The First Response

  The First Response 

“They say the time before now was beautiful, that there were huge cities and even flavored bubbly drinks called soda.” Natasha said while she stared at the bonfire between the group, “My grandpa, rest his soul, used to tell me about how there used to be things called fast food. There was another word he called them, but I don’t remember what it was, I just remember thinking fast food, to us that means we’re hunting something faster than usual.”

    “Tell us the story of how it all started.” A young boy spoke up, “I don’t understand it. How did such a beautiful world become… well, this place?”

    “Bees, Johnny, just your average, ordinary, run of the mill honey bees. We use to take them for granted” Natasha replied, but it only caused Johnny's little face to scrunch up a bit more, “Settle in then and get comfy, but don’t start crying when it gets scary.”

    Decades ago, the world was running fine and smoothly as usual. One honey bee flew through the brush, darting between low-hanging branches and tall weeds before it floated over a wooden fence. It buzzed about, seeking the nearest flower but as it got closer it caught a whiff of an even sweeter scent.

    “Ouch!!” The farmer said as he swatted the honey bee off of him, “What the hell? Why did this just sting me? Must be her revenge...” he said to himself. A few weeks before he had sprayed a few bee hives with a pesticide, trying to kill them, but it didn't seem to work, it just irritated the bees. 

    The farmer continued on with his work, tending to the fields as the temperature built up even more underneath the heat of the hot sun above. The farmer wiped off some sweat across his brow and sighed, staring off at his house before he looked over at the rest of the work he had to do yet but he suddenly vomited, so he decided  to head for home.

    “Honey!” The farmer’s wife yelled as she spotted him stumbling towards the house before she opened the door and rushed out to help him.

    She wasn’t fast enough and the farmer collapsed to the ground as she rushed to his side. She grabbed ahold of his arm and pulled as hard as she could, but she couldn’t get her husband up off of the ground. She pulled her cell phone out and began dialing emergency services when her husband coughed and groaned, seemingly coming too. The thought that everything was alright caused the wife to hang up as the husband rolled over onto his back.

    “Honey!” She started saying before the farmer sank his teeth into her neck, tearing away at it with his teeth like a starving animal.

    The wife didn’t get to scream before she was bleeding out, yet the farmer just stood up and wandered away. The farmer stumbled around aimlessly until the sound of a car driving up caught his attention. The driver got out, unaware that anybody was nearby and casually shut the door, as the door shut the mirror showed the man behind him and revealed the bloody-face of the farmer neighbor.

    “Whoa! What’s…” The guy started asking but the farmer lunged at him.

    The guy caught the farmer’s wrists to hold him back with, but it didn’t stop the farmer from biting into the guy’s chest. The guy screamed, let go of the farmer’s wrist and yanked the farmer’s teeth out of his chest before delivering a powerful right hook to the farmer in retaliation.

    “Wally! What the hell just happened?! Is… is that Pete?!” A woman asked as she walked out of the house before movement attracted her attention upward to Pete’s wife walking towards them with blood pouring our of her throat down her body, “Wally, get in here now!”

    “The hell is going on!?” Wally asked as they scrambled into the house.

    “I don’t know. Mary looks like her throat’s gone! H-how is she…” The woman asked, standing there shaking as she stared out the window in the door with Wally at her side.

    “Pete’s back up.” Wally said, watching through the window. “Lock the doors and windows. I’m hiding in the bedroom and calling the cops.” Sara said before she left the room.

    Wally watched as Sara ran out before he opened his coat a bit and looked down at the bite wound on his chest. He felt a cold chill run along his whole body on the outside before he began sweating, nervous about whatever was going on as he locked the doors and windows. Wally headed back to the front door to get one more peak at Pete and Mary but as he walked around the corner he was startled at the sight of Pete and Mary already staring at him through the front door window.

    “Ah!” Wally said fearfully before he stared down the two creepy, bloody neighbors. He noticed Pete had a bee crawling on his face, right below his blood shot eye, as a bee would normally investigate a flower. Actually there were several bees gathering around the two crazed neighbors as they began pounding on the door. Wally slowly back up and headed to the bedroom where Sara was curled up in bed under the covers, “All the windows and doors are locked, but they’re at the front door still.”

    “I can hear them banging on the door. Hopefully the cops will be here soon.” Sara replied, fearfully looking up at Wally as he sat on the side of the bed. Wally sat there smiling back at Sara, hiding the pain he was feeling from the bite in this chest before he looked down at it.

    “That guy’s lucky I didn’t snap his neck. That creep bit me.” Wally said, peeling his coat off and revealing the bite wound to Sara, who instantly sat up in bed wide-eyed, “He came out of nowhere and when I tried stopping him he bit me, like I said. Why the hell would he bite me?  What the hell kind of drugs are they on over there?”

    “I don’t know, but you need to clean that up. I’ll call back and let them know you need to be looked at by an ambulance.” Sara said. “No way, we can’t afford that!” Wally said while he stood up, grimacing as he did before he glanced down at the bite wound and looked at Sara softly, “I’ll clean it up good. You know I can clean a wound.”

    “Shut up. That was one time.” Sara said with a sly smile, attempting to feel normal during the insanely strange incident before the sight of a cop car pulling up caught her attention, “The cops are here already."

    Inside the squad car, the police officer drove up and saw nothing but two older people banging on the front doors. He opened the door and stepped out, the sound of the car door shutting didn’t get their attention so the cop cleared his throat. As the two turned and revealed their bloody faces, the cop’s eyes widened as he started grasping for the car door handle but missed several times and even when he did pull the handle, the door was locked. The cop’s eyes looked right down at the keys in the ignition before he looked back over to the elderly couple with bloody faces stumbling towards him.

    “I need some backup here. I’m… not sure what’s happening.” The cop said over his radio as he walked around the backside of the car.

    The elderly couple split up and walked around either side of the cruiser, leaving the cop no safe area to go. Feeling threatened, the cop drew his mace and as the couple continued towards him he gave them a good dousing. Horrifically, neither began coughing or even slowed down causing the cop’s eyes to widen. The cop pulled his gun but the farmer was on him and the wife was just as fast, tackling him to the ground before the two began tearing pieces out of him with their teeth.

    Inside the house, Sara watched in horror as their hope was seemingly being eaten alive. A thud in the bedroom caught her attention, but when Sara walked in there Wally lurched at her, catching her off guard. Wally sank his teeth into Sara’s neck, causing her to scream as loudly as she could before Wally tore away and caused the screaming to gurgle out. Wally started stumbling around aimlessly within the locked house before he began banging on the inside of the locked door. Behind him, Sara stood back up and began wandering towards him, blood pouring out of her neck and pooling on the floor.

    Outside, the farmer and his wife stood up and began wandering away aimlessly, drifting further and further apart when another cop car pulled up. The new rookie police officer got out of the car, nervously keeping the older couple in his view while he checked on his fellow officer. He was checking for a pulse, knowing he wouldn't find one as the couple inside the house broke out of their sliding glass door and fell onto the shattered glass on the ground. The rookie cop looked over, startled by what he saw when the dead cop suddenly rolled over and tried to bite him on the arm. He escaped, ran back to his car and locked himself inside. 

The rookie grabbed for the radio to call for backup as he was stung on the finger by a bee. The bee was still attached to the stinger stuck under his skin, in shock he focused on the bee with tunnel vision temporarily forgetting about the three approaching attackers. The honey bee was cute and fuzzy with vibrant yellow and black stripes as you would expect. As the bee finally tour away leaving the stinger and venom sack behind, the rookie noticed the stinger was an odd bright green color. As the rookie started to talk into the radio for the last time he neglected to mention the three disfigured humans banging on his car windows and only mentioned the odd color stinger still stuck in his hand, still slowly pumping venom.

    The springtime breeze carried the screams of people from farm to farm as the honey bees continued flying around doing their bee things, mostly just pollinating the plants and flowers that keep us all alive; mostly.