The Secret Apocalypse (Book 1) Read Free Page B

me."
     
    "So, are you in?"
     
    Usually I would be keen for a surfing lesson from Jack. Despite his relaxed attitude towards school and all the trouble he gave the teachers, he was actually a very good teacher himself. And even though I was terrible at surfing and spent most of the time trying not to drown it was always lots of fun. But I was still feeling uneasy.
     
    So I said, "Maybe. Let me think about it."
     
    "Sure. Take all the time you want. But for now, let’s find Maria and get the hell out of here before they re-open the school."
     
    Jack said we could get a ride home in Kim’s patrol car. The police had leant it to her today as a public relations exercise to impress the kids. Jack was super excited. He kept going on and on about the V8 engine and how it had a whole bunch of horsepower. He said he’d get Kim to fire up the sirens so we could run some red lights but then she got a call from the station and she had to leave without us. Apparently there was a riot out in western suburbs or something. So we all had to take the bus home.
     
    Jack and Maria pestered me about going to the beach again but I made up some lame excuse about how I hadn’t eaten breakfast and that I wasn’t feeling very well. I don't think they bought it but they didn't push the issue.   
     
    The next day we were notified by email that school had been postponed for a whole week due to 'health concerns'. Not that they needed to send an email. It was all over the news. I remember watching all morning to see if they would tell us when school would be going back but no one seemed to have any idea when that would be. 
     
    Around lunch time I got a call from Maria to meet her and Jack at the beach.
     
    "We might as well make the most of this extended vacation," she said. "And I won’t be accepting any more pathetic excuses for not going."
     
    "Well, it’s a good thing I’m feeling a lot better." I replied.
     
    I met them at Bondi beach and Jack gave me another surfing lesson. I managed to stand for at least three seconds so it was a definite improvement. Maria sat on the beach and laughed at me. I didn't know it at the time but it was my last ever surfing lesson.
     
    I arrived back home in the afternoon and turned the TV on, eager to see if anyone knew when school was going back. But to my surprise no one was even covering that story anymore.
     
    Every single station was now covering a story about an outbreak of a virus.  Every single station now showed the exact same image; a live feed of what looked like a prison complex in the middle of the desert. Every single channel had the same information scrolling across the bottom of the picture.
     
     
    "Virus spreads through immigration centre in outback."
     
     
    I continued to change the channel but there was no use. It reminded me of the September eleven terrorist attacks on the twin towers in New York. I was only young but I clearly remember the live images of the world trade centre. I remember smoke billowing into the blue New York sky from one of the towers. The information scrolling across the bottom of the picture read: "Fire in south tower."
     
    But it wasn't a fire. It was something much worse. And then almost in slow motion, a plane, a 767, flies in from nowhere, slamming into the north tower.
     
    Was this like that?
     
    Was it really a virus outbreak? Or was it something much worse?
     
    Just as I was about to turn the TV off the information scrolling across the bottom of the picture was updated.
     
    It now read:
     
     
    "American scientists confirm virus is a multi-resistant virus or ‘super bug’. They have named it the Oz Virus."
     
     
    Apparently things were getting worse.
     
     
    Breaking News: The Oz Virus
     
     
     4:08pm - The World Health Organization has declared a Phase 4 PANDEMIC alert. Phase