It all started with a squid.
It may seem uncanny or odd (I sure thought it did), but the truth cannot be denied. And the truth was–it began with one lone squid. A squid that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But it wasn't because of the squid that humanity became the hellhole that it is now. No, that was caused by one fisherman who also happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But the true beginning of this squid's journey occurred two months before the fall of humanity.
As clichѐ as it sounds, this squid was no ordinary cephalopod. He was, in fact, a test squid that was used in scientific experiments which were dedicated to finding the cause of the rabies virus. The main scientist, Jerome Krause, wanted to determine which animal species were most susceptible to the virus. He began his tests in 1950 when I was seventeen. He tested many species, from elephants to salmon, eventually getting to this one unfortunate squid which would ultimately change the course of humanity forever.
As Dr. Krause was leading humanity to its demise by injecting a syringe containing the virus into the squid, I was completely ignorant to the devastation that was to come. Dr. Krause and his poor squid were stationed in an isolated laboratory in California, ten miles from the capitol. During this time, I was happily living my sad excuse of a life back home in Atlanta, Georgia. I was busy studying for my upcoming final exams when I heard that a Californian scientist's lab animal escaped from the laboratory. I didn't think much of it at the time–which I now regret doing–but I pitied the animals caged in such laboratories.
Meanwhile, out in the Pacific, a seemingly insignificant squid floated south towards the Gulf of Mexico. During its travels in the pacific, the squid had found itself attacking other sea life, most likely due to the rabies virus flowing in its system. Somewhere along the way–no one is quite sure when–this supposedly unimportant organism had found itself flying through a wave of rapids until it slammed into a coral reef. Once the squid had collided with the reef, it laid motionless for an hour or so as the world around it continued its normal life. But that hour was enough for another unfortunate event to unfold.
Little did the unlucky squid know, a family of starving parasites–later on named Jims–resided in the coral that the squid had fallen upon. Seeing their opportunity for a better life, the hundred or so parasites quickly made their way into the brain of the squid, rapidly taking over. The rabies virus and the parasites quickly formed a symbiotic relationship with one another; the parasites would help the virus find nutrients to feed the illness and the virus would allow the Jims to have control of the squid's body.
Later on, after the Mossers–named for their grotesque mossy scent–began roaming the streets, scientists had come to the conclusion that the rabies alone would not have the power to create these creatures, but paired with the quickly reproducing parasites, the disease was incredibly dangerous. Back in the ocean, the squid which was controlled by the rapidly increasing amount of these Jims, had finally reached the Gulf of Mexico after one full month of traveling. During its voyage, it had managed to bite and infect three other organisms with both the virus and the parasites. Whilst the squid was floating in the water, a very unlucky fisherman, Fineas Fischer, caught the squid in his fishing net, bringing the diseased squid onto land. Fischer had never caught a squid before so he quickly brought the squid back to his home in Alabama to show his family.
During his trip back home, he had been bitten by the angry squid, but Fischer thought nothing of it since he had never even seen a real squid before. He was in his truck, halfway to his house when signs of illness started to show themselves. Inside Fischer's body, hundreds of mini Jims, coupled with the rabies virus, started taking over Fischer's body. They went straight for the brain. It took a whole hour for the Jims to get to Fischer's brain, causing him to pass out behind the wheel. This led to a huge accident on the road. To the outside world, it looked like Fischer died on impact when his truck ran into a lightpost; I even heard about this accident on the News in Georgia. But the accident wasn't what killed Fischer. During that hour of the Jims taking control of Fischer's body, they had begun to slowly devour his brain cells, replacing them with the bacteria from the rabies virus. It took an hour to take over the first victim, Fischer, but the following attacks were quicker. The second took thirty minutes. The third took ten. The squid had died during the accident and Fischer was taken to a hospital so his family could claim his body.
When his family got to the hospital, they were surprised to see Fischer up and very much alive. But their joyful surprise didn't last long. Fischer's mother went to hug her poor son when Fischer suddenly started convulsing and contorting his body. Unsure of what to do or what was happening, his family summoned the doctor, hoping that he could help Fischer. But nothing could be done. When they turned to look at Fischer, he was no longer their son, but a slimy, brown humanoid figure with webbed claws and the face of a squid. The hospital was swiftly infested with these humanoid creatures since the newborn disease was highly contagious and a vaccine had yet to be created. Five hours after the hospital was taken over, so was the whole city. Six more hours after that, the entire state of Alabama was quarantined.
When I heard this story on the News a week or two later, I still wasn't quite sure what was actually happening a mere one state over from me. I later figured out that the government was actually withholding information from us as to what actually happened. We–as in the rest of the United States–were told that a riot had occurred and the rioters had turned violent. With the ongoing war in Korea, everyone assumed that it might've been a terrorist attack. But when these "rioters" started to make their way out of Alabama and into the surrounding states, the country soon realized that it wasn't a riot at all. After hearing of numerous reports of attacks by crazy cannibals, my family and I–being literally right next to Alabama–decided that it was best to travel north to my uncle's home in Virginia so as to escape the cannibals.
It wasn't until I came face to face with these so-called "cannibals" that I finally came to realize the severiority of the situation. With my father's truck packed tight and my mother, father, sister and I stuffed inside, we set off for Virginia to seek refuge. We were about halfway through South Carolina when we started to run out of gas. Luckily (or unluckily) there was a small gas station just up the road. My father told us to stay in the car while he went to buy us snacks from inside the store. My mother was standing outside the car, pumping gas into the vehicle. I don't quite remember what my sister and I were doing, but I have a feeling that I was studying again.
Suddenly I heard a chilling scream, scaring me out of concentration. I stared out the window, looking around for the source of the scream. I almost pissed my pants when I came face to face with a slimy humanoid squid. I stood still, scared shitless. I took a moment to look at the creature, noticing it's elongated fangs and webbed claws. I quickly grabbed my stunned sister, pulling her closer to me. I looked out the window again, realizing that the creature had disappeared. Remembering the scream, I looked around for the source. I saw a slowly increasing red substance on the ground and my mother stood over it. My terrified sister, seeing our mother, flew out of my hold, leapt out of the door, and ran straight for her. I sat still, scared and unsure of what to do. Suddenly our mother began convulsing and her body started changing, forming the same monster from a moment ago.
My sister, mere steps away from our mother–was that thing even our mother anymore?–let out a ear-splitting shriek as the creature jumped towards her. Before I could even move, my sister was sprawled on the ground, blood oozing from the wound on her neck that the creature had inflicted on her. My sister wasn't moving. She lay still, her arms splayed above her head and her head tilted back as if to scream for help. She twitched every now and again, almost as if she was still alive. I didn't know where my father was or if he was even still alive, but I knew that these weren't mere rioters and that if I wanted to survive I would have to run and fight. I prayed for my family before shutting the door and crawling to the front of the car then turning it on and driving away. I decided that I would continue to head towards Virginia. Maybe my uncle was still alive.
That all occurred when I was seventeen. Now I'm twenty and it's been three years since the Mossers took over. From what I know, the United States, Australia, and South America are the only countries that have been infected by the Mossers. The other two countries were most likely infected because of the two sea creatures that the first squid infected on his travels to the Gulf of Mexico. The Korean War ended this year and the members of the military have returned to the U.S. without a shred of knowledge as to what had occurred while they were gone. I pity them, but in this type of world, I only have time to take care of myself. On my way to Virginia, I had come to realize that destroying the Mossers' head was the only way to kill them.
I arrived in Virginia a year ago, hoping for any signs of survivors, but I was incredibly disappointed when I realized that everything here was just as dead as everywhere else. I quickly made my way to my uncle's house, finding that he, too, was a rotting corpse. I decided to stay in my uncle's house for a bit, remembering that he had a shotgun and ammunition stowed away in his basement. After two weeks of basically ridding the town of all of its resources, I decided that I needed to keep moving. I grabbed my uncle's car, and started driving west towards Ohio. I noticed that it was a better idea to avoid highly populated areas like New York so I decided to stick to the countryside. And that's where I now reside.
I've been happily living here in Columbus, Ohio for about two months. Well, as happily as anyone can live in the middle of an apocalypse. I am currently roaming around the town I live in, hoping to find any sort of useful equipment. I realized that I had basically stripped this town of all of its resources, so I decided to travel further out of town. About a mile or two out, I came across a hospital. Normally I would avoid hospitals because they are usually highly populated–and the disease basically originated in a hospital–but I determined that this building was far enough away from any majorly populated cities so it should be relatively safe. Even so, I brought my shotgun with me just in case I came across any Mossers. Walking cautiously slow, but still hurried, I entered the hospital.
I began to look around, aiming to find some medical items for future use. I continued walking around the first floor for about twenty minutes before I decided to venture up to the second flood. Entering the second floor hallway, I was quickly forced to cover my mouth with my maroon scarf. The smell of death was far too potent for me to handle. I had smelled some bad shit since the beginning of this catastrophe, but this was insane. There was blood literally everywhere. Bodies that had not yet turned were littered across the floor at nearly every step I took.
"The first floor was nowhere near as bad as this crap…" I whispered to myself in awe.
Suddenly I faintly heard footsteps sounding from down the hall. I quickly hid behind the corner. It sounded like the footsteps were coming towards the staircase I had just come from. I couldn't tell what was the owner of the footsteps. Could it be a survivor? It didn't sound like a Mosser; the footsteps were far too quiet. A few moments later, heavy footsteps joined the quiet ones. That was a Mosser. Suddenly both feet came to a stop a few feet away from me. Did the Mosser not kill the survivor yet? I could probably save them if I wanted to, but that would mean risking my life. I decided to peek from around the corner to check on the scene. From what I could see, a man with raven black hair in a hospital outfit was staring face to face with a Mosser.