Killer flies

We were zooming along the expressway on our way home from the holidays. It was 2.00 am. There was not a sound to be heard, nor a soul to be seen.

Me, My sister Aashi and our cousin Tina had gone off trekking. Tina and me are in the same college. Tina's family lives in another city, she stays in the college hostel. Aashi is the eldest, she works in a software company. The plan had been very sudden. We all needed a break. My term end exams had been over and Aashi had just gotten a raise after successfully completing an assignment. And Tina had come home from her classes when we had made the plan, so we decided to ask her too.

Aashi was driving and I was sitting beside her. Tina was in the back seat pouring us coffee. There's a hill resort just 5 hrs drive from home which organizes trekking trips. We had joined one of those trips. Actually we were due to leave the resort in the morning. But Aashi had got a call yesterday from her boss, that they had a very important meeting and her presence was required, so we decided to leave early. Glancing through the windows as the plains went past, we felt that we were the only living beings left. We were each lost in our own thoughts. Now we were nearing the end of the expressway. The ticket booths were in sight. And I fumbled in my pockets for the pass, as we would have to show it to the ticket checker. I found it and we arrived at the booth. There was no one, a strange thing as there's always someone there. We waited for a few moments but then we carried forward.

We came off the expressway and we were now in the outskirts of the city. It felt good to be home. But a strange smell hung in the air. And suddenly just a few feet ahead of us we were met with a very strange sight. There were hoards and hoards of dots in the air, hanging about. In fact the entire width of the road ahead of us was full of the dots. We were completely dumbstruck and Aashi stopped the car. And before we knew it the entire flock was moving towards our car. We were deafened by the zzzz zzzz zzzz sounds. And then we realized that the dots were flies, or mosquitoes, or some other sort of flying insects. The entire flock surrounded our car, and thank God it was chilly that night so we had our windows shut, but the ventilator was open. I quickly shut it but not before one of them had entered inside. Tina gave out a scream as it was buzzing around her head and she was desperately trying to kill it and finally succeeded. The dead body of the fly fell in her coffee. And then I looked in front of me. The entire windscreen was full of bodies as they struck past, I could literally hear the sounds of the flies hitting across the windscreen, 'tak' 'tak'. It was becoming impossible to see, so we turned on the wipers, to swat off the flies. It was a disgusting sight, full of yellow colored slimy liquid, the side windows were also getting covered by the flies.

From the little place in the windows that was spared by the flies, all we could see was bodies and bodies of people, half eaten with hoards of flies swarming above them. I felt a shudder run through my body. I had seen such images in horror movies, but this was for real. There still were a few people running about chased by the flies. Everyone was panic-stricken.

We had absolutely no idea about the whole situation, what had happened! We were dumbfounded and were wondering what had come to be of our beautiful city. Just then along the road, someone had lit a fire. In that area there weren't any of the flies, so we stopped the car. Aashi rolled down her window and asked a man standing near the fire what had happened. His face was that of grief and sorrow. He said, "It had all started yesterday morning about the same time as it was now. And suddenly the electricity had gone off in the entire city, even the street lights and everything. The entire city was flung in darkness. As it was night time everybody had been asleep, and the few who were awake, gave cries of astonishment. Just a few minutes after the lights had gone; there was an attack of these flies from all directions. Whoever came in their way was infested by them. All the main entry roads to the city were blocked by them." He said that we were lucky to have entered the city and were still alive. Fire was the only thing that kept them at bay. We were shocked and wondered why only our city had been chosen and where had these killer flies come from. We asked him if any Government help had arrived. He said that by now almost 70% of the people were dead, he himself was searching for his 12 yr old son and the rest of his family was dead. Untill now, he said, there had been no help from any source. He said that it was as if the entire city had stopped existing for the outside world. As it was electricity was cut off, so there was no way of any media coverage. He was near tears now. So we thanked him for the information and moved ahead as the entirety of the situation sunk in.

Home, could we hardly call it that! We wondered about our friends and relatives. Our parents were away attending a wedding. And we wondered if they even knew about the tragedy. The entire city had been engulfed by swarms of these flies. Finally we reached but there were flies there too. We were thinking how to enter the house without being infested by the flies. We had no means of creating a fire to ward them off. So we made a plan, that all three of us would run in different directions to divert the flies, and I would run for the front door and open it as fast as I could and quickly go and open the back door for the others. So I dashed towards the front door and opened it quickly but not before getting bitten at a few places by the killer flies. I quickly let the others in. We sealed all the doors and lit up all the candles.
Sitting around the candles, we waited and wondered how long?...........