"What if I told you right now that everything could change in this instant? That everything could change, and we could go back to the way things had been? We... We never would have run into each other that day; we never would have had to escape together. We wouldn't be here. But they all would be. What would you say to that? Would you take it? Would you take that over this?" I felt tears welling over the edges of my eyes but somehow managed to hold it together long enough to finish speaking. My breathing was hot, heavy. My mouth was dry. It felt as though all f my strength was being used to speak and to somehow continue standing in front of her without wavering at either action. I felt my knees go weak and yet somehow they locked themselves into place, and I stood as firm as I possibly could. I knew I'd lose her after this. But... I couldn't just pretend that this wasn't killing me. Not anymore.
She then wrapped her arms like a noose around my neck and kissed the top of my head. "Honestly?" Her voice was low, raspy. I knew she needed a drink just as badly as I did. I knew we were risking so much to stop and do this. What I didn't know is why she'd given up protesting and why she was humoring me now long enough to even touch me, let alone answer me. I breathed her in. She smelled of sweat and dust and dirt. She smelled of death.
That year had started like any other year. Competitions were coming up as the new year began and the school year came closer to an end. We had all be frantically discussing the song list for this year, and no one seemed to agree. Some of the ideologies were split as far as priorities were concerned. A lot of the senior class was agreeing to focus on that aspect, their graduation, not their final competition. Some of the other members were focused on personal lives. There were couples joining together and claiming that whatever the other one wanted is what mattered on both ends. So, of course, we weren't getting anywhere. And why we were left alone at that time to discuss among ourselves a decision that should have been finalized and sorted by a faculty member was unclear to me then. And frustrating.
I had the perfect plan for the set list. I always did. But I was supposedly meant to let others and their ideas shine at least a small amount. Something about "teamwork"- a trait that I might have spent more time in now. Well, obviously no one there knew how to work as a team, and we were going nowhere fast as far as what we were actually supposed to be doing was concerned. But... Now, looking back, that all seems so minor to me now. It had been a year since the first death at this point. And no one seemed to even remember it happening. It was so freak, so sudden... Perhaps it shocked everyone too much to want to have to deal with it in such a small town. And now we were alone because Ms. Pillsbury had come down with something out of nowhere. And the only ones who seemed to remember anything about the death before and the similarities now were myself, Quinn Fabray- whom I found sitting over a stack of books in the library one afternoon, and Mr. Schuester- hence his absence now. But, of course, you chalk that up to worrying too much and jumping to conclusions, right? Right.
Either way, at the time, it didn't seem like we could do anything. And so, there I was, standing in a chair in front of everyone in the choir room trying to be heard over the dull roar of all the mixed voices, when the intercom chimed in and a voice we'd never heard before came over the speakers. "William McKinley High School students and staff, please remain calm and in your classrooms until further instruction. There is no need for panic, but we must inform you that a serious matter has come to your school. Again, please remain in your classrooms until further knowledge." And then the tents started to be put up. And students and staff were being escorted one room at a time into the gymnasium and into those white tents where something was happening that no one else knew about.
Some people left the tents and went to the right. And every now and again, someone exited and headed to the left. No one was allowed to tell us what was happening. And when eventually more and more people were herded to the left, the tents began taking us two at a time as if to hurry through whatever was happening. No one ever saw those taken to the left come back in. The ones to the right were given gray scrubs and a number and told to go to the cafeteria for dinner. Nothing else was being explained. So when she and I were taken into a tent together, and a long, thin needle was forced into each of our forearms... When a green light flashed on the machine connected to her and a red light flashed on mine... When they began shouting and herding her to the left with all of the others that had disappeared, and she looked to me frantically... We had no idea what we were so afraid of. Not really. But one look into her eyes, and I knew we both knew. So I reached out, and before anyone in the tents dressed in their disgustingly green scrubs knew what was happening- before I knew what was happening- I took off with her in tow.
And we hid. I'm still not sure how we managed to get away. Adrenaline kicked in; fear took over. Maybe the frantic moving to the cafeteria and those who were protesting- and being beaten down quite literally- was enough of a distraction for us to slip through. Either way, we barely made it out of the school building and managed to make it to the abandoned house hidden in the forest behind the school's football field that others used to smoke and do all sorts of illegal in- which I only knew about because of trying to find Quinn and her "Skank" friends. And we hid. There were sirens and people rushing by, looking everywhere. But people had long since forgotten about this place. When I realized I still had her hand, I tried to let go- a small blush I'd never admit to creeping along my cheeks. But she held fast. She didn't look over at me, but I could see the tear rolling down her cheek. I could still see the fear in her eyes. She was infected. And from where we hid, we watched as our entire town was quarantined.
I'm very sorry for the first upload of this chapter looking like a complete wall of text. It wouldn't let me upload the file that I'd wrote this on, so I was simply copying and pasting. I suppose that it didn't end up as well as I'd hoped. Hopefully this fixes it, and if any of the other chapters upload like that, I promise to do my very best to fix them. Thank you!