Apocalypse [1]

Day 1- 09.06am

 “What’s first block?” Robb asked, turning to Laura.

“Maths,” Laura said happily.  “What’s up with your face?  It can’t all be that bad.”

Robb rolled his eyes, apparently angry, and ran a hand through his black hair.

“That bad, huh?” Laura asked, frowning. “Stuff with Jen alright?”

“Nah,” Robb asked, locking his phone screen and sliding it into the pocket of his jeans.  “I’ll tell you on the way to Maths.”  Robb looked around the crowded table in the college canteen where their group of friends sat, chatting idly before going to their respective lessons.  “Where’s Luke?”

“Toilet,” Laura replied simply.  “He said he’d meet us there.”

Laura and Robb slung their bags over their shoulders and left the bustle of the canteen, walked through the adjoining conservatory and past the Costa Coffee, through the double glass doors and out onto the cold courtyard, which was littered with college students lingering around waiting for the lesson to start.

“What’s up?” Laura asked immediately.

“It’s kind of…weird,” Robb started, his brows furrowed.  “Jen wasn’t feeling too great last night, so I went round to see her.  She was really…odd.  It was like she had a fever, and when she was talking, she wasn’t really making any sense…”

“What did you do?”

“That’s what’s weird,” Robb said.  “I went to hold her hand, and she…she bit me.”

“Someone’s eager,” Laura joked, raising her eyebrows suggestively as she laughed.

“It’s not funny,” Robb protested indignantly.  “It really hurt!  She drew blood and everything.”

“What did you say to her?”

“I just asked what the hell she was doing, and when I didn’t get a response, I just left,” Robb replied.  “I mean, I’ve text her this morning to see if she’s alright but she hasn’t responded.” 

Robb stopped as he and Laura reached the huge metal gate behind which was the Maths building.  The silver gate towered over them and the other students, and Robb reached for the college ID pass around his neck.  He pressed it before the scanner and with some effort, pulled the gate open and held it for him and Laura.

“Such a pointless gate,” Robb grumbled.  “So bloody heavy and completely pointless.”

“Don’t take your bad mood out on the gate,” Laura said.  “It’s done nothing to you!”

She and Robb reached the Maths building, and walked up to their classroom, outside of which, Luke stood, waiting for the pair of them to arrive.  Luke, like Laura, was sixteen, with dark brown hair that nearly reached his eyebrows and blue intelligent eyes behind a pair of glasses.  As usual, he wore his customary dark red hoody and jeans, and greeted Laura and Robb not with a smile, but with a casual raise of the eyebrows.

The three of them entered the classroom, and took their respective seats opposite each other.  Robb, who looked unusually pale, Laura noticed, was shaking as he reached into his bag for his work.

“Are you alright?” Luke asked him.

Robb put his head in his still shaking hands.  “I just feel a little sick,” he said from behind his hands.  “I think I’ll just go to the toilet…”

Laura and Luke exchanged curious glances as Robb rose and left the classroom.  Pete, their Maths teacher, began the lesson, and Luke and Laura’s minds wandered from Robb to the differentiation and integration exam questions they had been set.