Children of the Plague

Chapter 1: The Sign

The moon illuminated the fields like a lone beacon in the night as Arturo and I were heading home after dinner with friends. Under that starry mantle, we did not suspect the darkness looming over us.

It was Arturo who found it: a dying, misshapen stray cat in the backyard. Its black sores oozed a viscous liquid that gave off a sweetish smell, like rot and moisture.

"Poor creature," Arturo murmured as he dug its grave, "I hope you find peace."

That night, as we watched the news before going to sleep, he mentioned the incident. We didn't make much of it. How we would later regret it!

Chapter 2: The Growing Shadow

The next morning, Arturo was still at the breakfast table, pale and trembling. He had overslept and would be late for work, very unlike him.

"Are you sick?" I asked.

He nodded weakly, complaining of nausea and fever. I insisted he stay home, but he refused for fear of losing his job.

When I came back that afternoon, I found him curled up shaking on the couch, wrapped in blankets despite the stifling heat in the apartment. He had come home early, too sick to continue. Now I too lay in the jaws of the beast.

The days wore on between feverish nightmares, with a heaviness in my chest like quicksand sucking me into darkness. Our bodies weakened quickly.

We should have gone to the doctor, but Arturo's insurance had expired. We naively thought it was just a matter of time before we improved. Time, alas, time...so valuable and fleeting.

Chapter 3: The Thing at the Door

I awoke in the dead of night to Arturo's screams downstairs. I rushed down the stairs, steadying myself along the walls to avoid fainting. The door to his room was inexplicably jammed.

"Open up!" I cried desperately, ramming my shoulder against the wood.

Inside there was a struggle, and Arturo's screams were joined by...another voice? Whose?

Panic overtook me, but I had to break down that door. Just as it was giving way, an eerie silence flooded the house.

"Arturo! Arturo!" I shouted torn, but only my echo answered.

Stumbling, I went down to the backyard, just in time to glimpse a shadow dragging Arturo towards the fields. I ran after it under the moonlight, out of breath but determined to save my friend from the horror stalking him.

What was that thing? The truth, I would soon find out, and ever since echoes of that day haunt me at night, in dreams, like a virus of the soul.

Chapter 4: Crossing the Threshold

I chased the shadow under the starry sky, nearly catching up before something strange happened. A doorway of light materialized before us, and the creature crossed into it with Arturo.

An irresistible force pulled me after them. Suddenly, everything was darkness and silence.

I awoke naked and disoriented in a white cell, facing three peculiar creatures. They were moth-like, with glowing markings on their garments that seemed to dance.

They used a screen to communicate, explaining they came from another planet. They had detected a lethal plague and wanted to cure us. But in my confusion, they tried to take Arturo away.

"Don't take him, you fiends!" I shouted, but to no avail. I saw him struggling, then a gunshot, and his lifeless body collapsed before my eyes.

Filled with rage, I grabbed a weapon from the fallen creature and fired until the barrel burned my hand. The leader, across the glass, dodged my bullets, but two of his kind lay writhing in a glowing blue puddle.

I fainted with the metallic scent of blood in my nose and a hole in my soul. If the universe was this cold and cruel, I was only starting to grasp it.

Chapter 5: Unsettling Truths

I awoke again on the ship, weaker than before. The leader approached and explained the truth via his screen.

They came from a distant galaxy. Centuries ago they had visited Earth during the Black Plague trying to help humanity. Now that same plague had resurfaced after finding an infected animal near our home - likely that dying cat Arturo had buried.

We were dying. I barely had a day left to live. They sought the cure but were prohibited from giving it to us, as humanity was not yet ready to know them.

I realized then they were not monsters, but noble beings beyond human greed. They even cried for their fallen comrades and regretted Arturo's death. They had prevented me from seeking aid to avoid spreading the plague.

As sleep overcame me again, the extraterrestrial gently placed his hand over mine across the glass. I apologized for what had happened. He said they bore me no grudge, but feared they might never return, for our world was dangerous to beings like them.

With that grim revelation weighing on my mind, my eyes closed, perhaps forever.

Chapter 6: Legacy

I awoke once more on the damp backyard grass, too feeble to get up. I knew the aliens didn't want me spreading the plague, so they had returned me here to die alone.

With what little strength I had left, I crawled to Arturo's typewriter and typed these words, drop by drop of my withering soul.

I wanted the world to know we are not alone, that out there exist well-meaning beings eager to aid us. But in our ignorance we spurn them, and perhaps they have now departed forever.

I hope this manuscript survives. The pen slips from my numb fingers as life trickles from my body. I can only hope humanity will one day be ready to embrace those creatures, should they return. Until then, the stars will keep watching us, in their eternal, impassive cosmic vigil.