Death Zone

CHAPTER ONE

Ever experienced a moment in your life where everything happened in slow motion? If you asked me that question before all of this had happened, I would’ve laughed at you and told you that these kind of things only happen in the movies, but right now, the jokes on me.

Now let’s rewind two minutes before all hell broke loose. It was a normal Monday morning in Saint Mary’s Catholic School. It was around seven o’clock, so more than half of our class were already in the classroom chatting with each other, reading books, reviewing lessons, copying assignments, and some still half asleep, like I was. More like half day-dreaming and half hoping that one day, Mariel Perez would be mine. She was my classmate, and with luck, she was sitting right next to me, reviewing the lessons that might be taught for the day.

But my luck seemed to have faded really fast when Jay Cassel walked in. He only made it halfway across his seat when he suddenly fell flat to his face. Two of my classmates, Ariane and Nico immediately stood up and helped him lay flat on his back. Our eyes stuck like glue to Jay, confused with what just happened. Jay was a sickly boy actually, he can get infected with anything easily, even with his condition, he oftentimes forces himself to go to school even if he doesn’t have the strength to do it. This wasn’t the first time this happened either.

“He’s not breathing,” Ariane said. She knew a lot of medical procedure and terms because her family’s into medicine. She’s actually pretty good at it, even though she was just at high school.

“You sure?” Nico said, kneeling beside Jay. The whole room had suddenly gone awfully quiet. “Can you check his pulse?”

“I already did,” she said. Among all of us, Ariane is the most composed person I know. May it be performing, or doing things like this, she doesn’t show any signs of worry, but right now, her expression is full of it. “Nothing.”

“Let’s get him to the clinic then!” someone suggested.

“The clinic doesn’t open until eight,” Nico said.

“Then call the guards and let’s get him to the hospital.”

          As if on cue, a blood curdling scream shot through the hallway, followed by gunshots and more screaming, either for help or pain. It sent shivers up in my spine, and I’m quite sure I’m not the only one.

          “What the hell is happening?” I asked, but no one answered. Everybody was as clueless as I was.

          We heard running towards our hallway, I got out of my chair and hid behind it. Through the small rectangular window in the front and back door, we saw people running as fast as they can, screaming, as if they trying to get away from something.

          I looked at Mariel, she was scared as hell. I gave her a reassuring smile and mouthed off the words ‘it’s going to be okay’

          “Jay?” I heared Nico say, “Man, I’m glad you’re awake, I thought  you were goners. . . Jay?”

          Then that’s when all hell broke loose. Jay sat up, but you can clearly tell that it wasn’t the same Jay that we knew. The Jay we knew didn’t have light grey eyes for starters, and Jay would never, ever sink his teeth to his best friend’s neck, tear a chunk of it apart and eat it. Nico’s scream for pain twisted my stomach to knots. His scream was in between a gargling and a choking sound. I screamed, so did the rest of us. Without even thinking, I grabbed Mariel’s hand and ran to the farthest corner of the room.

          “Ariane! What the hell is happening?” I asked her. Mariel’s hand tightened around mine.

          She didn’t even have the time to answer, she turned and looked at me, then a second later Jay was all over her. Without a moment of hesitation from him, he sank his teeth into the left side of Ariane’s face.