Undead Volume 1: The Road Home

Chapter 2

The cafeteria was still just as busy as any other day. A large window on the east side of the building provided cascading light into the building from the sun peeking over the horizon. Echo pulled the door open and held it for his friends to enter. The cafeteria was full of students all waiting in line for the breakfast bar to open. “Look there’s Mikey,” said Jordan pointing to a short boy reading a thick book.

Mikey was a short boy from South Korea with straight black hair that went down past his ears. He had large eyes and a small plump nose. His lips were thin and covered his pearly white teeth. He had no facial hair and some freckles that speckled his face. He wore khaki pants and a grey button down shirt with sleeves rolled up at the ends so they didn’t hang so far past his hands.

The three sat at the table with Mikey who continued reading, unaware of the presence of his three roommates. Mikey looked up from his book to take a bite of cereal and was startled to see people sitting with him. “You guys startled me,” said Mikey, putting his book down. “What are you reading?” asked Nathaniel sliding Mikey’s book towards him so he could read the title. “The Dragon Slayer,” said Mikey almost uncomfortable by the fact that Nathaniel had his book. “What’s it about?” asked Nathaniel quickly flipping through the pages. “Well it’s pretty much what the name implies,” said Mikey quickly taking the book back from Nathaniel. “Looks like they opened the breakfast bar,” said Jordan standing up from the table. Nathaniel followed Jordan, but Echo remained at the table with Mikey.

“Is everything okay Mikey? You seem more shy than normal and you are a little jumpy?” asked Echo as he looked at Mikey who didn’t make eye contact. “Nothing…. I’m okay,” said Mikey fidgeting his hands. “If it’s Nathaniel, I can ask him to stop, but that’s just who he is. I know you are shy, but he’s our roommate and you’ve got to get used to him.” concluded Echo as he stood up to sit next to Mikey. “It’s not Nathaniel, I know he’ll never change,” said Mikey sporadically. “Than what’s the problem?” asked Echo.  “Echo, there’s some weird stuff going on right now and I’m really scared,” whimpered Mikey as he looked down at his book. “What kind of stuff are you talking about?” asked Echo. “Here, listen to this,” said Mikey handing Echo a pair of earbuds and his phone. “What is this?” asked Echo taking the phone and earbuds. “I filmed this on the roof of the dorms last night when I was trying to film the comet that was going by, but I got this instead,” whispered Mikey as Echo began to put in the earbuds.

After Echo put in the ear buds, Mikey hit play on his phone. The video played and displayed a comet shoot across a clear sky full of stars, but as the video continued a green and purple wave shot across the sky with a loud whirring sound. Then the video stopped abruptly. “What the heck was that,” stated Echo as he removed the earbuds. “That’s not all, take a look at this,” said Mikey changing the video to a video of a radio. Echo placed the earbuds back in and Mikey hit play. “Reports are coming in of a large shockwave that is currently travelling around the world, but don’t be alarmed, the military is currently investigating the effects and origin of this shock wave. We have been asked to inform everyone to stay as far away from major power grids as possible. People who are near these power grids when the blast goes by have been reported to have some kind of psychological problem, with symptoms being similar to that of the drug marijuana. Please be informed that these people are……..” stated the newscaster before the radio cut out. “What were they talking about?” asked Echo handing Mikey his phone back. “That wave caused the blackout and anyone who was close to areas of great electrical output contracted some kind of disease,” whispered Mikey as he wrapped his earbuds around his phone. “Are we infected?” asked Echo looking at his hands. “I don’t think so. It doesn’t seem like we are suffering from any of the symptoms that the newscast mentioned,” said Mikey looking at his own hands.