Part 4 – Monsters
No one understands why kids still have to go to school when all the adults are acting like crazy morons. Like it is supposed to keep them safer in a way, giving them something to do. Well, half of the student body is absent for one reason or another, and the few teachers don't care enough to teach anything worthwhile. Most days, they just spend their time talking about their feelings of hopelessness, until one girl commits suicide. Then no one talks about anything except evacuations being near.
But no one gets to see that happen. Two days before the Russo's scheduled evacuation, the virus shows up in Tribeca Prep. In the last class period of the day, blood curdling screams come from the hallway. The science teacher opens the door to find students running through the halls as if their lives depend on it. He grabs one boy by the arm to stop him.
"What's happening?"
"These people came into our class and just started attacking us!" He tears free and joins the mob again.
When the science teacher turns back to the small class, he is pale. "All right, everyone. Just stay calm. Grab your belongings, and exit the school as quickly and calmly as possible. All right?"
Alex sticks close to Justin's side as the class files out into the hall. It's hard to tell what's going on with all the people running around, and he can't even hear his heart hammering in all the noise. He takes Alex by the hand and starts to push through the crowd, toward the front entrance.
"Justin!" Alex is pulled away by the force of the crowd, and when he turns around, he can't even see her among all the bodies.
"Alex! Where are you?" He pushes around the people, eyes roaming the crowd for his sister. The swarm finally breaks free in the front hall, but that's when there is another chorus of chilling screams that sounds like people are dying.
The first sight that really reaches Justin's brain is the bloody students crawling along the floor, being trampled by the others trying to escape. Oh god.
"Alex! Alex! Where are you?" His throat is tight, but he has to find her. "Please, answer me!"
Someone grabs his ankle, and he falls to the ground. People are already stepping on his arms, so he curls in around himself. But when he sees the blond girl with bloodshot eyes snarling at him, he kicks at her face until he hears a sickening crunch and the grip on his ankle loosens. Justin takes hold of the nearest body to pull himself back to his feet.
"Justin!" Alex's frightened face suddenly appears in the crowd, and Justin doesn't care how many people he knocks over to get to her. He takes hold of her shoulders before he sees she's linked hands with Harper and Zeke, and he's so glad to see them safe. They form a human chain as Justin leads them down the wall of lockers, hoping the back entrance might be less crowded.
Harper screams behind him, and Justin realizes they are cornered by people with red pustules on their faces, people are who spitting up blood. A door opens at his side, making his heart leap in chest. Mr. Laritate waves them all into his office and locks the door behind them.
The chaos is suddenly muffled, and Justin collapses. Alex kneels beside him, and her body is shaking as much as his own. There are two other people taking refuge in the principal's office, Gigi and T.J.
"They're infected," Zeke says. "How can they be below 23rd street? I thought. . ."
Justin can barely even think beyond the buzzing in his ears. They're safe, but how many more people out there need help? Justin starts, then jumps to his feet, going for the door.
"Don't go out there," Mr. Laritate says.
"I have to. I have to find Max."
"I'll go with you." Alex holds onto his arm, but Justin pushes her away.
"No, I'll be faster if I'm not worrying about you too. Just stay here, and I'll be back with Max."
"But what if—" Her eyes start watering, and she hugs him tight before letting Harper pull her away.
Justin nods to Zeke. "Lock the door behind me, buddy."
He opens the door and rushes headlong into the fray. He can't tell the difference between the infected and the poor students trying to escape. They all look the same, with these crazed expressions. Justin steels himself and shoves through, focused on finding his brother.
-/-/-
Alex wraps her arms around her knees and waits for Justin to return with Max. There is no other outcome. They will both return safe and sound. She watches Zeke holding Harper, Gigi clutching her purse to her chest while she slowly rocks back and forth, and T.J. leaning his elbows on his knees, staring at the floor. At least there's another wizard who didn't get sick, she thinks.
Mr. Laritate is turning the dials on his radio, searching for one of the local stations that might be able to give them more information. Alex doesn't have to hear it from some official to know the virus is spreading and probably unstoppable. Just open the blinds and look out the window. No shit.
". . .has declared a state of emergency. Just south and north of the recently constructed 23rd street barrier, people have been reporting violent attacks of the virus, and precautionary measures are being taken. Please, return to your homes where armed military personnel will escort all residents to the evacuation points. I repeat, the areas being evacuated immediately are. . ."
Alex stops listening because seriously? The virus is way past 23rd street, thank you very much.
"That's us," Zeke says in response to the radio announcement. "But why won't they come to the schools for the students?"
"I don't know," Mr. Laritate answers. "Maybe they already know we've been hit."
"They know the virus has reached Tribeca, but they won't rescue us? How can they do that?"
"If we can all get back home, we'll be okay, right?" T.J. asks. "Then let's just leave right now before we miss it."
"I do have my car, and we can squeeze if we have to."
"Don't you have a car too, Gigi?" Harper asks.
The blonde looks up with startled brown eyes. "Yeah."
"Perfect. We all live on Waverly Place, so let's ride together."
"We have to wait for my brothers," Alex says. "We can't leave without them."
"If we wait, we might miss the evacuation," T.J. whines.
"Do you really want to go out there right now, anyway?"
"Evacuating such large areas will take a long time. I don't think we need to worry." Mr. Laritate puts an end to the discussion.
Alex is grateful because she can't even consider going anywhere without Justin and Max. She will wait until they come back all right.
-/-/-
"Max! Max, can you hear me?" The further into the school Justin gets, the fewer students he sees. There are the occasional motionless bodies on the floor, but he can't bear to see if they are still alive.
Justin checks every classroom and the bathrooms. At one point he ducks into the library when he spots people who are vomiting blood and foaming at the mouth. He takes the back exit into another hallway and from there goes straight into the boys' locker room. And there, sitting on one of the benches is Max. Relief floods through him even as he realizes there is a body of a boy on the floor next to his brother, and Max's knuckles are bruised and bloody.
"Max. Max." Justin approaches him slowly. "Are you okay?"
His brown eyes start to water. "Justin. Everyone was screaming and running. He came out of nowhere, and I—"
"It's okay, Max, I understand." He can barely take his eyes off the body. "I'm glad you're all right. Were there other people in here?"
"Yeah, they left through the gym."
"Right." Justin wishes they could just duck out that way too, but Alex and the others are stuck in the office. "Let's go back to Mr. Laritate's office where everyone is waiting."
Max gives one last look to the unconscious boy before following Justin. The halls are quieter, but Justin knows danger could be right around the corner. When they get close to the front hall, they both slink across the lockers, never looking too closely at the bodies they step over in case they recognize someone.
Justin stops at the last corner. One of the infected is huddled over a convulsing body. He doesn't want to know what's happening.
"As quiet as you can, make your way to the door." He pushes Max in front of him until he starts walking along the wall.
Justin looks around him and picks up a discarded umbrella. It's the best weapon he can find, so it will have to do. He watches the infected, praying it won't hear them. Max gently raps on the principal's door, and the infected twists its head. Please, no. Don't turn around, don't turn around.
His eyes stray to the door as it opens, and Alex's elated cry echoes through the hall. The infected is on his feet and running before Justin knows it, and he rushes to cut it off.
"Go, go!" he yells. Justin catches the infected at the right moment, and swings the umbrella into the boy's skull. The body goes tumbling to the side where it falls, twitching. An angry, inhuman yowl comes from down the hall, hurrying Justin back into motion.
"We have to go now, you guys! Come on!" All seven people run from the office, and they make a break for the front entrance. They curve around the side of the building to the parking lot that still has too many cars in it. There are bodies of students who never made it that far.
"We need to split up," Mr. Laritate calls as they run. All eight of them stop at his car. "Gigi, you should take T.J. and Zeke to their homes. Can you manage that?"
She nods.
"All right. Good luck, you guys."
Zeke hugs Harper before he follows the other two through the lot. The rest of them pile into Mr. Laritate's car. Gigi follows Mr. Laritate for most of the way, until they separate off Waverly Place. It takes them nearly half an hour. There are people, both infected and not, in the road along with abandoned vehicles. But the closer they get to home, the quieter the streets get.
"Are we too late? Did we miss the evacuation?" Harper wonders as she peers outside the rear passenger window.
Justin fishes his phone from his pocket. He first tries their dad, but the phone goes to voice mail. Same with their mom.
"No one's answering," he says. "I don't know what that means."
Mr. Laritate turns on his car radio, seeking stations for any news. A man's voice comes on the air.
"Emergency evacuations have been completed throughout most of the South in the quarantine zone. If you are listening to this, and you have not been evacuated, you are urged to report to your original check point for decontamination."
"That's good," Justin says. "We can still make it. Drop us off at the corner, Mr. Laritate. We'll be fine from here."
"How are you going to get to the check point?" he asks.
"The car might still be in the back street, and if it's not, well, there are plenty of cars on the street, right?"
"Do you want me to come back, so we can go to the check point together?"
"You don't have to. I'm sure you'll be ready a lot faster than us." He looks at Alex, and she turns away guiltily.
"Well, I can't leave you kids alone like this."
"We're hardly kids, Mr. Laritate. We can handle ourselves, and we don't want to make this harder for you."
"And do you think your parents would ever forgive me for leaving you?"
"Please, Mr. Laritate." Alex reaches up from the back seat to put her hand on his arm. "We'll be okay. Justin won't let anything happen to us."
Mr. Laritate looks to Justin for confirmation. He nods and says, "Promise." Although he hopes this is one promise he can keep.
He pulls up to the sidewalk. Justin waits until Alex, Harper, and Max are out of the car before he leans in the window.
"We really appreciate this, Mr. Laritate. Stay safe."
"You too. I hope we see each other again, Justin. You and your sister were always two of my favorite students, you know."
Justin nods and waits until he drives off, then he turns to the others. "All right, we have to make this quick. When we get inside, grab your bags. I have disaster packs for everyone, but we can't load ourselves down, okay? And we don't have time to waste."
He takes the lead as they make their way down Waverly Place. All of the shops are dark. The street is wide and empty.
"Did they take everyone?" Max asks.
"Looks like it."
"It's so quiet," Alex mumbles.
"At least it looks like the infected victims haven't made it this far."
They reach the loft without incident. Inside, everyone sets to gathering their belongings. Justin tries not to look at his valued collectibles as he leaves his room. He has three duffel bags with him, and he finds his parents' disaster packs in the kitchen, so he grabs those too.
Harper is the first one to come from the staircase with her bags.
"Will you call Zeke and see what's happening, then help the others with their stuff?" Justin asks. He doesn't wait before he goes down to the Sub Station, into the lair. He grabs a few important objects, like their family spell book, a history of magic, the wands they haven't touched for months, and the small jar of un-do dust. He can't just leave such a large part of their family history, so he hopes no one is checking luggage at the evacuation point.
When he gets back upstairs, Max and Alex are ready with their bags and suitcases.
Harper wrings her hands together, twisting her bracelets around her wrists. "Zeke said they're still together. There are infected people up where Gigi lives, so they went to T.J.'s apartment, then Zeke's. They're on their way here now."
"Okay, we'll wait for them. Alex, will you get some clothes together for Gigi?"
"What?" She snaps.
"If Gigi couldn't get to her house, that means she couldn't get any of her stuff. Just grab her some clothes and what else. There's one more duffel bag in the closet."
She doesn't argue with him, but he can hear her grumbling up the stairs. Then Justin and Harper use the food that's left in the fridge to make a decent meal of egg omelets and salad for everyone. Max uses the rest of the milk in a bowl of cereal, and Justin drinks the orange juice. He's packing some sodas in one of Max's bags when Zeke arrives with T.J and Gigi.
While the three guests eat, Justin inspects Max's swollen and bruised knuckles. There are only a couple abrasions that have already started to harden and scab over. Max is uneasy but otherwise fine, so Justin is happy to assume his brother is not infected.
Alex takes her time coming downstairs with her bag, and she tosses it at Gigi's feet. "Some of my extra clothes and underwear."
Gigi nervously rubs one of her arms. "Thanks, Alex."
"Everyone eat up. The check point is probably crowded, so who knows how long it will take us to get through," Justin says.
"Are we all going to Holland Tunnel?" T.J. asks. "Do you think our parents are there?"
"I don't know."
"My dad isn't," Gigi says. "He was arrested for trying to bribe one of the guards to smuggle us out of the quarantine zone. I don't even know if he's okay."
"If he's being held in the local station, he was probably already evacuated like everyone else." T.J.'s comforting smile ends up wavering too much to do any good, but Gigi nods anyway.
Justin looks around the table, looking at each of the people he feels responsible for. They all have seen a lot today, and he wonders when it will catch up to them. They can't let anything slow them down. They have to reach the evacuation point. To reunite with their family members. To get as far away from the quarantine zone as possible. It's their only chance. If they stay too much longer, they might end up like those poor souls in the school, dead or monsters. Justin knows which one he'd rather be, but he tries not to think about it. They're all going to get out of there. They have to. It is their only hope of surviving.