The Wall (Extended) by S Mckee (best books under 200 pages .TXT) 📕

the vision of us two slipping into the back, set him off on a rant about the importance of punctuality. We could feel the whole class tense up and knew straight away we would get some grief for this little stunt after class. I guess we would just have to make a speedy exit much like we did with Dansi 15 minutes prior. I still don’t understand what happened, I thought or at least I thought I knew that all Zolites were pretty much the Devil incarnate but this one was different, there was a pain in his eyes, a pain I recognised and pain I often felt myself day in day out. The cause?, I was still working on that but I was going to find out. I was adopted so never felt like a part of my family, god knows I love them but ive always felt that something was missing and no matter how hard I tried nothing could fill the void inside me.

‘Hilaria?’

Not again!. This time I was on the immediate firing line of a very angry teacher who had asked me a question about the homework on one of my zone outs, add that to being late and hey presto you’ve got yourself one very pissed off faculty member looking for your head!. Just as im about to answer him giving him an excuse about feminine problems getting in the way of me being able to complete my homework, a high pitched noise starts shrieking, this noise I’ve never heard before but I knew instantly that it was some kind of alarm and I knew something bad was happening. Mr Tonskys face drained of all colour which was odd because it was a very rosey cheeked man, this I when I knew something was really wrong, then he finally spoke after what seemed like ages,

‘Class I would like you to leave your belongings and follow me, NOW!’

We all immediately got up and followed Mr Tonsky who had walked over to his Chemical cabinet and pushed it aside to reveal a door, that no one knew existed, with a large computerised panel. He typed in a series of numbers and the door screeched open, spitting out a large bellow of dust, clearly this room hadn’t been in used in quite possibly decades. We all filed inside the room, which was larger than what I expected, inside of which was lined with chairs along the walls and had a holo screen in the centre of the room. Once the last person was inside Mr Tonsky locked the door and we or should I say the entire class of Chemistry 101 was locked inside. He then cleared his throat, which always meant that he was about to go into one heck of a speech but this time he had the classes full attention.

‘Right guys, this is not a drill and this is something I have been trained for but have never thought I’d have to carry it out, not in my lifetime’

‘Obviously you guys all know about our history and in particular The Awakening, Correct?’

The response from the entire room was that of an uncertain yes.

‘Well this system which you have just witnessed and experienced was put in place 5 years after the wall was built to stop the spread of infection so it could be eradicated within the wall. It proved successful and the disease stopped occurring within the Zolo colony, until now’

You could feel every single member of the class stuck in this tiny chamber take a sharp intake of breath, which made me worry about running out of oxygen, not the fact that the deadly disease that pretty much wiped out humanity had returned and there could be Awakened right outside our door. Mr Tonsky Continued,

‘So guys if you bear with me im just gonna make a quick phone call to the Dean to see what the situation is.’

He walked to the other side of the room and started speaking into his Holophone in a rushed and very hushed voice, occasionally raising his voice. This did not look good but I remained calm, Clara hadn’t said a word since we got into the room and some of the more fragile girls in the room had started to silently sob. I took a moment to look at everyone, they all appeared to be extremely frightened even the guys and the hardcore Jock types, the only person who even looked remotely calm in the room was Mr Tonsky and now he was having a full scale argument with the Dean, his face going extremely red. Clara turned to me tears now filling her eyes,

‘Hil, what if this is it?, what if this is the outbreak that finally wipes us out? And why the hell do you look so calm?’

I was taken aback by how harsh her words were in last question but I guess she was going through an ordeal something I clearly wasn’t getting or understanding. Why was I so calm? , Should I not be an hysterical little bitch like the rest of them?, I was stopped mid though by a sharp pain in my arm as Clara had gave me one hell of a welt.

‘Hilaria what the hell this is not time for one of your zone outs! We might Die!’

‘Don’t be so dramatic Clar, It’s probably just a computer virus or malfunction in the alarm system. How could a disease that has been eradicated for years suddenly come back into a closed off community where no-one gets out or comes in?’

‘ Uh Duhhhh! Its called mutation Hil you should look it up or at least read a friggin history book on the nature of viruses, sometimes I wonder whether you give a shit about anything, your always in your darn head.’

That was pretty harsh for Clara, she was always play fighting with me but she was never genuinely mean and the way her face was turning I knew she had instantly regretted what she had said to me because she knew she had hurt me.

‘Sorry Hil, im just freaking out and all I can think about is my family and if they are in a safe room like us or out in the streets with the Awakened’

‘Clara, we don’t know for sure what’s happening outside so try not to jump to conclusions ok?, it’s probably just a false alarm, maybe it’s only at the university hub and hey look Mr Tonskey is off the phone maybe now he will give us an update?’

I was watching Mr Tonskey now who had beads of sweat on his brow and was deep breathing. He was just staring at the centre of the room for what seemed like an eternity then he snapped out of his day dream and went to the computer screen on the wall and hit a button. A holograph of our President, The president of Zolo rendered in the centre of the room and he started to speak,

‘Dear Citizens of Zolo, now you have probably been made aware of the alarm system and its purpose within the colony. We are still gathering information of the outbreak which occurred today at 10.05am in the Student Quarter of Zolo. Details remain vague as the Zolites are still at the scene trying to control the busy student sector and discover the extent of where the outbreak has spread too, how many are infected and origin of the infection. We will be back online soon to give you an update but until then sit tight and remember Zolo protects you, Always and forever’

The image rendering blinked out and the room which had been in eerie silence broke into hysteria, the outbreak it was so close to us, there could literally be Awakened in our classroom, there could be infected in this room right now who havn’t started to change, I heard that the incubation time is around two hours and we had only started class 40 minutes ago. Clara slumped her head into my shoulder and started to silently sob, I didn’t have a clue what to say to make her feel better or any safer so I just put my arm around her and held her close. I knew one thing about this whole thing being trapped in a room with potentially infected people was not where Clara and I needed to be right now, i guess we would find out whether we were in the midst of infected in just over an hour. I did a once over of the room when we came in and saw several items which would do a a weapon incase some class mates started to develop a taste for the rest of the class. I was ready, Quane had made me ready and I felt better in know that I had the power to protect myself and my friend at any cost. I just realised now why I wasn’t scared earlier and why I’m not scared now, because I know how to defend myself and I’m not a weak person, I can do this’.

..............

An Hour had passed since the President had rendered and gave us his message, and everyone in the room had gotten incredibly restless and most people had started to sweat which made it difficult for me to detect who was getting sick or not. Clara had fallen asleep on my shoulder, I guess the whole ordeal had gotten to her and she just needed to sleep and forget the world around her. Twenty minutes, then I’ll know for sure if we are safe and just as I thought this the holograph in the centre of the room started to render, I thought we would be graced with our lovely president again but this time it was the head of the Zolites, basically the second man with the most power next to the president. He started to speak, ‘Fellow Citizens, I am trying to collect information about the incident of outbreak which occurred earlier in the student hub in order to get this whole mess sorted out so we can go back to our daily lives in peace and prosperity. We have removed the threat of infection out on the streets and it is now the turn of those in the safe zones to be removed from threat. The outbreak occurred in the Barratoca hub area at around 10.05 am which means some citizens who have made it to the safe zones in the university after being in the area of outbreak are possibly infected. We as protectors of our community need information on the whereabouts of these citizens who were in the Barritoca Hub around the time of the incident. You will be immediately quarantined to be checked for infection and if you are not infected you will be released and if you are infected we will do everything in our power to save you, however as time has passed by and the incubation period of this infection is small it could already be too late. Do not hide you identity, do your community the best thing you can and give yourself up before you infect more individuals. Make yourself know to the trained in the room and we will be in touch shortly to get you, Remember Zolo protects you, Always and forever.’

Clara had not woken up whilst Commander Uplink was rendered which I was glad about because to be honest she would be completely hysterical by this point, I off course would make ourselves known because we were there at the time but I didn’t need Clara to know the real goings on, I would just get her to follow me to the quarantine zone and tell her everyone is doing it. I got up and propped her against the wall I was leaning on, Jesus that girl could sleep for Zolo. I got up and headed towards Mr Tonskey who was conversing with 3 other students who looked a little panicked, I