Surinam by Chris Morin

Day 6

10:56 am

    My wife lost consciousness. I needed to do something to save her. The message on the television said that when the babies were born that they devoured their mother. What if I could prevent that? What if I could get the little bastards as they were born? I needed to prepare. But how would I fight? What would I use?

12:13 pm

    Fires began to rage at the containment camps. Rumors began to be reported on television that the government were killing the infected people and burning their corpses. Thoughts of their loved ones being killed drove some people over the edge. Riots broke out in front of the containment camps. An ugly situation turned worse.

1:00 pm

    The President of the United States appeared on television.
    "Citizens of our great country, we have all been through a tumultuous few days. But I can assure you, your government is doing all it can to restore calm and order to your cities and towns. Although we are still researching the cause of this great disaster, one thing is for certain, a brutal attack on humanity has tested the limits of America's willingness to show compassion and love in times of great need.
    "But America's people are strong. America's people are strong enough to rise above the hate and fear. America's people are in pain and we as a nation must rise up and help America heal. I ask each and every one of you to focus your attention on love and compassion on this day.
    "As you know a great portion of the female population has been infected with an unknown illness. Some of these women are your sisters, your mothers, your teachers or your friends. Some are complete strangers.
    "We believe this noncontiguous illness, of terrorist origin, is fatal unless treated within seven days of infection. We are now in Day 6. I urge every American, every human being on the face of this planet to get the sick to a containment camp near you or to your local city or town hall as soon as possible. Do not hesitate. Your life and also the lives of others may be at risk.
    "In order to speed up this process, I have ordered the entire armed forces to begin sweeps of the major cities and towns across the country to search for the sick. About an hour ago, a house by house search began on the east coast. Please do not interfere with this search as the military has been authorized to use any means necessary to complete this task within the next twenty-four hours. Time is of the essence. We must move quickly to save those that are sick. I know that the timing is horrible considering the terrible tragedy that has occurred. But the future of America depends on the cooperation of its great citizens.
    "I ask each and every American to take a moment today and pray. Pray for those who are sick and for those who have already died. Pray for America and may God Bless these great United States!"

4:56 pm

    I heard a knock at the front door followed by a voice asking if there was anyone there. Oh no! What if the military were here to take my wife! I had already thought of that and acted quickly. Our house was built around the time of the Civil War and it had a secret room to hide slaves for the Underground Railroad. I scooped up my wife, she must have gained fifty pounds in the last few days, and sat her gently in that room beside the fireplace.
    I then went to the door.
    I looked out the peep hole and noticed a rather tall and bulky but young man holding a pistol in his right hand. He had on a military uniform of some kind. I slowly opened the door.
    "May I help you?" I asked.
    "Sir, I am Sergeant William O'Donnell of the US Marines," he said. "We are doing a house to house search looking for sick individuals. May we search your house?"
    "Of course you may Sergeant," I replied. "But you will not find anything here. My wife was killed on Day 1."
    Just then a gun shot went off in the distance followed by a request for backup. The Sergeant looked over his shoulder and saw the beginning of a gunfight down the street between his men and one of my neighbors. He wrote a big blue O on my door with the largest magic marker I had ever seen signifying that my house was clean and then ran off to join the fight.
    I closed the door and let out a huge sigh of relief.

8:31 pm

    I needed to know what I was going to be up against when these creatures were born. I really did not want to deal with all of them at once so I decided to do a little science experiment.
    I gathered as many things as I could find that may be of some use. I took in the huge plastic trash can and lid from outside, assembled a fine collection of various knives and kitchen utensils, took down my replica vintage Samurai sword off of the wall, grabbed a few cans of bug spray and Raid from under the kitchen sink and took a bunch of bandages, towels and anti-bacterial creams from the bathroom. I opened the dish washer, clothes dryer and also plugged in the vacuum cleaner.
    I then moved everything out of the living room. I put our mattress from our bed on the living room floor and gently removed my wife's clothes and placed her on her stomach on top of the mattress. The eight lumps on her back were so much bigger than before. The lumps had what appeared to be a thin translucent outer layer of skin and each had a critter living inside.
    The creatures looked like a cross between a frog and a human. Their mouths were large and had needle-like fangs extruding from their lower jaws. Their arms were long and had very long and thin fingers on tiny hands. The legs were about three times as fat as the arms and looked very powerful. At only three inches in length, I was truly terrified of these things. I can't imagine what they'd be like when they got bigger.
    I took a large Tupperware bowl and cover and placed it beside the mattress and put a fairly good sized bath towel next to my wife. I put on a pair of yellow cleaning gloves and picked up one of the kitchen fillet knives. I also grabbed the turkey baster and held it in my left hand. I always knew dissecting that frog in science class would come back to haunt me. But I never dreamed I would be cutting into my own wife!
    I had no idea what the consequences of what I was doing were but I would soon find out. Holding the turkey baster in one hand and the fillet knife in the other, I took aim at one of the lumps in the middle of her back. I made my first incision. Right away I noticed a pungent odor. It smelled of methane, swamp gas. Then the ooze began to leak out. I cut a little further and stuck the turkey baster near the wound and drew back some of the fluid and drained the baster into the Tupperwear bowl.
    My wife began to shake violently. Whatever I was doing was having a negative effect on her. Her heart rate had doubled and she gasped for air. I knew I had to continue so I cut a little further and then put down the knife. I drained some more of the liquid and then picked up the salad thongs. I dug into the wound and pulled the little critter out of the now deflated lump. I expected it to jump out at me but it didn't; it remained perfectly still. I placed it in the clear Tupperware bowl and snapped the lid into place.
    My wife began to settle down but there was no way I was going to tempt fate twice. I used the towel to dry up the excess liquid and decided to look at the now empty wound before I bandaged her up. It looked fairly clean after it drained. The skin on the bottom of the lump was a little pale from the liquid but otherwise it looked normal.
    I put some anti-bacterial cream on the open wound and then put a large bandage on it. I then took a blanket and covered up my wife. She was still unconscious but looked comfortable considering I had just popped the monster of all zits on her back.

11:23 pm

    After she was settled I picked up the Tupperware container with my new found friend. It wasn't moving and appeared dead so I took a closer look at it. As I put my face up the the side of the bowl, the creature opened his eyes, opened its mouth and imbedded its teeth into the Tupperware bowl!
    Frightened, I fell backwards onto my ass and dropped the container. The creature was biting his way through the bowl! I needed to act quickly or he would soon eat through the bowl and then through me. The monster was growing and he was none too happy. I picked up the bowl, careful not to get bit by the critters needle like teeth poking through it, and put the container into the microwave. As I slammed the oven's door shut, the creature burst out of the Tupperware bowl.
    I set the microwave on high and hit the start button. At first the creature appeared to like the warmth. He smiled ever so slightly then exploded into a million pieces.
    I wiped the sweat from my forehead. I was shaking like a leaf. Then I looked over at my wife.
    The blanket I had wrapped her in was soaked as if something was leaking. Had I prematurely caused the birth of all of those things?

    I had.

Day 7