Night of the Living Bacteria [Old version]

Chapter Nineteen-Save Your Life

(Olivia POV) 

Flashback:

I grab water off the rack and I'm about to grab something else, but something, rather, someone catches my eye. I look again, seeing my mother and father walking down aisles and grabbing a few things. I freeze up. What if they see me? I shake my head, quickly turning down the next aisle. I can't let them see me. But if they do, I'm here for a school project. I turn around and pretend to be looking at jars of pickles. I set the water down and pull up the hood on my sweatshirt, grabbing the water and walking quickly down the short aisle. I glance back again, my eyes meeting my parents'. I turn away quickly, afraid that they saw me, but I guess they didn't. I hurry to catch up with Jayden, hoping that we don't cross paths again.

I sigh, done explaining what happened.

"Well, they shouldn't go anywhere near the school until December." Jayden says, slowing down as we walk up the hill.

"Yeah, I guess it just reminded me that I didn't protect my brother like they expected me to." I look at the ground, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes.

"You didn't know that was going to happen. None of us did."

"But, I-we created that thing, we should have known that it was going to grow bigger."

"It's okay, none of this was our fault. We just need to focus on killing that thing now." He says, glancing back at me. I nod, blinking back the tears, willing myself not to be weak, for everyone who wasn't with us right now. We continue walking, my stomach churning when the school's roof appears over the horizon. But, when we get there, everything is fine. We make our way to the dorms, and I notice the sun dipping below the ground, signaling that another long night has begun. I hand Jayden the stuff I was carrying, sliding into the Tunnel along with him and replacing the metal-bound grate where it's supposed to go, along with a slab of metal, attached to the back of it so the bacteria can't slip through the holes. We walk for a few minutes, reaching the main room, only to find it empty. On the floor, a note, written in ink, reads:

I went to go close up the other doors, be back in a few!--Ash

I set down the plastic bags of food and lean against the wall. Jayden walks around for a little bit, then deciding to sit down near the middle of the room, tracing his finger over the engravings on the floor.

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Footsteps echo through the large room, and a short, hooded figure makes its way towards the light. Tossing back their hood, Ashley glances up at the ceiling, then at the both of us.

"What'd you get?" She asks.

"Food, duh." Jayden replies, a slight tone of playfulness in his voice.

"I mean like, what kind of food did you get?" She says, rolling her eyes.

"Whatever would survive long enough." I explain, opening up a bottle of water and taking a swig from it.

"Well, as long as we can make it for a month, then we're fine." She says, grabbing the bags and digging through them. Once she finds what she's looking for, she places the bags on the ground and opens a package of dried fruit.

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It had been a few weeks since we last left the school grounds, and there was a new obstacle. It was nearing the end of November and we could tell the bacteria was getting restless. It was starting to snow and it seemed to affect it. We saw it roaming the grounds more during the day, meaning that we had to be more careful. Tonight was the next full moon, our next chance. To reduce the bastard to nothing more than a myth again. The only thing that wouldn't return was the students and teachers who got eaten by it. The moon is beginning to rise. Ash and I are watching from the roof of the school.

"Soon, that'll all be over." She laughs. "And here I was, thinking that my imagination was the only place this stuff existed."

"Yeah. Well, at least we'll get to go home when it works this time." I say, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"If it works." She turns to face me. "There isn't any guarantee it will work."

"Right." I say. "We should go back. If it catches us, it'll be game over." She nods. We walk down the stairs, keeping to the sides of the hall. When we reach the ground level, we walk over the huge glass floor, looking down into the illuminated Tunnels. Suddenly, Ashley puts her hand out and stops me from walking any further.

"You hear that?" She whispers. I listen, and, there, a low grumble.

"Yeah," I nod. She points.

"There." I watch as the bacteria appears and stomps across the hall, leaving no more than slimy footprints in its wake. "We need to go the other way." I nod again. We turn and run out of the building. I seem to be the only one who notices the bacteria following us.

"Ash! It's following us."

"That's the point. We have to loop around to get it to stand over the glass. Spells still work from there." She pauses, opening the door to the dorms. "Go. I'll stay out here."

"But-"

"I'll be fine." She gives me a reassuring smile. "I know most of the spells I need to defend myself. Don't worry." She pushes me inside, closing the door and locking it. I make my way to the grate and climb in, securing the door behind me. She better make it back alive. I can't lose another person I care about.