It could have been any family.
On this occasion, it was a happily-married couple with two bright sons. Believing it was an ordinary day, the father had informed his family that he was about to leave work from his position as a museum director in the city. To his surprise, however, his family was already there to pick him up, eager to share some good news with him.
“Dad! I got an award!” cried the younger son, puffing his chest with satisfaction. He and his brother, a high school student and a university student respectively, had submitted their joint project to the regional science fair.
“Oh, wow! You did it!” responded their father with pride.
He welcomed his family into his office to hand each of his sons a gift box he prepared as a token of celebration.
The boys opened their gifts to find an ornate pocket watch inside.
“Congratulations on your achievement. This is my gift to each of you.”
“Oh dear, did you have these made for them ahead of time?”
“I had a feeling they’d win,” replied her husband with a wink.
“Each watch is one-of-a-kind, specially-made for each of you.”
Both sons widened their sparkling eyes as they inspected their new watches.
The older brother’s was gold, and the younger received silver.
“Dad... Thank you so much!”
The father looked on with delight as his sons compared their watches.
Their mother walked over, keeping one hand held over her round tummy.
“All that’s left is for this one to be born safely, and there is nothing more that I could ask from life,” said the pregnant mother. Her voice trembled with some anticipation. Giving birth in her forties had its risks.
“It’ll be just fine, Mom. I wrote a wish during Tanabata for the baby to be born safely,” her son said assuringly.
“Oh right. It’s that time of year, isn’t it?”
“It’s not exactly scientific,” answered the older boy, “but I made a wish too.”
“Aw, why thank you. Then I’m sure all will be fine.”
The mother patted her younger son’s head like he was a child, much to his playful chagrin.
Just then, they all witnessed the trail of a shooting star streaking in the night sky.
Their wonder slowly morphed into horror as the shooting star fell down to Earth’s surface, sending violent shockwaves throughout the area upon impact.
What they believed to be a shooting star was in fact a “seed” from outer space. Within minutes, the seed produced tendrils which latched onto everything within its vicinity, digging its parasitic roots into inorganic and organic matter alike.
These roots penetrated everything they touched, going so far as to rewrite the genetic information of their hosts.
Some objects warped, some cracked, others melted. The parasite worked quickly to alter the appearance of its hosts in its own image, quickly corrupting the world around it.
Hordes of people were scattered upon the crumbling streets, attempting to flee the flurry of roots for fear of being consumed by the mysterious alien plant.
It was only a matter of time before the roots reached the museum.
The parents could not act quickly enough, costing the father his life. The mother, however, was attacked by the parasitic roots, which had begun to corrupt her from within.
Their sons, realizing they could not abandon their mother, decided to live in hiding with her.
Similar tragedies played out at the same time all around the world.
◯ Three years later...
The world had completely changed.
Areas devastated by the seed were known as “contaminated regions,” with humans and animals being referred to as “contaminated beings.” They became the target of ire among of all mankind. The brothers continued to live in hiding in the decaying museum ruins with their mother, who had become one of the contaminated.
Curiously, they were never attacked by the contaminated beings, which they deduced could have been thanks to their mother’s condition.
Even after three years, she had not given birth. Her stomach only grew bigger.
One day...
A hero had come to the museum.
A group of girls was gaining renown for possessing superhuman abilities.
It was not uncommon for young girls to idealize fairy-tale princesses or magical girls, but these girls were the real deal. They dressed in fanciful outfits, drenched in the pink blood of contaminated beings. Eventually, they became known as Massacre Pink.
On this day, one in particular had approached the museum ruins.
She was accompanied by an armed faction.
With a battle cry, she led the charge to wipe out the demented creatures.
“You there! Get away from them!”
She kicked at the ground, launching into a sprint towards the frightened boys.
The younger son embraced his mother protectively, and the older brother stepped in front of them with arms wide open, facing the hero apprehensively.
“Wait! This is our mother!” cried the older brother.
“She’s become contaminated. Your mother’s no longer in there.”
“We know,” thought each brother to himself.
That much was obvious.
But they clung to a faint hope that the epidemic would soon pass, and that a vaccine could be produced to save their ailing mother.
“Please! My mother’s harmless! Just leave us alone!”
The sons looked the hero in the eye.
She returned their glance with a look of approval before responding with a small nod.
“Very well,” she concluded.
She understood their plight.
The brothers exchanged glances and heaved great sighs.
Not long after, the hero drew her sword from its sheath and drove it clean into their mother’s face.
“What...?”
“Seems like you two are doomed as well.”
Splattered with their mother’s pink blood across her devilish grin, the girl began to cackle, her frenzied eyes glowing in a deep shade of pink.
“KYAHAHAHA! More contaminated! Kill them!”
On her mark, her armed battalion swarmed around her to attack the young son.
“Stop! Please, we’re not contaminated!”
“Monsters protect their own.”
They were attacked with hands.
Feet.
Stones.
Sticks.
“Die, monsters!”
And so, mankind’s hatred for the corrupted was unleashed upon the poor boys, who suffered at the hands of these vicious attackers.
◯ By the time the younger son regained consciousness, the girl and her party had vanished.
The corpses of humans and the contaminated alike were littered at his feet.
He surmised that the humans faced more resistance than they anticipated and fled to reduce casualties.
Beside him was his dead brother, barely recognizable from the onslaught.
The young man, struggling to walk, dragged his bloody body towards his deceased mother.
But her body, which he presumed to be lifeless, spasmed in the darkness.
“Mom! Are you in there?!”
“Ug... Gu... Ga... GIIIIIAAAAH!”
She let out a piercing shriek, and her womb tore open.
“Mo...ther?”
As the woman took her last dying breath, she collapsed in front of her teary-eyed son.
From her ripped womb emerged a crawling fetus with soft, pink eyes.
“Aah... Aah... AAAAAAAGH!”
Such was the way of the world.