When Poppies Grow... (Ab/Dl)

[PeculiarChangeling]

As part of a contest sorta thing, somebody else wrote the first and last chapter of this for me. It's my job to write everything else in between...

Here is the first chapter:

Laughter. The sounds of leisure and birdsong blend into the subtle but steady sound of the river, as though they are water themselves and orchestrated by the powerful current that hides beneath the seemingly peaceable surface.

It all began with laughter, then screams and finally silence.

Sunshine. A beautiful cloudless day when it seemed like sky was just an endless blue painted ceiling with the bright sun as its centrepiece, casting dappled light upon the picnickers through the weeping branches of the willows along the bankside.

It had all began with sunshine, then murkiness and finally darkness.

The families were friends. The parents were friends, the children were friends, the dogs were friends. They had come together this weekend to enjoy each other’s company and celebrate the recent promotion of one their number to an important government position which would ensure stability to that family in the turbulent times which loomed on the horizon, somewhere just behind all the pleasant weather. It was something that couldn’t be seen and wasn’t spoken about but everyone knew it was there, just waiting for its moment to announce itself and change everything.

Only the children were unaware. They played there games with joyful earnest, whilst the adults could only indulge in a superficial happiness which paled in comparison to the laughter and innocence of children.

After the meal, paper plates became dauntless vessels, set upon the river with cocktail stick masts and bright napkin sails. Some of the sank straight away, others were carried by the river surface by foundered along the grassy banks, then others still were carried right out to the rivers middle the imaginations of their owners traveling with them as they made for the bend. All the little boats had earned the pleasant sound of laughter from the families and calls of encouragement as it became a race between the two lead ships.

It went unnoticed that one of the little girls was trying to reach over the side of the bank to free her still floating vessel from where it had been caught by the overhanging roots of a willow tree. All attention was focused towards the bend of the river, until it was all too late.

The families felt silent, the birdsong remained.

The little girl drowned that day but it wasn’t the end, it was the beginning…

Here is the last chapter:

The whole city held its breath.

A great plume of smoke hung in the sky as the airship burned, its armoured body arching down towards the earth as it buckled and broke. It was horrible to think of the people who must have been aboard. Would they have burned to death? Would they have jumped? Who could not find some pity for them? That was why the silence that had blanketed the city remained unbroken; the people could still hold respect for their enemies. Yet they all knew it had to be done, the airship could never have been allowed to reach the city with its strange terrifying weapons.

Only after the airship had crashed to ground, the impact aftershocks felt by the feet of the onlookers and the city trembled, the great blackened carcass of the war machine smouldering in the distance, did the people finally allow themselves to feel victorious.

Tears weld in Colette’s eyes as she hugged Isobel tightly to her. Every street, every balcony, even the rooftops where full of cheering people. Everyone had a reason to rejoice but for Colette it was just the simple knowledge that tomorrow would be a new day, finally the horizon seemed clear once again.

“Colette?

[PeculiarChangeling]

2 weeks later.

They were running. Five of them, all running. Peter, Collete, Isobel, Keller, and Sarah. Searching for shelter from the bombs raining down, somewhere that could give them shelter. However, the bombs weren't the worst problem. The worst problem was the plague. Ever since the day with the girl in the river and the boom-boom at the clocktower, nothing had been the same. People were dying left and right, being driven mad, falling to pieces. The plague affected everyone differently. Some simply dropped dead, as if shot. Others were paralyzed, or went mad. Some people were affected minutes or days after the clocktower, others had yet to show any symptoms, but everyone knew that one day soon it would be their turn to suffer, and they prayed it would be something they could live with.

They took shelter in a clockmakers shop as another bomb crashed down, a large dirigible flying above. Everyone knew that the plague was an attack, but nobody knew from whom. News from across the pond said that everyone else was under the same attack, and the attacking ships had no recognizable markings on them.

"In here!" Peter said, directing the four others into the basement, which looked to be reinforced and proofed for bombs. "Hurry!" And it was good that he made them move with such speed, for just after he sealed the trap door a bomb crashed down just above them. Isobel, only seven, shuddered a bit and started to cry. Collete, a mere 11 years older and not ready to be this girls mother by any means began comforting her anyways, while Keller argued with Peter.

"We have to keep moving!" Keller said, firmly. "If we try and stay put the plague will just kill us all one by one."

"It's not always lethal," Peter said. "And if we keep moving that will still happen!"

Keller shook his head. "What happens when they start sending land troops down and scourge the earth? We will be in the middle of their attack route, they will just come down and kill us!"

"If we try and move, they will kill us with their bombs!" Peter yelled. As they said this, Sarah began shuddering on the ground, but nobody took notice. Peter and Keller were too busy arguing to take note, Isobel was crying with her eyes shut, and Collete was busy comforting her.

"I don't care about the bombs!" Keller screamed. He finally paused, when he realized the bombs had stopped. "Now is our chance. If we get moving, we can..."

"They are trying to draw us out, nitwit," Peter responded, an ear cocked for sounds of motion. That is when he finally noticed Sarah, convulsing quietly. He ran to her side, kneeling down. "Sarah!" he yelled, trying to get her attention, but her eyes had glazed over. It wasn't for another thirty seconds that she stopped shuddering and lied still, her body turning cold. Collete buried Isobel's head in her shoulder, so that the young girl wouldn't see anything. Peter took advantage of the silence to speak. "Look," he said. "The plague isn't always fatal. If we wait down here, it looks like there is enough food to last the four of us at least a week. We can try and wait out the rest of the attack, hopefully reinforcements will arrive soon and rescue us. Until then, we stay put."

"And what about Sarah?" Keller asked, quietly. "What do we do about her?"

"We move the body," Peter said. "Up, out of the shelter. And we pray that it doesn't happen to us." And with that, the argument was over.

[JustJoe]

[Yeah, this is interesting. I quite like the dynamic of this group of people now having to act as a sort of family to one another.]

[PeculiarChangeling]

Chapter 3. (Or, finally some DL content!)

It was six hours later. Everyone was asleep, except Keller. He was staying up, to keep watch in case someone was going to attack them. He hadn't heard any noises since the bombs stopped, and didn't expect to hear any more for a while. Somehow, he imagined that they would wait for everyone else to succumb to the virus before they sent in any sort of invasion. It just didn't make sense to attack while there might be any resistance left.

He was just thinking about taking a nap himself, when Collete started to cough in her sleep. It wasn't loud, more of a gentle child cough. It could almost even be mistaken for a snore, if he hadn't been listening so intently. As she did so, a little spittle was coughed up, getting on her chin and nose.

"Shit..." He said, hurrying over to Collete's side. "Collete!" He grabbed her body, trying to shake her awake, but she stayed asleep. He was worried she would choke, or die of something else. "Collete..." he said, again. He checked her pulse; she was still alive. In fact, as much as he checked her vital signs, she seemed okay except the persistent cough.

Just as he started looking for a glass of water or some way to wake her up, since shouting at her wasn't working, he saw something that he didn't expect. As he was standing up, he saw Collete's dress start to darken around her crotch, staining the white fabric a light yellow. As that happened, she rolled over into a fetal position, and she started coughing a little more loudly. Not much, but a little.

"Dammit..." Keller said. He looked around, still unable to find anything. Finally, he saw a canteen sitting next to a water boiler and grabbed it. "Wake up!" he shouted. But, she didn't. Isobel started to stir, but quickly dozed off again. As he grabbed the canteen, he recoiled away from Collete. A stench was floating away from her now too, and not of urine. He recoiled as he realized what she had done, covering his nose from the smell of the mess now lodged in her panties. He got the water canteen and splashed it on her face.

"Aaah!" Collete screamed, sitting up and knocking the bottle out of Keller's hand with a start. "What the hell..." she said, standing up. Her cough was gone now, and she seemed all right.

"Are you okay?" Keller asked, concerned for her safety.

"I thin... What the?" She said, smelling the odor, looking down, and seeing the stain on her dress. She blushed, as she realized that she had not only wet the proverbial bed, but soiled it as well. "Is anyone else awake?" she asked, hoping nobody else had seen this just yet.

"Not at the moment," Keller said, relieved. She was okay. He relaxed, grinned. "Hey, no big deal," he said, almost starting to laugh. "If that's the best the plague can throw at you, I say you got off easy." He smiled, even as Collete blushed nervously and gave a choking laugh.

"Um..." Collete said, standing up. "Now what?"

"We need to get you clean, for one," Keller said, smirking a bit in spite of himself. Sure, it was a bit humiliating for Collete, but she was alive. And she wouldn't be dying from the plague in the foreseeable future, either. "There aren't any clothes down here, so either you strip nude or we go looking for some." He shrugged.

"Your choice."

[hiddenname150]

It will be interesting to see where this goes keep up the good work.

[PeculiarChangeling]

Collete obviously decided to go with looking for clothes. She wanted to get out of the messy ones she was wearing as quickly as possible, hopefully before anyone else woke up. "What if someone is up there?" she asked, as Keller grabbed his lantern to go up the rickety wooden steps.

"Either they don't care or they will find us anyways," Keller said, doing a bad job of re-assuring her. "Don't worry about it, we will be fine." He took her hand, walking up the steps in hushed footfalls.

"Do you think we will be able to find clothes?" she asked, anxiously, as they stepped out of the trapdoor and shut it, gently.

"I saw an abandoned tailors down the street a hundred meters," he said, "They probably have something you can wear." He let go of her hand after a moment, walking with her quietly, sticking to the shadows where they could. It was a five minute walk, and they soon arrived at the abandoned store, where an illegible sign hung half demolished in front of the blown up doorway.

Walking inside, Collete cringed at the mass squishing between her legs and against her thighs. The wetness wasn't so bad, it was the mess she wanted to clean up from as soon as possible. While she found a dress similar to her own, Keller found a bucket and a cloth behind the counter. Pouring the rest of the water from the canteen, he handed it to Collete.

"I thought you might want to wash up before getting dressed," he said. "Do you want me to go out while...?" he asked, unsure of where he stood with her.

"No, stay," she said. "Just in case something happens..." She was more nervous of someone attacking them than she was embarrassed to be seen without her dress.

Keller averted his eyes as she removed her shoes, then pulled the stained dress off leaving her in socks, a corset, a bra, and of course the bulging, stained, ruined panties. With disgust, she pulled that off as well, tossing both aside into the corner of the room. Keller simply wandered in circles, staying within ten feet of Collete but not looking at her so as to not appear in-decent.

(Pause, the rest later.)

[PeculiarChangeling]

(Now: The rest.)

Collete grabbed the washcloth from the bucket and wiped down her inner thighs, legs, and anywhere that the mess had spread too. It felt so good to be clean, and she was filled with a bit of dread after it occurred to her that this would probably become a regular occurrence.

"Do you think I should grab an extra dress or two?" she asked, as she grabbed a new pair of panties from a nearby rack, pulling them up over her legs. As she did so, a stream of urine started flowing from her again, staining the new panties and spilling onto the floor. She blushed and gave a small sob of sadness, it wasn't just going to be while she was asleep.

"Probably," Keller said. Then, he spied something on the ground that looked like it would help. A stack of fluffy, laundered, un-used cloth diaper, lined up neatly in a row next to tight, new rubber panties. "Um, I am about to make a suggestion you might not like..." he said, un-sure. "But if this is going to be a regular thing then, well... Uh, you might want these." He held up one of the diapers, so she could see.

"Absolutely not!" Collete said, a knee-jerk reaction if there ever was one.

"Are you sure?" Keller asked. "I mean, no offense, but it is the only thing that really makes sense in your situation. Unless you want to carry around a dozen dresses and panties all the time..." He was a bit un-comfortable with the conversation topic. "Just an idea."

"I changed my mind," Collete said, sharply. "Can you wait outside?"

"Sorry!" Keller said, apologetically. He hadn't meant to offend her. "I will just, uh, be right outside the door..." He walked out, disappointed that he had upset her.

....................

Ten minutes later, Collete walked out in a new dress, carrying a bag. There was a faint smell of perfume coming off of her that hadn't been there before, and she seemed a little flustered. "Let's go," she said, quickly. "Now, please. I don't want them to wonder where we are."

[hiddenname150]

Great chapter can't wait for the next one.

[PeculiarChangeling]

Just letting everyone know: Chapters are going to be slow and limited for a while.

[Diapered_Ed]

Waiting, knowing a new chapter will be posted, is so much beter than waiting and not knowing.....

[PeculiarChangeling]

(Yes, it's been a while and yes, this is short. So sue me.)

It took them a little while to get back, by which point everyone was already awake except for Isobel. Peter noticed them and asked, "Checking for troops?" To which Keller just shrugged. Glancing at Collete, Peter added, "So it looks like somebody had a little potty accident."

Collete froze, and took in a sharp breath. "What?" she asked, surprised, prepared to act defensive if he teased her.

"Isobel," Peter explained. "Does she wet the bed often? Or maybe it's stress related. What if it's her plague?" he said, with a laugh. "Can you imagine that, your plague being bed-wetting? That would be embarrassing..." Collete and Keller both laughed nervously, exchanging a glance, but everyone failed to notice.

"So, what did you do?" Keller asked.

"Nothing yet, I figure we can get her a new dress when she waked up or something," Peter said.

"Good plan," Collete said. "She doesn't normally do this as far as I know, so..." She shrugged. "We need to get moving, either way," she said.

"I agree," Keller added. Peter almost protested, but it was two on one this time and he knew he couldn't win that argument.

"Fine," Peter finally said. "But if we get killed out there, don't say I didn't warn you." He started packing up some of the food, Collete picked up Isobel, and within a few minutes they were gone and out the door once again.