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The oddly shaped earphones stuck painfully in her ears, rubbing from overuse. Alex's favorite band blasted for her personally; the music so loud it consumed her; calmed her. It was all too obvious that the small girl was resisting the urge to sing along as she walked to school. Alex was eighteen, living in central London, so walking to school every morning was a hassle and she gratefully welcomed the weekend's.
But today was different. The usually busting streets were almost clear. The few people walking were hunched over, looking small and almost grey. Alex recognized this as the new illness that's been going around. According to the media, it's not very serious. But she'd heard other things from friends, the more exaggerated things you would expect to hear from a bunch of six-teen to eight-teen year old's.
'I heard forty people have already died!'
'No, man. I was told the people with it go insane and bite you! Like zombies!'
'Apparently there's no cure, and it's gonna spread to the rest of the world.'
Yeah, the annoying babble of lies a new sickness can create is incredible. Annoying, tiring and worrying-but nonetheless, incredible. It's almost as if the whole thing's taken over people's brains. Well, the medias gone insane; as you'd expect.
Just as Alex was beginning to get uneasy at the eeriness of this London morning, she turned the corner and ran into her school building. She was late, again, but at this rate, no-one's going to be in the school to notice anyways. The playground was empty, and there were no more then three cars in the car-park.
Strange.
Straight away, the black haired girl went to the front desk.
"Ah, miss Grey. Late?" The patronizing head of year asked. Alex nodded, carefully avoiding making eye contact with the intimidating woman. "I'd give you detention if half the staff and students had actually bothered to come in today." She sighed, frustration glazing over her eyes. The woman began speaking again before the phone rang, screaming it's signature shrill screech. Alex waited, unsure of whether or not she should just walk to home room. The head of year flicked her hand in the direction of the door and nodded, her grey curls bouncing as she did. Alex took this as the opportunity to rush out of the door and through the uncleaned hallways. Gum and wrappers from last week littered the dusty floor.
Huh. It's Monday. The cleaner should've been on Sunday. Weird.
School ran peacefully and without a hitch, just minus a few teachers and quite a lot of students. Lunch was quieter then anyone was used to, following the fact around twenty people were still there by then, (most people that'd shown up had left by lunch, claiming almost suspiciously to be ill, but no one questioned otherwise.) so when one of the boys started playing an old song off a bad speaker; not even Alex objected. It was weird being in school when it was quite, you felt as if you were intruding after hours. When the bell rung, signifying they could leave, Alex instantly wished she'd brought her car. Stereo-typically, England was known for it's bleak weather. And this just proved the stereotypes were right. Alex was used to the feeling of rain beating down on her as she walked home, constantly trying to protect her bag from the worst of it. But she had never liked the cold. And freezing rain mixed with the eerie, off sensation the girl had had all day, only made her want to get home faster. Again, she pulled out her earphones and let Pierce The Veil blare through them as she sped up. The song: Dead Walker Texas Ranger seemed appropriate to play for some reason.
Her song ended just as she stepped into her home, clothes soaked through and shivering. Quickly, she stripped out of her drenched uniform, right in her hallway; very grateful she lived alone at that one point. The girl bolted upstairs and changed into comfortable, dry clothes, scraping her hair into a messy up do. When the thoughts of the quickly advancing illness reproached her mind, she grabbed her phone, quickly dialing her mother's phone number. After two rings, she picked up.
"Alexis!" Her mother chirped, causing her daughter to internally groan at the use of her full name. Alex used to adore it, but now she'd grown up, she had come to hate the name. There was no reason behind it, she just felt it didn't suit her and constantly shortened it to Alex.
"Hey, mum. I was just wondering if you're all okay. You know, with that virus and stuff." By 'all', she was referring to her parents and older brother. They all moved to a place called Brighton three years ago, wanting to be out of the city and nearer to the seafront. Her older brother, having blown all his money on god knows what when he was a little younger then Alex was now, went with them. Alex did too, for a period of time. But she realized she missed her hometown and moved back to a small house in London, and attended a large, well known sixth form.
"Oh, your poor father's come down with it. We're certain he'll be fine though! Oh-sorry, sweetie, I have to go. Work emergency. I love you, baby girl!" Alex heard a click and the line went dead. Shock ran through her, turning her blood to ice in her veins. Her heart dropped to her stomach.
Her father had it.
Oh no.
Maybe... just maybe, it was all a fluke?
Well. That's what Alex wanted to believe anyway.
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