XYRO

ONE- EVEREST

They started to quarantine the children when they began burning the parents. We can't allow Xyro to wipe away another generation, the doctors were insisting. The Bernsens were divided first. Then the Grahams, the Khanns. School buses stuffed with children driving up and down the street. Soon it was just us and the Hollands. I remember when we moved into their house after my mom was taken away.

The Hollands lived in the dilapidated colonial across from us. The Mr. and Mrs. were fine, I guess. They gave me my own room in the basement and even brought the TV down. I could've survived living there if it wasn't for their obnoxious daughter, Iris. She was oblivious to the fact that adults were being infected by the supervirus known as Xyro. All she focused on was boys. The entire first week she tried to hook up with me with a frustratingly impressive amount of persistence.

"Everest?" She asked me one night, leaning on my shoulder the way she did every time I was in the mood to let her watch TV with me.

"Mm?"

"Did you hear that?"

I lowered the volume and listened. Nothing.

"No."

"Everest, I swear I heard something."

And then I heard it. The thunder of military grade boots storming around the house. It was then I knew our time was up. We had to make a break for it.

"Grab your shoes-" I barked, slipping on my sneakers.

Iris hurriedly tied her shoes on, dressed in a skimpy nightdress she thought would turn me on. I pitied her. No matter how annoying she was, no one deserved to live like this. We raced out the back door conveniently installed in the basement, sprinting like hell. Iris tripped and began panicking, and would only shut up once I ran back and grabbed her arm.

"They're running away!" A voice yelled not too far behind us. I let out a series of curses. We were close to the woods in their backyard. If we could just make it...

I fell to the ground, crying out as I felt my ribs bend with in a bloodcurdling snap. Someone had me in a headlock, breathing hard. I could still see Iris running to the woods with a newly found speed, pale legs a blur. Once she disappeared in the woods I unconsciously sighed in relief, attention reverting back to my captor.

"You can let me go," I wheeze, forcing myself to breathe. "I can't run away with a broken rib."

"It's not broken," A female voice spat, tightening her arms around me. I shrieked unashamedly like a little girl. "Yossarian, over here!"

I heard footsteps jog through the dry grass; Mr. Holland hadn't cut the grass in weeks. All of a sudden I was blinded by a flashlight.

"You can let him go," They said, tone indifferent. "He can't run away with a broken rib."

"Goddammit, Yossarian!" The first soldier snapped. "It's not broken!" I felt her release me only to be kicked in my sore rib again. I gasped, white dots flickering in my vision. A strong hand pulled me up by the forearm.

"Now was that really necessary, Via?" I turned my head and got a look at the guy I assumed was Yossarian. I was shocked to discover he was barely older than me. He had dark hair, short enough to be considered a buzzcut. His eyes were a dark coal, and his facial features were sharp and stern. A ragged scar was raised on his tan shoulder, and I wondered where it came from.

"Is any of this?" Via's gaze shifted to me, eyes barely restraining their contempt. I hated her, already desperate to smack that irritating snarl off her sculpted face.