When did you first start feeling symptoms of Dentskin?
Around... six months ago, I think. Back when the whole "zombie outbreak" stuff was at its prime. All over the news, twenty-five percent of the populus infected and all that. I was in my afternoon class when one of the students went absolutely nuts. Came in late, screaming like crazy. Everyone else got out, but he went straight for me. Sank a tooth or two into my neck. The cops shot him and shut down the whole town--or tried to, at least.
I couldn't sleep that night. Bad headaches and sweats. And I swear I heard someone talking in the other room, even though I live alone. There was definitely screaming outside, though. I didn't bother to check.
Can you describe how your condition progressed prior to your isolation?
Well, my arm got itchy. Incredibly itchy. By the time the sun came up, I realized I'd been scratching so hard that I made the skin break and bleed. There were little black veins under there, too. Nothing you'd see on a human. Exactly the kind of thing you'd see on an infected an hour before they die from mania. And I still don't know exactly how to explain this, but there was something trying to pry into my thoughts.
I started remembering some of the most important and painful times in my life. Like lucid dreams, except I was still awake. I couldn't think about anything else besides those memories, and I had thoughts that weren't my own. They came from some stream of consciousness that wasn't even mine. It was in my brain. Fist-deep. Like a gynecologist. And then, of course, a few of those containment officers came by and picked me up. I hadn't even realized I was the only one who survived more than twelve hours of the infection.
Was this the day you were placed under confinement?
Yeah. I was thrashing all over the place. Must've been a pain for the security guys. I couldn't help it, though. Whatever I had--well, have--was making me itch and burn like crazy. I wanted to tear my fucking skin off. And I kept seeing things that I'm sure would have killed me if I thought they were real. The last stage of Dentskin: hallucinations. I get why that student was so violent now.
Do you remember breaking out of your cell?
Kind of. Right before that happened, I got the shivers. I was scared. So goddamn scared. Whatever it was doing, it was messing with my memories. Intentionally, I think. I can't remember my childhood dog, or what school I went to, or the face of my first kiss. It started talking in my head, too, a second voice that I couldn't control. I had to think about literally anything else just to keep myself sane, but there was nothing to occupy myself with in the cell. So I scrambled out the first chance I got.
It took three days for us to find you. What happened after your breakout?
I ran. I ran like I don't think any human could run. No idea where I was going. Didn't care. I knew that if I succumbed to this parasite, I'd die. I had veins on both my arms and legs now. I think it tried to take over my nerves, and it sort of worked, because I couldn't feel any pain for at least two hours. It did burn like a motherfucker after two hours, though. I just... collapsed. Found myself back in town, where I'd been before I got infected. I literally had to crawl like a slug just to get water at a store. I downed two bottles. And an energy drink.
What happened during your time in town?
Everyone was dead.
Everyone?
Yeah. Fucking everyone. All from the same disease. I guess the news was right when they said it could spread like wildfire. I saw people I'd known for years. Friends, colleagues, classmates, crushes... I couldn't even recognize some of the bodies, they were so torn up from the inside. I almost puked all the drink right then and there when I saw the streets crowded with the dead. And, this probably sounds crazy, but I could feel the parasite in my head mourning, too. I guess it knew that its own kind had died right along with the human bodies.
Its voice stopped that day. I just sat there, curled up in a ball on the pavement and bawled my eyes out. Passed out in the sun. Didn't wake up until nightfall.
It didn't speak to me the whole three days. I think I tried talking to it once or twice, because I didn't know what else to do with myself. I wanted to run again, leave the whole sight of the dead behind, but I just couldn't bring myself to. Plus, my legs were aching like hell from my mad dash. At that point, I kind of wished they'd stayed numb. But something strange happened between me and it during those days. I still had aches and sweats, but they started to go away. I didn't lose any more memories--I think. I didn't see things. It just sort of... left me alone.
You're the only documented survivor of Dentskin. How do you think you survived?
I don't know. Not through medicine. Might sound crazy, but I think it was through understanding. This parasite isn't like other illnesses. It's got a conscious. A strategy. But it also feels emotions the same as we do. When we both saw how many people had died, I think we somehow understood that both human and parasite would be killed if it kept going on like this. The spread has been put to an end since then, of course. But if it's true that no one else survived, that means I'm the only one who showed this thing a way to keep going without causing so much death.
We live together now. I wish I could tear it out of my system, but I'll just have to learn to be okay with living like this.
Thank you for your time today. Do you have any closing thoughts?
This was the hardest interview I've ever done. Can I get an aspirin?
Around... six months ago, I think. Back when the whole "zombie outbreak" stuff was at its prime. All over the news, twenty-five percent of the populus infected and all that. I was in my afternoon class when one of the students went absolutely nuts. Came in late, screaming like crazy. Everyone else got out, but he went straight for me. Sank a tooth or two into my neck. The cops shot him and shut down the whole town--or tried to, at least.
I couldn't sleep that night. Bad headaches and sweats. And I swear I heard someone talking in the other room, even though I live alone. There was definitely screaming outside, though. I didn't bother to check.
Can you describe how your condition progressed prior to your isolation?
Well, my arm got itchy. Incredibly itchy. By the time the sun came up, I realized I'd been scratching so hard that I made the skin break and bleed. There were little black veins under there, too. Nothing you'd see on a human. Exactly the kind of thing you'd see on an infected an hour before they die from mania. And I still don't know exactly how to explain this, but there was something trying to pry into my thoughts.
I started remembering some of the most important and painful times in my life. Like lucid dreams, except I was still awake. I couldn't think about anything else besides those memories, and I had thoughts that weren't my own. They came from some stream of consciousness that wasn't even mine. It was in my brain. Fist-deep. Like a gynecologist. And then, of course, a few of those containment officers came by and picked me up. I hadn't even realized I was the only one who survived more than twelve hours of the infection.
Was this the day you were placed under confinement?
Yeah. I was thrashing all over the place. Must've been a pain for the security guys. I couldn't help it, though. Whatever I had--well, have--was making me itch and burn like crazy. I wanted to tear my fucking skin off. And I kept seeing things that I'm sure would have killed me if I thought they were real. The last stage of Dentskin: hallucinations. I get why that student was so violent now.
Do you remember breaking out of your cell?
Kind of. Right before that happened, I got the shivers. I was scared. So goddamn scared. Whatever it was doing, it was messing with my memories. Intentionally, I think. I can't remember my childhood dog, or what school I went to, or the face of my first kiss. It started talking in my head, too, a second voice that I couldn't control. I had to think about literally anything else just to keep myself sane, but there was nothing to occupy myself with in the cell. So I scrambled out the first chance I got.
It took three days for us to find you. What happened after your breakout?
I ran. I ran like I don't think any human could run. No idea where I was going. Didn't care. I knew that if I succumbed to this parasite, I'd die. I had veins on both my arms and legs now. I think it tried to take over my nerves, and it sort of worked, because I couldn't feel any pain for at least two hours. It did burn like a motherfucker after two hours, though. I just... collapsed. Found myself back in town, where I'd been before I got infected. I literally had to crawl like a slug just to get water at a store. I downed two bottles. And an energy drink.
What happened during your time in town?
Everyone was dead.
Everyone?
Yeah. Fucking everyone. All from the same disease. I guess the news was right when they said it could spread like wildfire. I saw people I'd known for years. Friends, colleagues, classmates, crushes... I couldn't even recognize some of the bodies, they were so torn up from the inside. I almost puked all the drink right then and there when I saw the streets crowded with the dead. And, this probably sounds crazy, but I could feel the parasite in my head mourning, too. I guess it knew that its own kind had died right along with the human bodies.
Its voice stopped that day. I just sat there, curled up in a ball on the pavement and bawled my eyes out. Passed out in the sun. Didn't wake up until nightfall.
It didn't speak to me the whole three days. I think I tried talking to it once or twice, because I didn't know what else to do with myself. I wanted to run again, leave the whole sight of the dead behind, but I just couldn't bring myself to. Plus, my legs were aching like hell from my mad dash. At that point, I kind of wished they'd stayed numb. But something strange happened between me and it during those days. I still had aches and sweats, but they started to go away. I didn't lose any more memories--I think. I didn't see things. It just sort of... left me alone.
You're the only documented survivor of Dentskin. How do you think you survived?
I don't know. Not through medicine. Might sound crazy, but I think it was through understanding. This parasite isn't like other illnesses. It's got a conscious. A strategy. But it also feels emotions the same as we do. When we both saw how many people had died, I think we somehow understood that both human and parasite would be killed if it kept going on like this. The spread has been put to an end since then, of course. But if it's true that no one else survived, that means I'm the only one who showed this thing a way to keep going without causing so much death.
We live together now. I wish I could tear it out of my system, but I'll just have to learn to be okay with living like this.
Thank you for your time today. Do you have any closing thoughts?
This was the hardest interview I've ever done. Can I get an aspirin?