All That Will Be Lost by Steve Roach

All That Will Be LostA pestilence is abroad, a darkness spreading across the country and engulfing all it finds. People flee in terror, desperate to avoid the blades and bullets of those already affected. In the city, Michael Greaves hosts a gathering of friends and business associates. Down in the renovated basement area beneath his house guests mingle and drink wine, occasionally casting nervous glances at each other as the deep rumble of nearby explosions penetrates the festivities. The enemy is above them, in the streets, searching out those they wish to kill. The disease they suffer is many thousands of years old. It came from the hills, perhaps, or the rivers or maybe even the moon. As soon as sentient man looked upon a natural feature and wondered who had made such a thing the disease was born. Even as brains evolved, enlarging and creating neural networks that gave man the capacity to reach out to the very stars, the sickness persisted. There are things in this world that cannot be lost. Men like Michael Greaves do what they can to hold back the tide of darkness, to stop the pestilence destroying the way we live now. But sometimes, men like Michael Greaves become casualties.Short story, Contemporary Fiction, 8000 words.