Chapter 2: Outbreak

Easier said than done, I thought, as I began the long procession to Audra.

In reality, the girl was just a stone’s throw away. But in my mind’s eye? Hoo! It was an eternity, riddled with all those swinging booby traps and boulders that would roll out of the corner my way.

I yelped when a classmate bumped onto me.

“What’s the matter with you, Pax?” she said. “You’re really jumpy today. It’s making me feel nervous.”

I didn’t answer whoever that was and stared back at my goal. Audra was now looking like a Princess, kidnapped by this evil overlord that would kill me if I took one more step.

“Stop this!” I reminded myself. “Don’t you want to thank her at least? Act normal for once in your life?”

Audra must have heard whatever I said because she turned around on her chair and looked straight at me after I said that. Immediately, my throat tightened.

Holy cow!

Holy cow, she’s looking at me! What now?!

Thankfully, before I was given yet another opportunity to speak, or talk to Audra, the teacher— Mrs. Jenkins, entered the room, taking her intoxicating floral scent with her.

I coughed with the other students, but the big, heavily made-up teacher didn’t seem to mind. In fact, her eyes were too far away, her lips opening and closing like she had something to say but didn’t know how.

All of us who were standing, especially me, hurried to return to our seats.

“Don’t bother,” Mrs. Jenkin’s said, in her opera-like voice. The kind that would shatter glasses and windows if she so wanted to scream. “We’re not conducting classes today, just to let you know. All of you must follow me instead.”

A glance to my right told me that everyone, not only me, was surprised with this sudden announcement. Mrs. Jenkins had told us specifically yesterday that we would read some poetry in the morning. She was even excited about it. Poetry was Mrs. Jenkin’s first love, according to her. But what made her change her mind?

All of us turned to look when a man in black suddenly entered the room. He wasn’t a substitute teacher; that thing’s for sure. But who was he?

The man was wearing all black from head to toe, kind of like what the military would wear when they were out on a covert mission. Except his helmet was fully covering his face, and he had walked in such a strange manner, like he didn’t really know whether to walk in or dash to us at all. His head tilted to me before he proceeded to address us. “Students. . .” he said in this deep, raspy voice. “All of you must now proceed upstairs. No talking. No texting. And leave all of your valuables behind. Including your phones.”

Nobody wanted to move, of course. What had he expected? Scratch that. What had Mrs. Jenkin’s expect? And why was she exiting the room without telling us much about it?

The mysterious man turned to us once more. “That was not a request,” he hissed. “All of you. . . Move.”

The hallway was filled with shuffles and bustles, mostly from my classmates, as the corridor was surprisingly empty enough.

“Look,” one of my classmates whispered. Someone I hadn’t talked to even once, but right now was close to breaking my arm, what with her incessant squeezing. “Look, guys. All of the other rooms are vacant.”

Sure enough, the classrooms that we passed had been emptied out prior. Had been unloaded, cleared, as if something like a bomb had exploded.

Only, you know. . . None of us in my class had seemed to hear it. Or notice it, which was strange.

A glance at Audra, who was in the middle of the line didn’t tell me if ever she was worried. But I was pretty sure she was, especially since she kept looking left and right. Maybe she was waiting for Neil who went somewhere.

Either way, the man in black continued to usher us forward, then upward the stairs and forward again, where a short line was waiting for us on the third floor.

“Students.” A woman in a white lab gown approached us.

My classmates and I looked at each other’s reaction. All of us were confused. I mean, a woman in a white lab gown? Was this some kind of quarantine or what?

“Don’t be alarmed,” the woman said, having seen all of our faces, proceeding to give us a small smile. But even that wasn’t warm enough. Her pretend smile had the taint of a person handing out a brochure on the street. It wasn’t genuine, it was all for work. Add to that, her ponytail was pulled too tight, her stiletto’s too tall. What was she doing here?

“When I call your name, you will go into either one of those classrooms on the left or the right,” she said. “This will be a short procedure.”

“Procedure for what?” I heard a classmate say.

“Oh, just a normal check-up. It’s being done in school’s all over the country. Kind of like a screen for flu.”

No one looked like they believed a word she said. But the woman, soon, was checking her clipboard. Was going through the sheets. Was calling one of my classmates forward.

The rest of us who didn’t get called were approached by the man in black once again, who coincidentally brought a colleague of his own.

“You there. Go back into line,” one of them snapped.

A classmate of mine who was going to snoop into a room fell back into his line, gave the man in black an apologetic shrug. But, really. What was going on here? Why were we not told about this? And furthermore. . . I glanced at Audra whose eyes were already on me. Why was she looking at me like that? Like she was expecting something?

“Audra Gillis?”

“Pax Leighton.”

Both our names were called simultaneously. Mine, was by the woman with the ponytail earlier. Hers, by a woman who emerged from the classroom on the left. We were told to go into our respective classrooms immediately.

I stared at Audra again before doing that. But she was already making her way inside hers. And so I entered mine, feeling confused. Feeling that this— all of this was wrong in some kind of way.

Yet I didn’t know how, and I didn’t know why. Either way, I got to get through this.

The room I had entered didn’t look like a classroom, at least how I remembered it. Where there were supposed to be desks, and a lot of chairs that were the same as ours on the second floor, in here there was a table— but not of a teacher’s table like I expected, but close to a hospital’s that my parent’s used everyday for their work. It was metallic.

Behind that, was a man in a lab coat— same as the woman who called me, who barely glanced at me as I entered the room, continued tinkering with his laptop.

“Take a seat, please.” The man gestured to the room, where the windows were closed, covered by hospital dividers. It completely obscured the view outside, which was supposed to be a lovely mellow autumn.

My nose wrinkled at the scent of bleach.

“Here,” the woman said, closing the door behind her. A tap on my shoulder and a point to the far end corner of the room told me where I needed to go. There was a chair after all; not like a desk chair, mind you. But more like what they used for the electric chair in some movies, except this one was wrapped in leather and was doubly frightening.

“Uhm. . .”

The woman who was expecting me to go to it smiled. “Yes?” she said. “It’s just a routine inspection. Everyone had sat there this morning.”

They did?

I frowned. Why then did my stomach suddenly lurch? And why did I have a feeling that I should call my parents beforehand? Weren’t they supposed to be informed too?

“The government had approved of this,” the woman assured. “Go ahead, Pax. And while we’re at it, we’ll also ask you some questions too.”

“Questions?” I said.

“Yes. There’s nothing to be worried about. It’s just a standard health procedure.”

The lurching in the pit of my stomach didn’t disappear, but I was relieved to hear that they would be asking me questions. After all, in the hospital where my parents worked they would ask me questions too. It was all familiar to me.

Yet my legs were wobbly as I went towards the chair.

“There you go.” The woman in the lab coat looked pleased, but still her companion was bent over his laptop, looking at something privately. “Now. . .” My attention went back to the woman. “How long had you been studying here?”

“Since middle school,” I said.

“And your friends?”

What friends? I thought. But then my second thought went to Audra, who only transferred here two years ago, along with Neil, like they were siblings. Yet I knew for a fact that they were not.

“My. . . I don’t have many friends.” I admitted.

“Alright.” The woman didn’t seem to judge, and instead went behind my chair, leaned forward so I could hear her better. “Any relationships?” she continued. “A boyfriend, perhaps?”

“Huh?”

“He might have given you the flu.” She hinted.

Except I didn’t have one. Both the flu and the boyfriend, to be exact.

Yet the woman didn’t seem to mind as I got silent over the question, surprising me, even, when she began to attach a couple of wires around me.

And by couple, I meant a lot.

“What,” I asked, “are these for again?”

The thought of being shocked on the chair began to loom in my mind while the woman placed the small suction cups on me. In fact, I swear I could imagine myself dying on the spot. But the woman touched my shoulder when I tried to stand up.

“Relax,” she assured for the third time. “This is a new way to test for flu’s. And not only that. Through these wires, we can check for other irregularities too.”

Like what?

“Now, Pax.” The woman stooped down. “Why don’t you tell me about that boyfriend of yours? I’ve been dying to know all about him.”

“I-I don’t have one,” I stammered. Furthermore, the wires were beginning to tickle my sides. I wasn’t comfortable anymore.

The woman placed a circular thing under my hand before I could complain though. Looking down, I saw that it was not an ordinary sphere. It looked like I should insert my fingers along the indentations around it, which was strange for a gadget. I had never seen anything before like it.

“Why don’t you have a boyfriend, little missy?” The woman in the white gown distracted me. “Are you waiting for someone? A childhood crush, perhaps? Or are you secretly lesbian? Come on, you can tell me anything.”

What?

My stomach twisted. Along with that, what the heck was she talking about? That was too damn personal, even for a person in a lab gown.

She, of all people, should know that.

“Look,” I said, glancing at her. But the woman was too busy checking out her watch, and in a split-second, I had gotten irritated. Just what kind of test was this again?

“Yes?”

“I don’t—”

“You don’t?” The woman lowered her hand and focused on me. But unlike my parents with their patients, she didn’t look friendly. In fact, she was kind of scary— not scary like Mrs. Jenkin’s whenever she was angry. But scary, I realized, in a mad scientist kind of way.

I began to pull the wires away from me in a hurry. “I really don’t think I should be here right now,” I mumbled. “My homeroom teacher—“

“Are you lesbian, Pax?”

“H-huh?”

“Do you think animals are better than you?”

“N-no. . .”

“We’ve got a positive.” The man suddenly proclaimed, making me look at him straight and gulp. Where he was bent over before, he was holding an injection now. The kind that looked like a gun. The kind that would put even the strongest man down.

I yelped when the woman immediately pushed me back to the chair. “H-hey!” I said. “What’s the hold-up?”

But she began to put straps around my arms, and tightened them too before I realized what she was doing.

I was so shocked by all this, that all I could do was mumble at her.

“Be quiet!” she snapped. “This will be over in a while. As long as you let us do our job, you might even survive.”

Survive?! What the hell were they doing?!

A stare at the man once more told me that he was getting nearer. Closer.

I tried to buck away, but the woman was stronger than she looked. She had easily strapped my legs too when I hadn’t been looking, then covered my mouth before I could scream.

The man, who had now made it to my side, plunged the needle in my neck in a second. “There, there, Pax Leighton,” he said as I squealed. “It won’t be long now before you’re normal like us. You’ll thank me once you’re no longer lesbian.”