Viral

• Ronan Gallagher, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

Amy Parker stood outside of her burning house, watching as dark plumes of smoke polluted the thick air.
Scorched ashes flew amongst the charred debris of what remained of her house.
Why her?
Amy could not bear to take a second glance at her flaming house, so she walked into the forest beyond.
Much to Amy's surprise, the heart of the overgrown forest was buzzing with people.
But something was not quite right.
Something made them all look alike.
She decided to ignore it.
Then she realized that she had been ignoring something far more important; her house.
How the fire began still remained a mystery.
A mystery that Amy Parker was determined to solve.
But Amy was too busy thinking that she walked straight into a big, burly man.
Then it hit her.
Their eyes.
Their eyes were the same.
Their eyes were...
Red.
The man reached out and grabbed her arm.
She lashed out but could not loosen the strong grip of this monstrous stranger.
He was strong and looked to be as tall as six foot tall.
His eyes were ablaze but his face was blank, showing no expression.
Amy twisted his arm and he screamed out in pain.
He fell onto the floor writhing around in pain.
"I daren't stay any longer!", she said to herself, as she bolted out of the forest.
She was free.
Although she had had a head start, they were gaining on her.
Then, some of the "Red-Eyed People" had cut her off by taking a short-cut.
Amy tried to stop but instead stumbled and fell.
The pain that jolted through her body was searing.
She slowly slipped out of consciousness.
The last thing that she saw with her blood-shot eyes, were figures looming over her.
Then, she forgot.
She awoke inside a glass dome, tied to a chair.
A speaker lay in one corner and a desk sat in the other.
Suddenly the speaker burst into life.
A booming voice roared, "What business do you have with Viral!?"
"I don't know what Viral even IS!", Amy retorted.
"Then you will stay here until you tell the truth!"
But Amy was looking at the contents of what was on the desk.
Something glinted on the desk.
Amy then recognized it as a knife.
She kicked the desk and the knife skidded across the ground and came to a stop at her feet.
She flicked it up into the air and it landed in her lap.
Though her hands were tied, she reached over and grasped the knife and began to saw.
Finally, the rope that bound her wrists gave way and she got up, through the knife at the glass and it came down, smashing into a million tiny shards.
Then she was running running through laboratories and knocking over vials of red liquid and sending files scattering across tiled floors.
She turned a corner and found a ladder at the far end of a hall she ran to it and started to climb.
She must have been underground because when she took her first few steps on soiled terrain the sun hit her face and that made fer realise that she was safe.
Safe.