The Outbreak

The Elite

"Carly, we haven't done anything interesting in like a week, our fans are getting bored." Emma drawled, a slight whine leaking into her tone. One alabaster leg was swung over the arm of her LaZ-boy recliner, bedazzled pink laptop resting open on her lap as she read the comments on their last video.

"I have an idea." Carly leaned over her shoulder, eyes glued to the screen as her dark curls brushed Emma’s arm, where she scratched at it in annoyance.

"Well make it fast, babe. Our fan base is seriously dropping." Emma jabbed her finger into the screen, leaving a smeared print that caused her to frown in distaste as she wiped it off.

"Easy. We can do it tonight. Call everybody to meet us up at Lake Loyalty."

Emma looked uncertain, but ready to put any scheme that involved her best friend’s devious mind into action. "Sure."

Lake Loyalty was in the back end of the hideously small town of Loyalty, hidden deep in the thick forest. It had been fenced off, and tarped over back in the seventies when the animals that used the lake for their water source started acting strange. People just assumed they had gone rabid, but when it kept spreading, the whole area where the affected animals were was burned straight to the ground, anything living with it. Of course people wondered, but who were they to go against the government?

*   *   *

There were five members of Loyalty Academy's most Elite. They were the five extremely rich, and most important families of the town that had lived there since the town itself was built. The children who came from these families did whatever they wanted, despite the consequences, simply for entertainment purposes.

Their vlog was called the Elite, and it featured every possible stupid thing one could do in a town as small as Loyalty, which turned out to be a lot when one had no restrictions and every way to cover up for one’s self.

"Gross." Aurora sighed, arms crossed over her rather large chest as she balanced herself at the top of the fence barricading the lake, her trusty pocket knife in hand.

"Just cut it open already." Carly snapped from her place on the ground, shivering in her sweater vest.

"Alright, so here we are at Lake Loyalty." Emma grinned into the camera before pointing it at Aurora who was working away at the plastic. "As you can see, it's been blocked for years. Apparently the Government comes in every year to put in a new tarp and make sure the fence hasn't been breached. As if." She rolled her eyes in general Emma-like skepticism.

"God, Emmy. Way to discourage the creep factor of this place." Charlie chuckled, rolling his eyes at Emma when she swung the camera around, sticking it in his face.

"Anything to say to our loyal fans?"

"Just that it's cold as hell, and we're going swimming. This had better be our most popular video yet." He flicked his hair out of his eyes with a toss of his head, jamming his hands deeper into the pockets of his Uniform Blazer.

That was one of the rules of making the videos. They always had to be in their school uniforms, nothing else. It made the whole thing more dramatic, besides the fact that their website was the most underground thing in the history of illegal actions, with constant monitoring to make sure nobody who would want to shut them down got on their website.

"What about when we burned down the sheriff's office?" Kyle put in from where he was leaning against one of the very few trees that had managed to grow back since the fire.

"Maybe." Carly cut in. "They say the animals that drank from this lake became bloodthirsty, and they attacked hikers, at them all right up."

"I call bullshit!" Aurora sang from the top. "We're in!" She climbed down, disappearing inside.

"Creepy and gross." They heard her mutter, followed by the sound of slicing at the tarps blocking the gate from the inside.

The lake was surrounded in tarps, with no views of the inside from any direction unless you were actually inside.

The door swung open after a few minutes of silent lock-picking, and the others followed Aurora inside.

It was disgustingly hot inside, not only that, it was like being inside a giant tent. Lake Loyalty was by no means small, it looked to be at least half a kilometer across from the outside and even with the 10 meter high fence it felt claustrophobic being inside. There was about a meter of walking space at the edge of the water on every side but the girls kept to the fence, Emma filming everybody's reactions through the light on her camera.

Kyle and Charlie immediately took off to the other side of the lake, pushing and shoving as they disappeared into the darkness.

"Why is it so hot?" Aurora shrugged off her uniform sweater, stripping down to her underwear. She pulled a pocket flashlight from her bra and clicked it on, shining it into the water.

"Bonus." Emma giggled. "Alright fans, we are about to swim in this creepy, stinking hot, cordoned off lake for you! Maybe after we'll burn it down." She unfolded her tripod, attaching the camera so everybody could see what they were doing. “You’ll probably only be able to see what’s going on right in front of the lake, but here’s your explanation: it’s big, it’s hot, it’s like being inside a tent, and it’s winter outside!”

"Holy shit!" Aurora jumped in the water, coming up spluttering. "It's freezing."

"Well yeah, it's Winter, idiot." Carly rolled her eyes in the usual I’m a bitch and I don’t care fashion.

“No, it’s not even like the usual cold, it’s like it should be frozen solid.” She explained, her lips turning blue as they quivered from the chill.

“Either you can shut up and do this with the rest of us or get out. Stop being such a whiny bitch.” Carly snapped irritably.

What she really wanted was to be home with her older brother Craig. He’d only gotten a week’s leave from the military and he’d been busy for most of those days visiting friends. There was a party for him tonight - one that she was missing for ridiculous and pointless videos.

“Ooh, ladies. Save the drama for your mama.” Charlie chuckled, popping up out of nowhere. “It does look good on camera, however.”

He never did understand why Carly was so intense all the time. Maybe it was Craig leaving, or the death of her mother, but she had become different in the past year, less generous and more like a slave-driver

“Shut up!” Carly shrieked, silencing the giggles that had erupted at Charlie’s comment. “Everybody just shut the hell up so we can get this thing done.”

Despite how blunt and insulting she could be, everybody knew Carly was boss - when she wanted something she usually got it no matter how many people she had to go through to get it. Her word was law among the group of Elites, and they shuffled off silently to strip down and swim in the supposedly haunted lake.

Carly stood on the edge, peering down into the inky black pool of water before her, bracing herself for the chill of the water on her skin.

“Don’t chicken out now Carls!” Charlie grinned evilly, running up behind her and helping her along by pushing her into the water.

She came up spluttering, the others splashing around in the water around her. They didn’t seem to notice that the water was beyond freezing, sending shivers down Carly’s spine. It was like the cold was seeping into her skin and wrapping around her soul where it squeezed, causing her to gasp out loud.

The rest of the group continued to play in the ice berg cold water, shoving one another into the depths of the lake. How could they be oblivious to the gut wrenching cold that tightened itself further around her. Did they not feel it too?

Carly crossed her arms over her chest and bit her lip as she watched the black water lap against her body. It was nothing more than cold water, so why did she get the sense that there was something very wrong with the lake. Maybe they shouldn’t have done this after all.