I first texted Sara and my science buddies on what I should wear. They said I should just wear clothes slightly nicer than your average everyday clothes. So I went with jeans, a polo t-shirt along with one of my dad's jackets he keeps in the front closet. I hid all of this stuff under my mattress.
It was that Friday that I had my second date with Sara. Instead of the movies this time, we went to go eat at Mallards. Mallards Roadhouse is one of the only restaurants in Clinton that you could consider a steakhouse of some sort. Their staff is made up of younger women so sometimes it's really weird for me and my friends to go eat there. But after Mallards, I plan to take her on a drive through the countryside.
Clinton gravel roads can be very romantic as well as mysterious. There is some history with old roads outside of town. There is this old cemetery about a mile and a half out of town that is supposedly haunted by a witch, but I don't plan on going there. Right before you get to Lowery City, just south of Clinton is C highway which leads to the scout camp I attend every year. There are beautiful ravines, caves, and stunning views from atop Cedar Bluff. The date will hopefully take place at my favorite spot on the whole reservation, The Point. The Point is a small cliff peering out over Truman Lake and has some of the best sunsets I have ever seen.
As we began down the highway I saw a herd of deer running across the highway. I had never seen anything quite like it before, but at the same time, it was kind of mesmerizing. The winding roads gave us thrills as each turn felt like a change of direction on a roller coaster. All of a sudden I heard the Avengers theme song coming from Sara's purse. It took her a minute, but finally got a hold of her phone. It was her mom calling and in my head, I was hoping it was nothing that could potentially interrupt our date. Little did I know her mom was calling to tell her that her sister was in the hospital for extreme flu-like symptoms. I didn't know that automatically, so Sara played it off so that way we could enjoy the rest of our date. She made up the excuse that her mom needed her home before ten because of work the next day.
As soon as she told me this I began to slow down the truck in anticipation of our turn. Once we had come down to a complete stop I turned on my right-hand blinker and turned down a gravel road. We continued down this road passing an abundance of trees and other greenery, and after what felt like years of prolonged silence we finally came to our destination.
I parked the truck at the end of the road off to the side and began to get out. But not before her charming voice could create ripples in the air.
"So where are we, Lucas? Some secret place you've been planning on bringing me to for years like in those corny chick flicks you love so much?" She said, with her sweet yet tranquilizing voice. I didn't have to reply, the blush that covered my cheeks told her everything she needed to know.
Instead of taking the time to explain everything going on in my head and potentially ruining my one good chance to leave an impression on her. I took her hand and slowly led her to my favorite place on the entire reservation, "The Point". When we arrived I could hear her take a sharp breath inward and just stare at the magnificent lake that stood below us. We stood there looking out, standing above the luscious greenery that we had only passed on our way here. Then just past the view of treetops was the ever-encroaching waterfront.
The water shining like the diamonds in the night sky and bouncing the light of the moon back up at us, lighting everything up in perfect detail. I stood there wondering if this place left the impression that I had only dreamed of up to this point, but once I worked up the courage to steal a glance of her face, I knew I had succeeded in my dream.
She stood there mouth agape staring at the wonder that stood below us. And as I stared at her unchanging face I knew that this was right. It is that moment when everything feels correct like nothing could come in-between you, that nothing could go wrong. That is the moment that you hope never ends.
But like every good thing she decided to take a look down at her phone and decided that she had to get home. After that, the night went by pretty quickly and we talked on the way back to her house about all sorts of things but nothing too important. Then in the blink of an eye, we were back to her house and she was getting out of the truck like no big deal. I kept thinking to myself that I needed to go in, to take my chance but while all this was going through my head she turned around, walked up to me, and kissed me like it was the last time. Then she was gone, back inside her house like a wisp gone in the wind.
As I drove home I knew that my parents were going to give me shit, not in a bad way just in the way that only parents can give. As I pulled up into the driveway I could see that the lights were still on even though it was past ten. I could also see my little Yorkie running up to the glass door. He loves to get to full speed then run at the door and it's so funny to see him fail every single time. As I walked inside and my dog barked I looked up to see my parents sitting on the couch. Once I entered the house they looked up at me and immediately started asking questions.
"So where have you been all night?" My mother asked first with that subtle tone in her voice.
"On a date, nothing much sorry for leaving you out of the loop," I said quickly and efficiently getting all the problems they would have out of the way. The moment that those words left my mouth they began riddling me with questions about who, where, and if we kissed. You know the parent questions. After what seemed like ages spent answering and retelling our entire date my parents sit back and let me off with one simple remark
"I guess you did ok for your first date." Then just like that, they went back to their own devices leaving me alone. Pretty much right after that I took a shower and went to bed not wanting to spoil the perfect night.
When I woke up on Monday, the fateful day I could feel in the depth of my bones that something was wrong. But like any other teenager, I just assumed that I was going crazy or going through some sort of teenage thing that parents are always going on about. As I drove to school that day the sky was gloomy with an overhead that drove a gloom through the heart and deep into the soul.
Once I arrived at school things started to lighten up, not outside but mood-wise. The day was going fine. The only thing that bothered me was that Wilson wasn't there to give me his usual shit (Not that I'm complaining). But along with his sudden disappearance was the disappearance of Sara. I just kept hoping that nothing had happened to her, that she ended up hospitalized due to an accident. Even if something did happen I would have no way of knowing, but by the time lunch rolled around my worrying about her had gone down to a minimal. It's not that I didn't care, it's just that even if something had happened I would have no way of helping or any way of knowing so there was no point in fretting over it.
Lunch went by just as fast as it started, crappy food followed by some science conversation with the guys, overall a pretty good lunch. The rest of the day came and went, none of my classes were that interesting. Then came the last hour of my day, Mr. Watson's class. When I entered the room everyone had pretty much already taken their seats the only one missing was Rob. Typical. He was probably skipping and sleeping in the corner of the library again. I mean who can blame him, he's only here for a year and none of these credits count for him.
That's when it happened like a crack of thunder on a stormy night. The principal's voice thundered about the school from the intercom system. From the moment that he spoke his first words you could feel the fear in his voice, and it's that sort of fear that sets people into motion.
"We are in an immediate lockdown, this is not a drill! I repeat everyone, enter the lockdown procedure ... the threat is located in the math hallway!" He said, with his husky voice, and then just as soon as it came, his voice went silent. Not the sort of silence where you would have expected the end of a sentence to be, but the silence where you know shit has hit the fan. Everyone in the room started panicking, wondering what was happening.
I could see lights and sirens peering in through the windows, and hear screaming coming from down the hall. Next thing I knew Rob came bursting through the door screaming:
"We need to go right now!" In my head, I was trying to piece everything together, but couldn't figure it out. Eventually, Mr. Watson was able to calm Rob down enough to get him to spill the information. One of the students started running about the school trying to eat the other kids in the commons. One made it upstairs before colliding into the glass library doors collapsing the once student's head in. That's when Mr. Watson started moving everyone out of the room trying to get us to escape the building.
The class started moving down the hallway with Mr. Watson in the lead. We were armed with staplers and fake skeleton bones. It only took a couple of feet down the hallway before we all saw our first one. Its skin had a slight yellow tint and almost completely black eyes. The teeth dripping with the crimson-colored blood of a fallen student. It carked it's head straight upwards, staring into our eyes, readying itself for another meal.
One of our classmates went right for the kill but ended up missing falling right to the side of the creature. In that one moment, the creature shifted its attention from us to the easy kill lying by its side. Then without a hint of hesitation, it plunged its teeth into the skull of the unsuspecting student. The rest of us, including Mr. Watson, knew immediately that there was no saving him, and so as any other would do, we ran past him continuing down the hallway. After about 100 meters from the creature enjoying its meal, we came up to the stairwell. We all made it to the bottom and that is when all hell broke loose; Students and teachers running everywhere not knowing whether they were infected or not. At this point, we just made a run for it. We had all agreed to meet up at my truck or Jordan's car.
I took off running just focusing on getting outside. I was pushing and shoving everyone out the way until I looked back and saw Mr. Watson. Behind me, I saw my WILDLIFE BIOLOGY teacher kicking the most absolute ass of all time. Chucking people aside and punching the shit out of everything that got in his way. Then just in a matter of seconds, we were separated. But like we had all planned for I continued running until I finally made it outside. But just before a creature with a tattered yellow shirt and camo skinny jeans started lunging at me. Jim stepped right in front of me and was able to knock it down with an elbow straight to its skull. That was our chance to get to my truck.
We both ran and ran until finally reaching my truck in the back of the parking lot. I frantically pressed the unlock button on my key fob then the moment we heard that unlock sound we both lunged in. Then came Owen as he began sprinting for the bed. Then with one massive leap, he got in, and off we went. We headed to the meetup place which was decided upon as we made our escape, my house. My house is located just a block or two south of the school. I threw the truck into reverse and began driving like a mad man no longer carrying about the lone I took out to pay for it. I may or may not have hit a student, but I was in a hurry. I did say sorry if that means anything.
I was swerving in and out of cars trying to flee the school before seeing the other half of the group behind me. It was good to know they made it out too. After leaving the scene I came upon the main road. All I could see were abandoned cars and bodies lying all over the streets. Small fires were ablaze as we drove by. Still driving at excessive speeds I stopped to think about everything I just witnessed. All life as I once knew it just collapsed, and there was nothing I could have done about it.
My plans of going to college and working a good job just flew right out the window. At that moment Sara popped into my mind, My heart began racing and I could feel it trying to burst out of my chest. I knew I needed to get somewhere safe before trying to contact her. I pulled into my driveway and opened my garage door. We all went inside and sat for a second trying to catch our breath. At that moment Jordan pulled into my driveway, Jeremy was the first to enter, following closely behind were the others. Jordan was the last one in, then without a second thought, I shut the garage door hoping that if Mr. Watson did somehow show up he would be able to get in contact with us.
As we all sat on the couches in my living room just trying to figure out what the hell we all just saw, we all began trying to get a hold of our parents, each of us typing frantically on our phones. While no one except Jordan's parents picked up, it wasn't due to phone lines being down. Our calls just weren't answered. The reason Jordan's parents answered is that Jordan and his parents live far out of town, while they had seen that the world was going to shit no one lived close enough to bother them.
"I'm sorry Lucas if it wasn't my parents then maybe I wouldn't go. But you gotta understand, I just can't leave them." He said to me before getting into his car. Then as he pulled out of my driveway he called one last remark out to me.
"I'll be back once they're safe, I promise I won't die". Then like a blur, he was gone, off to keep his family safe, leaving me with nothing but a promise.