ContamiNation

The gym

Sorry about the lateness, I didn't have wifi on my laptop and then school stuff got in the way.

Carris

Dark. It was so dark. Perfectly, pitch black, nightmare, void darkness. It was like staring straight into a starless outer-space.

Breathing deeply, I walked into the dark sub-basement gym. I could almost hear people yelling at a screen "Don't go in there!" Like when the idiot in the horror movie goes into the dark garage instead of the brightly lit house.

I was that Idiot.

I knew it was a bad idea. Worse than just going into the pitch-black room. And as I closed the heavy doors I didn't know if I had the keys to open them again. Alone, hidden, nobody knew I was there, and no way out or a light.

Diamma

We'd looked for Carris for an hour. The sun had completely set below the horizon; unless I was in a classroom with windows that pointed out onto the street. The streetlamps still worked because they used solar charging during the day and at night, well, kind of obvious.

The Dollarama we'd robbed—me, Chris, and Giev, while Phil went out weapons hunting at his house—had glow sticks, sparklers, fake candles, real candles and a shit-ton of lighters in the front and back rooms, nightlights with solar power and motion sensor lighting, and—my favorite—garden lights.

I'd taken to shoving those garden lights in between dark spots and windows. The best spot was the huge window beside the stairs leading to the gym. There were two connected gyms in the sub-basement and the one more gym connected—by a long-ass hallway—to the pool. The huge window was perfect for charging and then lit up the three surrounding hallways, two of which were dark as fuck.

Giev was still outside, that love-sick idiot, and Chris, Phil, and I were working inside on finding Carris— who'd gone missing too long ago—fixing anything that needed to be fixed, and looking for anyplace for us to sleep.

So far the options were: Roof (Yeah...no, too cold.), basement (no security), in a locker (that was mostly a joke, none of us, besides me, could even fit in there), teachers' lounge or office, library (maybe one of the rooms in the library), or the art room (Mostly for the big windows).

I was walking through the locker hallway for the umpteenth time screaming for Carris. Though we'd gotten into the fight and weren't on good terms that didn't mean I wanted her to be lost or worse: dead. Or even worse: Infected. So, maybe when she heard my voice she'd ran farther away from me but I'd rather be yelling and have her run away than be quiet as she stays in one spot getting eaten.

There was a door in that hallway—a bright red door. It's been there forever (well, duh, doors don't move) but I still never knew where it lead.

For a second it was a normal day. I was just going to class, Carris and crowded halls around me. But then it was gone, I was shoved into the dark again, alone.

But this time: I had the keys.

The door only had a small iron key-hole. No handle, nothing, just that. I put in the key and turned. I pulled on the key; still stuck half twisted in the door and hoped it wouldn't snap.

It was dark. So, so, so dark. Like all the light in the world was absorbed. I put the garden light before me.

Just a small walkway with a railing, on the right was stairs leading up, then a plunge into darkness. I walked quietly into the dark. Not the time to be in one of your favorite books, pretending to carry a lantern, I thought to myself, pulling out a strong flashlight, and shining it over the edge, cutting through the dark.

I was in the lower gym. Shining it to the left, I saw the walkway continued into a wall. From there I knew it lead into a stairway with a locked door at the bottom. The stairs on my right, leading up, I had no clue.

There's more than one way into the lower gym. I called into the dark, "Carris?" Nothing, except my own echo cutting through the silence. "Carris, are you down here? Please answer me."

A small voice, barely a whisper, responded, "Dia?"

I could cry, "Carris?"

"Dia, I'm down here." Carris was whispering, just an echo reached me.

I rushed down the stairs, nearly tripping a few times, fumbled with the keys to open the door at the bottom of the stairs, and barged in waving my flashlight around.

I found her in the other gym. She was curled in the corner. Shadows covered her to the point it appeared the shadows were hiding her from me and my light. It took a few seconds to find her.

I ran up to her sliding on my knees, holding her head in my hands. "Carris, are you okay?" I couldn't see anything besides the shining of her eyes.

Carris just looked right through me, "Dia."

"Yes, yes, yes, I know who I am, what's wrong with you?" I shifted the light to her. She flinched, I moved it away.

She started shaking. "I couldn't see, I couldn't see."

"I know, come with me. You—we should go." I hooked her arm over my shoulder and hoisted her up. "Come on, you need to get out."

She limped with me back the way we came then stopped, wouldn't move. "No, that way," She pointed.

"Here," I handed her the keys. Together we moved to the large double doors.

Carris was on the table, shaking. After I brought Carris upstairs to the Vice-principal's office—next to the office was a small room I'd once slept in when I wasn't feeling too hot—I'd tracked down the guys. Giev was the difficult one to find. It took about half an hour before he came back inside for a 'snack break' and 'regroup'. I'd caught him at the doors. He'd yelled at me for a few minutes until I could get it into his thick head that I already found Carris and she was inside, sleeping. He pushed past me so fast I nearly stumbled into the garbage.

Unfortunately for Carris, no one knew anything about health. Fortunately for Carris, she fell asleep almost instantly so she didn't have to deal with anything. I'd gone into the library and 'checked out' every book they had on health. So far it seemed like she was over stressed and in shock. I don't know what happened for that hour before I'd gotten there but it couldn't have been good.

Carris looked so peaceful. This would probably be the only good sleep she'll ever get from this point on. After today she'll never get a good rest and when she does find her peace who knows what she'll have had to do to have gotten it in the end.

I pulled off her shoes and socks, noticing a wicked scratch. It trailed up her leg and, I twisted her foot around to get a better look, went up to mid calf. The jean material partially ripped.

"Jeez, fuck, what happened to you?" I mumbled, lighting up a lamp and closing the door.

I turned back to her. I'd robbed a few thrift stores up the street for clothes earlier in the day before I came back to see the buses leaving.

I replaced her jeans with thin baggy cotton bottoms. Her top with a tank top—I had to take off her bra, she hated sleeping with it on—and put a baggy Hogwarts alumni shirt on top of it. I flinched when I saw the bruises—the hand-shaped bruises running up the length of her arms, the still red scratch on her collarbone, more bruises on her back and hip. They had to have been recent. But that gym was locked up tight. Then again, I didn't remember having to unlock the exit that Carris pointed me towards. But, then again, I did give her the keys.

All this wondering wasn't helping anyone. I took the mattress from the next room, placed it on the floor before Carris's—closed—door and slept there for the night. I'd be her protector, for as long as she needed.