Chương 2: Maggots, Maggots, Maggots!

For a brief moment, after the biggest building in Chicago sank into the ground, everyone just stood there. You'd think it would be an instant freak-out, like in disaster movies, but no. It was as if everyone needed a collective second to reboot their brains and process what they'd just seen. One of the tallest buildings in the country had just… sunk. Straight down into the Earth like God had removed the plug from the drain at the bottom of the world.

A gust of putrid, warm air erupted from the hole, like the planet's ass blasted a hot one directly into my face. The stench of what I could only assume was Satan's asshole rode the shockwave of air, trapping the city in the world's biggest Dutch oven. Rotten, tainted wind exploded outward, causing windows to burst in cascading waves, raining glass down on the street like glittery razors. Every car alarm for miles lost its mind simultaneously in a barrage of beeps and honks. A debris cloud hit next.

Glass, dust, soil, and anything else not pinned down came flying. Bracing myself for gritty dirt, I jumped when something soft hit my cheek instead. It was wet, unidentifiable, and gone before I could process it. The wall of dust engulfed everything, debris painfully pelting my skin. I twisted my body away from the blast, arms shielding my head, eyes closed, choking on grit. A new moist sensation moved across my arm as the cloud cleared.

It was a finger-thick bead of spoiled milk, the color of yellow teeth, slithering down my wrist. No, that's not right. It quickly telescoped its way from my wrist toward my elbow, one part of its body sliding into the other. I shrieked and flicked it off. Instantly brushing off the rest of me and shaking out my hair. Gone. For half a second, I thought that was it until I spotted more of the little things undulating on the café's tabletops and chairs. And on the ground. And on other people.

Tre's hand clasped mine as the street erupted into madness. A couple of businessmen, suits covered in layers of dust, dropped their briefcases and ran. They nearly crashed into a lady at the crosswalk, who snatched her baby out of its stroller just as one of the men smashed it aside. He continued on without a glance back. Shoppers spilled onto the sidewalk, colliding with people already on the street. Seconds later, the office buildings vomited out their occupants, accelerating the pandemonium.

Cars either slammed on their brakes or gas, I suppose it all depended on what kind of person was behind the wheel. Both actions added to the disarray, but the cars that floored it through crowds of fleeing pedestrians were certainly being driven by a certain kind of person. Screams and alarmed cries came from every direction, surrounding us. Tre pulled me close, and we stood near our table, frozen as the city devolved into chaos around us.

I couldn't stop looking at the broken skyline, my brain kept trying to paste the missing building back in, like maybe if I blinked enough times, it would reappear. Chicago without the Sears Tower wasn't Chicago. Tre coughed and gagged beside me, one arm heavy across my shoulders.

"Nora… we—" I couldn't hear the rest, because the sound of rain on leaves, but meatier, started emanating from the wound in the ground. An endless stream of those white things bubbled up from the gaping maw where the skyscraper had been. The same thing I'd just flicked off my arm. Maggots. Millions and millions of tiny maggots oozed down the pavement in thick, ropey streams, turning the asphalt into a writhing, slithering carpet.

"Maggots!" I screamed.

"Actually, if you look at the segmentation on their—""Tre!" I shrieked, clawing at my hair where something cold and wet squirmed against my scalp.

"FUCK segmentation!"

"Just saying!" Rancid oatmeal rained from the sky, as the maggots, or whatever they were, blanketed the city. They dripped from the trees, hanging like pale ropes that swayed in the wind. One smacked into a guy's head. He yelped, batting at it, but it was already disappearing down his collar, burrowing under his shirt. A sewer grate exploded. Then another. And another. White, wriggling bodies blasted into the air from underground.

They splattered across the pavement, across parked cars, across people who'd been standing too close. The stink of human waste and wet dog slapped across my face. My gag reflex saluted. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Across the street, a woman in a crisp navy suit stood still on the sidewalk, holding a Starbucks cup halfway to her lips, as all around her, people screamed and shoved and ran.

She looked down to see a whitish clump of maggots (they looked like maggots, cut me a break) had fallen onto the plastic lid of her cup. They writhed in a knot, blind and hungry, squirming toward the sip hole. That got her moving. She unleashed a scalding, high-pitched shriek as the cup flew from her hands, coffee and maggots exploding across the pavement, white wriggling through the brown. The Starbucks lady sprinted away, heels clicking against asphalt until one of them snapped.

She went down hard, palms scraping concrete. Then the maggots found her.

"Look, Mom!" The small, excited voice came from a kid, maybe seven, tugging his mother's sleeve and pointing at a storm drain a few feet away. His face was lit up like he'd just found buried treasure. The drain was bubbling. Frothing. White bodies boiling up from the dark like some kind of horrible science experiment. His mom started to pull him back, but she was too slow.

"Honey, don't—" A wave of maggots hit his sneakers, silencing the mom. The boy giggled. Actually giggled. Like it was funny, or maybe he couldn't process what was happening. I don't know how kids work, but then they were on his shins. His thighs. Climbing as the giggle died in his throat. He shrieked, batting at them. But there were too many. They swarmed his torso and up his neck. His mom lunged, grabbing his face, clawing the things away in frantic handfuls.

But for every one she ripped free, ten more took their place. She was screaming his name over and over: "Ryan! Ryan!" My feet were frozen. My brain was screaming: Do something! Help him! Move! The kid opened his mouth to scream— Tre pulled my arm hard enough that I thought it would pop from the socket.

"Nora." His voice was clipped, urgent.

"We gotta go. Now." Suddenly, we were running. Well... Tre was. I was a piece of meat he dragged behind him. White maggoty rain kept falling from above. Fat, wet snowflakes hit my hair, my shoulders, squirming against my scalp. I screeched, shaking my head like a dog drying off. My fingers caught one cold, slick, and disgustingly alive. I flung it away with a full-body shudder.

Beside me, Tre thrashed at his curls, a continuous stream of "fuck fuck fuck FUCK" as pallid clumps hit the pavement and wriggled away, and I had to fight the urge to stomp every single one into paste.

"My car!" I gasped. This time, I grabbed his arm and dragged him forward. We staggered down the block, dodging people and those things. Hell, it felt like we were attempting to dodge the whole fucking apocalypse. Behind us, brakes screeched. A CTA bus fishtailed, tires shrieking against pavement. The driver jerked the wheel. Too hard, and the whole thing jackknifed. The metal frame screamed as the bus landed on its side, momentum carrying it on a bed of sparks right into a storefront.

The front half punched through the window display, obliterating mannequins and clothing racks. Through the fractured windows, bodies were being tossed around like Bingo balls. The driver slumped over the wheel, blood dripping from his head in a steady stream. Sparks showered from severed wires, catching on fabric. Flames leaped up, hungry and fast.

"Come on!" Tre barked, wrenching me away from seeing more. We ran past an alley that a man was staggering out of. He was covered head to toe in writhing white. His skin rippled. His milky eyes bulged, and when he opened his mouth to speak, more of them spilled out.

"Don't stop!" Tre shouted, pulling me away from the man. I didn't. Because if I did, I'd have to think about the fact that we'd just left a man to die. But everyone was fleeing the area to save themselves. Including us. It was easier than I expected. Or liked. We kept going. The high-pitched scream of failing engines jerked my attention to the sky in time to see an airplane tilted at an impossible angle, one wing trailing fire.

A shooting star against the gray clouds in the air, it glided, almost graceful, before the nose dipped. It vanished behind the high rises. The blast hit moments later. A fireball bent the air, rattling my teeth. Somewhere in the distance, metal shrieked and concrete crumbled.

"This way!" I shouted, directing Tre toward my parking spot. Through the smoke and dust, what was left of the skyline emerged. Buildings were bleeding white as rivers of maggots cascaded down the sides like waterfalls. The whole city was unraveling, street by street, block by block, falling apart in real time. If this is happening here, what about everywhere else? Oak Park. Evanston. Beyond Illinois? Was the whole planet cracking open at the same time? Was there anywhere left that was safe? Was this the end of…

everything? We rounded the corner to find my car half-buried in ash, her dark green paint muted to gray. Relief hit me so hard I almost sobbed. I slid the key into the lock on my first try and felt a moment of pride for not fumbling like an idiot, then smashed the unlock button and threw myself into the driver's seat, slamming the door behind me. Tre flung the passenger door open and pulled a similar move. Cocooned in the safety of glass and steel, we both took a breath.

Sure, it was only a thin layer of protection between us and extinction, but it felt like salvation. I gasped for air, hands shaking so hard I could barely grip the steering wheel. Tre slammed his palm on the dashboard, sucking air into his lungs.

"What the fuck?!"

"I don't know, I don't know," I panicked.

"Are they on me?! Check! Check!" I did a half turn one way and then the other.

"You're good," he huffed, still catching his breath.

"Do meeeeeeeeh…" Tre moaned loudly, eyes rolled deep enough to only show the white part. He collapsed forward. The crack of his skull against the dashboard punched the air from my lungs.

"Tre!" I grabbed his shoulders, shaking him.

"Tre, wake up!" He didn't move. I had to get the car started and head to the hospital. Something cold brushed the back of my neck. I froze. My hand crept up, fingers trembling, until they met a wet, pulsing strand sliding through my hair; thin as a pinkie, muscles flexing under a body that felt like it was coated in snot.

"Oh fuck!" I clawed at my scalp, nails scraping skin. But the thing quickly slithered away, its slimy body slipping between my fingers as it zipped along my temple.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!" It was too fast. And slimy. And… The maggot plunged into my ear. My own screams sounded muffled. I jammed a finger in after it, but it slid deeper, unstoppable. Please no please no please — Then it struck something solid. A wet pop exploded in my eardrum. Blistering pain detonated through my head, firing in every direction like grenade shrapnel. The world collapsed into a scarlet tunnel as it burrowed deeper, wet body squirming against places that should never be touched.

I made a sound that folded in on itself, but I could barely hear it over the wet scraping inside my head. Then everything went black.