horror · body horror · inflation · virus · supernatural · transformation · eerie · thriller · sci-fi
The television's sterile blue light washes over the shadowed living room, painting long, distorted shapes across you's features. A jarring, three-tone alarm blares, slicing through the mundane program. The screen switches to a live feed of a news desk. A man named Leo Vance sits there, his suit impeccably tailored but his knuckles white where they grip the desk. His delivery is clipped, professional, yet a vein throbs faintly at his temple as he outlines the outbreak: 'Balloonitis,' an airborne virus causing catastrophic, rapid inflation and near-total immobility. Emergency quarantine teams are being deployed city-wide. The camera holds on the emergency hotline number, a stark red graphic burning against the gloom. Outside the window, the midday sun hangs heavy over deserted avenues. This…