Battle of Ash

Chapter 6

"It's the end of the world every day, for someone."
Margaret Atwood

2016.12.10 08:17
Dillon tapped his pencil against the desk. He hated this class passionately. Maths was never his favorite but lately it had been worse. Ever since everyone started getting sick anyway. The number of absences at the school had eventually become so drastic that the principal had been forced to set up one of the empty classrooms as a quarantine section, following suit of schools in more populated areas.

Most of his friends had been moved to the sick section of the school. It was blocked off by special plastic and a tunnel that somehow kept the sick germs from spreading into the healthy side of school. Dillon hadn't been paying much attention to the whole outbreak thing. He had loved the posters that had been put up and the hint of post-apocalyptic vibe when walking down the halls.

Sometimes, without too much effort, he was able to pretend he was in one of his videogames. His friends would occasionally join in; Alex had even brought a few nerf guns so they could run around shooting one another. Totally worth the detention. But that was before Alex had become sick. Just like most of his friends. The only person left he used to hang out with was Jerry. Dillon scratched around the edge of his mask and shot a sideways glance to Jerry from across the classroom. Jerry had just discovered girls. He didn't have time for guys like Dillon anymore. Not when there were boobs and thighs to stare at.

It made things difficult for Dillon; especially when home life was so hard. His mother was prone to bouts of fancy and his father, since he retired from farming, had taken to following the rodeo around. Dillon figured it was mostly because of what had happened between his parents; his dad just felt too guilty to be around his mom for too long, though they still desperately loved each other. Dillon tapped the eraser of his pen against his desk as his mind wandered, his gaze drifting across the hall to look through the windows of the sick section.

A girl caught his gaze and smiled, then quickly averted her eyes back to her desk. Dillon sighed, shifting in his seat, his gaze wandering back to the board. The classroom was empty, almost everyone was gone. At least half the school was sick. They had to occasionally call in the special unit to carry a student or teacher away once the seizures had begun.

It had started happening so often that the district had installed special alarms that, when triggered, sent an automatic buzz to the dispatchers, who then sent in the paramedics. They were a joke though. Everyone knew that, with this disease spreading so quickly, no one had time to properly train and budget a special medical unit. The paramedics were everyday people, hired for crazy dangerous jobs at low pay and worse preparation. It always caused quite a stir when they showed up though and everyone was sent home for the rest of the day. The seizures were deemed emotionally traumatic. It had been a while since someone had gone down, they were expecting one soon, and he honestly couldn't wait. They would be let out for the rest of the day while the school was sectioned off and sterilized. Maybe three days later school would be back in session and he needed the mini-vacation. He wanted it. He knew how selfish those wants were, to wish harm on someone else for his own gain but a sixteen year old could only take so much. Between school and his mom and his always absent father he just couldn't deal with it anymore. He wanted a break; needed some time off.

"Are you paying attention, Dillon?"

He snapped his gaze back to the teacher, nodding slowly as his face grew hot. He scanned the white board to get any hints or clues of what Mr. Matthews had been talking about. No new scribbles since class started. He sighed, looking back at the teacher.

"Very well, maybe you can answer the question Mary had presented to the class." Thankfully Mr. Matthews didn't leave him hanging, "Can you repeat your question for the class, Mary?"