It all happened so fast. Disaster. Widespread panic.
A Pandemic.
It wasn't long before the Infected were everywhere.
When Hayley Brookes near-perfect life comes crashing down around her - due to a new, widespread, incurable strain of virus and she...
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I walked out of school hand in hand with Alec. Spotting Jason's car, I kissed Alec on the cheek as goodbye.
"I'll pick you up at six, yeah?" He questioned.
"Yep, sounds good!" I replied, giving him one last hug before getting into Jason's Audi.
"You and loverboy still going strong then?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows at me.
"Shutup!" I groaned, feeling my cheeks turn red. He always loved to tease me - the classic older brother. "We're going out tonight. Can you please babysit Lily?" I pleaded. Lily was our 7 year old sister and it was my turn to babysit her this week whilst our parents were out.
"I expect you home by 11:00! No later!" Jason stated firmly to me and Alec just as we were about to leave. "And no funny business!" He said sternly, pointing his finger between us accusingly.
"Shutup Jason." I mumbled, blushing. I look up to see a Alec's handsome face also decorated with a light pink blush. "C'mon, lets go." I said, grabbing his hand and tugging him out of the doorway.
Alec had planned for us to see a movie, however as there was nothing of interest to us on at the moment, we settled for skipping straight to dinner. He had booked us a table at a cute, little Italian restaurant further in the city. It took us a while longer to get there, but once we arrived, after Alec had parked his old, beat-up Ford in the multistory car park a few blocks away, it looked well worth the wait.
We walked through the door and were greeted by a kind, bubbly waitress.
"Do you have a reservation, Sir?" She politely questioned.
"Yes, it should be under Knight, Alec Knight."
"Excellent! Right this way." The waitress gestured for us to follow her. She lead us to a booth next to the window. After we were seated, she handed us two menus and told us to let her know when we were ready to order. I thanked her and she left to attend to the other customers.
"So, what do you think babe?" Alec entwined my hand in his before lifting it to his lips, placing a soft kiss on my knuckles and setting our hands down on the table.
"It's great Alec!" I smiled, glad to finally have some time to ourselves. He smiled back, his adorable, baby blue eyes lighting up, indicating his happiness.
"Good, I'm glad. I also wanted to talk about our plans for next year." He said, "Listen, I know you want to go to med school in Columbia, after graduation, and I want to make sure that 'this'," he gestures between us, "isn't going to hold you back. Look, I love you Hayley, but I don't want to hold you back from your dream."
My heart fluttered at his sweet consideration and my eyes filled with tears at the prospect of leaving him.
"I love you Alec, and I don't want to leave you."
"I know," He used the pad of his thumb on his free hand to wipe away a tear that had slipped down my cheek. "I don't want you to leave either, but it's your dream. It's not forever. We can still see each other." He said, tucking a stray lock of my golden brown hair behind my ear and pressing a chaste kiss to my forehead.
The moment was interupted by the loud sound of my irritating ringtone. I pulled my phone out of my jean pocket to see Jason's name flash across the screen.
"He can't give me one night of peace." I muttered, rolling my eyes. "Sorry Alec," I say whilst sliding my thumb across the screen to answer and lifting the phone to my ear.
"Hayley?" Jason's frantic voice filled my ears.
"Yeah, Jason I'm here. What's wrong?!" I ask, scared because of his tone.
"Thank God! Are you ok?! Where are you?!" He asked, breathing rapidly.
"I'm fine! I'm with Alec at the restaurant. Why? What's wrong?"
"Is everything okay?" Alec mouthed, sensing both mine and Jason's distress. I shrugged my shoulders in response, feeling nervous.
"Hayley, listen to me." Jason commanded, "You need to come home, NOW!"
"What? Why Jason?" I asked, confused.
"Just trust me Hayles. Please come home! I'll explain once you get back. Please just come back!" He sounded panicked and desperate and I didn't doubt that it was important.
"Okay, okay, we're coming back." I said into the phone to try and calm Jason down. "I'll see you soon." I hung up and placed the phone back into my pocket.
"I'm so sorry Alec, I need to go." I told him regretfully, "It sounds urgent."
"It's fine Hayley, don't worry." Alec stood up, grabbing my hand and pulling me up with him. "Come on then, lets go." He said, towing me out of the booth and together we left the retaurant. We stepped out onto the busy street which was lit up by the buildings and lamp posts as the sun had already set. Hand in hand, we briskly walked towards the car park.
A hunched over figure, dressed in black, caught my eye. He or she was stumbling towards us. I couldn't make out their face as they had their hood up and was staring down at the ground, causing shadows to obscure their face. As we neared the dark figure, it stumbled straight into Alec's tall form, slamming into him. The force knocked Alec backward, his hand ripped from mine as he tried to regain his footing. The hooded figure took no notice of the trouble it had caused and continued to amble on past us. Recovering from his shock, Alec spun around and caught the person's arm.
"Hey! Watch where you're going!" He exclaimed. The person completely ignored Alec, how rude can someone be?!
"Excuse me?!" Alec said, becoming frustrated. Now fed up, Alec forced the person to turn around as it carried on ignorant of Alec and me. After he had turned the stranger around Alec flinched backwards, thrusting the person away from him in disgust. The figure had lifted it's head and the hood had fallen off during the struggle. When I saw their face, a loud gasp escaped my lips.
A vacant expression decorated the face of a small middle-aged man. His jaw was slack, mouth hanging slightly open showing his yellowed teeth. His scraggly, matted hair hung limply over his forehead. But what made me gasp was the man's eyes. His eyes were sunken and hollow, open wide and bloodshot, glazed over as though he was drunk or high. It was as though a thin, cloudy layer had shrouded his eyes. It was like looking into the eyes of a dead man.
