Apocalypse

Chapter 2

After her first day Riley had become familiar with her new school and didn't feel as scared when she entered the humongous building that towered over her head like a giant, she thought of it more like it was a chore, boring but necessary.

Walking down the busy corridor Riley remembered the scar on Noah's face, he hadn't turned up to school after that day when he disappeared out of the class room and nobody had cared. Today was different. She felt his presence unlike the others in the hallway, they were all just a blur of noise and motion, she knew he was there, but she didn't know how she knew.

Riley took her seat in her science classroom, expecting to be doing some sort of practical experiment, she didn't get anything out of her bag.

A clatter rose up around the room, bouncing off of the walls and echoing into the hallway. Everybody's face turned towards the door.

"Sorry." Muttered Noah as he pushed his coffee coloured mop of hair out of his eyes and glanced around, somehow when he looked at each individual person their eyes fell towards their books as if they had never been looking. They all seemed wary of him, like he was an animal that was best left alone.

Riley made the decision in a split second that she was going to look him in the eye and not be such a coward like the others had.

That was the first mistake she made that day.

As Riley stared she understood why nobody looked him in the eyes, his menacing look mixed with his piercing gray-blue eyes were like a window into his soul. The window didn't show anything, it was an empty wasteland.

•

"Who's there?" Noah called after he saw the shadow from around the corner.

Riley had been following him. During her science lesson he asked to go to the toilet, once he was outside she heard something break into pieces, like it had been punched. Out of curiosity Riley asked to go to the toilet herself and chased after his figure in the distance. Now Riley was creeping around the corner of the dark alleyway that Noah had gone into.

"Its uh..." She stuttered, in an attempt to not let him know who it was she had made her voice sound lower than it actually was, "Darren?" She had practically asked if Noah if that was what her name was supposed to be.

"No. Its not. Everybody knows their name, it is not a question." Noah said matter-of-factly.

Although Riley didn't want to reveal herself, her clumsiness managed to do it for her. In an attempt to turn on her heel and walk away she tripped over her feet and fell.

Shifting her eyes up made Riley notice that she had fallen at his feet.

"Riley?" Whisper-shouted Noah "what are you doing here?" He was probably expecting a huge muscular figure for a stalker and not a tiny and weak stalker.

Riley whimpered, something about her had changed, she felt like she should have minded her own business. She felt like she had.let herself down. But. She felt like she had an opportunity.

The idea that she finally had time to question Noah about his scar made her feel so delighted that for a second she completely forgot where she was and why she was there, Noah just had to go and ruin her excitement!

"So do I get an answer or just a pretty face?" Asked Noah who had realised that they were the only ones there and was speaking normally.

"You think I'm pretty?" Riley hadn't expected to end up getting a compliment from Noah, let alone answers, maybe she actually had a chance to understand him now.

"I think a lot about you... Not just that you're pretty." Stated Noah, just as Riley was going to interrupt he started speaking again.

"There's something about you, I don't know what it is but I do know one thing. You're different from all those 'people' in this town."

Riley didn't know if it was good or bad being different but she hoped it was good.

Riley adjusted herself so that she could lift up her hand and let Noah help her stand up. Noah grabbed her wrist and tugged, almost pulling her puny arm off with his immense strength.

"Ow," Riley moaned "that hurt."

"Maybe you should have minded your own business and not followed me here." Noah seemed to be getting agitated.

Riley realised that he was in a rush but she still wanted answers.

"Can I ask you a question?" Riley asked although she would still question him if he said no.

"Sure! That was your question." Noah stated, emphasising the fake excitement really annoyed Riley.

"I'm going to ignore that. Where are you going?" So many questions ran through her head that she decided to stick to the most basic ones.

"None of your business!" Noah said, sounding so fierce that Riley bowed her head.

When she lifted her head Noah was gone. She heard a creaking and looked further into the alleyway, sighting a door left open just a crack let Riley know where Noah had gone.

•

Graffiti covered the grimy walls, empty liquor bottles and cigarette buts littered the paint splattered ground. The place was a mess.

Riley reached the creaking door and slipped through the small opening, there were a few advantages if being so small.

Inside she found what she thought was some sort of CCTV control centre, a screen on the wall flickered between views of various streets and shops. A technology station sat beneath the screen, buttons and switches tempted Riley into using them.

On one side of the control pad lay a tiny crimson button, surely it couldn't do any harm Riley thought. She reached down for the button, just one little push wouldn't hurt.

"Don't press that!" Noah screeched when he appeared from a hidden exit that Riley hadn't noticed.

"Why not? Its so small I bet it doesn't even do anything." Riley's mocking tone did nothing but annoy Noah, she didn't understand consequences like Noah did.

"Just get out!" Ordered Noah.

"You're such a wimp!" Riley insulted Noah, "Whoops!" Riley said before pretending to slip and 'accidentally' pushing the button.

Sirens blared out around the room, and most likely the whole town, the lights flickered until they finally fell asleep leaving a sickly green eerie glow from emergency exit signs placed around the room.

Noahs mouth dropped forming a gaping hole in his face, his whole body shivered desperately and his teeth chattered almost loud enough to cover the noise of the sirens until they stopped.

Riley's back fell against a wall and dropped onto the floor, she pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees, what had she done?

"W-what j-j-just hap-pened?" Riley gulped, she was afraid if the answer.

"Y-you un-leashed-d a v-v-virus. A r-radioactive virus." He sounded more frightened than Riley felt.

Riley had started a radioactive apocalypse.