White Room

Well, fuck...

 I was in my math class when the shit show happened. We had free time which is always awesome, except this time the announcements came on, they never come on unless its an emergency so naturally everyone was worried, the announcer said to go on YouTube and click on the presidential live stream, just as told, Mr. Jones turned on YouTube and we all watched, eyes wide.

"Hello citizens of the United States of America, This is your President speaking" Our president was one of a kind, a black lady who was also gay, her name was Miss President Charlotte Rose, a strange name, yes, but the best god damn president ever. "I am here to warn you that a violent diseases that scientist everywhere are dubbing the Mortuus Virus, Its very deadly and strikes fast into the cerebral cortex of the brain but the way it travels is fucking weird." Even though we were all in shock, a few still chuckled at how the President of the fucking United States just cussed on live television. "The marigold has evolved with a new defence mechanism that we call..." She pauses and looks at her notes "The Zombie Starter...anyways, it puffs out yellow smoke with tiny spores in it and basically, it goes up your nose and zombie-fis you. The side effects are hunger, mindlessness, aggression, and thin flesh. If you find yourself against a Marigold Zombie, kill immediately. They will attack anything, even other zombies, use this to your advantage. They will also eat anything, again, even their own, be safe and may God, or whatever God you believe in, bless you and bless America"

Everyone was terrified as their eyes went to the window where just outside was the community garden where there were fruits and veggies that the school grew for charity but, there was also over 5 dozen marigolds planted there. The first to react was Becky Johnson, who pierced the silence with her trademark ear shattering scream. She ran out of the classroom in a hurricane of blond hair and fake tans, the basic white girl. The rest of the class followed including Mr. Jones who promptly got in his car and drove away. I ran down the hallway through the sea of terrified teens and terrible tears of the teachers. I finally reach the lunch room and sighed with relief to see my friend there.

"Come on, Oli! We gots to go!" That was the voice of Ace Lee, the trademark asian dyke (Her words, not mine) She was a fiery 16 year old and the first to learn how to drive, I mean, im older than her but I dont really give two fucks about learning to drive. She tucks her black leather jacket close to her and brushes her dyed red bangs out of her eyes, her black iris facing me. "Where are the others?" I try to stay calm, she points behind her to the cafeteria exit which is ajar with a rock so students and teachers alike can get out quickly, "In my car, You are shotgun, Cole, Kai and Luce are in the back and ya know Rosie, she insisted on sitting on the roof and flying like Superman or some shit but i'm making her sit on Cole." She laughs lightly before her face snaps back to serious and she suddenly grabs my wrist, "Lets go."

We run out of the cafeteria to the back student parking lot where her vintage 1958 Plymouth Fury was. Her, her dad, and her grandfather rebuild together from scratch, it looks exactly like the bastard killing car from that old horror movie by that one old dude thats not George Lucas. Unsurprisingly its her prized possession, her baby.

I jump into the passenger seat and Ace jumps in after, she leans in and kisses the bumpy leather of the wheel and whispers "Alright baby, lets ride." This fucking scared me since I know how much of a speed demon she is and now thats it the apocalypse and no rules, shes gonna go fucking batshit crazy with speed. I buckle in and look back to the other four members of the 6 fuckheads and they instantly buckled up to.

"But.....what about me?" Ah, Rosie Prince, the certified baby of the group and the youngest, she's always smiling except now. She looks frightened so I take pity, I motion her forward, her face beams with delight, I unbuckle and spread my legs so she can sit in between comfortably and buckle back up. Now, I know what your thinking, do you like her and does she like you? Are you dating? The answer, no. Me and her are like siblings, we grew up next to each other and hung out everyday, we (mostly she) made other friends and they combined into one big friend group, and out of them all, four stood out, and together, we are the 6 fuckheads. Anyway, back to the story.

Like a rocket fueled on cocaine, she takes off out of the parking lot and narrowly misses a fire hydrant, I look back to see Kai and Luka clinging onto the absolute athletic unit that is Cole Holland.

"FAEX!" Cole exclaims in latin because why the actual fuck not, we don't know why he started learning latin but it gets annoying sometimes "Ace! Are you trying to kill us!?" Ace responds with the middle finger and keeps driving. He glances down to the dipshits who are still clinging to him and prys sofy boy Luka but lets Kai stay on, a slight rose tint on his face as he adjusts his glasses and crosses his arms, staring straight ahead. Kai clings tighter and he raises a hand and pets down her cowlick.

I wink at him and he stops petting and looks away, I return my attention back to the front. The drive is silent except for a few sobs from Luka but who can blame him.

"C-can we check on m-my grandparents f-first?" Luka's birthparents died so his grandparents got him, They are a sweet old couple, the kind who bake cookies together every Sunday afternoon, I hope they are fine, I fucking hope. Ace looks at him through the mirror, his eyes are glassy like brown marbles, sympathy stabs her like a knife and she nods, she makes a sharp turn and we head there. I look back once again, Kai fell asleep on Cole while he is trying not to move. Luka is a mess, he clutches his hair and whispers prayers, I reach my hand across and place it on his knee, he looks up from his trance and take my hand in his, holding it for a few moments and let's go, he smiles a for a second and lets it drops. I return to the front and look over Rosie shoulder, she's texting her mom who is thankfully replying. Tear drops land on her phone, but I know they are tears of relief.

30 minutes pass and we pull us to an old one story house, The Luka Evans residence. He jumps out and runs to the porch, we follow suite. He stops, staring at the ajar door, Ace Lee puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder, he opens the screen door. It creaks loudly enough to startle a flock of birds who fly away, lucky. Luka retracts his hand startled, he looks at me with those tear stained eyes that I could never say no to. I open the door quickly and we stand there on the dirty white porch covered with brown dead leaves staring into the dark hallway.

"Mamma? Pops?"