Hamilton’s Comet
The rain hammered at the window of Richard’s one bedroom flat, thunder sounded and the lights flickered, but Richard was oblivious to it as he sat on the end of his unmade bed it a scruffy tee-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts trolling through the internet trying to find a costume for tonight. It was his work’s annual Halloween party and he still couldn’t find anything to wear, while he had been in the Army it had been easy for fancy dress, a white bed sheet, which the military have millions of, some red food colouring which he could borrow from any of the chefs that he knew and some rips in the sheet, if he want to go overboard he could buy a plastic prop, but now life in ‘Civi’ street wasn’t as easy. He never had enough money, everything seemed to be so much more expensive and so many bills to pay, and it was at times like these that he missed the Army. So Richard carried on looking through the internet hoping to find something that he could afford and didn’t look like it had fallen off the back of a lorry. This was his first works do and he wanted to make a good impression. The radio played in the background; not that Richard was really listening to it but he noticed when the news came on.
“Good morning listeners, I hope you are wrapping up warm as it’s cold and wet out there today and looks to be like that all week,” said the voice, ‘Great!’ thought Richard his car had broken down yesterday and would be in the garage until next week. Richard tuned out the rest of the news and continued flicking through different sites hoping for some inspiration. As the voice on the radio droned on, “And finally for all you avid star gazers out there, tonight sees the passage of Hamilton’s comet across our night sky. Hamilton’s comet will pass closer to earth than ever in recorded history in what should be an amazing spectacle,” finished the speaker as Richard turned off the radio and walked to the bathroom.
Richard pulled up the hood of his Captain America suit covering his short brown hair and looked in the mirror; it wasn’t a bad effect he thought as he checked he had his wallet, phone and keys. He knew it was going to be a pain to get to them as he would have to pull his arm out of the suit to reach the pockets of the trousers that he wore under the suit. Richard smiled as he walked down the street; it was about twenty minutes to the hall that his work had rented and every few minutes a car would pass beeping its horn at him or calling out as it passed. As he walked he noticed the night sky getting brighter and saw Hamilton’s comet passing overhead, but just as he turned to watch in pass it exploded, light flashed across the sky and Richard slammed he eyes closed. Spots forming on his eyelids, the wind picked up and tossed everything around, Richard had to hold onto a nearby lamp-post to stop himself from being blown away. He could hear a car horn nearby blaring into the night and as he slowly opened his eyes, spots still dancing in his vision, he saw one of the cars that passed him had driven into a bus shelter. The driver’s door was open and the mangled body of the driver laid hanging from the car, blood pooling on the ground beside him. Richard ran over hoping to help and as he neared he could see that the driver was dead but could hear the sound of a child crying in the backseat. Richard tore at the door handle trying to free the young girl when the driver groaned the low sound shocking Richard as he doubted anyone could have survived the injuries he had sustained. Richard watched in wonder as the driver moved his head and as Richard looked into the driver’s cold blue eyes,
“Daddy?” cried the young girl and the driver turned to look at his child and this is when Richard noticed the blood spurting from the Driver’s neck, the driver groaned again,
“Hey mate, stay still, help is on the way,” said Richard trying to reassure the driver, his mind working overtime trying to process everything that had happened and as Richard reached to help the driver he lunged at Richard trying to bite him. Richard snapped his arm back as the driver lunged forward again but as not being able to get out of the car properly he landed at Richard’s feet crawling forward again trying to grab Richard.
“Daddy!” screamed the girl and Richard’s only though was of saving the child so he ran around the other side of the car, ripping open the door and slicing his hand on the shards of glass that littered the area.
“Come on sweetie, we need to get out of here,” said Richard as the girl screamed and the driver grabbed him. Richard acted on instinct and slammed his fists up breaking the driver’s hold and spinning around kicking the driver in the chest and propelling the driver into the last undamaged plane of glass that shattered on impact. “Come to me,” said Richard and the young girl slowly moved forward, as Richard grabbed her he pulled her from the car and sprinted from the scene, the girl screamed in his ear as the adrenalin took them from the crash and her father. Richard ran down the road taking each turn randomly and as he reached the high street he slowed to a walk coming in front of an electrical store. Richard watched as images on the news showed signs of mass panic and what only could be described as Zombies. The world had changed in the blink of an eye.