6 Chapter 5 The Awakening 02
Scrolling through the article, John started breathing heavier and bits of sweat rolled down his forehead.
The article, dated in January of 2019, read. "Black Blood Disease" is what the doctors and nurses of Granger's Public Hospital named this mysterious illness, that plagued a handful of their patients."
A picture followed after the paragraph. It was of a man in his upper 30's whose sclera were black and dark veins spreading across his face, a slimy black liquid covering his chest and scantily spreading up along his neck and chin. The patient, hooked up to a ventilator, looked to be in pain, pale and severely underweight, to the point that his bones were printed out under his skin.
A video followed next. It was titled "Live footage of Black Blood Disease".
John clicked on the video.
In the video frame was the same man, but less underweight and eyes closed. He was still hooked up to the ventilator and strung up with tubes.
"How is he? Is it getting any better?" a doctor spoke, stepping into frame.
"Unfortunately, no. It's only gotten worse". A nurse in a blue suit followed behind the doctor, "Also, his red blood is less than before."
"Red blood less than before? Tell me more." The doctor stood next to the patient reading a clipboard.
"When we drew his blood… there's a strange mixture of black and red". The nurse answered.
"What did the lab results say?" The doctor put away the clipboard.
"Well… they identified the black stuff as blood cells but it's also the cause for the patient's condition."
"What?! I'll see it for myself". The doctor took up a syringe from the table next to him and inserted it into the patient's arm, "Oh Wow! It really is true."
The injected syringe had a mixture of black and red. There was more black liquid than red. It was in the ratio of 6:4.
"Oh no!" The nurse inched closer to the syringe. "There wasn't that little amount of red blood last time".
"What is this? Some kind of new degenerative disease?" doctor stared at the syringe in dread and confusion.
"What should we do Doc?" the nurse asked.
"I'm not sure… Wait! Have you tried blood transfusion yet?" The doctor looked to the nurse.
"I'm sorry, but there isn't any available for his blood type. I can have some delivered, but that will take a few days, sir." The nurse answered.
"Tsk!" the doctor clicked his teeth, "That won't do. He'll be dead before then."
"I'm sorry Doc but that's all I can-"
Cutting into their conversation, was the alarming beeping sound coming from the life support machine.
"His vitals are spiking up!" The doctor looked at the machine.
"Urgh! Argh! Hmph!"
The patient started having a seizure. His body shaking violently.
"Quick! Hold him down!" The doctor rushed to the patient, pressing down his body against the bed. "Help! We need assistance."
Other nurses rushed into the room to help calm the situation.
"Inject the anaesthesia! Now!"
Immediately after the injection, the patient slowly calmed down. The vital sign monitor went back to normal and everyone in the room eventually became at ease. But just as the nurses who rushed in to help were about to leave, black liquid started gushing out of the patient's ears, eyes, nose and mouth then his vitals went flat.
The people present in the room took a few steps back out of fear while the black liquid flooded the floor then the video ended.
"F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!" John's heart began to drum in his chest and his skin was hot. "Why! When did I– How did this happen to me?!"
John glanced back at the screen and saw the subheading: "Signs of Black Blood Disease."
In hopeful doubt, he scrolled down. It read: "Many of the patients were reported to have similar signs and symptoms such as blackout fevers lasting between 4-10 days, weakness, sudden weight loss, repeated hunger pangs and dehydration. The symptoms that alarmed them to seek medical attention were the coughing and leaking of a black liquid, open wounds that leaked black and red blood, black scleras and strange, maddening dreams".
The last thing John wanted to find out, was if it's infectious. If so, he might have infected his father but the article read otherwise.
"While doctors have concluded that "Black Blood Disease" isn't communicable, they are unaware of its possible long-term or short-term effects and evolution capabilities. If you show signs or symptoms of this illness, please report to your nearest local hospital for a check-up."
John closed the tab, leaning back in his chair, staring at the ceiling and hands dropped to his side.
"Hahaha! I caught some weird disease and now I'm gonna die." John laughed to himself as a tear rolled down his face. "This has to be a prank, right?"
Suddenly, John's stomach growled at him. It was now 3:12. More than 6 hours had passed since he last ate. He picked up the phone and ordered some Jango's pizza in hopes it would cure his saddened state.
"Cheese sticks and three large stuffed crust pizzas. One cheese and the other two pepperoni. Bring them to Hansen apartment complex, the room number is 14." John requested.
"Thank you, sir. Your order will arrive in the next hour." The caller replied.
To pass the hour, John played a few multiplayer games, but between losing and having strangers raging into their mics, he couldn't care less. Closing the game, he went on Youtube and watch a few short skits before typing in the search bar "Black Blood Disease".
Over 2000 videos popped up as the search results. Hundreds of the videos were about Sickle Cell, black lung disease, the black plague and other things, but just as John was about to close YouTube, something caught his attention. The same man who was in the article showed up on the thumbnail of a video titled "My blood is black???"
John instantly clicked on the video but was met with an age confirmation request that warned him about blood being in the video. He immediately confirmed his age and moved on. The 15-minute video had only 27 views and was dated back in June 25th, 2017 by the Youtube channel named "Sammy Davis"
The video started with the guy happily ranting about a sudden 30-pound weight loss after a weird 6-day blackout fever. John skipped through the video to where his tone soon changed. He started talking about nightmares that he would have every so often, frequent headaches, weird hunger pangs and constant dehydration. John was even more drawn into the video upon hearing those words.
Towards the end of the video, when he spoke about "his eye colour getting dark" and "black liquid in his blood", it made John's hair stand straight. During the last minute of the video, he cut his finger and recorded the blood draining onto the tissue. As the blood collected, bits of black was spotted on the tissue.
"Uh, yeah, so that's what it looks like. I asked my doctor what it was, but he didn't know sh*t either." The guy in the video stated, zooming in the camera. "Dude just told me to go to the hospital if it gets worse. What a f*cking waste of money that was! What the hell did I pay you for if you're just gonna send me to the hospital, anyway?!"
The video abruptly ended and John scrolled down to the comments section.
Bacon boy: "first! Lmao." -2017
Onion_nipples: "Get well bro." -2017
Dandy: "Wait, is this real?" -2018
Brolin: "FAKE!" -2017
Darth Vader's sugar daddy: "The first 30 seconds was enough for me to stop watching. Bye." -2017
Twinkle toes: "I swear to God if this turns into another pandemic! I'm done with earth." -2020
User Name: "This better be fake." -2017
Mad Max: "Yow! My friend has the same thing! Is it contagious?" -2018
Baby Yoda: "Who's seeing this video after reading the article? Suspicious?" -2019
Deez nuts: "I'm scared. I accidentally cut myself and there's black in my blood. What should I do? I don't wanna die. Please help." -2021
John's body temperature raised, shirt soaking in sweat, and his hands trembled while he read through the comments. He wasn't alone! And It wasn't a prank!
Immediately, he rushed to the kitchen and pulled out a knife from a drawer.
"Please, don't be black! Don't be black! Don't be black! Anything but black! Please, God!"
He breathed hard, menacingly inching the blade closer with shaky hands about to cut himself above the sink, but just as he was about to find out the truth something happened...
"Knock! Knock!"
Someone was at the door.
John's heart nearly climbed out his chest in terror. Which dumbass would frighten him when he was so stressed out?
"Jango's pizza delivery!" A male voice shouted.
John dropped the knife in the sink and took deep breaths to calm himself.
Hearing no response, the delivery guy knocked again.
"Knock! Knock!"
"Jango's pizza delivery! Anyone home?"
"Ah, I'm coming! Gimme a sec!" John shouted in response.
Hurrying to his room for the money, he soon rushed to the hall.
"Uh, sorry for the hold-up." John opened the door. "I was just searching for your tip."
"No problem, man. I appreciate it." The guy gave John a thumbs up. "Uh, stuffed cheesy sticks, three large pizzas. One cheese, two pepperoni, right?"
"That's right. Here's the money and your tip, bro." John took the three boxes and handed him the money.
Just as John was about to close the door the delivery guy asked him something that sent chills down his spine.
"Hey, those contacts look cool."
"Contacts?" John looked back at him.
"Yeah, those dark sclera ones kinda remind me of Tokyo Ghoul. Where'd you buy–"
"They're sold out, bye!" John cut him off and quickly slammed the door.
He dropped the box of pizzas to the ground and dashed to the bathroom.
"No! No! No! Why's it happening again?" John pulled back his eyelids in panic.
Rolling around his eyes, he could see the white in his eyes turned black, his iris purple and obsidian veins stretching from his eyes and slowly spreading out across his face.
John started frantically washing his eyes with tap water, hoping it would go away but it was to no avail. He stepped back from the mirror, panicking and frightened at what he saw, then suddenly…
"Ahhh!!!"John screamed out, dropping to his knees while gripping his aching head.
Unexpectedly, all his senses became super sensitive and his heart rate spiked. The sounds in the apartment flooded his ears. Dogs barking, water flowing through the pipes, televisions playing, people chatting, cars driving and babies crying all drummed into his brain at once. He could see the smallest ant up close from far away. His skin became sensitive, feeling every shift in the air pressure. His nose sensed every specific ingredient in the pizza, toilet scent, the chlorine in the tap water and the paint on the walls.
The vast overload of sensory information was too much for his brain to instantly handle all at once. His vision faded to black as he passed out on the bathroom floor.
