The Virus

Introduction

It was a beautiful morning, October 21, 2023. It was a bit chilly but that was normal for October. Its fall, you know? I went downstairs to hear my mom calling me to the table, "Johnny! Breakfast is ready! Come down and eat, dear", she yelled. "Yes mom!", I replied.

I guess I should introduce myself, I'm John and I'm 14. I go to Waldo Middle School in Salem, Oregon. I don't mind the other students but the teachers are mean. I look at my phone thinking it was only like 7:30. "Crap", I whispered under my breath, "Its almost 8:30, Im gonna be late for the bus!" I quickly grabbed my school stuff, brushed my teeth, rinsed with water and mouthwash and was out the door. 'I forgot my phone' I thought to myself, and quickly ran back in to get it. You know how hard it is for a teenager to know they don't have their phone on them. I grabbed my phone off my bed and ran back out the door and to the bus stop, but nobody was their. "I missed it" I thought. Then I remembered, the bus doesn't come till 8:45. I looked at my phone and it said, 08:36 (Military time), I wondered why nobody was at the bus stop. I called my friend, Jake. No answer, then Micheal, no answer from him either. I eventually gave up and waited on the bus. Sure enough, there it was, pulling up to the turn at 8:45. Wait a second though, "This isn't my bus...", I silently whispered to myself. I am route #27, bus 13 doesn't run my route. It can't take the hills. The bus stopped right in front of me, the door swung open with a WRAHH SCREECH. I didn't recognize the man at the wheel, he had a weird grin on his face and he was drooling, but that didn't stop him from telling me to get on the bus. I got on the bus, it was empty but I thought nothing of it and took a seat. Little did I know that would be the BIGGEST mistake I would ever make. 

I asked the driver when we would be at the school and what his name was as nicely as I could. "Well my name is Mr. Johnson and we should be at the school in another thirty minutes or so.", he growled in a scary hoarse type voice. "Thirty minutes! It never takes that long! And how come I have never seen you before?", I protested, "I am new to this route so sorry if it takes longer.", he said. New to the route he was, because it took almost 50 minutes to find his way back to the school. He asked for my help finding it but I never payed attention to the road, only my phone. Teenagers and their phones, am I right? When the bus came to a halt I looked out the window expecting to see other buses dropping kids off but there was nothing. All the buses were parked and locked. They were covered in leaves telling me they hadn't moved since yesterday. I asked Mr. Johnson why all the buses have not moved since yesterday. "You are the only one that didn't skip school today, something about a virus going around the school but its all rubbish.", he stated in a horrible brit' accent. I didn't hear anything about it though. Little did anyone know, the virus was all around the world, not just at our school. The virus was said to turn you into a "zombie like person" according to the news. The lady on the news said to continue our days as normal so I thought nothing of it.