2.| Dead Silence

Before The Fall

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Ms Darcy immediately turns on the MetroNews.

Me and four others have our eyes glued to the screen while everyone else is staring out the window to see where the explosion came from.

We see the news reporter standing outside Biotech Breakthroughs Inc. The same place where my father used to work. The place where he had also disappeared.

She says there's been a massive explosion in the building, and that the authorities are trying to figure out where the source came from. I can't do anything but sit on the floor with my mouth open, watching the smoke rise from the building in thick black clouds.

That place used to be everything to my father. He'd always tell me 'Ian, I know I may be away a lot, but I'm working on something big for our future. For you.'

At one point in time I believed him. Now I don't. Not anymore. How can I have a future when the man who was supposed to lay the foundation down for me is gone?

Something in my chest tightens from seeing my fathers old work building half in shambles, and for the first time in two years, I feel a tear roll down my cheek. I wipe it away angrily and focus back on the screen.

Right now she's warning everyone to stay indoors.

"I'm standing just outside of Biotech Breakthroughs Inc., where an explosion happened moments ago. There's toxins in the air. We don't know what else may have escaped."

They don't know what else escaped? What does she mean by that?

Whatever's going on, she looks scared. Her blonde hair is in a messy bun like she hadn't expected to be called onto the scene, and her black skirt holds wrinkles like she forgot to iron her business suit.

I don't blame her. If someone unexpectedly called me to a scene where a dangerous explosion happened, leaking unknown chemicals, I wouldn't want to be there either.

Streaks of orange and red flare up in the sky. There's something behind her in the distance. I don't think she notices it.

"What the hell is that." A student says while biting on their nails.

"No cursing!" Ms. Darcy snaps her finger in the air, but her eyes are glued on the T.V.

I lean forward and push myself into a stand, moving closer to get a better view. The clouds pull back, it's a-.

"It's a plane!" Rose gasps, taking the words right from my thoughts.

It is a plane. It's coming down fast and heading straight for the reporter.

"Oh my god." Ms. Darcy barely whimpers out.

The nosey people gathered around the explosion site, starts screaming and running away. I see the reporter turn to look up. But it's too late. A bright light fills the screen with flares of red, black and grey, then the signal goes dead.

I can't believe what I just saw. My mouth is still open. Did I see someone die?

No one can live after something like that.

Ms. Darcy clamps her wrinkled hand over her mouth and moves to turn the T.V off. It's too late though. We saw everything.

She can't protect us from whatever is happening, I think she knows that too now.

I stare down at my torn knuckles coated in Jakes blood while horrid images flicker in my head. I didn't see the aftermath of the plane crash, but I can't stop thinking about the reporter and the destruction it caused.

"I'm sure she's alright and someone will let us know when it's safe to come out." Ms. Darcy pulls me from my stupor and I look up. She's nodding her head. It looks forced, and it sounds like she's trying to convince herself more than us.

She can't convince me though. I lied to myself for two years, telling myself my father was missing and not dead. Eventually, I got used to those lies.

They never made me feel better so I stopped telling myself them. It's like a child realizing a security blanket no longer works or makes them feel safe.

Jake shakes his head and runs a hand down his bruised and swollen face. "Fuck. What the fuck do you mean she's okay? It's an airplane!"

"Jake!" Ms. Darcy says his name warningly. She's on edge. We're all on edge.

"Don't fucking Jake me. Jake what? When shit like that happens, that means the world is ending. You have no authority." Jake's scared. I can tell he is hiding it behind his want for control in the situation since he has no control for what's happening out there.

Buffing up won't save him. I guess he'll realize that sooner or later.

Rose narrows her brown eyes at him. "And you think throwing a fit is going to make it better if it was? Chaos makes things worse."

She's always been the logical out of all of us. If there was ever any dispute, she knows how to stroke someone's ego to calm them down, talk someone away from the edge when they're ready to end it all.

Then there is Zeke, my other old friend who's two doors down. He knew everything about everything—hacking, is infamously known for car jacking, or was. I heard he became better.

"I'm not throwing a fit." I hear Jake tell Rose.

"Then Stop acting like you have your head up your butt." Rose shoots back at him.

The door fly's open and we all turn to look in fear from everything that's happening.

It's Casey, he's always late.

"Hey, did you guys see that stuff outside? Totally rad. I'm glad I came late, I got to drive past the explosion site just before the plane hit." He taps his shoes on the doormat and goes to sit in his desk.

"You know I'll have to talk to you about your attendance right?" Ms. Darcy asks him. I guess she's choosing to act like nothing is happening.

Am I the only one that notices Casey doesn't look so good? There's bags beneath his red rimmed eyes, and his skin is pale and clammy.

"Yeah, yeah. Just give me a minute to catch my breath." Casey presses a hand to his forehead. "I'm not feeling too great."

Eyeing the green snot oozing from his nose, I ask him, "Are you okay?"

"Not the son of a murderer asking me if I'm okay." Casey says to me rudely. He usually doesn't make these kinds of remarks to me.

"Look, I'm trying to help you out. You've got something on your," I start to say.

Casey wipes it away with his arm and everyone else starts saying ew.

"Settle down class, I'm trying to see if I can call the office and see what's going on." Ms. Darcy tells us.

Casey coughs.

"So, what do you think is going on?" Rose asks from beside me.

I hadn't even noticed she moved closer to me. It's been too long and it feels awkward. I don't know how to talk to her anymore. After what my mother did, I can't even look her in the eye. "You think I know because my father used to work there?"

It comes out more snappy than I meant.

I hear her sigh. "I'm not good at lying," She admits and walks around to stand in front of me, leaving me no choice but to look at her. "I just wanted an excuse to talk to you."

There's a dark scar on her neck, and even though it's healed, the skin is still raised permanently. She can tell I'm staring at it and reflexively shields it with her hand.

I look anywhere else but her. "Why would you want to talk to me?"

"Okay. Wow. Why wouldn't I? We are friends." From the corner of my eye, I see her arms fold across her chest.

"Were." I correct her.

Casey coughs again and we both look at him, but this time blood spurts from his mouth, coagulated with chunks of black. I almost gag. Rose covers her nose because the stench is terrible. We can smell it from here.

We take a step back.

"I thought it was allergies." Casey cries out. His trembling hands are extended in front of him, and I can see the blackish-red blood covering his palms.

He stands up and we all move away from him.

We don't know what the hell is wrong with him. They can try to help him, but I'm not. I've never been the hero type, and I don't want what he has. It looks like Ebola or some new sickness.

"Help me." Casey eyes fill with tears and he wiped his hands on his shirt, staining the white a dingy and horrid color. "Ms. Darcy… am I going to die?"

There's a lot of blood, and somehow it was already coagulated. I look to Ms. Darcy to see how she'll handle the situation.

She's shaking her head in disbelief. "You'll be alright." She shimmies her jacket off and goes over to Casey, wiping his face with her sleeves.

Casey's eyes roll back, veins standing against his skin. His head snaps to the side and back straightforward again.

Me, Jake, and Rose are huddled in the corner, terrified like everyone else. But Casey lifts Ms. Darcy off the floor with one hand. He's a small teenager, and Ms. Darcy is a large old woman.

We rush over to him, but I stop.

If I knock him over, there's a chance Ms. Darcy will fall and get hurt. She's too old and frail.

Rose extends her hand. "Casey, please! You aren't this kind of person. Remember? You don't like men that hit old women, or women at all."

She's trying to use her empathy to help Casey. It usually works on everyone, but I know this time it won't. I can see it in Casey's milky-white eyes that he's too far gone, and someone has to make the move to help.

I grab a chair and run at him, smashing it across Casey's back. It shatters and he doesn't budge. Although I didn't mean to, I know I swung hard enough that he should've been on the ground.

Our other classmates join in, pulling and trying to make him release Ms. Darcy, but his jaw tears open and he sinks his teeth into her neck, jerking his head as though he were a ferocious animal.

While Rose is pulling his arm, I pull him by the shoulders. The skin on Ms. Darcy's neck stretches and tears free, leaving the pink and red meaty flesh visible beneath.

Casey's still growling and clawing his hands in the air while we're holding him, doing anything and everything to get another taste.

He wants to eat her…

For a moment I stare blankly at him while he gnashes his teeth in the air, then I snap out of my stupor and help pull Casey to the door with the others.

Even though I'm 6'1 and he's 5'7, I'm struggling so hard to make him move his legs. But Ms. Darcy joins us, and with one final push from everyone, we are able to unlock the door, and push him out.

"Why did he do that?" Ms. Darcy's asks, pressing her trembling and bloody hand to the large wound on her neck.

No one answers. Even I don't know what to say.

What is there to say after something like this?

Casey keeps slamming into the door, growling and clicking his teeth. The frame rattles and we all step back but Rose. She bravely twists the lock back into place.

I'm trying to think what could've happen.

He said he drove by the explosion site ten minutes before the plane crashed. Does that mean the chemicals affected him? The one the news reporter was talking about?

I can't help but look over to his desk where his blood still stains the wood red and black, a part of me hoping it'd give me some answers. It doesn't though.

Someone we've known since middle school turned into a rabid monster in a matter of seconds.

Just what the hell is going on?