After a short time, someone knocked on the door.
"Seth!" Rachel burst in, with her stylish boots and skirt, wearing so much makeup she didn't look like herself anymore. "We've been looking for you! Are...are you okay?"
He looked up, eyes filling with tears all over again. "Nathan caught the virus...he fell into a coma and..."
"What? No, Seth, you don't know that."
"The ambulance took him away..."
Rachel fell silent, putting her head in her hands, and he felt her cursing beneath her breath. "Hey, I'm sorry. It might not be the virus though, maybe it's just―"
"It is! I know it is!"
She paused. "How do you know?"
He spoke bitterly. "It's a coma, Rachel. He fell into a coma. What else could it be?"
She sighed. "Let's talk to Mom about it, okay? She's waiting in the car. She's also having something like a panic attack. She says you need to get out there, like, right now."
He groaned, heaving himself up, and they entered the mass of students in the hallways. As they went, they ran into Priscilla, face streaked with tears. She lurched forward and gave him hug.
"Three others dropped into comas," she said.
He pulled back. "What?"
"It's got to be the virus."
He stood frozen for a moment, but Rachel pulled him on. "We've got to go, Seth."
He turned to Priscilla. "I gotta go, call you later?"
She nodded. "Sure. You have to tell me what happened...to Nathan." It seemed she had trouble spitting out those last words.
"Yeah. I will."
It was dark outside, and the sidewalks and pickup lanes were filled with people. It took Seth and Rachel about five minutes to make it through and get to their car. Their mother, Mrs. Thomasson, waited impatiently up front, with Lydia sitting quietly in the backseat.
"How was it? You guys okay?"
When no one answered immediately, Rachel leaned over and murmured Nathan's situation to her.
Their mother glanced back at Seth, concern on her face. "Are you okay?"
He didn't look at her. "I'm fine, Mom. Let's go home."
She sighed, but nodded, and headed out of the parking lot. A few moments passed before she spoke again. "We're going to leave for a little while."
Rachel glanced at her in confusion. "Leave? What do you mean?"
"We're just going to pack up some stuff, and go on a little trip."
Lydia appeared excited. "Where, Mom?"
"Oh, I think...maybe we can go to Colorado. I hear it's nice there."
"Colorado?" Rachel sounded incredulous. "Are you crazy? You never go anywhere without planning."
"Well, always a first for everything, right?"
"What? No! Mom, I don't want to go."
"At the moment, that's not really your choice, Rachel."
"Dad wouldn't make me go!"
Everyone fell silent. Seth glanced up, wincing. Their father had been a tricky subject for many years now. He'd left, when Seth was six years old and though Seth did remember him, Rachel had been nine and remembered every detail. Ever since he left, she'd gotten snotty and mean, and refused to listen to their mother, spending the majority of her time in her bedroom or with friends. Even now, seven years later, she refused to let go of any memory of him.
Seth missed his dad, but understood that his mother missed him too and usually didn't take it out on her. He still remembered the day his dad left, on a work trip, he'd said. He had told Seth to be the man of the family while he was gone, and he told him he'd be back soon. A few weeks went by, and he still hadn't come back. Mrs. Thomasson didn't speak of him often, never even tried to go out and find him. She only told them he'd be back when he could, and nothing else.
Seth and Rachel often thought their mother's reaction to their father never returning was odd, but they didn't push her too far. She got quite upset and angry if they ever asked too many questions. Rachel resented it. Seth saw it as a way his mother grieved, and didn't want to make her more distressed than she already was. However his mother felt, though, Seth always believed his father would come back. He'd promised he would, and Seth continued to quietly keep him to that promise. He still woke up and hoped for it every day.
Mrs. Thomasson spoke up after a moment of tense silence. "Do not speak to me of your father. He would want us to leave."
No one answered for a moment, but Seth felt puzzled and soon came up with the courage to ask. "What do you mean, he would want us to leave?"
"To get away from this disease."
"Mom, we'll never escape it by going to Colorado. Everything's probably on lockdown, anyway.
"Not if we go tonight, before they can lock everything up."
Rachel and Seth both looked up in shock.
"We're going tonight?"
"No Mom! Seriously, you think I can pack all my stuff in one night?"
Mrs. Thomasson swerved and came to an abrupt stop on the side of the road. "Enough! No more questions. I'll explain everything better later. We're leaving. Tonight. End of discussion."
Seth stared out the window as his mother started driving again. He didn't know what had come over her, but he didn't argue. When his mother wanted something done, she would get it done.
They pulled into the driveway of their shabby little house―the one which Seth had lived in ever since he could remember and the one which they would now be leaving. Not forever, though, right?
Seth and Lydia made their way out of the car, but Rachel remained in stony anger. "I'll stay right here."
"You're going," Mrs. Thomasson said. "Whether or not you want to bring stuff is up to you." She followed Seth and Lydia to the front door. With groan, Rachel pulled herself from the car, and slammed the door behind her.
They got inside, Seth trying to convince himself they wouldn't see the little house in a while. He hadn't even reached the hallway to his bedroom when the sound of shattering glass filled the house. Seth looked straight at Rachel, thinking this time she had crossed a line, but she stood frozen like the rest of them.
They looked to the window next to the front door, where broken pieces of glass scattered across the window still and the floor around it.
A knock came at the front door, and someone tried to turn the handle. Mrs. Thomasson flew to the door, standing against it. "Hide! Go, now! Hide!"
They watched her in confusion for a moment, alarm coursing through Seth's veins. When a loud bang sounded at the front door, they needed no further prompting. Seth took Lydia's hand and they fled to the hallway. Rachel burst into her room, while Lydia went into their mother's. The banging on the door continued, followed by a crash behind them
Seth glanced back for a split second and saw that the door had been entirely busted from its hinges. He gasped.
His mother had fallen to the floor, laying among the shattered remains of the door. His heart nearly stopped as a figure entered the room, dressed in a long black cloak.
Mrs. Thomasson stood up, putting up a hand in defense. "Get out of my house. Now."
"Seth." Lydia tugged on his arm. "Come see―"
"Shh!" He knelt by her, putting his hand to her mouth, and continued watching the exchange between his mother and the man in the black cloak.
"I've come in search of a particular person," the man said. Seth clenched his fists at the voice. Another man, also dressed in a black cloak, entered the house. Oh, great, there were two of them now?
"I said, get out of my house!"
"Hm." The first man reached into his cloak, pulling out a familiar sphere of sparkling electricity. Seth burst up, screaming, but he couldn't move fast enough.
With a small flick of his arm, the man tossed the sphere at Seth's mother. She gasped and fell to her knees.
Seth screamed something incoherent, rage and terror both sending him stomping toward the man. His heart beat so fast.
The man only smiled at him as he approached. Seth hated that smile, more than anything else in the world.
"Seth, stop!" Only his mother's voice, soft and weak, could pull him out of his trance. "You get out of here, and hide, do you understand me? Whatever you...you d-do, run." She started panting, clutching her throat.
Seth looked her, then back to the man, who pulled out a knife.
"Run...Seth...."
Seth hesitated. The man stood and watched him, his friend standing silently behind him. "You would leave your poor mother to the mercy of someone like me? Oh, you poor, awful son."
"Don't listen...Seth...get Lydia, please..."
At the mention of Lydia, Seth flung himself back down the hallway. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into their mother's room. He glanced back once, noticing the men chasing after him, but his mother reached out and made attempts to stop them. They didn't have much time.
He slammed his mother's door behind them, locking it and stuffing clothes against it. As he looked around for a place to hide, frantic, and Lydia pointed to the closet. He shook his head. Of all places, that had to be absolutely the worst, most cliche―
"No, look, Seth!" She dragged him over, and pointed to something. He went over, hoping it would be quick, but froze as he noticed an oven shaped doorway carved into the side of the closet. A white mist swirled around inside.
"What the..." He stared at the thing in confusion. That was not natural.
Someone banged on his mother's door. "Seth, we have to go through!"
"Lydia, that's..." He looked back to the swirling mist. How on earth had that thing got in his mother's closet?
A crack formed in the door as another bang sounded.
Lydia urged more. "Seth..."
He glanced back, then nodded, pushing Lydia through. "Let's go, hurry, hurry!"
She went eagerly, and he shoved himself through just as his mother's bedroom door broke down. He caught a glimpse of the first man shouting at him, glaring and angry, before the soft mist sucked him up into a swirly nothingness.