Desmond Allens, 18.
As she began to yawn, she stretched her arms up above her head. "Another boring day....," she thought to herself as she dragged her body out of bed. She went through her normal routine, ate a normal breakfast, and set off normally to school. "...boring, boring, boring," she muttered at everything she spotted as she passed. Life as she knew it was about to change, making her wish she had appreciated the boring a little bit more....
Once at school she greeted everyone with a smile and soft wave, after all, she was happy to see them. It was Monday. She was sure that there'd be some juicy gossip to be shared after the long weekend. At least there'd be some type of excitement...
She went to class and sat down in her usual seat by the window, where she could stare for what felt like hours and daydream about exciting things and just, be millions of miles away from Santa Barbara High. She propped her head on her hand in her usual way and began to stare, when one of her classmates, sweating and terrified ran into the room. The professor hurriedly and with utmost concern asked him what was wrong. The student claimed to have been chased to school by a sick man who tried to bite him. The man eventually gave up on him and began to attack other people. The student was so scared, he didn't bother to stick around to see what else had happened. The professor sent him to the principal's office so he could call the police, after all, it was all that could be done at this point. "Geeez...Tom is really riled up you guys," one of the other students said. The class began to whisper and spread gossip about how strange occurrences had been happening like that all over. Esme shook her head, "Probably just a rabies outbreak or something...," she whispered to herself before looking back out the window. "Rabies? Sounds worse than rabies," Desmond said before sitting down beside her. She looked at him, then sighed, "please, share with me your opinion on the matter...," she muttered, before playfully rolling her eyes. "Sounds like a case of super boredom, if you ask me. You go so crazy from being soooo bored, you lose it and just go around biting people," he said jokingly. The two laughed, but before anything else could be said, the bell rang and class begun.
By fourth period, Esme was ready to go home. She internally moaned and griped about how miserable she was, but then tried to cheer herself up by playing a game of, "it could be worse". Some examples were, "it could be worse, I could be living in a third world country, starving to death so badly, that I'd have to eat people...", and "it could be worse, I could be a sex trafficked slave who has no choice but to eat people to get free," she paused after she realized that the last set of examples she had all had cannibalism in them. She laughed at herself for being so silly and whiny. Her thoughts were broken once she heard a bloodcurdling scream at the end of the hall. A horde of students came running towards her, bumping into her as they flew past. Not too far behind them were people covered in blood, arms extended, mouths agape, charging and tackling whoever they managed to catch. Esme had no choice but to run, or get trampled and eaten...so, she ran with the terrified children, before she broke off from the group and hid in an empty classroom.
"The hell is going on....," she spat out as she tried to catch her breath. She managed to shove some desks in front of the door, hoping it'd be enough to keep the crazed people from getting in. She ran to a corner of the room and hid, doing her best to keep quiet. Seconds later her phone vibrated. It was Desmond. He sent her a message asking where she was. She didn't disclose where, just said she was safe. She wasn't sure if it was him or one of the crazy people posing as him. He realized she didn't trust him and decided to call so she could hear his voice. After it was settled that they were safe, they whispered each other's locations and decided to come up with a plan on how to get to one another. She asked if he knew what was happening, he told her had no clue. After admitting she was scared, he said, "Don't worry, this will all blow over, those psychos will get arrested, and we can all get back to being boring, alright?" He half believed that to be true, but, it sounded good enough. She laughed nervously before heading out to see if the coast was clear. It was. And deathly quiet. After several minutes, they managed to get to each other. They hugged ever so tightly for what felt like moments, but it was cut short when the screaming began again. He grabbed her hand the two ran downstairs to the first floor...big mistake...the first floor was a feeding frenzy. They managed to get away unnoticed and out to the football field which was directly in front of the student parking lot. The plan was to get in Desmond's car, and get as fas as they possibly could away from the crazies...
They made it without a hitch. As he began to pull off, some students ran for the car, the monsters hot on their tails. Esme began to cry as she watched them get ripped apart, still screaming for help. She turned away as soon as he pulled out of the parking lot. He turned on the radio, hoping it'd be of any help, but it wasn't. Emergency broadcast signals were on every station; no one had answers. "Where do we go now?", she asked in between sobs. The city was in mayhem. Panic and blood ran through the streets as people tore each other a part. The police were shooting the attackers, but the bullets did nothing to stop them. "Did you see that?!" Esme shrieked. "No, what?!" Desmond asked. "The bullets have no effect. That guy was shot in the heart and he didn't stop!", she cried. "That's impossible, maybe he missed," Desmond said as he avoided hitting panicked pedestrians and other drivers. "No Desmond, I know what I saw, he didn't miss, and the man didn't-STOP!" She shouted, but it was too late, the man had went flying over the car after being hit with it full force. At the speed Desmond was going, the hit caused him to weave a bit, hitting other cars in the process. He regained control, but there was blood all over the windshield. He used his wipers to get it clean, but both he and Esme were in shock. She looked back to see if he was dead, but then screamed in horror as she saw him hanging on to the back of the car. Both legs were broken and his pelvis was smashed, yet he tried so desperately to get through the back windshield of Desmond's Impala. After swirving the car a bit, he managed to shake the man loose. "Is he gone?!" Desmond asked after checking his rear view mirror. "Y-ye-yes," Esme stammered. She didn't take her eyes off that back window for at least another minute. They rode on in silence for a bit, before Desmond said, "I live in a gated community, we should be safe there..." Esme nodded. She was still in shock from all that was happening. Oh how she wished the day would go back to its usual boring way...but from the looks of things, that was not going to happen...and even if it did, she was scarred for life. No amount of boring would be able to fix her or make her normal again. The boring days were over...
She was so lost in her thoughts that, she didn't notice Desmond stopped the car. She jumped out of her dazed trance when she felt someone grab her. She started to scream and fight, but when she realized it was Desmond, she calmed down. He brought her inside the house and locked the door behind them. The car was parked in the garage so, it appeared as though no one was home. All the shades were drawn, doors were locked, and windows were shut. He set the house alarm just in case. After letting Esme lay down in his room, he went to get some items together: food, water, clothes, guns...for once being the son of a police chief really paid off... After an hour, he went to check on Esme, who was wide awake, sobbing. "What's wrong?", he asked after placing down the bag. "I can't reach anyone. 911 is busy, my parents aren't answering, I have no idea if my brother is safe. And what about Chance? He must be so confused and barking his head off...oh god, what if those things got him?!," she cried before breaking down again. She placed her head in her hands and continued sobbing. He sighed, not really sure of what to say. Yeah, the cannibals might have ate her dog. Her family was probably dead or trapped somewhere... "It'll all be okay. We'll get out of here, find our families, your dog, and everything will sort itself out," he said half- heatedly, it all sounded good, but, even he had to be real with himself. That all probably was not going to happen...
She picked her head up and wiped her eyes, "maybe....," she whispered. She wanted to be optimistic, clearly Desmond was trying...but she wasn't stupid. She's seen the movies, she knew how this all was going to play out... "What do we do now?", she asked. "We'll, wait, I guess...keep trying to get a hold of everyone....," he answered before peeking out the window. The streets were chaotic. People were screaming and running in every direction. He watched as someone who just got mauled by a pack of monsters got up and crawled off in search of a victim. He shook his head. He knew what this was...it was just like the movies... "Damn...," he muttered under his breath.
It's not just a sound...