The Gift of Death

Early 1800's

The scientist held the patients hand as he pressed the cold stethoscope against the patients chest. Their was no sound but the faint resonance of the mans heart, more like a snare drum at this stage than the usual bass beat. The man closed his bloodshot eyes, his breath lowered to an inaudible state. Suddenly the man wrenched, his body distorted this way and that and he twisted at the waist. His arms and legs lengthened out as far as they could go. His eyes opened and revealed his vast pupils which consumed his entire eyeball. His mouth let go a scream, one with such tremendous agony that it could be felt by the doctor and scientist. The mans skin started to bubble on his body as if it was boiling and it abruptly started to pour off his body, like sand in an hourglass. It did this until their was nothing left but bone, which in turn succumbed to the same fate. All that was left of the young man was a pile of ash.

The doctor and scientist stared at the place where the man had laid only moments before. Their expressions were indeterminable, they both wore masks for it had been discovered that this, the Consumption Virus as it was called, was transmitted through breathing in the ash of the deceased. These ash particles could be carried by the wind to be breathed in by anyone. This particular incident had taken place inside though and the doctor and scientist left the room as the cleaning crew entered to properly dispose of the remains. They walked downstairs and into the kitchen.

"This has got to stop!" said the scientist, crashing his fist on the table, "this is the eighth one this week!"

"I agree Jack… everyone does, But what are we going to do? What can we do to stop a disease that can be spread through the air? A disease that kills within mere days of contracting it! It's only a matter of time before it wipes out the whole damn world."

"Do you hear yourself, Elliot? Do you really think that we should give up and surrender to this thing, we have to at least put in some effort!"

"Alright, alright, let's say we go to your lab, eh Jack? We can start looking for...for something. I'll go tell the clean up crew to bring over some of the remainders of that poor man."

And so the search for a cure began. At first no remedy for the disease could be found, but as their minds wandered, as all minds tend to do, a unique sort of cure was found, a cure for death. It had been discovered by them that, in theory, a hefty dose of light, concentrated through Topaz and mixed with certain types of radioactive metals, could prolong life indefinitely.

Unknown to them, however, it did not extend life temporarily but indefinitely, keeping the soul with the body despite the condition of the individual. In addition to this, no longer would the body be susceptible to bodily diseases such as leprosy or this Consumption Virus, nor could diseases like Cancer or Diabetes harm any individual.

For over a year Elliot and Jack worked on this machine until it was completed. They worked in secrecy and in secrecy they sent it off to the moon using a miniature rocket they had built, an accomplishment within itself. This would ensure that the beam the machine emitted would reach everyone, due to the moons rotation. The machine was now on the moon, but not before Elliot and Jack had become victims of the Consumption Virus.


Present Time


Jesse sat their on the bench. He always sat there, he would sit there all day and stare at the alleyway across from him. To the right of the alley were some radios, all broadcasting people complaining about the want of death. But inside the alleyway were a crowd of people, all laying down. None of them moved much except for the occasional one that would summon some inner strength to scratch something. Some of them were missing body parts, others had no skin, but all of their bodies had started to decompose. Most of their brains were long departed and so was any sense that they may have had. But they were alive nonetheless, their bodies had started to literally crumble, but they lived. If you can call it living. They couldn't die, no one could.

As far as Jesse knew no one else thought about these people. In all the time that he had been coming here and sitting on the bench he had never once had anyone come and sit next to him. In a world as overpopulated as this one that was a peculiar occurrence. Perhaps people didn't like the thought that they were going to be like that one day. This didn't matter to Jesse, he thought about them; how they got to where they were, what happened to their families and other such things. He had little time to think about that today though, he was due to give a lecture at NYU, for he was a scientist He stood up and merged into the crowd, to be swept away in the mass of people.

Jesse came home that night and laid on the couch. He had given a lecture on the gene of death which, as everyone knew, we had overcome by evolution. It was all bull and Jesse knew it. That theory had more holes in it than anything else. Jesse reached over to his coffee table to grab his mail and he went to the kitchen to grab a cup of coffee.

"Stupid mail, it's all bills!" he declared aloud. He wasn't entirely correct, there were also letters of inquisition from students who had found the holes in Jesse's evolutionary theories and were eager to point them out to him.” What’s this?" he asked himself as he held up a postcard. It was picture of a stunning "southern mansion style house" for sale with great white columns and plenty of windows, a feature that Jesse especially enjoyed because he liked seeing the sun light careening down to earth. He imagined the sunbeams as being beams of life, coming down to sustain them all.

He arrived at the house the next day. It was located in the woods and enclosed by many immense oak trees. He pulled his Chevrolet up to the manor and walked up the stone steps to the door. Prestigious, he thought. He stepped into the building and was completely taken aback at what he saw. Everything was entirely in place, the estate agent had not mentioned this. There was a table with silverware and dishes placed neatly on top of it. In the bedrooms the beds were made up and clothes were still in the wardrobes. Jesse made his way to the basement where his astonishment reached it's pinnacle, it was a laboratory, test tubes and all. He started probing around, carefully examining every container and jar that was inside that room. There was another room attached to the basement and it was found it to be a study. He went over to the bookshelf, particularly interested in this, and found that it was filled with books of scientific speculations and practices, some of which Jesse had never heard of. As he perused these books (a hard task due to their age) he noticed some papers arranged on the desk. He would not have noticed them if it hadn't been for a proverbial diagram drawn on the one of the sheets. It was an illustration of an ancient artifact which, Jesse had known, was sent to the moon by the Aztecs as a tribute to their gods. Why it would be on the table he had no idea.

He read the paper as it lay, not daring to pick it up in case it might crumble to dust. Jesse found that it was a memoir, a memoir written by Elliot about what he and Jack did that cold January night. Needless to say he purchased that house and wasted no time in moving his own gear into the laboratory. He started drawing up plans to get to the moon and shut off the machine to bring death back to this world.

It wasn't long before word got out about what Jesse was doing, a solitary man purchasing ludicrous amounts of metal, gunpowder, and other odd items is bound to draw attention. His old college professor had been the first to find out and he offhandedly mentioned it on his radio pod cast. The day after word had got out Jesse was startled to see people out on his lawn, sitting their with books, putting them down whenever Jesse came out to cheer.

The day after that a scientist, who wasn't particularly fluent in English, offered to lend a hand, at least that's what Jesse assumed he was there for. As the days went on, more and more scientist came and more and more fans stationed themselves outside of Jesse's house. Radio hosts were contacting him, all wanting to get the word as to how Jesse had figured this out, despite the fact that he kept it no secret, the papers, however, he did. The American government started to contribute, making out large checks to go towards development and design. Other countries also started to lend funds, in addition to scientists. Jesse's house came to be too crowded to be in and he resorted to kindly asking people to leave the premise. As uncomfortable as it was, all this beneficence gave way to a completed rocket after only a half year of research.

It was finally launch day and Jesse had been offered the chance to be both the one to shut it off and to be the one to choose the launch location, the Washington Memorial was his choice. Jesse waited in a room across from the spaceship, in just minutes he'd be strolling across towards the spaceship and be on his way into space. Sweat poured off him, his knees shook, his stomach ached. He stood up wearily, sighed and walked out the door. He was greeted by a massive cheer, looking up, he was awestruck by the splendor of what was now in front of him. Millions upon millions of people were there cheering and shouting words of encouragement and approval. Jesse was handed a microphone and everyone quieted down, to hear what he had to say.

"People of America—of the World!" he began, "I stand here today, ready to shut off that machine up there and bring some much needed death back to this eternal world. However, I believe that this should be a choice made by the people. Let me hear a cheer if you do not want this machine to be shut off." Silence. "And how about a cheer if you do?" The place erupted into a frenzy of cheers. "The people have spoken," he sighed, "I'll be back." Jesse stumbled down the aisle and entered the spaceship.

Within the spaceship Jesse strapped himself into his chair and began flicking switches and pushing buttons to prep for take off. The countdown began and ended in ten seconds; the engines flared to life and Jesse could feel the heat warming his back. His helmet pressed against his face and his stomach, which had ached before, now pushed back with an agonizing force. But as soon as it had started it was over and Jesse found himself in the weightlessness of space.

For nearly a week Jesse ate nothing but dried fruit and he was ill and panicky the whole ride, only able to enjoy the mind-blowing view when he wasn't rocking back and forth from the stomach aches. It was an unpleasant ride in that cramped space shuttle, but Jesse didn’t mind now that he had arrived on the moon.

He did not get out at first, he was still queasy and didn't even want to consider the possibility of him getting laid up outside and being incapable of making it back. He knew what he had to do though and got out of the spaceship and searched for the contraption. Once he reached it he laid down on the ground and radioed back home.

"People of Earth," he said, "I lied when I said I'd be back. The people that built this machine, they created a failsafe system, if ever shut off the machine will…explode. They did this so anyone who would shut off the machine, the terrorist group or extortionists or whomever, would be killed for such an endeavor. I did not tell you, because I was afraid you would not let me do this, but I am. Mourn not though, for through my death comes new hope for the world. Every continent joined together to build the rocket to bring me here, let's join together to build a new world. Through new death comes life!" And with that Jesse uttered a prayer and shut off the machine.

Back on Earth there was stillness. Everyone looked up, expecting to see something. Suddenly, the old started to rot away,with smiles breaking out on their faces as they went to a new eternity. A united cheer broke out among the people, but then it stopped. People all around, young and old, started bursting into dust. Screams of terror broke out, but they didn't last long. for the entire population soon perished, everyone had the Consumption Virus.

THE END