“How can I help you guys?” I said slowly as I approached the car.
“Just give us the box, kid. And you don’t need to worry.” They said quietly as they began to disembark from the non-descript Caddy.
I clear my throat a little and reply “I’ve got a delivery to make, and I was told not to stop to anyone.”
“Trust us when we say you’re in way over your head, now just hand over the box.”
I could see the shoulder holster underneath the first mans’ suit, and it caused my spine to stiffen. I suddenly felt endangered, but the box was too valuable for me to just hand it over.
I was slowly coming to the realization that these people mean me harm. There was no massive payday if I didn’t get the box delivered like I was told. The man had said it would be dangerous so defying reason I throw my body into motion and grab ahold of the rattling and ticking and shrieking box.
A hail of curse words assail me from behind, but it does nothing to slow my retreat. I twist and squirm through a crowd of people, the box bouncing and bobbling in my hands and I turn back to see that two of the suited gentleman from the car are in fast pursuit.
Quickly I dart across an intersection and pray to a God I don’t believe in as taxis and cars whiz by, horns blaring and now foul words in languages I can’t translate start to batter my senses. A step away from the curb I am before my ankle twists and gives out, the box flinging into the air and I can hear the panicked screams of those who gave chase.
The box split open and from the inside rolled a thin glass canister, sliding and rolling along the ridged sidewalk. Italian leather soles and dark suits run past my head as I struggle to get back to my feet and I watch the men rush for the thin glass vial.
A second too late before the container brushed into the corner of a shop’s door cracking open and a soft whirling noise became apparent. The men looked at each other and backed away from the cracked glass before turning into a full sprint.
I blinked and tongued my broken lip as I stood up and looked after the broken glass. I slowly approach and peer down at the shattered glass and watch little bits of grayish looking goo drifting over the concrete and into the cracks of the cement.
I stood there for a minute watching it, observing the little bit of gray grow slowly and steadily and shifting over more and more of the concrete. Two whole minutes before it had stretched over a two square inches and it began to spread out a bit quicker than before, growing exponentially.
No one else seems to notice the gray material and I know I probably should be afraid, especially after the reaction of those men who chased me, but I fearlessly smash my foot down onto the gray material. I feel the searing heat and pain that feed up into my limb as I viciously tear my leg away and stumble backwards onto my ass.
I howl and groan, shifting my foot around to peer at the bottom and see that the rubber sole had been all but dissolved. My cotton sock chewed through and now my flesh was peeling away as gray spread along my skin. My heart raced and my eyes went wide, as my foot evaporated in tiny increments, growing faster and faster, replacing my flesh with the tiny flecks of gray that spread over my limb.
My screams would grow a crowd, settling panic into the people as they watched the gray goo grow in the splotch on the concrete and across my body. I watched a few people try to help, but the gray spread to them quickly and shared the same excruciating agony that I felt with them. The gray had covered over half the street and a third of my body by the time it all went black.
The End.
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