The Fever

The Video

MARYLAND, MD:

LEENA:

Jason and I were glued to the television in the days following the news about the quarantine. We had watched in horror as all of Paris was quarantined. Aunt Maggie said she'd try and come to stay with us if she could get her horrible boss to let her off.

   I stood at the kitchen sink and looked out at towards our backyard. The sky was a dark grey from the oncoming rain. All I could think about were Mom and Dad. They were stuck over there in a foreign land without any way to contact us. What was happening over there? What were they being locked up for? Why was all of Paris quarantined?

   The sound of my cell rining brought me out of my thoughts. I ran to the living room where it sat. Hoping it was our parents, I didn't even glance at the ID before answering.

   "Hey," said Scott over the line.

   Scott. I hadn't talked to him since that disatrous night nearly a week ago. Why was he calling me now? I had barely given him a second thought what with my parents being stuck in Paris.

   "Hi," I said while dropping down onto the couch and leaning my head back against the couch.

   Jason came running up from his room. "Is it them?" he breathed while coming to lean over the back of the couch, looking at me expecantly.

   I shook my head and mouthed, Scott.

  Jason made a face and stuck out his tongue.

  "I just wanted to talk," Scott said, sounding like himself. "We left things in a...bad place last weekt."

   And whose fault was that?

   I heard Jason stomp back down to his room.

   "Yeah," I agreed shrugging, not realling focusing on the conversation as I turned on the TV and looked through the various news channels.

    "Are your parents still out of town?" he asked.

    I felt a spark of anger at that question. If he had bothered to talk to me I could have told him that they were stuck in a foreign country and unable to make contact with anyone outside of the conference center.

    "Yes," I said curtly.

    "Oh," he said a little taken back.

    "Did you need something, Scott?" I asked while finally finding a channel.

   Suddenly the tone of his voice changed. No longer did he sound apologetic, but aggravated. "Well, I was just going to see if I could come over," he snapped.

   I took a deep breath, my courage wavering. I wanted to be with Scott. I wanted to establish some ground rules for how far we would go. I wanted to sit on the couch and watch a movie with him. I wanted to make out with him. But, then I remembered him ignoring me for over a week. Remembered him not asking about my parents.

   "Now's not a good time," I sighed. "Plus, it's a school night." Not that school really mattered to me at the moment with my parents stuck in Paris.

  "Fine," he said, his voice hard. "I'm sorry I even bothered."

  "Scott," I began but he had already hung up.

  I dropped my phone down next to me on the couch and covered my eyes with my hands. Why was everything so difficult? A tear slipped down my cheek and I sniffed, my throat tight. Ugh. I shook my head and sat up, wiping away a few more stray tears.

  Just as I was about to change the channel I saw a Breaking News bulletin on the news. It was about Belgium, though, and not Paris. Belgium was quarantined now, too.  

   "It appears that a virus is spreading across Western Europe," the anchor woman said while looking down at her papers. "The name and cause of the virus is unknown as of yet. Doctors and scientists are working to understand and stop the virus."

    "JASON!" I shouted.

  Jason thundered up the stairs and came to a hault at the back of the couch.  

   "There's a virus," I told him as he leaned forward, his eyes watching the television intently.

    "As of the moment both France and Belgium are being heavily guarded," the anchor lady continued. "No one is allowed in or out of either country. All videos and photos are prohibited from being dispersed. The respective governments would like their citizens to know that they're working hard to discover the source of the virus and its affects."

   And with that the news changed to the weather.

   Jason and I stared at the TV. Then, Jason was racing back down to his room.

   "Where are you going?!" I shouted after him jumping to my feet.

   "Come down here, Lee!" he called back.

   I rolled my eyes and walked over to the stairs and down to his room. In his room, I saw Jason sitting on his bed, hunched over his laptop. He was typing away furiously, his eyes glued to the screen.

   I went to sit down on the edge of his bed, walking around game controllers and dirty clothes. Jason spun his laptop so that it was sitting between us. On it was the beginning of a video. Someone was videoing a seemingly deserted city street.

  "Jace, what is this?" I asked while leaning forward.

  "There has to be some kind of footage of what's going on over there," he answered as the video taper continued to walk.

   And then they spoke in French.

   "I wish I understood what he was saying," Jason said.

   The person stopped and in the distance I could see a small group of people walking towards him. Jasn and I leaned further to try and get a good look at the group. The person said something in French and then he called out to them in the same language.

   As the people drew closer I saw that they didn't look normal. Their skin was palid and there were deep, dark circles under their eyes. They were most certainly sick. Their eyes looked to be yellow and they seemed to be moving oddly, as they were just learning to walk again.

   "What's wrong with them?" I muttered.

   Then the group came to a stop. They all started to sniff the air. At this point the video taper had begun to start stepping backwards, the camera shaking horribly. Suddenly all the people were staring right at us. And they looked hungry.

   The man screamed, dropping the camera. I watched in horror as the group of people started to run, moving more gracefully than they had been moments before. They chased after the man, their mouths open and their expressions determined. They looked like animals!

   There was a scream and then the sound of the people eating.

   That's when the video ended.

   "Zombies," Jason whispered.

   I turned to look at him. "What?"  

   "Those people, they're zombies," he explained as he turned to meet my gaze. "Zombies, Lee!"

   "No," I said shaking my head in disbelief. "That's impossible."

   "Leena," he said seriously. "Those people are zombies."

   Just then an announcement came up on the laptop's screen.

   "For all those watching, that's the kind of images that the government doesn't want you to see. They don't want people to panic because they think they have it under control," a boy's voice said from the speakers. He sounded disgusted. "But, they don't and everyone should start to prepare. Because, people, this is it. The zombie apocalypse. And there's nothing the government will be able to do."

___________

The zombies are coming! The zombies are coming!

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