Extinction

Chapter Seventeen: Reminiscing

A couple of days passed, and nothing really had changed. People were still talking to Claire and me because I was friends with Claire. Adam had done nothing to hurt us. He was being civil, despite the breakup. It was odd, I thought, considering what he said, but if he was willing to be civil, then so was I. I was starting to participate in class again. Not a lot, about as much as I did before I lost Elias and before the infection.

I had also started talking to my dad more. I think I had finally realized that Elias' death couldn't be helped, and that he was just trying to protect us. I was still upset, but I was getting over myself.

It was the weekend now, and I was changing out with Claire. We were up in my room reminiscing about Elias. We were looking at pictures of him and going over old stories about him.

"I remember one time when he was a toddler, he had just gotten potty trained, and he came into my room when he was done, and he had this big smile on his face. I asked him what was up. He said that he used the big boys potty for the first time. I was so proud of him."

"I remember when you first introduced me to him."

"He had this huge crush on you!" I laughed, remembering that day. We laughed together at the memory.

At some point, my dad came and joined in Claire and I's reminiscing of Elias and it was... nice. There were stories that dad never told me. Dad teaching Elias to fish. To hunt. The first time they camped out in the backyard together. Just boy things. This continued on well into the night and into the next day.

We spent the entire weekend reminiscing about my departed younger brother, and it helped us grieve. It was very much needed. But sadly, it couldn't last forever and it was Sunday night and Claire had to go home so she could get ready for school the next day.

When I got to school the next day everything was normal. Homeroom went by normally. Mr. Armant was as loud as he always had been, causing me a migraine. After homeroom, I went to the nurse to get some pain medicine and then I was off to my next class. Psychology went by fine, if not a bit slowly. I watched the last five minutes tick by. It felt like twenty minutes. My next class, Spanish, went by good. I actually participated. Not much, but I did. But then I noticed something.

I had noticed that one of my classmates wasn't in homeroom or either of the classes that he and I had together.

I looked at his best friend and teammate, Adam. The both of them were on the football team together. "Where's Ian?"

"Oh, you didn't hear? His grandma is in the hospital."

"What happened?" Claire asked.

"He texted me saying that it was a heart attack. He didn't think she was going to make it. So him and his family left to go see her yesterday."

"Where does she live?" I asked.

"..... The next town over," he whispered.

The entire classroom went silent because of shock.

"But.... The zombie outbreak...." my classmate, Katie, finally whispered.