Fallout

Test

My alarm tore through the serene morning silence, jolting me from my sleep, only to be silenced once more by a slap of the snooze button. "Gonna be late again, I guess." I muttered to myself as I lay in bed. I was fully aware that this was my last chance to avoid hitting snooze if I wanted to get to school remotely on time. I lay there, contemplating life, but I eventually threw my legs over the edge of my bed. I checked my calendar and saw the dreaded date of April 26th, 2018. First day back at school after the "accident". Six weeks prior, I had a seizure after finding a blackened vial of some grainy solution in my dad's lab coat. I don't remember much about what happened, but I do remember the color red and an inordinate amount of pain. So I've spent the last five weeks off from school and on bed rest, with hazy memories of my mom or dad periodically injecting me with some sort of relaxant and anticonvulsant medication that I was never informed of. I never wanted to watch the injection process as I have a slight phobia of needles, which was news to me, admittedly. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and stretched. "This is gonna be so much fun," I said apathetically to myself as I grabbed the first things I saw on the floor, which happened to be some black jeans and a plain white top. There was a frigid chill blowing in from my open window, and I already knew the school would be a meat locker because they never seemed to turn off the A/C, so I threw on a light grey woolen cardigan to top it off. Although not a bad fit, I think it was strange in the eyes of the "locals". Not like I paid much attention to those around me, a fairly bad habit of mine. Plus, there wasn't really any reason for me to give in and start dressing like the other kids, so I kept doing as I pleased. "God, I hate Russia," I said aloud, adding excessive volume for my parents to hear. It was all their fault I was here in this dumb "town" of Pripyat anyway. I grabbed my bag of school supplies and headed downstairs, where I had a quick breakfast of toast and butter, and hurried out the door without my parents being the wiser. Due to my purposefully lackadaisical attitude, I missed the bus and had to run (jog) to school. After I arrived and finished signing in at the main office, I headed to class. I rushed (sauntered) down the corridor towards my personal Hell. My dark grey sneakers slapping the cold, hard floor. I hated being late to this class. It was quite often, and always happened to be this particular class. School... It was a luxury I didn't know I had at the time. I, like most kids, hated school and was often the subject of school-wide torment. The only real thing that got me through this Hell was my best friends, Dmitri and Matt. Sure, you could call us outcasts, but we fit together quite well. I approached the door, my hand hesitating at first. Knowing I'd be mocked once I entered, I drew in a long breath and slowly exhaled. I gripped the handle with the sleeve of my light grey cardigan and pushed the door open as I closed my eyes in anticipation. The room went silent as most of the class's attention was drawn to me. Those who didn't look up, well, they were asleep. "Sorry!" I quickly breathed to the teacher. Without missing a beat, the teacher turned and said, "Well Mr. Jackson, do you have a late pass or did you lose that like you seem to lose your sense of time?" "Well Mr. Ashmore. I seem to do super good at keeping track of time when I'm here." I said as I walked to my seat, hoping my humor would soften the snickers of my classmates. "Freak," I heard some girl say a few seats behind mine. I took my seat and looked out the window towards the power plant, ignoring the hole-burning gaze of my teacher and his "pets" scattered throughout the class. The Plant. That's where my parents worked and probably where they were by now. That's another reason why I hated this place. The place where they worked was exactly where the old Chernobyl reactor had been. "This stupid town blew up once already, isn't that enough to call it quits?" I mumbled to myself. They were world-renowned scientists. Both of them are heads of their respective fields. Then they had me. Their only child, one who was almost put in special-ed classes, mind you. I looked over to my friends, who were already seemingly engaged in some comical conversation. I didn't mind not being part of it. Even though they were my friends, they could become quite a nuisance with their choice of topics. I was ripped from my thoughts by a sudden blaring warning message. We all flinched. Without even thinking about listening to it, each student went on to pull out their wax earplugs from their desks. It was Wednesday. The day they usually test the alarm systems. I put my earplugs in and looked around. Being so close to the plant, the sirens were deafening. I looked to the right to check the clock. It had just hit 08:35 am. "What an odd time to test the announcement system", I mumbled to myself. Time was actually going pretty quickly, all things considered. But I did get to school quite a bit late. I shrugged off my thoughts, "Only five more minutes of this horrid class, then a short break!" I bargained with myself. I then looked back to my left out the window. What was that? The power plant was almost... Pulsating? I pulled my earplugs out to hear the announcement system repeating on a loop: "This is not a test. Vacate the premises immediately. Danger." Apparently, I wasn't the only one who heard it, because the class — no, the school — erupted in absolute chaos. I sat there in utter shock. Thousands of thoughts raced through my mind, but one stuck the most. My parents! They were in the Plant. I had to leave but... I couldn't look away. The plant was now pulsing with a bluish hue, growing faster and faster. "GET DOWN!!" the teacher yelled. Running towards me, the only one still in my seat, and pulling me down onto the floor. I jumped back up and towards the window with my mouth open, preparing to let a scream rip from my lips. My parents were all I had. Mr. Ashmore yanked me off the window I was pressed against, and I hit the floor hard enough to knock the air out of my lungs. It was in that moment that I realized I could actually say I regret every bad thing I had ever said to them. And how my last words to them weren't "I love you" or anything meaningful at all today. An extremely bright, pale blue light shone through the window. I knocked the teacher's arm from around me and looked out the window. Nearly instantly blinded, I clenched my eyes closed and reeled back. I peeked through my eyelids by ever so slightly forcing open one of my eyes. The Plant seemed sucked inside itself. Almost as if to implode, but it was also severely warped-looking. What happened? A dark red light flashed from deep inside the plant three times before it erupted upwards and outwards into a dark red and orange pillar. It sent a wave of crimson dust and soot-like debris outwards that seemed to devour everything that was in its path. It reached the school within a second, and the walls caved in slightly as dust was knocked from every surface. The school felt like a stampede of crazed rhinoceroses had hit it head-on. The windows shattered, and small glass shards flew in and cut me like razors on almost every part of my body, immediately followed by that smothering cloud of crimson dust that grabbed me and threw me against the wall across the classroom. The last thing I remember is the awful screaming of the other kids in my class as they seemed to writhe in complete agony. After having the air knocked from me for the second time, I lay there shaking in pain as oxygen seemed to escape my every attempt to pull it into my lungs. I quickly passed out as the pain in my chest, lungs, and back mixed with the intense emotional turmoil brewing in my mind.