Dead Quarantine by A. Rosaria

to be called. She harrumphed.
They kept going at it. Once Jake and she were like that, but that
was a long time ago. A lot had changed after three years together.
Could it be they had outgrown each other? No, Jake had stayed the
same; he never changed and maybe never would.
    “Mel! Vic!”
    They ignored her and kept going at it. Lips
on lips and tongues locked in a passionate struggle. She walked up
to them and kicked Vic. He and Mel broke out laughing.
    “Jealous much, Sarah,” Mel said.
    Sarah blushed. In a way, she was, but that
was beside the point.
    Vic chuckled. “Stop teasing her, between her
and her admirers, she has no reason to be jealous of anyone. She
could have a sea of men, me excluded, naturally.”
    If she wasn't blushing already, she was now.
Quick to change the subject back to why she came, she said, “Didn't
you hear the gunfire?”
    All play left their faces and they nodded.
The rooms were soundproof, but up close, gunshots could be
heard.
    “On and off shots have been fired and just a
while ago, one was pretty close,” Vic said.
    She had not heard any other shots. Had they
been too busy with their own problems to be able to hear the
outside problem going on? Was the world about to end or
something?
    Mel held on Vic tighter, worry on her face.
“What happened?”
    Sarah told them how Jake, George, and Sam
went down to take a look and to find out what was going on and that
she had followed them. “A soldier stopped them at the stairs and
shot Sam.”
    Vic jumped up. “Sam Wei? He's dead?”
    Sarah lowered her head. She had forgotten
that Sam was Vic's childhood friend; of course it would hit him
hard.
    “I'm sorry. I—”
    Vic shoved her aside and rushed for the
door. She ran after him and grabbed his arm. “Don't.”
    “Let me go!” He pulled his arm free and
opened the door.
    “They'll shoot you too.”
    His shoulders sagged. Mel ran into his arms,
consoling him. He cried out.
    Sarah felt like a real killjoy. They had
their moment of happiness in a shitty day in the corner of this
room and along she came, the harbinger of bad news. She should have
left them alone in their happy cocoon.
    “What's going on?” Mel asked.
    “I...I think...sorry, guys, I don't really
know. Come with me. Maybe with everybody together we can figure out
what's happening.”
    “Yeah, that might be for the best,” Vic
said. “Could you go ahead; we'll join you later.”
    She wanted to protest but thought better of
it. They had to cope first with what had happened before they
joined the others. She left them standing, embracing each
other.

CHAPTER NINE
    Sarah
entered the classroom to the sound of brawling. Jake stood over
George who had a hand clasped over his cheek.
    “Leave him alone,” Tommy said.
    Slowly, Jake turned to face him. “What did
you say? Tell it to my face, you fat piece of trash.”
    “I said leave him alone!”
    Sarah cringed. Tom should have backed off.
She was to blame really; she should not have told him to grow some
balls, because now he was at the worse time. Although, at the same
time, she admired him for it.
    Jake jumped over a desk to get at Tommy. He
grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the window. Tommy
tried to push back, but Jake kept pressing on. The two nerds that
she brought in ran to the back of the room and stood gawking. No
help would come from them.
    George stood up and limped away. Sarah
grabbed him by his denim jacket sleeve. “Are you not going to help
him? He stood up for you.”
    George averted his eyes. “I didn't ask him
to. Why don't you stop Jake? He's your boyfriend; he might listen
to you. I would just be another victim.”
    He shoved her aside, dropped into a chair,
and slumped. No help there either. Lilly still sat half comatose at
her desk. Anna was swooning over Jake, a weird excited look on her
face. It was a wonder that drool wasn’t leaking out of her mouth.
Jake pulled back a fist, pushing Tommy's head with his other hand
against the