7 Chapter 7

UNEDITED

Marisol POV-

After about 40 seconds of performing CPR on Alfie, gut wrenching screams started echoing through the halls.. I stopped what I was doing to look up.. I looked to Bella who had already stopped her compressions.. the lady on the phone said "I'm sorry mam, we don't have anyone available right now" And hung up.. Bella picked up the phone and stared at it, paralyzed. Jake's girlfriend Sophie was screaming at Bella hesterically to 'bring him back!'.. but it was already too late, whatever they were afflicted with was extremely deadly.. Even now their skin is still turning more of a pale shade of blueish grey, while their veins had almost turned black.

"Junior.. can you check what's going on out there?" I asked. I only asked him because he's one of the only ones not screaming or in hysterics.

"Okay" he nodded affirmatively before leaving the classroom.

I stood up, taking a deep breath as I brushed whispy sweaty strands of hair out of my face.. keeping my hands on my head as I took a few deep breaths to gain my bearings.. the adrenaline coursing through me is making me feel like my head is going to expload. There are still people screaming and hollering in the halls. Where is Junior? It sounds like everyone in the school has lost their minds. I walked to Bella who was still knelt on the floor next to Sophie and took the phone out of her hand, placing it on the desk.. "What are we supposed to do now?" I asked, trying my best not to panic along with everyone else.

I offered Bella a hand up.. she kept hold of my hand and answered "I.. I don't know" in a weak voice.. her eyes were now fixed on the two grey lifeless bodies on the ground..

"Bella.. please.." I tugged at her hand and she looked up.

"Sol I don't know what I'm supposed to do.." As she finally looked at me, tears started rolling down her cheeks. That's just great.. I looked to Alex who was still watching Sophie as she pounded on Jake's chest frantically. To my surprise he started moving.. I saw his arm twitch.. maybe whatever she's doing was somehow working.. I pulled my hand free from Bellas and checked to see if Jake's pupils were dilating.. they weren't, and even more shocking was the fact that his eyes were now so cloudy you almost couldn't see the colour of his iris.

I was on my way to Alfie to check his, when I heard a scream right behind my ear.. then it was everywhere, everyone was screaming.. I looked behind to see Jake sinking his teeth into Sophie's shoulder, her body went limp, blood began gushing down her back and all over the floor. She couldn't move from under his grasp, he ravenously began devouring her. People started darting out of the classroom. My eyes grew wide, I slowly began taking steps backwards without thought.. another step and I was tumbling over Alfie, whacking the back of my head on the floor.. Alex ran to help me up but just before she got to me, Alfie clumsily made his way to his feet.. "Alfie.. it's me Alex.." She held her hands up. His only response was low growls.

Alfie tried to lazily chase Alex around a table, which gave me a few moments to get to my feet and try to process what is even going on. Alfie made an attempt to lunge at Alex across the table and successfully grabbed her arm. I jumped onto his back and wrapped my arm around his head. He landed on me as we dropped to the floor. Alfie squirmed under my firm hold and somehow managed to take a chunk out of my forearm. I squeezed as hard as I could around his head, until I heard something pop and he stopped moving. I slowly let my arm loose and his lifeless body rolled off of me.. that was way too easy.. I know it's not supposed to be that easy.

I felt as though I had entered a drunken haze. My eyes flickedered open to see Alex's panicked expression.. then Bella was at the other side of me. They spoke to eachother for a few seconds as hell unleashed around us.. Another second later I was lifted and pushed from a window.. as I landed in the bush I felt a long jagged stick peirce through my side.. If I didn't feel like I'd been drugged I'm sure I would have screamed out in pain.

A moment later I heard something fall in the bush next to me.. someone grabbed my arms and pulled me out of the bush backwards with their hands under each of my arms.. I was able to keep my eyes open long enough to see about 8 more people jump from the window.. Others in the form of a blur were sprinting past us in every direction. Another person came running over, I can tell by her voice that it's Bella.. "That way!" She shouted in a panicked tone as she helped whoever was dragging me along to carry me. I'm pretty sure it's Alex but I haven't had a good look yet. I feel nauseous..

I woke up laid down in the back seat of a moving car.. I could hear a muffled voice.. It sounds more like a radio.. I tried to move one of my hands to rub the blurriness out of my eyes but I couldn't move.. I began hyper ventilating uncontrollably, pure panic ripped through me. My body started shaking violently and all I could control myself long enough to say was "help.. me.." ..

"Sol I've got you.." I felt a pair of soft hands sweep across my forehead and then I passed out again.

I awoke a second time and realised I was still trapped.. "Let me go" I ordered in a coarse strained voice. Someone finally let loose the ropes on my hands, I rubbed my eyes to see Alex leaning over from the front passenger seat with a worried expression.

"Tie her hands back up!" Bella called from the driver's seat.."Put something in her mouth.." I shook my head in disbelief.. Are they kidnapping me?.. Alexs expression soon changed to panic as I opened the car door in a fit of confusion and did the tuck and roll. I had forgotten about the stick in my side until the hard concrete ripped it out of my skin, it didn't hurt nearly as much as it should have.. I stood up and looked to my hands, the bandages had ripped and some of the loops had fallen off. I quickly pulled the rest off to see my hands had almost completely healed. Even where Alfie had taken a chunk out of my arm not so long ago had visably started healing..

I could only think for a second before I realised Bella was reversing her car.. I glanced around to try to understand what the hell is going on. I could hear gunshots and screams from all over. Smoke rising in various places in the distance, dead bodies in the street, some resembled Alfie and Jakes condition. They must have all died from the same thing, others just looked like the victims of a brutal dog attack, each one with a head wound. Sirens were blaring in the distance, people packing up their lives into a few bags and going on their way.

The car was about 10 feet away from me when the passenger door opened and Alex ran straight over. "Stay away from me" I held my hands out to protect myself.. her eyebrows furrowed worriedly as she continued approaching slowly with her own hand out..

"I'm trying to keep you safe.. I promise.." She spoke softly in a pleading voice still drawing nearer until she finally reached for my hand and gently held onto it. "Mrs Cavill was just, overly cautious.. I'll explain it to you but you need to get back in the car okay?" ..still in a confused state I nodded and walked back over to the car.. We both got in the back and Bella immediately put her foot on the accelerator.

"We can't risk it.." Bella turned nervously in her chair and back to the road..

"Risk what?" I asked in an annoyed tone as I looked to Alex since she's seemingly the only level headed one.

"The radio said that if you get bitten the virus mutates and-" Alex started but Bella wasn't patient enough to let her finish..

"Then you die and you come back as one of those things" Bella pointed fearfully out of the window, to a grey skinned man chasing a dog down the street. As we passed him his attention shifted to us for a moment, before he saw another man running and chased him instead.

"So why haven't I?" I asked whilst looking out the window watching the helpless man run for his life.. my attention was redirected as Alex carefully took my right hand in hers.. She moved closer to me as she took my left hand..

"Maybe this has something to do with it.." Alex gently brushed a finger over the deepest cut on my hand that had already began to scar.. I mean she has to be right, things like this don't heal overnight.. something inside me was changing.. I could feel it in myself, I just couldn't find the words to explain it.

"Where are we going?" I asked Bella..

"Honestly I've just been driving around-" .. "I don't know what to do.." She sounded so afraid.

"Well I need to find my brothers, can you take me home?" I asked in a serious tone. I tried calling them but there is no service.

She reluctantly agreed and with that we were off. On the way home I made a small prayer that my Jeep had already been delivered.. it was supposed to come at 10am but second hand sellers, they aren't always straight with you. I already paid him, he was going to sign the papers next week, I guess it doesn't matter.. It's not like I'm even going to need my licence anymore either, since you can't even phone the police. Either way Sam's car should be there, if she hasn't left already.

--------

There it was.. my beautiful dark grey jeep.. I only got a glimpse of it as we quickly made our way to the front door. On the way here we passed a few horrifying scenes, but luckily my street is bare.. almost all the cars are gone except Sam's and mine. I quickly unlocked the front door and ushered everyone inside.. Bella went first.. "You picked the wrong house!" I heard Sam shout in a war cry..

"Wait! Sam she's with me" I quickly ran past everyone into view, Samantha was standing in the middle of my kitchen with one of my katanas drawn..

"Oh lord" she let out a deep breath of relief with her hand on her chest, almost laughing.. "I thought you were a looter".. Me and Sam both began giggling as I walked over to her and took my katana, sheathing it and placing it on the counter next to the other one.. Bella looked at us like we were crazy.

"Well thank you for protecting my house.." I smiled.. "This is Bella, and you already know Alex"

"Oh.. Bella?" She looked to me and back to Bella trying to be covert but she fails every time.

"What did you say about me?"..Bella asked nervously.

"Oh nothing to be worried about" Sam winked, not understanding that she literally told her she should be worried. I told Sam some of the details when she shared stuff about her own private life, but I didn't think they would ever meet eachother. I always knew I wasn't serious about Bella, and she is married so I thought she was just lonely, I still think that.

"It really is nothing to be worried about.. Samantha just doesn't understand social cues.." I said calmly as I went to the TV and turned on the news.. we have more pressing matters to deal with..

The man sitting at the desk on TV looked sweaty and slightly unhinged.. He gave a short speech about how these are trying times. The government are basically saying stay in your home's and lock your doors. If someone you know turns pale and drops down dead, they have had an instant fatal reaction to a virus that is very quickly sweeping across the globe affecting approximately 3% of people.. you have to stab them in the brain.. or they will come back alive and eat you..96% are infected but unaffected and can still be turned into brainless people consumers. Something about the saliva of someone that's infected.. it takes half an hour for the virus to mutate and kill you.. Unless you were one of the first.. then your already dead. "What about the one percent?" I asked quietly as I looked to my healing bite mark. And they are scarily specific odds.. when did they work out those calculations?..

The TV made a weird noise.. the screen went fuzzy then switched to a man who looked to be in his sixties with ragged grey hair, sitting in what seemed to be a laboratory.. "I don't know how far this message will reach" he looked down, shaking his head in despair before looking up to the camera again.. "This was no accident.. they.. they made me do it" he pointed to himself..The image froze as he said "I want you to know that I'm sorry.." The sound glitched again before everything resumed.. "This virus was never supposed to be here.. it came from-".. A government broadcast started playing cutting the man short from revealing what is actually going on. We all looked to eachother dumfounded.. A screaming woman running past my house made us all look to the window with the curtains closed.. we should probably help.. but we are all standing here frozen.. listening. Like with all those people we drove past... that we ignored for our own safety.

A few more seconds pass and I couldn't question myself any longer. I grabbed a katana from the counter and peeked through the curtain to get a look of what's going on.. It's Betty my neighbour, she's in her late 40's, and she's being chased by her husband Marv.. oh crap.

I unsheathed the katana and quickly ran out the door without an explanation.. I'm guessing it was obvious.. "Betty" I called for her attention as I looked around to see if there was any other danger, we can't be the only ones that heard her hollering.. She began running my way, down the path through my front garden and past Alex and Sam who were both waiting by the front door. Sam with the shorter Katana and Alex with a.. a frying pan. I literally have a metal baseball bat by my front door..

Marv came slowly jogging at me, his mouth was dripping with blood.. I didn't know what to do, I just thrust the blade forward towards his head as he lunged for me.. the end of the blade slid seamlessly through his eye socket. His arms dropped and then his body slumped to the ground, my blade came out as he fell. I just stood looking at his lifeless body.. "Sol!" Alex shouted in a panicked voice.. I looked around to see another greyman a foot away from me reaching out. I noticed that his mouth was black, where as Marvs was dripping crimson. I swung my katana at his head where it sliced clean through. The top of his skull and half of his brain rolled out onto the floor as he fell. The blood that oozed out was as black as tar.. I cleaned the katana of the black goop with an old rag from nexto my garage.

I almost started hyperventilating as I walked back into the house to the kitchen. Sam locked the door behind me. "Did he bite you?!" I asked.. Betty lifted her flowing white skirt to reveal her fresh bite mark on her calf.

Bella started flailing her hands in the air panicking.. "Where's the rope?!" It's almost like some people never learned to control themselves as children..

"Calm down!" I ordered and straight away she did. "Betty I'm sure you've seen the news-" I started..

"I've seen the news" She nodded to me.. tiredly. "Whatever you have to do" Betty nodded again and looked down to her wedding ring.. I placed my hand on her shoulder before going to storage cupboard and grabbing a spare washing line..

"It's only for half an hour" I tried to reassure her, but it didn't sound very reassuring. I bandaged her wound and tied her wrists to the oven with some zipties I found in the cupboard.

She passed out for about ten minutes whilst tied to the cooker..I rested a pillow under her head so she wasn't straining.. The last twenty minutes of waiting we spent sat together talking about what she likes to do. She's the CEO of a company that prints magazines. I don't read them, but by the way she dresses and the car that's usually parked in her driveway she's pretty successful. "I'm really sorry about your mother love"..I placed a hand on her forearm for a second as genuine thanks. I'm not even sure how she knows.. she screwed her face in sadness, it's almost like she feels my pain..

"It's alright, it was a long time ago.. can I get you something to drink?" I asked.. just as Betty opened her mouth to reply the alarm I had set on my watch began going off. "Well, I'm glad I'm not the only one" I smiled as I released Betty from the ropes.

"Thank God" She sighed..

"This wasn't God.." I shook my head as I got to my feet, offering her a hand up.

"I know, but I have to believe he still has a plan for us" Betty spoke confidently, swiping her dark brown bob out of her face.. I'd like to tell her I think we are just some cruel experiment, but I can't attempt to smash the only thing she's holding onto.

"Whatever it is, I hope it includes finding my brothers.." I stood and turned to go to the living room where everyone else had sat down.. "Well I don't really know what to say.. do any of you have family you want to be with?" I asked..

Alex didn't say anything, Samantha's family are in a completely different country, Betty's husband just died.. "Bella?".. I asked..

"I.. don't have anyone." Bella avoided my eyecontact.

"Well you can all stay for as long as you like but I need to go and find my brothers.. I'll be back as soon as I can.. in the meantime, I ordered enough packaged food for months.." I pointed to the boxes before leaving the room and going up the stairs to grab a back pack. Footsteps quickly came after me, I looked to my bedroom door where Alex was stood.. "Are you alright?" I asked..

"No.. I can't let you go alone.." She pleaded straight away..

"I'll be alright.. and I'll be back soon, it's only an hour drive.." I tried to reassure her.

"Please let me come with you.." Alex stepped closer.

"You have better odds staying here with them" I stated plainly.. "Especially when your choice of weapon is a frying pan" I almost laughed but I was serious.. "Why a frying pan?" I had to ask.

"I just picked it up ok?" She frowned.. before remembering what we were really talking about.. "What about your odds?".

"Even if I do get bitten or whatever-" If you don't want to lie just be really vague.. "I'm not going to become one of those things, you still might".. I closed the distance between us as I took my watch off.. I gently took her hand and wrapped the watch around her wrist. "When I leave set the alarm for two and a half hours.. okay?.. I'll be back by then".. She held onto my hand even after I fastened the watch.

"Okay" Alex nodded reluctantly with her eyes closed.. I let go of her hand and was about to walk past her to the door.. "Wait.." She said simply, stopping me by placing her hand on my chest.. She looked up at me for a few seconds before wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me into a warm hug. I just closed my eyes and hugged her back. This intense hug lasted almost a minute before we parted, both of us now with watery eyes.. we laughed, awkwardly wiping away our tears..."Do you remember the last time we were in here together?" Alex asked looking around my room.

"I don't think so.." I shook my head, while trying to recall the memory.

"Your bed was over there, you had your goldfish on a dresser over there-" She pointed at the various places.. I remember the layout of my room but I don't remember what happened the last time we were here.

"What happened?" I asked confusedly, wanting her to get to the point faster.

"We had a sleep over and in the morning before school, your mum made us breakfast in bed.. don't you remember?"..I do now. I try to forget how easy things were.. it makes me angry.. and regretful that I ever took her for granted.

"I do.." I attempted a smile to hide my pain.. She looked at me weird before turning away again to resume examining each object in my room.

Alex picked up a snow globe, shook it and put it back down on the shelf. After watching it settle for a moment she turned to me.. "Good luck Sol.." She made a quick smile me before leaving the room to go back downstairs..

------

NOTES-

So here's something for you.. as always stuff is just happening. I never know what to say here, it usually turns into a little ramble about nothing.. anyway I appreciate you and the time that you've spent reading so far, I hope you like it enough to read the rest, and if not, I wish you the best anyway.