[ WP ] Only one person in town is willing to go outside after dark . I really wish he 'd hurry the hell up with my pizza .

It was n't that long ago that the darkness struck. 
 
 It used to be common that people would be out and about at the night, enjoying the night life and having a good time overall. You'd see people outside 24 hours of the day; no matter where you went there would always be someone else out in the night. 
 
 I put down my phone and sighed, thinking back on it. 
 
 I used to work late shifts at the deli down a few blocks, butchering meat for the next day. It was a small deli but a popular one, so the work was pretty intense, but the pay was good and the job was fun. My boys would usually invite me for a drink or two around 2 AM when I finished up, and sometimes we'd stay out till you could see the sun over the horizon pleading for our drunk asses to go home. Those were fun times... really fun times. It really sucks about that curfew, now. 
 
 It all happened in a flash, honestly. Martial law and all that shit. Bunch of police with military-grade equipment came to our town and told us to all get inside immediately. Started shooting rubber bullets and everything. Thank god no one really got hurt that day, cause that kind of force scared most of us off the streets. It was n't even dark, though. Hell, it felt like they just came to do that in broad daylight. Needless to say my shift was cancelled that day. They told me that I just needed to come in earlier, just as the sun came up, which was a huge change from what I was used to. It also meant I had to work even faster with preparing the meat, since after the curfew people started waking up at sunrise more often, too. Everyone started to get really scared of the dark, and I could n't blame them, with all those police running around. They started to piss me off with how they just come in and tell us that we ca n't go out anymore. 
 
 I quit that job, though. I was never much of a morning person, and started coming later and later to shifts since hanging out at home watching tv after curfew kept me up at night. It was n't long before I started getting real tired of that shit, and my boys felt the same. They called me up one night, telling me the bar we went to was going out of business, and that they had a plan to sneak out after curfew and grab a few drinks. As long as we were in the bar before any cops caught us, we could hang out in there until sunrise. The bartender would n't mind. 
 
 So we decided to have one last night of fun before all the night life in our city died off. The plan was foolproof, honestly: one of the boys managed to get his hands on a police radio, and he was able to figure out who was patrolling where at what time. Talk on that radio was like a neverending stream of info, these cops wanted to be really sure that no one was on the streets, so you'd be hearing report after report of which areas were clear and where they were headed next. It felt really cool sneaking past them in my `` sneaking suit'' ( which was honestly just a black dri-fit outfit that i used to wear when I went to the gym ) and hearin my boys back me up. Once I made it to the bar, I saw all of them there. They were cheering it up, laughing at my sneaking suit and shit, and I was having a good time myself. Boy was the bartender ever happy, though; I've never seen a man get a mustache that big wet with his tears and snot. It was kinda gross, but I was happy, too. We partied for hours, and left the bartender a huge tip. He let us stay in the upstairs area lounge until sunrise. 
 
 What happened at that party was just a blur, but what happened after, I'd never forget. 
 
 We were all sleeping in the upstairs lounge, and I woke up in slurry. I checked the time: it was only 5 AM. The sun was n't gon na be up for the next few hours, so I was gon na pee and go back to sleep before the headache from last night's celebration started to set in. The upstairs lounge area did n't have a washroom, so I went downstairs, all the while fiddling with my sneaking suit to figure out how I was gon na piss without getting totally naked in a public washroom. I felt a cold breeze on the way down, like someone had opened a window. The bartender must still be up with the fridge or something. Better not piss myself in his company, I thought. I guess it didnt matter though, because I pissed myself with what I saw next. 
 
 I get to the main floor and I see the bartender, dead on the table with his guts hanging from the ceiling. His huge mustache was wet with blood this time, and his expression was the saddest, most terrifying face I could have ever seen a human being make; Like he was so scared he shit his heart out of his mouth. I could n't move for a few minutes. I was still trying to process what I was seeing before I reflexively gagged and threw up in the corner. I must have pissed myself at the same time, too. I didnt even make it to the washroom and all I could feel was a cold fear mixed with the warm feeling near my crotch. It smelled like pepperoni and piss old cheese. It must've been from the pizza we ordered earlier. I finished being disgusting and managed to take a second look at the room, feeling slightly less sick. 
 
 The front window was shattered and the darkness of the early hours filled the room everywhere the warm glow of neon was n't. With the bartender dead on the table, the few lights that were on felt like they were being enveloped by an aura of hatred and carnage. It almost felt like the darkness was encroaching on my position. The sickening smell of dead bartender mixed with the smell of digested pizza I left in the corner made my stomach churn even more. I heard rustling coming from upstairs and froze, looking at the stairs. I was pretty sure my friend were n't going to like seeing what happened down here either. I saw their feet walking down the stairs, and was about to yell out to them to tell them to not come down, but as they kept walking I noticed I could only see their legs. The top half looked very... dark. I rubbed my eyes and realized that all that was there were legs. Bloody, disfigured legs being rolled down the stairs and plopping to the bottom in a wet mass. I felt like throwing up even more, but instead my survival instincts finally decided to kick in and I ran. I ran so far and for so long, out of the bar and into a police patrol. They were yelling and pointing their guns at me as I was running, but I could n't hear what they were saying. It must not have been long that whatever got to the bar got to them, because the yelling was then accompanied by gunshots and the sound of death. I ran all the way home and locked the door. I went to my room. I cried myself to sleep that night, covered in vomit and piss on my washroom floor. 
 
 It's been just a few months after that. Maybe a few years? I have n't even looked out the window once it was dark ever since. I managed to find a job in the middle of the day that paid well with short hours. At least, well enough. The streets were absolutely dead and the only thing you would hear is stories on the news of the government sending out drones to keep watch and rumours of one pizza place in town that still does deliveries; urban legends and stuff. Besides that, I basically lived the life of a recluse. I did n't hear much from my friends after that at all, except for one text I got from one of my boys' girl saying he was in the hospital. I did n't bother to pay him a visit. I was too scared that I'd be caught out too late. 
 
 Tonight, I was extra hungry. I forgot to go out for groceries the day before, and I did n't have any food to cook. All the grocery stores were closed at the time. I was falling asleep because I was so hungry. Worried that I was going to be waking up with intense hunger pangs, I had a lapse in judgement. I remembered seeing the number for that one pizza place that still delivered online. I had it saved in my phone just in case the rumour was true. I never cared to look up its location, but as long as it's still in the city it should have been able to deliver it within the hour. So I called them. Someone answered, incredibly fast: 
 
 `` Hello, may we take your order?'' 
 
 I was a little surprised by the quick response, but I was hungry so I did n't care. I told them I wanted a pepperoni pizza. They answered before I had the chance to give them my address: 
 
 `` Thank you. We'll bring it to you right away.'' 
 
 The phone cut off. I was confused, but also impressed by the service. How stupid of me. I sat in my chair and let the tv keep going. 
 
 I put down my phone and sighed, thinking back on it. 
 
 It was taking a while to come. 
 
 Two hours later, I started drifting off. 
 
 I started smelling pepperoni and cheese as my eyelids got heavier. 
 
 I felt a cold breeze. I must have left a window open. 
 
 It was getting kind of... dark... 
 
 

