like substance that resembles chewing gum is the first element to become visible to the public, this “gum” first manifests as a long continuing stretch of “plastic string” that spontaneously intertwines, winds around and wraps itself around peoples teeth. Those affected are inconvenienced but not alarmed and pull the substance from their mouths in huge and ever increasing quantities. If they fail to remove the “gum” their speech is gradually muffled and eventually becomes impossible. The “gum” is followed by specks of a pernicious white “foam” that begins appearing on peoples clothing in small but quickly escalating amounts. People try to eliminate the foam at first just by removing it but this just seems to make the situation worse. Eventually they begin to discard the affected clothing but this doesn’t work either. At first the only way to get rid of the foam is to pass it on, spreading it onto someone else. Eventually this does not work.
The foam begins to thicken and solidify and people become encased in transparent strips of a cellophane like substance. This outer layer hardens and forms a cocoon around them from which new persons emerge and the fight is won or lost.The scene of the final confrontation is a cinema on Ventura Boulevard, where a last handful of survivors gather. Huddled together in the dark, this numb audience sits silently watching as the battle changes location and moves on to the screen, where the fight is won or lost.
Outside of Los Angeles people sit in their living rooms, working on their computers and watching their televisions. They are unaffected by the war in their midst or the fact that the fight is lost.
