Prologue
Alyssa closed her eyes peacefully for the last time.
Winter over Elm Haven had enveloped the city in white, from it's suburban districts to it's lower income areas. The entire town had received snowfall like they hadn't seen in years. As Alyssa and Alex checked into the Vapine Motel she caught a glimpse of a group children playing in the snow. Wrapped in thick jackets and scarves, they didn't feel the chill that was running down her spine. They looked safe and she longed for those days again, where both her and her sister didn't have a care Ij the world. When their family was not disjointed and spread all over the Appalachian region.
She knew those times would return, in less than thirty six hours she would find her parents. People she hadn't seen in over four years. They would he so proud of what she had achieved in the past four years.
After they had settled in and quickly ate their burgers and fries, Alex and Alysss laid down. They needed to get as much rest as possible for the long drive ahead of them. Alyssa closed her eyes peacefully for the last time, the weight of the blanket and her head of on Alex's chest offering her all the comfort she needed to fall asleep.
A few doors down from them, Clive Barker opened his eyes for the last time. There was a strange smell emanating from under his door, one both sickly and sweet. He likened it to the smell he was assaulted with a few months earlier when he attended his best friends funeral. Another trucker like him, who drove through a number of vehicles while sipping a bottle of vodka. He was the last to die on the scene.
Of course the funeral home hadn't done a good job of covering up the scent of his friend rotting, they just sprayed a cheap and sweet perfume on him. However that's what you get when you kill an entire family as well as several other people while driving drunk.
Now that smell had returned, a corpse rotting on the inside with skinned drenched in the fragrance of strawberries and flowers. Somehow it made him feel more miserable that he always felt.
Clive hated his family, he spent every cent he brought home on his Son, Daughter and Wife. In the deepest part of his mind he blamed them, luckily the benefit of being a trucker was that he got to meet a lot of lovely woman on the road. He may have had to pay for their services, but like the beautiful young woman sleeping next to him, he believed it was worth it.
Regardless, as soon as the scene hit him, Clive Barker was no longer himself. The constraints that always kept him from doing something reckless were gone and he felt like now he could finally fix his life. All he had to do was end it.
Clive Barker lit up a cigarette and took a long and satisfying drag, the smoke coating his lungs with calmness and tranquility, before it flowed back up his body and out of his nostrils. As he smoked, he kept the flame of his lighter on, watching it cast the room in an orange beautiful orange hue. He loved how the flame looked and a small part of his wanted to see it grow, to thrive in all the ways he wasn't.
So Clive Barker held the flame to the blanket and smiled as he watched it rise.
Alyssa had been asleep for no more than an hour when her body woke up to the smell of smoke. Her Brain instantly started thinking of solutions to a problem her mind had not realized was there, in the past four years she had grown accustomed to recognizing dangerous situations and this was one of them.
“Alex” She said as she gripped his shoulders, shaking him awake “We have to move now”
Alex had also grown accustomed to dangerous situations and noticing the smoke he immediately pulled himself out of bed, his fingers gripping the shotgun beside him. It was a powerless weapon but one that brought security.
“Alyssa” He said grabbing the car keys from the dresser and throwing it to her, She caught it effortless and pocketed it “You know what you have to do”
“NO, No no no” She said, repeating the words until she realized he was right “Not now Alex, we're so close”
“I know” He smiled at her holding the gun up to the window “We've never been this close before, which is why I have to this”
In an instant she was at his side, hugging him tightly, then their lips met and it felt like an eternity before they separated.
This was always the plan, they had come up with it together and now they had to follow through. With one last stolen glance, Alyssa watched Mason standing guard over the window and then fled the room. As she ran down the hall she heard the shotgun fire and hoped he would find some way to escape.
Outside the snow stung her, but not at much as the tears that were falling down her face. She drove away from the burning motel, the sound of screams fading the further away she drove.
The drive from Elm Haven to New Haven took around six hours, in that time the tears never stopped falling as Alyssa pulled every memory of Alex she had in her mind, hoping to salvage who he was. But it was in vain, She knew something was wrong with her when every memory had slowly become infected. She was angry at him, not because she had to leave him or even lose him. No, she was just angry at him. She knew She loved him but she hated him.
She was not herself anymore. How much of her was even left, She was angry at her boyfriend, than her parents than her sister. She wanted to kill them all.
Her sister was the most important thing to her. Now she wanted to kill her. She was infected, just like everyone else.
How much time had passed, She was no longer driving. The sun was rising and she could see all of New Haven. Was it her plan to come here or did it lead her here. She couldn't let it get any more control of her. She couldn't let it eat away at her, like it ate away at so many before her. She had to do something now.
Alyssa stood at the edge of the building in a final moment of clarity, maybe the final moment she would ever be herself. She whispered a final apology to her parents and sister into thin air and then silently thanked Alex.
As she remembered all the times her father had brought both her and her sister to this location, She stepped off. She fell gracefully. Remembering how important this place was. She didn't feel the pavement but she hit it and then faded. Glad to have kept control of her own mind until the end
