Alone

It all started with the Senior Survival Week, the most anticipated event of the year at Seamane High. All the Seniors take a mandatory survival course in the woods the week after finals as a way to wind down and spend one last week with each other before they move on to college or unpaid internships or redo the school year because they failed to pass their exams. Finals were stressful, but for someone not built for the outdoors (like myself) Senior Survival Week was even worse. Bugs and dirt? Not exactly my thing.

We arrived at the camp site where we would be staying for the next week around 12PM. Our gym coach told us to split up into groups of four―two guys and two girls―and said that these were our groups for the next few days and that all camp activities would be done in these groups. We would also share a tent with these people for the next week. Unfortunately, my closest acquaintances―I was too shy to make any real friends―were already paired up with their friends, I got stuck with a girl from my physics class and two guys from the lacrosse team (Seamane deemed itself too unique to have a football team like every other normal high school). Once everyone had a group, Coach showed us how to set up our tents step by step.

Once all the tents were set up, we were told to unpack and settle in. For most people this meant dumping their bags in their tents and then hanging out in groups near the edge of our massive camp site or going for a swim in the nearby lake. I, however, took out my sleeping bag, pillow and book and got comfortable. I love to read. I got through a book almost every week. Don't worry, I'm not one of those nerds that loves to read the old classics and drones on and on about how Pride and Prejudice was a revolutionary feminist novel. I prefer Dystopian books that were written in the last couple decades, thank you very much.

Five hours later we were called to the fireplace in the center of our camp for an announcement. Apparently there would be a campfire sing-along that night after dinner as the first activity of the week. Great. Just great. Bugs, dirt AND singing?!? These people clearly had it out to get me. The teachers told us that we had another hour before dinner so we shouldn't wander off too far. Some people groaned at the news that they couldn't go back to swimming at the lake. I quietly returned to my tent and crawled back into my corner. "Just 5 more days." I muttered to myself, "Five more days and then it's over."

How very mistaken I was.

At the sing-along, the music teacher lead everyone through a series of very old campfire songs. I sat at the back of the group, waiting for the perfect opportunity to slip back to my tent. Unfortunately the physics teacher―Mr. Mitchell―was standing right behind me, blocking my exit. So I was stuck there for a while. Thankfully, a fight broke out between two boys a little to my right and Mr. Mitchell rushed to separate them. I took my chance, ducking between giggling girls and dodging the singing, tone deaf boys. I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally reached my tent. My heart missed a beat when I realized that I wasn't alone. Lacey―the girl from my physics class―was painting her nails in her corner of the tent. I didn't see her at dinner but didn't think much of it since she could have just been sitting with her friends at another table. Apparently she wasn't at dinner at all and was instead unpacking her stuff and settling in. She had changed from her skinny jeans and tube top into oversized sweatpants and a loose t-shirt and had evidently decided that it was time to touch up on her polish. I smiled at her politely and sat in my corner of the tent. She smiled back but thankfully didn't try to start a conversation.

We sat like that for a while. Lacey painting her nails and me just quietly reading my book.

I'm not sure how much time passed, but somewhere around 10PM I heard screams coming from outside. Lacey jumped up, alarmed and scrambled out the tent to go see what all the noise was about. It was probably just the fight between those two idiots from earlier that had escalated into a full on beat down. Not keen on seeing any blood, I stayed inside and tried to drown out the noise, waiting for it to stop. That's when I heard them. The Infected. At least, that's what I call them now. In that moment I just thought they were some tribe that lived in the forest, performing a weird welcoming ritual of some kind. I heard their heavy breathing and the dragging of their feet. It freaked me out a little, not knowing exactly what was out there, so I carefully crawled out of my tent. I will never forget what I saw.

Twenty something humanoid creatures around ten feet tall with violet skin and starry voids where their faces should be walked around the campsite, spitting at everybody they passed. The people who were unfortunate enough to get hit by the spit, instantly dropped to the floor and writhed in pain, their eyes turning white and their legs and torso stretching until they were one of the Infected. Everybody else was running around the campsite searching for anything that could protect them from the monsters. They didn't have much luck. I felt two abnormally large hands wrap around me from behind and I glanced down at them. The freshly manicured hands picked me up and twisted me around and I stared at the thing in front of me. A void with two shiny, white spaces where eyes should be stared back at me. Lacey.

I screamed. I screamed so loud that the ugly thing―Lacey―startled and dropped me! The ground rushed up to meet me and before I could do anything to brace myself, I crashed to the ground. I remember hitting my head on hard rock before the screams of the other kids and teachers around me went fuzzy and the world went black.

When I woke up there was no-one left. I think I was asleep for a day or so but I'm not really sure. What did I know? I knew I definitely had a concussion and I knew I had to get back to the city to find help. I got to work collecting First-Aid supplies, a map, my book and food and water. I packed everything into a bag originally meant for hiking, and took off in the direction of the city. The following few days were grueling. I had to ration my food and water and had to survive all on my own in the woods. It gave Senior Survival Week a whole new meaning.

The trip back to the city took me three days. The first day went pretty smoothly. There was no sign of the Infected and I was confident that if I just made it to the city, I would be able to find help. The most dangerous thing I saw that day was a spider, and I'm not even sure it was poisonous!

The second day was slightly different. I was walking down a trail in the woods―still heading towards the city―when I heard a shuffling of feet that I recognized. I froze in horror as I realized that somewhere behind me, in the thick of the trees, at least two Infected were following me. Why? I had no idea. Maybe they wanted to Infect me as well? I had to come up with a plan. Unfortunately, my brain was still mush from my concussion so the best I could come up with was to fight them off. Idiotic, I know. But at the time it seemed like the best option. I grabbed a stick that I thought would do a decent amount of damage and crouched behind a bush and waited.

In no time, two male Infected shuffled out of the trees, sniffing the air. I waited until they passed me before swinging my stick in an upwards motion. I hoped beyond hope that that area was still sensitive in their state. Thank goodness it was. The one I hit was rendered incapacitated as the other whirled on me. I hit him in the crotch as well. They both squirmed on the floor and I laughed. The situation was way too ridiculous not to laugh. I stood over them and gave them both a hard hit on the side of their (what you would normally call a) head. I giggled to myself as I stepped over their unmoving bodies and continued on my way.

The third day was when I finally reached the city. My supplies were running low, I had barely slept in the past two days and I had finished reading my book the previous night so I was in a bit of a slump. From afar, the city appeared busy. I could see smoke rising from chimneys and could hear the constant honking of car horns. I reached the edge of the city and headed in the direction of my neighborhood. I hoped to find my parents and maybe together we could find a government official that would tell us what we needed to do to stay safe during this 'epidemic' (for lack of a better word). I remember feeling....unsettled as I walked through the streets towards my house. Something wasn't right. I looked around and took in my surroundings. My heart rate sped up. The smoke I had seen from afar wasn't coming from the chimneys. Some of the houses had been burned down very recently and were still smoking! And what I had thought were car horns, were actually car alarms!

The city was in ruins. How on earth had I not noticed before? I started running. Running away from the destruction. Running towards my house. How I hoped it was still intact. How I hoped my parents were waiting to greet me at the door, as they did every day when I came home from school. I turned the corner onto my old street and broke down at what I saw. My house was one of the many houses that had been completely destroyed. Where were my parents? When I stopped to think about it I realized that I hadn't seen a normal, living person since the campfire disaster two days ago. The city was deserted. My parents were missing. Hell, the whole freaking city was missing. My last hope for protection against the Infected was gone. There was no-one left.

I was alone. All alone.