Through Their Eyes.

I slowly slide my hand into Andrew's as we watch my hometown burn from the hill. He is looking at me, I can feel it. As I witness houses and corpses turn to ash, I have no words. I cannot even look at him, lest I start to cry. Andrew drops my fingers to pull me into his arms.

"You know, you don't have to be strong for me." He whispers in my ear.

Tears spill as I blink, which irritates me greatly. His fingers are stroking my ash-filled hair. "They're gone," I sob dumbly. "Everyone... Just..."

"Shh...You don't know that, Natasha." He replies softly. "We'll find someone." He pulls back slowly to smile reassuringly at me.

I nod once and scrub the tears from my dirt-streaked face. Things are bad, but I know I have to be strong, regardless of what he says. I am supposed to be the strong one. He always thought so, and I don't want to disappoint him. Disappointing Andrew again would surely kill me. I offer him a small smile, though I can tell he knows it's forced. "Where to?" I ask.

* * *

I stared at the clock impatiently, holding childish, dramatic countdowns in my head to welcome the new minute. My thoughts silenced as the crackle of the intercom interrupted my seemingly quiet world. "All freshmen report to the auditorium, please, freshmen to the auditorium. Thank you." This bewildered me; there were never assemblies that late in the day. Though I already knew what time it was, I glanced at the clock once more. Four minutes until the end of sixth hour, meaning there was only a little over an hour left of school. "Mr. Gage?" I asked my history teacher softly.

"Yes?" Came his answer as he turned toward me.

"What's going on?" I wondered.

His young face was set in what appeared to be a mixture of worry and confusion. "I have no idea. They gave me no prior knowledge of this." He admitted.

I detected no lie in his eyes, so I nodded. As he turned, I pulled out my phone to send a brief text message to my younger brother asking why they had been called down.

His reply came quick: Medical Exams.

This confused me even further. Then again, he could have been wrong; Nick was a generally confused child. Still, I could not shake the nervous feeling in my gut. In a lame attempt to clear my thoughts, I began to doodle in my notebook. I paused mid-scribble to listen to the speaker on the wall politely ask for the sophomores to make way for the auditorium. The bell had not yet sounded to dismiss us to our final class which added to the day's oddities. The lot of us looked to Mr. Gage for information he did not contain; poor guy. I continued to draw, awaiting and dreading our turn.

After being called down, we marched to the auditorium as a herd to discover our fate. While we filed in, I noticed quite a few men on the stage, many who appeared to be members of the CDC. A few freshmen and sophomores sat in the back section of the room under guard, looking terrified.

"Juniors, take a seat in the front. You will be called up for your examinations according to name," the assistant principal, Mr. Maul called to us. An obviously forced expression of calm was etched on his face.

I was hesitant to find my seat, for I knew this day would not turn out to be a pleasant one. My thoughts shifted to Andrew, the love of my life; the boy who had traveled hours to see me today. I sighed impatiently.

"Those with last names starting with A through D, please approach the stage now." Mr. Maul shouted.

I watched in curiosity as the men began searching the students' bodies. "They aren't allowed to do that," I murmured angrily to myself. This reminded me that I really was not a fan of people, frankly, they annoyed the hell out of me. I was mostly independent, forced to grow up at a young age. I had already felt like I was in my mid-forties. In my mind, I was surrounded by infants. And I just so happened to be the victim of the evil entity that is fate.

"E through H."

I rose somewhat clumsily and stepped onto the glossy wooden stage. I couldn't help but shiver as many sets of menacing eyes focused in on me.

"your name?" asked the only man in a regular dress suit, who sat at a make-shift desk.

"Hartman," I answer, giving him my last name softly.

"Spell that, please?" he was polite, which somewhat surprised me considering he reeked of government.

I sighed softly and recited the letters that make up my maiden name, as I've had to do many times before.

"Natasha?" he said, pulling a file from the pile of folders.

I nodded. A man in what appeared to be a white germ resistant suit led me to his station which was complete with a doctor. "Remove your jacket," the man in the suit commanded.

I dutifully unzipped my hoodie and allowed it to slide onto a chair. "What is this for?" I asked as he began to examine my neck, arms and hands carefully while a doctor checked my temperature through my ear.

He looked to the doctor who shook his head once. The man fell to searching my legs and said, "You have nothing to worry about. There's just a mild virus going around that we're trying to prevent."

Yeah right, I thought. I asked no more questions, there was no point because I knew I wouldn't receive a straight answer. It was extremely uncomfortable for me to be searched like that, I felt very invaded.

After the doctor used a flashlight to check my eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, he asked, "Have you any open wounds, sores, blistering, flu symptoms, things of that sort?"

"Um, no?"

"All right, she's clear," announced the man wearing the white plastic suit to a few identically dressed men.

"Okay, Natasha, you'll need someone to come pick you up. No bus service today," said the doctor, removing his rubber gloves, sanitizing his hands and putting on a new pair.

"Okay," I replied slowly.

"So go have a seat. You may not leave until you're signed off." He smiled from beneath his mask then turned away from me.

I walked to my seat dialing Andrew's number. The ringing seemed to take forever until I heard the almost inaudible click. "Hello?" He asked.

I smiled, already feeling a bit better. "Andrew, I don't know what's happening... But can you come get me?"