The Plague Unto The End Read Free Page A

is wearing a wrinkled, heavily stained gray suit.  I can see the knees of his pants have been worn and he is missing his right shoe.  He struggles to squeeze between the door and the doorframe.
     
    After a brief struggle, he manages to force his way into the hall with me.  Still, I do not move.  I am waiting to see his face, but the glare from the overhead lamp is making it difficult to see.  I can see some kind of dark stain on his chest under his neck.  I tilt my head slightly to cut out the glare.  Just as I move, I see the head of the man move as he notices my presence.  He starts to move toward me. 
     
    The light from the overhead lamp washes over his face.  His right eye has a gaping gash just under his eye socket and his lower jaw appears to have been completely ripped off.  The man begins to take each step a little faster than the last.
     
    I turn back to the table and pick up the Glock.  I slide the magazine into the well and rack the slide.  I feel frantic as I turn to face the man again.  He is only a few feet from me as I raise the gun and begin to shoot.  The first shot flies wide and strikes the wall.  I quickly fire again, and this time the bullet strikes the man in the right shoulder.  His shoulder jerks as the bullet connects, but he shows no signs of pain.  I fire a third shot, which sends the bullet through his open mouth and out the back of his neck.  The shot appears to have severed his spinal cord.
     
    The man’s momentum hurls his body into me and we tumble to the floor.  I quickly push him off of me and see his vacant, gray eyes still watching me.  I stand up and his eyes follow me as I move.  My ears are ringing as I point the gun at his head and begin to pull the trigger.  Through the ringing I can hear something coming from outside the door.  I turn to look through the gap between the door and the frame.
     
    There is movement in the shadows.  The light from the floodlight over the door reveals the first of an endless number of people like the one that had just attacked me.  I raise the gun and remember that I had only put four bullets into the magazine.  I glance over at the box of ammunition and know that I do not have time to fill the magazine.  I can see the crowd surging toward the open door.  I stare into the crowd and know that I am going to die.  Just as the first of them breaks the plane of the doorway, I grit my teeth and pull the trigger.

CHAPTER 2 - The School...
     
    I woke up suddenly, having only a vague recollection of what I had just dreamed.  I quickly sat up in bed and rubbed the sleep from my eyes.  I slid my feet off of the side of my old, squeaky bunk bed and stared at the floor for a few moments.  A small amount of diffused light entered the room from the window beside my bed.  The cool fall days had become dim.  With one look at the dark clouds outside I knew it was going to rain soon.
     
    I had fallen to sleep wearing my faded black undershirt and blue jeans.  My black skateboarder shoes were on the floor at the foot of my bed, where I had taken them off the night before.  I looked up at my dresser and remembered that mom said she got me a sweatshirt.  There it was, on top of my dresser, a gray, hooded sweatshirt.  I tried it on, and felt the early morning chills melt away.  It fit well, although I really was not too fond of the light gray color.  Most of the clothes in my wardrobe were darker colors, but it was nice to have a new sweatshirt.  When I looked down to see how it fit, I felt like I had worn the sweatshirt before, but I knew it was brand new; it still had the tags on it.
     
    Feeling comfortable and ready to get on with my day, I glanced over at my alarm clock to see how much time I had before I had to leave for my English class at Thomas Nelson Community College (TNCC).  It was a Monday and my class started at ten o’clock.  In bright orange digital numbers my alarm clock read 9:41.  The thoughts of everything