Ozone Eyes

We used to stare up at the stars and wonder if other life existed, mesmerized by the dancing lights that surrounded the black abyss above us. Explorations to other planets in hope we would find an extraterrestrial to share and gain knowledge from, at least if they were friendly. We never thought they would already be here, and anything but our friends. They slowly sucked life from the hidden corners of the Earth. Small enough to where scientists considered it a ‘once in a lifetime’ event. People in Guatemala started to go crazy with a mysterious brain disease. They closed off the borders and that was that. Until it happened twice. Then three times, seven times, twenty, eighty, climbing until it was a global occurrence. You'd think this is where we would get smart and realize this isn't an accident, but no, the president made speeches that it was just a fluke.

“We have the spread under control, do not panic and remain indoors until further notice.”

What an asshole.

A week after his momentous speech, the president was removed and sent to an undisclosed location to hide from the second wave. Our brilliant scientists had discovered the cause of the brain disease to be a genetically modified mosquito. Yes, a mosquito. Masses of the bugs started pouring out of caves and found anything they landed on to be their prey. When bitten you have precisely two hours until you are fully infected and are incapable of suppressing the violent urges that plague your mind. If you're lucky, the bite will kill you in seconds. Most weren't lucky. The first sign you've been bitten is this lovely ringing that starts in your head, so loud that all you do is clutch your hands against your ears and wish it would stop. Then, ironically enough, you go deaf. Shortly after speech and comprehension are no longer possible, until the unmistakable black brain matter leaks from your eyes. That's when you know they're really gone. An Ozone, as we call them.

Once the main population of Earth had been infected, camps underground became the unreachable goal for humanity to survive in. A false security for a couple weeks before the first extraterrestrial showed itself. Remember how we used to look up for aliens? Imagine this, you're sleeping in a dimly lit bunk, surrounded by the heavy breathing of too many bodies slammed together. You've been trying to doze off for hours, but no sleep comes for your lonely corner; clutching your body for warmth since blankets were a luxury no longer shared. Staring at the bunk above, the room suddenly fills with a sickening scream. A body shoots up from sleeping on the ground a few feet away. The man begins running to the opposite side of the room, the people around him wide eyed from being awoken by the noise. We all stare at him in confusion. His wrinkled face contorts as he points to where he was sleeping, his mouth opened still from his scream. We follow his shaky finger to the tiled floor. At first there's nothing there, just a glinting shadow from the flickering light, trying its best to fight against the darkness. That's when you see it, the shadow on the floor moves, followed by a cracking sound as the tiles break. A dark hand too big to be human reaches up from the floor, a smell only to be described as rotting flesh slaps you in the face. There's no use trying to get a better look because madness has ensued. You push off the bunk just to be knocked down by the mass of humans scrambling

away from the growing figure from the floor. Scraping off the ground and stumbling towards the bunker door, you're confronted by a guard screaming to stay inside.

“We can't open the doors, it's night, the mosquitos are everywhere, we will be infected!”

The uniformed man stands rigid as the crowd pushes into him. The feeling of suffocation claws your throat as too many shoulders squeeze against you. Behind you bodies at the end of the crowd are being crunched and tossed as the dark figure makes its way towards the front. Fear makes your limbs grow cold and your eyes water. ‘This is it’ you think. Then the guard finally catches an eye full of why everyone is screaming. He frantically pushes a code into the keypad that's keeping us trapped with the thing creeping closer. The smell fills the senses until your body trembles and you clench your fists, preparing for the death that awaits. Then a click from the door and you're pushed forward, hands hitting dirt for the first time in weeks. Your eyes bounce around trying to take more information in through the blackness outside. Taking a second to notice a heart shaped locket in front of you, that's slowly being beaten at the mounds of feet running. ‘I bet it belonged to someone once’ you think in a flash. You push the thought away as you're kicked and squished as people stumble and crawl to get away. The pain is enough to register that you need to move. Scrambling to catch a footing, you run towards anything but what's behind the crowd. People catch your eye, all of them panicked and unblinking as we run. Getting far enough away to where the only thing you can smell is the earth around you, you take a deep breath, appreciating the oxygen filling in the lungs, instead of

musk from the bunker. You listen to your surroundings, trying to hear if the thing is still nearby. A crack of a branch causes you to whip your head around and prepare to run. A young deer meets your gaze from across the clearing. You relax your shoulders and- “ow!”

Slapping at your arm a stinging sensation comes across your wrist. You stare at the dead mosquito laying on your skin, its crumbled body leaks a black liquid.

Suddenly you scream as all your senses are taken over by a piercing ring in your ears, laughing as tears roll down your cheeks in a stream of realization of the immediate future.

You are becoming an Ozone.