Chapter 4
Author's Note: To fill any plot holes you guys may notice. I had forgotten to put in the plot summary that Miles and Stella now work for Future Tech Industries, under the helm of its new CEO, Victor Richtofen. They are high in rank and they work in the medical department where they have donated their research on the sleeping sickness. Eduardo is with them and he runs a rescue task force made specifically for epidemic situations. Just in case, if it's not clear in the context, I want to make the story as clear and as entertaining as possible
June 30, 2012
Arnold was upstairs when there was a knock on the door. Miles went to and answered. He smiled with delight at the presence he saw before him. Calling Arnold's name, he leaned against the banister of the stairs and Arnold came pouring down the steps, his plaid pearl snap shirt fluttering in the drifty air. He pulled on the edge of his inner green shirt as he looked up to see who was at the door.
"Eugene! Stinky!" Arnold called with delight. He rushed to them and gave them both hugs, "Can't believe you showed up!" He said again.
"Didn't think we'd skip out on you during the summer didja?" Stinky said.
"We just got back a couple days ago in fact. The lease on our house expired June 1st so we had to head out sooner or later." Eugene said with a smile.
"Awesome! How was your first semester at DeVry?" Arnold asked.
"A bit glum, sad that my parents couldn't afford Julliard, but I'm glad Stinky was there to help me settle in. With a house to share, classes to go to, we did alright for ourselves." Eugene responded.
"You shoulda seen him in 'Eugene, Eugene!' Arnold. The director loved him." Stinky said.
"Wish I could've, but my classes here in Hillwood kept me from going anywhere, plus I had to help Mr. Green quite a few times for my community project." Arnold replied.
"Gee Arnold, ten years in the making since you found your folks and you're a changed man." Stinky said. As they began to talk their way up to Arnold's room, Miles smiled and walked back down the hallway. He glanced up at a portrait of Phil and Gertrude, taking extra time to look at Gerty's glowing face. He continued to walk down to the study where Stella was.
"Ten years later and those boys are closer than ever. Never thought I'd see Arnold grown up and happy at the same time." Miles said delightfully. Stella however couldn't give him feedback. She had the cordless phone in her hand; both hands clutching it tightly and Miles could see her lip quivering with fear.
Meanwhile, up in Arnold's room, "Arnold. Tell us, did you get it?" Eugene said, his legs tucked under and hands on his knee caps, like a second grade girl at a slumber party. Stinky was also tickled pink to hear Arnold's answer to Eugene's question.
"In fact, I was gonna get it tomorrow." Arnold said. Eugene and Stinky sighed with happy relief.
"About time Arnold. Took you guys twenty years to get on the same page and now it's happening." Stinky said.
"What's the ring like? Is it round? Shiny? Is the diamond huge?" Eugene asked hastily.
"Woah slow down Eugene. Listen, it's perfect for her, that's all I care about. I'm ready and so is she."
"You guys need a wedding planner? I've learned some expert techniques on how to make an outstanding wedding!" Eugene said.
"No, I'll keep in touch with you though, ya never know." Arnold said with a smirk.
Miles began to storm up the stairs to Arnold's room, Stella right behind, "Miles, we can't do it this fast. We have to be subtle." Stella said.
"There's no time for subtle Stella." Miles responded.
"He has his friends, his girlfriend. You think this is gonna be easy for him? We can't take him and just leave them behind."
"Eduardo said he had evacs coming in right?" Miles said.
Stella rebuttled, "There are no guarantees in this situation. We need to get Arnold out safely. I'll take him, you keep in touch with Eduardo and make sure Arnold's neighborhood gets picked up."
"Fine." Miles said before he knocked on the door. Slowly, he opened the door and popped his head in, "Arnold can we talk to you?" He said. Arnold got up, gave a quick wave to his friends and went out into the hallway with his parents.
"Son, we have something to tell you. It's pretty big, but we don't know how else to say it." Miles began. Arnold looked at him very worriedly and puzzled, "There's been an accident at Future Tech."
"Our medical department has had some issues with our research on the sleeping sickness and apparently our last experiment went wrong." Stella added.
"What do you mean?" Arnold asked, still extremely worried.
Miles walked downstairs to the study and Arnold and Stella followed, "You'll probably be able to see for yourself." Miles said as he clicked the remote on the television and changing it to the main news channel.
Arnold stared in horror as he watched a helicopter shot hovering over New York City where it looked like swarms of people charging others. He could see little red spots all over the streets and realized it was a violent scenario. He stopped his horrific thoughts to listen to the newscaster, "The outbreak had been spreading since early this morning, no comment is being made on the cause of this horrific scene but one thing is certain, these people who appear to be infected have become extremely aggressive and are very violent. This is an emergency report from New York SkyCam."
It then cut to a news anchor at his desk with hands squeezing the papers in his hands nervously. "It's a very disturbing scene indeed. At this time we are beginning our emergency broadcast system for Hill County. If you sense any violent activity outside, please remain indoors, find supplies to barricade all entrances to your home and await further instruction. We will attempt to remain on the air as long as possible here at the station. Please, stay safe and God be with us all."
"That's enough, Miles." Stella said. Miles quickly clicked the television off. Arnold continued to stare at the blank screen, the reflection of his horrified expression stared right back at him.
"How bad is it?" Arnold asked looking at Miles.
"We don't know son. But it's bad enough that we have to evacuate. There's nothing else we can do. Eduardo's got his team coming in that's going to evacuate as many people as they can. So far the outbreak is only on the east coast, it is airborne but we don't know how fast it's moving. A chopper's gonna take us to one of the FTi stations out west. There we'll be safe."
"My friends?" Arnold asked.
"They'll be fine. I promise you," said Miles, "Eduardo assured us he's got choppers coming for Hillwood. Everybody in the neighborhood's gonna be evacuated. The priority is that we get you to safety so we can figure out how to fix this."
Arnold sat there, his face a dull blank, "Things are going to be different Arnold. But they will never change between us." Miles said.
"Remember our promise. We're keeping it. We have to leave, but this time you're coming with us." Said Stella, "this time you're coming with us…." The words echoed in Arnold's head.
Arnold stirred quietly in the back of Stinky's truck. They were fifteen minutes away from Green's shop, the location they had just departed. A small bump woke him, but slowly and surely, Arnold drifted back to sleep.
It was only after Miles and Stella reminded him of their promise that Harold came banging at the door, he looked panicked, his head matted with sweat and red blobs sprayed on his clothes. "Harold! What is it?" Miles asked.
"Th-they killed Mrs. Vitello!" Harold erupted, bursting into the house, "I was at her shop, I had these flowers in my hand. I went to pay for them and these two employees came bursting out. They dashed after her and took her over like animals!" Harold continued to scream.
"Harold calm down..what did these two people look like?" Miles asked. Police sirens stared to blare behind Harold, dashing down the street.
"They were just people, working for her flower shop. Their eyes looked red and lips were almost cracked and bleeding" Miles looked back behind him, towards Stella and Arnold.
"It's here."
Miles dashed down the hallway with a duffle bag in his hand, "Arnold go wake up Phil in his room. Harold, Stinky and Eugene are upstairs, get the other boarders out on your way and get them on the roof."
He entered the study where Stella was, on her cell phone, a Future Tech Industries logo stamped on the phone's exterior, "Any word from Eduardo?" Miles asked.
"The choppers took off from the base twenty minutes ago; they should be here in a minute." She responded.
Miles came back out to the hallway where Arnold was, leading Grandpa out rubbing his head groggingly, "What in the heck hootenanny is going on Miles?" Grandpa asked.
"No time to explain Dad, we've gotta head out of town for a while."
"Oooh, did you get in trouble with your fancy new company?" Grandpa asked sarcastically.
"Something like that." Miles responded with a bitter smirk, "Come on, we gotta get to the roof, there's a chopper coming to get us." Miles started to rush up the stairs, followed by Arnold, Stella, and Phil. Coming onto the roof from Arnold's skylight window, the whole boarding house was there.
"Wait, I forgot something." Arnold said. He dashed back down through the window and went to his desk, grabbing his journal.
Miles stood among the group, "Mr. Shortman! What is going on?" Hyunh asked hastily.
"There was an accident at Future Tech, a virus is spreading across the east coast." Miles responded. Just then, a loud slamming noise drew the group's attention to the side of the building. They stared in horror to see people charging at other people, slamming them to the ground, fists throwing everywhere. Two cars had collided and both slid onto the sidewalk. One had caught on fire from the impact. Suzie Kokashka's eyes started to dilate, her nose flared with fear. Oscar stood next to her, arms slumped at his side, equally afraid but not sharing it with his wife. Beside them was Terry Flinch, a new boarder who had moved in three years prior to the house.
"Come back over here everybody!" Stella called, "The choppers are gonna be here any minute. As long as they don't see us up here, we'll be fine." She assured.
"Wait!" Miles called. He remained on the edge of the building and watched as the sprinters drew closer and closer to the boarding house's front porch, "If they get any closer they're gonna try and get in. We need more time. Terry come with me." He said as he dashed back down the skylight window, Terry followed. "Arnold come with me, we need to bar the front door." Miles said as he passed Arnold at his desk, looking at a picture of Helga. He tucked the photo in his button shirt pocket and followed his father. They went down both flights of stairs and stood at the front door.
"Terry, grab the couch in the living room, Arnold go help him." The two obeyed. Miles went into the kitchen and grabbed all the chairs, followed by the dinner table itself, dragging it over to the door.
Before long the door was sealed by three hundred pounds of wood furniture and heavy table top accessories, "What about the windows?" Terry asked.
"Close the blinds and hope they don't see us." Miles aid.
Back on the roof, Stella watched as two large Chinooks drew closer to the rooftop.
Down in the house, Terry approached the window. He reached for the stick that operates the blinds until suddenly a bloody hand smacked against the glass. Terry jolted for a second. The infected human stared at him, lips cracked and eyes red like Harold described. It rubbed its hand up and down the glass a couple times and stared directly at Terry.
Before Terry could swallow or even blink, the zombie crashed through the window with its shoulders, pinning Terry on the ground. Miles rushed to his aid as Arnold backed away in panicked fear.
As Miles grasped the zombie's shoulder, he turned to Arnold, "Arnold, the closet! Get something blunt!" Arnold quickly dashed to the front closet and reached for his personal baseball bat.
Miles backed away as Arnold slammed the bat into the zombie's back. It only seemed to make the monster more aggressive. It drooled and spewed blood all over Terry's face and seemed to only get more stuck to him. Finally Arnold held the bat down low and took a golf swing at its head, sending it flying. Its head was cracked, blood poured out of its ears from the blow. Terry lay twitching on the ground.
"Arnold, give me that." Miles said, holding his hand out. Arnold handed him the bat, "It's too late." Miles said as he reared the baseball bat behind him. He threw it down hard into Terry's face, smashing what was left of his skull into the carpet.
Arnold stared in horror, Miles had killed someone he had lived with for three years, who he worked with, had a beer with, had laughs with.
The choppers had landed. Two people in black uniforms with sub machine guns came dashing away from the helicopters' gushing winds. One went up to Stella. The other escorted the rest of the group to the second helicopter. They each piled in and buckled into their seats. Suzie sat next to Helga Pataki and Bob Pataki, her father.
"Mrs. Shortman! We need to evacuate you and Colonel Shortman immediately!" He said as the first chopper took off.
"My husband's downstairs with my son!"
Back down in the house, "You need to learn this here and now son. If we can't get this under control soon, and more of these things start to emerge. You have to do what needs to be done." Miles said, stern. Just then, a loud slam hit the front door. One of the two soldiers came running down the stairs.
"Colonel Shortman, you and your family need to get on the chopper upstairs immediately." Miles nodded.
"Roger that, let's go." Just then, another zombie came hopping in from the window followed by a few more. Their aggression got the best of them as they staggered to enter the house. The soldier took aim with his weapon and fired, killing two of them. They went back up to the roof as more slamming rocked the door and its faulty barricade.
The second chopper had already lifted off; everyone was loaded on except Eugene, Harold, and Stinky. Arnold, Miles and the soldier ran up to the helicopter. Arnold could see several people already inside, but they didn't look like civilians or neighbors of Hillwood, Arnold could see some dressed in lab coats.
The other soldier who was waiting cried out to them, "There's no more room! We need to get Colonel Miles out of here!"
"No! My son and I go together or neither of us!"
"You are priority Colonel Shortman! We will protect your son until another helicopter arrives." Miles looked over at Arnold, next to his friends and the other soldier.
Miles looked the soldier dead in the eyes, "You fail that promise, and I will not rest until I see you in a chair with a needle in your arm."
"I promise sir." The solder replied.
Just then, the skyline window busted open and zombies began spewing out onto the rooftop, charging at Arnold.
Arnold woke up for good this time, the truck had stopped, Stinky struggled to get it started, "Truck's dead, outta gas." Stinky said. Everyone sat in their seats in silence, "Any ideas?" he said.
Arnold looked out the window, "Hey, left side, look!" Everybody turned to look down a dark alley. On the other side they could see a dim lit street. The only building they could see had big red text on the front with a bumblebee next to it. Arnold could make out the text to read, "Bumborn Elementary – PS 220".
"What makes you think we'll stand a chance in there?" Harold asked.
"The lights are on." Arnold said.
"Barely." Eugene chimed in.
"Come on, maybe there's gasoline, or shelter, it could be sealed up pretty tight." Arnold said. Everyone sat in silence again and pondered.
"I already outran one horde and survived. Let's go for two." Harold said sarcastically.
The group slowly hopped out of the truck, leaving their doors open to avoid noise. Eugene reached back into the truck to grab the food they still had. Stinky grasped the leather belt that held his shotgun to his back.
"No point in sneaking, if we run, we can make it there before we're even noticed."
"That's at least five hundred feet Arnold." Stinky said.
"Got any better ideas?" Arnold said. Stinky shut his mouth.
"Ready?" Arnold said. The heart beats of the group almost pounded together synchronously. Arnold turned to his left, a zombie staggered out from behind a trash can and turned its head, grunting as it caught site of the boys. It sneered and growled loudly, "Run!"
Quickly, the boys dashed down the alley, they came out the other side and only slowed down slightly when they noticed the new street they came out on had a bit more "traffic". At least twenty zombies were there and they all caught site of the group, "Keep going!" Arnold cried.
They quickly ran up the stairs to the front doors of the school. Arnold began pounding and everybody else joined in.
The zombies began to sprint closer and closer, Arnold continued to pound. He caught a whiff of a foul smell, something familiar, almost from his dreams. Just then, the doors burst open. A masked figure came out, a bucket in his hand and tossed it on the boys, covering them all in green slop. All of a sudden, the sprinting monsters stopped at the foot of the stairs. The foul odor had blocked their scent.
"Walk in slowly; don't make any sudden movements, smooth like a cat burglar." The masked figure said. His voice sounded extremely familiar to Arnold, like that of a close friend.
The group entered and the masked figure shut the door behind them. He turned back around, "Well, let's see what we got here. We got one, two, three, four chumps still hanging around Hillwood with flesh eating monsters and not a single method of beating them." The figure said. He dropped the bucket and grabbed his mask, slowly peeling it off to reveal a dark skin colored face and black curly hair that stuck up a little long, Marge Simpson style.
Arnold and his group stared in exciting shock at Gerald's face, "Bet you boys missed this handsome devil now didn't ya." Gerald said, "Welcome to PS 220, your new home." Gerald said with a smile.
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To Be Continued in Chapter 5