Escape - 1. First Day

Chapter 1
First Day

“Zachary Flynn, get your ass down here, or I will come after you and tan your ass until it is crispy and golden brown!”

Damn. So much for a morning. So much for the first day of school. So much for a young boy’s life. And yeah, I’ve lived for fourteen years now and managed to survive. I usually think that every birthday was a miracle. If she’ll treat me that way until the end of the school year, I might as well save my allowance for my burial at the local cemetery…assuming she’ll give me my allowance regularly. I’ll make sure to write my final wishes and tell them to put this on my tombstone: “Here lies Zachary Flynn…He’ll be right back.”

And boy, who knows…I might be right! After all that had happened to me, I’m pretty sure it would have happened to anyone.

“Yes mom‼ I’ll make sure to put tons of sun block on my ass before you get it.” I said as I rushed down the stairs with my backpack on my shoulders. I could smell her good cooking in the kitchen. Mmmmm, waffles‼ I just hope that my little brother didn’t eat all of it…yet. As soon as I got in the dining room, she blocked my way and had both of hands on her waist. Uh-oh! That stance meant trouble.

“Don’t get smart with me young man. You’ve made Max wait for an hour! I just hope your principal won’t call me for being late on the first day of school!” She barked at me. I could see my mom standing right in front of me with flames shooting out of her nostrils. And her police uniform made me think she’d be breathing fire as soon as I make my next move.

“Ma! Don’t exaggerate stuff. First, there are a lot of late students on the first day of school, stupidly trying to find their classrooms. I don’t think the principal would have all the time of the day to call all of their parents.” I said as I crossed over my own mother, who simply ignored me, and reached for the last piece of waffle before my little brother could take a grip on it. He was busy writing some stuff on his notebook on the other end of the table. Okay? First day of school and you already had something to write…weird. And the way he looks…a smaller version of me. He has the same spiky and layered dark hair and pale blue eyes. The difference is just he’s two years younger than me so just imagine the anatomy. “And second, I could smell my best friend’s smelly ass before he could knock over our door to tell you he’s there!”

“Hey, I heard that!” Max said. Apparently, he was sitting in on couch at our living room. Oh well, I really did make sure he heard it. I quickly stuffed my waffles inside my mouth and chewed like there’s no tomorrow. After that, I swallowed the whole thing through my throat and drank my whole glass of orange juice before Mom yelled at me again and injected it into my body through an IV. She always tells us to make sure we take our vitamins seriously before we get sick. As soon as my mouth was free of the mouthwash I just gargled and hurl over the sink. I ran towards the living room to find my best friend impatiently tapping his knees. He always did that when he’s the on the verge of losing it. He looked at me with those sparkling green eyes of his. I could tell he was frustrated because I made him wait long.

“Dude! How many times do you have to scrub your putrid ass just to make it presentable outside of your house?! And I consider myself lucky not be your scrub. Or else I might have been expired the moment I touch your bottom,” he said as I approached him. We did our special handshake only known to the two of us, and I quickly dragged his sleeves towards the door. His fragile arms easily gave away to my death grip. I think I heard something cracked. “Ow! Ow! Ow! You don’t have to be so brutal! My arm could have been ripped off!”

“You know what? Why don’t you shut up and let’s go before mom ripped our bodies in half. That won’t be a pleasant sight to see. And I do mean it. I would like to go to school with our bodies intact not in half.”

“Yeah, sorry man. I just hope the nurse in a clinic knows how to stitch bodies like the way Frankenstein does.”

“MOOOOOOOOOOOOM! We’re leaving now!” I shouted over the kitchen before opening the door with the two of us stepping outside. I could smell the sweet fresh air as it brought chills up my spin. Man, I just hope this will be a fun new year. I always do every year and it turns me down every…single…time! The two of us walked towards school since it was just two blocks away. But before we could reach the main sidewalk, something hit my nose pretty bad. “Damn it man! What the heck is that smell? Did you put another one of your girlish perfume?”

“Woah! First, it’s not perfume and second, it’s cologne!”

“Whatever dude! It’s not manly. I honestly wanted to tell you to get away from me before I hurl up my breakfast. Promise, I might have to give you my own cologne and it has waffle and syrup scent on it. And the good news is it’s FREE!”

“Ew! Gross! Why don’t you try it first and see if you could make a fortune, then I’ll be happy to bathe in it.”

“No thanks my man, I’m perfectly good right now.”

…   …   …   …   …

I opened my locker and stuffed some of my books inside it. It was a big relief Max’s was just beside mine. As soon as I closed my locker, he was already leaning on the locker beside me, sheepishly looking at me. He’s staring at me! What the heck is his problem now?!

“Dude, do I look like a burger? You’re looking at me as if you’re going to eat me whole.”

“Oh Sorry.” he blushed. He what? He blushed? What’s up with that? A small chill went up my spine as my thoughts went back into the teachers that will gang up on us within the next few hours. And I thought bullies were the biggest problem. “I was just…uhh..thinking…that’s right! thinking something. Sorry.”

He was stuttering. Okay? That’s new. What happened to that cool-headed of his?

“Whatever, what’s you first subject?” I asked as we stroll through the hallway of our school. There were still a lot of students who stupidly roam around like missing chickens.

“It’s English.”

“Same‼ At least you’re with me first hour of the week! How cool is that?!”

“Ice cold? Who’s the teacher again?”

“It’s Miss Rose. Alex said she’s a good teacher so we didn’t need to worry.”

“How did he know? He’s your little brother. He didn’t go to high school first before going back to middle school, did he?

“No, he told me she was his teacher a few years ago. I’m still not sure if I should believe him or not. He rarely speaks to me at home, but mostly being a pain in the ass!”

“At least, he tells you if you have a good teacher or not.”

“I suppose. But he’s still a pain in the ass! That’s what he is.”

“Whatever dude. Someday, you’re going to realize that you’re wrong,” he said in a somewhat concerned manner. I wonder what got into him. We finally arrived in our classroom. It’s just the usual. The nice thing is that I could see some familiar faces. There were new ones who were oddly silent. Of course, they’re new comers. We all have that in our classrooms every single year. I just hope this year won’t be much of a tough ride.

Max and I sat beside each other on the second row. We’re good kids so we prefer the front seat, but I personally don’t want to get bombarded by the teachers’ saliva when they’re upset so the front row is a no-no. I just hope the kids in front of us are enough to shield us from the poisonous fluids from our mentor’s filthy mouths. Just the thought of it sent me some nice chills.

This time, we’re near the window but Max was nearer. The window is like the paradise of the fallen. Get bored and you got yourself a nice big TV beside you and let your imagination run wild. Hehe. I looked to my other side and saw another kid who is sheepishly staring down, embarrassed. You shouldn’t get embarrassed by yourself. It’s like you’re humiliated by your very own existence. You shouldn’t if you ask me. Your parents didn’t raise you like that to be outshined by other people. You have to reach for the top! Well, it’s easy to say when you’re not a newcomer. That’s not MY problem anymore.

I looked back at Max who was already chatting with his seatmates. His brownish blonde hair nicely fit just above his smooth eyebrows. His bright green eyes never failed to brighten my mood when I’m upset. Damn. I never looked at him that way, but he’s my best friend anyway. So let me tell you about him. He’s of the same build as me. We’re not that skinny and scrawny okay? So don’t ask. We’re not that fat either. Just on the verge of turning our baby fats into finely tuned abs. We’re just fourteen anyway. We’re not that tall either since puberty haven’t hit yet. I just wonder what will happen in my puberty. They said it was a living nightmare. Ever since I heard that, I dreaded every time I sleep and wake up the next day for a few days. Wow. Now I’m a bit thrilled on the idea. How ironic.

A sharp tap on the platform was enough to pull me out of my thoughts, and I was dragged back into the classroom is a snap. The teacher had already entered the room and the students scrambled their way to their seats. Blonde hair and bright gray eyes, I knew from that point on that I’ll be enjoying this subject. And the good thing is that it’s Monday morning and I’m besides my best friend. What a nice way to start the week!

“Good morning class, my name is Miss Evelyn Rose. I will be your English teacher for the rest of this school year whether you like it or not. I just hope we will be always in good terms with each other. I don’t like getting upset because when I do, you’re not going to like it.”

Now there’s a warning…etc, etc. I’d already looked at the nice big television on the side of the classroom. I wonder what I will do when I get home. My hands just can’t wait to play Xbox 360 when I get back there. I guess I have to go there for myself and play before little brother could reach the house. It’s a good thing he was in middle school. Otherwise I would have to see him during breaks. The teacher had already started writing some mumbo jumbo stuff on the board. Great. Now I feel like going to the vacation again. Max was staring at the window just like me. We really are the best of friends.

…   …   …   …   …

Another couple of hours later it was lunch time, and it was the usual super noisy cafeteria on the first day of school. Wow. Kids were literally everywhere! I just wondered if they’ll be able to climb up to the walls too. Then that scenery will be complete.

Max and I sat beside each other automatically on some random table we saw that was vacant. Sure the kids were noisy, but eating wasn’t half as bad as we thought it would be. We saw familiar faces the roamed across the cafeteria, usually with their friends. We were waiting for some other people until we saw another one of our closest friends, Stephanie Holmes. She was alone with her tray and was sheepishly walking among the crowd. Boy, she was careful not to trip and cause a mess…and would probably embarrass herself which she hates the most. She’s the shy type of girl so it’s not a big mystery.

“Steph!” Max called out. She just turned her head somewhere else, wondering who called her. Max and I had a good giggle on that one. We called her there, but she looked at the opposite direction. Sound waves, big deal! “Stephanie!”

She finally saw us, and I raised my hand to give her a signal that to come to us. I was surprised she was wearing a pair of jeans instead of the usual skirt. She waved and smiled at us as she approached. I wonder what’s with the smile. I don’t think it was love at first sight. Oh come on! I’m not yet ready for that!

“Hi guys.” She greeted and sat across us. We returned her greeting as she started munching on her lunch. We talked all about what we did in our vacation. It would only seem that everything was going well when she pulled out a weird topic. “Hey, did you hear the news last night?”

“Which one?” Max raised a brow. “I believe it’s always assorted, and I don’t think there isn’t a single night wherein they talked the rest of the show about the same whole thing.”

“Geez, thank you for your kind response.” she said sarcastically and I couldn’t help myself but snicker. She glanced at me, and I saw her curl a smile. “I was just thinking about it.”

“Fine, fine…I’m sorry! So, what’s up with the news?”

“I heard that there was a large pandemic overseas so the government set up a special team to go check it out. However, something bad happened so they had to go back here at US. They arrived yesterday, but they were quickly quarantined somewhere safe. The CDC was getting a bit secretive, so I tried checking out the internet.”

“What’s CDC?” I quickly asked, getting a bit interested. I could feel a bad lump on the back of my throat as if I know by instinct that she was sharing a bad news. There was just something awfully bad about this. I can’t put my finger on it…or neither can my brain.

“It means Center for Disease Control. They’re ones responsible for assessing diseases before it becomes pandemic. They usually open up and always up for action but some of the posts on the net tell that they’ve never been so secretive before.” she explained. Max and I leaned in, getting more interested. The way she spoke sounded so urgent and serious. It perked up my attention. “So anyway, I read some other articles on the web which says that thousands have already been infected in the eastern part of the world. They said it could reach millions within the next few weeks. The pandemic is sweeping up the countries there. They’re having a hard time containing it!”

“That sounds bad.” I remarked. My mind could hardly imagine one thousand people infected of disease, let alone a million! Just imagining it makes my mind pushed to its numerical limits. I just hope it wouldn’t reach it here. “What happens to the infected people? High fever? Vomiting? Headaches?”

“That’s where it gets spooky.”

“Why?” Max had cut in. He was just as curious as I was. I’m not letting myself get touch by that disease. Who knows what could have happened to me. I can’t imagine myself covered in boils and pus. Shit, I just felt a shiver ran down my spine.

“Some that I’ve read said that the people that were infected go wild on rampage, hurting the people around them. Some said, they would try to BITE the nearest person within their range. Anyone bitten would be infected within hours.” she continued on. I was getting oblivious from this grave news. People biting people was hilarious, but getting infected was a bad joke. I think I just crapped in my pants after imagining thousands of people trying to bite your arm and everything. “I’m not sure with all the details yet. I still have to get in contact with some of my friends around the globe. I just hope they’re not done yet.”

Max and I were a bit shocked. That was even just SOME of the news. True that it might even be a hoax but that is one scary thought. I looked down, feeling sorry for the thousands of people trying to bite other people. That’s just miserable then I saw my wrist watch and what time it is. “Let’s go guys, the bell is about to ring any minute now.”