Population Control

Camille II

Dalliance – a casual, yet playful conversation that may lead to romance.

0o0

We were all against the wall, door locked and nobody leaning against the blinds. Most, if not all of us, have seen school shooting drills in TV shows, I just hope everyone else is alright, too. Another two gunshots went off, and Dylan and I turned into each other. From his chest, I peeked my eye out to see how everyone else was doing. The year sevens seemed to be faring better than I would have.

"What was that?" Asked a year nine, just loud enough for us all to hear in the bleary quietness. Gently, I pulled away from Dylan, him trying to pull me back. But one look and he let me go. Crawling just past Sam, I peeled back the blind just enough for my eyes to look at the ground. There it was. The dog. A sheet covered it, but the shape of the dog was still there. Looking down as much as I could, so far down my eyes began to ache, there he was, slumped against the fence. Legs out, the thing didn't move an inch, but the officers around him did. One moved closer, seeing if it was actually dead.

It wasn't.

The closer the man got, the arm of the Rabid thing reached out for the leg, making the officer fall on top. Wailing, the man flailed in the arms of the Rabid creature. A woman shot the guy on the floor square in the head, and the man went limp. He stopped biting the cop's neck and stopped bringing him closer. The cop was shot, too. Headshot.

We made eye contact - the woman and me. She didn't look sorry. Remorse, guilt, regret, nothing of the sort. We only looked away when I closed the blind again. "What happened?"

"He's dead." I said, if the dozen shots that were fired didn't indicate that already.

"What did he do?"

Thankfully, Sam spoke for me, because anymore and today's toast would be on the floor. "Eat a dog."

We all sat tight. Tighter than hands around someone's neck in the middle of a fight. Nobody moved, nobody sneezed, nobody even breathed too heavily if it could be helped. Sam's hand found mine, it was so soft it reminded me of holding my nieces when she was born. I've never been bothered by rooms. Like how some people don't like enclosed spaces, I don't mind them. Lock me in a room for days and mentally I would be the same. Before this, that is.

It seemed too big. Big enough for anything to be lurking in any corner. At the same time, we were all too close together that I needed space to breathe. Like being an introvert at a party, in the centre of the dance floor surrounded by all the drunk people dancing with each other.

The sirens turned off and now it's too quiet. Before it was quiet, but it was bearable with the siren blaring in the background. It was a constant noise that I could rely on being present for however long we were in there. A harsh knock came at the door, so harsh if the person tried harder, they would break in the wood. Some people jumped at the noise; some people held others tighter. Not once did any of us think to bring out our phones. Generation Z, famous for our inability to be off our phones, and not one of us thought to record our possible dying words.

"Kids, it's OK to come out now." The man said: none of us moved. What if it was a trap? What if there was a person waiting out there to shoot us, stab us? We couldn't take that risk, not a chance.

"It's been dealt with, you're all safe now." It was the Mr. Denny, meaning Anya should be with them, too. If she made it that far, I mean. Anya won't be leaving on her own today after this, that's for sure.

Gingerly, everyone looked over in our directions: we were year eleven. We were the oldest in the school, we set an example. Being older made us more responsible. That didn't mean it made me responsible for human lives; it wasn't going to be Sami because I couldn't feel my left hand. It could have been Dylan because he's the oldest (by a month, and he will endlessly tease me about it). But I was the one who closed the door, the one who turned off the light, the one who opened the blind when no one else wanted to look. So, by powers of quick deduction, I stood up, giving Dylan and Sam one last look.