20 minutes later, we arrived at a school. As we entered through the back gate guarded by two guys, I had no idea what the school name was. There were 7 people sitting in the canteen. They did not seem to know each other as they sat in their respective corners separately.
Blake walked over to a teenager. Her black hair was pulled back from her face, tied into a neat ponytail. She was wearing a collectibles item SpongeBob white jacket and denim shredded style shorts. Her features were similar to Blake but softer, not quite as sharp. Two grey haired folks raced up to him and wrapped him in bear hugs. He said something to them smiling, which directed their gazes to me. They frowned.
I walked up to them, hoping to introduce myself. “Hi, my name is Cass…”’. They looked at me apologetically, but glared at their son, “We told you not to bring back any survivors! Supplies are hardly enough for us, yet alone new people!” Blake just looked at them coolly and grabbed my hand to pull me away with him as he walked away. “You’ll be safe here, the fences around this school are overgrown with bushes and we put sharp glasses on top of them, just in case some manage to climb over.” I tried to shake my hand off but he would not let go.
“Blake, why did you save me?” He looked away, and let go of my hand, making my hand feel suddenly empty. He sat down at a sitting area which was probably once used as an outdoor study space with round tables and chairs and patted the seat next to him. I placed my hands on my hips, refusing to sit, waiting for his reply. He sighed, “I couldn’t let you die. I spent the last three years trying to save people but some would still leave anyway. You weren’t hopeless, just a bit risky.” A little moved and sympathetic by his answer, I walked over and sat down next to him, “So, what’s next?” He shrugged, “Just try to survive, I guess.”
His sister swaggered up to us with twinkles in her eyes. “Thanks for the medication, Blake. Oh you might want to bring your girlfriend along with you tonight!” Giggling, she walked off with that same jaunty swagger. I looked at Blake to see his reaction. He was smiling as if he had a secret joke and shaking his head. “What?” I asked. “Nothing, but tonight we decided to have a party inside the school’s huge dance studios, wanna come?” I squinted my eyes at him. Seriously, they were partying at a time like this? It seemed as if the school was already their home, even though it had been barely a day.
“How long have you been here for?” I demanded. “Last night” he muttered under his breath. “WHAT?” “Hey, keep your voice down! I was at the operating room when that first zombie bit into some people alright? I got scared and started running. I didn’t even think about my car till I got home and calmed down. After that, I figured that a safe place would be somewhere like this” He gestured to his surroundings. Mad, tired, and thinking that he must had been really selfish to not warn others, I stalked off.
The school was really beautiful, painted in yellow and blue. It had a miniature garden and pond. There was a sand pit area with signs talking about Dinosaur fossils and even on the top floor, a huge study area with the most comfortable sofas and tables, complete with a vending machine and toilet, glass windows overlooking the inside of the schools, not outside. That was a good thing, because I would not look out and see zombies or worry about them spotting me from outside. My stomach was growling so I brought some snacks from the machine and had them. Chocolate had never tasted so good. Tired, I laid down on a soft sofa and promptly fell asleep….
Cool fingers were stroking my cheek. I smiled, still in my sleep. Mum was probably trying to wake me up for school or was it church? What day was it? I groaned. I did not want to go to school. It was my final year and the projects kept piling up. I opened my eyes that felt really dry to look up at the unfamiliar face. Realization dawned and I sat up suddenly. It was not a dream! The zombie apocalypse was real and I was stranded away from my family. My parents were not even contactable. I pulled out my phone to check for notifications but there was nothing. I sighed.
“You alright? I thought you would like to go dancing” I looked up at Blake, resigned to my fate and no longer angry at him. If dancing were the norm here, I would do it. I stood up slowly, hearing my joints crack as they shifted into place. A sofa was still a sofa after all. I looked at my watch which displayed the time at 8pm. I had slept the whole afternoon away but now that I was feeling better, I was actually curious about where they could possibly be dancing. Would the noise gather unwanted attention? I bit my lip in consideration. As if reading my thoughts, he said “Don’t worry, the studios are sound proof”. I nodded and started to follow him. After walking a while, I slipped my right hand into Blake’s unconsciously (it was a natural thing I did with friends), then tried to slip it out quickly when I realized it. He merely tightened his grip and wrapped his fingers around mine, giving me that smile which made my heart skip. I felt my cheeks heat up.
Holding hands, we walked together to the school’s main hall which was just in front of the giant dance studio. There were mirrors on three sides of the walls with ballet bars over them. The last wall was full glass, overlooking the beautiful school garden. Music was being played over the loud speakers of the room. Everyone that seemed distant earlier, were laughing and having a good time. I had thought the party was just for entertainment as we could not go anyway at night but as I wandered into the room, I realized that the party was indeed important, maybe even crucial for survival. It was a time for everyone to let their hair down, for a short while, and celebrate that they had survived the first, rough day. “Come on”, Blake pulled me to the centre of the dance room to join the lively dancing crowd, that were moving to the beat of ‘summer’ by Calvin Harris.
Blake was a fantastic dancer and soon enough everyone was watching him move. Not shy with attention, he danced to the spotlight and taught everyone to do some moves. Soon, everyone was moving to the beat together and laughing. We danced to a few more songs, Fire Burning on the Dance Floor by Sean Kingston, Club Can’t Handle Me, before I took a break to get some water.
As I took a break, the music changed to slow music, Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”. I swayed to the music as I stood there watching couples pairing up and dancing slowly. Blake came up to me and took the cup of water from my hands, gulping the rest of it down himself. My jaw dropped at his audacity. Before I could yell at him, he grabbed my hand and pulled me onto the dance floor.
I was speechless, and there he was ignoring me as if I was petty. Was I? Guilt washed over me as I thought of the afternoon events. He was doing only what anyone reasonable in his situation would have done. “I shouldn’t have stormed off like that this afternoon, sorry.” I apologized, as he put his arms around me and I did the same. He shook his head, “You were tired” and that was all we said of the matter. He was close and smelled quite good, a mix of mushrooms and the clinical soap they used at hospitals. Wait, why was I thinking about how good he smelled? His arms felt so comfortable around me though, so I continued to let him hold me as we spun around the floor till the music ended.
YOU ARE READING
Surviving in Chaos
Любовные романы"I liked small children too but this one was a little odd. Her eyes were bloodshot and the colour of her eyes were dulled as if the life had gone out of them. That wasn’t the worse part of it, as she ran, it was obvious she was unstable on her legs...
