Hey everyone. I'm the writer, and I'm adding this preamble to thank you for reading and to inform you all that I'll be able to keep up writing on a regular basis and will usually have a couple chapters ready as a buffer to post in case I can't write any that particular day.

As such, this is the last chapter of the day as I continue to write. I encourage you to leave comments telling me what you think so far and any suggestions you may have in terms of plot and character development you want to see. If I like the idea, I'll incorporate it into the story.

Once again, thank you so much for reading up to this point (I know the first few chapters were a bit slow in terms of action as I'm trying to develop the character relations more). Now, enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 6: Home

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“Are you getting through?” John asked Sam and David, who were continuously trying the phone lines to try to contact their parents.

“Not yet” Sam replied after not getting any response from the lines.

“Same for me.” David added.

Sam’s parents had taken a month long vacation to Hawaii so so he hadn’t seen them in weeks and there hadn’t been any reports of an outbreak in that area. All the airports had already been shut down the day before the first case in Pakistan due to bad weather conditions so no one was getting in or out when it all started, and they had indefinitely closed the borders once they got word of the virus.

David’s parents, however were still in the States. His father and mother were both researchers. His father went down to Georgia for a meeting at the Center for Disease Control and his mother had been working at the National Institutes of Health working on the same thing. Out of anyone there, David should have been the most informed, but his parents had never told him anything about how serious the virus was. In fact, a few days ago they had called in saying that work was going to keep them so they had to stay. He hadn’t been able to contact them ever since.

“Sophia? What about you?” John asked as he turned his head to look at her through the rear view mirror.

“Don’t have parents.” She simply said.

“Oh.” He didn’t know what to say. Had her parents died? He sensed that it may be a bad topic to talk about so he simply said, “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. Me, too.” She replied.

Not knowing what story lied behind that implication, he simply nodded and continued driving. Since most of their parents were MIA, they had decided to stop by John’s house as that was where his mom would most likely be.

But, he was scared. Scared of what he might find. He had seen what the things could do. They hadn’t felt pain, or anger, and they could break down wooden doors an inch thick. What if they came to their house? What if she accidentally opened the door because of the banging on the door and was---. No. He stopped his train of thought. There’s no use thinking of bad thoughts. Just keep moving forward. One step at a time. He gripped the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles went white.

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“But I don’t want to go to school.” A young John said to his father, biting his lower lip and holding back the tears welling up in his eyes. His father, a younger Eric Rider, got on one knee to look into the boy’s eyes.

“Well, son. Now why is that?” He asked gently. John didn’t reply and simply clenched his little fist into a ball.

“Did the teacher give you a time-out?” He offered. John simply shook his head. The teacher had not given him a time-out.

“Hmm. What is it, bud? Dad will make it all better.” He said, putting his big hands on the boys small shoulders, squeezing slightly to show his support. With the show of affection, John could not hold the tears back anymore and, one by one, the droplets rolled down his cheeks.

“The-the bigger kids are mean to me.” He barely managed to get the sentence out before he really started bawling.

“Oh, my boy… Come here.” His father gave him a tight hug and held him there for a minute until he calmed down. Again holding his son’s shoulders, his father looked him right in the eyes and said, “Do you want to hear a secret.”

The boy sniffing and hiccuping, replied, “what?”

“Well, the truth is, I have a trick that’ll make all the kids want to play with you and at the very least, it’ll help you when you’re feeling lonely.” His father said with a reassuring smile. The father’s smile had always been contagious to the boy as he found himself smiling along with him.

“What is it?”

“Well, I want you to close your eyes.” The boy obeyed his father and shut them tightly.

“Now I want you to think of all the happy things you can think of. Like your family or your birthday, or-”

‘-or ice cream?” The boy added with a smile. Ice cream was his favorite.

The father grinned, “haha--. Yeah. Like ice cream.”

“Now I want you to keep all those memories in your mind and imagine them all scrunched up into a tiny ball.”

The boy imagined this, scrunching his face up as he imaged the memories condensing into a tiny sphere of happiness.

“Now take that ball and imagine it going into right here.” The dad said while putting his finger on the boys heart.

“Once you do that, I want you to count to 3 really slowly while taking deep breaths while keeping that ball in your heart and slowly let it spread out to fill your heart like a glass of water.” The boy followed his father’s directions and imagined it like he said.

“That ball of happiness in your heart will spread as you breathe, filling up your lungs and moving all over your body” His father said the last part while tickling the boy all over, making him giggle wildly.

“And once that happiness is in you, it’ll make you stronger. Stronger than you’ve ever been before. You can do anything and be anything but you need to give the happiness a helping hand. Take the first step, John. And then the next, and the next, and you keep going until before you know it, you’re running like no tomorrow.”

As his father was saying this, the boy imagined the ball of happiness diffuse as threads of light, moving throughout his body and empowering him. He dreamed of running through green pastures as fast as the wind, leaving behind a swirl of light and music. He smiled at this image and the father seeing his son happy again, smiled as well.

“Now open your eyes, John.” When John opened his eyes, he saw his father looking into his.

“That’s all it is, son. Carry the light in you and keep moving forward.”

The boy nodded. His father always knew how to make him feel better.

“Alright, bud. Time for school.” His father said while standing up and patting John’s back.

John picked up his bag and ran to the bus stop.

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“One...two....three…” John whispered while taking deep breathes and his tense shoulders and hands relaxed.

They rolled up to their house. The street was empty and even some doors were left hanging open. There were no sign of infected, but the silence seemed more terrifying than any man eating lunatic.

John and Jacob got out of the car and made their way to their house. The door was locked, which was a good sign. John told Jacob to stay by the car while he took out his key and slowly opened the door. He took out his gun, which made Jacob’s eyes go wide.

“Is that real?” Jacob asked. He had been informed partially about the situation but the teens, in good judgement, decided to leave out most of the blood and gore. This was the first time Jacob had seen a real weapon and for a second, he thought it may have been a toy.

“Yeah. Now stay back.” John said as he went into the house. The floorboards creaked softly as his foot landed on the ground.

He cautiously yelled out, “is anybody home? Mom? Dad?” No response.

He made his way inside and went to the kitchen. On the table was a note.

Dear John and Jacob,

If you’re reading this, that means you just missed me. The soldiers came and told us that we were getting evacuated to a safe area outside of the city. They’re going to quarantine the entire city and are evacuating people like us who live in the outskirts. They said that the children were being evacuated separately but I just can’t think of the possibility that they might not have gotten to you in time. Oh my baby boys, if you were evacuated, that’s great and this letter will be left unread, but if you weren’t and you made your way back here...Get out of the city. Your father said he had to get supplies from the market but he hasn’t come back yet. I’m afraid for his and your safety. Please, if you’re reading this, go to the west of the city outside the quarantine zone and find the army camp. Make your way to me and stay safe.

Love,

Mom

John folded the note and was about to put it in his pocket when he saw Jacob coming into the house.

“I told you to stay outside.” John said, somewhat annoyed.

“It seemed like no one was home anyways.”

Sighing, John gave up and just handed over the note, while moving to the supply closet. He got out a car gas siphon pump and went outside, throwing it at David along with a set of keys.

David caught it and looked at John.

“The keys are for the Escalade parked out front. Siphon as much gas as you can from the other cars and fill it up. I’ll get something to store whatever extra we can.” John explained.

“Good thinking.” David moved off to do just that.

“Damn. Your parents got you a freaking Escalade? Spoiled brat.” Sam said enviously as he checked out the black SUV. He seemed to be feeling better now that they were away from all the violence.

John just shrugged. “Sam, Sophia, help me pack some stuff for the road.”

The two got inside and started packing up whatever they found useful. Clothes for all seasons, soap, toiletries, towels, a radio, and even a few pillows. John took a few water containers and filled them up to the brim with water and moved them into the trunk of the Escalade.

He then helped carry the supplies, blankets, and food. Jacob picked out clothes for them and stuffed them into two briefcases while Sophia organized and raided the pantry, taking all the canned goods and non-perishables.

John went down to his father’s office and moved to his desk, opening the bottom drawer to reveal a thick envelope filled with hundreds of dollars. He took it and went outside.

The others had finished packing everything. They had even taken the knives to upgrade from their set of laboratory use scalpels. David had finished loading the SUV with a few jugs of gasoline siphoned from cars in the parking lot and loaded them in as well.

Remembering something, John ran back inside and into his room. He opened his closet and went through his considerably emptier wardrobe and picked up an old case in the back. He blew the dust off and opened it, revealing a katana.

During one of his father’s business trips to Japan, he had bought a katana from a famous sword maker as a souvenir for his son’s 18th birthday. The blade was black and slightly curved, a wavy line passed through the middle, signifying the tempered steel of the sharpened blade. The handle was jade and black. The hilt was an ornate gold design of a coiling dragon while the sheath was made of jade embroidered with a gold dragon wrapped along its length.

He gingerly picked it up and put it into its sheath. He attached the band onto the sheath so that he could sling it over his back. He quickly changed into a clean black button-down shirt and put on black leather gloves and went downstairs. He changed shoes to black boots and walked back out. The others had changed their clothes as well.

Sophia had decided to go with black boots and leggings and a hooded brown shawl.

David wore simple jeans, boots, and a thin black hoodie.

Sam wore the same blue button down and added a beige, form fitting overcoat.

Jacob wore cargo pants and his aviator jacket.

Looking at them all, John couldn’t help but chuckle.

“I didn’t know we were having a costume party.” John said as he eyed the attire of his friends. His gaze rested a moment longer on the tall, lean figure of Sophia.

“Might as well dress the part. You don’t look too bad yourself.” Sophia said, finishing the last knots while tying her shoelaces. She eyed the katana on his back.

"Cool sword."

A whistle could be heard from the back as David noticed it as well.

"My father gave it to me. Might come in handy."

John shrugged and walked up to them and looked them up and down one more time before shaking his head and getting into the driver’s seat.

“I’m definitely getting myself one of those when I have the chance.” David said, vowing to get his hands on a katana of his own.

“Let’s go.” John said while starting up the car.

“Where to?” Sophia asked.

“My mom left a note. Said there’s an army base of sorts out in the west outskirts of town. If we circle around through the back roads, we should be able to avoid the blockades and get out of the quarantine. We’ll make our way there and see what happens once we get there.”

The others nodded.

“Sounds like a plan.” Sophia shrugged and got in next to John. Sam, David, and Jacob got in the back.

Once they all got in, John set the car to drive and rolled out of their driveway and away from the home he once knew. Looking through the mirror, he gave it one last look and then cast his gaze forward, not looking back again.

That would be the last time he would see his home.