GhostTown

I am one of the few survivors left in this town... I should have seen the disaster coming then... It all started back when I was in the 7th grade.

It was towards the middle of the year, we were at a field trip out of state, and we went to some museum in St. Louis. I was sitting in the back of the bus in-between two of my best friends, Sydney and Emily. My other friends that where around me was Jacob, Darian, Indianna, Katti (Her nickname, it's that spelling too), Fiona, and Kim. We're all weird and different. I'm close to all of them and that would prove to be a useful in the close future.

Well, back to the museum... Me and my crowd were walking around on our own and just being typical 12 and 13 year olds. Well, the better behaved ones. We just looked at the art and such in the museum. And there was this strange, old, home-less man (we could tell he was home-less because of he was very skinny, stinky, and his clothing was very dirty.) was escorted out of the museum (but I think the guards just kind of threw him back out onto the streets), but while he was being led out he was coughed up blood and some of it landed on one of my class-mates that was fallowing us around. We didn't really like the girl, but when it got in her eyes we all started flipping out. We got a teacher and we had to go to the hospital, but this was for reasons unknown, probably for some questioning...
The hospital secretary said in a friendly voice to the teacher that we had gotten, "Well, young Abby doesn’t seem to have any illness from the old man. But he did die; we just couldn't get him to stop coughing. Well we're going to cremate him, if we can't find any family. Soon. We've done a bunch of tests and all of the results have come up negative. But we'll keep looking."
"Oh, come on guys, we better get back to the bus and tell Abby that she isn’t going to die." I said with an evil grin.
"Kels, you really just want to get out of here don't you?" My always knowing guy-friend Darian asked me.
"Well, duh! You know I hate hospitals! I've always hated them..." I replied with a shudder.
"Cause you have to have surgery on your lip?" My very caring boyfriend Jacob asked.
"Yeah... I hate the masks..." I said with another shudder.
"Oh, yeah, I remember." Emily and Sydney said at nearly the same time.
"Well, can we please get out?" I said jumping up and down. I really hated hospitals...
"Yeah, come on Kels." Jacob said. When we got out to the bus Abby was in the back near where we were sitting.
"Abby, back to where you were when we drove to the museum." I said with a sigh. "You heard what the doctor said, you're fine."
"Oh, okay... I'll go back up there... Thanks guys!" She said gratefully.
That was on a Friday. So we didn't see her until Monday. When we saw her first thing in the morning she was coughing and she was having issues breathing. We didn’t really think anything of it. We knew she had asthma. So we just thought it was an off day for her. That is until she started coughing up blood... The she really started to panic. "Guys!? What's" She was interrupted by a fit of coughing, "going on?" She said breathlessly.
"Oh, god! Abby?" Kim said; she's one of those overly caring girls.
"Abby are you sure that this isn't, you know?" Indianna said miming an inhaler.
"Yeah, I'm posit-" She was again interrupted by the blood spewing cough, "Positive..."
"Oh... What the hell!? Did you just START coughing up blood? “Darian asked her.
"No." She started coughing harder and she fell to the ground.
"ABBY!!! Oh my god!!! Abby!!!" Kim yelled out.
I was a bit calmer. I kneeled down and poked her and gently called to her, "Abby? Abby? Abby, are you okay?"
Jacob kneeled down beside me and grabbed by shoulder, "Kels, com`on... We need to go get a teacher."
"Teachers need to be standing in the god damned halls between classes!" I yelled before getting back to my clam state of mind. "I'll stay. You guys go..."
He kind of frowned at that. But he said, "Kay. Just... keep talking to her. She might not be... dead."
"Yeah I know. Just go guys...” I nodded up at him.
He looked down to me, and then to her. He one-armed hugged me and stood up. He gathered everyone and ushered them away to find a teacher. All of this was about five minutes after Abby fell. Yet I could tell she was dead. Her eyes got all clouded, and by the time the group got back with a teacher, Kim was on the phone trying to call the hospital, and the teacher was contacting Abby's grandparents. We could hear her grandmother screaming and crying, "Oh, Abby! Why our Abby? How did she die?"
"Well," the teacher paused trying to recollect herself, "She wasn't acting right in class, and she was in the hall talking to a group of students and they say she couldn’t talk, and she just fell. Her body is being taken to the local hospital, so you should get there has soon as possible."
"Well, I'm on my way... Is there a chance she's alive?"
"I'm sorry, but there isn’t... Good bye ma`am." And with that the teacher hung up.
We could all hear the wail of the ambulance has it came down the street. It hurt to hear, it was so loud... I don't know how the people in it could stand it, unless the inside was sound proof...
'Hello children." I heard as I felt large, ice cold, hands on my shoulders. I jumped, looked up and spun around to see our over weight, short (but taller than my 5 foot height) principal. He had a very worried and sad look, so I knew Abby was dead.
"Ummm... Uh... Hello sir." I said after I had brought my heart rate back down.
"I need you kids to come to my office. I have to ask you questions individually."
"So is Abby...?" Katti started to ask, but she couldn't bring herself to finish.
"Yes. I'm afraid so Kateylen." He said with a said nod.
"Oh, well... That's..." Kim started to cry again.
"Well Kim you can come first while we call your parents and have them come pick you up." The fat, bald principal to her and then he shouted to the secretary, "Call Kim's parents and tell them to pick her up in about 20 minutes!"
"Okay sir! Will do!" The young and shaken secretary called back as she typed into the computer Kim's name. Then as Kim was being led into his office the secretary started to dial, "Hello? This is Mrs. Braymer of IMS; I am calling you to tell you that Kim needs to be picked up from school as soon as possible." A pause as Kim's mother or father spoke. "Huh? I'm sorry; your accent is very strong." Another pause. "Ooooh! I'm sorry, there was a student death, and Kim was a witness to it, and she is very shaken up." Once again, another pause. "Thank you, sir." and with that she hung up the phone. "Do any of you need to call your parents?"
"No. Mine are at work." I spoke up, just for myself and then I looked at my friends.
"I don't either, neither are home." Jacob looked very sad.
"Well, Kateylen? Darian? Shelby? Or how about you Emily or Sydney?" The secretary was actually starting to panic herself.
The rest of them huddled together, bunch of nerds I hang out with... Wait, where did Indianna go? "Guys, where did Inndi go?"
"I'm right here!" She yelled out jumping, making me jump out of surprise.
"Inndi! Why the hell?" I started to say, "Just... Grrrr... Don’t do that!" I growled at her like I tend to do when I get pissed.
"Well... Sorry! Jeesh! Don't go all animalistic!' She yelled laughing.
After everyone else was finished being questioned, it was my turn, "Kelsie, time for you." The chubby principal called from his door way.
"Be right back guys... Time for the interrogation to begin" I said with a sly and evil grin.
"Don't screw up Kels." Darian yelled at me, so I just gave him a cross eyed look.
"Screw you Darian." I yelled at him, laughing, before I went into the principal’s office.
When I got in there the first thing Mr. Lankan asked me was, “How close were you to Abby?”
“Um, not very close, Sir. I didn’t hate her, but she wasn’t a part of my social group. If that’s what you’re asking.” I replied nervously.
“How quick was her death? Why did you stay with her?” WOW! Was he was accusing me of something?
“She was dead before she fell I believe… I stayed because I didn’t want some retard coming up and messing with her body. Or incase she was still alive, I didn’t want her to ‘wake-up’ and not have anyone there with her.”
“Uh-huh.” He was interrupted by coughing, I backed away quickly.
“Mr. Lankan?” I was panicking for once. “Sir?!” I paused to think, “Did you come into contact with Abby’s blood?”
“I did. But I got it washed off, and who are you to ask me any questions?” Man, he was pissed at me...
"Sir. It's-" He cut me off!
"Get out of my office Kelsie! I do not tolerate dis-" More coughing, "Disrespectful students!"
"Sorry." I said with a bit of a smart-ass attitude and tone.
"That is what I mean! LEAVE! NOW!" He yelled.
"Okay-okay." I said leaving his office.
"OH. MY. GOD. Kels, what did you do?" Kim yelled right when I got out of the office. "We heard him yelling and what. Did. You. Do?!"
"Oh, my normal. You know annoying every one to hell." I said with a fake British accent.
"When are my parents coming to pick me up?" Kim was now talking to herself more than anything.
"Call their cells; maybe they're on their way." I suggested.
“Yeah, I guess so; they should have been here by now.” She was worried.
*BUZZ* “All the schools in the district are dismissed, if you need to contact your parents or guardians please come to the office with your cell phones and you may call them then.” The intercom called out to the whole school, surprising us because the speaker was so loud and close to us.
“Wow, lucky us; early dismissal.” I said happily.
“Kelsie! We just watched Abby die! How in the hell are you so happy?!” Kim shouted.
“Kim, we basically watched her fall. She died before hitting the ground.” I said bluntly, “Oh, you actually cussed Kim!”
“You have some serious issues! And yes I did cuss!” She was getting fed up.
“I know I have some issues, that’s nothing new to me.” I said calmly and not-so-seriously.
"Kelsie! I am so not kidding! You need to take this seriously!" Kim was near crying again, and then her father came to the doorway and called Kim out of the building.
"Bye-bye Kymmi!" Inndi called out along with Katti.
"Later!" I yelled out waving.
"Yeah, whatever. Bye guys!" She said sadly.
"Come on; let’s go outside to wait for the busses." I suggested.
"Um. No thanks. It's really cold." Katti said.
"Uh, no. It's like 70 degrees out side; it is the middle of April. Not cold!" I said sarcastically.
"Ok, ok, you're right. It's not that cold out... But I still feel cold and I don't want to go out side..." Katti said.
"You know, it's just because we're in shock. I feel cold all over too. We just need to get some fresh -not-so-school-ish smelling air." Inndi informed us cooly. "Plus, the air is warm, so we might also warm up. Some."
"See, come on. Let's get outside!" I yelled.
Jacob came around to stand by me and me being a goof-ball under a ton of stress, more than I let anyone see, started to tickle him and he bends over laughing. "I still win Jake." I said breaking up the sad and sullen mood that everyone was under.
"Kels!" He yelled out laughing, "knock it off." He was actually ticked off at me... That rarely ever happens... He just doesn't get mad. "I know WHAT you're trying to do, and it's just not working."
"Well..." I said with a mischievous grin, still trying to lighten the mood, "what am I trying to do?"
"Kels, I'm not in the mood for this shit!" He snapped at me.
"Okay, okay, sorry! Jeeze! Calm down!" I said surprised.
"Sorry Kelsie..." He apologized sadly, but with a hug.
"M`kay... Just trying to lighten the moods of everyone... Even I can't handle this depressed mood floating around." I slowly admitted more to my self than the others around me.
“Yeah… When you start acting serious, hell must truly be freezing over.” Darian joked.
“Ha ha, I’m more serious than you already!” I said with fake laughter.
“Oh! Well, that’s not good. Hell is freezing over.” Darian exclaimed.
"Ass..." I muttered.
"That's not very nice." He replied.
"Never said I was." Was my smart ass answer.
"Kelsie! Darian! Knock. It. Off!" Jacob yelled.
Hugging him I said in a fake, overly sweet tone, "He started it! Don't yell at me."
Silence.
"What`cha thinking, Jakey?" I asked with sweet childish voice.
"That you and Darian need to grow up..."
"Oh..." I drew out.
"Bye guys, our busses are here." Katti and Inndi said in unsion.
"Ok, bye bye twinnies." I said, still Jacob haveing one of his arms around my shoulder.
"Twinnies?" Inndi asked.
"You guys always seem to finish eachothers sentences. Like some twins can do." I explained.
"Okay, later guys!" They yelled getting on their bus.
We all waved. Then all that was left in our group was myself, Jacob, and Darian. All of the others walked or was a car person. We all sat on the ground and I leaned into Jacob, and he put his arm around my shoulder again. "Guys, what are we going to do? Mr. Lankan was coughing like Abby was before she died. I think what she had may had been transmited to him. This may not end well." I said worridly.
"Kels, I think it's going to be fine. He may have just had a cough. Nothing to be worried about." Darian said, not at all worried.
"I think she may have a point. What if we got it? We may be the next to..." Jacob didn't finish his thought, but we all knew what he was thinking.
"Well, that hobo was coughing. Abby got spit and blood in her eyes. Did we get any blood? or spit? I don't think we did..." I was off in my own world trying to make sense of reality. "I think it may just be blood and spit. You know like... Zombies."
"Kels, get your head out of the horror movie cloud." Jacob said laughing, 'A lot of desieases are transmited through blood and such. Not a zombie epidemic. That's just fiction."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Just a reference to Ramaro. Nothing more." I said with a nod.
"Ramaro?" Darian asked.
I gasped, "You don't know who Ramaro is?!" Darian shook his head, I continued then, "Land of the Dead, the guy that created zombies! 'When there is no more room in hell, the dead shall walk the earth.' You know that movie." I had quoted the famous quote of the origenal zombie movie with a sly smile.
"Nope, but I know zombies." Darian said cooly.
"Well, grrr-ness. Shit, my bus is here, bye guys." I said to them.
"Bye Kels." Was all that Darian said.
"See you tomarrow, if we have school." Jacob hugged me before I got on the bus.
"Uh-huh, bye." I said getting on the bus. I sat in the very back of the bus, in the single seat, or more commonly known to my group, the emo corner. But one of my bus buddies was already there. So I sat on him. "Hey Brett!"
"Hi, Kels." He said as I got off of his lap.
"So, did you hear about the death? And, how did you get on the bus before me?"
"Well." He started, "I couldn't find you, so I stood waiting for the bus. And THAT'S why we're getting out of school early? That's sad and cool at the same time. Who died?"
"Some weird, stalker girl named Abby, she's in my grade. And I was standing RIGHT in front of the door!" I yelled.
"How'd she die? And sorry."
"She was coughing, and spitting out blood. She just kinda fell down. Nothing too dramatic... sadly" I said with a very evil grin.
"How do you know it wasn't dramatic?" He wasn't too suprised by the evil, cold-heartedness. He's use to it by now.
"I was there, I watched her fall. And I stayed with the corpse." I said cooly, pulling out my mp3.
"And you're fine with this?" He asked a little shocked.
"Mmmhmm. Couldn't be helped. She walked up to us coughing up blood and we talked for like one minute trying to figure out how we could help." I said putting the head phones into my ears. The first song that came up was the 'Doom Song by Gir of Invader Zim' I started singing it and danceing.
He ripped the head phones out of my ears and asked "How are you just acting normal? No emotions!"
"Life goes on. I wasn't friends with her. It doesn't matter one way or another to me."
I told Brett calmly. As I looked around, all of the other 7th graders that had been really close friends with her were acting a little sick...
The bus drove on and I switched to the seat across from the lone seat. I layed down on the seat and fell asleep. I woke up to screaming. I was on the ground of the bus. I looked around, The bus was mostly empty, exept for Brett whispering to me, and dead bodies. I tuned Brett out while I looked around. There was blood, the kid in front of me is dead. I pull my self up and Brett pulls me to my feet.
"Kels! We gotta get out, Beckey hit a deer." Brett whispered urgently to me. I could hear the panic in his voice. People were standing outside the back door of the bus.
"Come on Kelsie. Get up and out." Some little blond girl whispered. Her hair reached he shoulders.
"I'm comming. Don't worry." I tried to tell them so that they'd calm down. I tucked my hair behind my ears and I kneeled down on the edge of the emergency exit and I jumped down. When you look at them they don't look to high, but when you look down from the top of them they look pretty high, and it is a long fall for someone that is only five foot two.
"Kels, no high-schoolers got on. You're the oldest." Brett said, still panicked.
"And THAT has anything to do with what's on hand NOW how?!" I'm pretty friggin confused at this point.
"Becky's knocked out... And you gotta tell us what to do." Brett just said matter-of-factly.
"Great time to tell me Brett. I am totaly not stressed at all. And, uh..." I paused to think of what we should do. "How'd she get knocked out?"
"Ummm... she hit her head off of the weel when she slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting the deer." Brett thought hard about this one.
"And why me?" I asked. I didn't want to be in charge of over 20 kids.
"You're loud, the oldest, and you're kinda bossy." He said bluntly.
"Whatever." I said jumping back into the bus. I went up to the front and checked on Becky. She was still breathing. I yelled, "Brett, someone. Get in here and help me!"
Brett and a boy named Cody jumped in. "What`cha need help with?" Brett asked helpfully.
"Um, you grab Becky's feet, Cody, you grab under her arms and get her out of the bus. If she wakes up, explain what happened." I ordered.
"OK." Brett said grabbing onto her feet. Cody did as I said too.
"Where are we exactly?" I asked. Noone knew. I picked up the walky-talky thing and pressed the button
*Buzz*"Um, hello? Our bus driver is knocked out and we need help. We are on bus 21" I announced into the microphone. I let go of the button.
*Beep* "This is the driver of bus 18. What is your location?"
I pressed the button again, "Uh, we don't know. We're not in town though. We're not near the highway either." I let go.
"Hmmm... Do you know which direction the highway is?" 18's driver asked.
"Yeah. I think so. I think we're near Hazel Dell. But we can't all walk. As I said, Becky is knocked out."
"Are all of the students ok?"
"I'll be right back after I double check." I ran to the back of the bus and yelled, "Are all of you ok? Can you all walk?"
"They're fine, exept for Rashel. She jumped out and we think she broke her arm." One of the 5th graders told me.
"Kels, the girl that was in front of you. She's dead." Brett reminded me.
"Right! Ok." I ran back to the walky-talky. "We have a dead girl, and one of the little girls might have broken her arm. What do I do with them?"
"Does anyone have a cell phone? And get the injured girl to sit still. Keep them all calm and get the dead girl out. Send a runner to the nearest house. Get help. We have a few busses on their way now. Call 9-1-1 on someones cell phone." She told me clearly.
"Ok." I told the bus driver. Then I yelled to Brett and Cody again, "Guys, get Raven out of the bus. Carefully."
I jumped out of the back of the bus again. I gathered all of the younger kids to the front of the bus while Cody and Brett got Raven out. I talked to the kids and tried to keep them calm.
Cody came to me after getting Raven out. "What now?"
"You're a fast runner right?" I asked. I didn't wait for a reply. "Go to the nearest house and tell them we need help. Tell them what happened."
He took off running. "Ok. I'll be back soon!"
"Does anyone have a cell phone?" I asked everyone. The answers were all the same. No. "Crap... I need one. We need to call for extra help... So if any of you have a cell phone, please tell me." I asked again.
"Nope. Sorry." They all said.
"Well, everyone get back in the bus. And sit tight." The all walked into the bus. "Brett, and I need another guy. We need to get Becky back in the bus. Lay her down on one of the epty seats." I announced. Brett and Ryan, a small blond boy, did as I asked.
*Beep* "We're sending out a couple busses out to get you kids, just stay on the walky-talky" A bus driver said.
I pressed the button on the walky talky. "What should I do with the younger children?"
*Beep* "Just keep them in the bus and keep them calm." He told me with a hint of athority. "Who am I talking to right now?"
"Kelsie Scoggins from bus 21."