Virus by ninja jinx (story reading .TXT) 📖

other side.

She was breathing heavily as she stood up and picked her knives, wiping it down and slipping them back onto her belt. Covered in blood and sweat again she walked slowly to her car and unlocked it, taking her back pack out from inside.

Briefly she stood in the peace and silence before turning around to see the unbelieving expressions of the group. Some had their mouths open with awe and others just stood dumbfounded. This small girl had killed five zombies in less than five minutes like they were nothing. The only one not remotely shocked was the leader who stood there but with a spark in his eyes like he was curious about her.

Sarah strides to them with purpose, her steps unfaltering. Her eyes sought out the annoying lady’s and when she found them she drew close. “Like I said I don’t need you to protect me” she spat out. The lady swallowed and sent her cocky grin even though she was slightly scared.

“You’re an idiot for running through zombies to save a back pack” she said clearly in an act to gain back her dignity.

Sarah cocked an eyebrow up.

“Am I an idiot to go and save the research which our humanity may depend on?”

One could hear a pin drop at that moment.

 

 

Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Sarah walked into the room dressed in a set of fresh clothes. Basically she wore the exact replica of what she had on before but had changed her shoes to combat boots and her belt to a proper weapons carrier.

Falling onto a chair she felt the small group of people watching her silently. Everyone wasn’t here was what she could tell; only the guy with the close cropped hair, the annoying lady, the supposed leader and a few other tough looking males.

“Tell us what you meant” the dark eyed leader said and Sarah’s eyes snapped up to see him leaning across an oak table spread with the papers from her back pack.

“That’s my aunt’s research” she said as she gestured to the desk “she was a scientist….um?” Sarah paused, waiting for him to give a name so she could place it with his face.

“Troy” he said and Sarah nodded, thinking that the name suited him in a way.

“I think she was studying this before the epidemic spread, trying to find a cure-“

“Where is she then?” a voice cut in rudely and Sarah looked towards the guy with cropped hair.

“You are?” she asked bluntly but the guy didn’t seem to take offense. “Andrew” he said before pointing to the lady who sat sulking in her seat. “That’s Jenny and those guys are Mark, Jackson and Taylor”

Sarah nodded curtly at each, not even taking their appearance in too much detail.

“She’s dead” Sarah said, answering the earlier question.

“What?” Taylor asked and Sarah nodded her head sadly as she tried to supress that unpleasant memory. She didn’t really feel up to it by telling them that she had killed her aunt when she had attacked her at her house.

“She turned zombie” she continued vaguely and she saw Troy raise his eyebrow up slightly, studying her with an unreadable expression.

“So what now?” Jenny said as she sat up in her seat. “We have no use for her. Like I said she’s just going to hold us back-“

Sarah raised her hand and cut Jenny’s rant off by overpowering her voice with her own. “Just because she’s dead doesn’t mean that it’s the end. I know what she wrote, in fact” now Sarah took a breath. “I created some of the equations”. The group looked at her in surprise even Troy seemed a little taken back.

“What?” Andrew asked and Sarah rubbed her forehead.

“I didn’t know until I was escaping from her house and taking the papers and seeing the formulas-“

“How would you not know” Mark asked incredulously.

“My aunt and I would play games you see. Sometimes she would give me a sheet of paper and ask me to answer the questions. I don’t know, we’re both science fanatics and at the time it seemed normal…”

“Answering questions on science?” Andrew said and Sarah nodded hopelessly.

“How old are you? Fifty?” Jenny enquired meanly.

Sarah was beginning to get much ticked off now. “No, I’m nineteen” she answered back coldly with a voice that threatened she was close to snapping. “I think my aunt knew that this was going to happen and began looking for a cure to save the world. A lot of people thought she was crazy and even I did since she always sent me to classes…”

“Classes?”

“Self-defence, sword fighting, boxing, things like that” she said like it was normal.

No one spoke for a moment before Troy pushed the papers towards her. “I understand half of it” he said, which surprised her since not many did, “but I don’t get the other half”.

Sarah nodded and stood from her seat. Ignoring the looks she came to stand before Troy and forced her eyes to remain on the pages and not on his face. He was the only one that seemed to truly make Sarah feel unconfident in what she did. Nervously she drew the pages closer and then looked up.

“If you want” she found herself asking. “I can decode it for you and continue my aunt’s research”.

Troy stared at her and Sarah resisted the urge to look away. He nodded briefly as if pleased with something. “Goodwill” he said. “I think I’ll take you there”.

Behind her Sarah heard a loud clattering of a chair falling back. What did he say she thought as Jenny spluttered out a “are you crazy?”

Was he crazy she wondered as he stood up gracefully from his seat and loomed above the rest.

“Troy” Jenny said and Sarah, being a girl came to understand one thing. Jenny liked Troy.

“You don’t have to go. We need you…I need you”. Sarah almost wanted to shake her head at the commonly overused line and instead concealed her fleeting amusement with a blank expression.

“I mean what about our mission?”

“This isn’t my mission” Troy said and Sarah raised an eyebrow surprised. “This is Andrews. He’s your squadron leader and I’m just tagging along”

“N-no but” she pleaded helplessly and Sarah was starting to feel bad like she was the villain here, which maybe she was.

“Sarah’s become my mission” he said and Sarah almost chocked on her own saliva. Those words, while not meant to mean anything deeper than he wanted to get her to safety, made her feel strangely happy.

“What?” Jenny cried as she pointed an accusing finger and Sarah. “Her?! This idiot?”

“Shut the fuck up Jenny!” Andrew cried, surprising everyone but Troy. He turned away from Jenny’s fuming face and towards Troy. “He’s right guys. Troy has no obligation to follow us….so thanks for all you’ve done so far”. Andrew held his hand out and Troy clasped it firmly with his mouth set in a straight thin line.

“I’m glad we picked you up on the road” Andrew said while chuckling and Sarah shook her head, thinking on how wrong her assumption had been on Troy being the leader. Or maybe he was for a short period of time till she came.

Andrew turned to her now. His eyes were kind and held a shimmer of hope in there depths. “You find the cure right?” he said and Sarah nodded silently as she shook his hand.

“Ok guys” he said, turning to the other men who stood stock still and a crestfallen Jenny. “I want you to supply these two with food and water and weapons so they can get to Goodwill safely and help find a cure”.

The men nodded and Andrew dismissed them with a wave of his hand and Sarah saw, though not as great as Troy’s leadership, that Andrew too had the power to command.

Jenny looked back for a moment and met Sarah’s eyes bitterly and Sarah once again felt bad. With one more spiteful look Jenny left in a rush, slamming the door shut behind her.

“Sorry about her” Andrew said and Sarah shook her head.

“It’s ok….it’s not her fault….”

 

The next morning, in the early hours Sarah and Troy arose from there slumbers and met Andrew at the front door. It was only the three of them with the rest of house quite as they spoke in hushed tones.

“Goodwill is expecting you” Andrew said as he handed Troy the keys to the car loaded with supplies. “They’ll be waiting for you at the gates”.  Sarah nodded while taking the back pack from Andrew’s hands. The all of last night Sarah had spent allocating the documents in order and reading her aunts research, trying to remember everything as she filed it away mentally.

“Are the samples in here?” she asked and Andrew nodded. “The teams wrapped it up so it won’t break on the way there even if you drop it”.

Sarah sent him a thankful smile as Troy opened the door.

“Be safe guys” he said as parting as they descended the steps quietly. Sarah turned and waved as both people got into the car, Troy in the driver’s seat and Sarah in the passenger seat. She remained silent as Troy reversed past the vehicle she had come here with, the dents on the sides evident.

“Is it ok if you don’t say goodbye?” she asked after a moment and Troy didn’t even spare her a glance.

“They’ll understand” was all he said. Sarah bit her lip, recalling the sadness in Jenny’s eyes. Would all of them understand? She wondered briefly. Did Troy even know that Jenny liked him? Taking a peek towards him she had to admit that she could see why Jenny was attracted to him. 

He was reliable, good looking and a mystery waiting to be cracked. She knew she shouldn’t fall for him so she changed her thoughts and mulled over everything she planned to do for these five days.

“There’s a sword at the back” Troy said jolting Sarah from her musings and taking a look back she saw a Katana in the back seat. She stretched her body and reached for it curiously. It was a dark purple one and she frowned on how they came on such a beauty.

“Andrew told me too give it too you so you don’t have to use small kitchen knives” he said and Sarah drew the blade and let her reflection shine back at her. The blade was incredibly sharp was what she could tell.

“How did he get it?”

“He said he found it in the basement somewhere. Its best to use a blade than a gun because I’m sure you’ve noticed that there attracted to sound”

“It’s amazing” she mumbled as she sheathed it. “But I think I’ll keep the knives in case of an emergency…”

Troy didn’t say much after that and Sarah was fine with that. Instead she leaned further back in her seat and shut her eyes, letting the sleep succumb to her.

Maybe if she were lucky she would awaken back home in the safety of her bed and laugh this whole thing off. Only if she were lucky….