The Brink (#0013) - Struggletown, Part 4 by Daz1971
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Description
Volume I - Episode 10
Where: Melbourne, Australia
When: E-Day, 7:42 am
At that very moment, with humanity on the brink of extinction, Jessica's phone started to ring. The sound shattered the early morning silence. The monsters that had been haunting her all morning retreated angrily into the shadows.
Jessica fumbled the phone out of her handbag and jabbed the "Answer" button. The shrill ring tone fell silent.
Ahh, peace.
With considerable effort, she lifted the phone to her ear.
"Hellooo?" she asked. She stared in wonder as bright ribbons of colour shot from her mouth and dissolved in the crisp morning air. I can see my voice!
There was only silence from the other end of the line.
"Hellooooooo?" she asked again. More ribbons of colour. She grimaced at the sound of her voice, so thick and husky after two days of hard partying. Stripper voice! she thought to herself, and struggled to contain a fit of giggling.
At first her greeting was met again with silence, but then a God-awful sound erupted from the mobile phone's speaker. Jessica winced and pulled the phone from her ear. "What the hell?" she exclaimed. The noise coming from the phone sounded like screaming...like a girl screaming. After a few moments, she realised that's exactly what it was. And that it was screaming her name.
"OH MY GOD, JESS?! JESS?! IS THAT REALLY YOU?! OH MY GOD! JESS??!"
The initial shock over, Jessica gingerly pressed the phone back to her ear. It was her best friend Kim's voice. Jessica had never heard her so upset. "Kim? Babe?" she asked. "What's up?"
The question was met with a few moments of silence, followed by what sounded like hysterical sobbing.
"Kim?"
"I thought I'd lost you!" Kim cried. Jessica's heart broke at the sound of Kim's voice. Jessica had seen and been through a lot in her 24 years, but she had never heard so much unhappy desperation in someone's voice before. No shot of coffee could match the sobering effect of that voice.
"Kimmy? I'm right here. What's wrong, babe?"
"I thought you'd left me," Kim repeated over and over. "I thought you'd left me. I thought you'd left me."
Jessica didn't like the quality she heard in her best friend's voice. Kim was beyond hysteria. It sounded like she was on the very edge of madness. "I'm right here, babe," Jessica soothed.
"I couldn't find you," Kim said. Her voice was strained and choked with tears. "I've been calling you all night and leaving messages and...everybody's gone. I...I thought you'd l-l-left me too."
"What do you mean everybody's gone?" Jessica asked. "Who's gone?"
"Everybody!"
"Kimmy, calm down babe. Tell me what's going on."
"I was working and...I was giving a dance to this guy. All the lights went out and then...everybody disappeared! They all left me there by myself! Oh my God!" She started to sob harder. "The guy...I was sitting on the guy's lap and he just...he disappeared right through the chair!"
Suddenly Jessica was overcome with concern. The guy she was giving a lap dance to disappeared through a chair? Clearly something bad had happened - that much was certain. Something bad enough to make Kim lose the plot. Visions of assault and rape ran through Jessica's mind. Great. As if Kimmy hadn't been through enough horror in her life already.
Jessica went into autopilot. Her friend needed her support. Whatever had happened, the two of them would work it out together. And if she found out some fucking guy had hurt her best friend...well, there would be bloody Hell to pay. "Where are you, Kimmy?"
"I've been driving all night," Kim said. Her voice sounded even closer to hysterics now. "Everybody's gone. My parents are...I've been looking for you and calling you...I looked for you everywhere."
"I'm at Shotgun."
"I went there! I couldn't find you!"
"I was in the alley..."
[CONTINUED IN FIRST COMMENT BELOW]
Comments (9)
Daz1971
"I've been everywhere looking for you," Kim interrupted. "There's nobody left! Ashley, Steph, Mandy...my mum and dad, your mum...they've all gone." "My mum?" Jessica asked. "What was that about my mum?" "Everybody's g-g-gone!" Kim said, ignoring the question. "I couldn't bear to be without you, Jess. Oh my God, the last few hours...I wanted to die." Jessica could hear the truth in Kim's voice. They had been best friends for six months now. More than friends. They did everything together. Jessica could barely remember a night they hadn't spent together, either partying, talking, or laying in bed, wrapped in each others' arms. Jessica decided to drop the subject of her mum for now and got back to supporting her friend. "Kim, listen to me: have you got your car? Come and get me, babe. I'm outside Shotgun. I'll be waiting right here." "DON'T HANG UP!" Kim cried. "Please Jess! Don't hang up. I'm coming right now but...please, just stay on the phone, okay? I can't lose you." "I'm not going anywhere, babe." Jessica walked down the laneway to Shotgun's front door on Bourke Street. A cool breeze rolled down the usually busy street, but there was no other sound. Finally, suddenly, it hit her... Bourke Street, Melbourne, at a quarter to eight on a Friday morning, and it was completely deserted. Mum? First published: Sunday, 30 May 2010 Credits: FR-Venus by Freja Grace Lion Hair by Quarker Retro Babe by mytilus Character rendered in Poser 7 Pro Background photography by me Psychedelic pattern created using Filter Forge Pro Composited and postwork in Photoshop CS5 Extended Notes: Sorry for the break. It's been an "interesting" couple of weeks.
DukeNukem2005
Very beautiful picture! Original idea!
A_
great ending with the "mum?". :) love the desolated feel of the image.
beatoangelico
beautiful scene and super idea..Bravo..!!!
SoulEatar
All very nicely done - Continuity existance struggle - The hook - a hook - hookless - to be continued - Have a great day and Take Care -
DennisReed
Suspenseful story & great illustration! Continue on! :)
Knechtruprecht
Wonder that the phone and the luminous advertising are still working.
Chipka
What a wonder! I love every bit of this series! There is such a strong sense of mystery and of humanity (even though so much of it is apparently gone...raptured away? Nah, that's too trite, but gone, nonetheless!) Brilliant work! The illustrations match so perfectly and the whole thing is so seamless and beautifully layered. Brilliant!
KRYKOS
Excellent! Interesting that two people that actually know each other are now part of what is left of humanity, be interesting to see if they actually manage o hook back up. Hopefully this isn't Jessica high and imagining things. Another top notch chapter!