12 Water Bodies (1/2)
”See ya, see ya! Wouldn't wanna beee ya!” a little girl's voice sings.
”Aliyah!” a fearful voice screams into darkness.
”Sia, Sia! Can't catch meeee ya!”
”Aliyah!”
”Sia!” The cheerful child's voice becomes distant.
”Aliyah, wait! Come back!” Sia scrambles in the dark searching for her little sister.
A blue holographic plane flies off into the darkness. The plane soars into a nuclear plant and a huge explosion devastates the area around it.
The flames light up the darkness and the wind blows dust and glass into Sia's face. She holds up her arm, and the debris flows through her and her blue dress. She's invisible. She runs toward the blast zone and passes by burnt corpses on the dark ground.
”Aliyah!”
A small red triangular piece of glass is laying on the ground. Sia hears Aliyah's giggling voice emitting from the piece of glass. She picks up the glass and she gazes at the images of Aliyah playing behind the small pane.
”…...”
Sia watches as a tiny chip in the corner of the glass spreads all over.She hyperventilates as she sees cracks creep up her arms.
Then she shatters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'
2034
”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”
Sia rolls off her seat onto the floor. She gasps into the dirty truck bed.
”Sia! Are you alright?” Raymond's voice can be heard from behind her.
Sia stops herself from curling into a ball and looks up in the direction of the voice. The truck has stopped again. Raymond leaves after checking on Sia, and inspects the creatures obstructing the road. It is raining.
SUBJECT 001 DEFINE STATUS
”It was just a dream. I'm fine,” she mutters to herself.
She gets up and jumps from the truck. The men are kicking at something large and green. Others are holding out jugs to fill with water.
”What is that?”
Ahead of the road is a trail of green, long-legged insect creatures laying across the ground.
APPEARS TO BE A CLOUD OF DEAD CAELIFERA ORTHOPTERA
COMMONLY KNOWN AS GRASSHOPPERS
”I've seen this before,” Vanessa says from beside Sia.
Sia looks over at her. ”What made this happen?”
”The land here dips downhill. Worms probably worked their way out when the rain started.”
The ground is muddy and there are lines leading downhill. Deep trails of lines that crisscross over each other.
”See these grooves?”
Sia looks over at Vanessa's arm as the rain slides down a scarred bicep. She looks at the lines in the mud and nods. Vanessa's blue eyes are squinting down the hill, and she raises quickly and wipes some water out of her eyes.
”Worms?” Sia asks.
”There!” Vanessa calls out to get everyone's attention.
Eli and the others look over at Vanessa and turn to where she is pointing. At the bottom of the hill, a pond has formed from the gathered water. Writhing in the pond are long, thick worms. They wriggle and knot together as they travel through the water.
Sia's stomach turns at the sight.
'What are those?!' she thinks as she backs up to the truck and turns to jump back inside.