Chapter 4

25 days before infection

Zoe Taylor

The lounge in the girls dorm was as quiet as the library most days. With the fireplace going, it was the perfect place to just read and relax. Sometimes though, you just need to be entertained by something other than books. Zoe never cared much for television; Jimmy, friends and life at Bullworth mostly kept her occupied during the day but at night there was just nothing to do, alone, except sleep. Boring.

A week ago she had started sneaking out regularly after curfew. She didn't go anywhere special, just the boys dorm to watch TV. It might not seem worth risking a beating from the prefects just to watch static, but Pete had somehow convinced Crabblesnitch to put in basic cable. It earned him a week free of torment at most.

Zoe went through the motions of washing up and getting ready for bed. She slipped into her jammies, old shirt and flannel pants, and headed for the room she shared with Mandy on the bottom floor. Along the way, she made sure to run into Mrs. Peabody, who happened to be climbing the stairs.

"You're late coming in Zoe, get to bed!"

"Ugh, trying to." She kept walking, ignoring the screeching hag behind her.

The room was dark when she walked in. Mandy's bed faced the door and as Zoe closed it behind her, she couldn't help but notice that her friend looked.. bloated. She crept closer.

"... Mandy?" No response. She wondered if maybe she'd entered the wrong room, "... Eunice?" Still nothing. Now beside the bed, Zoe reached out and poked what was a surprisingly hard hip. A hand reached out from under the covers and quickly pulled her down on the bed. Zoe found herself staring up at Ted's moonlit face, she let out something like a laugh and a startled gasp.

"Mandy aint here, just you and me." As he lowered his face to kiss her, Zoe jerked her knee up expecting to hit his vulnerable anatomy, but instead hurt herself on something hard. Ted threw his head back and laughed, rolled to the side and let Zoe off the bed.

"A cup Ted? Really?" The jock simply shrugged, "Where's Mandy?"

"I dunno. She ran off crying after I told her about Lola. She'll be back though." Zoe shook her head and proceeded to the window. Ted called after her as she climbed out.

"Hey, Zoe-" She turned around, " ..manage a troi?"

Was that french? Coming from Ted?

She laughed, figuring he could probably say that in a dozen different languages.

"Sure, just let me get Jimmy." His smile suddenly dropped.

"Hey, no wait, he'll kick my ass!"

The distance between the dorms was short but prefects patrolled the area frequently and there was always one standing guard by the closed gates. Standing beside the girls dorm, she checked for their telltale lights. None. She made a run past the archway and stopped at the intersection. She peeked over a low wall and checked for the prefect at the gate. Surprisingly, there wasn't one, and she continued down the path. Nearly entering the space in front of the boys dorm, she stopped as she heard heavy footsteps coming from the direction of the dorm. Luckily, there was a trash bin behind her and she jumped right in. Zoe pressed herself down deeper as his footsteps became louder, caught glimpses of light.

"It itches like crazy down there." How every single prefect managed to get held back was beyond anyone. Half of her suddenly hoped she'd get caught; Edward was, after all, a stud-muffin. He walked past, humming a tune and once she heard him a good distance away, she popped out and ran for the double doors.

Trent Northwick

There was a small crowd in the boys lounge. Three boys, Pete, Trent and Jimmy sat on the couch watching their favorite comedy channel; or at least two of them were, the smaller boy hardly stayed up past ten and was snoozing beside Trent. Behind them was a group of nerds clustered around the arcade game.

It didn't look like Zoe would be joining them that night but Trent was more than alright with that. Jimmy had his legs propped up on the blonde's lap, mindlessly watching the screen. Trent was starting to get impatient for the nerds to leave and was forming a violent solution in his head until one of them exclaimed they were out of quarters. After a collective moan they all retreated back to their rooms. A sly, seductive smile spread on Trent's face. Slowly, he moved one hand up Jimmy's pant leg and began massaging the bulging calf. He watched as the other boys expression turned serious but remained glued to the TV.

"I'm hot, you're hot, the runts asleep. Lets make out." Suddenly, there was a stinging pain in the back of his head that was accompanied by a loud 'smack' wich woke Pete. He turned around and was face to face with Zoe.

"This ones' mine. Go find your own." She motioned for him to scoot over. Jimmy sat up and Trent moved closer to Pete making room for the red head. As he rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head, Jimmy draped and arm around her shoulders; the pounding in Trent's chest matching the one in his head. He would have left but his favorite late night pundit was on.

"... as always, Cheating Death is brought to you by Prescott Pharmaceuticals. Prescott, 'If it aint broke, you cant sue.' Nation, as you may well know, last week there was major controversy over the much hyped about Agent X. During animal testing, it had killed every single test subject and scientist are baffled as to why. But while tree-hugging, patchouli drenched animal activists were protesting to cut their funding, the real controversy came Friday when it was discovered that, along with proteins, viruses and bacteria, stem cells were being used to spice up this magical brain batter. Now pharmaceuticals companies are pulling out left and right like so many shamed..."

The double doors were heard opening and closing. From behind, heavy footsteps pounded into the lounge.

"Hey, Jimmy," They turned to see Peanut, "there's some Townie tra- ,I mean guy, out by the front gates that wants to see ya. Said it was important." Jimmy sighed.

"This late, it better be." The greaser walked away and Jimmy left for the front gate. The rest turned back to the TV.

Edgar Munsen

Seeing Jimmy pace around like that, clenching and unclench his fists and jaw, was like watching an aggravated lion at the zoo. He was a little grateful there were bars between them. Jimmy kept his head low, eyes bouncing around. Edgar regretted saying anything to him but he didn't know what else to do, who else to turn to. There was a long silence.

"Jimmy,"

"I wanna know," He began, slowing down but not stopping, "I wanna know everything. Where he sleeps, where he eats, who he talks to, when he takes a shit. Tell him whatever bullshit you have to, make him believe he's safe, just don't let him know that I'm watching." Here he stopped and faced Edgar, "He's a snake, don't let your boys believe the shit he spews or he'll turn them against you."

"Got it Jim, don't worry about it." Suddenly Jimmy reached past the bars and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulled him in forcefully.

"No, worry about it. Don't let him out of your sight for a second. If you cant be there send Omar, just don't leave him alone with the others!"

"Alright, alright, just calm the fuck down Jimmy, Christ!" Jimmy released him and went back to pacing, "I gotta go man, don't wanna get busted for breaking curfew." He nodded and Edgar took off on his bike.

Cycling back, Edgar wondered why the kid would chose to hide out on his turf. Then, a more urgent thought:

Where did I see him last?... Oh fuck

He peddled faster.

first, a thank you for everyone whose been reading so far, i know its taking for ever.

second, a GIANT thank you to Alice4koz, lazy4ever and musictimebomb for their comments. really, you guys make my day less crummy :]