Sally opened the door and stepped into the real estate office, making a little bell above the door tinkle. When she turned to close the door, the only thing she could see was her own pale reflection staring back. She barely recognised herself. The events of the day seemed to have turned her into a different person - someone older and harder. Perhaps she would need to be those things to survive this nightmare. She went to the desk and sat down at the computer, making a silent wish that it was not password-protected. As the machine booted up she surveyed her surroundings. It was a typical small office - a reception desk (which she was sitting at), four chairs for clients, and a coffee table littered with brochures and old, dog-eared magazines with names like 'Motorcycle Enthusiast' and 'Investment Monthly. A door led into the back, where there was probably a smaller office or two. After what seemed an eternity, the computer made the 'welcome, sound and Sally double-clicked on the Internet Explorer icon.
The page that popped up was something to do with real estate. Sally wasn’t interested in that so she typed in the Google web address and hit enter. Into the query field, she typed. “Where have all the people gone?” 1.23 seconds later she found that she had 140,000 responses. That scared her, because knew that an average Google search threw up millions of responses. She guessed that most of the people that were capable of reporting on the situation were among the missing. She looked at the first few links and clicked on one that seemed to be a reputable news website. It took her to a New York journalist’s blog:
“My name is Lukas Soulis. I work as a journalist here in New York. Today I spent a couple of hours locked in a vacant office to meet my deadline on an article I was writing. My boss is a hardass, so I had to make it. I turned my phone off and didn’t tell anyone where I was. When I finished my piece came out, everyone had vanished, and gone into some weird kind of hibernation.”
Sally stopped reading. “Hibernation?” What the hell did that mean? Had everyone fallen asleep? That seemed ridiculous, but how would she really know? She had only seen the inside a few buildings. Maybe everyone was asleep. She could find out tomorrow, in the daylight. Being out at night in the preternatural quiet was giving her the creeps. She read on:
“I guess if you’re reading this you might know that already. From my research, I think this has happened everywhere - around the world I mean. There are others here in the city who haven’t succumbed to the sickness (or whatever it is) but not many of us. Nobody knows what to do. Some want to stick together, others are just waiting at home for their loved ones to wake up or come home.
Like some of the others, I can’t find any of my friends or family. I have found some people, though - in weird places - unconscious but definitely alive. I searched the newspaper building. Something told me to check the basement. I don’t know why … intuition? Whatever. Everybody from the office was down there -sleeping it looked like. Photographers, security guys, journalists - about 30 of them. That was some fucked up scary shit! I got out of there. I went out into the street and walked six blocks until I found somebody. It was cop, funnily enough. Tough guy. He was sitting in the gutter crying like a baby. I asked him what had happened. He just looked at me. I spoke to two more people after that (after another hour of walking). They knew no more than I did. They were looking for their families. I told them what I found in the basement of my building. They looked shocked, then starting running back home. They didn’t even bother to thank me. I’m at home now writing this. I’m stopping though. I just can’t. I know I should feel special. This is one big news story right? A big exclusive for a little journalist like me! I can’t see any newspapers in my future though. I have a really bad feeling about this. It doesn’t feel like it might fix itself. I don’t know why, just a gut feeling. This … situation will get worse IMHO. This is my plan though: get some supplies in, then lock myself inside for a couple of days. See what happens. However, I AM NOT CONFIDENT!!! I won’t be writing any more- no audience right? If anyone reads this (which in itself would be a fucking miracle) I wish you good luck. I hope I am wrong about all of this.”
Sally shivered. She looked at a few more websites and only found variations on the same theme. Almost everybody in the world had found a reasonably secluded place and gone into some kind a bizarre hibernation. The few that were left behind were alone, scared, and had absolutely no idea how to proceed or what they should be doing. There were no authorities, there was no infrastructure and there was no government. For the time being she was on her own. If she was scared before, now she was absolutely terrified. The thought of a couple of million people lying in nooks and crannies around the city was horrific. She felt helpless and was on the verge of tears.
Then the lights went out.
“Shit”! She was getting to her feet when a noise from the back of the office stopped her in her tracks. She turned towards the source of the sound, as a shadowy figure lunged from the dark doorway and charged at her. She turned and ran, plunging through the front door, slamming it shut behind her. As she sprinted across the street she heard an almighty crash as the figure slammed into the closed door. Again and again the person smashed into the door, but it couldn’t break through. Sally kept running until she reached her hotel’s doorway. She shoved the door open and threw herself inside. The foyer was pitch black. Why hadn’t she thought to take a flashlight with her? Stupid! She locked the door behind her and scurried up the stairs towards her room. As she mounted the stairs she fished the key out of her front pocket. She had reached her door and was fumbling the key into the lock when she heard the door from Room 13 at the end of the hall burst open. She risked a glance behind her as she threw herself into her room, and sensed, rather than saw, a malevolent shadow racing down the hallway towards her. She slammed the door and locked it, as the figure slammed into it from outside. Sally screamed as the door rattled in its’ frame. “Fuck off! Leave me alone you freak!” She ran to the bathroom and locked herself in, before climbing into the bath and curling up in the foetal position with her fingers in her ears. She began to shake uncontrollably as she went into shock.