Survival

Part 1: Valerie

The day it all started was a sunny day.

I lay in the field, arms and legs outstretched with my eyes shut tight and the sun warming my skin. I could feel the grass rippling between my fingers in the soft breeze that washed over me. All I could hear was my own soft breathing and the occasional silvery swish of my horse's tail. My best friend lay near me, our fingertips almost touching. It was times like this that I was so glad I had him. There had been a rumour going around at school for the past few weeks that he was gay. I didn't know whether he was or wasn't. I didn't care either way.

I sighed, and smiled as my huge Great Dane sighed in response. With great effort I propped myself onto my elbows, savouring the moment a little longer, then opened my eyes. We were lying in a field situated almost perfectly halfway between our houses. The long yellowy green grass was everywhere, spattered with flowers of all colours. A slow moving creek ran through the field, approximately three metres in width and just over head height in the middle. Our horses grazed freely not far from our spot. I flicked my tidy long black dreadlocks, making sure they weren't snagged in the grass. When I looked down, Jeordie had his brown eyes open. He grinned cockily, leaping to his feet.

"Race ya to the creek!" He yelled, whipping his t-shirt off before beginning to sprint down to the steep muddy bank.

"Oh bring it on!" I yelled back, already in a bikini. I leapt to my feet and dashed after him, with my dog close behind me.

We reached the bank at about the same time and both leapt from the top of the muddy overhang. I hung in the air for a few milliseconds less than Jeordie, and hit the water first. I surfaced just as the splash my friend made was dying down. He didn't come back up. I panicked. Anything could've happened. Who knows what submerged objects could be stuck in the mud of a creekbed.

"Jeordie?" I asked the creek futilely.

I treaded water, trying to see through the murky water. Something grabbed me by the ankle and dragged me underwater screaming. I kicked free and swam to the surface, to see Jeordie's devilish face right in front of mine.

"You idiot! You scared me so much!" I shouted at him, splashing and pushing at him. He laughed and grabbed my wrists to stop me. Suddenly we were so close together. Our noses were almost touching and our arms were the only things stopping our chests from brushing together. Jeordie's eyes were wide in shock and embarrassment. We were locked in that position for what felt like eternity; but it must've only been a few seconds. I suddenly noticed how attractive he was. I mean, it's not like I hadn't been face to face with my best friend before, but had I ever really looked? All of a sudden I found myself reassessing his features, from the greenish flecks in his dark brown eyes, his shaggy yet still stylish black hair, to his muscled shoulders and arms. He leaned closer and I found myself doing the same.

'What are you doing stupid dumb dumb dumb what are you thinking you idiot?!' Screamed the voice in my head.

They say that kissing your best friend feels wrong. To me it just felt warm and soft. His lip ring touched the corner of my mouth lightly. Too much information? It was over in virtually three seconds anyway. No tongue. I opened my eyes and felt a stupid smile cross my face. Oh god. Jeordie was smiling back at me. Suddenly we were both in hysterics. I stumbled out of the water, promptly falling the mud. The steep wall of the mud bank pressed against my back, and I was still laughing. My dog, feeling left out, bounded down to me and splashed me with even more mud so that it ran down my face.

Jeordie and I didn't mention the kiss again. It's not like we had much of a chance to anyway.

--

After some more playing in the creek (which, in hindsight, was alot less boisterous than normal, although not exactly loving either) we once again returned to the grass to dry off. I got dressed on the other side of the horses with a towel wrapped around me. My skin was burnt, my ribs were scratched from sticks in the riverbank, and there was a leaf in my dreads.

I quickly dressed into my tight black skinny jeans, Tool tee shirt and threw my heavy knee length black jacket over my horse's saddle, packing my wet swimmers and towel into the saddlebags. When I left the improvised horse-made changeroom, Jeordie was slipping a shirt over his shoulders, a dark blue tee with the Red Hot Chili Peppers logo. Us music geeks. I took a sneaky opportunity to take one last glance at his shoulders and chest, instantly despising myself and getting a little thrill out of it at the same time. He's virtually your brother. It's practically incestuous I told myself. I couldn't let a little crush on my best friend ruin my day.

And in reflection, I was accurate. That wasn't the thing that ruined my day.

--

Jeordie insisted that he would take me home. Really, who was I to question that? On the ride back we chatted about the new 'super disease' the media was selling everywhere. Ten had apparently died in the past three days and hundreds were infected.

"So have they figured out what it is?" I asked Jeordie, whose parents worked at a nearby hospital that was currently caring for twenty infected and was the spot for three of the ten deaths.

"Mm, nope. They thought it was a flu for a while, because that's how it first presents itself. Some patients cough up blood, and after a while they all end up vomiting blood. Then there's disolouration and blemishes, and gangrene, followed by death. Nobody's recovered yet."

"Sounds a bit like a zombie apocalypse to me." I commented, trying to make light of the conversation.

"Pretty much."He grinned at me.

My house was pretty big. There were two storeys, and the side farthest from the road was fully glass, so we could see the livestock in the paddock. Both the cars were in the driveway, as they were when I left. We tied our horses to the fence. I planned to return and untack mine once Mum knew I was home.

A sickly smell hit my nose. I noticed there was a dark shape huddled by the corner of the yard. I made my way around the fenceline to inspect it. The dead sheep lay by a fence post in a crumbled pile. Fresh blood trickled from its mouth. I couldn't find a maul wound, so perhaps a snake had taken it. That wasn't an uncommon thing. I returned to Jeordie, keeping down vomit at the rank smell of dead sheep. He took me under his arm in a gesture that I didn't question the motives of, and walked me to the front door. It hung open a little. My mum was so vague. I closed the door behind me.

"Mum? Dad?" I called into the seemingly empty house. I checked the kitchen, the loungeroom, the bathroom, before finally opening the door to my parent's room. The bedcovers were recently disturbed, as if my parents had just gotten out of bed. That was my second clue that something was wrong. My parents were sticklers for tidy beds. I could feel Jeordie's gaze from the doorway. Swallowing an irrational flash of panic, I neared the bed and almost passed out. The sheets and pillows were stained with blood. And by that I don't mean a nosebleed or some period blood that you sometimes wake up to on the sheets. I mean horror movie style pools of blood.

I had seen enough.

I didn't know I was falling until Jeordie caught me.

"Mum said she felt sick." I felt myself whisper.

"They probably got an ambulance. They'll be ok, Val." He replied, calling me the nickname he had used since childhood.

"But.." I started shaking.

"Hey, come home with me. We can find out what happened. Ok?" He told me in his calming voice. I nodded wordlessly and got to my feet.