~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The Apocalypse Begins~~
I walked slowly through the tangle of students in the halls. A few boys in my grade ran past me, ramming into each other. I rolled my eyes. Eighth graders could be so annoying. I slid the unlock button on my phone and quickly typed in my passcode; 3825. "I SAW IT!" Renae screamed in my ear. I sighed and tilted my head up to the ceiling.
"Shit." I mumbled, smiling.
"WHAT WAS THAT, NIKKI?" Renae shouted grinning.
"SHIT, DARLING, SHIT." I yelled back. She laughed and tried to grab my phone. I yanked it away just in time. We always made a game of guessing each other's passcodes.
I started to speed up now that Renae was with me. We were Sidewalk Buddies, meaning we walked home together. Most of the time we were shoving each other into the grass, though. We probably should've been Random People's Lawn Buddies.
"GOODBYE, LOVELY!" I shouted to Renae as we split up to go to our homes.
"SEE YA LATER, SEXY!" she yelled back. I smiled to myself. I was always the gentleman and she was always the douche. Even though we're both girls. My phone buzzed and I pulled it out of my back pocket. It was Jackson. I smiled at the screen even though I hadn't read the text yet. Jackson and I were pretty good friends. I had a major crush on him, though. I didn't want to ruin the friendship so I never told anyone, not even Renae. I put the phone back in my pocket. I was almost home, so Jackson could wait. I tried not to dance to the song playing in my head for the last half block home.
As soon as I got inside I started shouting the lyrics to "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons. My mom came down the stairs, raised her eyebrows at me, and lunged at me, covering my mouth. We both landed on the ground laughing, her hand covering my mouth. I pulled away and screamed the next line before she could replace her hand. I eventually agreed to stop and I stood up, pulling her up with me. I grinned and hugged her.
"How was school, kitten?" she asked as I followed her to the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a cherry from a bowl on the counter.
"Is that even a question?" I asked, popping the cherry into my mouth. I bit off a piece, removed the pit from my mouth, and finished the cherry. She smiled.
"Well, it's technically still a question even if I know the answer," she said, stirring something on the stove. I stuck my tongue out at her and she just rolled her eyes.
"Do you think any kids tell their parents that school was good?" I wondered aloud, pulling my phone from the pocket. My mom just shrugged and continued cooking. I unlocked my phone and read Jackson's message;
Dafuq is going on in Atlanta? Is this a giant prank?
I knitted my eyebrows together at the text. I walked out to the family room and took my laptop off the end table. I pressed the power button and texted Jackson back while I sat on our cream couch and waited for the laptop to start.
Give me a minute here... what, is there a blimp shaped like a middle finger?
I looked up at the computer screen to see that my background (a picture of a waffle making out with a photoshopped-in Renae) was on, but a few things were downloading. I played a few games on my phone while I waited. I was about to win a level on one of my dozens of games when Jackson's text tone interrupted me. I sighed and opened the text.
Very logical guess but no :P
I smiled and texted back;
Was I at least close?
I looked up to see that the downloads had finished and used the mousepad to open Google Chrome. I went to the search bar and typed in "Atlanta May 19th". A ton of results came up immediately. Apparently there were a bunch of ill people attacking healthy people. I read a little more and discovered that these diseased people caught the illness from bites by other diseased people. I stared at the screen, confused, and called my mom to look. When she asked why I called her I just handed her the laptop and texted Jackson;
What the actual fuck..?
I got a text back within 30 seconds.
IKR! Freaking WEIRDNESS IN ATLANTA!!!
I put my phone into standby and set it on the end table next to the couch. I looked at my mom as she read. She raised a hand to her mouth and started absent-mindedly biting her nails. I swatted at her arm. I knew that I'd never be able to stop her from nervously biting her nails, but it was worth a shot. She pulled her hand away from her mouth.
When my mom had finished reading, she set my laptop down. "I should stock up.." she said, "Just in case." My mom was always a major worrier.
"Okay, mom." I answered slowly. "I'll keep an eye on dinner."
"That would be great. Thanks, kitten." my mom answered. She moved around the kitchen for a few minutes and then I heard her leave. I sighed. She was just getting herself worked up over nothing. There was probably just something wrong with the water supply. The illness was kind of like rabies. I didn't see why they wouldn't be able to control it.
After a few minutes of sitting and wondering what to do, I forced myself to get up. I walked out to the kitchen and checked on the noodles that were cooking. After seeing that they were fine, I slid open the screen door. I stepped out into the warm spring air and my blue merle border collie, Mojo, came trotting up to me.
"Hi baby!" I said in a high-pitched voice that I always use with him. I sat down on my deck and scratched behind Mojo's ears as he panted. He'd probably been chasing squirrels.
After a few minutes of petting Mojo, I stood up and threw a frisbee for him. He happily sprinted off after it but got distracted and never brought it back. I rolled my eyes and called for him. When he didn't bring the frisbee back I just went back inside. I went back to sit on the couch and did some more research on this disease. Apparently, the people would actually die from the bite. Or at least it seemed like it. They'd come back to life, but they wouldn't be their regular selves. They'd be rotted and dead, but walking. And hungry.
I scrolled over a link to a video and clicked. I couldn't get myself to press the play button, though. As I was trying to work up the courage to press play, my older sister, Trinity, got home. She looked afraid.
"Did you hear what's going on? This... disease.. is spreading. It's getting closer. We have to prepare. We can stay here, but only for maybe two nights. Start packing. I'll pack for myself and mom. Only take three bags at most." she said, looking straight at me. She was overreacting, just like my mom.
"Don't you think it's a little soon?" I asked, eyebrows raised.
"No!" she exclaimed, completely serious. "I'm glad mom went to the store. Start packing."
I sighed. Maybe they weren't overreacting. Either way I was going to do as I was told. I trudged up the stairs to my lavender-colored room. I took out three bags. Two were duffel bags and one was a backpack. I chose clothes for summer, then added jeans, sweatpants, yogapants, sweatshirts, and even my winter coat. Just in case. Clothes filled one duffel bag and half of the other. In the half-filled duffel bag, which was a deep green with pink detailing, I added the photo album which included pictures of our whole family and our family after our father left. There were also pictures of me and my friends, especially Renae. I smiled at her pretty brown curls and frowned at my blond, thick hair. It never wanted to cooperate. I added a few journals and a pencil pouch filled with pens, pencils, a sharpener, scissors, tape, and two sets of colored pencils. I added toiletries and some hair ties and headbands.
When the duffel bags were full I put clothes that were much too big and much too comfortable, my baby blanket, a bracelet my grandma gave me, my iPod, my laptop, chargers, and a few other things that I wanted to have in my backpack.
I brought the bags downstairs and set them next to the door. This was so shitty. All of this would just take up my weekend.
~Author's Note~
HELLO! I'm Julia, the author. It honestly does mean a lot to me that you've even read to here, but I would love if you'd comment! Obviously, this can't be perfect on my first try so if you have any suggestions or constructive criticism it would be helpful if you could share. I shall call my fans giraffes, because giraffes are just so cool. SO please keep reading if you'd like to be a giraffe =) I'll update when possible. LOVE YOU LITTLE GIRAFFES! ~Julia