The Shroud

Louis Wolf tried his best every day.  He wrote novels of living in the only place populated with only grand nature; the only place anyone can actually view the stars that beautifully lit the charcoal-colored scape of the clear sky.1

These were fictional stories, but there was a small piece of the truth. ‘Land of the Rockies’ he called his hometown … this anonymous landmark was located at the corner borders of Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming, and was truly the only Rural area of the United States.2

“Another novel of the Land of the Rockies finally finished,” Louis spoke with complete confidence. “More people need to know that the true smell of nature beats the smell of nothing but cities.”3

Louis sprang up from his desk and walked through the doorway to the front room where he had most of his entertainment.4

“Time to update on who died or who’s crying during an interview,” he said, picking up a little chip-like device. He raised it to his mouth and blew on it. 5

He placed it on the coffee table quickly but gently, and the mini-remote activated. It shot up a screen-like holographic touch screen that gave him the opportunity to adjust everything from volume to the tint control of the TV. After he was happy with the settings, he pushed ‘submit’ and the screen told that it is uploading data wirelessly to the TV. The TV flashed on fadelessly to Channel 5 News.6

“This is an emergency!” the Anchor exploded. “There has been a breakout of some kind of smoke in the Eastern part of Washington District of VIS! On-the-scene reporters were vaporized like dust picked up by wind, but they had something to say right before their deaths. They said that this smoke may be the end of mankind!”7

[What might this ‘smoke’ they call dangerous be?] Louis asked himself throughout his mind. This was …8

“… The end of the world! Who would have thought that the end of the world would be right here, right now?!” The Anchor stopped to a weird sound.9

“It’s … It’s …” the Co-Anchor faded off.10

“It’s here.” All of a sudden, the back wall of the news station vaporized through the smoke, then the cast. The screen turned black for a split second. Static. The entire channel of 5 was not broadcasting … the reason, because this smoke had taken it down.11

“This smoke had been discovered in the country of China,” Louis spoke to himself, “during what is referred to as ‘The Apocalyptic Shroud of 2030.”
The Apocalyptic Shroud of 2030; it wiped out the entire population of China. The scientists of the UN discovered that this Shroud came from a tree in the center of Shanghai.12

Louis sprang from the couch, and turned on his computer. He opened up the Info Net on the Network selection. This section had information for everything from 1436 to two days ago on 18 April, 2056.13

He clicked on ‘advanced search’ and typed the information:14

Country: China
Date: 20 October, 2030
Key Words: Apocalypse, Shroud15

“I guess this information is right,” Louis spoke somewhat sneakily. He clicked ‘search’ and a video popped up.16

A female virtual being started informing. “THE APOCALYPTIC SHROUD OF CHINA,” She paused briefly and continued. “THE DATE WAS WEDNESDAY, 20 OCTOBER, 2030, 7:14 A.M. THIS APOCALYPSE WAS CAUSED BY SHROUD WITH A SOURCE REGION OF A TREE CALLED TROSHROWD. SOMEHOW THIS TREE FOUND SIGHT OF CHINA’S URBAN SATURATION. IT THEN PRODUCED A SMOKE-LIKE WIND, NAMED “SHROUD”. THIS SHROUD CONSISTED OF 4 UNTERRESTRIAL ELEMENTS GHYPLOTRIST, RHYPLOTRIST, AND ZHYPLOTRIST. THESE THREE ELEMENTS EASILY COMBINE TO CREATE THE LAST HORRIFIC UNTERRESTRIAL ELEMENT, HYPLOTRIST. HYPLOTRIST HAS THE POWER TO ATTRACT ALMOST ALL ELEMENTS EXCEPT THOSE THAT MAKE UP SOIL. THEN IT TURNS IT TO A DARK COLOR, USUALLY BLACK. THIS PROCESS LOOKS AS THOUGH THE SUBJECTS ARE BEING BLOWN AWAY LIKE DESERT SAND DURING A SAND STORM.”17

The screen blanked out and two choices appeared: “Quit” and “Play”. Just as he was about to click “Quit”, a window popped up: “Network connection lost.” This can only mean one thing.18

“The Info Net is down,” Louis said. “That station is in Ohio. This Shroud is coming in fast. I need to survive this.” He turned hastily, juking throughout the house. He jerked opened the fridge, handing through the shelves. He needed a bag.19

Louis hesitated for a few seconds and leaped over to the cabinets under the sink. There were four brown bags left scattered on the cabinet floor. He snatched them with slight hesitation and went back to the fridge.
Everything in the fridge he stuffed in the bag, until it was empty. It wasn’t long until he did the same thing with everything else.20

10 minutes elapsed since he heard about the shroud when the connection was lost. He only had a few minutes — or even seconds — to get out of harm’s way.21

Louis grabbed the rail to the stairs and went as far down as he possibly can. He waited in the corner of the basement for the worst moment in his life.22

Hhhsssshhsffmm …23

It was coming … it wasn’t too far away now.24

HHHSSSSHHSSSFFFMMM!!! FFFHOOW!25

Louis was in slow motion. It struck the house … no, it is striking the house right this second.26

The roof of the basement was vaporized and carried through the black, smoke-like ominous wind. It was blowing just feet above him, sounding like a low-pitch hum and felt like jagged knives just by being around it. Will the shroud pass over him?27

Louis thought wrong. The shroud quickly dipped down to the south side of the basement and glided through, engulfing him. He let out a petrifying yell.
The shroud blew away. Louis looked around, there wasn’t anything around anymore.28

“Did I die?” he whispered to no one, not even himself. He unwrapped from the curled up position and he seen the food in the bags and his personal laptop. “No, I guess I’m one of the few that survived.”29

Louis opened up his laptop and clicked on the icon ‘Global Scan’ in the ‘Most likely never going to use’ folder.30

“SCANNING …” the center of the screen read. “SCANNING COMPLETE. POPULATION: 10”31

“Whoa!” Louis gasped. “I am one of the 10 few who survived this mysterious plague in the world.”32

Louis got up, and headed through the forest in search of where these few are in the world, maybe they’re just like him; they must have survived in the same way … The only way to survive …33

The Shroud34