Brink of Death

Prologue

It was a rainy morning, Mid-July and I was going to pick up my friend, Josh. He was a freshman, he had long blonde hair, he combed it the side, always. He has had that same look since... forever. He was an alright person to hang out with. He was always a shy person. I have always thought about the story I am about to tell you, of how I and a couple of others survived this apocalypse and how we all still stand on this planet today. But don't worry, only 81% of the earth was wiped out. We have no idea what happened still, this very day, but what we do know is what we did to survive. By the way, my name is Drew Carnell, and I am tall, well built, and I try to stay by myself as much as I can.

Normal Day At School

I remember the day that changed our lives forever, as if it was yesterday! I was on my way to Josh's house to pick him up for school. I had just finally got my car working. It was trash before I customized it. It was a 1969 Dodge Charger. It was baby blue, had dual silver stripes coming down it, tinted windows, chrome wheels, and an engine that rocked the car. I was almost to his house when I nearly hit a drunk driver. He was just getting home from the bar or something. I hit the brakes and the car came to a screeching halt just before slamming into the truck. He kept on his way and swerved down the road. A few seconds later, I saw a cop driving past the road with his lights on.

Once I was ready to drive again I pushed on my gas pedal slightly and went on my way. I was turning on my friends street when a man walked out in front of the car. I tried to stop again but it was too late. Blood splattered onto the hood of my car. I quickly hopped out to see if he was still alive. But when I saw that his leg was two feet away from his body I thought again. This was bad. Really bad. I grabbed a dirty rag from my back seat and wiped the blood off of the car. People get shot and murdered on this street and they don't get caught. I figured if that was the case then I could get away with this. I got back in my car and continued driving to Josh's house. The whole way there, I kept thinking about how I hit that man. I was nervous and thinking about getting caught. I didn't want to think about it. I knew that I shouldn't tell anyone.

When I arrived at his house, he was outside waiting at the end of his driveway. I pulled up by the curb and he jumped in. I started to tell Josh what had happened. He couldn't believe what I did. In fact he literally didn't believe me until we drove by the street and there wasn't anyone there. When I got done talking about it we were at the turn for our school. As we turned in I looked at Josh "That was a funny joke." He said, but I don't think he meant it. His friend Pierce then ran up to Josh. "Hey, dude that car is sick. Who drives it?" Pierce said talking to Josh trying not to drop his stuff. Josh quickly said, "It's his car." He said pointing to me. "I like the car and I would like to have one myself!" They then started to walk to the school door. I stayed in my car. I had to check on my grill and hood. I couldn't let anyone else know that I ran someone over.
My friend then called me on my cell. It was Nate. He helped design my car and wanted to know how it was running. We talked for a while and then the bell rang. "I have to go." I said. After I hung up I muttered to myself, "Good timing Nate." I went to first period class and of course, it was slow. I sat next to Nate's sister, who also liked me. Nate was someone that I grew up with, he's very cool with me and we've raced every once in a while. I've known him ever since Kindergarten. The bell rang for the second period and I went to my next class. Josh and his friend Pierce were in that class too. We sat down and this weird kid named Hayden sat beside us.

"Who are you?" Josh said.

"I'm new here. Is it cool if I sit here?" He said, already sitting.

"I'm not going to drag you out of that seat. I guess so." I said laughing a little.

The teacher went on and on about how the French club was so interesting. All of a sudden a loud noise came from outside. The sound was deafening and suddenly the power shutoff. There wasn't any light and no one could hear for a moment. The backup generator wasn't coming on either. We knew something was up.

Everyone then started to panic. In the process of the students panicking, the teacher tried to calm everyone down. It's not like one of those moments where the power shuts off then comes back on. No, this was different. When the power had shut down, I actually heard it die. Like a vroom sound that lasted about 2 seconds and quieted down as it ended.

It was so dark you couldn't see anything. I tapped Josh's shoulder and told him to follow me. Pierce saw that he was leaving and followed along. Hayden was right behind Pierce. It was hard to tell where we were going but if you're up really close then you can see a little. When we found the door we opened it. Everyone was so loud, nobody could tell we were leaving. The classroom we were in had no windows so no light let in. As I entered the hall, I took out my lighter. I carried one but never smoked. I flicked it and a little spark ignited the fire.

"What are you doing?" I said, eyeing a newcomer that joined us.

Josh and Pierce looked back and there was Hayden.

"I was following y'all. What is ..." He said and I quickly said "SHHH!" It stopped.

"What are you hearing?" Pierce said looking towards me.

"I heard like a little moan..." I said whispering. I started to walk towards the end of the hall. They began to follow me down the hallway until an announcement was made. It wasn't over the intercom though, considering thatit didn't work either. I closed my lighter. It became dark again. It sounded like teachers were walking the halls with bullhorns.

"All students and teachers stay calm. I repeat, stay calm." They kept saying.

"Wow. Those stupid teachers are so loud!" We turned around to see that another student had followed us out. His name was Victor and he was the most annoyingest kid ever. I'm not sure how he saw us leave. Suddenly, I pushed Victor into a bathroom to get us all out of the hall.

"Why are you following us!?" I asked him, realizing I had a hold on his shirt.

"Y'all are leaving, so am I." He said bluntly.

"Don't follow us then!" I furrowed my eyebrows and released my hold on him. He turned and began to walk the other way. I heard him mumble a little.

There was a window a hall down or so. When we could see a little, I pulled Josh to the side. "You don't think this has to do with the man I hit do you?" I said firmly.

He was staring at the tile on the floor. That's what he did when he was thinking. "Why must you drag a joke out. I live pretty close to the school but I don't think the power would be shutting off." He said. That made me feel a little better. He was right. This was different. We bent down on the floor and started to crawl down the hall, slowly. We didn't want to get caught, because if we did, then I knew we'd expect Hell.