by H. J. Lawson
Invasion Survivor
The Golden Aura Book One
H.J. Lawson
Copyright © 2017 H.J. Lawson
This story within is a work of fiction. All events, institutions, themes, persons, characters, and plots are completely fictional inventions of the author. Any resemblance to people living or deceased, actual places, or events is purely coincidental and entirely unintentional.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the author.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter One
I look at my paper on the table in front of me. For the better part of my math class I’ve been writing Alfie Johnson’s initials, AJ, with a heart around them. What am I, a twelve-year-old with a crush? No, I’m a frigging senior with a crush. I rip the paper from my book, causing my classmates to turn and stare at me. I give them the ‘what’ look. They roll their eyes, as if the sound of ripping paper has woken them from their sleep. Even Mrs. Wilson looks at me with surprise. I smile at the thought of her boring herself so much, even she was snoozing.
Nothing like the first day back after spring break to make you feel all wide awake and ready for class. I don’t mind math; it bores me because it doesn’t challenge me. And when I say back, that doesn’t apply to me—I didn’t get to leave Charles Rosehill, Connecticut, one of the best boarding schools in the United States, for a vacation. Kids come from all around the world to board here. It’s full of celebrities’ kids, of which I’m not one. My mom selected this school for the security—she literally searched all over the world. Dad was pissed when he got the credit card statement.
Ironically, the school with the highest level of security was a few states over from where we were living at the time in Philadelphia. As always, my dad was too busy working at NASA for me to come home during the break this year, and the institute where mom lives doesn’t allow sleep overs, so I ended up spending it at Rosehill along with my little sister, Willow.
I roll the paper up into a ball. It makes a rustling sort of crunchy sound, like when you’re trying to silently eat chips in a movie theater and they crunch even louder than if you weren’t trying to be quiet.
Chen looks at me. I know she wants to scowl or roll her eyes, but she does neither. Go on, Chen, just once. Her nose catches my attention; a teardrop of blood starts to form and slowly get bigger, then the droplet lands on her notepad covering a section of her perfect handwritten notes.
“Chen.” I nod to her.
Her face is pained, almost ghostlike. Her almond eyes stare at me; she looks like she’s looking through me. Automatically I glance over my shoulder and then back to her. Chen blinks like my movements woke her from her trance-like state.
She rubs at the blood, smearing it across her notes.
Another drop falls from Chen’s nose, and that’s when she stops trying to remove the blood. She places her hand over her face, trying to stop the bleeding. Chen’s pale hand starts to turn red with blood as it seeps through the gaps in her fingers.
“Mrs. Wilson,” Chen says, raising her other hand. Even when her nose is gushing blood she is still polite.
“What is it?” Mrs. Wilson asks.
“Her nose is bleeding,” I reply, so Chen doesn’t have to.
All my classmates’ heads spin towards Chen.
Chen grabs her bag, then springs to her feet and makes a beeline for the door, leaving a trail of blood drops on the classroom floor. She fumbles for the door handle and leaves, the door slamming closed behind her.
A few seconds later the bell rings. Math is over.
The class piles out into the hallway. “Chen looked pretty sick,” River, my best friend, says. Her parents are famous singers; kids here have the weirdest names. I, on the other hand, am simply Paige.
“I hope she’s okay,” I say.
“She was dripping blood everywhere.”
“Yeah.”
River links her arm with mine as we walk towards gym class. “So, did you speak to Alfie while I was away?”
I shrug my shoulders, uncomfortable with the question and where it’s going to lead.
“Paige! You promised! Alfie!” River shouts.
“River,” I snap, pulling away from her.
Alfie turns and looks back at us. I wave at him.
“River, you worry about your own love life and leave mine to me.”
“You don’t have one, that’s the problem.”
“Thanks for the reminder.” I scowl and storm off to gym.
“Wait,” River yells.
Mrs. O’Brian, our gym teacher, is standing outside the locker room. She scans the hallway like an eagle as I walk towards her while River quickly catches up.
“Girls, gym is cancelled. Go straight to your dorms and wait for an announcement.”
“What’s happening?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I’ve just been told to get you back to your dorms,” she says, waving us away from her.
“Weird, but whatever. I couldn’t be bothered with gym anyway.” River smiles as we head back towards our dorm. “Sorry about before. I just think you two would make a cute couple.”
River carries on talking, but I’m not paying attention. Why has gym been cancelled? They never cancel anything at Rosehill; this place is always on a timetable, down to the last minute, like I imagine the army would be. As we pass other kids in the hallway, some are chatting away like River is, while others look confused like me. Then a few catch my eye who don’t look like either of those things. They stare past people like they aren’t there, and their faces are as pale as a porcelain doll, just like Chen’s.
One of the porcelain kids walks by me, and a shimmer of red starts to show at the edge of his nose—his nose is about to bleed as well. He must have caught what Chen has, but what does she have that makes your nose bleed? I’ve never heard of a sickness like that, and I don’t intend on catching it.
I link up with River. “We’ve got to get to our dorm room; people are sick,” I whisper into her ear.
First she looks at me with confusion, then she glances around the hallway and understands what I said. I notice other kids have also realized, and they start to move quickly out of the packed hallways.
We waste no time and head straight to our dorm.
When we get to the common room we are greeted by an eerie silence from the other girls congregated there, which is completely out of char
acter in a space that’s normally filled with high-pitched giggles and constant chatter. They are all standing around the TV that’s mounted above the fireplace like a modern portrait.
They are watching the news. A red panel with the highlights keeps scrolling by: Breaking news. A killer virus is spreading across the world. Stay indoors. Stay away from the sick.
Chapter Two
The silence feels as lethal as this killer virus. As we all try to comprehend what’s going on, River squeezes my arm. I can’t pull my eyes away from the TV screen to look at her.
Phones ring, breaking the silence. Soon everyone is on their phone. Sobs echo across the cathedral ceilings and bounce off the wood paneled walls as the girls speak to their loved ones.
“Ursula?” I hear River on the phone with her mom’s assistant. I watch her walk away and instinctively reach for my phone in my pocket, which is obviously not there.
My phone is in my dorm room, since there’s a strict no-phone policy in class, although apparently I’m the only nerd that follows it. I run out of the common room and head to my bedroom.
The words of the news caster start to sink in. Chen’s obviously already been affected by this virus, and it’s only a matter of time before it starts to spread to everyone else … like the news said. None of the girls in the common room look sick, but neither did Chen when she sat down for math today.
My phone starts ringing, blasting out Justin Bieber’s “Sorry.” I pick it up from my nightstand just as it stops ringing. It shows 15 missed calls from my ad. I punch redial and put the phone to my ear.
“H-hello?” I can’t control the shaking in my voice.
“Oh, thank god, Paige, you’re okay.” I hear the worry in my dad’s voice, something I haven’t heard in a long time. He’s usually an emotional blank after everything he’s been through. “I don’t have much time.” His voice is so low I can only just hear him.
“Dad, what’s going on?”
“I can’t explain much, but the government knew about the virus.”
“Huh?”
“They’re planning for an evacuation.”
“What?”
“I need you to get your sister and your mom and meet me here.”
“Why can’t you just come get me and Willow?”
“Paige … they’re holding us hostage.”
“Dad, what … how do you expect me to do this?”
“Get to Maryland as soon as you can. The spaceships are leaving soon. Keep your head straight and don’t tell anyone where you’re going. There aren’t enough spaceships for everyone.”
“Dad, is the virus that bad?”
“Really bad. But it’s going to be okay. I love you …”
“Dad—” His phone goes dead. I didn’t even say I loved him too. My hand shakes as I look down at my phone, hoping it will ring again. Nothing my dad said made sense. My mind races. My lungs feel tight. No, I can’t have a panic attack—I’ve not had one since I left home. I can’t have one now. Willow needs me.
I tell myself this isn’t real. I just need to go on a family road trip to my father’s. I can feel my heartbeat slowing down. Like my dad, I’ve learned to hide my emotions. One day they will spill out of the dark cupboard I used to be locked in. I know it holds my fears and secrets.
I glance around my room. It has a high ceiling and the dark wood paneling makes it seem gothic, like something straight out of a Harry Potter novel. There is a huge dark wood desk, with a matching wardrobe which looks like it could lead to Narnia. I wish I could escape to that fantasy world right now.
I can’t waste any more time trying to make sense of what’s going on around me. Quickly, I loosen my tie and unbutton my white shirt. I throw off my plaid skirt and pull on jeans and a blue top my mom got me. She always thought blue made my eyes pop, but I always thought it made me look like a boy. Like the time she gave me a pixie cut. She intended it to look like a bob, like the sweet girls in the commercials, but she kept cutting it shorter and shorter until I could be mistaken for a boy.
It didn’t really help me popularity-wise; all the kids teased me, telling me my name was actually Kit and my mom secretly wished I was a boy. I definitely don’t have many fond childhood memories of that. It’s why I didn’t really have a problem transferring to the boarding school, even though it’s full of rich snobs. Strange though, my pixie cut might have been welcomed here since it seems to be the latest trend for all the girls. Not for me though—I keep my hair as long as possible. I’m not interested in looking like a boy anymore.
I grab my worn jacket from my desk chair, feeling the leather between my fingers. My mind flashes to my other sister, Brooke. Sometimes I think I can still feel her around me, especially when I’m holding this jacket. I always assume this means she’s actually dead now, not just missing. But I never say it out loud. The anniversary is actually in a few days … I don’t know how I’m going to get mom out of the ward calmly. She’s always extra wild around this time of year and I’m always extra sad.
But first I need to get Willow. As her big sister I always swore I would protect her; I will never lose a sister again. I put my hair up, grab my backpack, and dump out all my books. I throw in some extra clothes, toiletries, all my money, and my cellphone. All I need now is to escape. I walk out of the empty dorm room and head to Willow’s. As I knock on the door, a realization hits me. There’s a field trip today for the younger kids to New York City. Something about the Natural History Museum. Panic fills me as I try to think if I heard anything on the news about NYC. The reporter said the virus was spreading but nothing about any specific regions.
I head back to the common room, where girls are still phoning their parents. Then I hear the sound of engines roaring up the driveway. I look out and sigh a breath of relief on seeing the school buses. They must have come back because of the crisis, not wanting to put the rich kids in danger.
There isn’t much around the school; the buses must have been driving for forty minutes before they found any sort of civilization. As a school we are completely isolated and out of reach for safety reasons. Perfect for keeping famous kids away from prying eyes, but not the ideal case when there’s a virus spreading throughout the world. I don’t even know how I’ll be able to get myself and Willow to safety, but I have no choice.
As the buses get closer, I freeze. All three are completely empty. There aren’t any kids or teachers on board. Which means no Willow. I start to panic again, but force it down, knowing a panic attack is the last thing I need right now. I need to stay focused like my dad told me and try to figure out a solution. If I panic, I might never get to find my sister.
I pull out my phone and put it to my ear to start calling Willow when I hear a scream. I look around to find the source and see some blonde screaming bloody murder. She’s pale in the face and waving her hand in front of her.
“THE VIRUS! SHE HAS IT! THE VIRUS!”
Others start to scream and I try to see over them. In the middle of the group is River, holding her hand to her nose and looking at me with petrified eyes.
Chapter Three
Crimson blood continues to pour out of River’s nose. Everyone else in the common room backs way from her, except me. I take a step closer and I hear a whisper, “Don’t go near her, you’ll get the virus.”
I ignore the warning and my fear, and move closer to my best friend. She’s staring at the empty space in front of her while holding her hand to her nose. Blood seeps through her fingers and onto the wood floor, forming a puddle.
“River?” I try to get her attention. Nothing.
“Get away from her,” someone else barks. I shake my head as I hear room doors shutting. I get it; they don’t want to be near the virus. Neither do I, but I can’t just leave her.
“River?” I pull my sleeve over my hand and touch River’s shoulder. She doesn’t budge. I gently push her shoulder. Slowly, she blinks her eyes and her gaze seems to come into focus.
“Paige … what’s happen
ing to me?” she muffles through her hands and the blood.
“I … I don’t know. We have to get you to the nurse.”
“Am I going to die?”
A lead weight settles in my stomach, threatening to drag me down into the middle of the Earth, where no one could ask me a question like that—the hardest question I’ve ever had to answer. I can only image this is how my parents felt every time I asked if Brooke was coming back.
“I don’t know,” I say, stifling my own emotions.
With my arm around River, we walk out of the common room. I hear a few doors opening behind us as terrified girls check to see if we’ve left.
In the hallway, I see other kids getting led out of their rooms by personal security. Money is always helpful, especially when it’s the end of the world. Get a grip, Paige, this can’t really be the end of the world. Dad said they knew the virus was coming—surely they were working on an antidote. Yes, I agree with myself. If they can send tourists into space, they can cure this. Until they do, I’m going to have to get to Willow and get her to safety. Maybe I can talk someone into letting me catch a ride with them. That doesn’t seem like a bad idea right now. I just wish I’d taken the time to make more friends so I had more options. Unfortunately, that time has passed.
My first priority is River.
We get to the nurse’s office, which normally only sees a few kids. But today isn’t a normal day. All the beds are full, the kids’ faces pale like Chen’s, and they hold tissues to their noses, trying to stop the blood. Some kids are sitting or lying on the tiled floor, which is speckled with spots of red blood like evidence from a murder scene. I let out a breath I’d been holding at the sight.
How is the virus spreading? Is it airborne? From contact? Either way, I’m in contact with both. A spot of River’s blood gleams up at me from where it rests on my jacket.
“I don’t want to be here,” River whispers. Her breath is hot on my cheek; guess it’s only a matter of time before I get it. As I stroke River’s hair into its normal place, heat radiates from her.
