Crystal Bloom

Crystal Bloom:

“Get in, get out. Don’t dawdle. Take the supplies we need. Write down your route and findings only after returning to the truck. And if you see any of the Skinned, eliminate them quickly and quietly. Got it?”

“Yes sir!” Chimed the five scouts in the back of the shabbily fortified truck.

“Good luck everyone. Let’s go.”

The leader of the small group flung open the driver’s door, gun raised as he scanned the area carefully. No movement. That was a good sign. He pushed the door closed with the back of his arm, moving swiftly to the side door to release the rest of the scouts. They all filed out, making sure to be as silent as humanly possible. Carefully, they headed into the warehouse in front of them.

This was a new area for them. Ever since the apocalypse had begun, they’d spent most of their time fortifying the outskirts of their ruined hometown. The outbreak of a manufactured drug had changed society forever. People didn’t die anymore. They stopped existing entirely. Changed into flesh-devouring monsters. The Skinned, they called them. The undead half of society.

The leader, Austin Rivers, grew up within the apocalypse. At only ten years old, he’d taken out a small horde of Skinned alone protecting his town. When his father had been turned, it had been Austin that dealt with the issue. From there, people had turned to him for guidance. Just recently, he’d formed a scout team, knowing the resources they had couldn’t survive the town’s growing population. Sure, they had less than fifty people remaining, but for a group that began with only sixteen, they had had to spread supplies thinly for the last few months. This warehouse was their first real chance at finding a sustainable production zone. But first, they had to assess the danger and take whatever they’d need in case other plunderers found it before it could be secured. Or worse, a Skinned horde could infiltrate it. If they weren’t already there, anyway.

One by one, the scouts headed through the heavy wooden doors, the gentle taps of their footsteps echoing through the barren space. They moved quickly, guns raised, torches illuminating each room. Members split off into pairs, searching each room cautiously. To their surprise, each team found necessary supplies in excess. Bandages and medicine, fruit seeds and water bottles, clothing and backpacks, camping gear and batteries. It was as though no one had ever come across the strange building before. Not even the Skinned seemed to lurk in the dusty shadows.

“Hey, Sir? You seeing this?” One of the scouts whispered to Austin after a while. Austin turned as one of the other pairs rejoined their group. Across from him stood his father’s friend, Jason, torch pointed against a rotted skirting board. Through the cracks grew a peculiar plant. It looked like ivy in the way it clung to the wall, but was crystallised almost, glowing blue under the artificial light.

“What the hell is that?” Austin replied, stepping closer.

“Joe, help me with this.” Jason beckoned to another, and together they tried to separate it from the wall. The room filled with quiet grunts of pain and exertion, but the plant wouldn’t budge. It was like it had bloomed straight into the concrete.

“You two, leave it. It’s not important. We need to get out of here with these supplies. Let’s get moving.”

Austin led the group away, glancing back at the flower warily.

A small campfire lit up the centre of their hometown as the scouts settled down to a late meal. The other residents had already eaten and gone to sleep as the group returned, so Jason had taken it upon himself to curate a small dinner for them all with the measly rations left over. As he spooned the potato and carrot stew he’d created into bowls, various members sat and hovered around the centre. Austin wasn’t with them.

He’d retired momentarily to his tent needing to change the bandage on his shoulder. A few days prior, he’d taken a spear to the shoulder when breaking up a fight between two of the rowdier town members, He’d just finished wiping it down when screams echoed on the cold wind of the night. Leaving his shoulder exposed, he sprinted out of the house determined to find the source of the fear.

It was Jason.

He was just to the side of the fire, hidden in the shadows. He could have easily been missed, had it not been for the blue glow of crystal flowers emerging from his skin. Shaking his arm wildly, trying to pull off the organism, another scream left his mouth. The guttural distress echoed through the town, waking many, doors opening all over as people tried to figure out what had happened. Before long, Jason’s screams had died out, the bloom consuming his skin as he collapse to the floor. Everyone watched on, speechless.

Then another scream.

Joe had begun to bloom. The crystals ran along the side of his skull, devouring his eyes and throat, killing him in only a few moments. A wail from one of the houses broke out as a child ran towards him.

“Don’t! Don’t touch him! Don’t let him touch him!” Austin yelled from the other side of the clearing, recognising it as Joe’s son, Lucas. A pair of arms wrapped around the young boy as he cried, all eyes on the two bodies,

“No one goes near them, you hear me? No one!” Austin demanded.

“Um, Sir?” A small voice replied.

Austin turned his head, eyes widening in horror as the table holding the stew began to crystallise, and retching sounds began to form in the throats of those that consumed the stew. Small blue specks fell from their mouths mixed in with phlegm. It was inside of them. And Austin had no idea how to save them.

“Everyone, away from the clearing!” He tried.

It was no use.

Another scream broke out.

The young boy had been released in the chaos of the latest discovery, only to run to his dead father. Except people could no longer die. He’d simply come back. And bitten his own son. Crystallised him. Killed him.

The descent of the town fell quickly after that. Each contaminated person rose again as the Skinned, the bloom still spreading across their flesh. Everything they touched became consumed by the crystal blue. The town would be gone in a matter of hours. There was no saving it. Austin knew that. The only way out was to run.

He grabbed a flaming torch from a nearby holder on the wall, gripping his gun tightly in his dominant hand, ready to defend himself. A screech beside him led to one gunshot, then another, and another. None of it made a difference. The bloom made the Skinned impenetrable. They just kept coming. Closer. Closer. Closer. He swung out with the torch.

The Skinned backed away. It was afraid of the fire.

Quickly, he made his way through the clearing, sheltering by the campfire for safety. But he knew it wouldn’t last forever. He had to escape before it could burn out. Before the bloom could take him too. He looked around, spotting the truck they’d used for their earlier excursion. The coast was clear. He ran.

A desperate cry from his left drew his attention. His best friend Rob was being cornered by the Skinned, his twin beside him desperately firing shots. Without thinking, Austin ran straight for them, wielding the fire as a shield. Demonic screams left the mouths of the creatures, but they stayed back. The three moved quickly towards the truck. They jumped in. The Skinned were too busy eating the remnants of the townspeople. Transforming them.

Turning the key in the ignition, Austin slammed his foot against the accelerator, barrelling straight through the makeshift gates to their community. The wood splintered around them, a deafening crack echoing in their ears. They drove quickly, leaving the doomed town behind.

“What the hell was that, Austin?”

“I don’t know,” he replied shakily, “but, whatever it was, it was my fault. I led that expedition. I let Jason touch the weird plant we found in the warehouse we searched. I caused this.”

“What weird plant?”

“Something growing through the wood. They tried to pull it off to examine it, but they couldn’t. It infected them. And now, whatever, and whoever they touch, turns into that thing. The Skinned can spread that plant worldwide. All because of me.” Austin shook his head, knuckles turning white as he gripped the steering wheel.

“Anything they touch?”

“Seems like it, Rob.”

“Austin, weren’t they in this truck?” Rob asked warily.

Austin’s face paled as he remembered how Joe and Jason had piled into he back with the other scouts. It would have been contaminated. He glanced at Rob, wide-eyed, before speaking to the third member of their group, the one in the back seat.

“Olly, you need to move, now! Don’t touch anything blue. Move fast.”

No response.

“Olly?”

No response.

Austin and Rob looked at each other once more before turning their head to the back seat. Rob lifted his flashlight.

A set of blue jaws opened. The Skinned crystallised passenger lunged forward. Straight at Austin’s exposed shoulder wound.