Dead Quarantine by A. Rosaria Page A

was attentive,
though not so much around people.
    “Come on, guys. We'll go and find out what's
going on.”
    Jake held the door open for them. Anna, a
short teen with rather large breasts, wanted to go with them. Jake
pushed her back. “No, you girls stay here. Let us men do what we
gotta do.”
    He smiled at Sarah while slowly closing the
door. She felt no love in that smile; he might think he was her
lord, but she wasn't about to allow him to tell her what to do.
    “Lilly, I'll be right back.”
    Lilly nodded slightly. Progress. Hopefully
she'd snap out of it soon. She gave her a quick hug and kiss, then
left.
    “Sarah,” Tom called after her.
    Door handle in hand, she turned her head his
way.
    “Thank you for standing up for me.
    “You know what, Tommy? You should man up and
stand up for yourself.”
    She slammed the door shut behind her.
    The hallway was empty. Where did he go? She
heard a sound come from the classroom opposite theirs. She opened
the door. Two teens sat at their desks, no teacher present. A boy
with wooly hair and large, thick glasses looked up from a book he
was reading.
    “You're not supposed to be outside.”
    She closed the door, not ready to get into a
discussion with a guy about why she was outside. It was none of his
business. She heard muffled talking. Sarah closed the distance so
she could hear. It was Jake, saying something to a man. She hurried
down the hallway toward the stairs that lead to the main hall. She
pressed her back against the wall, slid along it, and peeked. Jack
stood on the stairs with George and Sam behind him. Below, a
soldier pointed a rifle at them. This one didn't have on a hazmat
suit, not even a surgical mask.
    “Boys, this is your last warning. Go back to
your class. This school is under quarantine; no one leaves.”
    Jake backed down a step. His neck was
straight and tense, and his hands were balled into fist on the ends
of his arms, which were stretched at the side of his body.
    “Please, listen to him,” she mumbled
softly.
    The soldiers face was set in stone, his eyes
ice. His hand on the rifle was steady. He meant it. They better
back down. She thought about calling them, but she was afraid she
would spook them, and Jake was unpredictable when she was around.
He might feel slighted and not want to yield if he knew she was
there.
    Slowly, Jake raised his hands; his palms
faced outward. “Calm down, sir.”
    “Leave!”
    Jake turned his back to the soldier, still
holding his hands in the air, and climbed the stair. George
followed him, but the Asian boy, Sam, didn't. Oh God, she thought.
Sam took a step down.
    “Sam,” Jake called out, “come back up.”
    “He ain't gonna shoot. I'm an American
citizen; I know my rights.” Sam turned to the soldier. “You won't
shoot me. You took an oath to protect and serve us.”
    “Boy, you better go back up there. This is
martial law. You'll get shot if you take another step.”
    Sam took a step. The bullet hit him in the
right eye. Blood, brains, and bones blasted out the back of his
head and painted the wall and stairs in red and gray. His body
crumbled and rolled down the stairs.
    Jake and George fled up the staircase. The
soldier trailed his rifle in their direction. He would shoot again
if not stopped. Frantic, she looked around for anything but found
nothing she could use. Desperate, she ran to the balustrade and
hung over it, screaming. The soldier, startled, shot high, riddling
the wall above as Jake and George dove out of sight. The soldier
swung his rifle in Sarah's direction. She threw herself back just
in time; the bullets flew where she had been standing a moment
earlier. She fell on her butt. Ignoring the pain, she crawled back
in the hallway away from the stairs.
    “Let this be warning,” the soldier yelled.
“Anyone who dares show his face will be shot without warning from
now on.”
    Jake and George sat with their backs against
the wall, eyes set wide and staring at her. They didn't look