'Recorded outbreaks have now grown larger. The US will have to evacuate all the non-infected and quarantine bomb Manhattan before the virus spreads any farther. Sgt. Reiner Kazama was the first carrier of the disease, and his whereabouts are unknown. Th--' I turned the TV off. I couldn't hear it anymore.
Let me rephrase that. I was perfectly capable of continuing to watch the flashing images. I could just turn it back on and be terrorized by the horror behind my eyelids. But I didn't. It was painful. Noises of people shuffling rang in my ears. Kids walking around, from class to class, from dorm to dorm, but lost of kid went to mine. To the door of mine, exactly. Every once in a while, footsteps headed towards the door, then I'm guessing they read the sign on my door. It read, "dont come in leave a note dont wanna talk". No voice in that text. They slid a piece of paper under the door, then walked away. I got about 250 folded pieces of paper a day.
Most of them read something like "I'm sorry about your father," or "Get well soon," or even "If you need anything, call me," along with a phone number. Some also said "Dude, I hate you," or "Your dad is gonna kill us all," or even "Everyone wants you out. Do us a favor and kill yourself."
I never called the numbers. I never took any of them for granted. It reminded me too much of when my mother died.
It had been a cool, October day. It was two days before Halloween, the 29th. I was so excited for my last year of Halloween. I was 14. I went out into the night, running around in the leaves. My dad had left to get candy for the weekend, and I stayed home with my mother.
Her name was Dawn Zenkuas Kazama. She was cooking inside, and I was outside, playing up in the tree house. I stayed up there for hours with my girlfriend, kissing and talking. But mostly kissing. It was about 9pm, and I decided to back inside, just to check on my mum. Tell her I was alright.
My girlfriend's name was Sophie Davis.
We went inside, hand in hand, and found her.
In the living room.
Hanged.
I stood still, while Sophie went berserk. She took a knife and stabbed my eye, accusing me of killing her. I grabbed her, still clutching my eye, and threw her in a closet and locked it from the outside. Then I called the cops.
They came surprisingly quick. Then told me it was murder, and then when I took my hand off of my eye, they also called an ambulance.
"Kid, who did that? Yer mum?" asked the cop.
"No...my....girlfriend....she's...crazy.....in...the closet......" I stammered, partly because I was out of breath, and partly because my eye was bleeding like crazy. They let her out of the closet, and found her hanged too.
And there was someone else in the closet.
My dad. Running away.
He had killed my mom and my girlfriend.
They caught him eventually, and put him in jail for it. But he had good money, so he hired lawyers to let him out. It worked.
I went to the hospital. They had to replace my eye with someone else's, except that person had red eye color, for some reason. I now had a red left eye.
The cops gave me a card. Just in case something else happened.
Just in case...
Then here comes the thing with what you were hearing on the TV.
You might be wondering what's going on. Just last week, my dad, Sgt. Reiner Kazama, was messing around with his science buddies, trying to create a virus that made people do great things, such as super-speed, super-strength, all that superhero stuff. Then they got a better idea: man's only dream. Invincibility. To never die.
So they messed with some unstable components. Once they finished, they realized they had no test subject. My dad offered the first shot. When they gave it to him, I was told, he staggered, and his heart rate increased tenfold. After a while, his heart rate went down again.
It was time for the test.
My dad stood in the center of the room, with nothing but his underwear, and then an officer shot him. It hit him. He staggered, the got his footing again and took the bullet out.
It was a success.
Suddenly, all his science buddies were talking big: Nobel Peace Prize, fame, fortune. They each took a dosage. My dad has started twitching after a while, and they noted that twitching was a side effect.
The hole where he'd been shot began seeping a black liquid. They all stepped back from my dad, as he fell to the ground, his heart rate reading 0 bpm. Seconds later, he got up and shot them all.
My dad. Killing his best friends. I wasn't surprised.
He went around, I was told, infecting people from Manhattan. Since my dad got the first dosage, apparently he was the most sophisticated. He could shoot a gun, while the rest of them couldn't pick up a rock. He could run superhumanly fast and was super-strong, while the rest trudged and had normal strength.
The only way to kill them was by eliminating the brain. Or burning them. But that took too long for a quick kill. So right now, they were going to bomb Manhattan.
Because of my dad. The escaped catalyst, somewhere in the world, probably looking for me.
I turned to the wall, and counted the tally marks reading how many days since I've come out of the room. There was about six or seven.
I still remember the day where I turned like this. I was in science class with Mrs. Hertz. She got a phone call telling me to go to the office. I walked over there, sat down, and the principal began talking.
"Cross, I have some bad news for you." he said, looking tired.
"Do tell." I replied coolly.
"You heard of the strange outbreak in Manhattan, right?"
"Yessir."
"Well...it was your dad's fault." the color drained from my face. He moved on to explain. "He was creating a ultimate virus, and he took the dosage. He then killed all his friends and is now hidden. He's a zombie--"
That's when I truly realized what he was. A zombie. He was the carrier of a deadly virus that made people into zombies. A ghoul.
And he was looking for me.
Suddenly, I heard a knock at the door. I took the knife from my desk with a reflex. A reflex earned only by death.
"It's us, Cross." It was the voice of Odd. But I couldn't be too sure.
With my weak voice, the one that had been used to scream throughout the night, I said, "It's open." They came in. Immediately, I pointed the knife at their faces. Not surprised, as I did this anytime anyone came in. They were carrying trays. Food. They set them down next to me, along with the rest of the weeks food that I barely touched. There was pizza, spaghetti, ect.
"Cross, you gotta eat." said Ulrich sympathetically.
"I'm not hungry." I lied. I was really starving. I put the weapon down next to me and lay on my bed. Sammy, or Samantha Weiss, who was also part of the gang, came and lay next to me, hugging me. Her sweet scent went into my nose, and I turned away so I wouldn't have to stare into those beautiful eyes as well. I was, unfortunately, in love with her. Since the day I saw her. I still remember.
It had been my first day at this school. I was walking around, and I was lost. Out of nowhere, she comes.
"Hey, you need help finding anything?" I stared at her, stunned by her scent, her looks, her ease. Ok, and maybe I looked at her curves once or twice. But still.
"Yes. That would be very helpful." I replied monotone. She gave me a flirty smile. She always was a flirty chick.
"Well then this way, handsome." she led me with he finger. I followed like a dog. She led me to a alleyway near the back of the school.
"There are no classes here." I said, me being the retard I was. She chuckled and replied:
"I know."
Then no words were said. We began to make out, feeling each other up, and heavy breathing. We kept at it for a while, before she apologized.
"Why is that, hun?" I asked.
"....because...i have a boyfriend...." she said quietly. I stared at her. She went up to me to hug me, and I pushed her away.
"I'll find my classes myself, thank you." I said rudely. Then walked off.
That was the last time I saw her before I met Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, and Yumi. She was their friend. On the first day we hung out, she took me to a bathroom to talk.
"Umm...i want to apologize. Is it ok if we don't tell anyone about it...?" I looked at her and agreed.
"My boyfriend broke up with me...cuz he found out..." then she began to cry. I hugged her until she finished, and then kissed her cheek and left.
After that, it was all friendship. But I was in love.
And me, being me at the moment, was not good enough for her. She had light brown eyes, crimson colored. Light brown hair, and was one of those people that always wore dark clothing.
Compared to me. I my hair looked kinda like L's hair. I wore black jeans, a blue shirt with a white splatter bomb, and a black jacket.
"Cross...i don't want you to go..." she said, her voice breaking. She was the only one that could unleash my softer side. I turned to face her and hugged her back. As I did, I could have sworn I heard the gang gasp. I chuckled. The gasped even more.
"Can we stay here for the night? Sissy's dad said so." asked Aelita. I didn't answer. I just looked, and for the first time, I think they, they being Jeremie, Aelita, Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and Sammy, just realized how bad I was, in what horrible state I was in.
"If that's okay with you, its fine with me." I said, hollowly. The all got great big grins on their faces, and I gave a very small, weak smile.
"Were gonna go get dinner and then pack. Eat some food, please, Cross." said Yumi.
"I'll try." I responded.
As Sammy got up, I felt cold again. I felt numb without her. Maybe it was time to just tell her.
"Sammy. I need to talk to you." I said, much too quickly. She looked surprised and sat on the bed again.
"What's up?" she said. I got up next to her and looked into her eyes.
"I know my reputation isn't very good right now..."
"Ya think?" she said, her eyes smiling. It was time.
"But I love you." I said, as serious as my dead voice could be. Her eyes grew wide, and her heart could be heard. It was a loud thump-thump-thump noise.
Time stood still. It wasn't an answer I wanted. It was her understanding this. I needed her to know how I felt. I thought I had felt the same with Sophie. How we kissed. How we felt. And then she did that. I didn't want that to be Sammy.
"Cross..." she whispered. She put her hand in mine. "I love you too..."
The world was complete.
And we kissed. Not a sloppy, overzealous kiss, but a nice, long, romantic kiss. After a minute or two, we stopped, breathing hard.
"Can you do me a favor, Cross?" she asked. I looked at her, sending a message: 'I'm listening.'
"Can you...get out of your room to eat dinner with me?" she asked, her eyes pleading. I couldn't say no. Plus, I needed to air out this room.
Yeah. That's what I'm doing. Airing out the room. NOT going to get dinner.
I took a deep breath.
"Fine." She smiled so wide, she was so happy, that I thought she was gonna run out of the room screaming and crying of joy.
"Let's go then!" she said, excited. She got up and kicked all the letters aside. Before she left the room, I stopped her and held her hand, our fingers intertwining.
For the first time in a week, I got out of my room.
And for the first time in a year, felt like something good had happened.
As we walked down the stairs into the dining room, people stopped talking and stared. Some stopped talking altogether, but others whispered to one another. They looked at me, then at Sam, then at our hands, then at me again. All this was enough to make me turn around and go to my room, with or without Sammy. We located the gang, and walked over to them. Their mouths were open in awkward, gawking positions.
"Hello." I said, while Sammy screamed something like, "OMG GUYS GUESS WHAT?! ME AND CROSS ARE GOING OUT!!!" The people in the dining room who hadn't gasped at the previous events stopped trying to be macho and went ahead and gasped.
"Wow! I'm so happy for you guys!" said Aelita.
"Great job getting him out of the room, Sammy!" cackled Odd.
"Nice!" exclaimed Jeremie. Ulrich and Yumi just looked at each other. Obviously some clashing thoughts.
Everyone was eating dinner except me. I didn't want to let go of Sammy's hand, but when she had to use a knife, I went ahead and felt numb for a while. After a while, I heard a voice from behind me.
"Well, well, well...the bear came out of his cave." someone said. I got up and turned around, as did the entire table. Sammy immediately grabbed hold of my hand, and my eyes became daggers.
"Who said that." I stated.
"Ha! The boy's lost his mind!" exclaimed Herve.
"Wanna say that again, ass-face?" I called out, even though they were three feet in front of me. It did the trick though. We had the entire cafeteria's attention. Which would make them three want to look tougher. Which would give me a very good reason to punch someone in the face.
"Oh, but it wasn't him, Cross. It was me." said William, suddenly appearing from behind the three. Like Moses, the three parted to a side, and William came from the middle.
"You gonna do something about that, ghoul?" he teased. I tensed and ripped my hand from Sammy's hold. She looked frightened.
"Ooh, the zombie's getting' aggravated!" said William. I took a step forward, but Odd's hand stopped me.
"Cross, he's not worth it. Just let the cunt be." he said. Without warning, William rushed to Odd and punched him in the face. He flew backward a good four feet. He held his hand out after the punch, and he was next to me. I just stared straight ahead.
As unexpected as William's punch had been, I took my left fist, clenched it, and thrust it into his stomach. He flew even farther then Odd, going back a good seven feet. He, however, landed on his feet. He looked at me with hate.
"Haven't you heard, William? You shouldn't mess with a mentally unhinged person." I smirked.
"Of course, of course." he replied, slowly walking toward me.
"How about I make you a deal? Tonight, at midnight. Here. We fight. Winner gets $100...and your precious little girlfriend's love." said William.
"Cross, don't do it." said Sammy, almost at the same time that I agreed. She gasped, and dropped her hand from mine.
"Listen, love, I love you too much to let you go. With you at stake, I'll definitely win, and he'll get the beating he deserves. I love you, Sam." I said, and she took my hand again and smiled.
Even though we were in the middle of the cafeteria, I kissed her on the lips, her sweet scent captivating me for 20 seconds. It seemed like everyone in the room had gasped. Everyone, that is, except William, Sissy, Herve, and Nicholas.
I helped Odd up and told him the story once we were all in my room.
"Wow. Dude. You better not lose. I mean...you love Sammy..." he said.
"I won't lose. No way. Not to someone like him." I replied.
We watched X-Men Origins – Wolverine until about 11:57pm. Then we all walked down to he cafeteria.
When we got there, we noticed that all the tabled had been moved, there was a crowd of about 250 there, and William was there, punching a punching bag. When someone told him I was here, he stopped and turned around.
"Well, well, well...look what the zombie dragged in." he teased. I just looked. "Ready?" he asked me. I nodded.
Let the fight begin.
He took his shirt off, revealing a somewhat-toned body. He cheered to the crowd, pumping his fists into the air. I took action.
I ran to him, making just enough noise so he could hear me. He looked out of the corner of his eye, and took a backhand at me, like I had anticipated he would. I stopped running, and his fist touched my nose. Quickly, I grabbed his arm, swung my right leg and kicked him in the face, then threw him to the ground. He groaned, while the crowd cheered. Sammy looked at me, smiling.
"Hah! You're better than I thought!" he said, smiling. He got up, moving around, pretending to be an experienced fighter. He too a swing at my jaw, and that sent my head turning. He kicked my stomach, and I backed up a bit, then he got a good uppercut in the mix, and that painfully hit my stomach again. I doubled over, vomiting the little contents of food in my system. He laughed, and his laugh brought something inside me to life.
I stood up, very slowly, and grabbed him by his hair. He tried to rip my hands, and then realized that only hurt him more. With one swift push, I threw that asshole out the window. It shattered, making tons of noise. Some of the glass fell on his back, but most hit the front of his body and was pushing into him. That must have been painful.
He didn't get up.
I walked over to him, very slowly. Everyone stared at me, mouths wide open, some excited, some frightened. Suddenly, he went flying backwards and grabbed me with his legs. I fell on the same glass, and I finally got a good look at his face. It was bleeding and cut everywhere, just like his chest. He turned, and started beating the shit out of my face. Punch after punch after punch...but still, unconsciousness didn't come. Finally, I had the strength to punch his face and get him off me. MY face was a bloody mess of everything.
It hurt to breathe. To move.
"So! Ha! Not so tough, are ya. Well...let's give it a try. What if i--" William began, and I interrupted him.
Time went slow.
My fist, moving through the air.
My mind, registering that he was right next to Sammy.
His hands, reaching for her.
Me, not stopping my punch.
My fist, slowly hitting her fleshy face.
Her, not moving in his arms.
I couldn't breathe. William was planning this all along. For me o break my girlfriend's face. Fury raged inside me. Black poison spread in my system.
In other words...I was gonna beat the fuck out of little Will. here.
He threw her to me, and I barely caught her.
"Wow, bro! You took a beating to your girlfriend." he said in awe.
"...you....are sooo fucking dead, William." then I laughed. I laughed for about three minutes before the fury woke me up again.
He ran towards me, holding out a fist, as if charging a punch. With no motion, I teleported next to him and gave him a deafening blow to the jaw. He looked very near unconsciousness, and could barely get up. But what had surprised everyone was the thing before that.
Had I just...teleported? no. that kinda thing only happened in movies or video games. Not in school fights. I was probably going fast.
"William, you never learn, do you." I exclaimed, then kicked him in the stomach.
He was out.
