Hello? Can you hear me? Good.
Do you remember that day? The day you lost it all?
You were in class when it happened. The teacher was slurring on and on about fractions and percentages, but you couldn't pay attention. Your pencil squeaked as you nervously scribbled across the piece of loose leaf you should have been taking notes on. You took your eyes off the paper for a moment and counted the number of students in the room.
A grand total of seven were present that day.
A girl played with the ends of her long blonde hair, a boy with blue eyes stared at the ceiling, and another girl tapped her foot quietly on the ground, her scared eyes glued to the clock.
You had pursed your lips and wondered why your parents hadn't pulled you out of school like everybody else's parents had. You were wondering how they could still go to work even after everything that had happened: the weird stories on the news, the overflow of the hospitals, the panic that was clear in everyone's eyes, and the mysterious disappearance of your next-door neighbors. You sighed and looked back down at the deep pencil marks on your paper.
Maybe this will all be over soon, you had thought to yourself. But the thing was, you could not have been more wrong. You thought that the scary nightmare was going to end, but darling, it was just the beginning.
Slowly, a loud siren started up and blared through the open window of the classroom, causing fear and confusion to pulse through your veins. Your teacher's head snapped to the side, her eyes wide as she rushed to the window. She looked down to the ground and her breath was caught in her throat. She gently closed the window and tried to smile, but you could tell something was up. Your teacher tried to assure you that it was just a test siren, that they did that every first monday of the month.
You seemed satisfied with that answer, your chest deflated a bit as you let out a shaky breath. Your teacher then started the lesson again, but you noticed her eyes kept nervously darting toward the door, the siren outside never silencing.
When it is finally time to leave, your teacher wouldn't let anyone out of the classroom. While blocking the exit, she instructed everyone to sit back down. As everyone else did what they are told, you, being the rebel you were, followed your teacher to the door and managed to catch a glimpse of something going on in the hallway.
Two people stood in the middle of the glossy, tiled hall, but they seemed unsteady. They swayed back and forth and stared off into the distance, their complexion paled. You shrieked when one turned to reveal bloody skin and broken teeth. Your teacher pushed you back further into the room as the two mangled people started to pound on the door. The horrible sound had echoed through your ears as the confusion set in. I bet if you tried hard enough, you would still able to imagine the horrible sound of the door creaking and cracking, right?
You watched with wide eyes as the hinges on the door got looser and looser. Your teacher yelled something to you and the other kids, but all you could hear was the sound of splitting wood. The door bursted open, and your teacher became entrapped by the pale people. You watched in horror as they sunk their teeth into her neck and shoulder. Bright red stained the front of her nice white blouse and she gurgled before spitting up a mouthful of blood.
Your mouth hung open, and the only thing that got you back to your senses was a gentle touch on your forearm. Your eyes whipped to the side, catching a glimpse of blue before you registered who it was. It was the quiet boy in your class, the one with the blue eyes and the name you could never remember.
"We need to get out of here." he had said, clearly scared. You noticed that all of the other students had already fled.
You nodded your head and allowed the boy to pull you through the blood-streaked hallways of your school. Tears pricked your eyes as you saw people tearing into others and heard the screams of agony. Gun shots and shouts could be heard from every direction as you caught a glimpse of an army uniform. You closed your eyes and bowed you head, letting the boy lead you through the mess that was once your middle school.
Once you made it outside, you had to cover your ears since the loud siren still hadn't stopped. You ran with the boy until you made it a few blocks away from your school, until the loud siren was slightly muffled by the distance.
The boy let go of you and put his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths. You leaned against a nearby tree, trying to regain control over your lungs as well. The boy looked up at you, then around at where you two ended up.
"You should get home." He said before turning on his heel and jogging away.
You looked around and realized that you didn't know where home was. You took the highway to get to school everyday and in the moment, you couldn't remember which way to go.
Panicked, you ran after the blue eyed boy, and it wasn't for a few minutes that he noticed you following him. He gave you a look of confusion, but when he saw the panic and fear that had filled your eyes those many months ago, he simply took your hand and began to run again.
You two had entered a neighborhood that you assumed was where he lived, but the only thing you could focus on was how fast your legs were moving. A sweat had broken out on your forehead and you were breathing hard. You had never run that fast before, but I can assure you that from that moment on, you would never stop.
You didn't know this at the time, but you and that boy would go on to run, and you wouldn't stop, not for as long as you both would live.
YOU ARE READING
The Long Run {c.g.}
Fanfiction"You didn't know this at the time, but you and that boy would go on to run, and you wouldn't stop, not for as long as you both would live." * * * A short story about how you lived when the world had died. THE WALKING DEAD // CARL GRIMES [seasons 1-7]
