I Am Immune

And you are?

I stood up, out of my crouched battle ready position. The dark figure had turned out to be a young man. He looked to be a like a year or two older than me, with dark brown hair, wearing a dark blue t-shirt and soft light jeans with some sneakers. He was turned away, shuffling through desks and mumbling something, about five feet away from where I was standing. His skin was a pale white and hollow, like he was famished and dehydrated. He was walking with a slight stumble. I lowered my knife and put it back in its sheath. Mystery guy knocked over another computer in frustration and yelled, “Why is there no food or water in this building?! It makes no sense!” His voice was hoarse and dry, and from that and his complaint, I knew he must’ve come in search of food in his building. With his back turned to me still, and he was unaware that I was here, I decided I should do something to give off my presence. I coughed, which made him jump in surprise and turn to face me. 

He stood still, observing me and I took this chance to study his face. He had hazel eyes, and a strong chin. His hair fell in front of his eyes a little and his cheeks were hollow. He was the first to break the silence. “Do you,” he coughed. “Have any water or food perhaps?” I nodded and reached into my satchel, pulling out the granola bar and bottle of water. I walked over and handed it to him, then sat on the desk of a cubicle next to him, legs hanging over the edge. I watched him as he wolfed it down in a matter of seconds and chugged the whole bottle in less than a minute. He then noticed me watching him with beady eyes. “What? Never seen a hungry guy before?” He said while wiping his mouth, using the back of his hand.

I chuckled and asked, “What’s your name?”

“Chace Gray.” 

“I’m Alyssa Donnelly. Where are you from?”

“Worcester. Why’s this place so empty? No bodies, food, water, supplies or anything.” 

“We cleaned this building last week of everything.” 

Chace nodded seeming to understand. He had really traveled all the way from Worcester?! So, he must’ve driven a car or something. We were interrupted by his stomach growling. He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head with his arm, laughing lightly and said, “I guess a granola bar can’t really fill a guy that hasn’t eaten in 4 days.” My eyes widened. Maybe he walked all the way here and was in search of people and nourishments? 

“...Maybe we should leave here and get you some real food.” I said while hopping off the desk and heading towards the staircase. We traveled down the stairs quickly and out the door. I grabbed my bike and we both walked towards the field so we could cut through the Common. The sun was still high in the sky about to slide down the sky and everything was quiet. The families were all in their homes preparing for dinner and for the evening rituals. 

We walked side by side silently and he was observing the rows of vegetables and fruits. All of a sudden he stopped, looking at the grapes we were growing up a yard stick. There were extra yard sticks laying around just in case another grape plant sprouted. The grape vines were freshly picked of grapes from the harvesters today and the vines were empty. Chace walked over and grabbed a yard stick, stabbing it beside the other yard stick a couple inches beside it. He then took a couple vines from the grape plant and wrapped it around the new yard stick, then brushed his hands off. I had stopped and waited for him, and now he returned. 

“The extra stick should give it more room to grow and more grapes.” He explained. I nodded, understanding and we continued walking. Five minutes and we were at my house. I parked my bike on the bike rack in front of my house and knocked on the door. Dad’s motorcycle was parked in the garage, so he and Aiden must have made it home safely. Chace looked a little pale, well paler than usual. I smiled meekly at him and he smiled back.

Locks shifted and Mom opened the door. My Mom was like your typical mom, wearing aprons, brown hair, always a smile plastered on her face. “Hi sweetie! Who is this young handsome man?” She said, looking him up and down. 

“Hey Mom. This is Chace. He’s a survivor that wondered to here. He’s also super hungry.” I said walking past her and into the living room, dropping my satchel onto my couch, then headed to the dining room. Dad and Aiden were already in there, getting the table set up. “Set up another plate, Dad. Found a survivor wondering the streets.” Mom and Chace were chatting away; Chace looking a little awkward. I sat down at the table, filling up my plate with Mom’s homemade bread. Dad helped Aiden up into his “big boy chair” and then sat down at the head of the table. Chace sat beside me and Mom sat beside Aiden. I started buttering my bread roll and shoveling the bread down and noticed Chace wasn’t eating. 

“Hey Chace?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Why aren’t you eating? You were starving like four seconds ago.”

“I guess I just feel weird eating in the house of someone I just met.”

“Just eat up! You need your strength to help me in the research lab tonight.” 

“What?” He said looking wide eyed at me. I forgot to tell him! I put down my butter knife and turned to him. 

“Oh, I forgot to tell you! Everybody has day jobs to do and at night after dinner, everybody goes to the research lab. I’ll explain everything in a bit. Just eat!” I said, then he proceeded to pick up a bread roll and eat it. Mom went to go get the pork chops cooking in the oven and came back. She roasted the pork chops, which were crispy and moist on the pan. Dad searched each person a pork chop and everybody ate it. (Good thing Mom made extra.) Aiden ate it all too! My little brother has been known to have an appetite of a grown man, but Dad’s keeping him on a short leash, because he doesn’t want Aiden to become too chubby. Chace finished his portion and Dad served him another piece. We all talked about how Chace had traveled here. He was adopted and his adoption parents didn’t have the genes to save them. He chewed his piece and then swallowed. 

“I still don’t truly understand what happened. I was looking for people to tell me what happened, but I couldn’t find anybody. I searched and drove part of the way. I knew that Boston was highly populated so I figured there must be somebody alive there to help me.” He admitted. “There was actually one point where I thought I was the only person still alive...” A look of sadness and pain flashed across his face. Probably bad memories of the days it took for him to get here. Everybody was quiet and there was a sad and solemn mood that hung in the air. 

I faked a cough and said, “Well, its getting to be that time. So we should get going.” I pushed myself away from the table and got up, tapping Chace on the shoulder to signal him to come with me. I grabbed my leather jacket and pulled it on, since it was getting chilly outside, then offered Chace an old coat of Dad’s. Chace pulled it on gladly. He was starting to get a little more color in him. We walked outside and turned down the street to the right. Down that street and take another right, and in front of us was an old high school. We stood admiring it for a second and I took a breath. The air was getting colder and I zipped my jacket up, heading for the doors.