The butterfly glided over the remnants of grass and flowers, over the burned out meadow, searching for a petal to land on. This was once a park, lush and green. Five years ago, Iceland lost contact with the world. Several investigations turned up no evidence to what happened there, or where the citizens went. The entire country was abandoned, and occasional fires had spread over some of the houses. A single body was found, bruised and missing an arm. He was holding a rifle, and shells littered the ground around him. The final investigation concluded that due to deep incisions, and the disappearance of the man's right arm, he was killed by wolves or a pack of rabid dogs. The appearance of wild dogs several days into the investigation confirmed that, and it prompted televised attention. Some form of life on the continent had been found. The footage of the science team and marines being slaughtered by dog-like animals filled every household television set.
There was a patch of flowers still there. Gliding down, the butterfly landed graciously on the flower. Several days later, a body was found by the French ship 'Vivian'. The body lay limp, having drowned in the ocean. It was a high school student, they confirmed that much. The body was bloated and blue, and held similar marks to the body found in Iceland. When Vivian docked in France, the crew was gone on it too. A blood stained diary was found, written by a frantic woman, her last journal entries reading;
October fifth,
We found a body today, and he wore the shirt that one neighbor boy wore....what was his name...Michael? Michael wore that when he went to that private school in Iceland. I mentioned this to the captain, and he said he'd report it. I don't think he did. Thinking back on this morning, I can't help my pen trembling. He was holding something, a bottle with paper in it. It was a note explaining, in detail, what he saw. People…murder….something. I wish I had brought this with me, I could have gotten more details. The Iceland thing was a week ago...is this really what happened? I remember this though, he had written it hundreds of times on his paper. 'Need batteries, running low'. What did that mean?
October seventh,
I spent yesterday in my room. I couldn't stop thinking of what happened on the fifth. I tried going outside earlier to get some air, but a man with a harpoon gun stopped me. He told me that God had forsaken us. What did he mean? I noticed that he was bloody, and I didn't ask any more questions. There was a window, and he said I could a[/color]muse myself with that. It looked out onto the deck. According to the harpoon man, it was reinforced and could not be broken. I saw....men...and women....they were covered in.....blood. Some were hanging, some were...s..spread...across the floor. We were safe in the hold, no one but us were in here. There were about fifteen people inside the rooms, he told me. That's more than enough to stop anything from coming in, he said. I'm scared. I wish Jack was here. He'd keep me safe.
October eighth,
I hear them banging, I hear them coming. They're outside my room. I can't write much longer, I love you Jack, I love you Amy, I'm sorry I won't be able to be at your tenth birthday party. They're coming in!
Within two years, the infected spread over Europe. Reports of people dead and walking in the streets started coming in, but transmissions ceased before any concrete details of the creatures that are responsible. The only image anyone knows of is that of a large black dog.
Last year, the singular entrance to Spring Meadows was closed off. The federal government locked down every major city, and provided aid to small towns with a population greater than a thousand. Populations smaller than that were asked to evacuate to a larger city, but the calls were never returned. Sheriff Jack, a soft spoken man completely against violence, stumbled into Broken Mercy Hospital and requested medical care for a young man he rescued from a 'demon from the pits of hell'. Jack's truck was a three and a half ton pickup truck, but parts of the truck were peeled away like an aluminum can. The boy sat unconscious in the passenger seat; a monster lay dead in the back.
The city was breached.
