Escape

Chapter 9

Rinco
The world flickered back into focus. I rubbed my eyes, confused.
"What happened?" I asked, and all of them seemed to start talking at once. Emmiera stood in one corner, her cheeks tear-stained.
"...And then Jonathan was the saviour! Your health was deteriorating so quickly. It was like many strains of viruses attacked you at once. You were losing color...." Rianna was unable to continue. She looked away.
"Jonathan performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation." Reagan muttered.
"We chickened out." Duffy added.
Jonathan stood there blushing.
Many stupid thoughts ran through my head like He saved me! Our lips touched! And what came out of my mouth was fairly smart, at least.
"I can't thank you more." I told him, which made him blush a deeper shade of pink.
So I seemed cool, but I guess someone's not washing her mouth for a while....
"I'm.......sorry." Emmiera mumbled inaudibly. I raised an eyebrow. Is that all she was going to say?
Then everything came spilling out of her mouth.
"I didn't mean it! I was so pissed....I mean Ernest kept praising you, not me. I was so jealous, I thought I could do something that would hurt you...didn't know I'd do something so extreme though. It was all my fault. What can I do to make it up to you? I'm a devil."
She looked away, tears streaming down her cheeks. I looked at her tattered clothes, her muddy converses, and realised that this was a lot to go through for a rich-kid. She was spoilt beyond imagination. There must have been a lot of pressure. She must have snapped under it.
"It's okay. The most important thing is that you make amends." I told her.
She smiled at me.
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We got through each obstacle one by one, as we got stronger. It seemed easier to take down whatever they dumped at as, because we had experience. In combat, mentality, we made a good team. Emmiera helped too , while I started to realise beneath that veil of scorn and fake strength, she was a fragile girl inside. I learnt that her parents were divorced and she lived with her father. Her father was an unbelievably rich man who left his daughter to stay with servants. Every weekend, she would visit her mother, that was, until her mother contracted a very classified virus. The virus was spreading, but the Leaders did not dare speak of it.
Emmiera was left alone with no company. She only had money, and friends who only befriended her because they wanted to share her fortune.
I decided to try and be friends with her, not because of her fortune. I played the role of being her first true friend.
We did not sleep in a lot of hours though (maybe except for me, I got knocked out) and we were tired and grumpy. We desperately needed a place to crash.
However, now there was no Anything Room or Safe Zones so we decided to sleep in the middle of the corridor.
"One person keep watch," Reagan said, "and if there is any sign of trouble, we wake everyone up."
We agreed to that plan.
It was going to be one heck of a sleep.
Eryn
I could not have thanked that guy Jonathan more. Emmiera's best friend Jaelyn kept apologising for her friend's actions. I told her Emmiera was a disgusting idiot I did not want to have anything to do with. How she replied me was a bit shocking, in my opinion.
"Oh well, I was not really good friends with her anyways." She had said, tossing her red plaits behind.
"What d'you mean?" I asked, startled.
"I wanted to go shopping with her. She had the money. All I had to do was play along and be her friend." She looked proud of herself. She sure thought that she had impressed me.
No such luck.
"Okay, so Emmiera is not the ideal person you want as a friend," I said patiently "But you can't do this to her."
"Why not?" She asked defiantly.
"Because it's plain wrong! You are almost as bad as her!!!" I cried, exasperated. How far can stupidity go?
Jaelyn looked away, and I could tell she was embarrassed and disappointed.
I really hoped that she had learnt our lesson.
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Reality came to us the next day. It hit all of us hard.
We finally knew what we were fighting for.
The world was in danger. A deadly virus, Hydroswell, had been released. The Leaders have kept it secret for two years, but more and more people were showing signs of having the virus. The Leaders refused to admit it, but people were getting worried. Missle could sense potential in us, so they brought us to Missle Training.
Due to our best friend's constant interaction with us, they were also candidates. But they were undergoing trials. Those who were not worthy died. Because due to some data, they could be dangerous.
The most revealing thing was, Missle did not stand for anything.
In fact, it was named after Missle Vise, Patient Zero.
So here's the story of Vise. We were told to do a story on him to understand it better.
Hydroswell
Eryn Keyan Naylor
Hydroswell, Hy3xs620, is a deadly virus. Released on 16/2/2041.
Patient Zero, Missle Vise, pronouced as (Mis-Lay Vais)was a child miner. He came from a family with a poor background except for a sister who left the family to train to be a Leader. He lives in one of the few remaining villages in the world. During the mine, miners were not allowed to drink any water. Missle got thirsty beyond anything and getting water became his main priority. He found a bottle of water lying in one corner and he drank it. Little did he know that it contained one of the deadliest, most contagious viruses in the world.
Stage one of the Hydroswell include a dry throat and very rosy cheeks. Victim might also have nightmares.
Stage two of the Hydroswell include an unquenchable thirst for water and blue mucus.
Stage three of the Virus include hallucinations, swelling in the body. Victim will get so thirsty that they jump into a body of water. Before death, they would throw up what virus is left in them and their bodies rot. All people in the water body get infected.
We must prevent the spread of the Hydroswell. We can do this by not going near bodies of water. Look out for people with symptoms. Work hard to find a cure. Together we can do this.
I got a B on that one. Even near the end of the world, can't I score an A for once?
Okay, so maybe it's not the end of the world. There might still be a chance. If we find the cure. Which means we have to do something in the House.
Something that might take Rinco's life.