Zombie survivor

Chapter 3.

"Yeah, I'm fine with it" I lied.

Sam watched me, obviously, he knew I was lying, however, he didn't think anything of it and waved us on our way to the street.

"Didn't you invite Janet?" I asked Jeff as he walked past me.

"I did, but I don't see her anywhere" he picked up his phone and started texting.

I moved closer to Vanessa as she walked by.

"Are you feeling okay?”

“Uh, yeah...I'm just a little distracted..."

However, I knew perfectly well that something was wrong, something was bothering her or just making her restless, I knew her too well. Maybe she had just had a bad night.

"Are you sure?” I insisted, telling myself that if she denied again, I would leave her alone.

I also didn't want to attack her with questions, especially if she wasn't feeling well. If she denied it again, I would devote myself to distracting her from whatever it was that was keeping her so strange.

"I fought with my parents, again. No big deal.” She whispers.

"Oh, are you okay?”

"Yeah, just a little upset still" she mentioned. "Do you know where we're going?”

"I'm just following the group.”

Vanessa laughed and said: "And did you ask Professor Hana's permission? It's a day off, but to leave the hotel you had to ask permission…”

"Carlwell would come with us, but he said he was too tired so he would just cover for us.”

"Carlwell breaking the rules" said Alex sarcastically. "I never imagined it.”

"That's strange" Halston followed.

We walked down the long avenue, surrounded by large buildings and people walking back and forth. And although I didn't like big cities very much, they seemed cheerful. It seemed to me that it was turning out to be a great day. And well, I could tell you all about our journey, but the only interesting part of it is when Jeffh called his girlfriend, and she explained that she couldn't make it because she was feeling sick. The boy felt guilty for abandoning her, but Alex encouraged him to continue with us.

Several minutes later we found ourselves in those glass tunnels of Ripley's Aquarium. The only thing that separated us from those fantastic animals and thousands of liters of water were those crystals. While all the other tourists were admiring, I couldn't stop staring at the glass waiting for it to shatter and drown us down there.

Halston seemed just as enthralled as I was, I approached her.

"How tall do you think it is?" I asked her.

"Thickness? I have no idea, I just hope it's enough. I don't want to die drowning in an aquarium, or anywhere in the world for that matter.”

"I think, if the glass breaks, we're more likely to be devoured by one of those things before we run out of oxygen" I mentioned pointing to a shark that was hovering aimlessly around the huge fish tank. "Fear of drowning?”

"Wouldn't that be the worst? Feeling how you run out of oxygen, and not being able to get more... that despair... my worst fear...”

"I guess there are many ways to die, and they all scare me. Burned, crushed, etc. Maybe just being buried alive... but I never think about it.”

"It must be just as horrible.”

"You know, let's promise each other that at our funerals one will stab the other before we're buried, just to be on the safe side.”

"Okay" She laughs: "So, what else terrifies you?”

"Spiders, I hate those fuckers.

Halston laughed, about to say something back when Sam called her over to show her a specific fish. I was bored, I mean, sure it was a good place, beautiful. The price of admission was worth it, I just felt bored at that specific moment. I walked through the tunnels watching all the fish, not realizing I had gotten too far ahead of myself.

A couple of security guards were hovering around, then I heard their radio start beeping. They communicated, and from the look on their faces, it must have been serious. They quickly vanished down the tunnels.

Several minutes later the fire alarm began to beep, and several managers began to ask us to leave the site. As we exited through the tunnels a voice spoke over the loudspeakers, asking for a huge apology as the aquarium would close at that very moment, then invited us to return to the cashier to ask for our refund.

I walked back the way I came along with the large crowd of people, then I heard several shouts coming from behind us. One of the guards escorting us stopped and hurried to grab his gun.

"Back down the hallway, quick!" he shouted to us rather frightened.

And as expected, everyone ran like hell in search of the nearest exit. And why should I lie, I was also running desperately with the group. When we got out of the tunnels we reached the corridors near the visitors' area, where I found Alex trying to use his phone, apparently without success. Seeing me, he ran towards me and pulled my hand from down an alternate hallway to the one everyone was taking.

"Hey!" I complained.

"Where have you been? " he asked altered.

"I was in the tunnels... What the hell are you doing?”

"Do you remember Jackie?”

"Yes, yes... the girl in the next room... Austin had a crush on her, and I don't blame him, she's quite attractive, though not exactly my...”

"Her father is a colonel...”

"Yes, I know. He sent a couple of guys to scare Austin...”

"Jackie called Halston" he explained as he pulled me through an emergency exit, we started down a long set of stairs. "She told us to leave town... the country, to be more precise!”

"What the hell is going on?”

"I don't know, her father mentioned to her that Canada was having too serious, life and death problems. She remembered we were coming on a trip and called us. Maybe it's just an attempt on our lives...”

"Where is the rest of them?”

"A guide brought them by this exit, she said it was the quickest way back to the avenue.”

We stopped on the first floor in front of another set of signposted corridors, followed them out through a wide, thick doorway into a small, recessed alley off the main street. We had gone around the entire Aquarium. However, there was something different about the street, we could hear shouts and car alarms. At the same time, a large number of military helicopters were flying back and forth.

As I stepped out onto the street, the city was in complete chaos.