The Injection

Chapter One

"I'm home," I croaked out, bringing myself back from the past. My mother, a frail, older version of myself rushed out of the kitchen, wearing oven mitts. From the smell, it was Lasagna. "Hey, mom." I said, dropping my schoolbag and hugging her.

She pulled away from the hug and readjusted the tie in her hair, obviously avoiding talking to me. When she realized she couldn't keep this charade up, she sighed. "Did you go by the park with Micah?" She asked, trying to keep the conversation light.

I narrowed my eyes. I knew where she was going with this and I wasn't about to talk about this with her. Not today. "I have homework to do, and I had better get started on it." I said, picking up my bag and retreating up the stairs.

"You can't hide from this forever!" She called up to me, "You come of age next week, and if you don't get the shot, you kill us all!" Her tone became bitter and much more angry, if it were possible. "Don't be anymore selfish than you are, remember Daniel. At least he tried to get the shot." 

I flushed a deep scarlet, and filled with anger and humiliation, rushed to my room, slamming the door and falling on my bed. It took only a secojd and I fell asleep, still in my clothes.

It was dark out when I awoke to a pounding at the door. I waited for my mother to open the door, but when there was not a sound except the continuous knocking, I got up and made my way through the darkness to the door.

When I opened the door, I gasped. It was Micah, covered in fresh blood, a manic look in his eyes. "I rid of them for you," he said quietly with a small grin on his face. It made him look crazy and murderous. "Now you don't need to get the shot..." Then his smile drooped a bit, "But your momma wanted you to, so I had to rid of her too."

I cried out and made my way to the stairs, running up, to see my mother laying there, staring blankly at the ceiling, blood blossoming all around her, then I turned to see Micah raise the knife and all went black.

I awoke, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. As much as I disliked my mother, I didn't want to see her dead, especially at the hands of my best friend.

I sat up and looked around at my small bedroom. Stuffed animals I had owned since I was young littered my bed and floor. I was still in one piece, so I knew it was just a nightmare, yet I still rose out of my bed to check on my mother. When I opened the door, I moved to her side and kissed her forehead softly.

When I left, I could have sworn I saw her hide a smile.

****
6 days

I awoke again to the smell of pancakes in the kitchen, and wondered what the occasion could be. If it was my mother, surely I would smell smoke by now. I pulled on some jogging pants and trudged down the stairs, rubbing my eyes and stifling yawns. 

When I had gotten to the bottom of the steps, I saw Micah and his brother Samuel cooking over the oventop. Samuel was younger than his brother by a year, as I was, so he and I were to get needles around the same time.

"Smells promising," I said, taking a whiff of the pancake smorgasbord that took place. Over five plates were stacked high with the breakfast, and I let out a disbelieving laugh. "Are we feeding the government or something?"

Samuel laughed, but Micah glared at me, "No!" He snapped and forced himself to smile, "It's another day closer to your shot, I thought we'd celebrate."

My high spirits disintegrated instantly. "Oh." I said sighing, "In that case, I'm not hungry. I'll eat later maybe."

Samuel's expression became concerned, "Are you okay?" He asked, but Micah elbowed him, hissing in his ear. His younger brother's eyes glazed over and he took a mouthful of pancakes.

"I'm fine." I said, shrugging. "But, I realized that I...don't really like breakfast." This was a massive lie. I reveled in eating breakfast, and if I missed it, I will be annoying for the whole day, complaining about how hungry I am no matter how much I have to eat.

He narrowed his eyes then shrugged, "Whatever. I'll save some for you for lunch." His eyes trailed to the bag on the floor, "Where are you going?"

"School." I said dejectedly. Only 6 days and I would be free of this hellhole. "It's Thursday."

Micah dropped his plate, "I'll walk you there. We can't trust anyone anymore."

I stepped away from him, "Actually I was thinking I would go alone."

"Suit yourself." He said, trying to sound bored as if he didn't care, but I knew better. He'd been different for a couple of months now, not the cute and sweet Micah I had met when I was 7 but a tough, rude one.

I turned abruptly and made my way to the door, but only I knew where I was going...

And it wasn't to school.

•••••••

"What will I do, Carolina?" I asked, putting my head in my hands. I had gone straight to her home after I left mine. She was the exact age to me, for she shared my birthday, which meant we would get the shot on the same day. "Micah's been acting odd since he got the injection."

Carolina scratched her head, "I don't know what to say," She said slowly. "It may just be Micah's personality being changed,  but I'll need you to bring him here for a blood test if I want to be completely sure." She rolled over to a computer on her chair and began tapping rapidly on the keys.

I peered over her desk, in hopes to see what she was doing, but to no avail. She had blocked it so I couldn't see. "What are you doing?" I asked, trying to only sound curious and not suspicious.

She laughed, "If you are thinking that I am turning you in, you need a lesson on trust." She smiled at me, and I saw where she was missing teeth from the countless fights she had gotten in when she was younger. "I'm trying to see whether I can hack into the system to see exactly what's in those needles." She bit her lip and tapped harder on the keys, "It will take a lot of coding though. At best it will take a couple of days."

I felt the color drain from my face, "But we don't have a couple of days! We get the shots in 6!" I began pacing, trying to keep calm when I knew that everything was going even further downhill.

"Chill, Cass." Carolina said, not looking up from the computer. "We could just be overreacting. Has anyone else acted different that you know of?" There was a beep from the screen and her eyes lit up.

"Anyone else who has acted diff-No! I don't know anyone else who is older than me...other than my mom, but she got it way before I was born so I wouldn't know." I sighed and realized I wasn't being much help so I took a seat and tried to stay still.

"Then like I said, it may just be Micah that's weird." She shrugged. "You're just being paranoid. I'd get to school if I were you or they'll be questioning your whereabouts." When she saw the look of confusion on my face, she added, "My parents are dead. I don't care if they call here."

"That's awesome," I said. She was way too lucky and then there was me, burdened by a rude mother.

"Now go," She snapped. "I don't want you to get caught here. Meet tonight after school and I'll tell you what I got."

I did as I was told, and left her house feeling safer than I had before I had gone in.