Dahmer Flu Read Free Page A

see in each direction, were clogged with the same terrors that now occupied my home. Now that our survival was secured, for the moment at least, my other senses came to life. I could hear the screams, shrieks and cries that filled the air, see the fires that burned in the distance and smell the arid smoke that assaulted my nose.
    A fresh scream came from nearby. A man and woman fled from their home with the same terrors spilling out after them. Given their age, they made it fairly far before they were engulfed by the sea of ravenous beings. Aimee covered the eyes of the children, closing her own forcefully, as the two were each pulled apart and torn into while still alive. A muted prayer escaped Aimee’s lips, “God help us”.
    It was too late for them, their screams reached a climax, turned to a sickening gurgle, and abruptly ceased; the sudden quiet was what was truly terrifying. They were Phil and Tammy Payne. Married twenty years. She was an accountant, he was a janitor at the same hospital as Aimee. We played poker on weekends. They were dead.
    Aimee and Madi were crying through their closed eyes, and Jacob’s lip began to quiver before he started to scream with a tearful wail. This wasn’t the movies- it was shockingly real, with blood flowing in the street and feeding creatures visible everywhere I looked. Finally, I, too, sobbed.
    The end had come.
     
     

Chapter I: Calico
    I woke with a start. Months had passed since that day, and every time that I slept- as well as many waking hours when I closed my eyes- I relived the experience. Over and over, our friends and neighbors died horribly. Over and over, we barely escaped from the window. Very often, in my dreams, my family didn’t make it out in time at all, and I watched them die a horrible, painful death.
    My dreams, however, always failed to recollect our rescue. As the undead converged on our home, as though we were their last possible meal, all hope seemed lost. I believed that, at best, we would eventually starve or succumb to exposure if the creatures didn’t find their way to where we hid first. After an unbearable wait, the unmistakable thump of a helicopter engine faded into earshot. Aimee, Madi and I searched the skies frantically, hope once again sparking to life.
    “There!” Aimee called, pointing- it took me a few moments to recognize the growing spot in the sky, but it became clear as it grew closer. We desperately waved our arms until they grew tired and yelled until our voices cracked. Mercifully, the pilot saw us and banked the craft bank sharply towards our location. We knew, for the moment, we were safe.
    Of course, this was when there was still some control. Since then, society had crumbled entirely- even areas that were otherwise safe and inaccessible, like prisons or military installations, were soon choked off and died from within, the inhabitants either starving to death or dying of thirst when the resources ran out, or killing each other when they grew scarce. Different places had their own names for it; ‘The Hunger’… ‘Canadian Shakes’… ‘Black Fever’…But most of us started calling it ‘Dahmer Flu’, and it had spread more or less unchecked. As time passed, it had grown increasingly rare to meet fellow survivors; those that were seen were regarded with suspicion, and avoided whenever possible.
    I turned the ignition and the motor-home growled to life. It was early morning and the sun was beginning to peer over the horizon. A light fog hugged the roadside, and Aimee snored softly in the passenger seat while the children were blissfully quiet. This was now our home, and this my morning ritual. The vehicle, of course, was stolen, but that didn’t count for much anymore; I had added thick chicken wire and strengthened the two doors, but the body was otherwise intact. I glanced in the visor’s mirror; I’d never had a beard in my life, but the uneven and ragged one I wore now looked somehow fitting for the situation.