Can't We Go Back? by Anna (comprehension books .TXT) 📕

It was a normal morning, the sun high in the sky as Ian sat at the table drinking his coffee and reading the paper; but something seemed out of the ordinary, a strange feeling in his gut wouldn't go away. He stretched out after laying the paper on the table, staring out the window as his hand ran down his stomach.

"Oh, what to do today?" Ian asked nobody in particular, his dog tilted his head up at him.

Ian stood up, picked up his cup and placed it into the sink before heading off to the bathroom. After showering, he shaved and dressed for a jog; it was a nice sunny morning he might as well do something good for himself.

His outfit consisted of an under armour shirt and gym shorts with comfortable running sneakers.

"I'd take you with me, Ted but it's one hot morning" Ian said as he patted the dogs head, he simply groaned and laid back down; he showed no interest in wanting to have gone for a run anyways.

After locking up the place Ian started his jog, running down the path towards the main street and to the left; keeping a steady pace as he got into town. Wiping his forehead from sweat he finally slowed down as he noticed a beverage stand, a man yelling 'Cold drinks, soda, water, get a drink!'

Ian couldn't lose, he glanced both ways of the busy New York city roads, people were zooming past paying no attention to him. After two minutes, they were forced to stop as the light turned red and pedestrians were allowed crossing.

He ran quickly over the crosswalk, continuing until he had gotten to the man with the drinks.

"I'd like a water please" Ian stated, fishing in his pocket for his wallet.

"Two dollars and fifty" The man said like he was at an auction; Ian had no doubt he had side jobs like that with how loud and jumbled he was talking yet strangely you could understand him.

After handing over the money, Ian opened the drink and chugged it, wiping his mouth once half the bottle was gone.

"Thanks" Ian said before closing the bottle and returning to the same pace he had once been at.

Glancing at the road as he ran he noticed a car stopped in the middle of the road, the driver staring straight ahead with a blank look to him. It seemed strange.

As cars honked past him, Ian stopped and stared at the car, slowly walking closer to it. The man turned his head and stared at Ian, screaming incoherently before smacking his head against the wheel of the car. Ian jumped as he kept going, blood splashing every where as the man started smacking his face harder and harder eventually the air-bag popped out and suffocated him between it and the seat.

Ian's eyes widened before backing away from the car; whatever was wrong with that man he didn't want to happen to him in case it was contagious.

Cars in the road started to stop every which way, some over the crosswalk while others in random spots causing regular drivers to crash into them. One by one Ian noticed them doing the same thing as the man who just killed himself had done.

'I have to get out of here' Ian thought to himself before sprinting off towards his home. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

Once safely inside Ian locked the doors up and pet Ted, sighing in relief that whatever was going on hadn't reached him...yet. He was terrified, it was something he could not see, it was something attacking everybody and whatever it

was was spreading fast.

Ian ran to his computer, bringing up the browser, he quickly typed in 'What could cause someone to want to kill themself?' He knew he wouldn't get a wide range of answers. Things such as 'Depression, loss of a loved on, diseases' popped up as results, sighing he knew he was at a dead end. What could he type in?

'People driving who end up stopping and banging their heads against whatever they could' Hell, that wouldn't work, what would come up? This was the internet he was talking about and people ran the internet. He rubbed his temples, he could go to a hospital and ask them but who knew if they would even know what was going on.

He had even seen people break their heads out the window at one point. He had to find answers and he had to find them fast.

Ian turned off his computer and turned away, pacing through the living room as he thought it through.

This was strange, obviously nothing had ever happened like this before because he would have heard about it, right?

It seemed ridiculous, this entire thing wasn't real, he was dreaming. Yeah, it was a terrible nightmare and he was going to awaken from this at some point.

He was satisfied at the way he faked himself, made himself believe in a false reality but was rudely awakened once the phone rang.

Ian picked it up and said a mumbled 'hello?' into the receiver, he was still baffled.

"Hey hun" His mother said reluctantly on the other end.

"Oh, hi ma" Ian said, shifting his weight from his right foot to his left.

"Have you seen the news?" His mom asked, Ian turned towards the television.

'The t.v.!' It flashed through Ian's mind as he thought 'duh!' He hadn't ever thought about looking at the news for what was going on.

"No not yet but I will, I'll call you back" Ian said swiftly, hanging up the phone before she had a chance to reply.

He tripped over the foot rest that was a compliment to the couch as he rushed towards the television, turning it on he flipped through the channels before he finally landed on the one that would tell him what was going on.

"An epidemic as broken loose! Biggest we have ever seen, thousands dead as a plague wipes through major cities and slowly drift into smaller ones. Stay away from any water system, all water has been poisoned and oceans are carrying this deadly disease. It eats your skin away, your insides will burn, other symptoms are rashes or the irrisistable urge to kill yourself in any possible way, save yourself!" The man explained, Ian's eyes widened as he remembered the bottle of water he had purchased from the man not long ago.

'Am I poisoned?' Ian thought to himself, he looked back at Ted who laid on the ground, he prayed he hadn't filled his bowl that morning.

"Ted" Ian said cautiously, he slowly crept towards him as he watched the sleeping dogs figure. He raised his head and stared at him, wagging his tail.

Ian sighed in relief, slowly running his hand along the dogs side.

"We need to get out of here" Ian said as he ran to grab the dogs leash, normally he wouldn't need it but now he had to keep the dog from drinking any water that he could.

Ian hooked Ted then ran outside, the dog happily followed at his side. He stuck the dog in the car then hopped in himself, speeding away making sure to dodge main roads; he didn't want an accident.

Once it was inevitable that he had to go through a major town, he carefully drove around large masses of cars, smoke drifted toward the skies from many of them.

Ian took in the sight, glancing from car to car as he saw bodies strewn in every direction; it was like nothing he had ever seen before.

Ted whined from the back seat as Ian continued driving, he glanced back at his pup as Ted looked back, wagging his tail.

Ian drove passed the town, driving for hours until his car ran out of gas in a tiny place three hours from his home. He got out of the car, bringing Ted along with him as he slowly walked through it, trying to find somebody.

"Hello?" Ian yelled out, a man walked onto the porch of a small store, loading a shotgun.

Ian gulped lightly then quickly explained himself.

"I'm from the city, I don't want any trouble, there's just a huge problem going on with the water and I wanted to know if here was safe or not" Ian explained, the man walked into the sun and stared at him, he was scruffy looking with a long beard.

"You're welcome to stay but the water is no safer here than there, ya know" The man stated the obvious but was in no mood to say more as he walked back into the store.

Ian nodded as he took Ted and looked around more, towards the back of the town was a large storage shed; two floors with rotted boards falling off on the outside. It hadn't been used in what seemed like years.

Ian opened the door and led Ted inside, he sat down on a small bale of hay as Ted sniffed around.

"How are we going to survive this one, Ted?" Ian asked, Ted simply glanced up at him, tilting his head before returning to smelling things once again. He didn't care.

Ian laid back, putting his arms under his head, after an hour he finally fell into a deep slumber.

He awoke in the morning, stiff and sore from the hay. He sat up and groaned, rubbing his neck trying to remember where he was. In one instant he remembered everything from the previous day, he swore softly.

He looked around the small area for his dog, spotting him a few feet behind him on the hay.

"Hi Ted" Ian said with a smile, the dog didn't look up, he moved closer and ran his hand along the furry body if his companion, clumps of fur and blood coated his hand.

Tears filled his eyes as he stared at his appendage, blinking them away; some slid down his cheeks. He dropped his head before he got up and left the storage barn, looking around the town. He tried to avoid anyone and this task would be easier than he thought it was going to be; buildings were on fire.

Ian watched the flames dance, they were hypnotic as he slowly walked closer to them, the feeling he had gotten the day before returned to him.

It was a normal morning, the sun was blindingly bright in the sky, the weird feeling in his gut just wouldn't go away as he stepped into the flame and banged his head against the wall, laughing menacingly as his blood slid down his face and the flames ate away at his skin.