Red Heart

Eight hours have already passed but the red snow and red sky were yet to finished. everybody was beginning to feel anxious, even though they can still contact their family it is still different when they are with their family. then someone said

"I wanna go home, I can't stay here anymore!"

"me too. I'm wasn't able to contact my family. shit!"

"guys, this is for your own good too. who knows, maybe tomorrow the snow would finally stop falling"

Annie said with a firm voice, she was trying to calm her anxious classmates. even her was feeling homesick too, but she doesn't want to show it to other people.

"you know I just notice, but don't you find it weird? even though it has been snowing for more than half a day, but they're still no red snow piling up. it's like after they fell they just vanish into thin air"

suddenly Nathan heard a man's voice on his left ear, it was John. John was staring outside the window looking at the wandering red people on the road. it was now eerily silent, normally during this time tons of students would walk all over outside some waiting for jeepneys, some were just strolling with their friends, but now there was nothing like that. it is actually saddening. then he noticed the lack of red snow on the ground.

"yeah..."

Nathan can only say one word. he too was wondering about this. he is also trying to think what was the thing that crawled underneath their professor's skin.

"what do you think is actually happening right now? the red snow is really weird if someone made contact with it they become read people? do you think it's like a biological weapon? because if it is, they already won"

Annie said with a bitter expression. she was sitting beside Nathan. she was trying to busy herself by writing something on her notebook while also facing the windows to observe the red people then she heard John asked the question.

"I think it's aliens"

suddenly Nathan, John, and Annie heard a shy voice from behind them. they looked behind them then they saw a man with thick eyeglasses a slim body with a bowl cut hair, he was Michael. Nathan chuckled

"haha yeah right"

Nathan said with a smirk on his face. deep inside, Nathan was also thinking about this be he didn't dare to embarrass himself in front of Annie. luckily someone brought it up first

"How so?"

Annie asked with an interesting look on her face.

"Have you guys ever heard of 'panspermia theory'?"

The three knitted their eyebrows. it was the first time they heard the word 'panspermia'. seeing their reaction, Michael quickly explained to them what panspermia theory is.

"well, you see, panspermia theory says that life on earth might have originated from somewhere else, and not here on earth. it might have been carried by a meteor that fell on earth billions of years ago. but it's still just a theory though, but looking at what's happening right now, the theory might not have been too far fetched. it might not be in the form of a meteor, but still this an evidence."

after hearing Michael's explanation, they felt scared at the thought that they were actually being invaded by aliens. they would have never thought these things would actually happen. they felt like they are in a sci-fi movie right now.

"so what kind of alien do you think they are?

when Michael heard Nathan asked the question he felt good a little because he can now share his weird knowledge he got from all the sci-fi movies he watched and the things he read on the internet. he was feeling excited and full of confidence. he raised his hand with his index pointing upwards.

"I think it's the parasitic kind of aliens"

Michael said with a voice full of confidence like he was answering a million pesos question that he already knew the answer.

"huh... yeah, I think so too. the way Mr. Salceda got infected. the thing that crawled under his skin actually looked like a worm now that I think about it"

Nathan said while frowning and his finger placed on his rugged chin. he looked very concentrated.

"I think so too, after all, there are many parasitic worms here on earth. like the horsehair worm that infects grasshoppers or tapeworms that actually infects humans, there's still too many kinds of parasitic worm, but this one is really strange. the infection rate is too fast and it's specifically targeting the brain. hmmm I wonder if it can also infect other animals"

Nathan and Michael faced each other. they both have the same expression and posture. they were like mirroring each other. Annie chuckled.

"you two would be good friends"

"haha"

"tss"

Michael laughs shyly while Nathan let out a tss sound on his mouth.

"well about the red snow, why is there no trace of it? like it's not even falling on the ground, and if the snow is actually worms then where the worms? the ground should be crawling with worms by now"

the listening John asked. he has been wondering about this for a long time now.

"I think the 'snow' is not actually snow, its more like a thin layer of 'something' that quickly melts upon landing. then inside it was the cocoon of the worms. as for why there are no worms on the ground? maybe they are already dead. the moment they landed and the cocoon was exposed to the earth's atmosphere they die. that's why they need to get under the skin of their host immediately. at least that's what I think, it's my personal theory"

Michael shrugged.

the three nodded to what Michael had just said, besides Michael is a genius. what Nathan and Annie didn't know was Michael was just saying all of this based on his sci-fi and alien movie knowledge he acquired over the years, with a little bit of his scientific knowledge he really sounded like he knew what he's talking about.

GROOOOWWLL!

while the four were still talking, a very loud and long growl was heard across the hallway. the whole class was startled, some woke up from their deep sleep and jumped up. while others stood where they were sitting. terrified faces can be seen in the faces of the students. Nathan walked to the door to take a look at what's happening outside. there was a small glass window on the door where Nathan poke his head, he can barely see the end of the hallway where the staircases where located, it was on the left side of their room.

"AHHH HELP! HELP! sobs PLEASE! DON'T KILL ME, PLEASE sobs. AHH-"

Nathan saw a girl, a student, being dragged by a red man by her long brown hair. she was wailing and crying. terror can be seen on her face while traces of blood was mixed with her overflowing tears on her face. she was still trying to get out of the firm grip on her hair she was thrashing wildly but it was no use. the red man stopped dragging the woman, then he looked at her before his long skinny fingers with red pointy fingernails pierced through her chest. the red man then took her still beating red heart out. blood gushed out of her chest staining her uniform, she stopped twitching. the red man then placed the heart on his abnormally large mouth. it was so large that it can literally fit ahead of a full-grown man inside it. the red main ate the heart in one gulp without even chewing. he just stood there for a few seconds before leaving with the body, the red man was going downstairs on the second floor.

Nathan saw all this, he held his mouth with his right hand. he had a pale face, his eyes were shaking with terror then tears flowed down his face. he looked on the ground then he vomited all over the floor. he sat down while wiping his tears and vomit on his face and said.

"tomorrow, all of you have to prepare yourselves. we are going to kill every single one of those damned red people here on our campus! some of us might die, but if we didn't do anything all of us will die instead. we have to make a plan"

Nathan said with a determined voice and a serious face. his classmates also had a serious face while nodding. then they started to form a plan.