Apokalypsis Book One

by Kate Morris

  She pulled her phone from her cardigan and did as he said.

  “Hold him, Aaron!” Roman yelled at his friend who pinned Caleb.

  Roman ripped off his own belt and tied Caleb’s wrists tightly. Then he took the boy’s belt and did the same to his ankles.

  “Stay back!” he told the crowd.

  She, however, moved closer to Roman after she explained to the dispatcher what was going on. That’s when she saw what had really happened. Three people were on the ground bleeding; two looked dead. Jane rushed over to a girl who was clearly badly injured and dropped to her knees. She pulled off Roman’s jacket and covered her with it. The girl’s name was Amy, and Jane had a math class with her last year. She wasn’t ever very friendly to her, but Jane knew she had to help this girl. She used her cardigan to press against the multiple stab wounds in her abdomen. She didn’t know what else to do. She’d never even taken a CPR class.

  Ten feet away, Roman and Aaron were struggling with Caleb, who was much smaller than either of them. Somehow, he managed to get his one arm free, and they were back to grappling with him. He kicked and kicked until he had his feet free, as well. He scurried away on his hands and knees and jumped to his feet again.

  “Caleb, dammit, calm down!” Roman shouted at him.

  He didn’t, though. Caleb gave out a primal scream and ran straight toward Jane kneeling beside the wounded girl. She shot to her feet and backed away. She bumped into a car behind her and braced for Caleb’s impact. However, it didn’t come. Roman lunged and grabbed Caleb’s jacket collar, throwing him to the ground again. He merely rolled, sprang to his feet ten feet away and attacked a boy standing near them watching it all play out. The kid screamed. Roman and Aaron rushed over as she watched Caleb raise his arm high over his head with some heavy object and come down on the boy. The next swing flung blood across the gravel. Roman tackled him to the ground again. Then he punched Caleb. His punch was so ineffectual it was as if Roman were a three-year-old girl. Caleb growled and shoved him off. He scurried away, pulled something out of a debris pile of scrap metal and car parts discarded by people who didn’t want to dispose of them properly and dumped them here instead. Then he ran at Aaron and swung something new. It hit Aaron square to the side of his head, and he went down hard. He dropped on top of him and hit Aaron again with the pipe in the face. Then he raised it above his head and turned it to face straight down as if he were going to stab Aaron through his chest with it. Then Roman hit him again with another football style tackle. This time, though, he rolled onto his back and held onto Caleb. He got him in a chokehold. Caleb thrashed and groaned and tried to scream. He even tried to bite Roman’s hand. With enough wriggling, he managed to get free again.

  He took off again running toward a girl in a pretty, soft pink mini-dress. She screamed and cowered right as Brian used a rock or something and clubbed Caleb to the back of the head with it. He went down hard. He didn’t get up.

  Roman immediately got to his feet ran over to her.

  “Are you okay, Jane?” he panted.

  “Are you?” she asked and nodded at the same time.

  He nodded, too, and pulled her against him by wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

  “Is he…” she asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

  “I don’t know,” he said and jogged quickly away again.

  She knelt again and kept pressing her cardigan against Amy’s wounds while pulling Roman’s jacket higher to keep her warm. In the distance, she could see Roman and Brian kneeling at Caleb’s body. Others were checking on the boy he’d just attacked and Aaron, who’d both been hit with the metal pipe. Roman came back to her a few seconds later.

  “He’s dead,” he explained.

  Jane’s hands were already shaking as she applied pressure to Amy’s abdomen. Now her whole body was. They killed him.

  “I thought I could make him pass out by choking him out, but he got free,” Roman explained as he knelt beside her.

  She nodded, understanding that he and Brian hadn’t wanted to kill Caleb. She watched as Brian and Dez approached. His eyes were filled with tears. He just kept saying, “I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to.”

  Roman took a cotton handkerchief from his pocket and tied it around a particularly deep cut on Amy’s arm. He seemed to know a little better how to deal with her wounds. He was also calmer, considering what he’d just been through with Caleb.

  Within minutes, sirens in the distance could be heard. It made her feel a little better having adults on the scene. Within an hour, the police and ambulance crew dealt with the situation as if they knew how and had already done so a million times. It was odd how casual they seemed about it. A sheet was immediately placed over Caleb’s dead body, and he was quickly loaded onto a stretcher. As they wheeled him away on the stretcher, Jane caught sight of his open, bloodshot eyes in a flashlight’s beam where the sheet had slipped just slightly. There had been such loathing and violent intent in his red eyes only minutes ago. He was whisked away in the first of four ambulances that showed up. Sheets were placed over the two dead students and the two more they found in the parking lot that he must’ve killed before anyone even realized what was happening. Caleb killed four students, and Amy was in bad shape. She wasn’t sure how the boy was doing, but Aaron was finally awake. He was also being transported to the hospital. Caleb wasn’t like this. He was in the Science Club and loved comic books and science fiction movies. He was a quiet, skinny, and somewhat shy boy.

  Her phone rang. It was Nana Peaches who had heard about the incident from her friend Dot who owned a police scanner that belonged to her late husband. She reassured her grandmother that everything was okay and that she would be home as soon as possible. Many of the parents were starting to show up. Her grandmother told her she’d come and get her, but Jane assured her that Roman was with her and so were Destiny and Brian. She noticed that Roman didn’t even call his parents.

  He did, however, come over and wrap a blanket around her shoulders he must’ve taken from one of the ambulances while she was talking to her grandmother.

  “Are you doing okay?” he asked.

  She nodded and leaned into him for support. It made her feel weak and pathetic, but Jane didn’t care. He wrapped a strong, reassuring arm around her shoulders. Then she noticed his bloodied knuckles.

  “Hey,” she exclaimed quietly, “your knuckles.”

  “I’m fine,” he dismissed. “Not my first scrape.”

  He also had a few fine cuts on his face and an abrasion on the crest of his right cheekbone. It didn’t seem fine to her. It all looked painful.

  The police came over to them and took very brief statements, which they gladly gave. They made sure to explain that Brian was only acting in self-defense, too. They didn’t seem surprised. When they walked away to get statements from other witnesses, Roman led her from the crowd toward the bonfire, which was still going strong.

  “Did you notice something odd about the cops and ambulance people?” Roman asked.

  She had but wanted to know what he meant before answering, “Like what?”

  “Jane, this is a pretty damn big deal. We just killed our classmate. We had to. Someone had to. He killed four, maybe five students. The press should be here. Brian and I should be in cuffs until this is straightened out. The chief of police should be out here. Helicopters should be flying over. Hell, the FBI or someone significant should be here. This is huge.”

  “Yeah,” she nodded vigorously and bit her lower lip with nerves. “It’s strange. I was thinking the same thing. Do your folks know yet?”

  He shook his head. “No, I’ll tell them in the morning. They’re probably in bed.”

  “I just want to get outta’ here.”

  “Let’s find Brian and Dez,” he said and led her toward the crowd of teenagers. “They said we could go.”

  Destiny was sitting with Brian on the tailgate of someone’s truck. He looked shook up still. Jane didn’t blame him. A woman wa
s standing next to them, and Destiny introduced her as Brian’s mother. She was distraught, too. Jane didn’t blame her, either. Her son just killed someone.

  “The police said the death was justified, self-defense and they won’t be bringing charges against Brian,” Dez explained. Her makeup was smeared from crying.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Roman suggested.

  “I’m gonna go home with Brian’s parents. His dad’s still talking to the sheriff.”

  Jane nodded, and she and Roman went to his vehicle and left. “My grandmother wants to know exactly what happened. I don’t even know if I can explain it.”

  “Do you want me to go in with you when we get there and talk to her, too?” he volunteered kindly.

  “Do you want to?”

  He looked over at her as they sat at a red light, “I want to be there for you.”

  She nodded and wished she had some of the steel he had in his nerves. Her hands were shaking, even the one that he held again in his between them on the console. They both had blood on their hands despite trying to rinse them off with bottles of water afterward.

  “Do you mind if we stop at my house so I can change first? I’ve got…blood and stuff all over my clothing.”

  “Sure. Absolutely.”

  He cranked the heat and drove them back to his house. She waited in the car as he instructed, and Roman came out a few minutes later in a black sweater and jeans. Then he drove them to her grandmother’s house. The second she was in the door, Nana Peaches rushed to her.

  “Jane!” she exclaimed, holding a hand over her heart. “Are you alright?”

  “Yes, yes, I’m fine. I wasn’t harmed,” she told her grandmother who was touching her arms and face as if to ascertain for broken bones. “Roman was in the thick of it, though.”

  “Oh, you were, son? Let me see,” she demanded in her usual tone.

  “No, ma’am,” he deflected. “I’m fine.”

  “Sit,” she said, pointing to a kitchen chair. “Both of you. Jane, first you go up and change and wash your hands.”

  She looked down and saw a lot more blood on her hands than she thought was there in the dim lighting of the scene and then his car. Jane kicked off her heels and dashed up the stairs. She scrubbed at Amy’s dried blood on her hands until they were red and stinging. Then she pulled the pins out of her hair and brushed it out. She even washed her face, removing what was left of the makeup from the salon. She pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt with the name of Mrs. Goddard’s riding academy on it. She just couldn’t get warm. She went without socks so that she could get back downstairs as quickly as possible.

  She returned to the kitchen and sat next to him at the table while Nana Peaches rushed around the tiny room setting a kettle on the stove and fetching their small medical container where she kept the basics.

  “Let me see,” she ordered Roman, who showed her his hands.

  In the dim light of the kitchen, Jane could see that he was hurt more than he’d let on out at the quarry. His knuckles were scraped and bruised, and his hands had multiple scratches on them. There was a bruise on his left cheek, as well.

  “Jane, clean his wounds with this solution and a cotton ball. Then apply this salve,” she said, pointing to a tub of homemade antibiotic cream she bought off of her one friend in bridge club who concocted her own medicinal salves and creams.

  Her grandmother went to the stove and prepared tea for them while Jane tried to play nursemaid. She didn’t really know what she was doing, but Roman was patient and if it hurt he didn’t let on. Ten minutes later, her grandmother ushered them into the living room to sit by the fire. Then she brought in a tray with hot tea and buttered toast and forced them to consume some of it. After a minute, they went about trying to explain it all.

  When they were done, Nana Peaches said, “I’m just glad neither of you was hurt. I don’t know what’s going on with this flu the two of you were talking about, but they’ve been discussing it on the news a lot lately. Not in the way you just told me, but they were saying that a lot of people are very sick.”

  They talked for a while longer, and after one a.m., her grandmother finally went to bed.

  “What a night,” Roman said softly from his seat next to her on the old sofa.

  “Yeah, not what I was expecting,” she said. “Is this how all homecoming dances tend to go?”

  He chuckled and said, “Not usually.”

  Jane nodded with a frown. She was fried, overwhelmed. She didn’t handle dangerous situations and violence well. Then she remembered something.

  “Hey, you wanted to tell me something or ask me something. I don’t remember,” she said.

  “It seems pretty stupid now,” he said. “Beings I just aided in the murder of our classmate.”

  “It wasn’t your fault or Brian’s or Aaron’s. You guys were just trying to stop it.”

  “We’ll talk about the other thing another time. Not tonight. It doesn’t seem important right now.”

  “Okay,” she murmured.

  He turned on the sofa and faced her straight on. Jane also turned. His expression seemed pained.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “I don’t know how to explain something I need to tell you, other than to just say it.”

  He shook his head as if confused.

  “What is it?” she asked and brought her leg up under her. If Roman wasn’t sitting next to her, she’d pull both legs up and probably rock in the fetal position over the night’s events.

  He slipped his hand over hers and stroked the smooth skin on the back of her hand. Then he interlaced their fingers. It sent electricity through her. Did he not feel that? Probably not. He had a lot of experience with girls, or so she’d heard and had confirmed tonight by Stephanie.

  “I don’t know if I even told the cops. I don’t remember much of my statement,” he admitted. “Jane, tonight Caleb…I…this is gonna sound crazy.”

  His fingers tightened on hers. “Go on.”

  “He was so strong, not like a skinny, scrawny kid. I’ve played backyard football with my friends and wrestled in middle school. It was nothing compared to Caleb tonight. He was so…strong. I couldn’t pin him. He doesn’t play sports. He’s not athletic. I couldn’t hold him down.”

  “I saw,” she told him.

  He took a deep breath. “I just kept thinking he’d get to you. I don’t know why. I just didn’t want him to be able to get to you. I knew if I couldn’t fend him off, you’d never be able to.”

  “Why would that be your first thought? You should’ve been worried about getting yourself killed.”

  He shook his head and looked at their interlocked fingers. Jane wasn’t sure how this friendship or whatever it was that he’d wanted just a short weeks ago had transformed so quickly into hand holding.

  “I should go,” he said. “You should take a shower, Jane.”

  “Gee, thanks,” she remarked as he stood and she followed.

  He didn’t laugh. He looked down at her and frowned. “I mean it. Shower. I’m going home to do the same.”

  “Are you just trying to get a peek in my shower with your binoculars?”

  This time he did smile, “Tempting, but I’m not that big of a creep. I’m just slightly one notch or one-half notch below that level of stalking.”

  “Good to know,” she commented.

  The fire crackling behind her warmed Jane’s back. It didn’t warm her on the inside, though. Emotionally she was drained.

  “Are you working at the barn tomorrow?” he asked.

  She nodded, “Yeah, just dinner feedings again. I’ll be there at three.” She wasn’t sure why she told him the time.

  “I’ll come over after work then around seven,” he said and walked to the kitchen door.

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because I want to make sure you’re okay,” he said and turned to look down at her again. “I need to see for myself. I can’t explain it. Making sure you’re safe has just b
een bumped to priority number one.”

  “I’m fine. You don’t need to come over,” she said, giving him the opportunity to back out.

  “I’ll be here at seven. I’ll take you to dinner,” he offered.

  “You don’t have to,” she said. “My grandmother always cooks…”

  “Then she’ll get a night off,” he said.

  “I don’t…”

  He bent and kissed her cheek, then cupped it. “You really did look beautiful tonight, Jane Livingston. I’m gonna remember how you looked tonight for a long time to come. Get some sleep.”

  “Okay,” she said weakly. “You, too.” She was too stunned to say anything else.

  She locked the door and went upstairs. Jane lingered in the shower and let the hot steam cleanse her. Then she crashed into her bed. There was a text from Roman telling her to sleep tight and try not to think about tonight. Then he texted again to remind her that he’d pick her up after work. Jane sighed and finally fell asleep, too exhausted to think another second about it all.

  Chapter Twelve

  Roman spent most of the night searching the internet for more information about this sickness. He found numerous similar reports of violence from sickly and flu-infected patients that were murdering people.

  He then woke at ten-thirty and went downstairs to explain to his parents what had happened. His mother was worried about the legal parameters, but his father was more concerned about the sickness. After discussing the situation for a few hours with them, his father told him that two people from his company died in the last week.

  “What do we do?” he asked his dad.

  He stroked a hand through his dark blonde hair and shook his head. “I don’t know, Roman. Take precautions against getting sick, I suppose. Until the medical community or the CDC issues specific suggestions or requirements, I think we just take precautions and try to stay away from people who are sick. Wash your hands a lot. Make sure Connor’s doing the same.”

  “Do you think Connor should even be going to school? Or me?”

  His mother stated, “Of course, you should, Roman. You can’t stay out of school the whole winter.”