Maylin

BEGINNING- Chapter One

Sunlight streaming in through the window was enough to wake me up, which made me ponder again why I have an alarm. It wasn't like I even used it. Usually it just sat on my overly cluttered night stand just taking up space. The only thing it was useful for was an easy way for me to look at the time during the nights where you wake up for a minute for no reason. I considered un plugging it and putting it in the closet, but ended up dismissing the idea and began my morning process.

Throwing back the covers and climbing out of bed, I made a little dance over all the things covering my bedroom floor. 'I need to clean', I thought.

I made my way down the hall stopping just momentarily outside Kaylee's bedroom to bang on the door and open it to wake her up.

Even before getting out to the kitchen I could already tell Mom was gone. Probably to the grocery store or something. As I entered the kitchen and looked to the fridge at a note she had left.

'Went to the store. Took Carrie with me. Won't be back before you leave. Don't forget to pack water.'

Oh yeah, the Fourth of July Festival. Kaylee, Ian, Maylin, and I were going to go.

Ian Johnson and I have been best friends since the 7th grade mostly because we have the same last name. He is 6'1, just barely standing an inch over me. Ian is the better one when it comes to most aspects. Always the faster one, smarter one, more musically talented. I always caught up to him when it came to smarts, though he was in most all my classes, he ranked a 3.78 while mine was, like I said earlier, just shy of a 3.9 with instead 3.88.

I went back to my room and grabbed my phone, one message from Ian.

Be there in 20, it said.

On my way to the bathroom to take a shower I passed by Kaylee's room. She was up, already dressed, and was doing her hair and make-up. I kept walking towards the bathroom.

After stepping out of a well needed shower I took a look at my phone to see a text from Maylin.

'I have some things to do. I'll meet you guys there.'

I could already hear Ian and Kaylee talking out in the kitchen. Kaylee was very mature for her age, that's why it was so easy for her to be around, hang out with, and talk to.

Making my way out to the kitchen, I greeted Ian. "Hey," I said.

"And you say I take a long time getting ready," Kaylee said as she rolled her eyes.

"Because you do. We are nearly late to school everyday," I turned my attention to Ian, "Maylin told me she'd meet us there."

"Yeah, I know, she sent me the same text."

I grabbed a bunch of waters from the fridge and put them in my back pack along with some money, cigarettes, and some bud.

"We just about ready to go?" Ian asked.

"Yeah, I just need to grab a couple more things and then we can leave," I replied, then added, "I feel like today is a binge day."

"Way ahead of you," Ian said and he dropped a bag about the size of my fist, full of Jamaican Blue into my back pack. Chuckling to myself I walked back to my room and grabbed my keys, my knife (just in case), and the rest of my stash while sending a text to Maylin and telling her to do the same.

"Ready?" I asked them.

Neither of them heard me because they were too involved in what was on the news. "Hey, are you guys-"

"Shut," Ian said as he turned up the volume.

"Death toll is rising in countries around the world as the disease, Anotia, grows stronger. Countries such as Russia, Iran, India, Egypt, Brazil, Chile, and China have began to burn their dead. Europe, the rest of Asia, South and Central America have begun strict quarantine in order to slow Anotia's progress. All top scientists in Europe have come together in order to create a vaccine."

What followed were pictures as graphic as the news would let it be and videos from the reporters that visited there. Men, women, and small children with masks on their faces were being guided through the quarantine by soldiers passing a few bodies along the way.

The next video was

"Damn..." Ian said. It was all either one of us had to say.