by Thomas, Jack
Infected
The First Ten Days
Author:
William Thomas
Editor:
Cristina Thomas
You stand on a highway and look out at a ruined field in complete awe. My face must have flushed in a confused daze of joy and fear mixed in an emotion soup.
I thought it was over until I decided to continue, but apparently I had no say in the matter.
After going through a seemingly endless series of hellish events I hoped for a break, for a moment of rest, for some peace of mind, for a new day in a different world in which I could relax. I was asking for a lot.
The events that led me here were more than enough foreshadowing of the endless nature of the infection.
I learned to hate fences, distrust soldiers, distrust human nature and the true power of adrenaline. Death means nothing at the end of the world; it’s a daily event.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. For you to truly understand how impossible ‘rest’ has become I’ll need to take you back to where it all started.
Somewhere in the crap town of wherever, enjoying my crap life of whatever… it starts.
Day 1
The Outbreak
The most irritating sound imaginable. It echoes, screeches, whines, your ears commence to bleed, your mind shuts down, pain all over, you feel sick, and your world falls apart! January 3rd, ten-thirty in the morning; it was the alarm on my end table. It tried to inform me I was almost late for my first day of class. Any other person would generally be fine if they made it to school a few minutes late, but I’m not any other person. I am a straight ‘A’ student going into my second semester of college. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no nerd or anything of the sort. School was always easy for me to float through. I’m generally your average guy. In fact, back in high school I’d bail on most school days and attend only during test days to make up my lack of attendance with good test scores, but ever since I first made it to college the instructors make it their job to give all the tests strictly based on word for word information they gave in class, hence my want to attend daily.
I stood up nonetheless, but not before I slammed the alarm clock right off of the end table and into the wall next to it. Off to my usual morning routine; looked at myself in the mirror to be sure I was still there, walked to the bathroom and took a shower, brushed my teeth, dressed with whatever I found thrown around, and went downstairs to the kitchen. There was no one; the house was empty. Daviel, my younger brother was at school. Jason, my older brother, and my mother were at work. Since my class began at eleven, I had much more time to sleep and relax. Daviel had a favorite black jacket he used anytime he went out and I would always check the coat rack to make sure it was gone as a sign he wasn’t cutting class, which he was fond of doing, but it wasn’t there.
I poured a bowl of Apple Jacks (which F.Y.I. doesn’t taste at all like apples) and I walked over to the living room, sat on the couch and turned on the TV. The morning news was on. As usual, the news did not consist of a single thing worth being amazed over. The president’s speech from the night before, a robbery a few towns over, some sort of infection made a few people mentally ill, weather reports, traffic reports and lame dialogue exchanges between news anchors, sports reporters and weathermen. I finished my lie of a cereal, put on my sweater and walked out the front door with my skateboard in hand.
Outside, the neighbor waved at me and displayed his fake, friendly grin while he wiped a smudge off of his old school, crank start car. This wasn’t anything new, he found a reason to take it out of his garage, park it on his driveway, and stand next to it to show it off. He wasn’t a collector per se, but he knew people with such cars were proud of them and he did what he thought he was supposed to. What a relevant car.
The school was only a few miles distance from my house, which is the reason I loved to skate there. I could see the whole town on my way because it was so incredibly small. I could skate some of my favorite spots on the way there and do it all in approximately half an hour. It was a quieter trip than other days, not many cars on the streets, or people on the sidewalks. Because of this I made it to school sooner than expected.
Springfield College
My Monday schedule for the new semester consisted of three classes throughout the school day. Chemistry 2 at eleven, Human Anatomy and Biology at twelve-thirty and at two in the afternoon I would take Journalism. Every class was so ridiculously dull and would bore me so much they would stretch on forever. Every class felt several hours longer than it was or even needed to be. The teachers didn’t make things any better either. They could have been under the impression they taught a class of androids for all I knew. They were all emotionless, all spoke in the same monotone voice and all moved extremely stiff and slowly. They could have been androids themselves. As a result of the much-anticipated boredom, I took a window seat immediately after I entered each of my classes. My theory was basic; with a window seat I would be able to cancel out some of the boredom the Robotic Teaching Machine (or RTM for short) would attempt to take my life with. My theory proved wrong in chemistry, there wasn’t a soul outside during the whole class but when biology came around things became a bit more… interesting?
It was twelve-fifteen in the afternoon, also known as the permanent death of feeling safe. I didn’t pay attention to any one thing; the class was going pretty much the same as the rest. Then there was a girl. Through the window I could see her run in the school’s direction, she hysterically screamed at the top of her lungs. At first, the reason’s she was in so much panic were unclear; it was at least a form of temporary entertainment. Most of the students in the classroom stood up and ran towards the window for a better look at what went on, students from other classes gathered up at their windows too. Once the crowd between the window and me became too large I lost sight of the girl. Like the rest of the drones, I assimilated and stood up to get a closer look. Some guy in the distance was chasing the girl. Based on the way he walked you’d instantly put together his mind wasn’t entirely there. He stared nowhere and simply walked after the girl. I came to the conclusion that the man was on powerful drugs and those drugs caused him to try something with the girl he probably shouldn’t have.
The girl made it into the main building and two of the school’s security guards walked outside and made their way to the dazed man. One of the security guards was short and stocky and the other one was tall and slender, they sort of looked like the Mario brothers took up a second job.
The Mario of the two attempted to talk to the man from a distance and reason with him in true Mario fashion, but the man paid no attention and continued his stride to the main building. The two guards walked closer to the man, one in front of the other, as expected, Luigi was somewhere in the back. When they made it close enough, the dazed man without a thought given to the idea, attacked the shorter security guard. He fought the way you’d expect someone on heavy narcotics would, he grabbed and bit at the security guard’s arms and legs. They fell to the floor, both men were covered in blood, but the blood was from only the bites the junkie handed out. Luigi tried separating the two and struggled to do so. The combined strength of both the Mario brothers barely bothered the junkie. More staff members and students rushed out of the building to help separate the two.
I didn’t move. It was entertainment enough to watch from a second story window. The height allowed me to get a glimpse of three other people on their way to the school, their movements identical to the first guy. A few of the student who tried to help created a wall between the three additional junkies who walked up and the fight with the first one behind them.
As they made it closer they
became easier to identify, two men and a woman. One of the guys looked a lot like a teacher. The other man looked as though he survived a fight, his face was bruised and scratched up, and his clothes covered in bloodstains, the same went for the woman with them. As they closed the gap, the students displayed signs of fear and shock. Their human wall consisted of approximately ten students but they all looked scared of the three junkies heading their way, their bodies were stiff, but they stood their ground nonetheless and prepared for a fight if that’s what came next. Once they were close enough the three additional junkies lunged at the students and fought the same as the first man; with bites, grabs and even some scratches took place. The attacked students fell to the ground with their attacker on top of them. The others tried to help out but couldn’t shake the attackers.
Something beeped and static followed by the dean’s voice. It was an announcement being broadcasted through the intercom, meant for the whole campus. “Attention! All students remain in your classrooms for your safety and the safety of those around you. Stay away from the windows and doors, and remain orderly. This is not a test. Do not panic. The problem at hand will be resolved immediately. Thank you for your cooperation.” More static followed and the intercom cut off.
Voices, which ached of panic, took a life of its own inside the science building where I was. The students without a window to the front of the school were in panic because they didn’t know what was going on. The things that took place outside distracted the rest of us with a perfectly placed window view of the action. More students headed out to get a closer look at what was going on. I left the classroom too but with no intention to go outside and become a spectator. I figured my school day ended as soon as the chaos began.
Most students on my side of the building didn’t care much for what was happening outside, while other students could convince you the world was going to end with their screams and their rush through the hallways. Overreactions were a common trait of my generation.
I made my way to the lockers so I could get my skateboard and backpack. On the top shelf in my rented locker was a stack of books. From top to bottom; Chemistry textbook, Fight Club novel, Biology textbook, Rhymes for Dummies book and a dictionary larger than every book in there. In the body of the locker there was my skateboard, hoodie, and a backpack; they hung off respective hooks.
“Hey, man! Are you leaving to hit up some spots too?” Someone asked me.
My locker door blocked his face, but that voice was too unique to mistake with anyone else’s. It was Zack, one of my oldest friends. I shut my locker door after I collected my things and there Zack stood on the other side of the locker door. His backwards cap looked odd with his long hair pushed back so it wouldn’t get in the way when he skated. I found it simpler to cut my hair and avoid having to deal with it.
“I think I might head downtown for a bit and try the nine at the train station,” Zack explained. ‘The Nine’ is idiot for a set of nine stairs.
“You know it, dude! I was going to head out right now anyways. I’ll just go with you then. Who else is coming?” I looked down whenever I spoke to Zack since I towered over him. It’s not that I was abnormally tall or anything. Zack was just short. He held his backpack in one hand and his skateboard in the other, as did I.
The science building was the largest one on the school grounds. Because of this, the hallways were notably longer than the ones in any of the other buildings. On our way to the staircase a flood of students and staff ran out of it in our direction.
“Something is going on up ahead…” Zack said. His voice cracked as his fear progressed. I couldn’t blame him for being scared though; the sight of what was up ahead once the crowd cleared was more than enough reason to be horrified.
The girl who ran into the main building was at the end of the hallways covered in blood, over a student she was having as a snack. Zack and I were both frozen in place. Neither of us ever experienced anything half as bad in our lives before then. After the paralysis left my body I backed up and pulled Zack with me, he snapped out of it too and we both turned around and ran the opposite direction to where everyone else was headed.
On the floor there were random drops of blood. Clearly the girl reached some of the other students in the school. She must have entered the science building through the bridge that connected it to the main building. The crowd in front of us became larger as more people left their classrooms to witness the pale cannibalistic girl have her afternoon snack, the student. The movements in the hallway slowed down while all the students tried to make their escape through the same staircase. This caused so much traffic we came to a complete stop at times.
Zack and I turned around on occasion to make sure the girl did not move our way. More faculty and students came out of the staircase behind the girl, some of them ran right by her and joined us in our escape, and others join the girl’s snack time on the floor. At this point it was obvious the student on the floor was dead; not even the student’s gender could be identified. As the minutes passed and we made our way through the crowd, the halls were worse. One by one as they became more satisfied with their dead play toy, the attackers stood up and made their way to the back of the crowd. Everyone pushed and squeezed to move faster away from the attackers and get to the staircase. Zack and I barely made it to the staircase before the attackers picked off the people directly behind us. They remained distracted by whom they attacked at the time and gave me the time to make it to the first floor.
This was worse. Students and staff alike attacked anyone and everyone who didn’t also attack others. This happened not only in the hallways but the classrooms too. I lost Zack somewhere in the rush down the stairs. Using the skateboard I held onto tightly in case I needed to use it as a weapon, I pushed people out of the way and manage to increase my momentum. People ran everywhere; some tripped and were attacked immediately when they hit the floor. With all the chaos going on, survival still overcame the odds and helped me notice some students run into a classroom some fifty feet away. I followed them and dashed in the room right before they closed the door. Some of the attackers slammed into the door behind me as it shut. They scratched and banged on the door as if amnesia took over and they forgot how to work a doorknob.
Four guys, including myself, and an additional girl made up the population of the room. One of the guys was heavy set and dressed like an average-Joe while the other two were built for war and dressed like rich pretty boys. The girl on the other hand didn’t have such a mainstream look. She was a rocker chick; long, straight jet-black hair, aqua blue eyes with a moderate amount of eyeliner on, a flannel button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and blue faded jeans with black and white sneakers. Some bracelets also complimented her look. She was the polar opposite of a valley girl. Everyone in the classroom towered over her, I was the second tallest guy and I stood five feet and eleven inches to her five feet and three inches. I remember having seen her around the school before, although I never paid much attention to her. She was so involved with her friends it didn’t seem like she wanted anyone else to talk to.
I love tiny details; her dimples caught my attention.
The TV in the back of the classroom was on when we arrived there and it was set to a channel airing the current news. One of the guys kept watch over the door while the other two guys and the girl were watching the chaos happening outside through the windows. I moved over to the windows to look outside too and leaned my skateboard against the wall while I looked outside. I couldn’t make out what the anchors on TV were saying because of the volume being set so low but one of the guys staring out of the window heard something that caught his attention.
“Quiet down!” He said immediately after he left the window and walked over to the TV. He pressed a button on the TV, little green bars popped up on the screen and the volume went up.
“The number of infected has risen dramatically. It’s only been a few hours since the first attack and most small towns and business areas are
already reported to be completely overrun. The police were given authority to use full lethal force to prevent further attacks, but it seems that the infected are unharmed even with full force applied. Wait! Wait! One of them went down! The police officer shot it and it seems to be down for good… Melvin! Behind you! Watch out!!”
The cameraman was attacked and the video feed cut off. The screen went straight to static. No anchors jumped in to save the broadcast and apologize for the technical difficulties or anything. The screen turned off and the lights inside the classroom flickered. It caught the attention of everyone in the classroom. We all stood there like dumbasses and watched the lights flicker on and off until the power cut off entirely. Through the window in the classroom you could see cars come to a full halt outside, every car, all at once. No one reacted for a brief moment until a large explosion in the distance interrupted our frozen state. BOOM! A smoke cloud rose high over some of the school buildings. It was presumably caused by one of the cars in motion when the power went out.
The first day of my new semester and everything was already crap (for different reasons than I initially expected, but crap nevertheless). I personally blame the government for the lack of educational funding of more teachers and school improvements, but I guess a bunch of psychotic, cannibalistic, lunatics could be blamed for the problems taking place. Having kept that in mind, the sudden realization we were trapped in a classroom with a bunch of infected people right outside the door, who waited to eat us alive, as soon as they could catch us, was making it difficult to take things too easy.
“It’s like a damn apocalypse or some crap! We’re going to die in this class room!” More fear, this time in the form of the guy at the TV. I didn’t know his name, and considering the unfolding events, I felt justified to not have cared. I wasn‘t interested in getting to know anyone in the classroom; I was mostly worried about how I would plan to get home without chunks of me being removed by some of the hungry infected people waiting for us outside. The news anchor didn’t know anything other than the attackers being infected with some sort of virus which turned them into brutally hostile madmen, all of which was more than enough information to know we did not want to be outside.
