Chapter 3 Art: Koumieruchu (instagram)
Rotting flesh. Running for my life.
Surviving something I shouldn't need to survive.
This is all I can remember from when I was alone.
***
An old radio played the song Mr. Sandman. I lay my head against the wall.
A growl. A low, inhuman growl was heard from behind the wooden creaky door I lay my limp body against. My eyes widened.
It's here.
***
BOOM
Before I knew it, the entire group was sprinting out into the hallway, and I was following them without realizing. The smell of thick smoke filled my lungs. I coughed and hacked as my throat itched and burned with the sensation of the smoke filling it. Everyone else did the same.
Two bodies emerged from the dense, dirty clouds. Lawrence and Ethan. They both coughed as well.
"What happened?" Harry cried out.
"I.... I don't know." Lawrence could barely finish his sentence he was still stunned and trying to get the smoke out of his face.
"What do we do?" A small redhead cried out.
"I don't know! We have to do something!" Harry responded, looking around in panic. I whimpered.
"Oh god... um- okay..." Pushing past a few of them I went into the room that the fire had been started in. Harry called my name, Zion said, 'she's an idiot'.
Dang. That wasn't small. I mean... it wasn't huge, but it definitely was not small. I looked for and grabbed a fire extinguisher. Shit. How do I use this?
Shit. Shit. Class. Remember class.
Pull the pin.
Aim the nozzle.
Squeeze the trigger.
What type of fire was this? A class A fire? How would something in here be set on fire- that doesn't matter now.
I did what I knew and put out the fire as a strong hand yanked me out the door, causing me to drop the fire extinguisher and cough like a mad man. "Seriously dude? You're gonna get yourself seriously hurt!" Zion. He yelled at me as Harry walked past with a look of disappointment? Disapproval? I couldn't tell.
Lawrence walked over and gently separated his hand from my hand. "Hey, Zion. Calm down. She put out the fire-" He stopped speaking and looked at Eugene who walked over with a lighter.
"This was in there. Maybe it exploded?" Eugene questioned.
Lawrence let go and walked over. "What? How? A lighter doesn't explode unless you really mess with the inside or set it in heat. It's September."
Zion leaned next to me. "Okay, smartass. Who knows?" Lawrence snapped his head towards Zion as he spoke as if to say, 'language, Zion, language', or, 'don't give me that tone'.
As the three bickered, Harry walked up to me. "You seriously should have been more careful." I apologized, but I don't know if it did any good at all.
Zion spoke up again. "I think we should let the kid stay. She put out a fire for us, I guess. So..."
Lawrence nodded. "I agree. I mean, clearly none of us were going to try any time soon." He smiled warmly at me. My face heated up so I looked down to my feet beneath me.
"Thank you so much." I felt like crying, again. I looked up. "I promise I'll help out as much as I can! Really, thank you." I smiled, and sniffled.
"Are you crying? Seriously?" Eugene laughed in disbelief. "Oh my god." He turned to open up a window.
I shrugged. "It just really means a lot to me. I'm not trying to be annoying. Apologies." I noticed Lawrence smiling warmly at me from across the room.
"Not at all. We're glad to have you." He spoke in a soft, gentle voice. I shivered a tiny bit. His voice was always so sweet and warm like a fireplace, but it was still bold and full of determination. I could never wrap my head around how he does it. I like it. A lot.
He looked at the others. "I hope you know we still have to do Night watches tonight." Everyone groaned and made sounds of annoyance in unison. Lawrence turned to me. "Are you okay with that? We just have to check around the school to make sure no zombies can get in. Kind of like patrolling the area." I nodded.
"Oh yeah, for sure." Lawrence clapped and had those on duty meet in 1-C.
***
"Well, I'm taking the lab with Eugene. So you can't go there, idiot." Scarlett snapped. Idiot? Really? God I wish she could just see that I wasn't here to harm her. Maybe shes... insecure? I wanted to find out.
"I- I'm sorry I just thought-" I started before I heard a soft voice interrupt me.
"You could come to the school yard with me." Harry smiled at Lilly. I nodded, but immediately stopped when I remembered it.
"Wait- the school yard... it's outside." ThE ScHoOl YaRd iS OuTsiDe. Idiot, of course it is. Fear was prominent in my voice. I hated going outside. Would I die from just looking outside the building?
Lawrence shook his head. "Its just a quick stroll. You'll be with Harry too, in case anything happens." He smiled, again. I don't understand how he's so happy, all the time. So... optimistic. God I wish I could do that. I wish I could be those rays of lights that played hide and seek with the world when they lost hope, and when the sky got cloudy. Like a ray of light, appearing and making everyone relieved or happy.
I wanted to be relied upon.
Damn it.
