Yesterdays Gone: SEASON TWO (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (Yesterday's Gone) (74 page)
Read Yesterdays Gone: SEASON TWO (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) (Yesterday's Gone) Online
Authors: Sean Platt,David Wright
Tags: #post-apocalyptic serialized thriller
Everything seemed normal, except for herself, of course.
“I’m fine,” she said, and then, feeling the scrutiny of the entire class, she decided that she had to get out of there. Now.
“I need to see the nurse,” Noella said. She grabbed her bag and left the classroom before Mr. Mahr had a chance to write a permission slip.
Noella bypassed the nurse’s office, and instead went to the girl’s room closest to her classroom, then into the farthest stall, and sat on the toilet and collapsed into tears.
She’d thought these pills were working. She should’ve known something was wrong a few weeks ago when the nightmares started coming back. She tried to tell herself that they were just regular nightmares like everyone else had. It wasn’t like they were bleeding into her real life like they had done for so much of her childhood. Nor had she heard any of the voices that usually came with them. Other than the nightmares, things had been okay.
Until now.
Why did the pills stop working?
Dr. Foster spent months experimenting with different pills until they found one that both worked, and didn’t leave her feeling like a zombie. The pills had been a godsend, allowing her to live a somewhat normal life for the first time in years. But now, for some reason, they just stopped working.
She’d have to go back to Dr. Foster. More tests, more scans, and more medication.
Another six months of being a guinea pig,
hoping
they’d find a way to make her feel normal again. She should’ve known better.
Normal died 10 years ago.
**
Somewhere on the way from the bathroom and to the nurse’s office, Noella had a change of heart.
She decided that so long as Mr. Mahr didn’t tell anyone, neither would she. And maybe she could avoid telling Josie and Randy, also. Because the last thing she wanted in her senior year, was to become a walking zombie again.
So she’d just keep today’s episode to herself, and hope she didn’t have another incident that would get her locked up.
**
Though she might be able to keep the biology class freakout from her family, the school was another story.
As she went from class to class, whispers grew louder and the pointing more obvious. People gave her a wide berth in the hallway, and she could practically hear them thinking, “Oh no, Noella’s gonna blow.”
Gym was mercifully quiet, and as Noella was changing from her gym shorts to her jeans, she began to think that maybe people would just drop the matter. Then the unique cruelty of locker room laughter slapped her in the face.
The echoing giggles came from a clustered circle at the end of her row of lockers, half the girls in the class gathered, staring at something Noella couldn’t see. The other half were looking up, staring at her as she approached the circle, some pointing and all of them laughing.
It was Vicky in the middle – Becca’s new B.F.F., a bleach blonde cheerleader who was as vicious as she was beautiful – passing her cell phone from girl to girl. Noella knew what was on the video, even before she heard herself screaming. Funny, she hadn’t even noticed Vicky recording her when she had her little episode during Biology.
That bitch!
Noella had no idea how long the video was, but one of the girls, Jenny, had it in her hands and was scrubbing the player back and forth and filling the locker room with Noella’s screaming on repeat.
Mako was rounding the opposite row of lockers, coming from the restroom. Vicky turned toward her, took the phone back from Jenny, then held it up for Mako to see.
“Look, Mako, your best friend is on YouTube!” Vicky held the phone up and pressed play.
The Noella in the video screamed.
“You delete that!” Mako shouted, stepping into the huddle until she was just inches from Vicky’s face.
“Or what?” Vicky said, taking a step forward. She was easily six inches taller than Mako, and athletic while Mako was petite. The number of girls swelled around them at the prospect of a fight.
Noella ran to Mako. “Forget about it,” she said, pulling Mako from the crowd. “This bitch isn’t worth it.”
Noella turned and walked back to her locker, holding Mako’s hand behind her. They made it halfway there when Vicky said, “I bet they’re gonna sneak back to the showers together. Boys don’t want them, but at least they have each other! She love her long time!”
Vicky laughed hysterically. The chorus of sheeple echoed her mania, and the cork finally popped from years of Noella’s bottled rage.
Noella’s fists curled into balls, her lip twitched, and she could feel the rage stirring deep in her gut. An inhuman growl fled her lips as she turned toward Vicky, then ran at her screaming, knocking her cell phone to the floor, and punching her hard in the face.
“Becca’s not here to save you this time,” Vicky screamed, rubbing the splotch of crimson on her left cheek for a second before shoving Noella back and into the lockers. As Noella fell back, Vicky jumped her.
They fell to the ground, swinging, scratching, and kicking as the girls around them shouted, “
FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!!!”
The crowd receded, giving the girls room to roll around on the floor,
as an evil trinity of Vicky’s girls held Mako’s arms and kept her from jumping in or stopping the fight.
But no one was holding Coach Carla, who rushed at the girls and pulled them off one another and split them apart. Coach Carla tossed them each toward opposite lockers, and yelled at the other girls to get to class.
Vicky had a nasty bruise on her left cheek, and a good scratch right next to it. The back of Noella’s head throbbed where Vicky had landed two punches, but other than some hair pulling, Vicky hadn’t hurt her too bad. If there was a winner of this fight, it was Noella by a landslide.
Though, whatever pride she felt at getting a few good hits in faded when she saw Coach Carla’s eyes.
Coach Carla gave Noella a sympathetic look, and Noella wasn’t sure which stung worse — the look of pity, or the look of disappointment which followed. Coach Carla sent them both to the dean’s office.
**
Noella was silent as Dean Dinnen read her the riot act, and simply nodded when he asked if Coach Carla’s story was true. Per school policy, Noella was sent back out to the office to wait for her parent or guardian.
Vicky’s mom appeared just before sixth period, petting the back of her daughter’s head and showering her with baby talk, while shooting Noella the evil eye as if to say,
“How dare you hit my precious baby?”
Noella had to wait until 45 minutes after the final bell for Josie and Randy to show.
Josie’s eyes were bloodshot and leaking, though it probably had a lot more to do with her near-constant sneezing and rattling cough than the call from the dean. If anything, Josie seemed sad and slightly hollow, silently sorry for the life of misery Noella was forced to endure. But there was also a look of relief when the dean told her about the fight. Noella wasn’t sure why, but the dean failed to mention what started the fight — an almost repeat of
the incident,
which must’ve been a huge relief to Josie.
If Josie had compassion in her eyes, Randy had whatever the opposite was. She had gotten in trouble and wasted his time, and despite his morning advice, he would damn well make Noella pay.
* * * *
TO BE CONTINUED…
ForNevermore
THE NEXT SERIAL THRILLER FROM SEAN PLATT & DAVID WRIGHT
Get Episode 1 now at amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007EEF3TS/
Or get the full season at amazon
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007SNNUMW/
Or click below for more information:
http://collectiveinkwell.com/fornevermore
* * * *
SEE HOW IT ALL BEGAN…
YESTERDAY’S GONE : SEASON ONE
On October 15 at 2:15 a.m. everyone on Earth vanished.
Well, almost everyone.
A scattered few woke alone in a world where there are no rules other than survival... at any cost.
A journalist wanders the wretched reality of an empty New York, in search for his wife and son.
A serial killer must hunt in a land where prey is now an endangered species.
A mother shields her young daughter from danger, as every breath fills her with terror.
A bullied teen is thrilled to find everyone gone. Until the knock on his door.
A fugitive survives a fiery plane crash. Will he be redeemed, or return to what he’s best at: the kill?
An eight year old boy sets out on a journey to find his missing family. What he finds will change him forever.
And there’s a few people who aren’t surprised that this happened at all. In fact, they’ve been dreaming about this day for years.
These survivors aren’t alone...
Someone or something is watching them.
And waiting...
Strangers unite.
Sides are chosen.
Will humanity survive what it never saw coming?
The only certainty is that Yesterday’s Gone.
You’ve never read anything like
Yesterday’s Gone
– the epic, groundbreaking, thrilling new series of serialized fiction. Season One takes you on a non-stop ride from the day the survivors awoke all the way to the shocking season finale.
Visit:
http://serializedfiction.com/yesterdays-gone
for more information.
* * * *
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Sean Platt
is author of the books
Four Seasons, Penny to a Million, Writing Online
, and co-wrote
Available Darkness
and the
Yesterday’s Gone
series.
In addition to being a regular contributor for
Copyblogger.com
, the Web’s premier content marketing site, Sean has written copy for some of the largest writing and lifestyle blogs on the Web.
A new breed of publisher, Sean writes and publishes nonfiction and fiction in several genres ranging from children’s books to horror. Sean is a co-founder of the publishing imprint Collective Inkwell Media, along with David.
He is available for speaking events aimed at writers, publishers, and creative entrepreneurs, as well as for individual consultation.
Sean is living the writer's dream in Ohio with his wife and two children.
Connect with Sean at:
http://facebook.com/ghostwriterdad
* * * *
David W. Wright
is a former newspaper reporter and cartoonist. He is co-author of
Available Darkness
and the
Yesterday’s Gone
series. He is also working on an illustrated children’s book for preschoolers.
He writes about Collective Inkwell stuff at:
He blogs and rants about writing, pop culture, and other stuff at:
David lives on the East Coast with his wife, his four year old son, and the world’s most pooping-est cat.
Connect with David at:
http://twitter.com/thedavidwwright
* * * *
AVAILABLE DARKNESS
THE DARKNESS HAS AWOKEN
FBI Special Agent Caleb Baldwin is on the hunt for a serial killer who has left a trail of burned bodies. One of those victims – his wife. As he gets closer to finding the killer, he falls deeper into an elaborate conspiracy.
A man wakes buried alive with no memory of who or what he is. In his pocket, a note: “Avoid the sunlight and don’t touch anybody.” Now he is being hunted by the FBI while trying to remember his monstrous past. He must control the darkness within before it consumes him and the child whose life he must protect.
