Published: 2025-09-18

The clear summer sky turned black from one minute to the next. People in the streets looked up and pointed at the sky; their jaws dropped. Chaos took over the city. Women holding children in their arms ran, first from the ever-approaching cloud and then from the stampede that followed on the streets. Car alarms went off as the mass of people made the earth under their feet tremble. They crashed into the avenue as a wave crashes into the coast. The uproar made those inside approach their windows and become speechless as they saw the black cloud closing on the crowd. People ran with all their might, and yet, it was all in vain. The black cloud passed over them, and not even their bones remained; in mere seconds, they were erased, as if they never existed in the first place. The cloud took them, leaving only a trail of blood behind. Carl looked from the window of his fifth-floor apartment as it happened; he was petrified. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of people, gone in the blink of an eye. He fell to his knees and started crying. “I saw it. It was no cloud. It was locust. It was the plague.” He said.

The streets fell silent; it was the calm after the storm. The car alarms, still going off, started to stop. A sudden cry broke the silence, and the air filled with despair. People looking from their apartment windows cried and sobbed at the sight of the ravaged streets and the crimson-stained asphalt. The somber atmosphere made Carl break down. He cried his heart out while banging the floor. Suddenly, an intrusive thought penetrated his mind as if it were a sharp arrow. His wife, Leonor, was at work; she was probably safe, but he had to make sure. He ran towards the table, stumbling over the way, and grabbed his cellphone that lay on the table. He kept Leonor on speed dial; a long-press of the button labeled “2” would connect him with her at any given moment. He called her but got only a no signal message in return. He tried again and again, and got the same result. Carl feared the worst; his body started to shake, his palms sweated, his knees trembled. The desperate cries of the neighbors, who were also worried about their loved ones, were too much for Carl. He felt like fainting. Suddenly, he had a thought. The TV! There must be some information on TV. He ran to the living room and turned on the tube, but only static came on the screen. On every single channel. Carl realized in that moment that he was cut off from the world. A great evil lurked out there, one that killed indiscriminately, be it man, woman, or child, and yet, Carl’s world had become limited to the four walls of his apartment. He sat on the floor, in front of the TV, as if he were a child watching cartoons on a Saturday morning. He was lost, defeated; he didn’t know if or when the cloud would return, or if it was still out there, massacring his fellow humans in that very moment. All he cared for was seeing his wife once again, hugging her tightly, and never letting her go.

The neighbors’ cries died out. Maybe they ran out of tears or cried themselves to sleep, Carl thought. In that silence, a new sound could be heard. A voice. And not any voice, but the voice of hope! Carl raised his head and ran towards the wall; he could not believe what his ears heard. It was faint, but he was sure: it was a voice coming from a radio! Maybe in the apartment next to his. This voice not only represented hope. It was the voice of information, the only torchlight in the darkness of the ravaged city.

Carl started banging on the walls and shouting; he wanted his neighbor to turn the volume up. He then ran to the window and started screaming from the top of his lungs while waving his arms, “Turn on the radio! Turn on the radio!” People, glued to their own windows, looked at him, not understanding what he was trying to say. The vibrations produced by his voice could not travel through glass and ultimately cross the street. One man across the street looked attentively at Carl as he shouted slowly, “Ra-di-o. Ra-di-o.” The man stepped away from the window and came back moments later, holding a boombox over his head. Carl’s words could not reach him, but the man was able to read his lips. The radio transmission started to sound louder and louder as more people turned their radios on. Carl could now hear it clear as day. Even though he didn’t own a radio, he could hear the transmission.

“If you just tuned in, we are talking about the swarm of flesh-eating locusts that have devastated the city. This phenomenon has been coined ‘the black cloud’ and we will be referring to it as such. First, we advise you to stay home; do not leave your house under any circumstances. The black cloud cannot penetrate through glass, concrete, or metal; you will be safe as long as you stay indoors. If you cannot make it to a safe place, locking yourself up in a car with all the windows closed might be your best option, but remember to let fresh air into the car every thirty minutes or you might suffocate to death. Now, what we know about the black cloud. It has been reported to arrive from the west at around 2:54 PM. It has been moving eastward since then, devouring everything in its path. We expect the cloud to leave our territory by tomorrow morning. Thousands have been reported as dead or missing in the last few hours. The government is reportedly working on a counterattack plan, but we have no confirmation of it…”

Carl took both his hands to his face and sobbed.

THE END.