Arthur Quarantined
Chapter One
It was the last day of school. The sweltering heat of the day and the excitement for summer were beginning to take their toll on the students of Mr. Ratburn's class. A big drop of sweat rolled down Arthur's forehead, across his cheek, and then plopped onto the floor in a little splash. Summer was about to arrive.
Arthur glanced at the clock. It seemed to tick by in an endless rhythm. He knew that the clock was his key to salvation. If time stopped, he would never get out of this school. Time hadn't exactly stopped for Arthur; it was just passing by very, very slowly. Arthur needed summer to arrive. He had been waiting for this day for so long.
He glanced around the room to check up on all of his friends. He looked at Buster, who looked just as ready to leave as he was. He caught Buster's eye and they both smiled. They were going to have a fun summer together. He spotted Francine, who had her head on her desk. When he looked over at Muffy, she was brushing her hair, obviously not paying attention to anything Mr. Ratburn was rambling on about. His eyes continued to scan the room and he spotted Brain, who seemed to be the only one in the whole class who actually was paying attention. Typical Brain. When his eyes passed over Binky's desk, Binky wasn't there. Then Arthur remembered Binky was probably in the bathroom, puking his guts out. The school lunch that day had not agreed with Binky's stomach at all.
Arthur spotted a little bug and watched it slowly climb up the wall. He was ready to leave now. School was in its final minutes of session. In his mind, Arthur wondered why Mr. Ratburn even bothered to teach the class on the last day of school, but of course he didn't ask that out loud. He didn't not want to end school on a bad note. So instead he just patiently watched the bug climb up the wall.
To get prepared for summer, Arthur started thinking about all the fun times he would have once this school day ended. Arthur thought about how he and his friends would do all sorts of fun stuff like go to the beach, go eat ice cream every day at the Sugar Bowl, and go on fun rides if a carnival came to town. Arthur then thought about the vacation he and his family would be taking to California. He was so excited to visit the beaches in California. Everyone had told him that the beaches he and his family were going to were absolutely amazing. Soon, Arthur got very lost in his thoughts about summer.
Suddenly, a horrible feeling gripped Arthur. His entire body froze, and suddenly he stopped seeing what was around him. His brain was filled with strange and terrifying images. He suddenly had the sinking feeling that he would never see his family again and that he would never leave this school alive.
The images died down, but he still had the horrible feeling in his brain. He didn't know why he thought that. Of course he would leave the school alive; summer would begin in a couple of minutes. Arthur felt relieved, but in the back of his mind he still had those terrible thoughts.
Arthur looked back at Binky's desk and noticed he still had not returned to the classroom. Binky had been in the bathroom a very, very long time. He wondered if he was still throwing up and whether if he was still sick. He didn't want Binky to be sick on the first day of summer. That would be a bad way to start the summer off.
Suddenly, the door to the classroom opened, and there stood Binky, standing in the entrance. Mr. Ratburn paused for a moment to look at Binky and address him.
"Feeling better, Binky?" Mr. Ratburn asked. "You may take your seat now."
But Binky didn't take his seat. Instead he stood motionless in the doorway, staring intently at Brain. Arthur suddenly felt very uncomfortable. He didn't know why Binky was waiting there, but he didn't like it. He suddenly had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Sweat rolled down his forehead, but this time it wasn't from the heat of the day. Then Arthur thought he saw foam forming at the edges of Binky's mouth. Arthur was very afraid.
Then, without warning, Binky screamed a high-pitched scream and leapt at Brain. Brain gasped in shock and before anyone realized what was happening, Binky bent down and bit a chunk out of Brain's left arm. Brain hollered in pain and surprise while the rest of the class screamed in fear and shock. After a couple of moments, Mr. Ratburn decided to take action.
"What are you doing?" Mr. Ratburn screamed. He strode over to Binky, who after taking a bite out of Brain's flesh, was just standing there, foaming at the mouth. Mr. Ratburn looked down at Binky with pure anger on his face.
"Binky, you are in serious trouble young man! Report to the principal's office this instant!" Mr. Ratburn's screaming seemed to take no effect. Suddenly, Binky looked up at Mr. Ratburn. Then he leapt at him in an attempt to take a bite out of him. Mr. Ratburn jumped out of the way in the nick of time as the rest of the class screamed again. Arthur watched in amazement and fear at the situation.
Normally, Mr. Ratburn would never have used physical force on another student, but this was no normal situation. Mr. Ratburn grabbed Binky by the collar of his shirt and dragged Binky out of the classroom. He had some trouble due to Binky's struggling, but eventually he managed to get him out of the classroom. Mr. Ratburn then closed the door behind him and left the rest of the students to sit there in shock.
For a few moments, no one said a word. Brain was crying loudly due to the wound he had received, but nobody noticed his tears. They were all staring at the empty desk where Binky usually sat at.
Finally, Francine broke the silence. "Wow," was all she said, but she was speaking the thoughts of the entire class. Just that one word summed up what they were thinking. Eventually, people started to notice Brain's sobbing and a few students went over to comfort him. The rest of the class sat in stunned silence.
After what seemed like an eternity, Mr. Ratburn finally reappeared. He looked very flustered after what he had just been through.
"I'm very sorry for that interruption, class. Seeing as there are so few minutes left in the day, I'm not going to finish my lecture. You may do as you please until school ends, but please don't be too loud. I have to make a very important phone call." He wiped the sweat off of his brow and for the first time ever, no one in the class was relieved that Mr. Ratburn was ending one of his lectures early.
Mr. Ratburn picked up the phone on his desk and dialed a number. The rest of the class pretended they weren't listening, but in reality every single one of them was listening to Mr. Ratburn. Mr. Ratburn didn't notice that they were all really listening. He looked very nervous. Finally, someone on the other end of the line picked up.
"Hello. Yes, yes," said Mr. Ratburn. "I'm calling to report an instance of violent behavior committed by one of my students. Earlier this day, he ate one of the school lunches and became very, very sick. He was in the bathroom vomiting for much of the day. Eventually, he came back to class, but when he got here he viciously attacked one of my students. It took some effort but I eventually took him out of my room and brought him to the principal's office. It took some effort but we eventually managed to settle him down. Yes, that is exactly what happened. No, I'm not exaggerating anything." Mr. Ratburn began to look even more nervous. He waited nervously as the person on the other end gave their reply.
After the person on the other end of the line finished speaking, Mr. Ratburn put down the phone. He had a very grave expression on his face. He cleared his throat and turned to address the class.
"Class, I have some very bad news. I know how excited all of you were for the summer to begin, but I am afraid you will have to wait another few hours before you are let go. Unfortunately, I just got done talking to authorities, and they say it is not wise for any of us to leave the building before this whole issue is settled. I'm sorry to disappoint you like this class, but it is in everyone's best interest that we stay until authorities figured out what happened." With these words, Mr. Ratburn sat down in his chair and put his head in his hands. The rest of the class looked solemnly on.
A few minutes later, Arthur heard the sound of distant sirens. As the sound got closer and closer to the school, Arthur became more and more nervous. Arthur looked around the room to see if anyone else had the same bad feeling as he did, but most of them were still in shock over what had just happened to notice the sound. Eventually, the sound of sirens got very loud, and Arthur new the authorities had arrived. Suddenly, someone from outside spoke to the school in an amplified voice.
"We are asking all of you to stay inside the building where you are. You are not in any danger; we ask that you please just sit quietly until the situation is sorted out." Several students began to cry. They were all very scared now. They didn't know why they weren't allowed to leave the school.
Mr. Ratburn walked over to the window to pull the shades up. What they saw horrified them all. The school had been completely surrounded by cop cars. Several tough-looking men stood closer to the school. All of them were carrying guns. Mr. Ratburn tried to pull the shades down in time, but it was too late. Everyone had seen what was out there. Several students began to cry even harder.
"Now class," Mr. Ratburn said in an attempt to calm them. "I'm sure the authorities have everything under control. I'm sure they won't keep us in this building for longer than a few minutes. You'll get to leave soon, don't worry."
But they did not get to leave soon. As the seconds turned into minutes and the minutes into hours, they remained inside the school. Arthur could hear Mr. Ratburn begin to mutter to himself. He didn't hear what he was saying clearly, but he thought he heard Mr. Ratburn say "My God, we are being quarantined in this place." Arthur had heard the word quarantine before. He thought it meant trapped, but he wasn't completely sure. The only thing he knew for sure was that they wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.
Arthur stared down at his desk. So they were being quarantined now. He tried hard not think about it, but the creeping thoughts he had had earlier in the day about never seeing his family again started to come back to him. He tried to shake them out of his head, but there they remained. Arthur hoped his thoughts were wrong, but as time pressed on it seemed more and more likely that he wouldn't be leaving.
Arthur closed his eyes. Eventually, despite the situation he was in, he managed to drift off to sleep. His dreams were filled with dark and troubling images. They were just a taste of the terrors Arthur would have to face in a short while.