Viro (Book 1): Viro

by Taylor, Barnaby

  Eve paced backwards and forwards. She muttered to herself. She made me think of Rachel. I got worried again.

  ‘Eve,’ I said. ‘Are you okay?’

  She stopped muttering.

  ‘I never should have left him alone, Jake. Roger needs me.’

  Eve kept moving.

  ‘I think that I should go back down to be with him. He needs me by his side.’

  ‘You need to stay here with us,’ whispered Tim. ‘It isn’t safe down there.’

  ‘But he’s all alone.’

  ‘He is but that was his choice. He didn’t want to leave the school.’

  ‘Is that because he’s crazy?’ asked Amber. ‘He seemed dead set on staying downstairs.’

  Eve started to cry. Amber looked really sorry that she had opened her mouth. Vinnie helped Eve sit in a chair. Her tears were really big. They made me cry as well. It was all so wrong now. All I could think of was darkness. We were waiting to die. I didn’t say it. I did think it.

  Finally, Eve stopped crying. She pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve and gently blew her nose. She looked up.

  ‘Sorry, Jake, I didn’t mean to upset you.’

  ‘That’s alright,’ I said as bravely as I could. ‘It happens quite a lot.’

  ‘That’s a good thing,’ said Eve. ‘Crying is a sign of strength not weakness so don’t ever let anyone make you feel bad about your emotions.’

  ‘I won’t,’ I said.

  Eve blew her nose again. She put the handkerchief back in her sleeve.

  ‘You’re probably wondering why I am so upset about the headmaster.’

  Everyone nodded.

  ‘Well,’ continued Eve. ‘To you he’s just an eccentric old school teacher who can be very rude and very bossy. But I know a different Roger Thompson and what is happening now breaks my heart.’

  She looked like she was going to cry again.

  ‘Behind his gruff exterior is a very sad and lonely man who is facing the facts of his own mortality.’

  ‘What do you mean, Miss?’ asked Tim.

  ‘What I mean, Tim, is that Roger has recently been diagnosed with a stage four tumour on his right lung and only has a matter of days left to live.’

  Hopes

  We heard the first shots fired. The shotgun boomed up the stairs. The noise made Eve jump.

  ‘Roger needs me,’ she said. ‘I have to go to him.’

  She headed towards the stairwell.

  ‘I need to clear a path back down the stairs.’

  Tim and Kevin raced to stop her.

  ‘You can’t,’ said Tim. ‘You can’t go back down there.’

  ‘You’ll be killed and those things will then come and kill us as well,’ said Kevin. ‘You really need to stay here with us, Miss.’

  ‘But, I can’t stay here,’ said Eve. ‘Whatever was I thinking?’

  She got very upset.

  ‘Perhaps if I just move a couple of desks out the way I might be able to get back downstairs without the whole thing collapsing.’

  ‘No way, Miss,’ said Vinnie. ‘You do that and we’re all dead.’

  ‘We’re all dead, anyway,’ Eve replied. ‘Why wait?’

  ‘We can’t give up our hopes,’ I said. I didn’t sound confident.

  ‘Hopes?’ said Eve. ‘What hopes? We’re trapped on the fifth floor of a school tower block surrounded by bloodthirsty creatures intent on eating every single one of us. How can we hope for anything now apart from a quick death?’

  ‘We’ve been in worse situations,’ said Amber, ‘and managed to survive.’

  ‘But that was then,’ said Eve. ‘What about now?’

  ‘If we stay quiet and don’t go back downstairs the viros will eventually move on elsewhere,’ Amber replied. ‘Wasn’t it you who said that they moved like a herd of migrating animals? Well, eventually they’ll migrate somewhere else.’

  ‘But that could be weeks, you silly girl,’ said Eve. ‘We can’t survive up here for that long.’

  Amber flushed. Abe put his hand on her arm and shook his head.

  ‘Don’t Sis,’ he said.

  Abe turned to Eve.

  ‘Look,’ he said. ‘We get that you’re upset but you really need to stop taking it out on us. We were surviving just fine before we met you and that’s the way it’s going to stay. We don’t need your help but we do need you to keep quiet and not let the viros know where we are.’

  Eve’s nostrils flared.

  ‘You little monster,’ she said to Abe.

  She jabbed her finger at us.

  ‘Roger was right; you are all silly little children who have no right to be involved in the affairs of adults.’

  Eve turned to the boys.

  ‘I know Roger was very fond of you three but unless you help me get back downstairs I will have no choice but to see you in a similar way to how I now see these little degenerates.’

  Vinnie stepped forward. He was angry.

  ‘You are completely out of order, Miss. How dare you speak about my sister and her friends in that way? You should be ashamed of yourself.’

  Vinnie turned to Tim and Kevin.

  ‘Lads, help Miss Stone find somewhere to sit down in one of the classrooms. I think she needs a rest.’

  Tim and Kevin stepped towards Eve. She shrugged.

  ‘If that’s how you want to play it,’ she said. ‘That’s fine with me.’

  She walked into the nearest classroom.

  Magical

  Tim and Kevin guarded Eve. They had to stop her from going back down the stairs. We sat in the corridor. The howl from the viros came up the stairs. It was unbelievable. I shivered. Ellis put her arm round me.

  ‘We’ll be all right, Jake. I know we will.’

  I nodded. I didn’t speak. I didn’t want to cry again.

  Vinnie sat down on the other side.

  ‘She’s right, you know,’ he said.

  He smiled at Ellis.

  ‘My little sister is always right.’

  ‘I’ve never been known to be wrong,’ said Ellis.

  She laughed. It was magical music to me. I felt flutters in my tummy. I was awkward. Abe and Amber sat down opposite us.

  ‘Sounds noisy down there,’ said Abe. ‘Maybe they’ll get confused and head off somewhere else.’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Amber. ‘Perhaps one of us should check?’

  Vinnie shook his head.

  ‘Nobody is doing any checking,’ he said. ‘We’re going to sit tight here and wait it out.’

  He scratched his head.

  ‘I reckon the swarm will get bored soon enough and then whatever impulse is driving them on will lead them somewhere else.’

  ‘Here’s hoping,’ said Abe. ‘I could really do with not having to keep hiding somewhere …’

  Abe was interrupted by a crash. It was from Eve’s classroom. Tim and Kevin opened the door and rushed inside. We followed.

  Eve had smashed a window. She was standing on the ledge. Tim and Kevin were slowly moving towards her.

  ‘Stay where you are,’ she hissed. ‘Nobody come any closer.’

  Tim and Kevin stopped.

  ‘What are you doing, Miss?’ asked Vinnie.

  ‘Since you won’t let me go down the stairs, I’m going to climb down the drainpipe and find out what has happened to Roger.’

  ‘That’s crazy,’ said Vinnie. ‘You’ll never make it.’

  Eve scoffed.

  ‘You don’t think so? Just watch me.’

  ‘Please come back inside, Miss,’ said Tim. He moved ever so slightly towards her.

  ‘Freeze, Tim. I said no one was to move.’

  ‘Please, Eve,’ I said. ‘It’s really dangerous for you like that.’

  ‘You’re a sweet boy, Jake, but you don’t really know what you’re talking about.’

  ‘I do,’ I said. ‘I really do.’

  Eve leaned over to grab hold of the drainpipe. She was going to fall. I could see that she was. Eve kicked off her shoes an
d stretched out. She grabbed the pipe with both hands. Eve was badly balanced. She moved her legs. She leaned on the pipe. I heard a crack and a scream. The pipe fell off the wall. We all heard the thud as Eve hit the ground.

  Eyes

  I rushed to the window. Eve had landed right in the middle of a large group of confused-looking viros. Her legs were bent in different directions. There was blood was oozing from her head. I waited to see whether she would be able to get up.

  The viros stood looking at Eve as well. What were they waiting for? Then they fell hard on her like angry rain. They ripped and shredded. The viros pushed and shoved as they fought to take their turn.

  It was awful. I looked away. I saw a wide viro standing at the back of the crowd. It couldn’t get through. It stopped. It looked like it didn’t know what to do. All the other viros were after Eve. The wide viro suddenly looked up. Our eyes met. I stood paralyzed as the viro held me in its gaze. It was like some kind of horrific connection was being made. I don’t know why but I smiled.

  What did the viro see when it saw me?

  Was I nothing more than its next meal?

  The wide viro looked back at crowd. It looked at me again. It headed back inside.

  ‘They know we’re up here,’ I said to the others.

  Tim rushed back to the stairwell.

  ‘They’re making their way up the stairs,’ he said.

  We heard the swarm forcing its way through the barricades. I edged closer and looked down. All I could see was a dangerous darkness. Baxter stood beside me. He started to growl.

  ‘They’ll be through those chairs and desks in no time,’ said Vinnie.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ asked Abe. He was frightened.

  Tim looked at Kevin.

  ‘Kevin and I will stand guard here and shoot anything that we can hit. We might be able to block the stairs with bodies. The rest of you had better look for a way out of here.’

  ‘But how?’ I said. ‘We’re already up here. There is nowhere higher.’

  I looked back towards the broken window.

  ‘We can’t climb down.’

  I panicked.

  ‘We’re trapped.’

  I didn’t care what I said. I didn’t. They could all call me a baby. Who cared? We were going to die.

  Amber came back to join us.

  ‘Follow me,’ she said. ‘I think I’ve found something.’

  She showed us a small trapdoor in the ceiling.

  ‘It must lead to the roof,’ she said. ‘I spotted it earlier but didn’t think much about it until now.’

  Ladder

  The trapdoor had a small brass handle. Amber looked at Vinnie.

  ‘Put me up on your shoulders. I’ll open the door.’

  The door opened. A metal ladder appeared. Amber pulled the ladder down. There was no way a viro could get up there. Amber started climbing.

  ‘I had better check what’s up here,’ she said. She disappeared. I watched and waited. She came back down.

  ‘There’s a narrow walkway at the top that leads to another ladder attached to the wall. This ladder leads to another door and then out onto the roof.’

  ‘Well done, Amber,’ said Vinnie.

  He looked at the rest of us.

  ‘Gather your stuff together and let’s get going.’

  Tim and Kevin were firing their bows. They cheered every time they hit something. It sounded like great fun. Kevin grinned.

  ‘You’d better get going,’ he said. ‘They’re already on the third floor. Nothing’s going to stop them now.’

  ‘What about you,’ I shouted. ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘You guys head up the ladder. Once you’re all up we’ll join you.’

  The ladder was wobbly. It made a creaky sound. Ellis went up through the trapdoor. Abe went next. Amber followed. Vinnie picked up Baxter.

  ‘I’m going to push Baxter up through the hole,’ he said. ‘We can’t leave him here.’

  Vinnie pushed the dog up through the hole. He wiped his brow.

  ‘That’s one heavy dog,’ he said.

  It was my turn. I started to climb. Someone shouted. I turned to see Tim and Kevin. They were stopping the desks from falling.

  ‘Hurry,’ said Vinnie. ‘We’ve run out of time.’

  I climbed as quick as I could. Vinnie was behind me. Everything was happening really fast now.

  ‘Help me! No!’ someone shouted. The voice turned into a scream.

  Vinnie got to the top of the ladder. I looked back down. Tim was standing there. He put his foot on the ladder.

  ‘Come on, Tim,’ I said. ‘Get up here.’

  Tim looked up at me. He shrugged. The viros were next to him. They were trying to grab him. Tim grabbed the ladder. He pushed it up.

  ‘Be lucky, guys,’ he said.

  Tim closed his eyes. The viros got him.

  Vinnie closed the trapdoor.

  Roof

  I stepped out on to the roof. The sky was black. It was heavy rain.

  This was it. The end.

  Everyone was soaked. My brave friends looked helpless. Abe and Amber hugged each other. They looked like tiny children.

  Vinnie had his arms round Ellis. She had her head on his chest. She was crying. Vinnie stood still.

  Baxter was next to me. He whimpered.

  Nobody said anything.

  There was nothing to say.

  A low concrete wall was on the edge of the roof. I carefully looked over.

  Loads of viros moved below me. They crowded together. They howled. I remembered Mr. Bishop.

  One morning he told me that the headlines were really bad. He said about grown men crying. I didn’t know what he meant. The story was about football.

  ‘Nearly apocalyptic, I’m afraid, Jake,’ he said.

  ‘Apocalyptic,’ I said. ‘What does that mean?’

  ‘It’ll be the end of the world if they’re relegated.’

  It looked like the end of the world now.

  I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Ellis. She was still crying.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. She pointed at the viros.

  ‘Those things will never find us up here.’

  ‘I know,’ I said.

  I didn’t sound like me.

  ‘No one ever will.’

  THE END