Floating Ink Read Online Free PDF

something else. They think
something must have gone wrong, and they want to find out what.”
The woman replied as she looked up from her book.
    As she looked up, Ruth could see her entire
eyes were black. Black cracks formed from her eyes and over her
face. The woman smiled, closed the book, and sat back in the
chair.
    “And… now I said too much.” the woman stated
in a calm tone, her mouth scrunching to the side.
    The black cracks in her face grew swiftly and
encompassed her entire body. She soon looked like a fire had
consumed her, as she was entirely covered in black. The chair then
creaked forward slightly, and the woman fell. As the woman hit the
ground, ash spread around her.
    Ruth stared at the woman, mouth wide open,
ready to scream. She nearly lost her balance as she felt a small
tug against her clothing.
    “Excuse me, librarian, can you help me? I am
having trouble with the WebDewey system…” came the tiny voice
behind her. It belonged to a small child who had a pink bow in her
hair. Ruth wondered how much the child had seen and then looked
around the room. No one had even moved a muscle in alarm. The only
one who was surprised by a woman dying was Ruth. What kind of
library is this? Ruth wondered to herself.
    “Sorry… just give me a moment, please,” Ruth
replied in a shaky voice. She leaned over and plucked the book the
previous woman had been reading. The child waited patiently and
with obedience. She balanced on her heels and watched Ruth.
    Ruth began to exit the building. She didn’t
have many answers, and now even more questions. Why had the flying
ink blot creature knocked her out, just to put her in the library?
And why had that woman told Ruth she wasn't an accountant, followed
by dying in an odd manner.
    Ruth walked outside of the building to find a
rural town being beaten down by a hot sun. Trucks and people roamed
the streets in a sluggish daze. It seemed like a dusty town, and
Ruth would not have chosen to come here for any reason. Near one of
the gas stations stood a sign that read “Welcome to Thomasville!
Home of Devil’s Rock. Population: 3000”. Ruth looked around to see
if she could spot any ink blots floating around. She didn’t spy any
of the creatures. A thought then came to her; what if this town was
like the cabin she had encountered earlier? What if this was all
inside one of those bubble things?
    As she walked down the street, she didn’t
notice many people outside, and even fewer vehicles. Wherever this
was, they were used to staying within the town confines. As she
continued forward and turned a corner, she met with a brick wall
going across the street. She thought it was weird that the wall
covered the street and that no signs warned of a dead end. She
turned right and continued walking down the street.
    About a half hour later she was in a less
populated neighborhood. Many residents of this neighborhood had
taken up farming practices. What stuck Ruth as odd was that it
appeared that the fields were full of people. Why would people be
farming so aggressively? It began to dawn on her as she spotted the
wall in the distance. This town had walls on all sides. That’s why
there were so few cars.
    The feeling of being a caged rat prickled on
her neck. She tried to think of excuses on why there would be walls
surrounding the town. Perhaps whatever beast she had encountered
earlier would be deterred by these walls. Perhaps they had sand
storms here and needed to block out all the dirt coming in. Maybe
they were worried about noise or dirt and this was a way to keep
those things out.
    Ruth decided to stop someone in the field.
She didn’t notice it at first, because of the farmer’s wide brimmed
hat. The person’s eyes were a solid black, just like the
librarian’s eyes had been. Ruth wanted to look in a mirror to see
if her own eyes were now solid black. Why was this town separated
from outside? Were these people infected and that’s why they were
separated? Was she now