Morbigenous Angelus

Prologue
The sun died long ago. The warm orange feeling when I crawled out of bed was replaced by cold grey noises. The thought of love was replaced by a riot mindset.
         Humanity wishes to be a group even in signs of trouble. When man’s world collapses he wants something there to keep up the last mountains and cradle the last seas. It is only when in the direst of situations will man keep to himself, when his world fills with darkness.
         Darkness does not have a true name because it comes in all forms. It can keep its shadows even on a hot desert day. It can sweep across nothing and consume everything. It knows not its power for it is a prisoner of itself as is humanity.
         The Darkness kills us off because it needs to survive. Life forgives the fox for feeding on the rabbit. The Earth forgave us for its destruction until the very end. We cannot even begin to forgive the Darkness for what it has done.
         It came here not by choice but was chained up and drug here by man. We brought it back into power for our power. We unleashed it upon the other Humans until we could not control it.
         Its power came to fill up the universe. No one man was safe. Together we were even worse off.

         Part 1
         I heard over the radio they found another ship. Immediately, I went to see this sighting. My eyes had never seen anything that beautiful until then. The bullet-like ship was painted silver and reminded me of an angel. It had fins extending out for miles or so I guessed from the size. Its hidden engines were turned off as it floated lazily in our direction. It was beautiful but that was not what made us weep with joy.
         Food supplies were reaching an all time low. Our on board crops were finally failing us from a disease we had been battling for years. Our livestock luckily had no problems. The failure of crops eventually lead to smaller rations and the few leftover crops had to be fed to the livestock. The hope was that this ship would lend us crops to give our growing rooms’ new material after we destroy the old growth.
         The ship continued towards us as rumor spread that some of us might even be able to join this new ship and leave home behind. I was one to negate those rumors as they would no doubt prove to be false. Even if we were allowed, would we really want to leave home? The ship had served us many generations without help but now a move might be necessary.
         I found my way out of the crowd gazing out into space and headed for my cell. No doubt Spes would be there waiting for the usual nightly activities. I took a final look at the craft carrying life and sighed.
         
         I awoke the next morning to a soft breathing on my lips. I opened my eyes and gazed at her sleeping expression. Her short brown hair covered one eye. I lifted the hair out of her eyes gently as not to wake her and began the morning.
         I pulled on orange sweatpants and a black tank top bearing the logo for Alien Energy Drinks. The bacon soon was prepared and set down onto a table. I soon followed by relaxing on the heated seats surrounding it.
         “How are you Scipio?”
         “Not bad,” I grinned
         Spes’s short body came to rest on the seat across from me. Her petite body was covered by a Green T-shirt and a white skirt while her hand reached out for Fattening Bacon.
         “Be careful about how much you eat,” I poked. Her lips would purse and she would look off into space when she was unhappy. She was unhappy.
         I learned this from being married with her for two years. That means I had an expected three or so more years of marriage before we went our separate ways like every couple does. With that unhappy thought I finished the bacon with silence. She gave me a quick hug and I went off to find something to do for the day.
         I decided I should first check back on how close the “angel” was. I walked toward the main deck and looked at the large glass window next to the park. I had to move closer to see past the apple trees and gaze into the universe. It was just as packed as yesterday, with people sitting on the grass covering about a 20 meter squared area.
         It would no doubt be within contact in a few hours; I had time to blow. Walking through the park I found Acey, a friend of mine. He was sitting there with his eyes closed, his long blonde hair covering most of his face, while wearing his blue jumper.
         "How is my brother doing?" He lifted an eye up.
         "Not bad," grunted Acey, “‘bout you?"
         "Same." I stood there with our eyes meeting, both of us attempting a conversation.
         "See ya soon mate," I smiled
         "You too," He went back to sleeping
         I knew him too well though, something was on his mind. Probably the ship. If anyone wanted off this heap, it was him. That was actually what made us friends; we were both in a pub bitching about how boring this station was and how great others probably were.
         Not seeing anything else to do, I walked down the path and followed his led of sleeping; I was going to need it for when we reached the other craft.

         Part 2
         Time to greet them. A crowd moved toward the dock. Up in front of the crowd, A man stood. He said that those who wished to greet the travelers must form a line. And so we did. I noticed Spes standing near and decided to stand by her. She turned and gave me an unexpected hug.
         "Are you going with them Scipio?"
         "Yeah."
         "If there any nice girls on there remember to tell them that they have to get through me first," she said with a smile.
         "I will." She gave me another hug and I got in line with the other twenty or so men. The man at front told us to greet the people aboard the angel warmly and make them feel like we’re friends. Most importantly though, we were not to "tell them about the food shortages." With that, I followed the line into the small shuttle for transport between vessels.

         The shuttle had no windows so I sat there, shoulder to shoulder, listening to the sound of the engines. Not that there was much else to listen to because of its increasing volume. The white seats were uncomfortable and probably had not been cleaned for generations. The rest of the white interior was just as miserable.

         After hours of nothing but noise, silence came to our ears. The door out of the shuttle opened into a fragmented room; most of the cargo was scattered across the dock as though a riot had happened. A large portion of the lights were destroyed causing glass shards to line the flooring. Our shuttle was the only one in the dock; usually a craft would have at least five. I was shocked to find an angel like this destroyed and to find what littered the ground besides glass.
         Human’s bodies. They were spread across the floor. Sadness filled their eyes, as though they knew they were going to die before it happened. It was visible that some died before others. And those who died first, died with happier expressions then those who died later. Many of the older bodies were piled up in a corner as though an attempt was made to separate them from the others.
         We walked out of the ship, most of us said nothing, the few who did just muttered in confusion. As we reached the first corpses, a daring man decided to lift the body up to see the cause of death and to confirm that it was indeed dead. The body had visible burn marks in the shape of circles. He was killed by another man.
         But why, we asked ourselves? Who could take a tool used to kill animals to a man? Behind me, a man walked back to the ship and sat down; head in hands as he shook back and forth.

         We scoured the ship for anyone living. No one was

         Part 3
         We got the seeds we needed and left. When we returned to home, we walked out of the ship and into the crowd waiting. I walked past everyone else and found Spes. She was waiting happily to see me until she saw my eyes. They were filled with the gaze of all the human souls lost on that fallen angel. Before she could say a word, I wrapped my arms around her and told her not to speak.
         It was in that period of time, I realized that my life was being wasted. I decided to spend more time with Spes, get back in shape, and meet with friends more. Life had changed for me. Who would have knew that seeing death could make one see life for what it really is?
         
         Life was good until a week after I returned from that dreadful ship. One of the men who traveled with me to the death craft, became fatally sick. Doctors tried to diagnose the illness but to no avail. They had no cure.
         This was the first illness on the ship that was possibly lethal. From the point the ship was built, no one was sick except for a cold that spread through the ship when dealing with merchants. That was forty years ago and it was 500 years from the ships beginning.
         The man became the worry of everyone on board. People were not concerned with themselves getting sick; they were worried for the man dying. Everyone, including myself, tried to comfort him. Everyone wanted to see him live through this. Truthfully we all knew he would not live to see the next week.
         We decided that he should be taken out of the small nursing ward on the ship and taken to the main deck for his last days. He touched the hearts of everyone with his optimism. He always said that even though those days would be his last they would be great days.
After three days on the main deck, he could barley move and was in enough pain that he was given the option by his doctor to take his own life. Before he traveled to heaven, everyone traveled to the ward to hug and kiss him goodbye. When everyone had said their goodbyes, he swallowed his last meal of pills that carried him to a great after life.

We held a grand funeral and shipped his body out into space. It was sad that he was gone. He was loved.

Days later, the symptoms of his sickness became apparent in three others. We attempted to care for their deaths but our hope was lost after the first news that it had spread to others. Within the week fourteen more people were dead.

Part 4
We had no cure so we confined them to their cells. We left them there to rot. The disease would not be allowed to spread. The doctors admitted their mistake of letting the first person to get sick to interact with the crowds. They assured us that when they confined the sick to their cells we would be safe.
While we were safe, the sick were trapped in their room like animals left to die. It was this mentality that caused a few healthy men, including Acey, to break in to the locked cells and free the sick. The sick were grateful and most of the crowd viewed Acey and his group as heroes.
The doctors and guards of the ship discovered of this and returned the sick to their cells; Acey and his “friends” were locked up in another cell for their mistakes.
Many claimed that the sickness came from the expedition to the other ship. Others said it was an act of god, freeing his wrath upon us for our sins. I knew it could not have come from the ship. None of them died from the sickness, they died by the hand of other men.

On the fourth week after the shuttle expedition, Spes became sick. My world collapsed farther than I could ever imagine. I knew our relationship would end, just not with her end. I stayed by our bedside comforting her even when they locked us up in the room. If she was sentenced to die, I decided I would have to go with her.
I told her that she would live happily and that we would survive this. I promised that we would be married for the rest of our lives. She agreed.
Whether it was my words or her denial; she came to believe that she would live through the sickness. The hardest part was forcing me to agree with her while keeping the tears back.

I stayed with her until she died. She died quietly, lying in bed. I remained awake that whole night and never truly got sleep since then.

I waited in there for three days hoping I would die as happy as she did.

Part 5          
Immunity. Through an unfortunate miracle, the sickness would not take my life. I was released from the cell and taken into the nursing wing for examination. They thought I would be the cure.
They examined my blood and found the sickness but could not find out why I was living. They gave me two options. Become the mediator and messenger between the doctor and the ill. Be killed and dissected. The second would let me follow Spes but I knew they would not find the cure in me.

For a month, I ran possible treatments for the disease from the doctors to the patients and recorded the results. If I already was not on the edge of killing myself, I would be from my tasks. Injecting dying people with false hope was not something I wished to do.
Eventually, I saw everyone who traveled with me on that death voyage. Many asked me for my secret, others hoped the best for me, and others wished they were Immune and I was the dying one. I had to visit everyone I knew from my childhood. I watched my school friends die over night or in my care. It was not my fault but what else could I think. People who deserved the immunity had died saying that I deserved it. I had to agree and let them die.

That was my life until only thirty people were left without illness on the ship. We decided to take shelter in a large cell that had no ill in it. All food on the ship was pulled into that room. I made my final rounds to those who were sick and returned to the shelter. We locked the door from the outside and inside and prayed that we would outlive it.
Eventually the food would end and we would perish. We all knew it, so we attempted to make the most of our last days alive. I could not participate in their dancing, their joy, and their love-making. I sat there in the corner rotting from the inside.
Then the sickness hit a woman in our sanctuary. No one but a doctor and I knew how she got sick. He kept his silence as did I. I may have been Immune but that didn’t mean I couldn’t infect others. Within that cell, we contained her in the bathroom as to not spread the sickness. The loss of the bathroom was a small price for life.

They all died anyways.

Part 6
In that room, I eventually ran out of food. I then decided to make food of the dead. The dead kept me alive in the room for months.  I came to peace with myself in there.
Then the day came when I heard a knock on the door. I walked over to the door and knocked back. The knock was retuned and I heard human voices. A crowbar unexpectedly made its way through the side of the door and was tugged upon. The door pried open as the plastic-like material that it was made of shattered.
Into the room stepped three men covered in a blue hazmat suits. In their hands were long metal rods. On the end of these were glowing blue rings used for killing animals.
Through the plastic shield that covered their faces, one spoke “stay where you are. If you move, we will put you to rest.” I mumbled something incoherent in response.
Another turned to me, “when did the sickness begin here?”
“…three…”
He glared at me, “three what?”
“…months…”
“You are one of the immune then. How did the sickness come to your ship?”
“…angel…”
They turned to each other and then back to me.
“A Silver Ship?”
I nodded in agreement. They turned to each other and back to me again.
“That’s all we needed to know.” Two of the three walked out of the cell, leaving one man left to look into my soul.
I looked up at him and managed two more word. “…Come With?”
“No, your sickness would spread. My colleges and I have spent years hunting down the disease. We have saved Immune before. They went on to cause the deaths of thousands. So I am sorry my friend, It is time to say goodbye.” He smiled and let the glowing ring touch my forehead.