Chapter 2: Reason
CHAPTER ONE
The chill of late autumn morning seeped into my black track pants as the sound of feet thudded on the sidewalks leading out of the school enclosed in a sea of red pinewoods.
The sun was high and up and a calm settled into me as my muscles pushed forward, wanting to keep up with my partner who was beginning to slow down. I won't complain as I remember being just like her a few weeks back.
All this was for the annual September cross-country competition. I had decided to try for it, it would help my overall physique and for school credits, Mom had said. But I just wanted to do something with my life that didn't have anything with Mom. That is what I thought until I ran 3 kilometers and nearly toppled over and dug a grave for myself. But now I can run without my heart pounding in my chest like I should let it out, without the taste of my saliva mixed with a metallic taste and a dry patch that never goes in the back of my throat. That's the best feeling.
Ma would never understand that feeling though. I tell myself. Ma thinks everything you do in life is a necessity. She wants to find reason in things as small as brushing your teeth to as big as being promoted. But I still don't know what I want to do in life. Find your reason ma would say. But I simply wanted to live my life not finding reason in anything and feeling it instead. Just like this feeling
As my group reaches our resting spot, Greenville Lake, some settle down on a nearby stone bench and others begin to stretch, I look over to my partner and I see her staring into the lake. And I just know that she's thinking about jumping into the lake to drown herself, after all, I also went through that phase when I had begun the two days per week training that took most of my one-hour lunch break.
"What da y'all say about going an extra kilometer, hmm?" The coach suggested. That would make this run 4 kilometers, more than we had ever done! My gaze goes to the lake beside me. No, I can do this!
But I know it's not a suggestion, he does mean it, just like the way my dad talks. They are so similar but my coach speaks with more sternness, my pops simply suggest it but in a persuading manner, you couldn't possibly say no.
The groans of some people, my partner included, fill the silence.
"I mean, yo gals would be going up against people who run all day all 'er round and if you wanna meet 'em just a lit bit then this is it" He shrugs his muscular shoulders and looks at me. Looks at me?! What am I supposed to say!
"I believe we can do better, team. The competition is next week, and we have to go the extra mile to win. Let's push ourselves a little harder and get the job done. It's worth it!" I blurted out, hoping to motivate my fellow members. However, I noticed a few disapproving looks from those who were too comfortable with their current effort levels. Oh well, I'll have to work harder to convince them.
The coach had already begun turning and leaving us behind. What a great teacher! So the only thing I could possibly do now was to follow him as the others picked up their speed and two decided to take it upon themselves to lead the group. That was Abdul and Kale. I had noticed they had very good stamina. That would be useful to them in time of the competition. Kale was lagging behind today though. I wonder...
Silence ensued and the only thing was the heaves and hos of my partner. She had it rough, huh? Alexis was the other girl other than me who tried out for the competition. Not trying out exactly, because we were less than 7 members. We were 11 at first, but the others had dropped out a mere week after. But Alexis stayed and pushed on, she hadn't gotten the hang of it yet, but she was getting there.
'Participation is all that matters', Coach would say. He would go on to say that we should just go to represent the school and I believe that. All that matters is the experience, good or bad. Use that experience to try harder and better next time.
My chest went up and down and I could feel the rumble under my feet as I ran down the slope. I could feel the cold sweet sweep of fresh air that brushed my hot body, caused by my internal temperature and the sun. This was the best feeling in the world too.
The dried autumn leaves rasped as I slowed down my pace to descend down the slope and waited for my partner. I see her coming down, head hung low and legs wobbling as she descended. Oh poor her! She was doing it all wrong. I'll have to explain to her after this.
"We can walk now, the others have gone far by now but it's fine," I tell her as she whizzes past me. She was ignoring me, I knew that. Probably angry at me for supporting the coach. But we were already heading back to school and were just a few hundred meters from reaching.
She slows down and stops to catch a break. I smile.
"You know, I can say you're improving more than any others, I couldn't even run a one-point two-kilometer on my first try, did you do some running before?" I say as we head back and take a sharp cut to the right.
"Yeah, I did some baseball for my dad for practice" She uses the head of her clothes to wipe off some sweat.
"Ahh...baseball, I...never really understood it, why don't you join the baseball team?" We cross a pride flag crosswalk.
"That's my Richard's hobby, I just love to help out" Her voice strained but I wanted to know more.
"But I see you go to the boy's baseball team practice every Wednesday and you always talk about baseball" I state. I always see her around the sports complex when I go for my running. she looks at me with a surprised look, I tilt my head in return. Is something on my face?
"I'm surprised you noticed" she says softly. Her voice is sweet.
"That you really love baseball? It's obvious, your eyes glow when you talk about it" I sigh as I see my team up ahead.
"No, not that. That you even know me or my interest, you're like those popular pretty girls in clique shows, only that you're actually good at everything, you have a happy family, I'm just here because my parents want me to lose some weight or something" She spills out, I shoot her a questioning look. "I think baseball isn't all that great, I don't even like sports really, but my parents..." She says with this depressing sigh as she looks down at her feet. "But I can't do anything, this is what they want so I-" I cut her off at this. Excuse-moi
"No, do what you want, find what you like, and don't let your parents rule your life" I begin to frown.
"But they are my parents-" I shake my head
"They are not you, stand up to them" What a good hypocrite I am.
"But they know everything in the world, I'm just 17, they have 3 times more experience so-"
"So you'd let them tell you what to do with your life? Life is about being...you...just yourself, not what others expect of you, and if they don't like the real you then maybe you gotta rethink your friend choices"
We walk in silence, and I like the silence now. We meet the group and no one says anything about us being late so we just walk back to school.
We see an old lady, halfway on the sidewalk, all hunched over a bright orange scarf and not moving. Worry spreads through me about a car coming so I look around to check for any. This is America, and we don't really have patient drivers. I walk up to go help her but I see Kale with his slides go help her. Oh, he was slowing down today because he wore the wrong type of shoes to run. He's so silly.
The group stays behind as we start talking about anything and I hear a very spicy gossip but I'm so worried about the elder that I shut up and keep an eye out. Gossiping would be the end of me.
Kale keeps talking to the lady when she makes a sudden movement and RED SOCKS. Hmm? Red socks. WINE. What? Wine. Ooh, grape wine. No. No. No. What's this feeling? Feeling that I'm ignoring something that's happening right in front of me. Look!
I peel my eyes wide open and clear my brain as I take the scene in front of me in the best quality I can. The old lady, now a husk of what should be her, is a wrenched dry ash skinned being with red bloodshot eyes as she takes another chomp of Kale. I get it ma'am Kale as in kale the leaf but Kale is NOT food. How unvegetarian of her!
Kale drops to the ground, shivering and it takes me a second to register his scream as white noise fills my ears. One of the boys lets out an ear-piercing scream, louder than a whistle or a belly note, one of pure horror and so high in pitch I wonder if it's a girl.
My breath caught in my throat and my heart thumping louder than ever, I can literally hear it in my ears. Why am I still here? No, this isn't...this can't be...rabies...polar bears...chocolate.
HUH?!
Don't think Xan... shock! Yes. Shock.Electricity. Light. I NEED to RUN. RUN goddamnit. MOVE YOUR LEGS.
But no matter how much I scream at myself I don't move, everything is a blur and at the best visuality at the same time and I find the gran's eyes on me. She is taller than her previous height. Her body is longer, thinner, skinnier, and paler. Everything er!
The grannie takes a step towards me, I can see Kale's once-twitching body cracking and beginning to come back up. Like literally float midair.
Possessed like a ghost. Ghostly. Dead. Undead. Moving dead.
Kale! I gasp more air into my throat in happiness.
But then I see two people's other bodies. Are they...NO. NO.
"Run, Run for your fucking lives" I don't know who that was but say no less.
I ran faster than I had ever in my life, almost tripping on air. I hear thudding but I don't dare look back.
Rule one of running. By yours cutely.
NEVER LOOK BACK. NO MATTER THE FUCK WHAT.
I see the entrance of the school and I see other students outside. The latecomers and I used to be chill with them but they were blocking the entrance of the school.
"Run, run for your lives" I scream. They stand frozen.
" Move out of the way" They all scramble into the school and I enter, i look around and I see Abdul with coach here in the lobby. No Alexis.
Miss Mary, the school's receptionist is here too, wondering what could have caused the whole chaos.'
"Call the cops, there was a mad woman on the street, she suddenly attacked Kale that went to help her and Kale-" He rants off about our encounter and we all know the saying Speak of the devil and he shall appear. That's it right?
The old grandma is out there just a hundred meters, from the school door, and she walks with her head hung low. Her bright orange scarf is now stained with red and black and now I don't like red anymore.
She walks with this gait, I can't quite put down. Like she's swaying with the wind. I back away from the door, behind Miss Mary. When the grandma isn't even 15 feet from the door, she lunges at one of the girls who stands at the door of the school. She lets out a yelp as she watches the 'thing' slide down the door with a thud. 15 feet, that was basically the farthest away from the net a dunk had been done. It's always the grandma's.
The girl turns around to us and looks at us with a mocking smile.
"That is what you guys are afraid of, my aunt's a nurse and that was one of the cases she had of rabies a few weeks back and you guys make it seem all bad. It's so fucking funny" She starts to hiccup laugh. I call it a hiccup laugh because it's like she's doing both at the same time. Only 4-year-olds hiccup laugh, not a 17-year-old! But my laugh would have me always hitting, rolling off my chair and I once almost laughed up blood. Mine would put hers to shame so I just keep quiet.
*Bang
The hit jiggles the steel door and behind the girl called May I think? is the granny. Her eyes looking at the May with so much hatred, so much... murderous intent, I shudder.
In one swift movement, she smashes through the glass window pulls May's head back, and takes a good mouthful of her porcelain neck. May doesn't even have the chance to scream, her eyes just wide open as the granny takes a few seconds sucking on her blood like sweet, gorgeous fucking Ribena. HOLY MARY MOTHER OF GOD. Foam begins in her mouth and black bleed from her sockets. One of May's friends screams her lungs out and before the lady can go after her, Coach steps in.
'The fuck type of rabies is that' I see Kale and two others shakily make their way to the school. I could see the gnashes in their throat and their limbs barely hanging on to the joints. Muscles severed, bones bit through. Feasted on like sweet delicious pork back ribs. I still love ribs though...
One
Two
Three.
Chaos ensues and I'm dragged off as nosy classmates come down to the lobby to see what the heck is happening. The hallways are dark and I can barely see anything. I need my phone.
"There's no light, something about a tech problem and that shit" The voice of Vicky answers my question. I look up to see she's the one dragging me to who knows where.
"I don't know what the heck was that outside but we need to hide-" she rants but I can only listen to the screams just behind me, my heart quickens and I find myself running so I push myself faster. What is Victoria doing here? I thought we weren't friends...Why? What was her reason?
"XAN! Listen and keep your focus, I'm here 'coz I couldn't just let ya stand there like an idiot" She reads my mind so well. After we are best- no were best friends until...
"Focus, think of this as a drill, here, my phone, same password, don't waste the battery, it's already low. I would stay here with you but I need to take care of certain things, so stay here" She shoves me into a locker in the janitor's closet. "Run away from here in the next 3 hours, don't use the flashlight for long" She explains. Wait...Run?
I look at her with an incredulous frown set heavy on my brows. She sighs. "You know what those things do, I don't for a second believe they have rabies, they have something else, something new. Xan, promise me you will get out of here, don't even think of coming for me" Victoria...
"I will leave here once I get my siblings, without you. So don't look at me that way" She sighs as gets ready to leave.
Silence
I always hated the silence.
One hour and all hell has come loose in here. I hear the voices, the screams, like slurping slushie. Slush. Orange slushie. Red. Blood. The crunching of dry cereal or something...sicker. Like breaking candy heads. Like breaking people's heads. But I know it's not Coffee Frappuccino or mom's favorite corn cereal. Mom? A soft sob breaks from my lips and I hear a snarl from the other side of the room. Maybe there was a reason for all this. There had to be a reason this was happening right now.
Someone comes in and I want to get out to see if it's Vicky but I hear a different voice so I stay still. My breath was on pause, my heart beating so low, I barely feel it.
The person's cold voice snarls "Fuck" The sound is worse than the disappointed tone my Ma uses on me. Then they slide against the cement walls and a thud resounds. I want to come out but I stay. A feeling tells me to stay back and listen.
"Fuck" it says again but weaker this time, with a small sob in it.
"I need a phone. Shit. Mam, Abuji" The voice completely shatters. They are already crying.
I stay still. I have a phone. I could help this person. But my parents too, what if Vicky calls me, what if she needs help? If I give this person my phone, they could call their parents, but what if they want it the entire time, the phone's battery is already low and I know Vicky, her stupid self probably used it till 5%, 10% isn't low for that girl. The phone could die. I don't wanna.
That thought shocked her.
No. No. I would give them the phone. I'm sure my parents are fine. They need your help, I don't care if- "I'm coming for you, You son of bitches, come for me" I hear them get up and open the door, whisper-shouting. They wanted to scream their lungs out, for those things to come at them, but they were too scared.
No wait, I have a phone. I scramble to get out of the locker but they were already gone, I look out the dark hallways.
'Wait. Don't go...I have a phone.' I wanted to run after them but a scream echoed against the walls of the never-ending hallways and I heard scrambling. I shut the door in a hurry and scurried back to my hiding spot, the phone clutched in my hand. Coward. It was my fault. I had a phone. I had a phone but I was too scared and now they were probably food for those creatures.
Two hours
The phone wasn't even working. It had probably died, what if I had given it to him then. They would have had a way to get through unlike me cowering here in a janitor's closet. What use would it be to leave this place alive if I couldn't help other people? Life is all about helping others and I could have saved someone's life but...I didn't. I was better off dead
Three hours
The silence was eerie but I loved it. I had to! If it was anything other than that I would be dead.
You cannot breathe, cannot sob, cannot blink, cannot even panic. If you blink you're dead, they'll come.
They are there, waiting, stalking in the shadows.
If you so much as think...you're dead.
So I lay there. Empty, quiet, silent. Not dead
*Clunk
Something just after the wall falls to the ground and echos in the silence. But I know it didn't just fall over by itself. One of them did that.
I was tired.
I just wanted to wake up. This was all a bad dream. I remember a bad dream I had when I was 7, a decade ago. I still remember it. It was so vivid, my little mind couldn't understand it was a dream. I cried when I woke up and realized it wasn't real. I didn't sleep a wink when night came.
Tired
Tee-red
Tried
Retired
Tire...
Sigh
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
BlissHikaru
BlissHikaru Thanks for reading! Help me promote the book by commenting. Just you reading this already makes me happy even.
Stay fresh and not tired (∪.∪ )...zzz
Yours cutely, Author.
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