the Fluke Ch. 1
The Fluke By -comradejoe2
Chapter 1 A succesion of bad days.
The crows are out this time of year, and so are ravens and other corvids. Thought Nick as he gazed out of the classroom window towards the courtyard below, where the many blackbirds were covering the great grass promenade. "Mister Wachowsky what is one reason as to why the king Louis the XVI was ousted during the french revolution?" Inquired the teacher. "um sorry what... can you come back to me" brashly excused Nick. The teacher glared at Nick and continued teaching the class. After class he called Nick over. "Please pay attention in class next time, I'm really tempted to send you to a councillor next time. If this class is too hard you can always transfer out." said the instructor. Nick sighed and left for the next period.
"Ugh I really hate school." complained Nick. "Then why don't you skip out of classes like me and go skate or eat at Burger King?" proffered Josh. "Because you always get caught and your parents get angry at you." Said nick. "You may have a point but that still doesn't give you any reason not to come along, it's not like your parents are ever around to throttle you." argued Josh. "I mean you could really get away with it." "Nah I think I'll stay in school and actually struggle for my grades." concurred Nick. "Well suit yourself I'm going to the skate park." "Okay I'll see ya after school." Said nick.
Nick trudged home thought the slush and snow of late november in Washington D.C. as he was listening to his iPod. No sign of Josh as usually he was in detention for trying to skip school. He decided to go to the mall in Crystal City to pass some time out of the snow and cold. He went to see if any new good fiction was on the shelves. There wasn't any in Borders so he decided to go to hot topic and as usual there was a lack of anything worth buying, and he was getting rather sick of the people in the crowded mall, since all the pre Christmas shopping was being done while it was still possible. By the time it was six he decided to take the Metro since he had a year 'round pass after all he never had enough to buy a car he decided he might as well use it. He got off at his stop and started walking home to his parents townhouse. As he was passing the abandoned waterworks he same a sight that was a head turner. To his right he saw a great green beam of light going up into the clouds. "What the..." exclaimed Nick just as he was knocked off his feet from the shock-wave which caused him to black out.
When he came to, he was quite confused as to what just happened. "It's as if nothing happened, I mean there what the heck was that?" mumbled Nick to nobody in particular. No matter he though, I might as well get home and sleep on it. He slowly trudged home and up the steps, fumbled with his keys and opened the door. "Hey Nick how was your day, hmm?" asked his mother, putting pot holders away in the kitchen. "The same ol' same old, I can't wait till dad gives the go ahead for us to move." groaned Nick as he passed the kitchen to the living room. "i know nick, I know but I can't do anything about that, you and I both know that. Well there is dinner on the table and soda on the fridge if you're hungry, put the leftovers in the fridge, don't let anyone in the house when I'm gone, don't answer the door, and please lock it behind me." briskly listed his mother as she put on her name tag and hurried out the door to her car where she drove to work. He sighed, I wish mum didn't have to work the night shift every week, he thought to himself. As the nigh dragged on after playing video games and finishing his homework he began to feel sickly and decided it was best if he slept.
The scene of crows sitting at a dinner table, eating various things, all smartly dressed filled the world of his dreams. As he looked down he began to grow feathers and saw a green light emanating from a TV set, glowing in the background. He became frightened as he himself became one of those crows. Then he began to fall past windows and strata of building in his dreamworld, falling through darkness only broken by starlight, and the twinkling of lights from the building accelerating past him. And then he woke up.
He sat up in the darkness of his room, the rumbling report of a subway train broke the silence. He looked at his alarm clock, it was 5:30 in the morning. He dragged himself out of bed and stumbled down the stairs. He no longer felt sick at least he thought to himself, although something doesn't feel right. He went to the cabinet to get a glass for a drink when he saw a dark figure in it's reflection. He lost his grip and the glass fell and broke. He wasn't near it when it fell, because he was looking at a mirror in the bathroom. He ignored the ringing phone because he saw a sight in that mirror that wasn't his own caucasian freckled face.`Rather a black five foot seven Raven gawking back at him.Looking at himself and his badcase of bedhead and the very ruffled state seamed oblivious as the gravity of the situation began to sink in. What could be called a sorry excuse for a scream mixed with a squawk could be heard from the mailbox as the postman made his runs that day.
A half hour later and his heart was still racing, despite the fact he managed to calm himself to the point he at least could look at himself in greater detail. He decided he might as well put some clothes on, and as he attempted to don pants, a T-shirt and socks he discovered a most agitating predicament that many that turned encountered in those first few hours, the lack of properly tailored clothing. After some quick improvisation and deciding to go bare clawed, he ate a meager breakfast, make more complicated by the protruding beak he had gained. As the day went on in further frustration he realised that the house was awkwardly and unuasually silent. He checked the phone history to find that his mother had been trying to reach him all day but couldn't leave work for some governmental reason, something having to do with a contagion of sorts and not to leave the house. He went and then cleaned up the broken glass as best as he could. Not knowing what else to do he fumbled for a few minutes with the televion remote finally activating it and switching to some news channel.
"We have just recieved word from our government liason who has prepared this statement on the behalf of the government. Today at 6:00 Am eastern seaboard time a medical proffesional examined an unusaul case involving a patient that had contracted a previosly unkown viral infection. That infection caused him and everyone who came into contact with him to transform into a human/animal hybrid within several hours of exposure. By the time the doctor examined the patient and discoved the infection, the entire hospital had become contaminated. A state of emergency had been declared and the entire hospital and surrounding areas were quarantined off to prevent the spread of the infection. This howver was not was not accomplished in a timely enough matter to prevent the spread of this condition. Within 4 hours cases had been reported not only in the US, Canada, and Mexico but similar cases began to be reported and confirmed all over the known world. At this hour, power has been shifted to the Vice President as currently the President is indisposed and rumors has been circulation that the President himself has been infected with what many scientist are now calling human mutagenic influenza or simply the HMI. Due to public concerns all who suspect themselves to be infected or have found themselves in a state of mutation, they are hereby ordered by congressional emergency act. 985 to report to your nearest Center for Deasese Control emergency center. These usually are held in major convention centers and sports stadiums. These have been established for your own safety and for the safety of the public until a rational and clear decision can be made on monday. Military, state guard, police, swat, and emergency responders are hereby mobilised if not already done so and are to aid in mobilising and relocating the affected individuals to the relocation centers all of this week and weekend. This is Nathan O'hair signing off." Warbled the TV as the room fell silent from lack of programming on television. Nick was in a state of disbelief. It all seemed surreal up until now, like a bad dream, but now... now it's really real; though Nick to himself.
After sitting on the coach for a while he decided to stretch his wings and and walk around a bit, regarding what the TV announcer had said and wondering what to do. Just then his mother walked in, and as any woman will do if frightened so suddently, she screamed. "What are you! get out of my house you filthy bird thing, whatever you are! don't make me call the cops on you!" shrieked Mrs. Wachowsky as she slowly backed towards the kitchen entryway. "Stop screaming mom, it's me Nick, you know your son!" pleaded the oversized raven. "What... are-are you really my son, is it really you Nickoli, how... what happened?" asked his mother, in a lower tone of voice. "I don't know, I was sleeping, I woke up, I didn't notice I was a raven untill I looked at my own reflection and, and... I saw something on the news it's some kind... some kind of virus or flu and they say that it's really contagious and we need to all go to some sports sttadium or something." choked nick as he struggled to find the right words. "I heard rumors and bits of television saying something like that but I was more worried about getting home, you didn't answer the phone, they warned us that something was going around but... this... this I wasn't expecting." sighed his mother who just as her son was equally unsure of what to do.
Just then there came a knocking at the front door just past 1:00 PM, it was a soldier in NBC gear, glaring emotionlessly through the darkened lenses of the standard issue gas mask he wore. The rasping intake of soldier breathing was broken by another man, this time in a white uniform with a more revealing visor. "I am from the Center for Deasese Control. There have been many reported cases in the area of the infection and we would like to know if you have come into any affected individuals or you have anyone in your house right now that has been affected by the HMI contagion going around right now. Please keep in mind not only your personal well being and that of your family, but also the health and safety of the public." said the CDC man, who seemed like he had done this a thousand times today alone. As his mother was about to answer Nick came to the door "Hey mum who's at the door?" He inquired. Her mother didn't have time to reply as bothe she and her son were confronted and taken to an army truck with a large biohazard caution triangle on the side, they were ordered to take only the essentials like clothing and cellular phones and money. As the Wachowskies got into the truck they were confronted by a zoo of equally confused and frightened refugees. Then the truck and it's unusuall passengers headed for temporary operating camp, greenwall.
To be continued in Ch. 2: A change in scenery for better or worse.