They Called It The Apocalpse

Chapter 15

Tate was the first to wake the next morning, he blinked through the darkness that has fallen over the room and yawned. He could see Cassie's outline as she dozed in the opposite bunk and poked his head down to see if Jason was still there. For a second he watched him breathing, his chest moving up and down in a rhythmic motion as he slept. Tate swung his legs over the side of the bed, inching slowly towards the ladder then making his way to the floor, he slipped out of the door and went to explore. He passed the shower block and moved down a layer, sliding into one of the office chairs at the computers then wiggling the mouse. The computer buddy to life, flicking from the blue holding screen to a password input. He pushed away from the screen with his hands, swirling backwards on his chair and hitting the desk opposite. He checked that computer too but it needed a password that he didn't have and so he resolved to continue his explorations. Standing he climbed the stairs again and then another set, emerging into a dark floor where the lights appeared to have blown. Glass scattered the carpet, wires and tubes hung down from the ceiling and an abundance of monitors and workstations formed a corridor. One of the wires from a machine had come loose and spat blue sparks that temporarily lit up the room. Tate took a step back, spying a huge tube made of glass with a metal base and lid, it was clouded up and nestled securely among wires and tubes and tiny cooling fans.

His feet thundered against the stairs as he rushed back towards the others, his hand sliding rapidly over the hand rail. He breathed heavily but kept up his speed as he rushed for the others. When he threw the door open they were still asleep and he scurried over to tap Jason. He patted his arm gently at first but then when he got more agitated at Tate yelling at him to wake up, he started to pound his arm as hard as he could. "Wake up! Come on, please! I need you to wake up Jason!" He rolled over and blinked at Tate as Cassie shuffled in her bed then sat up, he eyes shining back at them in the half light. "What's up Tate?" She asked in a gravely voice then coughed and it seems to disappear. "Get up, you need to see this." He announced then ducked outside again. He waited by the wall, leaning against it with his back as they readied themselves and emerged from the bunk room. Slowly they followed him up to the third floor, climbing the stairs carefully as Tate took them two at a time. He emerged onto the fourth floor with Jason and Cassie close behind then pointed over to the tube. "What is that?" Jason asked, squinting at it through his sleep dazed eyes. Tate shook his head, fidgeting as he waited for a verdict. "Doesn't look real..." Cassie answered, looking at the glass shattered across the floor then taking a ginger step around most of it and towards the object. "Where are you going?" Tate hissed as she advanced on it one cautious step at a time. "To look what it is." She replied and Tate felt the need to stamp his foot in protest but instead he followed her, finding a safe path through the glass with Jason in tow.

When they arrived at the tube Cassie dug through her bag and produced the flashlight, they stood around it in a crescent shape, Tate on the far right and Jason on the left. She fiddled with the battery compartment first, ensuring it was screwed on properly then depressed the button and stared through the tube as the flashlight came to life. It glowed a sort of yellow colour under the spotlight but a thick layer of dirt prevented them from seeing underneath, Cassie stepped forwards, wiping away a small circle of it with her sleeve then shone the flashlight inside. She gasped at what she saw and stumbled backwards, falling into a monitor set and crashing down through the buttons and switches to hit the floor hard. Jason rushed over to help her, pulling her up by her arm but she was too focused on the tube to help him get her to her feet much. It had started to open, a whisky fog curling out from inside. Tate took a step back, his eyes glued to whatever was about to come out of the inside. Jason looked up from his crouched position next to Cassie and his mouth fell open as the fog began to clear. There was a woman inside, she had shoulder length black curls of hair and a dress that looked like it came from decades before, a blue bow held her fringe back from her face and her lips were still a rouged shade of red. Cassie got to her feet, using Jason's help and half the broken counter top to push herself up then moved towards the girl as slowly. The glass crunched under her feet but it meant nothing to her as she reached out towards her and touched the cool skin of her cheek. She drew her hand back, flinching at the ice cold touch of her flesh. "Do you think she's dead?" Tate whimpered, peering around the glass door to look at the strange girl. "I....I don't know." Cassie replied, shuddering again at the thought of her cool face, "I would assume so." Jason shuffled up beside her and stared at the girls pale cheeks, it didn't appear that they'd had blood in them for quite some time. "She certainly looks dead." He explained as he took a step back from her in fear that she might suddenly jolt to life and lash out. "Well, does she at least have a name?" Cassie wondered aloud, turning and searching the desktops for any information on the woman, the computers were still locked with passwords up here but there seemed to be more stray pieces of paper. Tate spin round and checked a steel cupboard, throwing it open to find liquids and chemicals he couldn't understand. Jason examined the tube, bending down and brushing the dust off of a plate at the bottom. "Thalia Bleakman..." he read to the others and Cassie frowned as she returned to him. "I've heard of that name before....when I was just a kid." She closed her eyes to think, squeezing them together tightly as she searched her mind then realisation seemed to hit her and she nodded. "I know her." She stared at Thalia as she explained and Tate slunk up beside her. "I used to see her on tv, she was the daughter of a mayor, a very influential mayor who would hold rallies all the time." She looked over at Jason then back at the girl, "Only she was shot, right between her eyes, here." She pressed a finger to the flesh there on the girl and it went in as if there wasn't a skull beneath, "she died, I'm sure she did." He face contorted as the memory got hazy but Tate's voice echoed through the room. "It's true." He looked between his companion, blue eyes shining, "I would know because I did it."

They stood in silence, Cassie and Jason staring at him in horror. He walked towards them through the glass, crunches echoing menacingly around the room. Cassie stumbled back into Jason, trying to get away from him as he approached but he stopped, supporting himself with the door of the tube and smiling sickly. "It was late September, I remember because the leaves were turning brown and I'd just bought my first gun. It was a shot gun and thinking back at the time I don't know how I got it through the crowd without being seen." He pondered this, holding his chin, deep in thought, "There were lots of people there, they liked the mayor, he was good to them but I.....I was there for her. The family arrived and I set up my gun as they climbed onto the stage. From the moment I raised it there was chaos. I pulled the trigger and there were already people running away from me. Her body fell, more like crumpled." He pulled a pensive face, watching the events play through in his head. "Why...." Cassie breathed, not getting past the first word of her question. "Why what, Cassie? Why did I do it? Why didn't I go to jail? Why wasn't I sentenced to death?" He was getting more and more agitated and Jason was suddenly very aware of the gun that Tate had right now, that had never left his side, not once since he'd picked it up. "Well, nature has a funny way with things doesn't it." Tate explained, licking his lips and smiling, "Someone turned at that rally, not more than thirty seconds after I'd done it. He was a local man, he'd felt a little sick, had produced vomiting for a couple weeks but felt like going to the rally, only he turned into one of them....People tend to forget about things when they're running for their life and there's no jail in the apocalypse. It's every man for himself." Thalia took a breath beside him and Tate kept back as she fell forwards into the glass shards, her hands hitting the floor hard as she gasped for air. No one moved, they watched her arched back raise and fall as she recovered from whatever had happened to her in that tube.