Unseen - part 66
Part 1

Amando turned up the volume, and the dead air got louder, but there was something there behind it. She couldn't tell what it was, but it was definitely something. Her interest piqued, she listened carefully to see what it was, and then the dead air was replaced by something else entirely: a voice.

"I don't know what else I can tell you now... I'm just sitting here in my apartment, waiting."

"Holy crap, there's someone else still alive out there!" shouted Steven. Everyone started talking all at once, until Eric got them to quiet down and just listen.

"I'm sitting here in the dark; I don't know what's going on outside, but I'...

Unseen - part 66
Part 1

Amando turned up the volume, and the dead air got louder, but there was something there behind it. She couldn't tell what it was, but it was definitely something. Her interest piqued, she listened carefully to see what it was, and then the dead air was replaced by something else entirely: a voice.

"I don't know what else I can tell you now... I'm just sitting here in my apartment, waiting."

"Holy crap, there's someone else still alive out there!" shouted Steven. Everyone started talking all at once, until Eric got them to quiet down and just listen.

"I'm sitting here in the dark; I don't know what's going on outside, but I've figured out that as long as I keep the windows covered up and the lights off, I'm safe. God... I don't know if there's anyone out there who can even hear me, but even if I'm just talking to the sky, it makes me feel better. It takes my mind off how fucked up this situation is."

Upon hearing the voice on the radio, Catherine felt an instant connection with him. He sounded like she felt; his voice was shaky, uncertain, and it made him sound like he was feeble, huddled up under a desk just waiting for it all to miraculously go away. It was like she was listening to herself.

"I hope there are other people out there who can hear me; I hope I'm not alone. Please, if anyone is out there, just stay in the dark! I don't know what's out there, or what's going on, but I saw people step into the light and- and just burst! Jesus Christ, what kind of thing could do that to a person?

"It just came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, here it was, and it started killing people. I don't know anyone else who for sure is still alive except me. Christ, I hope I'm not the last one. We're social creatures, we need other people in order to survive. I've been awake for just a single day now like this, and I'm going stir crazy. What am I going to do for food? I can't leave here, and everything in the fridge is going to spoil because the power is out. If I knew how to wire up my transmitter to power the fridge, believe me, I would."

"Come on, tell us where you are," said Carl.

"There's no light; no power; no sound except me speaking to an audience that probably only consists of me anyway. If anyone out there can hear me, stay out of the light! It's drawn to the light, you need to stay out of it. You need to-"

A muffled sound added itself to his voice, and then wild scrambling sounds - something scraping against wood.

"Fucking shit! Oh no!" His voice quieted down almost to a whisper. "Bad news: the mattress I stood up against my window fell down, there's light everywhere in here now. I moved under my desk to hide, but I don't know how much my room is lit. Oh God, I think this might be the end. Shit! No, this can't be it. This can't-"

He went silent for a moment, then returned in a whisper: "I can see its shadow on the wall. God, it looks like tentacles. ...I can't hear anything, I can just see its shadow. It moves like liquid. Jesus Christ, it's in my apartment. The sun is shining right in through my window; the whole place is bright. I can see my hand."

Suddenly there was a dull, wet *pop* sound, and then the radio was silent.

Nobody said anything, and the dead air from the radio hung in the air like a fog. Catherine hung her head down and closed her eyes, feeling them well up with tears. It's never going to be over; this is the end, we're all going to die one by one. What can anyone do against this? She could see the world as it had become, and it was one completely devoid of hope; there wasn't anything to look forward to, because all they were doing was delaying the inevitable, trying to scratch out a few more intolerable hours before oblivion.

She dried her eyes with the palms of her hands, and told herself to regain her composure. It was clear she wasn't going to be able to be the Catherine Burroughs she was used to being, but she was damn well going to get as close to her as possible. She stood up, and started walking towards the stairs.

"Catherine, what are you doing?" she heard from behind her. She thought it was Steven's voice, but the truth was that it really didn't matter.

She thought about explaining herself, but decided instead to reply as simply as she could: "I'm going out on my own terms."

She got a few more steps, and then heard people scrambling behind her. She looked straight ahead at the stairs, walking with a purpose towards them while the sun was still up. As she was about to reach the light coming through the doors onto them, she felt hands on her, and before she could react she found herself being pulled back from the stairs and turned away from them.

"No, let me go!" she shouted impotently, struggling to break loose but being held too tightly to get away.

She felt a second pair of hands on her, feeling down her body until it had a hold of her legs. Together the two sets of hands lifted her off the ground and laid her down on it, holding her down. "No Catherine, you can't go out there!" one of them shouted.

"You have to let me go, let me do this!"

"No, it's suicide!"

"Of course it's suicide!" She stopped struggling, and she felt the hands loosen on her. "Don't you get it? There's nothing out there any more. There is no world any more. All we're doing here is killing time until that thing out there kills us, one by one. Everything you've ever known is gone, and it's never coming back. It's over. We're all dead already, but you're all too stupid to realize it. I'll be damned if I'm going to spend my last minutes alive cowering in fear."

(continued in first comment)