RADIO

chap 1

Her ears rang loudly and muffled the sounds of screaming around her. 

Footsteps masked by crashing cars. 

The parasite has taken over. 

“Shit…” the woman gasped. She looked over the blocked neighborhood and gazed at the large flames that only spread. The flames ignited the night sky and covered the stars and moon with a thick black smoke. 

“Run!” a man screamed, pushing her aside. She was almost knocked off her feet and turned on her heels to run again. 

“Where?!” she yelped, trying to get the man’s attention. Before he could answer he was tackled by another person. She stepped back and watched as he was mauled. He didn't have time to scream nor to run. He was ripped apart and she turned away from the horrid scene. 

She started running again, wanting to get anywhere but where she was. “Where now Duchess..?” she muttered to herself. Duchess turned a sharp corner down the road, entering a school zone. The mind-numbed people swarmed the area followed by fire and destruction. She couldn't slow down because she knew her life depended on it. 

Another person lunged at her and took her to the ground. Her head hit the asphalt and the hands clawed at her black and green dyed hair. She held its head up by the throat to keep its jaws away from her pale skin. Her brown eyes filled with fear and she squirmed under the brainwashed woman’s grasp. The woman’s hand slipped through Duchess’s grip and clawed at her throat, drawing blood and cutting off her airway. 

“Get off!” Duchess yelped, kicking the woman in the stomach. 

It rolled off of her and she got up to her feet and bolted. Her throat burned and she coughed harshly. The streets were too dangerous. She was exposed, as were many other people. Cars collided and explosions went off. 

“Basin can't be swarmed yet” she estimated. 

She ran in a different direction, hopping a tall white fence and breaking off into a sprint into a different neighborhood. Cozy houses were lined up neatly in the neighborhood and were almost unfit for the current situation. She cut through the neighborhood and ended up at another street on the other side. 

“Tris!” she called, spotting a familiar face. 

Finally she thought. 

“Duchess?” the woman squeaked, surprised by her sudden appearance. Her hair was cut to her jaw and her round glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. A single bobby-pin kept her bangs to the side. A doll faced cat poked its head up out of her bag. 

Duchess grabbed her shoulder quickly, hanging her head and trying to catch her breath. “Hi brownie” she greeted the cat breathlessly. 

“What are you doing out here?” Tris asked. 

“The parasite, from the broadcast this morning, all the…crashes” Duchess panted heavily, almost letting it take over her words. Her hands started to tremble slightly as she rubbed her throat. It was becoming bruised and the small streams of blood were already drying. “As if 2023 couldnt get any better” she commented. 

“Yeah the parasite everyone is making a big deals about, what about it?” Tris tried to bend over to see Duchess’s face. 

“Whatever it’s doing to the people it ain’t good, we can't stay here” Duchess grabbed Tris’s hand and started to drag her away from the direction of the swarm that had invaded the neighborhood. 

“Why?!” She squeaked once again. 

Duchess furrowed, “have you not seen any of the movies?” she asked sarcastically. Tris shook her head no and Duchess rolled her eyes. “Come on” she ordered. She listened and started running beside Duchess. Soon enough the 16 year olds made it to another street. Tris looked up at the flickering street lamps and they cut off. The power had shut down in the neighborhood somehow and everything became darker than it was before.