T-minus 8 days to DEADLINE.: seanan

T-minus 8 days to DEADLINE.

Denver, Colorado. July 26th, 2014.

Suzanne Amberlee's nose had been bleeding for most of the morning. It had ceased to bother her after the first hour; in a way, it had even proven itself a blessing. The blood loss seemed to blunt the hard edges of the world around her, blurring things into a comfortable gray that allowed her to finally face some of the hard tasks she'd been allowing herself to avoid. She paused in the process of boxing Amanda's books, wiping the sweat from her forehead with one hand and the blood from her chin with the other. Bloody footprints marred every box and wall in the room, but she didn't really see them anymore. She just saw the comforting absence of Amanda, who was never coming home to her again.

In Suzanne Amberlee's body, a battle was raging between the remaining traces of Marburg Amberlee and the newborn Kellis-Amberlee virus. There is no loyalty among viruses; as soon as they were fully conceived, the child virus turned against its parents, trying to drive them from the body as it would any other infection. This forced the Marburg into a heightened state of activity, which forced the body to respond to the perceived illness. Marburg Amberlee was not designed to fight the human body's immune system, and responded by launching a full-on assault. The resulting chaos was tearing Suzanne apart from the inside out.

For her part, Suzanne Amberlee neither knew nor cared about what was happening inside her body. She was one of the first to be infected with Marburg Amberlee, which had been tailored to be non-transmittable between humans...but nothing's perfect, and all those kisses she'd given her little girl had, in time, passed something more tangible than comfort between them. Marburg Amberlee had had plenty of time to establish itself inside her, and, paradoxically, that made her more resistant to conversion than those with more recent infections. Her body knew how to handle the sleeping virus.

And yet bit by bit, inch by crucial inch, Kellis-Amberlee was winning. Suzanne was not aware, but she was already losing crucial brain functions. Her tear ducts had ceased to function, and much of her body's moisture was being channeled toward the production of mucus and saliva—two reliable mechanisms for passing the infection along. She was being rewired, inch by inch and cell by cell, and even if someone had explained to her what was happening, she wouldn't have cared. Suzanne Amberlee had lost everything she ever loved. Losing herself was simply giving in to the inevitable.

Suzanne's last conscious thought was of her daughter, and how much she missed her. Then the stuffed bear she was holding slipped from her hands, and all thoughts slipped from her mind as she straightened and walked toward the open bedroom door. The back door was propped open, allowing a cool breeze to blow in from outside; she walked through it, and from there, made her way out of the backyard to the street.

The disaster that had been averted when the Colorado Cancer Research Center burned began with a woman, widowed and bereft of her only child, walking barefoot onto the sunbaked surface of the road. She looked dully to either side, not really tracking what she saw—not by any human definition of the term—before turning to walk toward the distant shouts of children playing in the neighborhood park. It would take her the better part of an hour to get there, moving slowly, with the jerky confusion of the infected when not actively pursuing visible prey.

It would take less than ten minutes after her arrival for the dying to begin. The Rising had come to Denver; the Rising had come home.

***

Please return to your homes. Please remain calm. This is not a drill. If you have been infected, please contact authorities immediately. If you have not been infected, please remain calm. This is not a drill. Please return to your homes...

When will you Rise?

katiebabs

May 23 2011, 11:24:25 UTC 6 years ago

New comment

*chills*

notalwaysweak

May 23 2011, 11:54:06 UTC 6 years ago

Ohholycraponacracker.

*biting nails down to wrists*

I love the horror genre. I love the horror genre. I love the horror genre. I love the horror genre. I love the horror genre. SEANAN YOU'RE GIVING ME THE WIGGINS. I love the horror genre...

The second wave.

paradisacorbasi

May 23 2011, 11:56:20 UTC 6 years ago

Ohhhhhhhhhhh damn.

That was ...wow.

Tragic. Painful.

Horrible.

Thank you.

catsittingstill

May 23 2011, 12:16:00 UTC 6 years ago

I think you have a typo here--Bloody footprints marred every box and wall in the room, She may be sick enough to do some pretty odd things, but she's probably not walking on the walls. Bloody handprints, maybe?

kyburg

May 23 2011, 16:32:23 UTC 6 years ago

(Seanan, jump in at will.) Having had the kinds of nosebleeds that did what is described above, I can attest that the blood doesn't stop there and can indeed pool enough for one to step in it, walk through it and track it elsewhere.

Particularly if you're not fast moving and oblivious. ;)

(And mine were not the worst ones I knew of.)

May 23 2011, 17:41:03 UTC 6 years ago

I grant that you can track it around with your feet.

I just don't think you are likely to track it, with your feet, onto the boxes (she's stepping on the boxes?--okay, maybe if she's *really* out of it) and even the walls. Gravity still works no matter how feverish and out-of-it you are.

(I guess she could be having momentary fits of fury and *kicking* the walls, but I would expect that to get a little more description than this, because kicking the walls is not ordinary packing behavior--not even ordinary zoned-and-feverish packing behavior.)

drcpunk

6 years ago

seanan_mcguire

May 24 2011, 12:30:12 UTC 6 years ago

It's an error. I have no time to edit or beta these, thanks to the fact that I'm in New York, doing ninety things, and not getting paid. Thanks for pointing it out.

kirylyn

May 23 2011, 13:43:56 UTC 6 years ago

I actually have enough spare cash (or I will by the time book releases) to pre-order it and have it shipped to where I'm staying.

Time to re-read deadline as well!

(icon for the cleansing power of bleach, NOT a commentary on Seanan's shiver inducing posts)

priscellie

May 23 2011, 14:32:40 UTC 6 years ago

I started rereading Feed this morning. I know I'll be ready for the Rise!

Excellent entry.

ladymurmur

May 23 2011, 16:21:18 UTC 6 years ago

I started reading Feed for the first time this weekend. EEEEEEEEEEK!

paksenarrion2

phoenix_singing

May 23 2011, 15:04:39 UTC 6 years ago

That is both horrifying and heartwrenching. Crying forever because Amanda's mom. Screaming forever because playground.

And yet, I am intrigued by the glimpse into how the zombies perceive the world. *rereads in morbid fascination*

actoplasm

May 23 2011, 15:46:09 UTC 6 years ago

Seeing the KA infecting and the rising happening from so many different angles is thrilling, but also chilling, and also pretty emotional through the eyes of these once normal people. *shiver*

May 23 2011, 16:43:05 UTC 6 years ago

(Anyone who thinks this is scary hasn't Googled Marburg virus. Just saying.)

Loving this. Zombies are only the icing on tasty, tasty cake.

kshandra

May 23 2011, 17:28:50 UTC 6 years ago

Suzanne Amberlee had lost everything she ever loved. Losing herself was simply giving in to the inevitable.

Oh.

OH.

*curses her lack of a teddybear in the office*

vettecat

May 23 2011, 17:43:42 UTC 6 years ago

1) You are enormously talented (not news).
2) You are seriously freaking me out. I know that's the point, but, not being someone who enjoys such... I think I'll stick with the non-apocalyptic books, thanks all the same. Sorry.

p.s. Do the world a favor and never go to medical school. Seriously. You know way too much about viruses already...

archangelbeth

May 23 2011, 21:28:48 UTC 6 years ago

If it helps, Feed and Deadline are set after all this, where everyone's... mostly adapted to dealing with zombies from time to time.

(Also, there is a "crowing moment of awesome" in the very first chapter of Feed, so if you ever see it... Do consider reading the first chapter. O:> )

This reassurance delivered by someone who goes "meh" at best to most Zombie stuff, but who really liked Feed. *grin*

May 24 2011, 02:04:37 UTC 6 years ago

As a troper and the one who started the Newsflesh page, I point out that nobody has done a crowning moments page for Feed yet.

swevene

May 23 2011, 19:36:13 UTC 6 years ago

Oh no oh no oh no.

This is seriously scary. Good job!

baka_kit

May 23 2011, 21:31:47 UTC 6 years ago

*hides*

This was both tragic, and terrifying.

yellowblackhaze

May 23 2011, 22:51:01 UTC 6 years ago

I feel so bad for poor, sad, tragic Suzanne Amberlee. In some ways I'm almost going to be sad when Deadline comes out because it means I won't get a new little piece like this every day.

eevieivy

May 23 2011, 22:58:56 UTC 6 years ago

I never thought I'd say this, but..."Zombies are an excellent way to make a truly suck-tacular and stressful day better. Because, really, it puts everything into perspective."

fullcontactmuse

May 24 2011, 00:30:35 UTC 6 years ago

Oh crap. I'd say "this can't end well" but we already know it doesn't.

These are utterly amazing!

cflute

May 24 2011, 02:18:30 UTC 6 years ago

This is one of my favorite snippets yet. Right up there with the final Kellis/Kellis scene in Reston, VA.

/me wonders whether Dr. Kellis himself will make any further appearances

ironed_orchid

May 25 2011, 12:05:27 UTC 6 years ago

.but nothing's perfect, and all those kisses she'd given her little girl had, in time, passed something more tangible than comfort between them

And we have an explanation. Thanks you.

thedorkygirl

June 17 2011, 03:37:49 UTC 6 years ago

Oh golly oh golly

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