Self Preservation
| Published on Creepypasta.com | July 2010 |
|---|---|
| Length | 828 words · about 4 minutes to read |
| Story level | Short |
| Reader rating | 8.7/10 from 670 votes |
| Category | Deaths, Murders, and Disappearances |
If you’re reading this, then I am hopefully long gone. It’s been… two months now since the meteor struck Mississippi. There was a lot of public interest in it, astrologers and the like all gathering around for a look. They took samples of the rock and shipped them all over the world to museums in every country. Hell, I almost made a trip to have a look myself, but I had an interview with a potential employer. If he hadn’t called me up the previous day, I’d be dead now. Three days later, after the initial hype died down, the news reported nothing on the meteor for a couple of days.
The next thing I heard about it was when I got home from the pub and turned on the late-night news. I was just in time to catch a breaking news article. The worried-looking reporter informed me that almost everyone who had been in the vicinity of Mississippi when the meteor went down had been hospitalised. Their symptoms were similar to those that a corpse experiences during decomposition. Ten people had already died, mostly the elderly and the very young. Scientists and geneticists from all over the globe were working frantically to try and find a cure. Being smarter than the average bear, I gathered some supplies and prepared for an epidemic. Years of being paranoid beyond reason was finally about to pay off.
The news the next day had a lighter tone. A Chinese scientist had worked out that the meteor had contained an alien strain of bacteria that slowly broke down flesh tissue. The scientist also remarked that the bacteria were only affecting humans. He had also worked out that if a victim consumed a living being, such as an insect, it would delay the progression of the bacteria, giving the scientists more time to figure out a permanent cure. Anyone who thought they may have contracted the infection was to eat as many live creatures as they could. The reporter also explained that the US Army was attempting to contain the infection.
They failed.
Anyone who has read Stephen King’s book, The Stand, will have an idea of how the bacteria made its way around the world. It passed through the air, but to catch it, you had to be near someone infected. Because the symptoms took between three to five days to kick in, people didn’t realise that they were infected. In a week, Victus Somes Disease, as it had been named, was global.
Also read: The Scuttler
I had barricaded myself in my house, with towels and blankets stuffed into every crack. I had the TV tuned to the news all day and night. The scientists had not predicted that the bacteria would adapt to the infected people’s efforts at trying to keep it at bay. Victims all over the world were claiming that the insects were no longer working. People were starting to catch small mammals and eat them.
As the days went by, people were slowly eating larger and larger animals. The first reported case of cannibalism was, ironically, the last broadcast made. The anchorman’s hair was falling out and he was missing three teeth. He nervously told America that there had been a reported case of cannibalism in Southern Europe. He also said that there would be no further broadcasts. All survivors were to lock themselves in their house and not let anyone in.
For the next week and a half, I watched the infected shamble up the street, knocking on doors. One of my neighbours, a couple of houses down from me, was stupid enough to open the door. Three people dragged him out and started biting his flesh. They started with his arms and legs, trying to keep him alive for as long as possible. They were crying as they ate. Their meal was shrieking in pain, and the three people eating him were apologising furiously through mouthfuls of his arm. I don’t think they were unable to control themselves; it looked more like they were disgusted by what they had to do to stay alive.
They tried to break into my house five or six days later, but my barricades held. They were outside, begging me to let them in. “Just one bite. Please, be generous.” I listened to their pleading all night, too scared to sleep.
I suppose I should explain why I’m writing this. I’m infected. Yesterday I coughed and lost a canine. I spent the night pulling out my teeth, easing them out one by one. It didn’t hurt; they just slid out, like pulling up carrots. Anyway, as I was saying, I’m infected. The bugs have stopped working, and all the wild animals have long since run away. I have decided to lure someone into my house and attack them. It sounds so wrong writing that out, but I don’t want to die. And I’m so hungry.
I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.
//
Credited to BananaCorn.
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Whew, I’m glad I’m not the only one who took his teeth out.
Would’ve been good without the Yogi Bear reference. The framing device was also pretty poorly done.
Boring. The “twist” was painfully obvious, and the concept was more of the same.
I would have liked this story better had there been a more solid science behind it, but the errors in the story are far more numerous to name here. I liked the idea of the zombies being aware that they were eating other people, and feeling terrible about it, though. That is a very cool idea, and could be taken farther. However, eating another organism cannot affect any disease like that, so that is a bit of a problem. What would have been cooler is a 28 days later kind of infection that forces the recipient to eat human flesh, but still leaves some of the higher brain functions intact. So the concept was good, the writing was decent, but the execution was fundamentally flawed.
4/10.
Wow
I have never seen a story where the “Zombies” in question were still fucking alive and knew what they were doing.
Very well done. Love it.
0.0/10
boring and not in the least any psychological mindfucks
I’m personally rather fond of this one. “Overused topic is overused” can be said, sure. The ideas of walking dead, cannibalism, utter terror of the world ending have been a part of the human psyche for a very, VERY long time. Human fears or “creepiness” vary from individual to individual. Its not what you do, its how you do it.
In any case, the delivery was pretty well done. The idea of bodies rotting immediately brought my mind to Necrosis. Sort of imagined a necrosis-rabies combination really. As for the bacterial strain affecting only people, there are viral strains that effect only certain animals. Its not too much of a stretch. A few bits of the writing could have been editing, sure, and the ending could have been executed differently.
As for eating without teeth? Desperation is a beautiful thing.
Wasn’t good, wasn’t bad. It reminded me of the one patient in Dracula that would eat animals to gain life.
Another zombie story, ho hum. This one seems a bit too similar to “In Between”.
The idea of having to eat living things to stave off infection really makes no sense from a medical standpoint; this wouldn’t be an issue in a story with a more supernatural bent but amongst the semi-realism of this story it somewhat breaks willful suspension of disbelief.
Also: I think you meant “Astronomers” instead of “Astrologers” in the beginning. Astronomers are the scientists, Astrologers are the loopy crackpots.
Also Also: The Stephen King reference seemed sort of forced and out of place.
Overall there are some interesting concepts in here that are bogged down by the zombie cliche and a few careless mistakes. It would work much better if you focus less on the zombies, more on the epidemic and moral quandaries.
“Anyone who has read Stephen King’s book, The Stand,”
*blinks*
*looks at copy of the book It on my desk*
*thinks about how I am going to fucking WATCH It later today*
*thinks about how I attempted to read The Stand a few months earlier but read not one word in it*
*thinks about how I watched The Stand alot of months earlier*
*breaks down into tears of fear and joy*
9/10
im also confused on the teeth fiasco. also id blow my own brains out cuz eventually the populations gonna die out
The pasta was good. It’s always refreshing to see a good zombie pasta.
@First people: Stop, that’s just lame.
@Overused concept people: Have you written a pasta that’s been posted to the site? If not, then shut the hell up.
It was okay. Not great, but pretty good. The ending could be seen from a distance, there were a few spots whereit could have been worded better or have more detail put in and just one or two inconsistencies, like the teeth thing and how he managed to get infected. Aside from that, I liked it. I don’t care if zombies have been done before, I will eat up anything with them in it. Hmmm… I would give it a 7.5/10. I definitely hope to see some more.
i meant 5.5/10 if you didnt understand… xD
OH NOEZ THE ZOMBIEZ HAVE GUM DISEASE WATCH OUT THEY’LL DROOL ON YUU AND CRY ABOUT IT!!!!!!
@ svenly maybe it’s like a disease you catch in the air, like that movie, ” the happening” or it’s contagious and when the zombies tried to get in the house the person touched him…?
i give it a 5.5 and the .5 is cuz decimals are fun.
8/10. Not especially creepy, but better than anything which has been posted on this site in weeks. At the very least, it was interesting and fresh – up until the end, that is, but I think if the author went back and tweaked it a bit, it could be very creepy.
Nice job to the author, though there were a few grammar mistakes they were hardly noticeable and I appreciated this very much. The writing was well above average.
I am Legend, anyone??
eh…not bad. How are you gonna eat the person without any teeth though? XDD fail for that person lmao.
meh….6/10.
Well done Lachlan. I love that any story posted here gets picked to pieces over the tiniest details. I mean, don’t you people have anything better to do? Seriously? Anyway bro, well done on the story, it’s not half bad.
Oh thanks. Well, if anyone stopped taking me seriously at any point during the story, then it’s your own fault. You shouldn’t be taking me seriously in the first place. It seems that the only real complaint is that the infected don’t have any teeth (I’m kicking myself for that moment of retardation) and there are no grammer Nazis whining about my spelling or punctuation, so all in all I think I did well and I don’t care if that sounds arrogant
I WILL BITE YOU WITH MY GUMS HURR DURR
Nah.
1/10
5/10, nicely written but not realistic at all.
No teeth dude. How ya gonna chew?
Oh well, aside from that, I actually liked this pasta! :D
BC
lol ‘smarter than the average bear’ is courtesy of a certain Y Bear of Jellystone park.
I liked the piece.
It’s well written but holy shit I’m tired of the endless zombiepasta. There’s only so many ways someone can rehash the same goddamned story.
4/10
You know, if he barricaded himself inside his house, how did he get infected?
Ok hi, me again.Two commenters have mentioned something about a bear, specifically Yogi bear. Care to elaborate? I didn’t put any intentional references in here aside from the Stephen King one.
Thanks
I liked it. The whole bit about the infected acting remorseful while tearing someone apart was an interesting twist.
Shit, I pulled out all my teeth. Now I can’t eat anyone!
Concept may have been overused, but this is the best pasta I’ve read that used said concept.
sorry, not creepy at least. the whole concept and ending is so cliché.
Concept was decent, original spin on the zombie plague thing. One problem though, how the hell does an alien bacteria specialize enough to specifically target only humans?