Chapter 2 Changes

All eyes shot to the back of the class, to the screaming girl. One of the brunette cheerleaders had paled with horror as she looked at the back wall. I followed her gaze to the back window.

They were closed with a view of bland buildings across the street, and black dots were crawling up, covering the window. Kids ran to the front of the class while I tried to figure out what was happening. The dots were more than likely ants, but I couldn't figure out what they were doing.

Another crack sound echoed in the too quiet room and lines started spreading along the glass.

"Everyone run!" I ordered, which was all that it took for everyone to crowd out the door.

Jake and Mr. Monroe paused in the doorway.

"What's going on?" Mr. Monroe asked, tense as a bow string.

I looked back at the window, the cracks growing.

I turned back to them "no time". I grabbed both of their hands and pulled them through the door.

An instant later, the glass shattered. Students were racing through the halls, the sound of glass breaking filling the rooms all around. Kids jostled each other, fighting each other to get out first. Mr. Monroe tried calling out to several students, trying to settle the chaos.

"We can't stay here" I stated.

I walked, fighting to stay calm, and Jake kept pace, but clearly wanted to run like everyone else.

"Kim!" I heard someone call.

I turned around and Leo was running alone with everyone else. He grabbed my hand as he passed, pulling me into his running pace.

"L-Leo..." I gasped, his hand cold against mine.

He just laughed, moving through the racing students and the panicked teachers. He pulled me through the front door and barely made it down the stairs without slipping. At the bottom of the stairs, where hundreds of students stood anxiously, spread out along the sidewalk, Leo released my hand. I almost sighed from the loss, while he was focused on gather his breath.

"I, uh, I would have been fine" I covered.

Jake caught up behind me, gasping for air.

"I know" Leo smirked, winked and walked away.

Jake stood next to me, glaring at Leo's back.

"What's with him? He barely talks to you, but grabs your hand to pull you with him? That's just weird."

I let my body relax enough to move and look at Jake.

"I guess it's a bad-boy thing."

My fluttering heart nearly froze as I finally looked at the school. Every visible window was broken, with jagged pieces along the frames. Thousands of insects spread across the wall. Mostly black, some red and some green.

Jake gasped "Holy hell. It's just like the start of an anime. Think it's how the world ends? Bugs taking over? Getting revenge for all the one's we've killed over the years?"

"If this is how an anime starts, I'd rather not know how it ends." I replied numbly.

I looked around anxiously. Police and fire trucks were starting to arrive, not that they would actually know what to do.

I felt a sharp, sudden pinch in the back of my neck, similar to getting a shot. A soft cry escaped my lips as I instinctively slapped the spot. I felt something move and fall. I turned and looked on the ground, then rubbed my eyes in disbelief. I was sure I had just seen a scorpion, but it had disappeared like smoke, in an instant.

Jake was looking at me and I remembered the very feminine voice I'd produced.

"Everything alright?" he asked cautiously.

"Er...yeah...someone just walked by and their bag hit me or something" I lied, not wanting to consider that I could be losing my mind.

"Want me to find them for you?" He suggested.

"No, it's alright. Anyway, my parents are gonna freak when they hear about this."

My hands started trembling, my body felt ice cold.

"Kim?" Jake's face twisted with concern.

"I...I...I'm..."

My legs gave out and Jake crouched next to me. A scream escaped from somewhere around me, followed by another and another. I wanted to see what was happening, but I could do nothing but blink.

"Someone help" Someone called.

"Where's the ambulance?" An adult male voice demanded.

A middle aged man in what looked like the top part of a police uniform entered my view. My eyes flicked from him to Jake, wanting to do or say something.

"We've got another one over here" the police man called.

Everything sounded too loud and his voice made my ears ring.

"What's going on?" I heard a girl in the crowd whisper as clear as if it were me she was whispering to.

"Not sure, but I think she's the fifth one" another girl responded.

I felt a tear slide down my cheek, but it sounded solid as it hit the ground. Fear filled me as I heard the sirens approaching.

It felt like a lifetime had passed and my vision began to fade. I hoped it was just my body shutting down to protect the more important parts. My mom had told me how it can happen after a body has received a deadly injury, but refused to give up. With all my years of building my body to fight the supposed apocalypse, I had to be strong enough to live past this.

The darkness surrounded me, cold filling me to the core, and I had the dreaded thought that I had died and death only lead to darkness.

My mind remained aware, trying to sort everything out. It was foolish for me to ignore the phantom scorpion, but crazy for me to acknowledge that a large bug could fade to nothing in the blink of an eye. Maybe my body had reacted to the pheromones the buts had to have been producing. Jake could have been right, they could have decided to attack the school, but I doubted it was out of revenge. They probably found the school's food supply. If one bug found it, more bugs would. Their minds work like the internet news, spreading faster than life. They all probably couldn't fit through where the first one had passed ad were smart enough to know that, if they applied enough pressure, the windows would break. Mom and dad would catch some of the bugs, study the pheromones, and figure out how to wake me up. Assuming I didn't wake up on my own.

"Child" An unfamiliar, female voice echoed in the dark.

I tried to think of anyone I could have met with a voice like this. Soft and sweet, with a cold edge.

"Relax, my child" her voice called.

"Who's there? Who are you?" I mentally responded, wondering if I was maybe hearing someone outside of my body. A nurse could be talking to me, if my body wasn't healing well.

"My dear child, it is almost time, you must awaken."

I continued searching.

"AWAKEN!"

My eyes shot open.

I looked around, my heart racing. The pale blue of my ceiling shown in great detail, each uneven point seeming all that much worse. Even the chip in my baby blue walls seemed more obvious.

My body ached, but I forced myself to sit up. I was wearing an old night-shirt, pink with a picture of a sunrise on the front. It was covered in unfamiliar holes, long torn lines, like when a dog gets its claws caught. My comforter had been changed to a bland white set. My sheets were damp and torn like my shirt.

I could hear the sound of something dripping in my room, but I couldn't be sure what it was. I looked in the mirror, at the mess I had become. My hair hung limp and lifeless, somehow paler at the roots. My skin was snow-white and my hazel eyes had somehow turned icy blue.

My fingers trembled as they moved over my cheeks. I tried to rationalize what was happening. It was rare, but not unheard of for one's eyes to change, if the person had the genetic code for it. Though the shade my eyes had become, I'd never seen naturally. I honestly couldn't explain the roots of my hair. Hair didn't change without hair dye.

"M-Mom?!" I shouted, fear rocking my body.

I heard something fall, followed by racing footsteps. In seconds, my door burst open, with my mom looking shocked and relieved at the same time.

"Kimmy...you finally woke up..." she cried.

"'Finally'?" I whispered "How long have I been asleep?"

She quickly moved next to my bed, sat down and hugged me like I'd just come back from the dead.

"It's Thursday. You've been asleep for almost 4 days.

My eyes burned with tears, my careful emotional control cracking.

My mom pulled back, with her hands remaining on my shoulders.

"Sweetie..."

"Karen?" My dad appeared in the doorway.

He looked from her to me, then his eyes brightened in excitement.

"Kim! Perfect! You're awake" His eyes shown with is mad scientist interests. "Now tell me everything that happened!"

Mom sighed "Henry, give her a moment to regain her bearings."

"R-right..." His expression turned to guilt.

"Why was I asleep so long? Shouldn't I be at the hospital?" I forced myself to remain as calm as I could.

"I made some calls and had you brought home" My mom stated proudly "we are quite well known in the field of science and medicine after-all."

"I see..." I responded blankly.

"When the others started waking up on their own, we started piecing together what had happened" my dad explained. "Everything seems to involve the bugs that attacked you school."

Images of the bugs breaking the windows took to the front of my memories. Then what he'd said mixed with what I'd heard when I had initially collapsed.

"How many others were their?"

"Including you, 16, my mom answered smoothly. "Everyone else has already woken up. You were the last. They're all currently in quarantine until the doctor in charge decides that it's safe to release them."

"So, Kimmy, I need to know what you experienced. And I know that you would know what to pay attention to, since you've worked with your mother and myself." my dad stated again.

My mom looked at him but said nothing.

"May I take a shower first?" I feel gross after being covered in this sweat." I lifted a strand of my hair, feeling the cold moisture.

For an instant, fear crossed my mom's face. An expression I hadn't seen since I was a child. But, as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

My dad looked hesitant as my mom said "That's fine. Your father and I will wait in the kitchen.

I watched them leave anxiously, my insecurities surfacing painfully. Aside from seeing that the bugs somehow knew how to break the glass, I'd barely noticed anything. I tried thinking of anything I could tell them as I walked to the bathroom.

I started the water, and waited for the heat to create a thick steam on the glass of the shower. I felt the heat before I even reached the water.

It burned, and as soon as I touched the water, all my thoughts stopped, and I screamed. I wish I could have said that I'd handled it like the warrior I'd been trained to be, but seeing my arm turned blue and the water freezing upon contact. I may as well have been a child facing pain for the first time.

I panicked as I watched the blue coldness climbing up my arm, turning it what I could only describe as a sculpted piece of ice.

The bathroom door burst open, finally drawing my attention from my semi-transparent fingers. My mom was immediately by my side, as my dad stared from the doorway. I felt the tears well in my eyes, followed by the light tap-tapping of something small hitting the floor I forced myself not to look, fearing what I would see.

"Kimmy" my mom rested a shaky hand on my shoulder before jerking it back with a hiss.

Her palm was red, as if she'd just had it in the snow. I got to my feet and got away from her and the shower.

"What's going on?" I asked anxiously.

I finally looked down at the tapping sound. Small drops of ice lay scattered, falling in place of normal tears.

"Kim, you need to calm down. Your fear is only making it worse" my mom stated, now standing in front of me.

I watched as my crystalline fingers moved exactly like flesh, clenching seamlessly.

"How am I supposed to be calm? My hand is a giant ice crystal!" My voice pitched higher with the increase of my emotions.

My mom reached out to touch me, but stopped just shy of making contact.

"What did the Buddhist monks tell you when you were 10?" She looked at me knowingly.

I nodded, knowing exactly what she was implying "No answer can be found in a mind trapped in chaos."

I inhaled deeply, focusing all of my will to calm my racing heart. Moments passed, then the cold eased, from painful to comfortable. The pale color of my unnaturally white skin returned over the ice. I looked from my mom, then to my dad, before realizing that I was still naked.