A young girl, who was new to the school, was busy coloring a flower that she drew on a piece of paper while she joyfully hums her favorite song. The other kids inside the room were also busy with their works but a boy suddenly took the red crayon from her grip.
"Hey, that's mine," the young girl said with a mellow and innocent voice and tried to get her crayon but the boy won't give it back to her.
"Everything I touch is mine!" The boy stuck his tongue out making the little girl's eyes get watery. The boy was about to walk away but another girl with blonde hair, who looks tough, suddenly grabs the boy's hand.
"Give that crayon back to the new kid," the blonde girl commanded that made the boy immediately dropped the crayon on the floor as terror overtook his face. The blonde girl let the boy go and handed the crayon to the new girl.
"I don't really like that kid," the blonde girl rolled her eyes while the new girl just chuckled, "I'm Lauren by the way," she added and extended her arms.
The new girl shakes the blonde girl's hand and smiled "Leiloni."
"Wow, what a beautiful name!" The blonde girl exclaimed full of amusement on her face and the new girl just giggled, "let's be friends!"
Both of them exchanged smiles. It was that day that Leiloni has made a friend, a friend that made her feel like a family.
Leiloni's POV
Slowly, I opened my eyes seeing an empty ceiling above me. I felt something covering my right eye so I tried to touch it but it only made me groan as I felt a sudden sting and caused me dizziness. I noticed that I am inside a room with walls painted in white, laying on a soft bed but a bloodstain on the white sheets made my heart start pounding. I immediately sat on the bed and wandered my eyes around the room and realized that I'm inside the school clinic but I was the only person inside.
I tried to calm myself and sauntered towards the water dispenser to get me something to drink to quench my thirst and gulped three glasses of water. I've never been this thirsty since that day I joined a marathon and hell I can still feel that my mouth was parched so I tried to gargle a glass of water.
As I spit the water from my mouth back to the cup I was holding, a shadow coming from outside suddenly passed by the window in front of me but I don't know what it is since the window was covered with a thin white curtain. My heart started to race again as the doorknob of the door beside me suddenly rattled making me took a step back.
The door creaked open and I was totally ready to throw the cup that I was holding but in surprise, the one who opened the door was someone I know.
"Aaron?" I said with my shaky voice staring at his face that was full of bruises. If I'm not mistaken, he got those bruises from Troy.
"L-Lei... you're awake," he said and his face looks completely surprised, "you almost gave me a heart attack," he chuckled. Well, you almost gave me a heart attack too, a knock would be nice you know. I noticed that he's alone so I asked him about Troy, "he went to the cafeteria to get something to eat."
"How about Angel and Kellie?"
"They, uh, they're doing fine, and they went with Troy." I was totally relieved after hearing those from Aaron but a scene of Kellie and Angel wounded by Micheal and Elio suddenly flashed in my head again making my smile turn upside down.
"Lei, what's wrong?" Aaron worriedly asked but I just looked down and I noticed that he has a wound on his right hand and I know that it is not just an ordinary wound.
I turned my gaze at him and he just stared at me with his puzzled look. "You're scratched," I said that made him look at his right hand.
He glanced back at me and took a deep sigh before talking. "Yesterday, where everyone was still sleeping, I sneaked out and went to the stockroom because I really want to see her again for the last time," he said as sadness clouded all over him and by 'her', I know that he's talking about Melissa.
"Melissa scratched your hand?" I asked and he just nodded and I can definitely tell that he's still in grief because of what happened, "please tell me you're not the one who killed her," I was waiting for an answer but he just looked down that made me cover my mouth in shock and a tear started to form on my eyes.
"I had to do it, I can't stand watching her suffering from an endless pain in which she wasn't in control of her body." I'm totally conflicted at what he had done. I mean, he's got a point but I promised Melissa about finding a cure. But now that she's dead, I don't know if I can still save her, no, there's no way of saving her now.
"But there's one thing that made me totally confused," he said staring at me with his serious look, "as Troy, Kevin, and Elio arrived at the stockroom yesterday, I hid on one of the large boxes inside because I know that they will get angry at me. But that's not my point, well, after they left I got out of the box and left a rose on Melissa's lap, I don't how but after I got out of the stockroom, I heard this weird noise and there I saw Melissa running towards the senior high building."
"Wait I thought you killed her, then why-"
"I know, that's what I'm trying to say."
"Maybe you were just hallucinating or something," I said trying to be logical but he just shook his head.
"I wasn't, you see, I followed her all the way to the senior high building and I found her at the garden beside it standing at the same spot where I had picked the rose that I left on her lap." He said but I just stared at him because I was totally confused.
"What are you trying to say?" I asked.
"I called out her name and slowly walked closer to her. And as I step on a twig, it made a sound that made Melissa turn her attention to me. I was definitely puzzled and horrified that time and I just stood there frozen at what I saw."
"What did you saw?"
"It was Melissa's face, red medium-sized petals were starting to develop on her pale face and there are thorny vines that were smudged in blood growing on the scratch wound on her right arm," he gave a vivid description that is totally implausible and sounds like he's uttering a sentence out of a fantasy book, "I know it's hard to believe but I saw it with my own eyes and right now, I am totally confused at what is real and what is not."
"Look, after this plague has started, I have seen numerous things that were too surreal and there's no reason for me not to believe you," I said that made him took a deep sigh.
First, that monster that we saw inside the senior high building with mushrooms growing on its face, then those monsters inside the principal's office with multiple arms, then that monster with spider arms on its back, and also that strange slimy purple thing that came out of Michael and Elio's body, then Aaron's story about Melissa growing petals and thorny vines on her body. What's next? Is there much more terrifying than those I've mentioned?
"Then, that's the time that she attacked me and scratched me on my hand," he showed me the scratch marks on his right hand, it was starting to swell and there are tiny vines coming out of it, "but the moment she was about to devour me alive, the loud music played and I know it came from the auditorium, and thankfully, she ran towards where the noise came from and left me there laying on the ground."
This virus, it's strange and terrifying. It can do so many things to someone and I know there are more things that we don't know about it.
"Maybe that guy on the video we watched on the camcorder was right, maybe the scientists on Sirecester research facility might have something to do with this," I said and both of us just stared at each other.
"And that organism Alexis was talking about, what was it again?" Aaron scratched the back of his head trying to remember the name of that parasite.
"Mutaphoid," someone said from outside and a guy carrying a bag of food showed up on the door, it was Troy, "it was mutaphoid or most commonly known as the mutating parasite," he added and went inside then followed by Kellie and Angel who were giggling and teasing each other.
"Lei! You finally woke up! I was so worried about you," Kellie exclaimed and hugged me tightly and I just hugged her back. I took a glance at Angel and she has some band-aids on her face because of the scratches. She just flashed me her sweetest smile that made me smile back.
"How's your wound?" I asked.
"It still hurts sometimes when I take deep breaths or laugh so hard, that's why I limit my movements now," Kellie said opening a bottle of water, "Also, Angel can't talk because she told me that it hurts every time she talks or yawns or sneezes or squints."
I turned my gaze to Angel and she just gave me a weak smile so I immediately hugged her and she hugged me back. I feel so sad and I totally feel pity for her, it breaks my heart seeing them like this.
"Don't worry, we will get out of here and we will find my dad so that all of us will get cured, okay?" I said holding tightly on her shoulders and she just nodded while forcing a smile.
Troy handed me a cold bottle of water and a pack of biscuits. "How about you? Does your right eye still hurt?" He asked with his face that looks so worried.
"It hurts every time I touch it and I can't say that I'm fine because after losing one of my vision, it totally made me uncomfortable," I said in a calm manner but he just took a deep sigh and using his fingers, he brushed my hair to the back of my ears and smiled but I can still tell that he's still worried about me.
"I wish that monster who poked your eye goes to hell," Kellie said while eating a piece of biscuit that made all of us look at her, "what?" She asked innocently. So she doesn't know.
I'm shrouded with nothing but sadness. A memory of Lauren and me together having fun flashes in my head and I can still remember that day that we first met, where she saved me from a bully. And again, she saved me, not from a bully but from a monster.
Aaron cleared his throat breaking the silence. "So when do we get out of here?" He asked. Right, we still need to get out of here.
"Does the bus still works?" I asked looking at Troy who was gulping a bottle of water.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hands. "I tested it earlier and it still works but it's almost out of gas."
"There's a gas station just across the street, we should definitely go there first," Aaron suggested and all of us agreed since no one wants to walk all the way to the research facility.
After we finish eating all of us went out of the clinic and the empty corridors greeted us with total silence that makes it too eerie triggering my anxiety. It was already morning and Troy told me that it was already Friday and that I slept for almost eighteen hours. I got a lot of sleep but I'm still so freaking tired like my grandma going down the stairs. As we arrived at the parking lot, I noticed that something was off but I don't know what it is. I don't know, I just feel that something is wrong and it makes me feel nervous and scared.
"Uh, guys..." Aaron said in a low voice that made all of us look at him, "where are the infected?" He asked looking at us with his face that looks terrified.
I wandered my eyes around us and the monsters that we killed yesterday were already gone. There are still bloodstains everywhere but I don't see any monsters laying on the ground.
I thought... I thought we already killed them all. But where are they?
The ground suddenly trembles making all of the vehicles on the parking lot shakes like there is a small quake.
"Is it an earthquake?" Kellie asked as her voice shivers.
"I really hope it's just an earthquake," Troy said wandering his eyes around us spotting for any danger.
The red old car, far from us, was suddenly tossed on the side making it turn upside down and followed by a loud car alarm echoing all over the parking lot. Kellie and Angel covered their ears because of the loud noise and I was about to cover my ears too, but a silhouette of a human figure, that is oddly enormous, was walking towards us as the ground shakes as it walks.
"What the fuck is that?" Aaron asked.
As it got ten feet closer to us, my heart started pounding and I noticed that it was only enormous because its body was a stack of dead bodies fused together making it a humongous monster. But its main head, the one on the middle which is the only one moving, was too little that looks like the size of a kid's head. I looked closely at it squinting my left eye and what I saw made me look at Troy and he stared at me too.
I know that he saw it too, the main head, it was that kid that we helped back on the first day of school. The girl who started all of this.
I can't be mistaken, I know that it's her. But how?
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