The Virus

Four

I wake up to the rare sound of birds chirping. It gives me a small sense of normality and I welcome it. Throwing on a shirt, I make my way out of my room and along the hall, where I hear Mark's familiar snoring from the neighbouring room. I stop by the bathroom to wash my face and freshen up for the day. 

Jayden materialises from a cubicle to wash his hands before shuffling past much too close to me. 

When I enter the classroom there is a distinct burning smell. I turn to Noah who's eating out of a bag of mini pretzels. He gives me a knowing smile as I spot the pan with a charred substance inside. 

"You seem quite the chef." I say sarcastically. 

He rolls his eyes and passes the bag to me.

"That's the last bag, consider it a late birthday present. Sorry for the wait." He says.

"I've had later. You're only two days late. Birthdays are a waste of time." I reply.

"No they're not. They celebrate the day you were born, your existence. Doesn't your existence mean anything to you" He says almost offended.

I think for a moment. "In a world like this? My existence is a curse and a birthday is simply an anniversary of my misery. Let's be honest if you had a choice would you live in this world." I finish my speech.

"Yes I would even if I had a choice. Because even if there's dead people walking around, there's still beautiful things in life. And I'll make you realise that too." He announces.

I smile and walk out but not before saying "good luck with that, Jesus bloody Christ."

I leave for the truck, for nearly two hours I practice with it. I'm rusty but slowly being behind a steering wheel is becoming more comfortable. When I'm done I have a shower in the girls changing rooms and get dressed. I walk out but something covers my eyes. I swing around and hit them, I hear a groan and my sight comes back. Jayden cradles his stomach as Solomon smiles and tells me there's a surprise. There's a glint in his eye as he says this and I follow him willingly. We make our way to Food Technology. I walk in and Noah, Alex and Mark shout 'surprise' while holding up a lopsided birthday cake with melted blue icing on top. 

I can't help but smile and rush over to hug everybody and give thanks. Jayden and Solomon follow behind meand we all assemble around a table as everybody sings 'Happy Birthday'. I wince and wait awkwardly for them to conclude before finally having some cake. It was something I didn't realise I had wanted so badly. 

We all fight over the knife and the size of our pieces with giggle and laughs. Noah ultimately cuts the cake evenly and we all raise our plates for a piece. I smile at Mark who already had blue icing stuck to his chin, and raise my own slice to my lips. 

A far-off bang makes me freeze mid-movement. 

I feel my stomach turn and a bad feeling overcomes me as I expect the worst. Grabbing a kitchen knife, I rush out into the hall with everyone else in two behind me. 

She stumbles towards me clumsily, dried blood in her hair and caked on her face. Gripping the knife in my hand, I approach her slowly. The blade plunges into her upper abdomen and she stumbles back behind my force but still does not fall or die. Her hands swing at me, clawing at my flesh.

"How do I kill it?" I call out, over her screams. 

"I don't know!" Noah replies. I fend her off, pushing her arms away and stabbing here again. Still, she does not react. Finally, she throws her weight at me and I allow her to fall to the floor in a heap, allowing me to stab her in the head. Her body goes still and the low rasps stop.

I return to the group of onlookers. "So you're telling me you've been living in the apocalypse for over three weeks and between you, you haven't killed any." I demand breathlessly. Pointing furiously between them. There's a murmur of meek agreement. "At least we know how to kill them now." I say, receiving puzzled looks. "Oh my god guys. The head!" I roll my eyes and walk past them, panting and spluttering still.

I make my way around the entire place searching for anymore stragglers. I find another on the field but kill it quickly with a knife. I make my way back to the kitchen where all the guys are talking. Six pieces of cake splatter the floor and counter. Luckily there is enough for more.

We finish and I grab their attention. "Look. There's thousands of those things out there. So even if you can't take on a whole herd doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to kill a couple. And I'm gonna be doing daily perimeter checks from now on. Every morning and evening. None of them will go unnoticed." I say with conviction. They all agree and are about to leave before I stop them. "I have a proposal. We open up that hole so that we can get practice killing them." I say.

They all look to Noah confirming his position as leader. "Fine. But, it is tightly boarded up whenever a herd comes through." He replies.

"What if a herd comes through at night." Alex asks. A good point.

"Then we'll have to start doing watches. Everybody does it. A few hours at a time. Not like we've got anything else to do." We all agree and begin working on a rota. Each person does three hours at a time, taking turns in a sequence. Jayden, Alex, Mark, Solomon, Me and then Noah. Although you're allowed to volunteer to take part of someone's shift if you want to.

Later that day, I sit at the guard tower doing my shift. I still have at least an hour and a half to go. But I almost enjoy the quiet, it gave me time to think. I hear the familiar creak of the last wooden step and wait to see who's visiting. 

"I came to talk about the run." Noah says softly.

"Ahh if it isn't Captain Blackbeard. All hands on deck." I say jokingly. Darkness settles over the sky and a cool breeze sends shivers down my spine.

"What about it?" I ask, content.

He settles in next to me and says "How long before you can do it. You can pick two maybe three other people to go with you. It's your choice I'm putting you in charge of it." He says authority in his tone.

I smile as I already begin to weigh over my options. "I don't know. How are we going to get the truck out of this place anyway?" I ask, turning to him.

"Most of the gates are electric. They can only be opened with a computer. But there's one latched one that we can undo for you." He says.

I think for a moment. "Then I'm ready when you are." I reply with a sly smile. A smile creeps onto his face as well.

"Who do you think you're gonna take?" He asks curiously.

"Mark and Alex." I state.

He raises his eyebrow. "Why not me?" He asks clearly taking it to heart.

"You're the leader. You die. We become weaker. And anyways I don't want you getting hurt, Captain." I reply. He chuckles at my name and then turns to the park clearly not leaving. "You staying?" I ask.

"Might as well. It's only about seven." Seven? Really? I still had two hours to go. I couldn't complain Noah still had a shift after me.

"Have you remembered anything?" He asks. I sigh and shake my head.

"Maybe it's better I don't. I'd prefer to keep my old life completely separated. So if there's a gap in the middle maybe it'll help." He nods and carries on.

"I know you didn't tell me everything back then but I could see you were hurting. I was hoping you could get a fresh start. Just you and the world. Even if you can't I'm here for you Ophey." I flinch as he says my name like that. Like he used to.

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