Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2016 14:54:31 GMT -5
Jill came out to the balcony from her room that faced the ocean when the sun came up. This was one of her most favorite places to be even after the outbreak. When the sun rose up, it cast long shadows across the ocean and the water seemed to sparkle as the waves capped and crested across the beach.
The sand looked bleached this morning from the long day yesterday and there were bits and pieces of shells that usually lined the stretch that seemed to go on for eternity across Santa Monica. She loved the fresh smell of the ocean, compared to the rotting stench that countered from the east, wafting from Los Angeles. She remembered parts of the city that were cordoned off, closed with walls and fences by the military to keep the dead in and the living in safe hands, but it didn't work all that well. As the contagion spread across the city and the nation, more and more outrage poured out through political rhetoric and pointing fingers. Blame surged and violence escalated and in her beloved City of Angels, the violence turned to murder in the streets.
It broke her heart to watch her city, her home, her entire country fall like this. She knew Jack was trying to stay cool and collected as the problem grew and became widespread across the world. The places they loved to surf, Costa Rica, Belize, Florida and California, all fell. The places they loved to play, Baja, Cozumel, Rio and Galveston all crumbled in the mess of widespread panic. The smell of ash and brush filled the air, and alongside it all, the scent of death.
There was twice that she could recall that Jack saved her life. She wanted to end the misery. After the death of their parents and when they got home to Santa Monica. When she saw the bodies strewn in the streets. Some killed by military, others by people like her and her brother who were just trying to stay alive. Those that were still alive looked hollow and empty and when they got home and she looked in the mirror, she saw the same empty look on her face. Was life over? Jack convinced her otherwise. He showed her they had to stay alive, for what purpose, no one knew. But it was day by day and they were at their beloved beach. Maybe, when things settled down, they could get on their boards again and just surf the day away like they used to when they were kids or on circuit.
She missed the feel of her wet suit against her skin. She missed the feel of wax beneath her feet and being bouyant on her board. She missed the taste of salt in her mouth and the feeling of missing a wave or wiping out.
Today was going to be a different day, but for all the wrong reasons. With a cup of hand crushed coffee, heated in the fireplace in her hand, she looked out across the vastness of the empty sea, but what she saw alarmed her. This was no longer an empty beach where straggling biters would wander in search of food. This was the scene of something else.
She tucked a sun kissed strand of blonde hair behind her ear as glacial eyes looked to try and identify what she was seeing. The driftwood was stuck in the sand and as the waves came crashing to shore, so did the bodies. Bloated, dead and being pushed further into the sand as each wave crashed and the tide started to rise. Not all the bodies were in tact. Some had no arms. Some had missing legs. She looked and could see other things washing up and to her, it looked like a ship wreck. The flesh of the bodies was grayish, frayed clothing, clinging hair and bloated with salt water.
"Jack!" She turned her head and cried out, hoping to wake her brother up as she clung her fingers so tight around the coffee cup it could possibly burst under the strength of her fingers.
"Jack! Get up!"
She set the coffee cup down on the ledge of the balcony and raced inside, leaving the sliding glass doors open as she pushed his door open to see him laying in his bed, half naked with the windows open. As brother and sister there was hardly any privacy any more. They needed each other for better or for worse and right now, it was worse.
"Jack, get up. Bodies are washing up."
The sand looked bleached this morning from the long day yesterday and there were bits and pieces of shells that usually lined the stretch that seemed to go on for eternity across Santa Monica. She loved the fresh smell of the ocean, compared to the rotting stench that countered from the east, wafting from Los Angeles. She remembered parts of the city that were cordoned off, closed with walls and fences by the military to keep the dead in and the living in safe hands, but it didn't work all that well. As the contagion spread across the city and the nation, more and more outrage poured out through political rhetoric and pointing fingers. Blame surged and violence escalated and in her beloved City of Angels, the violence turned to murder in the streets.
It broke her heart to watch her city, her home, her entire country fall like this. She knew Jack was trying to stay cool and collected as the problem grew and became widespread across the world. The places they loved to surf, Costa Rica, Belize, Florida and California, all fell. The places they loved to play, Baja, Cozumel, Rio and Galveston all crumbled in the mess of widespread panic. The smell of ash and brush filled the air, and alongside it all, the scent of death.
There was twice that she could recall that Jack saved her life. She wanted to end the misery. After the death of their parents and when they got home to Santa Monica. When she saw the bodies strewn in the streets. Some killed by military, others by people like her and her brother who were just trying to stay alive. Those that were still alive looked hollow and empty and when they got home and she looked in the mirror, she saw the same empty look on her face. Was life over? Jack convinced her otherwise. He showed her they had to stay alive, for what purpose, no one knew. But it was day by day and they were at their beloved beach. Maybe, when things settled down, they could get on their boards again and just surf the day away like they used to when they were kids or on circuit.
She missed the feel of her wet suit against her skin. She missed the feel of wax beneath her feet and being bouyant on her board. She missed the taste of salt in her mouth and the feeling of missing a wave or wiping out.
Today was going to be a different day, but for all the wrong reasons. With a cup of hand crushed coffee, heated in the fireplace in her hand, she looked out across the vastness of the empty sea, but what she saw alarmed her. This was no longer an empty beach where straggling biters would wander in search of food. This was the scene of something else.
She tucked a sun kissed strand of blonde hair behind her ear as glacial eyes looked to try and identify what she was seeing. The driftwood was stuck in the sand and as the waves came crashing to shore, so did the bodies. Bloated, dead and being pushed further into the sand as each wave crashed and the tide started to rise. Not all the bodies were in tact. Some had no arms. Some had missing legs. She looked and could see other things washing up and to her, it looked like a ship wreck. The flesh of the bodies was grayish, frayed clothing, clinging hair and bloated with salt water.
"Jack!" She turned her head and cried out, hoping to wake her brother up as she clung her fingers so tight around the coffee cup it could possibly burst under the strength of her fingers.
"Jack! Get up!"
She set the coffee cup down on the ledge of the balcony and raced inside, leaving the sliding glass doors open as she pushed his door open to see him laying in his bed, half naked with the windows open. As brother and sister there was hardly any privacy any more. They needed each other for better or for worse and right now, it was worse.
"Jack, get up. Bodies are washing up."