The Doombug

Approved (I hope!) by John bull 1
Collaborative Fiction: The Doombug

This is my first, I hope you like it. If you wish to add please do, you must be 'Writer' to add, additions no more than 500 words!
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There it was, New York City. I stared down at it from my plane window. A shudder fell down my spine as I remembered the devastating events of September 11. It was quite early, and I was almost at my destination, the sun was just rising. I sat back and stared at the small plasma screen in my seat. Just half an hour. I stared out the window again and focused on the Chrysler building. But there was something behind it, something moving. I made it out to be another plane, but wait�a fighter jet? It was going at an amazing speed and heading straight toward our plane. I quickly pressed the button to call a stewardess. She came. �What is it?� she said, but my eyes were still on the plane. �Oh my god!� exclaimed someone in front of me, and I knew exactly what they had seen. The plane dropped a small black object and quickly jerked up and flew over our plane. I watched in horror as the black ball-shaped object dropped to the ground. It went behind a building. That one-second we waited before the bomb dropped was unbearable. We heard nothing behind the sound of the humming engines, but we felt the plane shake, and we saw the horror. A silent light-green beam spread across the ground, and quickly retracted. The second it went back a massive black explosion happened, sweeping the whole of the city. We saw it for about 4 seconds before the plane was blown away. Everyone was screaming as we tossed and turned, it stayed like that for a minute or so, all of us fearing death. Suddenly things were in vision again as I managed to look out the window. I shouted out, we were falling. I closed my eyes and waited. A huge scraping noise and a big bump happened as we landed. Landed? I thought, how can it be? The plane eventually came to a halt. I vomited, from the horrible turbulence. I undid my seat belt with a shaking hand and got up. There were some more survivors, apart from me. I walked down the isle of the plane and got to the door. There were several people behind me, so I opened it. We walked out, not prepared for what we were about to see. I gasped, like everyone did. Another man fainted. The whole place was left, blackened and burnt. I ran to the front of plane, and saw bloodstains on broken glass, the pilot had been thrown out of the front of the plane in the landing. We all sat down and, shaking and scared and most of all, shocked. After a few minutes I asked myself, �Now what?�

*Extract from Chris's Diary*

I looked around. Explosions could be heard every few seconds. My first though was for the people in the plane. I sprinted back up to the semi destroyed plane but could see none alive. I was sure I had seen survivors. I began to get hysterical,

"HELLO? Can anyone hear me?"
I screamed out,
"IS ANYONE ALIVE? HELP."

Noone had responded to my desperate shouting. Not knowing where to go, I turned around and began to walk. The plane had landed in a half grass, half concrete area. It was a disused factory of some sort that was now overgrown with grass. I began to move quickly, trying to get to the top of this mound to see what was happening. We must have been in New Jeresy somewhere. The fear, shock, sadness and horror set in. Falling to my knees I began to weep. A blackened and headless statue of Liberty appeared on the horizon. Fire and black smoked filled the air, the smell of death filling my lungs.

[Edited on 043030p://000 by earthtone]

The red telephone rang.

The President of the United States lifted the handset and held it to his ear. �Mr. President,� the voice boomed, �Our country is under attack�. The President made no response. �We have reports of massive explosions in New York City,� the Secretary of Defense continued, �We don�t know exactly what caused it, but I�m very sure that this is hostile act.�

�I�m coming,� replied the President.

He picked up his coat and stepped briskly out of his office. Two Secret Service escorts were waiting for him outside. �To DEFCON�. They all knew exactly what to do.

The President and his henchmen stepped outside to the sound of rotors beating. Marine One, the President�s personal helicopter, was waiting on the lawn along with 4 armed Marines. They saluted as he walked towards them. He stepped into the chopper along with the guards and headed off.

*20 minutes later*

The President arrived at his emergency command post where he would run the country in case of a major disaster. His advisors were seated around a long glass table. He took a seat the end.

�What�s the current situation?�

�Reports of an unidentified aircraft flying over New York City have been given by NORAD,� one of his military aides responded �Apparently, it dropped some sort of object, most likely a bomb, and a massive explosion followed.�

The President started to grow faint. �Is�this a start of a nuclear war?�

�We don�t believe so. The characteristics of the explosion don�t match what a typical nuclear explosion would be. There are no signs of a mushroom cloud, or large amounts of radioactive fallout in the vicinity. however, the massive blast radius of this weapon rules out the possibility of it being a conventional weapon. This may be an entirely new device.
We tried to track down the direction of the aircraft, but the enormous EMP blast screwed up the radar. I�m guessing that may have either escaped or been destroyed in the blast.�

The situation was too vague. No hint of who might of attacked. No clue of what the weapon was.

This was war.

New york, New york

"Chris, Chris!" A voice began to scream out. Getting up off his knees and whiping his tear filled eyes, Chris turned around. "Diana!" Diana was one of the flight attendants on the plane. Chris had gotten quite friendly with her. "Oh my God you alive," Diana shouted emotionaly as she jumped into Chris's arms and hugged him. They both held each other for a moment, Chris slowly pointed towards the top of the hill, "look up there, there is something you need to see." Diana looked puzzled and frightened by his deathly tone of voice, "What is it?"
"Just look," he said somberly.

Diana reluctantly began to climb the hill, not sure what to expect. Chris didn't even look, he heard Diana breaking down, "My family, my friends, are they all dead?" She wept. Chris jogged up the hill and began to hold the now shaking Diana, "Look we can't think about this right now ok, we need to get out of here and look for some survivors." Diana rubbed her face with her sleeve, her dark brown hair was half covering her tear stained face. They both stood up. Chris took of his brown jacket, " here take this, you look like you could use it." Dianas Yellow and blue uniform was torn and bloodied. "Thank you," she replied, "Will you be ok in just that black T-shirt?" "I'll be fine Diane."
"So where do we go now?" Diana asked.
"Towards the city, we have no choice."

The pair headed for the New Jeresy turnpike, it was the closest pathway into New York. Already the fires in the City had gone out, this was a strange weapon. Looming on the horizon was a charred and disfigured New York city. Horror awaited them.

Chris and Diana slowed to a walk, they were tired. As they walked by they say burnt bodies, and destruction around them. As they walked on, they came across a skyscraper, they looked up and say it was still burning. They were just about to walk on untill Chris said "Look!" Diana looked up in horror and say the building start to crumble and fall. They ran back as far as they could, not looking back they heard the rumbling of the falling rocks. They hit the ground and waited for it to stop. They held each others hands, hoping they wouldnt b hit. After it had stopped they got up and saw thier path was totally blocked. "We have to climb" Diana pointed out, and they started to climb. As they shocked to see Atleast 10 figures in black walking towards them. Diana immediatly ran towards them screaming "Over here! Over here!" Chris followed. One of the figures spotted them and said, "Hey look!" Chris froze, they were all holding weapons. "DIANA GET BACK!" She screamed, Chris ran for his life. All he heard were the screams of Diana and gun shots. Chris climbed the rubble back as fast as he could thinking, What the hell is going on!

A revelation.

Chris looked back, Diana had been hit! "Oh my God, Diana can you here me?" Chris screamed. The black figures where now running , bullets were whizzing past them every secend. "We gotta get out of here," Chris muttered as he picked up diana and threw her over his shoulder. Chris was sprinting as fast as he good but he knew the mysterious death squad would catch them soon. He began to see more of the figures emerging from the distance, "Oh #." The pavements was hard to run on as a sort of ashy sludge had formed on the ground. All around was devastation. Chris had to think. The black soilders lost site of them for a second and Chris took his chance. He opened a dumpster in the alley to his right, threw Diana in and then got in himself. Hopefully the men hadn't noticed. Chris lifted up the lid of the dumpster and peeked out. He could see the people really close now as they were walking past really slow, " We've lost them sir," one of the men said. "They were American!" Chris whispered in disbelief. Diana began to stur and moan. " Shhhhhhhhhhh," Chris said, "Everythings ok but you must be quite." He began to peek out again. The soilders all began to turn away. Chris sighed in releif but suddenly he wasn't so pleased. The gasmasked, futuristc looking soildiers had a logo across their back.
"FEMA"

�What the hell is FEMA doing here and why are they killing civilians?� he whispered as the black clad assassins walked away. Another groan from Diana. �You�re hurt pretty bad there. We�ve gotta get you some help.� Chris took off his t-shirt, ripped it up and made a make-shift tourniquet which he applied to the wound in Diana�s thigh. �Should slow the bleeding for a while� he hoped. There was another wound on her upper left arm � looked like the bullet went clean through. He wrapped the remnants of the t-shirt around it. Diana was consciousness but very disorientated due to the blood loss and trauma. Chris thought for a few minutes about their next move. Suddenly Diana screamed� "#! What is it?� exclaimed a startled Chris as he jumped and hit his head off the lid of the dumpster. �there�s something moving in here� she whimpered. Opening the lid to allow some light, Chris saw several large brown rats crawling around Diana�s legs. Terrified of them since childhood, he quickly picked Diana up and unceremoniously bundled her back out into the alley. He knew he had to move soon as he didn�t want to run into the FEMA guys again. Still shivering at the thoughts of the rats he looked up and down the alley. �One way, certain death. Other way, who knows what kinda damn death!� The latter option prevailed. Putting Diana over his shoulder again he commenced his walk down the long alley. Most of the doors appeared to be closed and relatively unharmed although all the windows he saw had been blown out. The blast looked to have spared lower lying buildings somewhat. �We need to find somewhere to hide, Diana. And also got to get you fixed up.� Leaving her in a deep doorway with some torn up boxes for comfort and warmth he proceeded down the alley to see if there were any decent hideouts. The aroma just seemed to sneak up on him. Freshly baked bread. His nostrils flared and for a second Chris thought he was imagining things. A short while ago all he could smell was the putrid stench of death and burning flesh. Locating the source, he came upon a padlocked steel door. The cheap padlock gave the brick no resistance as it snapped. Brick in one hand and a stick in the other, he braced himself for what was inside. It appeared to be the back of a bakery. Large ovens ran along one wall of the room. Various cooking ingredients were carefully laid out on the other side. The heat still emanated from the ovens even though there was no power. A tentative shout of �hello, anyone there?� was greeted with silence. �no-one here� he convinced himself, although not entirely convincingly. Walking through to the front of the shop he saw the shutters were down and glass was everywhere. He turned to go and get Diane and then heard an ominous click which made his blood run cold�.

[Edited on 25/11/03 by funlovincriminal]

He was face to face with one of those FEMA guys, pointing an MP5 right at his face. He didnt speak. Chris put his hands in the air in surrender. "Uuuhn.." The soldier turned to look at the dumpster, and saw diana trying to get out. As he looked, Chris punched him, knocking him to the floor, Chris ran and picked up his gun and shot him before he could get up. He picked up, and carried diana back the way they were heading. Every now and again, Chris hid behind some debri incase he came across one of the FEMA soldiers. Chris stopped to rest for a bit and had a look at diana. Chris heard a strange humming and looked up. He gasped and dropped diana with the shock. Several more bombers flew over like the one he saw before all this. Chris cried out for help, several times in disbelief that this was happening. He looked into the horizon and cried out again as he saw another huge explosion hit somewhere in the distance. What he didnt know was that the doombug had hit Washington DC.

He saw another bomber fly off elsewhere, he shot at it in anger. "WWWWHHYY!!!" He cried out, tears in his eyes. He collapsed on the floor and sobbed.

Chris could not help but be overwhelmed by everything he had just gone through. In half an hour, the glamorous city of New York had been reduced to a oversized landfill. Fires were raging out of control. The dissonance of sirens, car horns, and the screams of horribly injured civilians were the only sounds to be heard.

Diana was laying on the ground, too weak to steady herself after all the blood she had lost. The make shift tourniquet was not enough to stop the flow of blood. Her breathing became more and more labored as the seconds ticked by.

Chris didn�t know what to do. If he didn�t do something fast to help Diana, she would die. He got and started frantically searching around for something, anything that could help Diana. Chris ran to and fro across his surroundings looking for something that he wasn�t sure of. He crashed through the bakery door, tearing up the shelves and cabinets in hopes of finding something he could use.

Diana let out a gasp of despair. She knew that she wouldn�t make it. Black tunnels of death started to consume her. Her arm was trembling violently from shock. She breathed as if she had just sprinted a marathon. Her eyes grew wider and her pupils dilated.

Chris ran out of the bakery with a stained apron. He tugged hard at the fabric, ripping it into strips. Kneeling down next to Diana, he gingerly wrapped the shoddy bandages around her wound, applying more than sufficient pressure to stop the bleeding. She gasped from the pain. Trying to remember what he had learned from his first aid class years ago, he swiftly enveloped Diana�s arm with the fabric.

By the time Chris has finished tying off the ends of the bandage, Diana�s arm had went limp. Her breathing ceased as her muscles relaxed. Her eyes were in a half closed stare. Chris was too late, she was gone.

He knelt there for a few minutes, looking at her body with a dull stare. Chris had gone through too much to experience any more sorrow. No one would listen if he cried anymore. He was alone now.

Chris lifted Diana�s body with his tired arms. Her weight added to the burdens he already carried. The deadness of the weight gave him a sense of helplessness. He had never experienced death this close. Diana�s lifeless stare looked at him with apathy.

He walked down the street, carrying Diana in his arms. Smoke and flames rose around him, as if he were walking towards the gates of hell.

The FEMA soldiers were no where in sight.

Chris turned the gun to his head and closed his eyes. He didnt pull the trigger. He know there must be more worth living for. He opened his eyes and looked at diana, she was clearly in pain. She was also coughing up alot of blood. Chris also thought about putting her out of her misery. But he couldnt face another death. He sat down and held his head in his hands again. Suddenly he felt a bullet whizz past his head. He looked around, until he saw a sniper in the roof.

Washington DC and New York city now lay in ruins. What could happen that could be worse than this? Was this the end, for Chris and Diana? Or even, was this the end....of the world?

Chris ran into another smoldering alleyway to hide from the sniper. "Was he wroking for FEMA too?" Chris thought to himself. For moment back there Chris had thought he'd heard Diana coughing, but looking at her lifeless body in the alleyway, he knew she was gone. Chris closed her eyes with his fingertips gently and layed his coat over her body.

Wiping a tear from his eye, he looked around. Hopefully the sniper had left. Chris made a dash for it. Sprinting through the street, littered with paper, soot, burning metal and bodies. He heard a bullet wizz past him and ping on a piece of metal, "ARGGGHHHHHH," Chris screamed with anger and fear as he let a few rounds burst from his newly attained MP5. He had made it across the open street, he was safe for now.

Deathly silence. The only way todescribe the atmosphere in New York City. The city that never sleeped was now at rest, maybe for good. Having lived in the city most his life, Chris knew where he was: Brooklyn Heights. He needed to get across the river to Manhatten, he had to know if all his friends were dead. The Brooklyn Bridge was out of action for good, the midtown tunnel was chris's only option.

He slowly trudged into the tunnel. Fearful and not knowing what to expect. He stopped and looked behind him. There was a car. The door was open, with a bloodstained body hanging out of it. He went up to the car and looked inside. Most of the glass was smashed. But...there were bullet holes in the side. Chris found the keys in the drivers hand, he through the body out and started up the car. It worked. He drove throught the tunnel. But not to fast, incase there was someone alive walking down....

As Chris motored his way through the tunnel, he heard a shout as he passed a Garbage Truck,

"Hey, STOPPPPPPP!!!"

Chris reluctant to stop for anyone, looked in his rear view mirror and noticed a man in a Garbageman's uniform. Chris decided he had no choice but to go back. He placed the MP5 on his lap facing the window in case it was a setup. The garbage-man ran to the car and asked Chris, "What happened?" and then continued on,

"I was driving through the tunnel and next thing I know I was face down on the steering wheel..."

Chris explained what he had seen from the airplane he was traveling in and the activities that proceeded when he was walking through the city. The garbage-man broke down in tears and asked, "Can I go with you, I have no where else to go."

Chris agreed to let the man join along. The garbage-man still in pain from hitting his head on the steering wheel, stumbled into the passengers seat.

"Im Paul by the way."
Chris responded, "Nice to meet someone not associated with FEMA, my name is Chris."

As Chris started the car back up and continued through the tunnel he noticed flashing lights at the end of the tunnel. He stopped the car and noticed truckloads of men at the end of the tunnel. Paul with his keen eyesight noticed that one of the trucks had the letters,
FEMA on the side, Chris looked at Paul and posed the question that entered both of their minds....

"What do we do now?".....

"This is the only way across the river, I have to get across," Chris said nervously.

"What are those FEMA guys doing out here?" Paul asked a few moments later,

"I really don't know Paul but I have seen them killing people on the street! Something real bad is goin on."

Paul sat there in shock, his eyes still red from tears, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOIN ON," Paul began to scream with anger. Chris grabbed his bloody arm,

"Please Paul, settle down, your gunna get us both killed. Look we have to get across the river and try and find my friends. You can turn around and run the other way down the tunnel, make an escape, but I gotta find my friends."

Paul's breathing settled down and he became calm again,

"Look I gots' no place to go so i'm with you for the ride ok."

"Ok Paul, thats great."

The two sat in silence for a while observing the FEMA agents. Another truck had pulled up in this time and it appeared like they were piling bodies into the large vehicles.

"This is #ing sick I'm telling you man," Paul raged as Chris blankly stared out of the window, "I always knew our government was #ed up but I never though I'd see this."

"Get down," Chris muttered.

"Get down where?" Paul replied confused.

"Cover your head," Chris said calmly as he slammed his foot down on the accelerator, Paul began to shout,

"What the f-,"
"I said get down!"

Chris sprayed bullets out of his window as they flew out of the tunnel at breakneck speed. The men from FEMA, taken completely by suprise, threw themselves to the ground as chris and Paul flew passed in a hail of bullets.
"AHHHHHHHHHH." Paul screamed with terror as they sped away into Manhatten, proceeded by shots from the FEMA Agents. Chris was laughing hysterically,"HaHA! We got through! We got through!"

"You're insane," Paul said angrily, "Completely insane." The now wrecked manhatten skyline loomed over them both, smoke filling the sky. They had lost the FEMA men for now.

Even as well as Chris knew his way around, he was having trouble recognizing his way through the streets, or at least what was left of them.
Finally, he pulled up in front of the house of his best friend Alex. If any of his friends were alive, they would have come here. Chris sliently looked around the yard. So far, no signs that the FEMA had been there. He got out, telling Paul to stay inside the car and wait there until he returned. Walking up the front steps, Chris was ever-alert for signs of life eminating from the house.
He tryed the door. Locked. He knocked once. No answer. Chris walked back down the steps, then stoped and grabed the small hide-a-key Alex kept hidden for his friends. Returning to the door, Chris put the key in the lock. The bolt slid away, and he slowly turned the handle and opened the door.

As he opened the door, he saw everything seemed to be ok. just abit shooken up. he picked up a lamp from the floor and put it back on the table. as he turned a corner in the room chris gasped. He saw alex lying on the floor, blood dripping from his body. Chris ran over to see to him. Dead. He turned over his body and saw a huge cut there in his spine. Paul had followed him, and saw him with the body. he just screamed. "AAH MY GOD!" "No, Paul its not-" tryed to explain Chris. Paul picked up a chair and held it in front of him. "Stay away from me!" "Paul! this is my freind! he must have died from the shaking, slipped and fallen maybe." Lied Chris. Paul dropped the chair and sat down on it with his head in his hands. Chris had another flash back of the explosion...."Are we the last men on earth?" asked paul. "No...No we cant be." Said Chris, also sitting down. Chris heard the move. He picked up his Mp5 and pulled paul back. "Whos there?" said Chris. Suddenly, he saw a grenade roll down , right infront of them.

As Chris saw the grenade roll in he grabbed Paul and ran into the bathroom, slammed the door shut and both hopped in the bathtub.

BOOOOOOOMMMM!!!!!!!! The blast from the explosion had left the place in a field of smoke and flames.

Chris quickly got his senses back and opened up the bathroom window. He told Paul to follow him as he reached for the escape ladder that was just a few feet from the bathroom window.
Chris and Paul quickly went down the ladder and ran back to the car. As they hopped in the car, they looked down the alley and saw about 30 people on their knees as FEMA agents unloaded their bullets into the unsuspecting victims.
Chris and Paul asked eachother, "What the hell is going on here?"
They quickly sped off in their car. Neither man had a clue on where to go. Then all of a sudden the car started sputtering. Chris, taken back by the events that were going on around him, never noticed that the gas tank had dropped to below E.
As they slowed to a stop, Paul noticed a man walking on a nearby rooftop screaming.....
"Why FEMA, why must it be this way?"
Chris had the idea to go up to the rooftop as it seemed the man might know something about what was going on in the city.
Chris and Paul cautiously walk their way up the stairs to the rooftop. They reach the roof and the man notices them instantly......


[Edited on 5-12-2003 by Dreamz]

Chris cried out in anger and fired at him with the Mp5, the FEMA guy hit the the floor. He led Paul back down and into the house. Chris ran over to the kitchen, pulled out a knife and handed it to Paul. "take this for protection." Chris took one for himself, and went to another cupboard. He opened a shoe box and pulled a 9mm pistol and 2 mags. also gave that to Paul. Chris was in a hurry. He ran out and took the man he had shot's ammo. He looked across into the landscape...New York was burning. And he was angry. He had to get the truth, why had this happened. Chris looked up and cried out in anger again. A bomber was heading his way. He didnt know where it was going, but he WAS going to stop it.

As the bomber neared Chris he noticed a fireball that lit up the sky flying directly towards the bomber. Chris now obviously baffled by what is going on realizes it was a missle.
The missle tore into the bombers fuselage and explode with the same strength he seen the buildings hit with earlier.

Paul comes running to the rooftop as he hears the explosion.

"Chris, what the hell was that?"

Paul replied,
"That was the first thing I seen that actually put a smile on my face all day. A bomber was just taken out by a missle."

Niether man knew where the missle came from but noticed as 4 more missles whizzed past them, destination unknown. Paul, obviously distraught by the days events looks at Chris and says...

"Well my friend, lets get to were those missles are being launched from."

"But Paul, we just have a general direction?" Chris responded candidly.

"Well a general direction is better than no direction at all, is it not?" Paul quickly noted.

The two decided that was their best bet to figure out what was going on, so off they headed towards the direction the missles where launched from only to find......

Chris and Paul headed toward where the missle had come from. While they walked-It came to chris that America had become its own testing ground. As they walked through manhatten they saw most of it had been bombed, not as badly as New York though. They can to a huge hole in the ground. Where they looked down. There were lights. There was a booming sound coming from it. It turned out to be a tunnel. Chris clambered in, "Wait!" said Paul. "Stay here, i wont be long" Said Chris. Chris went in, and Paul waited. After 1 minute Chris came sprinting out. "RUUUUUN!" Paul ran with Chris into some of the rubble, as Paul looked back, he saw a huge machine come out very slowly. It laucnched a rocket straight at them. Paul stopped and pulled Chris back. The Machine stopped and turned the other way, bullets hitting it. They saw soldiers running firing at the machine. Were they the good guys for once??