming. He starts showing his teeth in what seems like psychotic sneer. Suddenly his pale body begins jerking wildly and another loud scream can be heard from below him. The two others who were restraining the victim start dragging him and their bald companion back into the house. The video cuts off there and Cody needs a hard swallow to clear his throat.

Stacy looks at him palefaced and says, "A couple of those bald guys started showing up last night. They always kill the women and drag any men away. I don't know what you'd call those people, but I think zombies is a pretty accurate description!"

Debby suddenly gasps and says, "Stacy, we have to get going, my mom's picking us up and I don't want to keep her waiting on the street by herself."

With that the two girls say goodbye to Cody and rush towards the door leading out to the hall. Cody's head is spinning from what he's just seen. With all that's been going on in town, he can't see this being a hoax. Could there really be zombies running around?

After a little while longer at his desk, Cody suddenly realises that he's alone in the office. It's a little past 5 and the office is deserted. "Time to hit the road!" he says to the empty room. By the time he's outside at the bike stand, the sun is halfway through setting. Cody looks up at the sky and is amazed by the simmering beauty of the sky. The pink and purple light is refracted a million times and almost looks like the Aurora Borealis. He gets on his bike to start his trip home but stops again by the first alley he passes. There's this guy standing a ways down there, his back facing him. It's obvious that there's something wrong with this guy because he's standing there in his boxers and nothing else. The man's staring at the sky with a slanted head, arms by his side and twitching erratically. A cold panic grips Cody's chest as he realizes this is someone like he'd seen in the video Debby had shown him. This is one of the chasers, he could tell. It still has hair and isn't as pale as the guy he saw with the enormous balls. Not wanting to linger, he quickly starts back down the street, wanting to be home already.

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