Lurking Below

A crack like a gunshot pierced the frozen air and the ice broke.  The sonic boom from the fighter jet shook the whole town, but what people didn’t realize was that a long-dormant bacteria or virus that was trapped under the ice, was released into the atmosphere.  It wasn’t till people near the lake started dropping like flies, that the town realized there was a problem.  The CDC Center for Disease Control was brought in and the endless battle to find a cure for the deadly pathogen which had been absent for thousands of years has begun.  The water in this lake was always frozen, but I guess this global warming thing is not just fake news, however people did notice that the ice had been getting thinner and thinner over the last several decades.

Expert opinions seemed to alternate on the actual cause of these deaths as more and more people wondered what else was lurking beneath the frozen tundra.  This town had always been placid, calm, tranquil, and a serene place and that was the main reason why people lived here, but now it had taken a turn for the worse, as it was being wiped off the map, as all the residents were forced to vacate their homes and move away.  The town was reduced to being an off-limits tumbleweed trail, where nobody dared to venture.  It was almost Christmas and although this scrooge like decision to evict all the residents was made with the support of the law, nobody thought it was tasteful to evacuate a 50-mile-wide area.  Armed guards patrolled the perimeter of the wasteland and they kept finding reindeer corpse’s infected with the mystery disease.

Written for Sheryl’s Daily Word Prompt – Placid, for Roger Shipp’s Daily Addictions prompt – Water, for the Daily Spur prompt – Move, for Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie First Line Friday hosted by Dylan – A crack like a gunshot pierced the frozen air and the ice broke, for FOWC with Fandango – Map, for December Writing Prompts – Tumbleweed trail, for Ragtag Community – Scrooge, for Di’s Three Things Challenge prompt words – Alternate It Turn and for Word of the Day Challenge Prompt – Tasteful.