Has anybody ever applied "Higher Mathmatics" to daily life?
He wondered sleepily. He hadn't gotten that much sleep the night before, he never did anymore. Being a teenager sucked sometimes.
He tapped his fingers absently on the desk he sat at. He was attending a high school on the Sunshine Coast of Australia. In an ancient classroom at the summit of a small hill that led down to a road, on two sides were classrooms and barely-conserved semi-rural riverside vegetation. He resented it immensely. He felt that he should be somewhere else, that advanced maths was not what he was destined for in life.
He let his mind wander to happier thoughts; owning a pub in Ireland, droving cattle in outback Australia, hell, even breaking his back training for some unknown, unimportant, insignificant military battalion in a bloody country town out bloody woop woop.
Anywhere but where he was.
He was sick of all the cliches. "Don't skip out of school! You'll regret it when you're older!" He didn't care. He wouldn't regret it now. Isn't that what the exact same people said in the same breath? "Live for the moment"? Everyone was so hypocritical and contradictory.
Shifting his weight he snapped out of the daydream and readjusted his hat. He wore the typical school uniform; a white polo shirt, long navy pants and black shoes. However, he had made a few adjustments.
He wore a navy blue trench coat and a drover hat on top of his ordinary uniform. Nobody picked on him however, the school he went to was too small and people tended to keep to themselves.
The bell rang and he slowly rose. He hated wasting his time here. Leaving the classroom and stuffing his books into his bag he walked away to lunch.
How he wished something, ANYTHING would happen that would make his life eventful.
Trudging along the path, the old-as-time-itself buildings of his school passing and travelling up and down hills as the path dicated, he wondered where his friends where. He recognized his friends lazily sitting on a table that looked over 9000 years old. He wondered if they had their tetanus shots..
"Hey guys" He called as he neared, "How's it going?" Taking a seat on a concrete slab near the table he dropped his bag and opened it, surveying his lunch for the day;
Sandwiches, chips and biscuits.. Same as always I guess..
"G'day Ben," Kai greeted as Ben sat down, "We still on for the weekend?" he asked boredly. He obviously had nothing else to talk about.
"Yeah.. Oi did you watch the news this morning?" Ben asked, opening a packet of chips. "There was something on about riots and civil unrest in Brisbane, you reckon it's terrorists or something?"
Kai snorted, "Terrorists never attack Australia, our national security is too good." He was always going on about how great Australia is. It was great, he agreed, but he felt Kai became obsessed with things on whims too much. This might be different, but Ben never knew anymore.
"Ah maybe.. It'd be pretty sweet though, nothing ever happens in Australia anymore." Ben replied, staring off into space, a chip held halfway between his mouth and the packet, he sneezed violently, twice.
Kai jumped off the table and stretched, his fat making him look like a gigantic santa wearing a school uniform. Kai had dark hair, like Ben, however, his was shorter and less smooth.
Tyrone was another of his friends, however, he had remained silent up until this point, Tyrone was a skinny, timid member of Ben's friends and he had only one eye, a result of pre-birth complications. That didn't damage his brain though, Tyrone was smart and adaptable. Most of all, he didn't complain. That helped a lot when concentration was critical. He had gray hair and tended to slouch forward, he got picked on a lot.
They sat there a while longer, shooting the shit and just messing around. Before too long the bell went however, and Ben became depressed again. School really sucked.
Loud banging on the door ripped Ben out of his slumber, he looked out the window and saw the bloodred horizon through the forested suburbs his window overlooked. Launching himself out of bed, he was ready to smack heads. Nobody woke him up earlier than first light.
"What the fuck?" He shouted through the door as he staggered towards it.
Twisting the doorknob, the door flew inwards, almost bowling him over as his brain frantically tried to process what was happening.
A man wearing pajamas landed on him, frantically trying to take a bite out of his face.
Ben switched to death-mode, sticking his forearm into the man's neck, hooking his left leg onto the man's right leg, bridging and rolling on top of the man. He sat with his knees on the man's pecs.
He reached over and picked up his knife from the table next to his bed. Lowering the knife to the man's throat, his voice dripped venom.
"Stop what you're doing, or I will kill you."
The man showed no visible fear, or change of heart.
Ben twisted the knife and nicked the man's carotid artery.
Looking at his watch he counted down. 12…11…10…9…8…7 He should be losing consciousness now.
Ben was puzzled. The man's neck was pulsing, every pump of his heart forced more blood out the cut. Looking at his watch again, he resumed the countdown 4…3…2…1.
He should be dead right now! Ben's mind was racing. Something was wrong. Not just with the situation, that was fucked up enough, but that the man wouldn't die even after his artery was sliced.
Ben was confused, but decided to try something else.
Maneuvring the knife again, Ben plunged it deeper than before, but this time he severed the man's subclavian artery.
Looking at his watch again he counted down: 4…3…2…1
Glancing at the man he was shocked to see that the man was still alive. Ben sat back slightly, trying to discover why the man wasn't dying, while the blood pooled all over his carpet.
Then the realization hit him.
Zombie.
He lifted his knife once more to test this theory. Plunging it into the man's eyeball, the man instantly stopped moving. Stopped thrashing. Stopped living.
Ben rose, leaning on his bed's metal posts.
Fucking zombies man. Well I knew this day would come.
He put his hat on and walked to the bathroom, washing off the blood and spit that the Z had so rudely covered him with.
Returning to his room, he began packing a suitcase, all of his clothes went into the suitcase, along with some books, his ipod, and other assorted items he figured he'd need for this. He put on a muscle shirt, zip-off denim jeans and his trench coat. He strapped his knife to his upper arm and walked into the kitchen, retrieving an icepick when a thought struck him.
Where's Mum?
The glass door going from the lounge/kitchen to the back verandah was smashed and blood-coated. Probably from the bastard falling into it. Ben looked out into his backyard, a zombie was looking around stupidly before he noticed Ben and charged.
Ben stepped out onto the verandah and waited for the zombie to ascend the stairs before kicking him straight back down. He slid the knife out of it's sheath and held it ready.
The Z charged and all thoughts went out the window.
Ben saw himself slowly stepping to the left of the charging zombie, thrusting his knife-arm towards the zombie, precision perfect, and with his other hand, he held the Z's head and forced the knife through it's temple. He watched as the white, misty effect of being zombified left the Z's eyes and it fell down, almost yanking Ben's hand down as it did so. He pulled it out and wiped the blood on the couch next to him. If anyone came here, they'd know he survived. If they looked hard enough. Bloody idiots usually just see the bodies and assume the worst. If people were as thorough as forensic investigators, a hell of a lot of worries could be avoided.
He shook his head and stepped inside, sheathing his knife and shutting the screen door so he'd know if any more came.
Striding down the hallway towards his mother's room, he slowly drew his knife and assumed a stalking pose, his knees bent and knife held point forward with his hand dipped to the side and down.
Slowly creeping forward, the bare soles of his feet making no sound at all on the smooth tiles.
Rounding the doorway, he looked around the corner into his mother's room and saw it was empty, but he didn't relax. He entered the room, keeping his back to the wall, and checked both the bathroom and walk-in-robe.
Empty.
He examined the rest of the house and found it was empty. The car was gone too.
Mum must be gone then.
He checked his phone and saw a message from his mother.
Went to get milk and bread, be back soon.
A message from Kai.
Oi mate shit's getting weird. I'm coming over. See you in about 15.
That was 10 minutes ago.
I'd better send Mum a message, find out what the go is with her..
He sent her a message asking her to come home soon.
He slipped on his shoes and wore gloves. If I lose my weapon and have to use my hands, there's no way I'm getting infected.
He packed his schoolbag full of sugary food and drink and a couple of loaves of bread. Slipping an extra icepick into the front and hoisting it onto his back, he opened the door, reassuring himself his phone and keys were in his pockets.
He wandered out to the front of his house and sat on the curb, waiting.