As Breath is Taken Away

When they first saw a bubble in the sky, they laughed and joked.

It had stayed in the sky, hovering ominously over the city-

And they grew nervous. Then, overnight things changed.

When they looked up, the people in the city couldn't see it. The bubble had vanished and everything was as it should be-

Until loyal employees failed to show up for work. Until employers realized their employees seemed more tired than normal and were rubbing their forehead more.

Until their third shift help call off, claiming that they hadn’t been able to get a bit of sleep.

The questions didn't start until sunset that night.

They were already a thousand meters above sea level.

By the next morning, they had an answer- the bubble that they had laughed at just two days prior and, while they slept, swallowed - for lack of better term - the city.

The city itself found out in the morning news-

People panicked. Some find the edge of the land held within the bubble-

And tried to jump.

Only to learn that the bubble itself was solid. They couldn't pass through it.

Next people tried to shoot their way out, but the bubble seemed to eat the bullets.

Outside airplanes tried to approach the city only for the first to crash into the bubble-

The people inside remained perfectly unharmed. Those in the airplane had more luck.

Many people kept inside while they waited to see what would happen outside-

Headaches got worse.

Everyone began to have trouble breathing, there were hundreds of thousands of people with asthma who nearly died because of an asthma attack-

And almost as many who did die.

Everyone felt so tired they could barely stay away and yet-

They couldn’t fall asleep.

By the time the sun had set, they were two thousand meters above sea level, and over four hundred thousand people had died.

When the sun rose on the third day, doctors began by checking the altitude they’re at and realizing that nothing they do for their patients will matter if they keep rising.

The directors of the hospitals make a conference call and they discuss what they ought to do next.

They come to the conclusion that they much end the suffering of those still alive in the hospitals.

The first to give up on the city and survival are the very people who should be fighting tooth and nail to save as many as they could.

Outside people are well and truly panicking. They have lost their coordination only to gain nausea and feel their strength fading from them-

Without a way to get food in as their elevation steadily climbs, it’s the altitude sickness that keeps the people from rioting -

Instead, the youngest and healthiest are sent out to collect food - whether they have to take it from their neighbors. No matter the cost-

Soon there is no teenager without blood on his hands. Most banded with their friends-

By the end of the third day, they are 3,000 meters above sea level, and over two million have died.

By darn on the fourth day, the young wake to find that the elderly have either passed away in their sleep, or they have fallen into a coma.

Those that find friends or family members in a coma follow the example that the hospital set-

They kill them.

At this point, there are some families who were unable to get food but survived because they could defend their own-

Some of them ran out and send their young out in a desperate search.

They came back empty-handed but for a human corpse.

Some don’t even come back with that.

By the end of the fourth day, they are 4,000 meters above sea level, and half of New York City’s population is no more.

By the fifth day, there’s not a single person in New York City who can stand. There’s not a single person who can think clearly-

There are some who cough up blood and other fluids.

One teenager checks warily to see how much they have risen overnight-

When he looks up and sees that the translucent bubble around them seems weaker-

And then the ground beneath him drops.