Chapter Five-10 Days Ago

A girl's stuggle to survive the apocalypse.

Chapter Five

10 Days ago-Tuesday, June 7^th

            Drake Bradley had been on my mind and in my dreams all night.  After I got off of work, I immediately called my friends to fill them in on the new boy in town.  Of course, Greg wanted to know all the details and how cute his butt was.  I told Greg that Drake’s a*s was to die for, and it was the truth.  No joke!  That boy and his rear were a little piece of heaven come to earth.  Heather, on the other hand, jokingly asked what my wedding colors would be.  She said they could be any color, but yellow, which looked hideous on her.  I laughed at my friend’s antics and told them good night.  What followed was some of the best dreams I ever had in my life. 

In the brilliant silver moonlight, I stepped onto a balcony dressed in a flaming red dress that hugged my curves and accentuated my bosom.  There at the balustrade stood Drake, who turned to smile at my entrance, and held out his hand to me.  Unlike my other dream, I hesitated, before giving myself over to him.  A slow, haunting melody began, and we stared to dance.  Our bodies became one as we gave ourselves over to music, letting it control our dance.  Drake’s hands moved down my body in a sensuous caress as we danced.  The music increased in cadence and we followed along with it.  Soon the rhythm was so dizzying, Drake was spinning me round and round in circles, when the music stopped suddenly.  Not once while we were dancing did I look into Drake’s eyes, fearing that this dream would end too soon.  My eyes looked up to meet Drake’s own questioning eyes.  He held me close, and I laid my head over his heart.  His grip on me was almost possessive, but I did not care…I wanted him to own and want me.    I felt content and happy, standing there on a castle balcony, overlooking a smoking city.  Wait…What?  Opening my eyes in a quick second, I pulled away from Drake’s grasp and saw the smoking city from my life-long haunting dreams.  For a moment, I stood there in silence, watching the city burn…again.  Instead of standing on some random cliff top, I was here on a balcony"safe, with no menacing forest behind me.  From somewhere near me, I heard Drake speak, “When the time comes, you will have to choose…” 

I had no idea what the dream meant.  I was not one of those new age guru types, who translated dreams into some logical meaning.  No, I was an ordinary teenage girl, with hormones and an overactive imagination.  Was it about that time of month yet?  It would explain all these weird emotions and dreams, I guess.  Geez, I was turning into boy crazy Jocelyn slash batty Mrs. Bailey. 

“LEX!!”  Caleb yelled at me from behind the driver’s seat.  I had involuntarily volunteered to take Jared and Caleb to school, because mom had to be at work early and dad took a sick day off from work.  My father was still not feeling well, even though the doctor had prescribed him some allergy medications.  Those medicines were not working; thus, my mother called the doctor, yet again, for another house call.  My dad is a robust man in his forties; he ran several miles each day and practiced a healthy diet.  For him to call out of work was very, very unusual.  His coughing, sneezing, and fever grew worse over the past couple of days, and my mom and I were concerned about him.  The eternal optimist, my father, told me that things always get worse before they get better.  For his sake, I fervently hoped that my dad was right.

Caleb had shaken me out of my thoughts in an abrupt, rude manner, which is his usually style.  “What Caleb?  Don’t you see that I am driving?”  I looked in the rearview mirror as I spoke tersely to my younger brother.

“Yeah, I can see your driving, but do we have to listen to Britney Spears?”

“I agree with Caleb.  Change the station,” said my usually stoic brother, Jared, who was seating in the front next to me.

“Hell no, I’m not changing the station.  Britney Spears’s music is classic, and I heart her! Another fact for you both, this is my hoverer, so I get to pick the music.”  In response to my heartfelt declaration of Britney Spears, I blasted the music, which made both boys groan in agony.  I was singing along (very off key, I admit) with Britney Spears’ “Dance till the world ends”, when I heard Jared ask me something.  I could not hear his quiet voice over the music, so I turned it down.  A few whoops of happiness erupted from the backseat.  Glaring at Caleb in the rearview mirror, he quieted down instantly, but his smile was still in place.  Switching my attention from my overly pleased baby brother to Jared, I asked, “What did you say, Jared?”

“I asked, ‘Do you know if Heather has a date for the prom?’”  My foot almost pounded on the brake at this question from Jared.  I glanced sideways at Jared, who was struggling to keep his face neutral on the subject of Heather.  It had never occurred to me before that Jared liked Heather; but as I thought back, I remembered all the times he stared adoringly at her.  I just never noticed until now his quite obvious feelings for my bestie.  Like I said, I am not the best observer in the world, so this whole revelation came as a surprise. If you want me to know something, you need to actually hit me on the head with it; otherwise, I am clueless.  I get why he liked Heather: she was sweet, friendly, pretty, and she liked cars! 

I knew this question had been hard for Jared to ask me, so I responded in a kind manner, befitting a caring, big sister.  “No, she does not have a date to the prom.  Why don’t you ask her?”

“What me ask Heather?  Puh-lease, I don’t like her like that.”  Jared shook his head in denial about liking Heather, but I saw him smile, when he found out she was dateless.  The boy was grinning like a fool, and I was about to mention that fact to him, when Caleb screamed.

Neither Jared nor I had been paying attention to the road and did not notice the hoverer in front of me stop suddenly.  My reflexes were quick and I swerved to the right and a hoverer hit the passenger side; I said my reflexes are quick, not smart.  My hoverer spun around into the fast lane.  I tried to jerk the wheel to get my hoverer under control, but my efforts did not seem to help.  Caleb and Jared were both screaming.  I think I was screaming too.  Everything was happening so fast; yet at the same time, everything was moving in slow motion.  While spinning out of control, I heard a few more crashes coming from other cars.  What the hell was going on?  A hoverer swerved by me, missing my hoverer by mere inches.  I panicked and stomped on the brake, which only made the situation and the spinning worse.  As I struggled to get my hoverer to stop spinning, another hoverer hit my driver’s side, drowning my vision in darkness.

I must have blacked out for a minute or two, because my head was on the steering wheel and it hurt like hell.  I sat up with some difficulty; everything in my vision was still spinning, even though, we had finally come to a halt.  I heard a moan come from Jared as he opened his eyes and looked at me.  “What the f**k happened?”

I shook my head and said, “I don’t know.  Are you all right?”  Jared nodded and I breathed in relief.  I unhooked my seat belt and turned in my seat to check on Caleb, who was just beginning to open his eyes.  There was a small cut on his forehead, but otherwise he appeared to be okay.  “You ok, Caleb?”

“Yeah, I’m ok.  My head hurts a little, but I’m good.  Why did that car stop so suddenly?”  Caleb asked me with those baby blue eyes so much like an adoring puppy.  As much as my brothers annoyed me, I loved them and I was extremely grateful that they were both all right. 

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.  Both of you, please, stay here.”  Opening the door was a bit of a challenge, since it got hit hard, Jared helped me to force it open.  I stepped out of my hoverer and a strong wind whipped my hair into my face.  Pushing my long, blonde locks out of my face, I spun around to see an extraordinary sight.  All around me, there were other hoverers with various degrees of damage.  Some hoverers were rear-ended; others both their front and rear ends had been smashed.  There were so many hover cars; I could not comprehend what had caused this mess.  The whole road was a fifty or more car pileup; I have never seen anything like this.  Other people were emerging from their wrecked cars and began to congregate together.  A quick survey of my Mercedes Benz hoverer, I noticed the damage was not too bad.  I sent up a quick thanks to the higher power for the well-being of my brothers and myself, along with my hoverer. 

I followed some people as they ran further up the road to see what or who caused this pileup.  There was one lone hoverer that was rear ended, quite a ways up the road.  Several people pointed and whispered about what caused the hoverer to stop so suddenly.  I pushed my way past them and went to see if the person inside the hoverer was all right.  I thought I might be able to help, since my mother had made me take CPR and First Aid classes.  Thanks to my ever-knowing mother, I was CPR and First Aid certified. 

The back of their hoverer was pretty messed up, but I hoped the people inside were fine.  Approaching the hoverer, I could see the driver was passed out, or I hoped the person was passed out.  Grabbing the handle of the door, I opened it and… 

The driver, a woman, was hacking coughing and spitting up blood and I stepped back in fear as she reached for me.  All over her skin were huge pus-filled blisters and a sickly red rash; I almost retched at the sight of her.  Her hair was plastered to her head as if she was drenched in water, but more likely it was her sweat.  Backing away from the woman as blood poured out of her nose, I stumbled and fell to the ground.  I screamed as the woman got out of the hoverer and came closer to me.  Her steps were jerky as if she did not have control of her legs.  My heart was pounding so fast that I thought it was going to beat out of my chest.  I tried to get off the ground, but fear gripped me and did not let go.  The woman fell to her knees and gasped for breath; she scratched at her throat with her hands in an attempt to get air to her lungs.  I know it was cowardly of me, but I just wanted to get away from this woman.  To put it simply: I was scared.  I did not know what was going on with this bleeding, coughing woman and I let fear control me. 

A man picked me up from the ground, and I heard a siren in the distance.  “Are you ok?”  He asked of me, but I could not answer.   The words got stuck in my throat, right below the lump of fear.  I know I must look pale with fright, because this random stranger seemed really concerned for me.  A few other people had come over trying to help the woman that had fallen to the ground, but she just kept coughing up blood all over them.  I grabbed this man, who looked so much like my father, and just held on, crying.  Tears were pouring down my face for this woman, who was clearly dying, and for the shame of my cowardice.  The woman had needed help, and what did I do?  I screamed in her face and pushed away from her like she was a hideous monster.  I never felt such fear and guilt in my life. 

Several ambulances pulled up, along with dozens of cop cars, and three fire trucks.  EMTs spread throughout the pile up checking on victims; however, several EMTs were crowding the woman, hiding her from sight of the ever-growing mass of on-lookers.  The police screamed at us to back away from the woman and the blood-soaked ground.  I saw one police officer roughly grab a man and pushed him back.  I was in shock and could not move on my own, but the man, who I still held with a fierce grip, gently pulled me away from the officers and EMT workers.  The man guided me to one of the ambulance vehicles and asked for someone to help me.  A nice woman, without blood or blisters, came to my side and checked me out for concussion or any visible wounds.  Not finding any, she asked me in a genteel voice, “What is your parents’ number, so I can call them to pick you up and bring you home?”  I mumbled any number that I remembered…I hoped it was the right one.  The woman got up to call my parents. 

In my shell-shocked state, I heard a few things.  An EMT was talking to an officer, “It’s not even nine o’clock in the morning and this is already the twelfth case today…all end up the same way.”  I had no idea what the hell he was talking about, nor did I want to know.  All I wanted was to go home and soak in a nice, long bubble bath, where no bloody woman can get me.  I did not notice my two brothers approach, but when they did, I could tell they were about to bombard me with questions.  The EMT lady came over and hushed the boys, who responded that they were my brothers.  She let them stay and left me, knowing that I was with family.  I huddled in a blanket, waiting for my parents to come for us.  As much as I tried to forget what the EMT guy said, I could not forget what he said that this was the twelfth case…and what he meant by that. 

#

Luxuriating in a warm, lavender-scented bubble bath, I had scrubbed my skin raw, hoping to erase the memory of the dying woman.  When my mom had picked us up, she kept checking us over like a mother hen does to her little chicks to see if we truly were okay.  The EMT woman, who had called my mom, brought my mother to the side and had a whispered conversation, most likely about me.  I assumed this, because both of them kept giving me what they felt were covert glances.  I did not care what they were saying; I just wanted to go home.  My mom gave us individual hugs and fussed over us the entire ride home.

Now, I was finally taking the much-needed, relaxing bath, soaking in the warmth in an attempt to rid myself of the cold fear and shame I still felt.  I sank down deep in the water almost reaching my nose.  All I could think of was that woman.  I could not get her look of fear and desperation out of my mind.  I lost track of time, lost in my morbid thoughts.  The water’s warmth evaporated, shocking me to my senses.

I grabbed my pink polka dotted towel and wrapped it around my body.  Pushing the door open into my bedroom, I decided I needed to be a normal teenage girl, free of haunting dreams, prophesying girls, and dying women.  The scrap of paper was deep in my purse, near the bottom next to my long forgotten tubes of lip gloss.  Just this once, I was going to do something wild and rebellious…something not like myself.  As I dialed the number, I felt a huge weight lifted from my shoulders and I smiled in delicious anticipation.

“Hello?”  The soothing tenor of Drake’s voice washed over me and made me forget all of my troubles.

“Hey, Drake!  It’s Alexia…”  Talking to boys was not one of my many talents; I left that arena to Jocelyn and Olivia.  I paused, trying to come up with something witty to say; but I decided to throw all caution to the wind.  “I was wondering if you wanted to go to out somewhere.”

“Yeah, sure.  How about Club Hell in Providence, Rhode Island?  I heard it was the best dance club in town.”

Club Hell was an over 21 club; I was only 17, so there was a bit of a problem.  “Drake, you do know that it is a 21 and over club, right?”

“Yup, I do.  I know some people that can get us in.  If you don’t want to go, I understand, but I thought it would be fun to do something…wild.”  His voice held a bit of recklessness and I was drawn to it.  I have never ever done anything wild as going to a club illegally…that decided it.

“I’m in.  Pick me up in an hour,” I hastily gave him my address and went to get ready for my wild night.  I had the perfect dress in mind: a short, mid-thigh black dress that hugged my curves and accentuated my perky b***s.  It was one of those dresses that made a guy stop and stare.  Smiling inwardly to myself, I got ready for my date with the cute Drake Bradley.

#

There we were standing in front the club with a menacing, steroid-pumped bouncer in front of us.  I admit I was about to bolt, because the stare he was giving Drake and I was frightening.  I inched away, but Drake held me close to him.  He took several bills out of his wallet and handed it to the bouncer, whose eyes widened in surprise.  Stuffing the wad of money in his pocket, the bouncer ushered us into the dark club.  Stepping into Club Hell was like stepping into a Bacchus revelry.  The music was so loud that I felt it make my heart beat faster, and made my feet itch to dance.  

Drake took my hand and led me to the bar, which several drunken women were attempting to dance on it.  The dance floor was crowded with people; everyone was pressed up against each other"gyrating and grinding in homage to Bacchus.  At each of the four corners of the dance floor, there were small one-person platforms with a pole on each one.  Four women were swinging themselves around the pole in a stripper-esque dance; I had an urge to try out one of the poles, but I was too timid.  Club Hell’s walls were all painted black with tons of glitter and sparkles thrown on, which gleamed whenever the strobe light hit the walls.  My eyes were getting adjusted to the strobe light that flickered on and off, which caused everything to glow bright neon colors and made people’s teeth glow an eerie white.

Drake and I sat at the bar, our arms brushing intimately against each other.  The bartender came over, eying us and our designer label clothing, and asked, “What’s your poison?”  Drake ordered two Angel’s Tits (I almost snorted with laughter, thinking he was jesting…he was not) with an ease that revealed his familiarity with alcohol.  I, on the other hand, had never even had a sip of any alcoholic beverage.  Unlike most teenagers, I was completely straight-laced and I never saw the need to make a drunken idiot out of myself.  Tonight, I was going to drink my first drink; hopefully, I would enjoy it.   The bartender expertly created the alcoholic concoction and handed us each a shot glass. 

Drake downed his shot in a single gulp, while I sat there holding mine.  He smiled at me expectantly waiting for me to take my shot.  Well, I had wanted to be wild and rebellious, so I took the shot.  Fire burned my throat as the shot made its way to my stomach.  Coughing from the fiery onslaught, Drake patted my back and said, “Was that your first drink?”  I only nodded, fearing my voice would be all hoarse from the drink.  “You did better than I did.  I completely spit out the entire drink on my first time.”  My mind started to feel funny from the strong spirits in the shot and I giggled"I actually giggled.  “Want another?”

The rest of the night I spent in a fog of inebriation"I was to put it frankly, smashed.  Shot after shot of Angel’s Tits and other concoctions made me forget everything, but Drake.  We joined the other masses of bodies on the dance floor; I grinded against Drake as if my life depended on it.  Lust and alcohol was clouding my common sense; hormones took over.  While we were dancing, Drake’s lips kissed my neck, and made me shiver in delight.  His hands were low on my hips, and I heard a small moan escape his lips, when I grinded my a*s against him. 

I did not realize that Drake was leading me to a corner alcove in the VIP section of the club, until we were alone in this small private area.  The alcove was dark and isolated from the rest of the populace; we fell on top of each other in a heap on the sofa.  Both of us were drunk.  Straddling Drake’s hips, I looked down on the handsome-beyond-belief boy, who made me experience feelings I have never felt before--lust, passion, and rebellion.  Is drunkenness a feeling?  Well, he made me feel that too.  His hand stroked the side of my face in such an intimate gesture that it made my breath catch in my throat.  “You are truly beautiful.”

“You are just saying that because you are drunk.”

He shook his head.  “No, I have thought you were gorgeous the first day I laid eyes on you.”

“Haha!  You mean yesterday?” 

“Does it matter that it was yesterday?  A lot can happen in two days…”  The lust-filled look that swam in the depths of his eyes made it impossible for me to look away.  His hand tangled in my hair and lowered my head to meet his lips.  Our kiss, my first kiss, was explosive; I pressed my breasts against his chest.  I am counting this as my first kiss and not that unwanted, revolting kiss Luke forced on me.  This was truly a beautiful meeting of two unbridled passions, I could not get enough of him.  Our kiss deepened, when his tongue met mine in a ritual as old as time.  My moans aroused him and I felt his manhood stir between my legs.  Releasing my hair, his hands trailed down my back and cupped my a*s, causing another round of moans from both of us.  I truly enjoyed the sensations Drake was making me feel for the first time, but common sense broke through the fog of lust, when his hand began to move up my short black dress. 

With that gesture, it was like cold water splashed on me, waking me up from my lusty haze.  “Drake, stop.”  I disentangled our limbs and stood up.  “I got to go.  I’m sorry, Drake, I really am…but I can’t do this here…not now…”  My words broke through Drake’s own haze, and he stiffly nodded. 

The whole ride back to my home was dead silent.  I wanted to shout out that I was sorry for leading him on, but I remained silent…my morbid thoughts had returned.  I wanted to explain to Drake that I was not one of those girls that just fucked anywhere with anyone.  For goodness’ sake, I had my first kiss and I had almost given up my virginity in the same night to an almost complete stranger.  What did that say about me?  Upon reaching my house, I got out of the car quickly, not even bothering to say goodbye to Drake.  I was too mortified at my s****y actions and my drunkenness.  “Hey, Lex,” Drake called out as he jogged to my side.  “If you think I am mad, you are wrong.  It’s ok…we just got carried away with something that neither of us are ready for.  Obviously, the alcohol was controlling us…I’m sorry too.  I still want to be friends.”

I smiled at Drake’s rakish grin and could not resist a small hug.  “I want that too.  I would say let’s start over, but I truly don’t want to forget this night.  It had been fun, and I needed a huge dose of normal fun.”

“I had fun too.  Well…Good night,” he said as he gave me a small chaste kiss on my cheek.  He trotted back to his hoverer and waved.  “Call me…or stalk me, Lex, either one is fine with me,” he teased with a wink.  Once he left, I stood against the wall of my house to catch my breath from the dizzying night that had held a lot of firsts for me: my first drink, my first date, and my first kiss"and truth be told, my first hot and heavy make out and grope session.  A soft blush rose to my cheeks as I remembered Drake’s hands move along my body.  I trotted upstairs to my bedroom, hoping I would dream of Drake Bradley again.

Author's Note

This is kind of a pivotal chapter for the main character. I hope you all enjoy...of course, let me know of grammatical mistakes or discrepancies! Much love to you all!

Reviews

[halflives]

"Call me or stalk me" Brilliant line.
Couldn't find any mistakes in this chapter. Maybe that was just because my eyes were glued to the screen the entire time. This chapter was intense for a romance lover such as me, although I was disappointed that she was drinking at seventeen and the bartender didn't ask for an ID. Drake sounds like a bad-boy, and I think Lex will find that she likes bad-boys :D The part at the beginning with the woman crashing and dying was definately intense, and there is no way in which I would be able to touch that. Yes, it was that good. This book is intense and believeable, and I LOVE apocolyptic books, so that just makes it even better. You better write more or... something will happen. I haven't thought of exactly what yet, but SOMETHING will happen.

[melissa]

I love the book very much I wish I could write books this good I am enjoying tea#ing this book so much well on my way to the next chapter keep up the great work

[Jim]

"I laughed at my (friend’s) antics and told them good night." Should be friends'--apostrophe after the "s."

"...because mom had to be at work early and dad took a sick day off from work." Should be "Mom" and "Dad" because they're used as proper nouns.

"What me ask Heather?" Should be some kind of punctuation between "What" and "me"--I'd go with a dash.

Somewhere earlier, it might be a good idea to describe how a hoverer works, what it looks like, etc. That way we would be better able to picture the crash and understand what is going on. I kept wondering what the braking system in a hoverer looks like, how it works.

I was a bit puzzled as to how a single hoverer stopped in the road could cause such a tremendous pile-up, since it's evidently a four-lane highway (Lexxie says she is spun into the fast lane, so there have to be at least two lanes going one direction).

One problem might be that the traffic jam is so similar to _The Stand_. An apocalyptic scenario with a flu is already a lot like the _The Stand_, and then having a traffic jam in addition to that just seems a little bit too close. The part where the woman is vomiting up blood on everyone is pretty similar to the opening scene in _The Stand_ where the car with the diseased family crashes into the pumps at the gas station. You might consider placing Lexxie's first encounter with a flu victim in some other setting, just so it doesn't seem so much like King. Maybe in the night club? Maybe one of those drunken, dancing people starts vomiting, and everyone realizes that it's not just because of the alchohol. It might be something to consider. That would be a bit like "The Masque of the Red Death." It would balance the modern flu pandemic idea with a little bit of Gothic Poe. :)

"Smiling inwardly (to myself,) I got ready for my date with the cute Drake Bradley." The "to myself" is redundant, because it's already inward.

"I admit I was about to bolt, because the stare he was giving Drake and (I) was frightening." Should be "me."

"Stepping into Club Hell was like stepping into a (Bacchus) revelry." Should be "Bacchanalian."

"Drake took my hand and led me to the bar, which several drunken women were attempting to dance on it." Feels like awkward construction here--just getting rid of the "it" on the end would probably take care of it.

"...glow bright neon colors and made people’s teeth glow an eerie white." I like this image!

"“You are just saying that because (you are) drunk.'” I'd make it "you're."

[Chris Smith Welshpoetcs]

Now this is good ; )

[Amanda Naomi]

well now that got a little hot and heavy!!! i mean wow!!!

mkay, well i liked the dream sequence turning in to the nightmare sequence and her standing with a choice....very well construed

[Joey Irwin]

I love the intimacy between Lex and Drake....it truly is beautiful and Drank sounds like an amazing character :) Damn I wish he were real :p

I really like the style of this chapter, the way it switches from a dream state to action to romance. Its epic.....PLEASE get this published!!! lol
xx

[MR_BERG]

Great piece. I don't get into grammar usually, so I won't this time.

You're right. Lexie is growing up.

[SheWhoWillNotBeNamed]

"“I was wondering if you wanted to go to out somewhere.” delete the second 'to'.
"Drake took my hand and led me to the bar, which several drunken women were attempting to dance on it." delete the it, or maybe reward the second part of the sentence so it's less awkward?!

This chapter is well done, though it totally moves away from the main plot... Not sure if it's good or not. Also, Lexxie seems like she has two personalities. At some points she appears as she is that... idiotic, girly, OMG kind of teenager, but at other times, she quickly becomes mature for her age. This mixes a bit too much for me.

[Brad]

woo hoo! this is getting interesting...blood, pus and sex...now you're talking my language