I awake from my slumber to a sunny day.
I get out of bed with a sleepy smile on my face, walking like a dizzy drunk to the kitchen so I could get a bit of breakfast before getting to Resurgam.
Oh, wait a minute… It's my day off.
I want to raise my hands in the air from joy, but instead I just smile harder.
I walk on over to the kitchen and I almost start to scream.
Someone's in my kitchen cooking.
I grab whatever's handy and walk in, preparing to hit the person in the face.
As soon as I see who's in my kitchen, I drop my weapon and smile again.
Erhard's in my kitchen, preparing french toast for me and him.
"Why are you in my house?" I ask in a tone that almost makes us both burst out laughing.
"I don't know. Maybe I just like cooking for you?" He answers in a mocking voice.
"Yeah, that's very likely." I scoffed.
I sit down at the kitchen table and observe how he cooks the toast inside my frying pan.
I stop staring at the frying pan and start staring at him.
I stare at his pitch black hair that gleams from the sunlight that shines out of my window, trying to escape the outdoors and come into my house.
He finally finishes breakfast and then takes out 2 plates from my cupboard and sets them down on the table. He sets down french toast and bacon on
each of the plates.
I eye my toast hungrily and scarf it down like a hungry wolf.
"Woah, Cass! You're gonna choke on that!" Erhard exclaims.
"Meh." I tell him.
"Oh, wait! I almost forgot!"
He shuffles through the pocket of his blue parka and takes out the most beautiful rose I have ever seen.
"Don't worry, Cassia, it's real and I didn't spray-paint it blue."
He hands me a blue rose and I take it in my hand, caressing and feeling the beauty of its petals.
"Thank you…" I thank him in a dreamy whisper.
I can't take my eyes off the rose….It's as attractive as Erhard himself.
Wait...what?
Suddenly I'm thinking about him all over again….Could I be falling in love?
How could I not be falling in love?
I've been in love with him ever since I met him…
We've been friends for months now….But it seems like years.
"Cassia…." I barely hear him whisper my name.
"Huh?" I said.
"Oh...Uh….Nothing."
I eye him with a look that clearly stated, you shouldn't keep things from me; I always find out in the end.
He rolls his eyes mockingly and sighs.
"Cassia….I've always loved you since the day we met….."
My eyes go wide.
I can't believe I'm hearing this.
This is what I've been dying to hear for months….
"I understand if you don't want to love me, but I-"
"No, Erhard."
"What?"
"Don't say that."
He eyes me suspiciously and worriedly and makes his face say, What can I say then?
"Don't say you'll understand, because you won't if I say no. And….I've loved you ever since I saw you as well." I tell him.
By the look on his face, it seems like I just made his day the best day he'll ever have.
I smiled.
I get up from the table and go into my room to get a hair ribbon, since I'm feeling good and I always wear a ponytail when I feel good.
When I go into my room, I find that Erhard is following me with the goofiest smile you'll ever see pasted on his face. It almost makes me burst out
laughing so hard, that aliens on the freaking moon would hear me.
As soon as I grab a white hair ribbon and tie my hair up, Erhard walks up to me and kisses me.
I don't think you'll believe me when you hear this, but this is my first kiss.
I know….It's weird that I'm an adult and still haven't ever gotten kissed, but the truth is….I've been waiting for the right moment. And this was it.
He slides his hand up my hair and combs it between his fingers, doing it softly and caressing me as he goes.
I slide my hand up his shirt and run my hand up his spine, tickling him.
And then….my phone rings.
"Aw, fuck the phone." Erhard whispers.
"Yeah." I whisper back.
I get up for a moment and walk on over to the phone on my desk and answer it.
"Hello?"
"Cassia, this isn't good."
"Chief? Uh….What's going on?"
"There's people vomiting blood all over the place, and they have bruises and hemorrhaging all over them!"
"What?! Another Rosalia outbreak?!"
"No! That's the problem! They tested negative for Rosalia! And Twisted Rosalia, for that matter! Actually, to be honest, they tested both negative and positive!"
"What?! Impossible!"
"I know! Get Erhard and drive to the subway."
I hang up and alert Erhard about this.
"What?! Oh, shit." He yells.
He jumps off my bed.
I remove my pajama bottom and put on some jeans to go with my shirt.
I see him blush as he watches me.
"Perv!" I giggle, throwing a pillow at him.
He laughs and smiles again, like he forgot about the outbreak.
We both get out of my house and rush over to my car and get in.
"I drive, or you drive?" Erhard asked.
"You drive." I toss him my keys. "You're faster."
I fasten my seatbelt and get to the passenger seat next to the driver's seat and Erhard drives.
I'm amazed at how fast he drives….It's like riding in a spaceship.
I brace myself for what we're going to encounter at the subway, the same subway that the Rosalia virus first caught Resurgam First Care's attention.
When we arrive, there's people screaming and streaming out of the subway station entrance.
"Holy shit." Erhard exclaimed and got out of the car, tossing the car keys over to me.
I barely catch the metallic yellow keys, as they almost tipped over my hand.
I quickly stuffed them into my pocket and walked with Erhard to the scene.
We both put on surgical masks in case the disease is airborne.
I almost vomit when I see the scene.
I see bleeding corpses and diseased people infected with Rosalia almost every day, but this….this was terrifying.
There were people everywhere with multiple lacerations on their abdomens, bleeding out everywhere…
I couldn't believe my eyes…
"Cassia, this person's undergoing cardiac arrest! Help me!" I hear a fiery voice and turn around.
"M-Maria?! O-Okay!" I run to her and help her by almost hitting the person's chest.
I do CPR on the person while Maria helps with the leg and abdomen wounds.
I feel sick to my stomach from all of this.
I finally get the person's heart working and Maria's done with the wounds.
"Hey, ya lazy assholes! This patient's ready for transport!" Maria yells at some of the paramedics near an ambulance.
I run to Erhard and help him with 3 people simultaneously.
Mostly stomach wounds, though.
I suddenly find myself warming up, like I have a fever, and then I raise my hand to my mouth and threw up.
When I saw it, the vomit was red from blood.
Cassia, this is your chance to change your death…. I hear a voice inside of me.
So, instead of hiding it like I did last time, I tell Erhard.
"Er..Erhard...I …. I feel….sick…." I say, finding myself gasping for air.
When Erhard sees me, he gasps and raises his hand to his mouth.
And I collapse into a convulsing heap on the sea of corpses.
TO BE CONTINUED…...
