The Dead Walk

Spreading Fire

-30 years Earlier; Alex Bailer-

The sound of my alarm sprung me from deep sleep and an amazing dream. I dreamt of Sarah Prescott.. such a pretty girl.. black hair, dark as a raven's feather, eyes as blue as the ocean and pale skin, close to the whiteness of clouds, outdone but the whiteness of her teeth. I hate admitting that I dream of her petite and damn near perfect body, examining every curve and every little detail. I take a look at the floating red numbers sitting on the table beside my bed. It read 6:45 am and I groan as I leanover to switch my table light on, feeling the cold touch my shirtless body. The light illuminates throughout my room, casting long shadows from stuff lying around. I really don't want to go to school today. I take a step out of bed, my foot making contact with my carpet. Three knocks hit my door "Alex, are you awake?" I hear my mothers soft voice ask. "Yeah I'm up" I say, as I change my underwear quickly to avoid chilling my private parts. I go to my dark brown drawer and pull out jeans from the top and a shirt from the middle, each time with the sound of wood dragging on wood. I grab my phone, going through my notifications to get them all cleared out because I cannot stand all of the little numbers on the app symbols. I see a text from Ronnie, my best friend. Ronnie is a taller guy with long blonde hair, a little over shoulder length, and a very lean body.

"Hey man, I won't be at school today I'm a little fucked up 🤢🤮"

I stare in confusion at this text. Ronnie NEVER gets sick.. last year when the school was hit with the flu and 7 out of 10 students had it, Ronnie was unaffected. In the 9 years I've known him he has never been sick, had allergies or even felt under the weather. I start to reply

"your sick? What symptoms? 🤔😧"

No less than a minute later i receive a response

"I'm hot, I ache all over, and I have a massive fucking headache 🤕"

Jesus.. this is bad
My thought concluded, I look over to the clock. 7:00...
"Dammit I'm gonna miss the bus!" I express as I lean down to put my shoes on, rushing with sloppy movements as I tied them and then I stand up, having to push my heel in while moving. I grab my grey hoodie and my book bag and run out the door.

My face feels the wind, and my mouth is starting to get dry, also I feel how chapped my lips are. The bus arrives as I am reaching the end of my driveway. Mr. Way stops and opens the doors, greeting me without looking.
"Good morning, come on and get to your seat quickly please". My foot makes solid contact with each of the steps, making a loud and annoying sound. I get to the center aisle and start walking back, avoiding eye contact with all of the other kids. I get to my seat and then pull my phone out. I try to ignore the smell of dip spit and the leather seats, all permeating with the windows up. The sound of Micheal Essner snoring wasn't helping lower my annoyance level of having to ride the bus. Out of all of my friends I am the only one that doesn't have an older brother or sister to ride with. Mom's car is screwed up and Dad rides his car to work every morning. He doesn't like to let me ride in it I think, but he'd never say that outright. I go back to my messages, seeing a notification. Ronnie had texted me back.

"Dude this really hurts.. could you stop by after school?"

"Awww want me to get Ashley to kiss it? 😂😂😆"

"Dude I'm being serious.."

I start to feel a difference in my atmosphere as I read this and realize that he isn't fucking around.. Ronnie is literally the king of messing with people.. he's never serious and is a damn class clown..