Page 7 of Once Upon an Apocalypse

Chapter 4

Ifthisisn’tpure,intoxicating happiness, I don’t know what is. Jonah holds me flush against his body as we slow dance to “Lover” by Taylor Swift. I keep replaying the moment he appeared at my front door wearing a dark gray suit with a green striped bow tie. His curly brown hair freshly cut and neatly slicked back. His smoky quartz brown eyes fixed on me as I stood at the top of the stairs in my v-neck tiered a-line dress made in rich peacock green chiffon.

I thought I would be too short for such a flowy gown, especially since I didn’t want to wear heels. Sarah brought me to the family seamstress, who altered this dress to fit like it was made for me and my slip-on Converse. Earlier today, to Sarah’s amazement, I let her take me to a salon where we got mani-pedis and our hair all done up. Well, my hair is done down. I just wanted simple, wavy curls. A texture I don’t usually get with my pin-straight hair.

Sarah and Jonah’s mom took a million pictures of us in our finery. Pictures of the three of us, of Jonah and me, of Sarah and me, of Sarah and Dylan, and of each of us on our own. Mr. Rosenberg only stayed for a few minutes before going inside to lie down. He hadn’t been feeling well, which is unusual for him. I can’t remember ever seeing him sick.

My thoughts return to the present as Jonah plays with the ends of my hair, tickling my shoulders as my arms are fastened around his neck. He hums into my hair, sending a shiver down my spine. I could stay in this moment forever.

Then a scream from somewhere outside rips me from this perfect moment. The music is too loud and I can’t make out anything else following the scream. But I feel it. A shift in the mood. A change in the atmosphere. Something is terribly wrong.

All at once, everyone on the dance floor stops swaying. I look up into Jonah’s face, which is concentrated at the back of the room where there are French doors leading out to a Roman-inspired patio. Being a foot taller than most makes it easy for Jonah to see over the crowd, but his expression is unreadable.

“I think we need to leave,” he says so quietly I can barely hear him.

“Why? What do you see?”

Jonah doesn’t answer with words. He grabs my hand and pulls me through the exit at the front of the room leading to the lobby of the venue. We weave our way through the crowd of curious, secretly tipsy teens, reaching one of the exit doors as the screams begin again. This time, they come from the left side of the room. And then all hell breaks loose.

If we had stayed where we were in the middle of the dance floor, we would have been stuck among the chaos unlikely to escape. Jonah pulls me through the doors and closes them behind us.

“What are you doing?” I scream. “We need to help them.”

Jonah doesn’t seem to hear me as he continues to run through to the lobby. Using all the strength I can muster, I stomp my feet onto the floor and stop him. A hand grabs my shoulder from behind, making me spin on my heels. I nearly deck Sarah in the face. She scared the shit out of me.

“Sarah, are you okay?” I ask. She’s shivering but feels warm to the touch. Too warm.

“No, Lori. I’m not fucking okay. Dylan bit me.”

“What?” I shout, noticing the bite mark on her neck.

“We need to go!” Jonah grunts, grabbing my hand again.

I let him lead me to the front doors, taking one look backward to see the doors of the dance hall burst open. Jonah doesn’t let me look long enough to see what follows. As the doors leading out to the parking lot close behind us, Jonah stops short. A man runs toward us from the other side of the building and he’s…growling? It sounds like a growl.Shit. Did he take one of those drugs that turn you into a cannibal?

As the man gets closer to us, I notice that it’s Coach Warren. He was chaperoning inside earlier. A scream gets stuck in my throat as I turn to my left to see more drugged up people running toward me, Sarah, and Jonah. As if possessed, Jonah grabs one of the stanchions and swings it at Coach Warren’s head just as he lunges at us.

A scream finally escapes my mouth and pierces the chilly spring air. Coach Warren falls down to the ground with a sickening thud as Jonah captures my hand one more time, nearly dragging me through the parking lot. He throws me into the front seat of his Honda Accord, slamming the door as my feet hit the floor, and sprints over to the driver’s side.

As Sarah slides into the back seat, Jonah glares at her. His glare is menacing for a quick second, as if he is thinking about whacking her with the stanchion too, which he hasn’t let go of yet. Then his face softens into a mixture of dread and sadness that breaks my heart.

“What did you see?” I ask again as he places the stanchion behind the center console and buckles himself in.

“Put your seatbelt on. This might be a bumpy ride,” Jonah says, still ignoring my question. He glances in the rearview mirror to look at Sarah, who hasn’t yet put on her seat belt. But he doesn’t bother repeating himself.

Jonah pulls out of the parking lot like a whip, making me slam my head against the window. That’s when I see it. A scene from a horror movie, a nightmare. It is unreal. But now I understand. Looking back at Sarah, tears pool in my eyes.

“When did Dylan bite you, Sarah?” I ask.

“That fucker! He disappeared for an hour and then came back high as a kite. We are so done.”

Jonah chokes on what sounds like a laugh, but when I look at his face, he is trying so hard not to cry. I reach out my hand, surrounding the white of his knuckles as he squeezes the shifter. My gentle caress does nothing to soothe the fear racking through his body. His focus is impressive though. I would be driving in zigzags, especially at the speed we are going.

“How long ago did he bite you?” I repeat.

“I don’t know. Why does that matter? He fucking bit me.”

“Sarah,” I say as I turn around to look at her. I don’t exactly know what’s going to happen, but then I remember what my mom told me. That these people turning into zombie-like cannibals isn’t from a drug, but some kind of unknown virus. From what I saw back there, it sure as hell looked like they were zombies out of some horror movie. Is that what’s going to happen to Sarah?

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