I see people dying,

Children crying,

Rivers drying,

This planet burning,

And more pockets filling.

A NOTE TO THE READER : Well Before reading the Part II , I suggest you be familiar with Part I of the series. Part I recieved a lot of compliments and I’m grateful for it. I never thought it would be that nice. I just wanted it to be a simple short story. Yeah the idea had a lot of potential and I am even thinking of writing an extended version in the future. As you all know by now, the original story had a dark ending so I changed it up. I did so because i didn’t want to write a dark story as my first ever story in this platform. I didn’t want my readers to think of me as a dark and tragic writer then. Well as things turned out, the readers prefered the dark ending the most. But i can’t change my story now as the Part I has already been published. So I hope you all enjoy this story as it is for now. Cheers ^-^.

This Story is a mixture of narration and self documentation. The story is written in simple language for the simplest of readers. Spare me if the medical situations (dates, periods, symptoms, etc.) in the story are not accurate as in real life.

........................................................

[Camera recording continues...]

We thought we were invincible, capable of everything through technology. When the Covid 19 virus was first spotted in China, we thought that it was just a simple virus like the flu virus. We thought that we could overcome it just like other cases. Little did we know that our ignorance would lead us to our extinction.

The Governments acted fast but carelessly. They started shutting down everything. As a result the cases were decreasing. And that was it. They did nothing more. One month of lockdown and once all the infected were hospitalised , they called off the lockdown without analysing whether the virus had spreaded more. But as a matter of fact , the virus evolved and was spreading fast under the radar without any symptoms as we learned later. No one knew about this except us. In our lab, we had already recognised the variant C22 but didn’t knew its symptoms and its infectivity. We tested it on a rat and it was healthy for about 14 days. Yeah we did inform this to the government, but ignored it as the rat was perfectly fine.

But on the 15th day, the rat was acting strange and he died the same day. On testing him, we found out that the rat died of total organ failure. Only then we know that The C22 varient was a silent killer. It showed no signs or symptoms till the last day and his reports were normal at the 14th day. So we reached the conclusion that the C22 variant could kill an organism within one day after its incubation period. In the case of rats , the incubation period was 14 days. We didnot know what the incubation period was for humans. We reported it to the government but they said that the people showed no signs of illness so there would be no use to lock down again. But we tried our best to covince them to do it but they didn’t listen. They instead told us to develop vaccines for it. Oh no, it was not for the people, it was for making profits by selling the vaccines for high prices if a situation would arise.

We did start on the vaccine but we didnot knew whether the C22 variant had already spreaded to a large group of people. But it actually did spread silently...

(Nancy coughs...)

[Camera recording ended.12:10 PM]

There were two recordings in the camera and the King ordered to play the second recording.

[Camera recording.... 4:57 PM]

( The Alcans could see in the video that Nancy was not in a good state and was gritting with pain)

Then we tested out and came up with a vaccine that had about 60% success rate against the C22 variant. We told the govt. about it and they wanted the vaccine to be produced as soon as possible. We tried to stop them but they didn’t listen. We knew that 60% success rate was not enough. The govt. bribed some of those who knew the formula of the vaccine and then they took over the lab. We could do nothing as in an emergency situation, the govt. could take over any institution. They soon begun producing masses of the vaccine and selling them to the other govt.s , reaping huge profits.

All of this happened and the public knew nothing about it. Soon after a day or so, the C22 variant passed its incubation period in many of the infected and people started dying here and there. The govt.s released the vaccine to the public and there was mass vaccination camps and all but all of this helped the variant to spread more quickly. And to the govt.s shame, though some became immune to the variant, most died due to the unstability of the vaccine. Soon the govt.s were overthrown and there was chaos everywhere.

More and more people started dying each day because of the vaccine and the variant. After I was kicked out of the lab for protesting, I soon began researching about the virus more closely. In my lab at my house, I soon discovered a new strain of DNA in the C22 variant. We never founded it at the lab because we were too rushed to find the cure. It was only a thin strain so we would have never founded it anyway. After studying this new strain and after researching every book about DNA and pathogens that I know, I finally found out that this strain of DNA resembled the structure of the Spanish flu virus. This could only mean that the variant C22 could be as or more deadly and contagious as the Spanish flu virus. I was sure at this point that almost everyone in the world would be affected with the variant as it has been about 13 days since the lock down. In these 13 days the virus was given the freedom to infect anyone and I was sure that everyone including me would have been affected till then. And I was correct.

Death broke out about 2 to 5 days ago and most of the humans in the world are dead now. As soon as I recognised the new strain, I started working on a new vaccine but in a limited time I could do nothing. I did create a vaccine but by that time most humans were dead. My vaccine was not really efficient. It could only slow the working of the virus. Yesterday, I injected the vaccine into me and I was not sure it would work. But it kept me alive till now, although I could feel death calling me. Yeaterday, I was feeling the symptoms that i saw on that rat , so i took the vaccine yesterday. I knew that my 15 days were over by yesterday. But my makeshift vaccine kept me alive till now but I don’t know for how long.

All of this happened because of the greed and ignorance of people. The govt. could have saved us. They said that they called off the lock down due to financial and economic crisises. Yeah says the richest country in the world. They called it off to ensure smooth economic flow but did nothing to check the infectivity of the virus. As a result we are here.

People lie here and there dead in the streets, dead in thier homes. The whole planet turned into a freakin’ graveyard. All this for some big stashes of cash.

(Nancy coughs)

We, humans found pride in being the most intelligent species that we know. But we never realised that some of us were even dumber than a bag full of sand.....

(Nancy falls to the ground. The camera is still recording. But only her house’s walls could be seen. She finally died, of total organ failure.)

The King ordered to stop the video and ordered the scientist to dispose the camera. He told him that no one should know about this, that their new home will be built over the decayed bodies of humans.

On the day that followed, the King ordered the search party and some soldiers and builders to go to Alcr and then cleanse the planet so that they could set up a new kingdom there. They went and destroyed the houses, killed everything and then built new structures which resembled their home planet. And after about 3 months, the Alcans inhibited Earth and happily lived there after without knowing the tale of tragedy that left the planet lifeless.

last night i wanted

to ask a friend

if they would tell me

why i should stay

last night i almost

took off all thirty-five beads

on my one-bead-per-consecutive-day-of-no-

self-harm necklace

this morning i told a friend that

i had not been doing all right the

night before, and i was

honest

this morning i woke up to

thirty-five beads

on my necklace.

no blood, either.

There was once a girl

As glowing as the Sun

As white as Snow

She had a beautiful smile

And she was not

Hesitant to show it

She infected others with her happines

And stole many hearts with her beauty

And I was one of them

Her rosy cheeks and

Her beautiful face made me

Dream about her all night

But I could only imagine

If only she was mine...

yes! it’s finally here! buy now, while supplies are available! don’t miss a chance to get a hold of history!

no, it’s not the worst. Tom did not fail, as such. he got a C- . much better, in fact, than Roy, or Lucy.

it is not a monument to failure, as some have speculated.

no. when looking at this exam , one is caught with an intense desire to just give something and move on. the sheer, glaring..or rather the dull graying, mediocrity will fill you with wonder, as you go section by section, seeing here an ommited line, there an orphaned fill-in-the-blank. when you see the listening part, you will notice a sharp increase in focus and ability. don’t get confused though. Tom does not understand a word said to him. he managed this feat, not through his ears but by tilting his head 180° and focusing his sight carefuly. Andy is truly a good friend.

his winning streak was curtailed abruptly doing the writing segment, where he just wrote the first five numbers, then jumping to eight, which he mispelled. the topic, of writing by the way, was summer activities.

the exam does not hold the name of this academic star, however all other students did not neglect to sign their sheets. so it was not a great challenge.

all in all, a well-crafted half-assed attempt. much better than the run of the mill half ass attempts we’ve become accustomed to. the unified leader of humanity, at his early age.

don’t miss out.

I feel at the base of me

Pastel pink

The color of my toes

When they’re pruny

I steal away to sunsets

Where there's wax on the brink of burning

Like crayon-melt across the water

I find the sound of waves

Sublime

Muted in my mind

Maybe brighter than when -

Don’t look so long

I forget to drink

Dry my feet in the sand

As new waves crash around me

Soft-hued steps upon the shores

Grains stuck between the nooks

Of my cranial stores

My soles were made

For memory lanes ~

-----

@bykaileyann

HEDERAREADS.COM

I have a pet bird named Stewart. He's a pineapple green cheek conure and he's such a cute little guy. my history with Stewart is pretty strange, considering we bought him as an impulse buy. we went to PetSmart to look at the animals just for fun and we saw this little bird dancing and trying to fly. He would throw his food and toys in the air, trying to catch them with his little bird foot or in his beak. He would roll over onto his back and flail his little feet up in the air, rolling over again to dance and flap his wings. We got to meet him and ended up taking him home. For three years, this little bird hated me, biting me hard enough to bleed. when we got a new dog, he was kind of forgotten about, so I decided to take my chance and bond with him while my family was busy with our puppy. He's now my best friend, completely trusting me. he loves to do stuff with me, hanging out on my shoulder while I do the dishes (his favorite!!) or watch tv, or even play video games. He'll stand on my collarbone and snuggle up to my chin, often falling asleep. He's afraid of most things, especially bright/bold colors like white, yellow, pastel orange and baby blue. He loves playing with my hair, although sometimes he gets stuck. We listen to music together, he loves the Arctic Monkeys and the Beastie Boys the most. He just turned five years old last month ano he's still the quirky baby bird he was when we got him.

scatterbrained

guilty

numb

chaotic

blank

jumbled

everything

nothing

I observe them from my balcony as they fly across the sky. And truly, I envy them. They are free up there. Free to go wherever they want to go and whenever they want to go. I’ve always wanted to be a bird, to fly everywhere, and deeply inhale the sweet air of freedom and tranquility. But I’m not a bird. I’m just a man trapped in this horrible world of modern slavery and madness of humanity.

But I wish to fly…

Maybe I will soon…