The Hamster Wheel

The Turning

All eyes landed on Greg, who was frantically pacing back and forth in front of the door. 

"This s**t too f****d up for me to die like this," Destiney said and grabbed the stick from Shane.

Within seconds, she was sprinting across the room with her arms raised high, preparing for contact with Greg's head. Just within inches from his face, Greg managed to turn around, catch the meter stick, & yank it from her hands. The force it took to yank it from her hands threw her to the ground, and she crash landed into a desk.

"Destiney!" Shane yelled running to her. 

"THEYRE LYING!! THEY HAVE TO BE LYING!" Greg screamed. "I don't even remember them putting anything inside of me! It's not possible!"

"Wait a f*****g minute'!" Riley shouted over him. 

I looked over at her standing next to me and that's when I realized she was a holding a gun aimed at the professor. Chase grabbed my arm and pulled me into the furthest corner away from her. 

"This is f*****g crazy!"

"Where did you get a gun?"

"What if you shoot him and the disease becomes airborne from his blood?!"

Everyone started screaming in outrage as the events unfolded before our eyes. 

"SHUT THE f**k UP!" Riley yelled. 

Suddenly, Greg's face went pale and he dropped to the floor like a limp noodle. His body began to seizure uncontrollably and his mouth filled with foam. 

"Oh my god, somebody help me!!" 

"HELP!" 

People began to bang on the windows looking for a way out as Chase and I continued to watch Greg. Shane managed to get to Destiney in time to pull her towards us and that's when the ultimate transformation began. 

Greg's skin began to bulge, forming wormlike shapes all racing towards his brain. Stopping at his temporal lobe, they began to squirm until eventually they disappeared.  

Suddenly ... he was awake. 

Jumping upright, he perched on the floor like an animal. His head did a slow scan of the room with blood pouring from his blood shot eyes. He was seemingly concentrated, taking it all in. His body was still and calm as his neck was the only thing moving. There wasn't a single sound of him breathing that could be heard. 

Without warning, a girl let out a cry for help when she seen his eyes. Within milliseconds he sprung onto her and pushed her to the ground. 

Screams filled the air and people began to frantically rush towards the door. Chase grabbed me and started pulling me away from the scene, only I couldn't bring myself to look away. 

I had to see what he had become. 

Perched over her like a predator, he opened his mouth and out came a long, reptile like tongue about 4 ft long. As the girl screamed in terror, he grabbed her by her throat and licked her face from her chin to her forehead. His saliva was thick and sticky, leaving evident strings between his mouth and her face. 

Then his teeth began to show and within a matter of seconds, his mouth opened wide enough to fit her entire head. Forcing it down his throat, her head was gone within a matter of seconds. 

"Holy f*****g s**t, we gotta go bro," Shane screamed behind me. Pushing me out the door, Chase grabbed my hand and we sprinted down the hall. 

Another classroom door bursted open and out poured a hand full of people running wildly in our direction. 

I looked at Chase in a panic. Too much was happening at the same time to truly concentrate on anything. 

Tapping his shoulder, I pointed to the stairs. 

Within a matter of seconds, we started to bolt down them towards the lobby area. Only when we got there, that's when we seen them. 

In the middle of the lobby stood a group of about 15 people in blue hazmat suits. Each one of them had a long black stick in one hand, and a baton in the other. They were all huddled in a circle facing each other. Their body expressions and arm movements were stiff with tension as they seemed to be listening to the screams and arguing with each other. 

We all froze in our tracks, too scared to assume they were here to help.

Until...

"OH MY GOD, HELP US! HELP US! THEY'RE EATING US UP THERE!"  A girl screamed from the other end of the hall. 

Running towards them with open arms, as soon as she came within 6 ft of the group, one of the people in the suits reached forward with the black stick. Within immediate touch, she fell to the floor and began to spasm uncontrollably. 

"They f*****g tasering people," Riley said behind me. 

"Get her to the lab!" He yelled. Two of them immediately scrambled to pick her up and dragged her over to the computer lab. 

Slowly backing away, I grabbed Chase's hand and began to pull him towards me. In the midst of me doing so, one of them turned around and spotted us. 

"WE GOT RUNNERS," they yelled.

Turning around, we made a dash for the end of the hallway in the opposite direction.

"YO THE DOOR RIGHT HERE!" Shane yelled.

Approaching the door, we all slammed into it trying to push it open. It refused to give and that's when we seen the chains wrapped around the handles on the other side. 

"f**k!" Chase cried. 

"THEY'RE f*****g COMING" Destiney said. They were now running towards us with full speed. 

We all began to run towards the school lockers and turned the corner into the second hallway. I was fully aware there was no stairwell access on this side of the building. We were running out of options fast. 

"There's no  way out over here," I said frantically. Yanking my arm towards the wall, Chase pulled me towards a janitor closet and yanked it open.

We all piled in one after the other and closed the door shut. 

"Hold the door, Shane!" He yelled. 

Riley, Destiney and I both looked at Chase throwing everything off of the janitors rack. 

"What the f**k are you doing?" 

As soon as I asked, Chase pulled out a handheld gun from behind a sanitizing dispenser attached to the wall. Checking the mag, he re clipped it and took off the safety feature. 

Pounding from the door filled the whole room and Shane tightened his grip on the door. 

"We did all this s**t for a gun?!" Riley exclaimed. 

"Shut the f**k up!" Chase said. Pushing the rack aside, a hidden door came into view with a lock on it. Chase fumbled for some keys in his pocket and pulled them out to find the key to unlock the door.

"You jus have this s**t?"Destiney asked. 

"I have my ways," Chase responded and popped the lock off. Swinging it open partially, he ushered for us all to follow him and disappeared on the other side of the door. 

My anxiety started to kick in and out of fear of having another panic attack, I forced myself through the slit and stumbled down some stairs. Managing to catch me before I fell, Chase grabbed me and pulled me into him. 

It was pitch black. 

"Shane make a run for it!" Chase yelled. Everyone had followed except him. He was still holding the door. 

Within a matter of seconds, Shane ran through the door and shut it. 

"I got a flashlight," Shane muttered. Taking out some keys, he turned on his flashlight and lit up a flight of old, dirty cement stairs leading down to another door. 

"Let's go, it's another way out," Chase said. Pounding sounded from the door and my heart skipped a beat. 

Holding Chase's hand, I ran down the stairs and he pushed open the door. It opened up into the parking garage. 

"Let's take my car!" Shane screamed. We all nodded and started running after him. Approaching a grey hyundai, I hopped in the back with the girls and Shane and Chase were in the front. The world was starting to spin in my head and I couldn't focus on anything for too long without wanting to vomit. 

I bent over in my seat and tried to make time slow down. 

"f*****g DRIVE!" Riley screamed. 

"SHUT THE f**k UP, WHAT IT LOOK LIKE IM DOING ?" Shane yelled back. 

As soon as the car started, I heard the door burst open and feet racing against the ground. We suddenly lurched forward and my head hit the back of Chase's seat hard. 

"f**k, baby are you okay?" he asked, reaching his hand back. I grabbed it and said yes even though my head was hurting and the world was still spinning. 

"These people are so f****d up. Why are they chasing us?" Destiney asked.

"I don't wanna find out. It's f*****g wild," Riley said.

I sat up and seen that we were headed towards the ramp, except as soon as we got closer, we noticed two of the people in hazmats standing in front of it. 

"GET OUT OF THE CAR, NOW!" they yelled. 

What the f**k are they going to do...

"Shane..." Destiney whispered. 

Suddenly, one of them pulled out gun and aimed it us.

"f*****g MOVE!" he yelled. 

We all sat there staring at them, debating on our next move. Chase had a gun , but if he pulled that out, they'd shoot us for sure. 

"Don't do anything yet Chase," I whispered. 

Shane could either run them over or give us up, and I already knew what he was going to do. 

His foot hit the gas pedal and the car lurched forward at a remarkable speed. The hazmats both tried to break apart and run, but it was too late for one of them. Shane knocked one down and the car thumped over him. 

"SLOW DOWN!!! THE GATES DOWN!!!" Riley screamed. 

Once i got past the fact that we ran over an actual person, I looked up to see what Riley was talking about. Only by the time I did, the car rammed head first into the gate and I felt my body lurch forward before I lost consciousness.