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

‘Hey Hilaria, tough day isn’t it? What can I do for you?’

‘Sorry My Tonskey I just wanted to let you know that I was at the Hub earlier with Clara hence why we were late’

‘Sorry to hear that Hilaria but if it makes you feel any better ive read all about the incubation of Yimsunye and symptoms usually show up after an hour or so which is extreme Fatigue and bloodshot eyes. By looking at you I see you have neither so I doubt you have anything to worry about’

He said this with a smile which did make me feel at ease until his face suddenly dropped and became devoid of all colour. I then heard a scream coming from behind me, one of the girls from my class I think, I swirled round to see Clara standing up, well it looked like Clara but her face was all twisted into a snarl and she was moaning at our other classmates. I froze, she was fine, she wasn’t infected wasn’t sick, her eyes were bloodshot because she was crying and I figured she was just sleeping because she had been out last night. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak, I could do anything but watch what was happening in horror.

Clara had launched herself at a boy Called Eric from our class who was nice enough, maybe a bit quite but was now on the receiving end of an Awakened, my Clara. Eric released a bloodcurdling scream as she sank her teeth into him, i awoke from my bystander behaviour and jumped into the situation and pulled Clara or what was left of here off of Eric. She turned around snarling at me, everyone had gone to the opposite end of the room whilst I handled Clara, Eric was bleeding out on the floor, he was helpless now and soon enough we would be trapped in this room with two Awakened. I could hear Mr Tonskey shouting into the computer screen but I couldn’t make out what he was saying as I was busy with the Clara situation and I hadn’t even had time to process the fact that my friend was gone. Clara staggered towards me trying to grab for me but I dodged her, I couldn’t keep doing this I had to do something about her before Eric Awoke or else I would have a more difficult job of dodging two. I needed a weapon was what I needed and nothing could do I needed to focus on the threat at hand. Mr Tonskey shouted something at me which was inaudible over all the screaming but it distracted me for a split second which is all it took for Clara to sink her teeth into my arm. I pulled her off me but it was too late, the damage had been done I was officially infected however; I still had enough time to save the others in the room.

Suddenly the door opened and several highly armed Zolites entered the room, Dansi was among them. They started to shout at us all to get down so we all dropped to the floor as they put Clara down, followed by Eric who was starting to Awaken. The threat was eradicated or so they had thought until they seen my bleeding arm. They shouted several questions at me,

‘ARE YOU BITTEN?!!!!’

‘WHEN WERE YOU BITTEN?!!!!!’

I wasn’t able to answer the question as my vision had started to haze and blur, I knew I was falling unconscious and for the first time all morning I felt scared because I knew this time I wasn’t going to be able to control anything, I was infected and nothing would change that.........

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

Chapter 2 – The White Room

I was in the nightmare, the nightmare I had been having for months. I was standing barefoot on a derelict path, well what used to be a road I could see that much. The tarmac was so worn and cracked from going through the seasons constantly with no repair. My feet were bleeding from walking along the jagged road or running on it, I’m not sure which. The air was crisp and cool, there was no pollution here unlike what I experience within the city with the many citizens that inhabit Zolo. Its peaceful out here, I know it’s out here because this could not be a place that belongs to the city, it is too quite there is no noise, only silence and the birds singing there cheerful morning song, not hundreds of bustling bodies trying to get to their destination in the tiny cramped colony. The peaceful feeling doesn’t last as I start running, I don’t know where I’m running too or what im running from but I know I have to run as fast as I can as far as I can. I run and my feet bleed constantly, why am I not wearing any shoes?, I notice now that these aren’t my legs, well they are but they aren’t my legs now they were my legs back then. In this nightmare I’m much younger possibly too young to be alone, why am I alone?, Then the sound comes, I hear the screeching and moaning of what sounds like thousands of the Awakened all coming at once. I realise this Is why I have to run, I’m running from them, all of them coming at me, running at me, screaming for me. The road goes on forever how will I ever get away from them, my feet are throbbing, I’ve been running for hours or maybe its perhaps only minutes, the sound is growing closer and closer. I’m taking less care of the road now because I so desperately need to get away from them, they are getting closer, so close, too close. I trip of one of the road cracks and everything goes black and I wake up.

I adjust my eyes because the white glare that surrounds me is over powering, the fluorescent lights are blinding and the smell around me is clinical. As I start to gather my bearings I realise very quickly that I’m shackled to a hospital bed, in a hospital gown, in a white room. I try to shout but my voice is hoarse, have I been screaming? I am unsure. I can’t remember why I am here, what happened before, I remember being taken into the shelter by Mr Tonksey and I remember the President and Commanders messages in the holograph but after that it’s just black with only the nightmare filling the void. Where am i? and what am I doing here?, I don’t know but I’ll find out.

‘Hello?, is anybody out there?, what’s happening to me?!!’ I say hoarsely.

What I get back is only silence, eerie silence which only makes me feel more uncomfortable and trapped. I don’t understand why no one will answer me, I have done nothing wrong, I thought Zolo was here to protect us not keep us prisoner without a single word or reason why. Just then an automated voice comes on over the intercom positioned in the corner of the ceiling.

‘Subject 22 requires assistance as she is now fully awake and responsive, Thank you and have a good day’

Thank you and have a good day, really?, what was I meant to do with that clearly something really wrong is happening I shouldn’t be here, I’m just a college girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, I can’t be interrogated again, I just cant. Tears start to fill my eyes, I am trying to be strong but I have no idea what’s going on or where Clara is because we were in the safe room together and now I’m alone. The door to the room slowly opens and in walks a Zolite who still has there shades and hood on, I’m unsure as to whether it’s man or a woman but from its build I would defiantly be falling on the male side of the coin. He takes of his sunglasses and hood and is revealed to be Dansi, the man I met earlier at the Barrotaco Kiosk. He speaks,

‘Hello Hilaria, my name is Dansi and I will be debriefing you today’

‘Well isn’t that nice I always love a good debriefing’, I say sarcastically, ‘What the hell is going on here? Why am I here?! And why am I chained to a bed?’

He replied rather sceptically,’ What do you mean why are you here? Do you not remember what actually happened Hilaria?’

‘I.....I....remember the commanders speech but then everything is fuzzy or just completely gone, Do you know where my friend Clara is?’

He looks shocked with my response and a wave of pain shifts across his face but it disappears as soon as it comes. ‘Hilaria I’m sorry to have to tell you this but Clara is dead, she got infected and Awakened. You saved your classmates by keeping her at bay until our units arrived but we had to put her down and another classmate Eric, it was too late for them Hilaria once the infection takes hold there is no way of saving the person they once were’. He said this with a great deal of pain on his face which made me think maybe he’s lost someone too. Clara is gone. How did all this happen in front of me and I can’t remember, why couldn’t I save her, did I even know she was infected?. The pain of loss has not come but I know it will, it will hit me like the wild sea crashing against a rock, all of a sudden at full force. I have to be prepared for this, I can’t break down. I need to find out how I lost my best friend, how is it possible that the virus got past our greatest defence, our wall and why was it in the student quarter.

‘Hilaria, one other thing that you must know’, he said again with much scepticism in his voice.

‘yeah?’, I answered not really paying much attention to what was going on as I just got some of the worst news of my life and was still processing it all.

‘You were bite by Clara when she Awoke’, he said rather matter-of-factly.

My mouth dropped open in utter shock. How could I have been bitten I feel fine, actually I feel better than fine, it’s almost as if I have more energy than I’ve had in years. Maybe this is how the bite works, it gives you a false sense of security in that you think you’ve missed the infection, that your different somehow but really you’re going to be dead in an hour, oh wait sorry, Awoken. You may as well be dead, you can’t communicate with anyone all your other drives take over, you can’t feel real emotions only anger and hunger, maybe that’s exactly where I’m headed. I answer Dansi back because hes waiting for some kind of response from