When the plague began the government sealed off the city and blocked all communication coming in or out. They destroyed the roads, detonated the land around it to create a three mile deep trench around the outskirts and "worked on the cure" for the next thirty eight years.
Every now and then they'd release some minor breakthrough like "Scientists predict a cure in as little as eight years" or "Scientists advise plague might not be fatal to children" while providing the bare minimum of proof to back this up. It soon became clear that these were blatant lies to placate anyone who knew somebody in the city. Keep them happy and more importantly, keep them outside.
Of course people still tried to get past the trench and into or out of the city, videos popped up occasionally showing somebody throwing themselves into the trench from the city-side. After a few years the bottom was littered with bodies and the surrounding area stank of decay. The government's solution of course was to dig deeper and, after a further half-mile, bury the bodies to prevent anything from eating them, not that any animals went down there. Even the crows stayed away.
Thirty eight years after the city was quarantined a team of four friends, Kate, Lee, Moira and Nadia. All self-proclaimed urban explorers who'd made it their mission to get into the city and see who, if anyone, had survived the plague. They were even prepared to stay in the city if one or all of them became infected. It was their reasoning that the world needed to know what was going on and so they decided to live-stream the entire trip.
To get over the trench they hired a powered hang glider and used it to cross the trench with thick rope attached for the others to climb across, something they'd practised once on a trip to the Alps. Like the last time it went reasonably well, nobody got stuck for too long and the rope held out all the while, even when Lea decided to stop mid-way to film the fresh bodies lining the bottom of the trench.
As a safety precaution they cut the rope when they'd all crossed, having stored more in the hang glider for the trip back, and covered the aforementioned glider in a sheets that were lying around, having untied them from the rope that they were used for. Glancing down the trench they could see someone with the rest of the rope in their hands still, the knots having given way at some point during the attempted escape.
Their next challenge was the barricade made of shipping containers stacked six or seven high to block the outskirts. It hadn't stopped anyone, judging by the multitude of corpses below. If anything it seemed to have made people more determined to escape. There were countless ropes, holes and planks about the place that meant people came this far out regularly, though none could be seen presently.
The team having donned their dust-masks picked the closest one and began the ascend into the city's outer limits, trying not to gag as the stench of decaying meat grew stronger the further they climbed,as if the trench hadn't smelled bad enough. Once they'd reached the top they stopped for a break and to talk to their viewers who numbered around 200,000 and were all eager for the women to get down into the city.
From the top of the shipping containers they could see that the city was full of bodies, strewn everywhere haphazardly and not a single moving being in site. Still they remained cautious, asking their viewers to be an extra set of eyes for them as they aimed their cameras to cover their blind spots. Once they'd determined the safest route down they continued their journey, already filled with dread.
None of them had ever seen a corpse up close, let alone smelled one that had been left out in the summer heat for well over a month. It showed that people had been living up until recently, and that there were possibly still survivors to be found and interviewed.
As they picked their way through crashed cars and wrecked shops they found themselves at the city centre, by the fountain that was a major tourist attraction back before the plague had struck. They considered stopping there for further questions and viewer interaction but it felt too exposed, too much like the surrounding buildings were watching them.
Their audience informed them they were being followed by a small group of people which spurred the women into heading back the way they came, out to somewhere far more open than narrow city streets. After all, if they were going to be confronted they wanted to have plenty of space to get away.
It turned out that the group who'd followed them were children and the viewers helpfully brought up the news article stating that children were less likely to get the plague. Judging by the open sores and bulging tumours all over their painfully thin bodies, this wasn't the case but the women theorised that perhaps children just lasted longer?
The children said otherwise, saying they knew that they'd probably be dead by the end of the week but there were still plenty of "lower stage" people who were alive and had a longer lifespan. As they spoke, the team's hearts broke for their loss and for all the pain they were in as the viewer count neared 700,000.
Vowing to come back the next day the women gave the children the snacks they'd brought with them and headed back for the glider. They didn't see or hear as three of the children collapsed behind them but the viewers wrote paragraphs mourning them.
Declaring that they felt fine, no signs or symptoms like the children had described, they gave themselves the all-clear to climb up and out of the city. The glider was exactly where they'd left it though the sheets had been tied into what seemed like a new rope at first but glancing down it was a noose for a young man.
Thoroughly spooked at this point they tried to get back as quickly as possible, tying the rope and climbing across the trench so fast that Moira got ropeburn. They didn't even think twice about the possibility that the infected man might have touched their rope.
As they signed off of the live-stream and went home Moira found that the children were wrong about the incubation period of the plague. It wasn't one week, it was one day. She wondered what would spread faster, their video stream or the disease they'd brought back. She wondered if she'd livelong enough to find out.
Every now and then they'd release some minor breakthrough like "Scientists predict a cure in as little as eight years" or "Scientists advise plague might not be fatal to children" while providing the bare minimum of proof to back this up. It soon became clear that these were blatant lies to placate anyone who knew somebody in the city. Keep them happy and more importantly, keep them outside.
Of course people still tried to get past the trench and into or out of the city, videos popped up occasionally showing somebody throwing themselves into the trench from the city-side. After a few years the bottom was littered with bodies and the surrounding area stank of decay. The government's solution of course was to dig deeper and, after a further half-mile, bury the bodies to prevent anything from eating them, not that any animals went down there. Even the crows stayed away.
Thirty eight years after the city was quarantined a team of four friends, Kate, Lee, Moira and Nadia. All self-proclaimed urban explorers who'd made it their mission to get into the city and see who, if anyone, had survived the plague. They were even prepared to stay in the city if one or all of them became infected. It was their reasoning that the world needed to know what was going on and so they decided to live-stream the entire trip.
To get over the trench they hired a powered hang glider and used it to cross the trench with thick rope attached for the others to climb across, something they'd practised once on a trip to the Alps. Like the last time it went reasonably well, nobody got stuck for too long and the rope held out all the while, even when Lea decided to stop mid-way to film the fresh bodies lining the bottom of the trench.
As a safety precaution they cut the rope when they'd all crossed, having stored more in the hang glider for the trip back, and covered the aforementioned glider in a sheets that were lying around, having untied them from the rope that they were used for. Glancing down the trench they could see someone with the rest of the rope in their hands still, the knots having given way at some point during the attempted escape.
Their next challenge was the barricade made of shipping containers stacked six or seven high to block the outskirts. It hadn't stopped anyone, judging by the multitude of corpses below. If anything it seemed to have made people more determined to escape. There were countless ropes, holes and planks about the place that meant people came this far out regularly, though none could be seen presently.
The team having donned their dust-masks picked the closest one and began the ascend into the city's outer limits, trying not to gag as the stench of decaying meat grew stronger the further they climbed,as if the trench hadn't smelled bad enough. Once they'd reached the top they stopped for a break and to talk to their viewers who numbered around 200,000 and were all eager for the women to get down into the city.
From the top of the shipping containers they could see that the city was full of bodies, strewn everywhere haphazardly and not a single moving being in site. Still they remained cautious, asking their viewers to be an extra set of eyes for them as they aimed their cameras to cover their blind spots. Once they'd determined the safest route down they continued their journey, already filled with dread.
None of them had ever seen a corpse up close, let alone smelled one that had been left out in the summer heat for well over a month. It showed that people had been living up until recently, and that there were possibly still survivors to be found and interviewed.
As they picked their way through crashed cars and wrecked shops they found themselves at the city centre, by the fountain that was a major tourist attraction back before the plague had struck. They considered stopping there for further questions and viewer interaction but it felt too exposed, too much like the surrounding buildings were watching them.
Their audience informed them they were being followed by a small group of people which spurred the women into heading back the way they came, out to somewhere far more open than narrow city streets. After all, if they were going to be confronted they wanted to have plenty of space to get away.
It turned out that the group who'd followed them were children and the viewers helpfully brought up the news article stating that children were less likely to get the plague. Judging by the open sores and bulging tumours all over their painfully thin bodies, this wasn't the case but the women theorised that perhaps children just lasted longer?
The children said otherwise, saying they knew that they'd probably be dead by the end of the week but there were still plenty of "lower stage" people who were alive and had a longer lifespan. As they spoke, the team's hearts broke for their loss and for all the pain they were in as the viewer count neared 700,000.
Vowing to come back the next day the women gave the children the snacks they'd brought with them and headed back for the glider. They didn't see or hear as three of the children collapsed behind them but the viewers wrote paragraphs mourning them.
Declaring that they felt fine, no signs or symptoms like the children had described, they gave themselves the all-clear to climb up and out of the city. The glider was exactly where they'd left it though the sheets had been tied into what seemed like a new rope at first but glancing down it was a noose for a young man.
Thoroughly spooked at this point they tried to get back as quickly as possible, tying the rope and climbing across the trench so fast that Moira got ropeburn. They didn't even think twice about the possibility that the infected man might have touched their rope.
As they signed off of the live-stream and went home Moira found that the children were wrong about the incubation period of the plague. It wasn't one week, it was one day. She wondered what would spread faster, their video stream or the disease they'd brought back. She wondered if she'd livelong enough to find out.
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