dlburks

[dlburks]

The Prion Syndrome - By Donte Burks

Chapter One

He walked slowly, and aimlessly, stumbling around like a blind man.  His footing was unsure, as he stepped and shuffled like someone walking on a pile of stones. His body was stiff in some areas as he moved along his erratic path, clumsily at a snail's pace.  It was a kind of an off balance shuffle which looked like he could fall over at any moment. His head hung down and his eyes were unfixed and lazily scanning with seemingly little purpose. They didn't really track anything in particular as he moved.  There was no movement around him therefore he gave no response to his surroundings.

About every minute or so, there was the sound of slow breathing. Long, laborious, drawn-out breathing in a non-rhythmic, congested fashion as if there were something lodged in his throat. It had a kind of whispering wheezing effect to it like an asthmatic forcing his self to draw a breath.  First and very slow inhale, though very shallow and faint and laborious though with less effort. Then, quite a few seconds later, often more than 10 or 15, is the exhale. This was nearly as slow as the inhale, but sometimes accompanied by an expectation of phlegm and other fluids. It was often coupled with a wheeze or a weak moan as the air slowly passed through what was left of the vocal chords.  Sometimes his mouth was open and dripping with very cloudy and thick saliva that often lingered and hung from the bottom lip and chin. Other times just a small opening, enough for air to pass. In he often made a chewing motion with his jaw and a smacking sound with his lips. It was like something you would see if you watched an old man as went about his day complaining of being parched and having found nothing to quench his throat. 

There was group of teenagers passing by laughing and joking as teenagers often do.  They had just left the movie theatre, where they watched a popular action film. One of those summer blockbusters everyone waits months to see, with five or six sequels trailing behind it. They were all laughing and joking; talking about the movie and reciting the various memorable scenes from it.   

“And that part where the guy had the two guns...” Greg blurted as he jumped and pranced around making the gun shapes with his hands pointing them at everyone else.”Man, that was so cool..” he exclaimed.

Greg was the oldest of the group. He was 19 years old, although sometimes you wouldn't know because of the way he acted a times. His authority issues often got in the way of his social graces. This made it hard to really keep friends. These were the kids he knew since child hood. They learned to put up with him over the years. However outside of that, friendships make no difference to him. Greg was also pretty easy to anger, so he fought a lot. In fact he liked to fight. An easy way to get him going was to correct him on his actions. You don’t Greg how to act, you just stand back and kind of let him work himself into his own embarrassment. Then he’ll get the message. He’ll just acknowledge it with a, “screw you, man!” No one likes to be told how obnoxious they are.  Although, when he is calm and serious, he would prove himself to be quite intelligent and resourceful. This is one of the reasons why the rest of the group liked to keep him around. It did help that he always got invited to all the best parties. They could always tag along.

Mike was just the kind of guy you could call a true friend. He was rather level headed and sustains a common sense sort of air about himself. You always knew where Mike’s head was. A foundation of sorts which always struck people as being dependable and reliable, someone you can count on. 

Now Mike didn’t always say much, what with the maniacal ramblings of Greg, which often gobbled up the conversation when he was on a roll. However, Mike always knew when to throw in his two cents and when to keep his mouth shut. Still, when he did say something, it was usually worth listening to because he tended to be one of the more thoughtful individuals in the group. 

His, inclusion into the teen clan was not without some ridicule. He wasn’t best dressed between himself and Greg. In-fact, Greg often referred to him as Mikey Mom-pants, on account of the fact that Mike regularly wore faded jeans and wore them rather high on his waist. A favorite song Greg often blerted out at Mike was “Mik-ey-Mom-Pants”. Very similar to a children’s cartoon they used to watch as younger kids.

Now, when they happened upon the strange man, they saw how oddly he was behaving. They witness him bump into the wall a few times that ran along the path he was walking. They stared teasing him for a Moment. Hitting him with insults, and They watched as he shambled about like some confused mental patient, heavily drugged and barely aware of himself; much less, his surroundings, not knowing where he is, or even what he was doing. At least that how he appeared to them as they look on with disbelief at first and then a sophomoric lack of sensibility and sensitivity to his apparent trouble. 

Shocked at first, they stood there starring at him in disbelief, unsure of what to do. They just sort of watched as the stranger meandered around pointlessly with little actual direction. He often started one way, then abruptly stopped and changed direction.  There was obviously something about this person that was not right. He seemed confused and disheveled with no 

His clothes were dirty and torn in some places. He was wearing a sport coat that was wrinkled and filthy, and it looked as though it was barely holding at the seams.  His pants, dusty and torn, and if you looked closely enough they seemed have some bloodstains down the pant legs. The stench carried easily in the wind as it wisped softly across him. There was the stench of death in a toilet. 

You could then hear one of them shout, "Freak!"

That got his attention. The strange man stopped and turned, and he looked that the group. His eyes clouded and whitened, it was a wonder he could see anything at all.  Half confused, at first, but then there was moment of what appeared to be clarity in his facial expression and his demeanor. He turned, slowly, but with a definite determination. The kids were immediately alarmed by this him, but still, like any other group of unruly teens, this didn't stop them from teasing the man. All with the exception of Sandy, who normally has a greater sensibility about what is proper and correct regarding how other individuals are treated.

“C-mon guys, don't on him. He may need help.” Preached Sandy.

Actually, the main one doing the teasing was Greg, who could be somewhat of an asshole, simply due to the fact that the he had authority issues. The other mainly stood by laughing at Greg's jokes.

“Dude, you fuckin' stink.”

“Are you retarded?” he scoffed.

 He was always the first to make a snide remark at someone’s expense especially someone he didn’t like, or even someone in a position of authority. The rest of the group say nothing. They just laughed, which of course would only encourage him even more. Mike, snickered a bit, he was a bit of a joker. It is mostly by choice, whenever he doesn't want to deal with something unpleasant.

Greg was the boldest one; the fearless one. He liked to fight and he had no problem with the idea of bashing someone's head in, if they pissed him off. He grabbed a glass beer bottle that was lying nearby on the ground. As the stranger began to lumber toward them, Greg smashed the butt of the bottle against a sign post, breaking it to get a sharp edged weapon to defend himself and the others with. He saw it done in the movies. However it did not work out the same way. In fact the entire bottle shattered in his hand. One of the shards of glass cut his hand just across the base of his thumb and to the center of his palm.

“Ah—sun of a bitch!” he yelled.

Judy was standing the closest to Greg when it at started. She immediately rushed to him to see if he were ok. She wasn't very impressed with the fact that Greg was trying to play "Mr. Hero".

“Dumb-ass! What the hell were you thinking?” she told him.

 She had always been Greg's biggest critic. But she was also his closest friend and he, her's. They had grown up together, they had been friends since Pre-K.  When she got over to him she immediately grabbed his hand to look at it. She didn't notice anymore that the stranger was getting closer. Although the creep was closest to Judy and it was very easy to get a hold of her, he wanted at that hand, and the one attached to it. The blood was an over powering lure, and it was so irresistible, that the man could not control himself. He did everything in his power to get to that hand, to get that person with the bleeding hand.

There was something about the blood, dripping from Greg's hand, the smell of it, the color, and that fact that it was so fresh. It was the very thing needed to send the stranger into a frenzy.  He became excited and started to move with less confusion and with more intent. Suddenly, the stranger reached for them. He began swinging his arms around as though he were trying to catch flies in a swarm. The group, in unison, quickly moved away, Just far enough to stay out of his reach.  The stranger lunged forward toward the kids in a second attempt to get a hold of just one of them.  However, they were all too quick and managed to move out of the way every time he tried for them.  Greg managed to knock around a couples of times. He popped him good one time; hard enough to knock him out, he thought. He put him on ground but the man just got back up and started at Greg again. Judy grabbed Greg by the arm to get him away from the super vagrant.

Greg, knew, at this point, that this was not where he wanted to be and shouted to the rest of the gang, "Let's go!"  

They all ran away from the stranger, all together, all in fear. The stranger tried to chase them but was far too slow. The only thing he could do was to try to follow them as he shambled after them.

Across the street was a Trendy Mart where they all ran to, hoping to find a safe place to call for help. They all piled up at the door, coming in just enough for the door to close. They could see from there that the stranger was making his way across the street.

They were all shaking and full of fright as they watched the man stumble across the street.

"I hope the fucker gets hit by car!" Greg shouted, holding his bloody hand.

Sandy replied, "Dude, that's so wrong!"

"What?" he asked, "Look at my hand!"

"You did that--trying to be some action movie hero!" she said, her eyes scanning him from head to toe. "What were you gonna do with that bottle any way, catch a murder charge?"

"Not murder," Greg hung his head and lowered his voice a bit, thinking how he could spin it.  "Assault maybe...or self defense! Who knows what that bastard was gonna do to us...or you."

Sandy interrupted the argument, "Stop arguing and call the police! He's getting closer!"

At that moment the store clerk jumped in, "Hey!" He didn't seem to be a very authoritative guy. He was tall and lanky, not so tough looking but he could command attention if needed, although his voice cracked a little when he yelled. This was the time for that.  "You, with the hand, you're getting blood all over my floor, who's gonna clean that up?"

They all looked at each other and in one second they all jump at the counter, advising the clerk to call the police. The clerk was not convinced that they were actually victims of anything. He asked them, "What's going on? What did you do?"

Judy pointed toward the man strafing toward the door, while the others frantically look around for something to bar the door.  She explained to the clerk what had happened when they first encountered the man that was just now making it to the door. The door that has just been barred at the last second before the man could get in.

The clerk was not as concerned as they'd hoped, "Look at him, he's just a transient. He's probably just hungry, or maybe his mentally challenged or ill."

"Look, I don't care what he is. He attacked us and we need help." Judy remained sure of the danger.

"Did he do that to your friend's hand over there?

"No, he cut it by breaking a bottle," she admitted.

"Like in the movies?" the clerk snidely remarked. When he said that, there was a small laugh that escaped his throat. He also struggled to suppress the smirk on his face.

Greg interrupted, "It's not funny, guy. This really hurts. Maybe instead of standing there making B.S. comments you could me out with some bandages or something?"

"Third aisle, top shelf. and you know you gotta pay for that."

Greg responded, "yeah, yeah, whatever."

At that time, the others notice the man was right outside the door. He began to bang on the glass as if to be let in. They became more panicked.

Judy pleaded with the clerk to call the police, then remembered that she was carrying her cell phone the whole time. She snatched the phone from her pocket and tried to call out, but could not get a signal. "Damn, no signal!"

The clerk looks at Judy then back out at the stranger banging on the glass. "Well I guess there's something wrong with him. I'll call the police and have him picked up...but you can't close up my store like this, I'm running a business here."

While the clerk was talking to the police, the rest of the group was watching the bizarre individual as he became more and more agitated, pounding on the glass, even licking it once or twice. The more the man was doing to get into the store, the more the group became nervous.

A car pulls up and parks just off to the side. It's a tan sedan or some shit, it doesn't matter what kind of are it was. The passenger side door opens up, reluctantly, as a young woman, in her twenty's emerges slowly and cautiously for fear that she may be accosted by the crazy man banging on the glass. The group in the store also began to bang on the glass to get the woman's attention. Frantically, they try to warn her not to try to enter the store, and to stay away from the strange man at the door.

It was a little too late; the stranger had caught a glimpse of the young man, and has now turned his attention to her. This is something he can reach. His mouth begins to make a chewing motion as he starts over to her. The woman is frozen at the sight of him. She wants to run away but it seems that all she can do is take little steps backwards. Not quite enough to make any headway in getting away from this grizzly old guy.

"You'd better stay away from me!" She managed to get out breathlessly. Suddenly, the driver side door flies open. A rather large man jumps out of the car, and quickly charges over to the stranger, "Hey fucker, don't you put your hands on her!"

The man grabs the stranger by the lapels, at which point a small struggle takes place. While the man and the stranger tussled, the man's arm was exposed just long enough for the stranger to turn to the side, reach out and bite the man on the arm just above the wrist.

At that moment, the man pushed the stranger away, "Ouch! You Bastard!" The stranger was knocked to the ground. He immediately started to get up. The man started kicking the stranger before he could fully get up. He kicked him until he started to bleed. That's when he finally stopped. It would seem this man had one of the personalities where he is not satisfied until he sees blood.

The young woman that was with him tried to calm the man down so that he didn't seriously hurt the stranger. "Marcus, that's enough, let's just go."

Marcus grabbed her and pushed her aside, "Get out of the way, this guy is dangerous."

Through all of that the creature still tries to stand up. He seemed even more agitated than before. From his knees, the emaciated stranger lunged at the man and caught him by surprise. He reached around the Marcus' waist and squeezed. It wasn't very tight but the whole action was quick enough to catch the Marcus off guard.

Then there was the bite. Another one right in the middle of the man's chest. This one was messy and there was far more blood than the first one. Marcus grabbed the stranger's head and began to pound it until it was a bloody lump.

Inside the store, everyone was looking at the spectacle that took place outside. There was nothing but silence in that moment, no of them could believe what they had just seen.

"I think we just witnessed a murder," said Judy.

"No," Greg answered, "look, he's still moving...a little."

They watched Marcus gather the young women and get her into the car, and they drove off never to be seen again.

"Dude, that was kinda awesome," said Greg as he watched the car speed down the road.

Very soon after, no more than a minute or two, the police showed up.  There were two of them in the car. It was clear to see that the one driving was older and was more experienced than the other. They pulled into the parking lot, in a typical cop manner. It's not really that easy to explain what a typical cop manner of driving is...however whenever you see it, you also know where the car is marked or not. You can always tell its cop driving that vehicle, when the driver is driving like a cop.

Anyway, as they pulled into the parking lot, the officer in the passenger side noticed the old odd man writhing on the ground, struggling to get up, with head literally all busted up. It was so bad that there were pieces of his head on the ground, and you could almost be certain that the brain exposed.

There was a stench coming from the stranger by this time. It was really bad, and the air was so thick with it, it was difficult for the police officer to approach him. "I’m Officer Dan Jennings. Can you understand me?"

"Oh my God, what is that smell?" the younger officer coughed.

The other older officer, the one that was driving, had just finished on the radio, and moved cautiously away from the car, looking around for someone who could have done this to the stranger or at least someone that saw what happened.

"Don’t touch him yet, at least until we get an understanding what that smell is." said the driver officer. He then notice all the eyes on them as he looked up at the storefront and saw that there was a group of witness. He knew they could tell what happened here.  So he made its way toward the door. At the same time, Judy started over to remove the broom that she had been using to bar the door shut.

The officer enters the store, "I'm Officer Boyle. Does anyone want to tell me what happened here?"

They all chime in, each trying to tell the story, it sounds like a room of random voices all not unrelated and irrelevant to each other.

"OK, okay, one at a time, please." shouted the officer. "You," he points to Greg since he appeared to be the leader of the group or maybe the oldest.

While the group’s statements were being taken, the younger officer was seeing about the man on the ground.  His concern was quite genuine as this person has suffered substantial injuries.  The stranger still writhing on the ground and struggling to get, didn't seemed to be very phased by the injuries other than the obvious. In fact, the fact that he could not get up, likely was the only thing keeping him from harming the officer who was standing well within 3 feet of him.

After taking their statements, Officer Boyle called out to Jennings and motioned to him to come over. "You need to hear this."

Jennings is distracted for just a second while Boyle is trying to get him to come over, and at that moment, the stranger reached out and grabbed a hold of officer Jennings' arm, pulls it in and bites the officer on the hand. Jennings manages to pull away quickly enough that he gets a scratch on his hand rather a gashing wound.

"Are you alright," asked Boyle.

"I'm Fine," answered Jennings, "He just nicked me."

"Still, gonna have to get that checked out. You might need a Tetanus shot."

"Yeah, I know but that can wait," Jennings scoffed.

Boyle told Jennings what the kids told him. The story was rather hard for them to believe. At least would have been if Jennings hadn't gotten bitten by the stranger.

Jennings turn toward Judy and asked, "So this man, outside on the ground, he attacked you?"

"Sort of,” she said, "he tried to get a hold of me but he moved really slow and we managed to get away."

The officers called for an ambulance to have the man picked and checked at a hospital.  As for the kids, they called their parents to make sure they got home safely.

Judy's father showed up, but the rest of the parents were not able to come, so Mr. McCreedy, Judy's father offered to take them all home.

On the ride home, Mr. McCreedy explained, "You know you all were really very lucky today. This is why I always make sure Judy knows what dangers are out there, and I'm always checking up on her to make sure she's not getting into any trouble."

"Dad, please." chimed Judy.

"All I'm saying is there are a lot of creeps out there and you'll never know when you walk on one. It's always best to be prepared, and careful." he explained.

Arriving home, after dropping off the rest of the group, Mr. McCreedy tells Judy to get ready for dinner. Judy goes into the house and scurries up to her room to try to shake off nerves. Her mother, very concerned barges into the room asking if Judy is alright. She had heard that there was an incident and wanted to make sure her baby was OK. "Judy, honey, are you okay?” she inquired, "Tell me, what happened?"

"I'm fine...it's nothing really," Judy answered.

"Well it must have been something serious or else why would the police have been involved?"

"Mom, it was nothing..." Judy tried to deescalate the whole incident.

"You're not in trouble are you?" her mother asked reluctantly, not wanting there to be anything that would mean Judy was in any trouble of any kind. "You know you can tell me anything, even if it means you might be in trouble. Trust me; it will be better if you tell me.

Judy took a long deep breath, and paused for a moment. She searched for the best way to explain what happened without making it sound worse than it really was. "We were out walking around, after the movies and there was this guy...so weird." she cringed at the thought of the stranger was about to describe.

"This guy was stumbling around and moaning or mumbling, I don't know what...all I remember is that he was weird and dirty, and he smell really bad," she remembered.

"Oh honey, he didn't...do anything did he?" she drew in closer to examine Judy, ensuring that her little hadn't been abused in any way.

"No, mom," she answered, "Like I said, I'm fine. He didn't lay a hand on me, because well...He tried to grab me but we all ran. "

"Your dad told me that Greg had to go to the emergency room," said Mrs. McCreedy.

"Yeah that's because Greg's stupid...He tried breaking the end off of a bottle to protect us," Judy returned. She added, "When that guy tried to grab us, Greg was trying to be a hero...I guess." She paused a bit then said, "He's such an idiot."

Judy went to explained the rest of the event to her mother and by the time she'd reached the end of the story, her mother had already made up her mind, "OK, I'm glad you're OK, but you're gonna start taking self defense classes."

"Mom," Judy replied, "I don't need self defense...it was one isolated incident.”

"I'm not hearing anymore about it. Self defense is the best thing for a situation like that," stated Mrs. McCreedy.

It was unclear to Judy if her mother had heard anything she said about the biting. However, it didn't matter at this point; there was no convincing her mom about not needing self defense classes.