Chapter VII

The pop of what sounded like a thousand fire works shooting off all at once wrenched me out of sleep. High wails of muffled screaming from outside tapped my ears. I jumped out of bed rushing to the window splitting open the blinds to peer into shocking destruction.

Orange, red and yellow flames licked at the air like a raging demon from the houses a street over. Cars spun out of driveways, roofs scraping against garages too slow for their liking. Another house, closer, went up in flames. Our neighbor, Mr. Sanchez, stood on the sidewalk waving his arms at a woman on the roof screaming as her feet left the edge then was silenced.

“Ramie wake-“ I spun around to see Ramie looking out the other window adjacent to mine, the flashes of fire glistening in her darkened eyes. They were hardly green nowadays. She turned to look at me, gazes locking. I swallowed hard at her anguish, her confusion, as to what was going on.

“What’s going on?” Ramie whispered in the darkness.

I blinked feeling her pain swim into my chest making it heavy. “It’s happening.” I croaked.

For the first time, she looked like a child to me. Lost, searching for answers. The scene outside wasn’t real to her, only a blur across her glossy corneas. Her mind could not wrap around it just yet. That, or she just refused to accept it.

The clap of the door against the wall caused Ramie and I both to jump. Travis was yanking a shirt over his head obviously stirred by the chaos from outside.

“Travis…” Ramie gulped.

“Go to the truck!” He demanded ignoring his sisters plead. ”Grab what you need and get in the truck.”

I didn’t argue and ran for my book bag dumping out useless materials onto the floor then went to my little tub of clothing and stuffed unconscious of the things I was packing.

“What’s going on, Travis?” Ramie begged. “What’s wrong with everyone? Where’s dad? Travis.”

“Ramie!” My teeth clinked together at Travis’ panic. “Shut up and do as you’re told.” A shrilly ring filled the air and Travis answered his phone. All I needed to hear was ‘June’ and I forced myself not to listen.

Silent tears coming from her eyes, Ramie echoed my actions cramming items into her athletic bag obviously more aware of the things she grabbed then I was. Travis was doing his best to keep his fiancé under control on the phone as well as himself.

I had never seen him this way. So focused, so authoritative. He ducked out of the room then returned just as a loud shatter sang through the house, the ruckus outside intensifying as if someone turned the speakers up.

“Lets go.” He ordered catching my eyes. What was he thinking this time? “Are you-“

“I’m not the one who needs to be comforted.” I snapped glancing over at Ramie clutching the straps of her bag to her chest. “Lets go.”

I rushed past him, sneakers skidding on the wooden tile. Another crash came from the large windows of the backyard followed by a bonfire of flames that snaked along the curtains. I took the stairs two at a time, eyes fixed on the front door.

Into the night was like stepping into a football stadium at halftime. The sky was painted with ghoulish smoke clouds, the beam of streetlights and the October scheme of fire illuminating the darkness like stadium lights. Cars honked and screeched, people hollered and screamed as if urging on their favorite teams only this time the teams happened to be Ver or life. Ver having the upper hand.

At the end of the drive, Holley was barking at a man who was grasping the mailbox, his bloody hands slipping on the white wood. I froze in mid step at the shock of knowing who it was. Mr. Sanchez. The veins in his arms were bulging up, wiggling with infection like mosquito larva. His jaw unhinged to speak but only crimson bubbles left his throat.

Ramie’s lungs forced out a banshee scream that Travis silenced with a heavy hand on her mouth and eyes ushering her to the truck. He commanded me to move but my feet were stuck in invisible cement. Mr. Sanchez let go of the mailbox hitting the dusty ground with a squishy thud. An arm outstretched to me coming only inches away from my shoes. Then he looked up at me, in the face, in the eyes with the same questioning look I had gotten a dozen times. The eyes that claimed I was betraying them all, that because of me this disease was here.

“I may be the one to blame.” I whispered with a shrug.

The vessels in his eyes burst with an audible pop drowning his eyes in a maroon blindness. Blindness...Gregory.

The truck was instantly at my side. Travis leaned out the window flailing his arms. June was already in the passenger seat covering her eyes with both palms. “Zoë. Get in.” I shook my head. “Get in now.”

My eyes flashed to Ramie. Her eyes were too big for her face, face paler the baby powder. She was probably thinking I was crazy standing out here in the infestation, the bloody graveyard. Let her think

“Greg.” Was all I said and bolted off down the horrid street.

I didn’t have to look back to know Travis had wheeled into reverse and was following me. It would’ve been smarter to ride but I wasn’t thinking. Who could think with this happening around them?

The smoke and soot in the air was coating my lungs worse then the tar plastered on a chain smokers. My throat was parched, my mouth a ball of cotton, but I kept running following the steady rhythm of my heart banging like mallets on a xylophone against my chest. I could feel the sting of tears in my eyes. I blinked a few times urging them to seep out but nothing came. I cursed. I’d never be able to cry again.

I focused my sights on the road letting tunnel vision overcome, letting the constant ringing in my ears become so loud I was afraid I would go deaf. The sound of death was all around, rising like a morbid symphony. I prayed in my mind that the song wasn’t playing for him. Not Gregory. Not yet. I’d blame myself for his loss. I was the harborer of this treacherous plague.

“Zoë.” Travis was jumping out of the truck before it even stopped. “Zoe.”

My feet carried me up to Greg’s porch and through the door. All the lights were on, everything was on, seemingly untouched. Following the buzz of a TV, I rolled into the den bombarded with the horrid stench of iron, salt, and death so hard I could taste it. Before the TV lay his father, remote still in his hand.

“Oh God.” I gasped stepping back into Travis. His arms encircled me, hand turning my head from the body.

“Come on, Zo. They didn’t make it.” He cooed stroking my hair.

“No.” I wouldn’t believe that. Not until I saw it with my own eyes.

“Zo, I’m sorry.”

“No.” I slinked out of Travis’ hold pivoting towards the hall, he on my heels.

I peered into the rooms on my left and right. No sign of Greg. The last room was straight ahead, door closed. A lump grew in my chest, heart rate picking up to frantic. The sweat that pooled on my forehead and neck went cold.

“Do you want me to check?” He asked reaching for the door before I even answered. Extending my arm. I stopped him grabbing the knob myself. I swallowed…then…turned the handle.

I almost though my eyes would permit me to cry when I saw Greg curled up in the corner by his desk. His blind eyes looked up wide-eyed in my direction wishing they could see, trying hard to even catch a glimpse. His shoulders were stiff, pulled up to his ears, blood from his lip had trickled down to his chin and crusted there in the tiny patch of fuzz.

“Gregory.” The overwhelming emotion of that fact he was still alive- breathing, living, moving- wrenched me towards him.

“Zoë!” Lurching forward, he met me in the middle in a tight embrace, his chest pumping against mine with sobs. “Zoë, oh Christ, Zoë.”

“I know, Greg. I know.” I comforted. Travis tapped me on the shoulder. “Greg, I know you’re freaked but we’ve gotta go, okay? Everyone’s going crazy outside, the city has been hit hard with the virus, We’ve got to leave.”

His grip loosened up so I could hold him at arms length. “But my...my parents.”

“I’m sorry Greg. You’re dads gone and I didn’t see your mom.”

He tilted his head to the side. “That’s right...she went out tonight.” The look on his face told me he didn’t believe she was still alive and well. I prepared myself got more gut wrenching sobs, a strong hug, a bit of yelling, but he did nothing. His jaw flexed, face molding into stone. I turned to Travis who had filled a satchel of Greg’s things already, his phone going insane in his pocket.

“Greg.” I swallowed. “Are you ready?”

He nodded once then let his hand fall on my shoulder to guide him. I didn’t think twice before I started moving. Bulldozing out of the morgue to join the war of life and death yet again.

I climbed into the backseat beside Ramie then yanked Greg in after me pulling the door shut myself. The truck jerked forward without warning swerving onto the road at top speed. Everyone, everything was silent as we yanked our way from the little town. Only the pulse in our veins and the jagged breaths could be heard over the buzz of the air condition.

I felt something wet hit my hand and turned to Greg to see him crying. I pulled him down so his head lay in my lap letting my jeans soak up his sorrow. I shut my eyes anticipating the levees in my eyes to break loose, only sleep took over replaying the SciFi film I had just finished watching. Only thing is...it was all real.

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Short, but it all begins here.