Sorry for late update... I've been distracted speaking to my editor about the direction I wanted the story to go in We have decided on a plot we both agree on so I can begin writing it soon. Apologies if recent chapters haven't moved so fast. Expect great movement in the next chapters please keep bumping. Thank you. Jazmin opened her eyes and looked up at the ceiling in confusion. Unfamiliar ceiling tiles stared back down at her. With a start, she realized she wasn't in her bed. It was dark outside now, and Jazmin struggled to her feet. Then it all came back to her and she began shaking. “Josh,” she whispered, her accent prevalent. “Josh!” The room was empty. Jazmin pushed her hair out of her eyes as she hurriedly groped around in the dark for her skirt. Her fingers found it at last and she pulled it on, zipping it up. She buttoned the front of her shirt and couldn't help but blush at the thought that she had actually passed out. “Really woman,” Jazmin chided herself. “The whole world is going mad and you can't keep your hands to yourself. Maybe I'm mad too.” It had been a secret affair between the P.E. teacher and herself for a few months now. Although Mr Szajowski was married, it was far from a happy one. Besides the fervent glances as they passed by in the teacher's lounge, Jazmin couldn't deny that it was instant physical attraction. For both of them. Yet now Jazmin found herself standing in the dark office by herself, wondering where he had gone off to. The hallway outside of the door was empty. Jazmin slipped her shoes back on, wincing as she was reminded of her sprained ankle. Her fingers rested on the doorknob and that was when she noticed the lock was open. Josh had obviously gone outside of the room, but where he was now, she had no idea. Opening the door, she peered out, the artificial lights buzzing loudly in her ears. Closing the door again, she locked it this time. She hobbled back to the window and looked outside. The room she was in faced the back of the school and from what she could see, no one was out there either. Her stomach growled and she realized that she had skipped lunch entirely due to her dedication to dancing. A knock on the door made her jump and she turned to see Josh on the other side. She moved to the door to let him in. She was surprised to see him carrying two sodas and some packaged snacks. He slid inside and she locked the door behind him. “Raided the teacher's lounge,” he said with a smirk. He shook his hair from those deep blue eyes as he opened the sodas and handed one to her. “We should have both gone,” Jazmin said, upset. Josh looked up from a swig of his drink and his expression softened. “I'm sorry if I worried you,” he said, leaning forward to capture her lips in a kiss. Jazmin was reluctant but at last melted into it. Despite her attempt to be angry, he always seemed to know just what to do to make her forget why she was mad in the first place. She sipped the soft drink and shuddered. She hated carbonated drinks like this, but it was better than nothing. She hadn't realized until the liquid touched her lips, just how dehydrated she was. Josh watched in amazement as Jazmin downed the entire thing. “Thirsty?” he joked. A scream from outside made them both bolt to their feet. Rushing to the door they looked out the window and saw a horde run by. Agonized screams came from further down the hall, but neither teacher could see what exactly was going on. Jazmin brought her hand to her mouth and felt her body beginning to shake. “I can't take this Josh,” she cried, her voice wavering. Josh wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into his chest. He couldn't think straight so all he could do was rub her back and murmur soft words into her ear. Jazmin at last began to quiet her hiccuping sobs, yet he still held her close, needing the human contact. A loud gunshot pierced the air and both of them jumped. “Was that...?” “My gun!” Josh exclaimed, releasing Jazmin as he rushed to the door. “The girls...” Jazmin felt her entire body drained white. “No...” --- James rushed down the maze of stark white hallways of the clinic towards the back rooms. Most patients in here were in critical condition. His body felt numb, as if someone else was controlling him. He was sure if adrenaline hadn't been running through his body he would have collapsed into a pile of bones on the ground. “She woke up asking for you specifically,” the nurse was saying, “Just please be prepared at her appearance, whoever attacked her did a number on her.” The nurse jerked the long white curtain aside, the tremendous noise of the hooks it hung on rattled James' senses. Lying in a small bed was the woman, looking somehow frailer than she had before. Her left eye had been covered by bandages that were spotted faintly with blood. She was clothed in the generic hospital gown. Her one remaining eye flicked over to her intruders and seemed to harden at the sight of James. “She's in recovery from surgery, so she will still be experiencing the effects of sedation,” the nurse warned. “She was very lucky our surgeon was present here, otherwise I couldn't say for sure she'd even be stabilized at this point.” The nurse looked at her watch and made a disapproving noise, rushing from the room. James stood uncomfortably in the middle of the small room. The woman moved her hands lethargically from underneath the blanket to rest on her lap. The bed had been ratcheted up so she was lying up at a 135 degree angle. Her eye never left James. “They took my eye,” the woman said at last, her words a bit slurred. “I woke up briefly when they were taking me in. The man said it was too damaged to save.” “I'm sorry...” James started to say, but the woman interrupted him. Her eye bore a hole into James', as she spoke up a bit stronger this time. “I'm grateful you saved me from there. I feel no pain right now.” James sighed a bit, and pulled over a chair, sitting down in it. “Ma'am, I hate to ask because I know you've been through a lot, but please can you tell me what happened before I got there?” The woman shook her head slowly. “I would really like to help you...” she said slowly, her lips seeming to stumble out the words as if they were a foreign language. She sat up a bit and pulled her black hair over her shoulder. “They said I got a concussion from being thrown up against a wall, and I can't remember a thing now.” James cursed softly. His mind kept flickering back to the scene in the basement of the house. He shuddered as he remembered the bathroom covered in blood and the lifeless body of a man stuffed up like a forgotten doll behind the toilet. Those people, who were they? “It's okay,” James said, standing up and pacing. He was unable to stay still. He felt the woman's gaze following him as he looped back and forth the length of the bed. “There's something else though,” the woman said softly, her voice barely audible over the ambient humming of the equipment in the room. James looked over at the woman. She was silent for so long, James started to think he had imagined her talking. Finally she lifted a hand and motioned for James to approach her. She continued to motion for him to lean in, until he realized that he was straddling the side of the bed and his torso was hanging over hers. He made as if to back up but her hands moved quick as a flash and pulled his head closer. Their lips were almost touching now, and James' eyes widened. He could feel her breath mixing with his own and his hands came up to grab onto her wrists, in an attempt to remove her hold. But that's when he saw it. Her right eye was wide open, and although at one time it had been a beautiful amber color, he now saw that a dark red was bleeding in from the sclera to the iris. The woman smiled, and James renewed his attempts to pull free. The woman's arms despite looking as frail as toothpicks, held him in an immovable grip. Then she released him suddenly, sending James backpedaling to keep his balance. He steadied himself on the back of the chair he had been sitting in just a few moments before. “Trauma?” James murmured aloud, more to himself than to anyone in particular. “I didn't even know it had happened until the surgeon mentioned it,” the woman said. “But for whatever reason, it's still happening. It wasn't this bad before.” “Does... does it hurt?” James asked quietly. “No, nothing hurts,” the woman said slowly, looking groggy once again. “But that's not the only thing that's changed...” she trailed off and James saw that her eye was closed. Within mere moments he heard her breathing even out and knew that she had fallen asleep. James straightened and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him as quietly as he could. He was heading back to the waiting rooms when he heard the droning of emergency broadcast system. Curiosity peaked, he moved towards the noise, ending up at the staff break room. The television was propped up on the far wall and huddled around it were a good number of doctors and nurses. The emergency broadcast signal ended and a recorded video popped on the screen. A man standing in a giant room came on the screen, flanked by large military presence. The man was in a uncomfortable looking suit and wore an extremely stern expression. “Due to the arising situation that is facing our nation, the President of the United States has declared a state of public emergency. At this time, it had been decided, we are under proclamation of martial law.”
Friend/editor because I say things stupidly so he works it out so it makes more sense .... will update more later. would you rather more frequent updates that are shorter or does everyone like the longer updates every once in a while??