The World of Myth Magazine

The night before she was set to take an expedition to South America, Salvation Rivers had a nightmare. It was one that chilled her to the bone. Looking back, she realized it was a premonition of what was coming. A vision of the end of the world. During the plane ride, she lurked in the back as the rest of the anthropology crew laughed. Deep in the pit of her stomach as they flew high above the trees she had this overwhelming fear. Something was down there. Something was waiting. The plane landed on a side where her professor claimed there were no hostile natives. What he didn’t know was why. The area was eerily silent. There wasn’t even the sound of birds or monkeys swinging from tree to tree. However, despite the eeriness that surrounded them Professor Markley insisted that they continue. Just a few weeks prior his wife had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease. Now he was on a mission to find a plant that may cure her. It had been the mission of every professor Salvation had worked under to find a cure for many diseases. Whether it be AIDs, Multiple Sclerosis, or some other crippling disease. But what they didn’t expect was to find something so horrifying that it would change the course of their lives.

There were twelve of them on the journey and the only ones Salvation associated with were Maria, Benjamin, and T-Boy. The one she despised the most was Shane who was desperate to one day be the leader. As they were making their way through the thick brush they came upon a village. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the villagers were all dead and had attacked one another. Each one had a piece of the spear sticking out of their skull. Professor Markley immediately ordered them away. He believed that there may possibly be a contagion. As they backed away Salvation noticed Shane snapping pictures. She nudged T-Boy who ordered Shane away. However, Shane’s cockiness resulted in him cutting himself on a piece of the spear. He wiped the blood on his jeans and continued behind them. There was no point in telling anyone for they knew he would only start trouble.

Finally, they made it to a beautiful waterfall where Professor Markley found the plant he had been looking for. While he was gathering pieces of the plants both Maria and Salvation were drawn to a beautiful violet-colored plant hiding behind a rock. After carefully putting on a pair of medical gloves they gathered as much of it as they could. Perhaps it would hold the key to an unknown cure. As they made their way back to the plane Salvation couldn’t help but think of the village. Something had happened to those people. Something had driven them to commit genocide. On the flight home, the normally chatty Shane was laying in the back. As he wiped the sweat from his brow Salvation couldn’t help but notice that his one finger was turning black. Both she and Maria immediately looked at one another before notifying Professor Markley. He tried to question Shane about the cut only to be shot down.

There was a change in Shane and one that frightened her. Though Professor Markley had ordered Shane to seek medical attention he was angered to find that the young man had snuck out the back. As she stood and watched the back door open and close Salvation couldn’t help but worry about what was to come. If Shane had cut his finger in the village then he could have very well picked up a contagion and it turned out her gut feeling was right. It only took a matter of days for the virus to spread. It came so quickly that the CDC couldn’t keep up. Markley had been too afraid to get a sample of the mummified corpses. Therefore, they had nothing to link them to what happened in the jungle. The only thing they did have was the body of an infected man who had been gunned down. Salvation was right in that it was indeed a contagion that killed off sections of the brain. The parts it left behind were rage and hunger. As cities were bombed the group hid in an underground bunker. There was no time to save their families. The end was here and now all they could do was try to figure out how to come up with a vaccine or cure. Salvation found herself chosen to go with T-Boy to salvage for food. As they stepped into the danger zone all around them was chaos.

Fires, panic in the street, and pure terror. What they saw were people who had turned into rabid zombies. Their eyes were bleeding, and their faces were covered with black spores. As they snuck into a grocery store they found themselves face-to-face with some of the infected. For the first time in her life, Salvation had to grab whatever weapon she could find and begin fighting. She had never seen so much blood and carnage. Once she and T-Boy had killed all of the infected they began filling their bags with food and supplies. However, as they began to leave they found hordes of infected outside. T-Boy motioned to the ceiling above and together they began making their way to the top of the shelves. As they did the infected pounded harder and harder against the door.

Finally, they reached the ceiling and climbed up through the tiles. With his flashlight in hand, T-Boy instructed her to stay on the metal beams and head toward the back of the store. Below she could hear that the infected had made their way in and were going crazy. Though she was beyond terrified of falling through to her death she kept her mind focused on following T-Boy. Finally, they came to an opening and snuck through. It was pure hell getting back to the bunker and she could hear the screams of those needing help. But both she and T-Boy knew that they couldn’t risk it. As the months went by the state of the world became the new normal. Camps were set up for those not ill with the guards keeping the infected out. As they did Salvation and Maria worked tirelessly to come up with a vaccine. There was no one to turn to as Professor Markley had been bitten and turned quite some time back. Now both women had to rely on one another. Finally, they decided to experiment on the purple plants and used it as an injection on one of the soldiers and prayed for it to take.

The soldier was then led to a patient who was starting to turn and after being bitten he was placed in a glass cell. Salvation studied him for days and just when she was starting to feel hopeful he turned. Feeling defeated she began to wonder if she was meant to be stuck in this hellish torture. Finally, she looked at T-Boy and decided to come up with a plan. Despite the military having a strict hold on the camp both of them needed to sneak out. Their plane still had fuel and they had plenty in the back. If they could just get back to the island and take a sample of the contagion then maybe they could figure out what it was. She knew it was a deadly mission that would most likely get her killed but at that moment she was willing to do anything. They snuck off in the night through an underground passage and boarded the plane. She knew it was a long shot but as the plane lifted in the air the only thing she saw was chaos. People eating and ripping other people apart. Those infected were now lost souls and as they made their way back to the jungle she couldn’t help but seethe with anger. If only Shane hadn’t been so cocky. If only he had listened when they told him to stay away from the infected village. But there was no point in “What if.” It was done and now the world was a dark and terrifying place. They had just arrived on the island when the angry natives began fighting them off. There was no other way to the island. The natives had ensured the infection would not spread to their tribe. T-Boy and Salvation made their way back to the bunker and found that Maria had finally created a vaccine that seemed to work. The only problem was that it only worked on certain people. Others it killed through flu-like symptoms. After watching T-Boy and Benjamin die after getting the vaccine Salvation wasn’t willing to take a chance. She knew this was the world now. Some would live and some would die. Their bunkers were more like prisons and as she watched the cycle of life continue on one end and decay on the other she knew that no matter what side she stood on she would always be a prisoner.

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