We Are Risen

Chapter One

The early morning sun lit up the parking lot as I walked to the front of the school with my friends. Ally, Bryson, Kira, and Toby walked next to me as we approached the nurses that were waiting outside of the open doors. A few of the students were milling around campus, avoiding going up to the nurses. I looked over to Kira as she coughed softly into the sleeve of her blazer. 

"I think this is ridiculous," she declared after she finished coughing. "I mean, daily check-ups because of this dumb virus?"

I stayed quiet as I glanced down at her wrist, where a bandage poked out of her jacket sleeve. I shivered slightly as a cool wind swept over the parking lot. 

"Kira" Bryson, her twin brother, spoke up as we weaved in between the cars. "This virus is serious. They call it 'Nature's Vengeance' for a reason."

"People are dying," I said quietly, before brushing a strand of my curly red hair behind my ear.

Ally looked over to us, a small crease in between her trimmed eyebrows. Her brownish-red hair blew behind her as she walked. "My mom has been at the hospital so much that she barely even has time to come home, sleep an hour or two, shower, and change her scrubs. Then she has to leave again. She's even stopped wearing makeup because she doesn't have the time to apply it. She's so tired here lately."

Toby frowned. "Business has been picking up at Dad's store."

Bryson looked over to him, confusion was evident on his face.

"Isn't that a good thing?" he asked Toby. "Wasn't the store about to close because there was no business?"

"Yeah," Toby replied, crossing his arms. "But it's concerning."

"Why?" I blurted out, before blushing when Toby turned to look at me with his warm brown eyes.

He swept his dark, dark brown hair back with his hand. "All they're buying is guns, ammunition, and knives."

My eyes went wide as I whipped my head around to stare at him. "K-knives?"

He nodded, and I turned my eyes towards the ground, tugging the sleeves of my sweater down over my hands. 

"We'll see you inside," Bryson said in his deep voice, and Ally, Kira, and I waved to them as they separated into the boy's line. 

We walked up to the nurses, and a blonde woman smiled at me. Her hair was slicked back into a neat bun, and she had a stethoscope around her neck. 

"Hi sweetie," she said while smiling. "We're just going to check your basic vitals, okay?"

I frowned but nodded. As long as there are no needles, I'll be fine. She checked my blood pressure, my heart, and my ears, mouth, nose, and eyes.  When she finished with me, I stepped inside the school. Ally followed close behind me, and we were quickly joined by Toby and Bryson. Toby leaned on my shoulder, and I blushed before I hid my mouth with my hand and looked away from him. I felt tense, but Toby didn't seem to notice. 

"It's a bummer your mom is never home," he said to Ally. 

Ally turned to him, her arms crossed with a frown on her face. 

"My mom said the hospital is so packed with sick people, they had to set up makeshift hospital rooms in the basement with beds and curtains," she told us. "And the morgue is overflowing with bodies."

Our conversation was interrupted by a scream, and we turned with a start to see Kira fighting the male nurse. Her straight brown hair flew around her face as she fought the nurse. 

"Let me go!" she shrieked. "I'm not sick!"

"Wait a minute!" Bryson yelled. "What are you doing to my sister?"