Contamination
You stumble into the kitchen, covered in sweat. Mind racing. Heart thumping. Christ, could he have followed me here? You think. How did he even find me?
A moment passes. One thing is certain.
He’s not here now.
Your stomach rumbles. Even someone in your position has to eat. Your refrigerator door cries as you tug it open. You peer through the shelves. A jug of tea catches your eye. You take a swig, right out of the container. Your mother won’t know.
The tea tastes sharper than usual. You examine the label. Black tea. She bought the wrong kind. You shrug, reach for some leftovers. Flip the TV on in the other room as you slide them into the microwave. The five o’ clock news plays in the background. It might say something about him.
The usual teary story about the war. Some presidential candidate is coming to your town. You count down the numbers on the microwave. 5, 4…
“And, finally, tonight a food contamination alert for all residents in this county.”
…3, 2…
“A shipment of Lipton’s Black Tea delivered to local stores has tested positive for traces of the ebola solanum virus. This super-strain of the disease causes painful sores on the underarms, neck and groin followed by profuse bleeding from all orifices. The survival rate once infected is less than 10%. I repeat, Lipton’s Black Tea has been pulled from the shelves but any resident who purchased the tea is advised to call the Center for Health Control to dispose of it immediately.”
1.
You tug open the fridge once more and look at the tea you just drank.
Lipton’s. That’s not the kind your mother usually buys.
“Authorities report the shipment was tainted by an unidentified biological expert who remains at large.”
He’s not here now. You think. The jug of tea falls to the floor.
But he was.
–
Credited to Alice Wilde.
Posted in Beings & Entities
September 28th, 2008 at 5:38 am
I like this one! Very realistic.
September 28th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Shit.
I can’t even drink tea anymore D:
I like this one. I would like to know why the character suspected that the culprit was targeting him or her since the beginning of the story, but I suppose the vagueness adds to the overall “creepy” (either that, or I’m completely missing something).
Either way, great pasta.
September 28th, 2008 at 6:12 am
BUT THEN. . . WHO WAS TEA?
September 28th, 2008 at 6:42 am
Stupid news people. Food contamination should be the first story. D:
I think the culprit had to be his/her father. Several times the mother is brought up but not daddy, and a crazy father could freak anyone out, explaining the character’s original state.
Good pasta, overall.
September 28th, 2008 at 7:38 am
mmmmh i like the green tea from lipton^^ haha but its cool the way he got him^^ ima bit bored of kiling here slaughter there, this time he got ice tea´d
September 28th, 2008 at 8:43 am
It was DR. THRAX! I hope the guy in the story is prepared to tell his 3-eyed grandchildren of his defeat this day.
September 28th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Awesome story, well written and vague enough to give some chills.
September 28th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Not necessarily a creepyPASTA, more of a creepy story, but wonderful nonetheless.
I really liked this one. It was well-written, the style was awesome, and it has the perfect amount of vagueness.
(BUT THEN WHO WAS CULPRIT?)
September 28th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Lol lucky i don’t drink tea, i hope noone does anything too the coffee though !!!!!! that one was kool
September 28th, 2008 at 10:47 am
T’was I who snuck into the reflection of the tea and contaminated it…. but… WHO WAS LIPTON!?
September 28th, 2008 at 10:50 am
BUT THEN WHO WAS HE?
September 28th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Wow, Lipton is in deep shit.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Awesome pasta, very creepy.
September 28th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
I… Loved this! It gave me such a case of chills.
September 28th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Ebola solanum.
lol, ebola zombies?
September 28th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Luckily, I drink green tea.
September 28th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
OH SHII–
BRIX.
September 28th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
NICE.
September 28th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Thios is one of those stories that I want to know what happens/has happened.
Sure the vaugness gives it great effect, but I still want to know.
September 28th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
aaww im freaking drinking tea and i just spat it all over the place……..:C am I gonna die ? Q.Q
September 28th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
solanum=character becomes zombie seeking revenge?
Good story.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Everything was good except the serious question “who was that guy”?
I mean, WHO?
September 29th, 2008 at 3:40 am
fuck…i drink lipton’s everyday. O_o
didn’t like this too much, but i wonder who it was that was following the narrator and also had time to contaminate all that tea! [someone he/she knows obviously]
dun dun dunnnnnn =O
September 29th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Heh… I love how the “super-strain” has around the same mortality rate as other ebolavirus species.. Although it’s a bit problematic to have it move through tea as it typically requires direct fluid contact (by typical, I mean ’sole means of transmission’). Might be better to make it a bacteria or something. Also, tea is typically boiled prior to consumption…
September 29th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
@Aspire - The tea in this story is the pre-made, bottled black tea. Thus there being a jug of it in the fridge with a brand label on it. No boiling required, under the assumption that whoever tampered with the shipment did it after it had been prepared and bottled.
September 29th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
\I think the idea of evil stranger fucking over entire area just to take you out is a cool one, but it’s not done right…presumably, this stalker would know what tea your mom buys, and go after that.
What would be cool would be if someone/thing was constantly sabotaging all the things you use on a daily basis—you’d slowly realize that it wasn’t a bunch of random accidents, but targeting you.
September 29th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Maybe this is just nitpicking, but I don’t see how the news anchor could have said that whole paragraph in less than a second. It was in-between 2 and 1 on the microwave. It’s a little humorous to imagine her saying it that fast. Overall it was good, I actually enjoyed the vagueness.
September 29th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
He deserved it, only fruitcakes drink pre-made tea rather than buy tea leaves. Also perhaps you should change hunger to thirsty.
September 30th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I don’t know why, but the word “cute” comes to mind after reading this pasta. Wasn’t necessarily CREEPY, but I did enjoy the story.
September 30th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Being the geek I am, I personally want to know more about the ins and outs of the disease and contamination, which is obviously good, cause it means the story intrigued me.
Like it.
September 30th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I vaguely understand the [erson behind this. It was probably just some strange guy who found random people and stuff…
But oh man, the ending was very well done.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:56 am
This one was good.
October 4th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Very delicious pasta.
October 4th, 2008 at 11:47 pm
As long as the guy stays away from my Lipton green tea, he can contaminate all the black tea he wants
October 5th, 2008 at 10:04 am
This really was not creepy at all, we start with the chase but we don’t know why or how, if some guy is smart enough to know what tea to spike, then he must know where you live, etc, there’s no logic behind this.
There’s too many unexplained variables to take it seriously and when you start poking holes in a story there’s no chance of it being creepy.
October 6th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Silent, the story implies that the person chasing him put that particular brand of tea in his fridge, not that he magically knew what tea the person drank. Read a bit more carefully and you’ll catch that a few details point to that being what happened.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
LOL goo thing I don’t like tea!
October 11th, 2008 at 10:20 am
Awesome.
I love tea.
Very cool story. I liked how sutle the ending was.
Everything led up to the ending. Very neat.
October 16th, 2008 at 3:48 am
Awesome pasta, I really like this one. The ending was great, and the whole vagueness of before the chase ends adds some great affect.
October 19th, 2008 at 11:11 am
holy shit, amazing.
October 26th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I’m drinking some tea right now.
Sh*t.
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Glad I dont like tea. xP