A silence fell over the earth for at least five seconds. Branches danced to the sound of the wind's music, a bird occasionally chirped - but civilization seemed to have taken a break from its tiresome work. November smirked as she heard the blonde snoring beside her; she lay nearly motionless. Then the earth's silence was rudely interrupted by a blood-curdling scream. Not sure how else to react, the ginger clutched onto the girl. "Rebecca, wake up!" November exclaimed, shaking her persistently.

"What?" Rebecca groaned, rolling on her side. The peace that she was finally able to feel in the dream universe had been disrupted. "You had better have an extremely just reason to have woken me so suddenly. My dream was getting..." She trailed off upon noticing the unrecognisable, potentially dangerous weather conditions of November's irises.

"I heard a woman screaming." The princess was shaking by now, and peered out of the window cautiously. Hurried footsteps could now be heard slamming against the pavement, and a large group surrounded the woman who had been the source of the horrific screams. And then they all ran.

The trees' dancing came to a sudden halt. People ravaged; they had lost their collective mind and were sprinting as much as they could. The sun shining within the clouds fell behind them, and the blue hues of mother nature's beautiful canvas fell to a deep grey. As if reflecting how the events had played out, it seemed that it had become a darker kind of day.

"I think it might be your imagination, November." Rebecca pouted, somewhat irritated by November's lack of certain evidence. November noticed the dull, empty forecast returning to her big, brown eyes. Dull and empty - just how it had always been.

As if on command, the clamour of footsteps bolting along the concrete grew closer to the sturdy treehouse. The screams of the citizens were becoming louder and louder, until they seemed like they were right outside. "AGHHHH!" Everybody outside screeched, scaring Rebecca straight out of her sleep. After reminding herself how to breathe, she finally found some words.

"Okaay, you were not dreaming." Rebecca panted, joining November at the window.

November looked further out and noticed that the residents were beginning to lose the natural glow that always seemed to grace them. Their bodies' pigment was fading quickly, until they appeared to look almost like a completely unsaturated, pale blue. It was almost like an illness season, except everybody was running around like headless chickens and there were piercing screams surrounding them.

The sunshine in their eyes seemed to have completely disappeared with the sun in the sky, a black abyss forming in all of their irises. Empty holes of nothingess; an array of dark grey clouds looking nearly black. A body of rain that fell fast enough that one could drown. Certainly an ominous symbol of what was yet to come.

Quickly remembering the two sidekicks who had been her trusted friends since she had arrived, November gasped. Were they amongst the crowd of the blue? Did they have the same lingering gloom in their eyes? She could only pray that they hadn't been around the 'screaming lady'. "Oh no, what about Austin and Ken?" November asked; Rebecca shook her head in response.

"They're smart -Ken not so much- but in their own way, they're gonna make it." Rebecca smiled.

A fever seemed to have fallen upon everybody who lived there. Citizens were leaning against trees, rain slamming down from their eyes and onto their delicate cheeks. "Just remember, I love you always." November heard a mother say to her only son, who looked up at her in confusion. Vomit and blood stained the pavements. The town of beautiful blues and dusky brown had been tainted. Now it was a sickly yellow and a fateful red.

"What makes you so sure that Ken and Austin will be okay with everyone in... this state?" November lacked the words to describe the world falling apart below their little treehouse. Droplets of light downpour threatened to escape from her emerald greens, but she refused to allow it to.

"They will. I promise." Rebecca half-smiled, question resonating throughout her own words. She did not dare to let her gaze drift to the families saying their final goodbyes. It was all too much emotion, and goodbyes encompassed far too many of her memories.

"But how do I know it's true?" November inquired back, an undertone of sass possibly interpreted in her words. More than anything, she wanted answers - answers that would clarify the situation and make her understand what this all was. But unfortunately, nobody could offer such certain truth to her. Nobody knew what was happening.

"Ken has been immune to basically any disease that this town has caught." Rebecca explained, recalling the boy's incredible survival skills. Although she described his intelligence as 'evolution having taken a step backwards', Ken knew how to survive absolutely anything. He had a spirit and strength beyond any she had ever seen. "And that's a lot."

"Austin?"

"He's a genius; at one point, he even found a cure to a virus spread here. Crazy how much respect people put on his name after that." Rebecca grinned. He was bullied by ignorant, racist classmates for his whole childhood - then was the same person to save their lives. Nobody ever gave him a hard time after that.

A sudden warmth despite the cold bite of the air had filled November's heart. The redhead let a small smile settle upon her face, as she looked hopefully at the blonde next to her. She could let herself calm down slightly and remember that as long as she, Rebecca, Ken and Austin were okay, everything would turn out fine for her.

She continued to look out of the window and saw the palace, where she should be. The butlers were all scurrying around, locking up the doors so the virus didn't get there.

November snorted at the sight, but quickly covered her mouth. Slowly, she removed her hand from her mouth and let herself be happy for a single second. She did not need to cover her mouth here. She was accepted and loved for what she was; it was not a princess, nor a perfect lady - she was November first.

"What did you just snort at?" Rebecca asked, with a soft laugh. The blonde attempted to follow November's gaze to receive a hint, but to no avail. She turned to look into her emerald green eyes for a hint of what was on her mind.

"Look at the palace and what the butlers are doing. Enough said." November smiled, watching the royal cowards hide from the virus.

"There's nobody around here. Cover your nose, shield yourself from people." The sudden order escaped from Rebecca's cherry lips. Distracted for a second by the strange mist sparkling in her deep brown eyes, November shook off the feeling and forced herself to return to her reality.

"Huh? What are we doing?" November inquired, observing around her in search of other people. Rebecca was right; the sounds of the screams had evaporated into nothingness. The dusky brown pavement had cleared as quickly as it had crowded.

"What I have to do every time this happens." Rebecca rolled her eyes, as if being plagued with a seriously terrifying disease was a common occurrence in her world. The mist in Rebecca's eyes swirled around, clearing to reveal the partially gray clouds that always resided there. "We're going to see Austin and Ken."

"Where would they be?"

The blonde's mind backtracked to the previous virus; all that had gotten her through it was Austin's genius and the smile that never failed to leave Ken's face. "We've told each other that when disaster strikes, we all meet at the school." Rebecca grinned.

She took November's hand and the two crept over to the school. It seemed that through the urgency of such a virus, people seemed to hold a sudden disregard for the areas of education.

Funnily enough, not very many people were there at all. The two darted behind a white wall, slowly turning yellow as the paint peeled. This building looked as if it was centuries old, and was no bigger than the average house around them. This was a classroom, November realised.

Rebecca saw Austin and waved to him. "Alright, Vember, make sure we're safe. We're going over to Austin." The sudden responsibility of ensuring their safety followed November like a black dog. She scanned the world around her before finally opening her mouth.

"O-Okay." November stuttered, hoping for the best. "Let's do this."

They sprinted past a few infected people. A loud, piercing shriek suddenly erupted from November. A rushed rain began to form in Rebecca's eyes as she turned towards the redheaded beauty. "Vember, please be okay." She whispered, before opening her eyes to reveal a slightly giggling November.

"No, no." November laughed, observing the worry resonating across Rebecca's features. Following the laughter that stemmed from her comment, the clouds in her emerald green irises darkened . "But where's Ken?"

"He's always a bit late." Rebecca huffed, rolling her eyes at the naïve princess. Her eyes softened after her comment however, and she allowed a small smirk to paint her face. "Seriously November, you had me worried for a second."

"Okay... okay." November repeated to herself, clutching onto Rebecca's arm until they reached Austin. His black hair swished in the coming breeze, and the sun made his light brown skin glow.

"Hey guys!" Ken cheerfully skipped over to the group and greeted them happily. His consistent enthusiastic grin completely contrasted the deadpan expressions of all the walking corpses around them. Something valuable was to be found in the blonde's attitude.

"Why is he so happy?" November grinned, chuckling at Ken's overexcited nature despite the occasion. "It might be contagious."

"Oh, he's always happy." Rebecca smiled. "It's part of his hyper personality."

"Austin, you close to finding any cure yet?" Ken asked, expectant of Austin as the 'smart friend' to have made some progress in developing a cure. To Ken, Austin was the beacon of hope that shone bright during such dark times. For Austin? That was Ken.

"The entire town's electricity has gone out, and everybody knows we're too poor to afford a computer." Austin shrugged; his hope seemed low, as if there was nothing left to do but watch as this town all became one big, walking corpse.

"We might have to search for resources." Austin considered, observing the landscape around him for any plants with potential curative properties. His head shook occasionally, the spark in his brown eyes almost completely diminished.

"How would we test them?" Ken asked, fascinated by Austin's brown eyes scanning the nature that surrounded the school. He had always wished that he could analyse things so quickly.

"We find someone with the virus, and use it on them. If they're cured, it must have worked." Austin muttered, preoccupied by studying the plants that were around him. 

A kid about their age stumbled toward them, his skin white as a sheet. Dark bags had formed under his eyes; one might guess that he hadn't slept in a year. His eyes were so bloodshot that it was hard to detect any emotion at all. Until November found one - fear.

"Leon?" Rebecca guessed.

An orange-red shade of his stomach's contents spread across the concrete; a sign of his last moments. His fearful eyes rose to the four as he shook intensely. A shaking finger lifted, and pointed at the raven-haired boy.

"A-Austin." He croaked out. "I know who you are."

At that point, he collapsed to the floor - presumably dead. Rebecca and Ken looked at the final remains of their classmate, remembering the times he'd thrown a pencil at the back of the teacher's head. Whenever he was asked about it, he would look around the classroom and shrug. However, the cheeky smile on his face gave it all away.

"Only 12 years old. That's how he's going to be remembered." Rebecca shook her head at the motionless body below her. "He never had a chance." November tried to show sympathy for the two grieving blondes, but made a completely unexpected move and pinned Austin against a wall. The violence surprised even herself.

"What was that all about?" She asked; she knew that if Austin had done something, they were all at risk of infection. In less than 48 hours, the town had already been devastated. People had died and would become just another statistic. Austin was her friend - but was he up to something?

"Nothing, I swear." Austin raised up his arms in surrender, but November could see more than a glint of an usually red storm forming in his brown irises. "Vember, we've been friends for years. I think we know his intentions by now." Rebecca warned, shooting a side glance at the redheaded princess.

"Okay." November nodded, walking alongside Rebecca. She knew that the crimson storms said more than the thousand words that she needed - she was not done being suspicious of Austin just yet.

"That kid is a psycho; a lot of infected people say crazy things." Austin pointed out, attempting to be rational despite the sudden event that had just happened. Ken and Rebecca nodded in agreement, and the walk became oddly silent.

"Okay, whatever." November shrugged, but kept giving Austin a suspicious look. She knew there was more to Leon's famous last words.

Austin. I know who you are.

They replayed in her head until she finally walked away from the group; not forever, but she wanted to try and find a cure on her own. She did not know how successful she would be, nor if she would find an antidote at all - but it was worth a try.

If Austin couldn't be trusted, then November had to beat him at finding a medicine.