New Year's Eve (Part Two)
She journeyed by darkness...

As Midnight crept closer, so did the Corruptress' shadowsome self. One huge expanse of blackness, it was, able to move wherever light was absent. Perhaps the timing of this particular event was symbolic or maybe just calculated for maximum effect. Elfleda had decreed, even if some of the instructed meaning had been lost and garbled by her designated messengers, that this was to be for the explicit purpose of culling, of purging the weak and unworthy, with few better times to guarantee that, than now.

Down, through soil and concrete she sank, slipping through even the most microscopic of cracks and apertures. Moving, sliding, forcing her way, until spiderwebbed through entire surfaces. One vast, horridly evident presence of decay and hungering thirst... A hunger which was consciously drawing others towards it. Others of mutated extremes and demonic taint.

Those responsible for security knew something was happening. The inhuman residences of that area had been getting restless, agitated... Thermal blooms indicating a great many moving closer and closer, in one huge swarm. A level of apparent co-operation, not previously demonstrated, but that made it no less real. What none prepared for, however, was the insidious rotting away of electronic components and metal; wires fraying, power supplies draining away and materials fraying, breaking, into malfunctioning imitations of their former selves.

The minefield slowly, but surely, became inoperable. Automated cameras began losing their feed. Static poured over telecommunications.

Something was happening... Something with a purpose.

Then, just as the partying call rang out of the new year's birth, so did her rallying summons to deadly arms. Elfleda had merely to expand, solidifying until entire sections of wall began to crack; their very foundations starting to crumble and dissolve, as the ground quaked and nearby buildings trembled.

The world was an egg. It had merely to be broken.

The scent of rotting food was strong, there. Dairy products, vomit, excrement and flesh, yet without any apparent source. Those educated in spiritual matters would know such things to be evident of demonic infestation and it was only getting stronger, as the devastation began.

Countermeasures did not work. Electrified fences by that section of wall were no longer carrying a charge, automated cameras and weapons were not functioning and armed patrols had been forced to run, lest they, too, be caught in the falling debris. Klaxons sounded aloud and hand-held gunfire sounded into the night sky.

The infestation had been released, its normally cannibalistic urges assuaged by the conveyed promised of fresher meat to abuse and consume. One, long section of barrier had fallen and the nightmarish denizens had been unleashed. The first few might yet fall, but something was giving them the instinct to saturate the area and push through, as fast as possible, so as to gain access to the wider world. To take what might yet be theirs to claim.

Chicago had only narrowly been saved, the first time. What, then, would be its second fate?

Happy new apocalypse, everyone...

[Open:]