Fight For Survival: Vanessa, Section 2
Vanessa
Romero scrambled in her room for something to wear. She had just
woken up from a night of dreamless sleep to find she had slept right
through the alarm. Damn
it,
she thought as she pulled on a pair of khaki pants and a blue
sweater, I'm
late for my interview!
She hurriedly through her cell phone and wallet into her purse and
raced downstairs. Her dad was in the living room watching something
on T.V. when she ran past to the kitchen.
"Shit.
Dad!" she called in frustration and panic. "Where is my
coat?"
"Oh, I hung it up in
the closet. You know you really shouldn't leave things just lying
around like –"
"Never mind
that, Dad. I'm already late!"
With
that she grabbed her coat and started for the door.
"Vanessa,
hold up." Her dad – again.
"I
really do have to go," she shouted back.
"I
don't think you want to. Come here; you should see
this."
Vanessa took a deep breath
to calm herself and walked into the living room. Her dad was pointing
at the television. She turned around to see a "Breaking News"
story. The camera was angled at a coffee shop – the local Starbucks
– where an ambulance was parked with paramedics loading several
people into the back. Then Vanessa saw the address. That was the
store she was supposed to interview with this morning, the interview
she was already late for.
"What
happened?" she asked her dad, since the reporter was already
finished speaking and the news program had already moved on to
another story.
"Some crazy man
walked into the shop and bit one employee and three customers. The
police arrived in enough time to see him run off. They tried to catch
him, but no luck. Then while they were taking the victims to the
ambulance, several other people showed up from nearby and attacked
the medics."
"Damn. That's
freaky. Did they find any reason why yet?"
"No,
it was apparently unprovoked and out of the blue."
"Huh."
Vanessa stared past the television screen and thought about what
could possibly be into people these days. Did they all escape from a
rubber room? She went back to the kitchen and decided to skip the
interview. She could always find another job. Pulling out a bowl and
spoon, she poured herself some cereal and sat down to enjoy her
breakfast. That story was so strange, though. Those injuries must
have been pretty bad. But if that man only bit
those people, how much damage could that do? Not
much,
Vanessa thought, unless
he had the skills of a five-year-old.
She
flipped open her laptop and typed in her password to unlock the
screen – a necessary precaution against younger brothers. She
decided she'd better check her email. There were several new
messages, none of which were terribly important – just a few
notices from colleges she didn't care about and two forwards from
friends. It was then, while she was reading the other emails, a new
forward appeared in her inbox. She glanced at the subject and went
back to her cereal before doing a double take. The email was titled
"Is The Full Moon Early This Year?" Intrigued, she clicked on it
and scrolled down through the endless list of previous recipients
until she came upon an article from
outside a store in Columbus, a young man and several others viciously
attacked a reporter from a local news station. The man lunged at
reporter Jane Daniels and bit her on the arm. It took five police
officers and two cameramen to pull her assailants off of her. She has
been taken to the hospital, but it not in critical condition. "Could
the full moon have come early to Columbus?" many have asked in the
hopes of finding an explanation for the strange events of the
evening.
There have also been recent
reports of other such attacks throughout the city and on nearby
college campuses. For now, authorities are advising all local
residents to lock their doors at night and to keep an eye out for
danger when they travel...
Vanessa
stopped reading. That was all the confirmation she needed that
something weird was happening in Ohio. She finished her breakfast and
went back up to her room. There would be time to ponder this later.
Right now she just wanted to relax, maybe sleep a little longer. She
laid down on top of the warm blankets draped over her bed and picked
up the book she had to read for English – Heart of Darkness by
Joseph Conrad. But she had only read three chapters when she drifted
off to sleep.
It was six o'clock
in the evening when she finally woke, a little confused as to why it
was so much darker outside. The sun had been shining when she went to
sleep. Now the horizon outside her bedroom window was aglow with the
fire of sunset. She got up and ran her fingers through her hair to
make herself look a little more presentable. Taking her book with
her, she went downstairs and found her dad cooking
dinner.
"Where is Mom?" Vanessa
asked of Michael, her younger brother. He was currently a freshman at
Summit. Vanessa was a senior.
"She
ran to the store. We're out of hamburger buns."
"Is
that what we're having?"
"Yep,"
Michael replied, handing his sister a stack of plates. "You can set
the table since I helped cook dinner."
"And
what did you do?"
"I handed him
stuff and stirred the noodles." Michael stuck his tongue out and
ran back to the stove.
Vanessa took
the plates and rolled her eyes as she smiled. Little brothers. This
one was always looking for an excuse to get out of chores. Vanessa
set the table and soon they were all sitting down to dinner. Her
parents discussed what had happened at Starbucks earlier and Vanessa
decided to bring up the Columbus incident. That made them worried,
but soon the conversation moved on to happier topics and they soon
forgot all about the attacks.
