Infection Z

by Beswick, Rebecca L.

  Infection Z

  Chapter 1

  “A number of sudden deaths have brought panic globally, these deaths are currently unexplained, the government are getting the top investigators to look into this and restore peace to the world" the news on the TV sounds in our small house with all members of our family gathered around filled with worry.

  “That’s it, until things have calmed down Damon, you and your sister are to walk to and from school together, no going out with your friends or out alone" my mother demands in a serious yet shaky tone, we both sigh in unison “no deaths have even happened here mum, there’s no need to go psycho" Damon protests, my older brother of 18 years attempts to hold his ground, although I agree with his argument I know he’s no match for our mum.

  “I don’t care, if we don’t take precautions one of you could be the first to-" she can’t even finish her sentence due to trembling with worry, we both sigh again this time in defeat, “fine just don’t cry" Damon grumbles, our mother grins in triumph, “now get to school or you’ll be late, and don’t forget to stick together" she ushers us out the door to the new dangerous world we live in.

  “God this sucks!” I exclaim throwing my arms in the air, “agreed but mum is right, I get why she’s worried, I am too but it’s not even hit here yet" Damon shrugs, “I just hope this all blows over soon and it’s a reasonable explanation for these deaths, like everyone got poisoned from the water from their taps or something", “I hope it’s not that!” Damon exclaimed looking increasingly worried, “I always drink from the tap idiot!” I stifle a laugh and shake my head, “it was just an example, it is pretty weird though, what’s something that kills a large amount of people all over the world so suddenly?” I wonder aloud.

  The rest of our walk to school is relatively quiet with occasional chatter, we say our goodbyes at the gate and separate to find our friends and head to class, “you’re alive!” exclaims Sam running at me with her arms outstretched, “very funny" I smirk accepting her hug, “what did your mum say about the news?” she asks, “as usual she totally freaked out and we're banned from having a social life outside of school, we have to walk to and from school together and not see any friends until things calm down" I sigh, “that’s child abuse!” exclaims Sam and we both laugh, “my parents have basically said the same thing and I have to call them periodically through the day so they know I didn’t die", soon the bell rings and we all head to our classes.

  “Good morning everyone, I am Ms Summers, I am substituting as your teacher is off sick" the substitute teacher announces and begins her lesson, Sam and I look at each other in confusion as does the majority of the class, teachers going off sick isn’t abnormal except this is the fifth teacher this week and it’s only Tuesday.

  Soon enough class finishes and we all continue to our next class, “April I think something really weird is going on" Sam says as she catches up to me in the hallway, “you’re telling me, I know supposedly these deaths are only in America, China, and Germany at the moment but I’ve got this awful feeling it’s starting here, that these teachers aren’t sick" I whisper in worry, maybe my mum was right to worry.

  Sam and I are sat in history listening to the teachers long lecture, I absentmindedly turn to look out the window and something strange catches my eye, our teacher that has supposedly gone off sick is walking around outside not looking like herself, she drags her feet and looks dishevelled, I nudge Sam and gesture outside, we both exchange a worried look and find soon the whole class is looking in the same direction as us, the teacher soon sighs in defeat and asks what we are looking at, he soon wears the same worried look as the rest of us and leaves the room, he is soon outside and approaches Mrs Black, she doesn’t seem to respond to him and I almost fall out of my seat when I see her eyes, they’re completely white devoid of any pupil, I increasingly feel a horrible worry growing at the pit of my stomach, our teacher taps Mrs Black on her shoulder causing her to spin around in a quick fashion causing us all to gasp and our teacher to jump back in surprise, he cautiously tries to guide her to our building and what happens next is over in a flash, she leaps onto of him and bites him, blood is pouring from his neck and he screams a horrifying scream, there’s soon mass panic in our class room, people screaming and running about, I’m frozen just watching her eat our history teacher until he stops struggling and is very still, his blood continues to pool around his body, the pale blood covered teacher soon steps away from him blood dripping from her lips, she turns to face the school and approaches the building in a fast pace.

  “Everyone shut up!” I scream, “she’s headed this way, we all need to go right now, we need to stop her from getting inside the school!” after a moment we make a plan to stack everything and anything in front of the doors, chairs, desks, anything heavy we can find, “we need to do this with all of the doors!” I announce and in groups we continue this in every entrance imaginable, once satisfied she has no way to get in we step back and wait, soon enough one of the doors shake as she bangs to be let in, her inhuman eyes watch us all as she continuously runs into the door, making us jump and pray the objects in front of the door are enough to keep her out, “Sam let’s go to the principle" she nods and we both run down the hall, out of breath we eventually reach the principal’s office and bang on his door, “girls what’s the meaning of this, shouldn’t you both be in class?” he asks, “sir if we just tell you you’re not going to believe us, you have to see this for yourself" after some convincing he follows us down the hall, “what’s that banging?” he asks, and soon stops dead in his tracks when he sees what’s trying to get inside, “is that Mrs Black?” he questions, “we thought she was off sick but she was wondering about outside, then Mr Smith went to see her and she well, she attacked him” I say walking towards the door towards what was once our English teacher, “Mrs Black stop this at once!” he demands, she continues throwing her body at the door as though her mind is no longer connected anymore. “Samantha and April please come to my office, we’ll make an announcement, everyone else please head to the gym and the rest of the school will soon follow".

  Before long the whole school has gathered into the gym and the banging is now a faint background noise, “I have gathered you all here to explain a delicate issue, I just ask that no one panics as everything is under control, one of our teachers Mrs Black has become very unwell, she has attacked a teacher and is attempting to break into the school, it is assumed she is doing this to attack someone else, the police have been called and will be here very soon, please stay here for the time being, call your parents to tell them of the situation, and once Mrs Black has been removed we ask that your parents pick you up, if they are not available I will drive the bus directly to your homes".

  The gym fills with loud worried chatter, Damon soon spots me in the crowd and walks over, “are you okay?” He asks and wraps me in a hug, “did you see what happened?” he asks, I nod and explain what we all saw and what followed soon after, Damon is horrified “what’s wrong with her?” he asks with a trembling voice, “we don’t know but Damon, I’m scared that this is connected to all those mysterious deaths we heard about on the news, what if this means it’s here too now" he tries to reassure me with a small smile and a squeeze of my shoulder, but we both know his reassurance is in vain.

  There’s suddenly a loud commotion and gunshot sounds, curiosity getting the better of me I peak through a gap in the door down the hallway to the door keeping Mrs Black out that is now wide open with the barricades scattered everywhere, I feel colour drain from my face and nudge my brother telling him of the scene I have just witnessed.

  “If those cops weren’t able to keep her out what should we do?” Damon asks with fear in his voice, thankfully since we’re in the gym there’s plen
ty of things we can use to defend ourselves, first years find hiding spots, some of us grab bats, rackets, and spears and wait in preparation for an attack, others align the door with benches and anything else heavy available.

  Soon enough we hear heavy, fast footsteps headed towards the hall, it sounds like more than one pair of feet, we all exchange worried and confused looks.

  The sounds get louder until there’s a sudden pounding and scratching at the door, many people jump at the noise and visibly shake from fear, the banging gets louder as the doors shake and we all brace ourselves for the unknown, and it feels like it happens in slow motion, the doors swing open throwing benches all around the gym, followed by a growling sound and an inhuman screech.

  Mrs Black with her white eyes and bloodied clothes staggers forward, blood drips from her mouth as she chatters her teeth, she is followed by 3 officers with bloodied bite marks on their skin, they have matching white eyes the same as Mrs Black, no one is sure what to do presented with this unfamiliar situation, silence engulfs the gym until our principle takes a few steps forward, my eyes widen in surprise.

  We all watch in anticipation, he stops a few steps in front of Mrs Black and her followers “Mrs Black we have asked you to leave, you’re clearly unwell and you’re frightening the children, we can get you and your friends some help, what do you say" for a moment there’s silent and it almost seems like she thinking over what he’s said, that moment is soon replaced with a bloodbath as Mrs Black and the officers jump onto our principle, their teeth sinking into his flesh and he screams out, the gym is filled with everyone screams as a number of people run around.

  These creatures now run after a number of the students feasting on the unlucky ones, “don’t run" Damon warns, I nod and rise my bat in anticipation, soon the creatures spot us and come diving towards us, I smack the bat across their face splattering blood and brains all over the place covering myself, my eyes widen in surprise of my strength, as does Sam and Damon, we all take a stance awaiting for the other creatures to approach but we soon notice they’re gone having followed other students down the hallway.

  “So I don’t have much of a plan, just let’s grab a few more items to use as weapons, then we’ll try and get out of here, just walk quietly, keep your eyes peeled for those other... things, and try not to die" says Damon, we all nod in agreement, while looking for other items I come across the lost and found box filled with phones, alcohol, and other confiscated items, I spot a flick knife and grab it stashing it in my pocket.

  We slowly and quietly begin walking down the hallway being as silent as possible so we can hear and see any signs of those things from earlier, we edge closer to the double doors used to keep out Mrs Black earlier and breathe a sigh of relief that there seems to be no sign of anyone, we slowly continue our walk outside and almost gag at the scene we find, bodies of other officers that attempted to help us lay sprawled on the ground, some ripped apart, some surrounded with a pool of blood, “we need to keep going" whispers Damon, I eventually tear my eyes away and follow him out of the school.

  “What should we do now?” I ask, “we'll go home, Sam come with us, you can call your parents from our house so they know you’re safe” Sam nods in agreement, we eventually reach the house and are relieved to find it in perfect condition, we open the door calling out for mum, she rushes to us embracing the both of us tightly.

  “I’m so glad you’re both okay, oh Sam hi you can call your parents on our landline it’s right over there”, we explain what happened at the school and how we got out, our mother nods with a look of horror on her face as she takes everything in, “well we better prepare, thankfully I stockpiled food when I first heard of the mysterious deaths, we'll nail wood against the windows so those things can’t see us and lock all the doors”, we all get to work preparing the house, I move around the house turning off loud electronics such as the television and radio, but stop to hear any news on the radio first.

  “Brook Vale High has encountered an attack by an ill teacher, a number of police officers were sent out but all perished or were infected with the same sickness, because of the severity of the situation the government is now asking everyone to remain in their homes and barricade any windows or exits, similar situations are currently happening in a number of countries across the world, death rates are slowly rising. It is currently unknown where this illness has come from but we have reason to believe one way of spreading this sickness is an infected biting an uninfected, but it is found some infected were not bitten, more will come once we have more information".

  Chapter 2

  With the infection cases rising by the hour we remain trapped inside our house with Sam, “I haven’t heard from my parents for a while" Sam says whilst we sit at the table, “maybe the phone lines have been broken down or restricted,” I suggest to reassure her, but we both know the most likely truth neither of us want to say, “maybe we should play a board game?” I suggest, she nods in agreement smiling slightly, I lead her to the basement that holds all our food, supplies and old board games.

  “Cards against humanity?” I ask, she shakes her head “maybe too dark to play right now" she argues, I nod “sure”, I dig through some other games “scrabble?” this time she nods, “might be a good idea to make sure our brains still work" she jokes, she skips back upstairs, I glance at our food and feel uneasy about the low amount of food left, “you coming?” Sam calls, I hurry upstairs behind her.

  After a game of scrabble we all sit down for dinner together, we have baked potatoes and beans, whilst eating in silence I can’t shake the worry of running low on food, one of us will have to go out there and find something, the idea of being surrounded by those things brings a shiver to my spine, what if we become one of them, are they even alive? Those questions and more buzz around my head until hearing my name snaps me back to reality, “where did you go?” laughs Damon, “sorry I was just thinking” I shrug, “what about?” my mother questions, “well... we were down in the basement earlier and I noticed we’re running low on food, and I was worrying that someone will have to get out there and what might happen" I trail off as silence engulfs the table again.

  “I know we’re running low on food, we will have to venture out there it’s true, it was bound to happen eventually, no amount of food can sustain 4 people forever" she sighs, “we’ll all go together tomorrow, but for tonight try not to worry and get a good night’s rest" she smiles, we all murmur in response.

  The evening soon arrives, my mother and Damon clean the dishes together, myself and Sam head to bed, “what do you think will happen when we go out there?” Sam asks, I yawn “hopefully we’ll find somewhere empty that is fairly stocked, we’ll head back with no issues and continue how we have been", Sam nods in agreement, “and what if that’s not the case?” she asks, “well if those things are everywhere, there’s destruction and screams in the street, we somehow make it to a shop seemingly abandoned, but we get attacked and none of us make it out...” Sam stares at me wide eyed, “well I really hope it’s the first one, and you need to read some lighter stuff" she laughs nervously, “sorry, I just have an awful feeling, as soon as I saw we were low on food I felt sick, I just knew we’d have to go out there, but it’s not going out there that scares me, it’s the unknown of it, we don’t know if it’s dangerous or not, the unknown is scarier than the known" I whisper, “at least we’ll all be together, it’ll be safer that way" Sam smiles reassuringly, I smile back weakly, we exchange goodnights and get some sleep.

  I hardly sleep that night, when I do it’s filled with dreams of monsters like my teacher, I’m alone and scared, I walk slowly and carefully in a dark forest, noises of monster screams and my families screams fill the forest, “mum, Damon, Sam!” I call out into the dark, “help us!” they scream, I am running around blindly until I’m face to face with one of the monsters, they attack, and I’m left in the dark again.

  I sit up erratically in bed breathing hard and fearfully, I look around and reali
se it was a dream, I’m back at home safe with everyone I love, seeing the sun shine through the gaps in the wood hammered to the window, I silently grab dark clothes and a cap and go change, I grab a cereal bar and wait for the others to wake up, Damon is first to come downstairs “oh April you’re up, that’s a first" he laughs, I smile back and yawn “I couldn’t sleep” I shrug, he nods in understanding but doesn’t say another word and grabs himself a cereal bar, we just sit in silence not needing words to understand the fear we both feel, “it’ll be okay you know" he says, “how can you know that?” I ask, “I’ve got you, you were badass in that school, I’m more afraid for those things" he laughs and nudges me, “guess those baseball games paid off" I say nudging him back, Sam and my mother join us and we set off outside.

  “I’ll just take a peek first" my mother states, the door slowly creaks open with nothing insight aside the clear streets, we all breathe a sigh of relief and slowly walk outside, looking around nervously, “everyone’s got a weapon just in case?” my mother whispers, we all nod and show our chosen weapon, I picked a metal bat since it helped me in the school, the others chose wooden planks, and knives.

  We soon find a shop with windows busted and door ajar, we all walk carefully and quietly looking around, most of the shelves are sparse, one or two tins collecting dust, we grab as many items as we can find, we head to the medical aisle to grab essentials like bandages and painkillers, I start to feel my nerves disappearing as we get deeper into the shop, once we’ve grabbed all that will fit in our bags we turn to make an exit when we spot an unwelcome guest blocking the exit, we all gasp and freeze where we stand, its pale skin glistening, its white eyes darting around and sniffing the air, it licks its blood covered lips, my mother pulls us back motioning her finger to her lips, we follow her slowly and quietly as not to alert the monster of our presence.