FOUR YEARS BEFORE THE OUTBREAK...

It was a hot summer day that July in London, probably one of the hottest days of Aaron's life. Today was the perfect day for a swim in Aaron's opinion, and Mr. Hecox must've had the same idea since he was actually able to convince his wife and the school he used to work at to let them swim in their indoor pool.

Not everyone at the children's home knew how to swim, but luckily Aaron and the rest of his Cod Squad were one of the lucky few who could. The kids who couldn't swim either stayed on the shallow side to learn or played with some of the older kids in the gym. Aaron and his three friends felt like they ruled the water as they waded on the surface of the pool without a care in the world.

The convenience of the school's accessibility to the children debunked the rumor that Mr. Hecox was fired. He seemed to get along just fine with the staff. Some of the other students even rejoiced when they saw him in the hallway. Apparently, he was one of their favorites.

"See?" Jonah said, noticing Mr. Hecox loitering outside the doors as he floated on the surface of the water. "I keep trying to tell Mrs. Hecox that explosions build character. And her husband is living proof of that!"

"Jonah, you really need to stop reading comic books," Nika replied, drifting by.

"And action movies," Natalya added, appearing from underneath the water. "Or at least start watching ones with actual plot and not just endless explosions."

"Asking me to stop reading comic books is like asking me to sink into this pool and stay down there." Jonah paused for a moment. "Speaking of which, where's Aaron?"

"Cannonball!"

The three kids looked over toward the edge of the pool to see eight-year-old Aaron hovering above the pool like a bird before crashing into the water beneath him. The water rained down on his friends, disrupting the otherwise peaceful pool. Jonah lost his focus and sunk into the water, now having to work to keep himself afloat.

Aaron's head emerged from the water, a goofy smile formed across his face. "Tidal wave!"

"You wanker," Jonah replied, splashing water all over Aaron by smashing his hand through the pool. "I was having such a great time just floating and stuff."

"Mrs. Hecox says that's a bad word," Nika chimed in.

"What? Wanker?"

Nika gasped. "You said it again!"

"Can't be that bad." Jonah shrugged. "I heard Mr. Hecox use it a couple of times. Plus, some of the older kids say it when they play football."

Natalya halted her relaxed position on the surface of the pool and started moving her arms and legs to keep herself afloat as she remained stationary in the water. She then faced toward the other end of the pool, where Mrs. Hecox sat on a chair watching over the kids.

"Mrs. Hecox!" she called out. "Is wanker a bad word?"

"I'm sorry, what, dear?" Mrs. Hecox replied as she sat up in her seat.

"Is wanker a bad word?"

Mrs. Hecox paused for a moment to think about it, amusingly clenching her teeth in what seemed like anxiousness. Like if she dreaded the day she'd have to explain what profanity was. "It's not the worse word you could use, but you still shouldn't use it anyway. Why?"

"Because Jonah just called Aaron that."

Even though Mrs. Hecox was calm as she glanced over at Jonah, Jonah was practically frozen with fear as he stood in the water with nowhere else to go. He was even debating diving under the water to hide, but even he wasn't dumb enough to ignore the fact the water was clear.

"I thought it would be funny, miss!" he awkwardly replied.

"Jonah, please refrain from using that kind of language with your peers," Mrs. Hecox said.

Jonah looked down into the water in shame. "Yes, miss."

"Good. Now, I'd like for all of you to make your way out of the water now. The students have prepared lunch for us."

"Those kids are nice," Nika remarked.

"Not really," Aaron replied as he and his friends made their way to the edge of the pool. "There was this one kid who grabbed me, slung me over his shoulder, and threw me into the pool like if I was a pebble."

Jonah and Nika started laughing, but Natalya suddenly started panting. Not out of exhaustion, but out of fear.

"Natalya, what's going on?" Jonah asked, swimming toward her.

"The floor is gone!" she panicked. "I'm trapped! Deep end!"

"Natalya, remember what I told you earlier," Nika said. "As long as you keep moving, you won't drown. And don't look down either!"

Unsurprisingly, like most kids, Natalya looked down. Her eyes filled with terror as she stared down into the dark blue abyss beneath her. She didn't understand what the blue lines were for, unaware that they were meant to divide the pool into tracks for the swim team, but she started to sink.

"Jonah! Hel--"

Her hands were grabbing random places all over Jonah to pull herself to safety, but she ended up dragging him down with her. Then he found himself panicking alongside her as the two of them began descending beneath the surface of the pool, both of their cries for help muffled by bubbling noises.

Aaron and Nika swam as fast as they could to the end of the pool to get Mrs. Hecox. "Jonah and Natalya need help!"

Mrs. Hecox jumped out of her chair and ran to the pool to pull Aaron and Nika out once they were close enough to the edge. Once the two of them were safe, she jumped into the water to rescue Jonah and Natalya. The rest of the kids in the pool continued to make their way toward the step ladder to get out.

"Do you think we should tell Mr. Hecox?" Aaron asked.

Before Nika could respond, Mr. Hecox entered, seemingly prepared to do his job before anyone could even tell him. He ran to the side of the pool to help the rest of the kids out, eventually getting every kid except Jonah and Natalya, who still continued to struggle in the middle of the water.

"Do either of you two know what happened?" he asked Aaron and Nika.

"Natalya doesn't like deep water," Nika explained, wrapping her arms around herself since she was cold and wet. "We're both good swimmers, but she's still uncomfortable in the deep."

"Might've been a good idea to tell us this before we went swimming."

Nika slumped her head down in shame. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't think this would happen."

Aaron nudged over closer to Nika once he noticed she was feeling blue, especially considering the fact she unintentionally put her own sister in danger. As Nika hid her head between her legs and curled up into a fetal position out of sorrow, Aaron kept his eyes on the pool to watch the rescue play out.

After a few seconds, Mrs. Hecox emerged out of the water carrying Natalya in one arm and using the other one to get a grip on Jonah as she dragged him through the pool toward the edge. She slowly paddled to the end and handed the kids over to her husband. Jonah was still conscious but shivering, and Natalya was out cold.

"Jonah's fine, albeit a wee bit shaken up," Mrs. Hecox said to her husband as she climbed out of the pool. "But Natalya is out. She needs CPR immediately!"

"On it!" Mr. Hecox replied as he positioned himself on top of Natalya. He did a quick inhale before leaning his head down and pressing his lips against Natalya's, exhaling oxygen into her lungs.

"Eww!" Aaron groaned. "Why is he kissing Natalya?"

"Not now, Aaron!" Mrs. Hecox growled as she gathered a still shocked Jonah back in her arms to place him on a towel. "This is an important process. As weird as it may look, it's the only thing that can save Natalya."

"Wait...what?" Nika said, too busy sulking to notice her sister being saved. She lifted her head back up and the first thing she saw was Mr. Hecox connecting his lips with Natalya's as he continued giving her air.

However, since neither she nor Aaron had heard of CPR, a look of disgust formed across her face, and she slowly turned her head away from the scene toward Aaron. "I thought he said kissing wasn't allowed," she whispered to Aaron.

"I know, right?" Aaron replied, too weirded out to look away. "He's breaking his own rules."

"Mrs. Hecox says that's what people who love each other do. Cheeks if it's a mate or family member, lips if it's your true love."

Aaron winced. "So...does that mean Mr. Hecox is in love with Natalya?"

The two of them reluctantly glanced over at Mr. Hecox, who was now repeatedly pressing down on Natalya's chest and counting from one to four with each push. "Come on, Natalya," he said. "Stay with me."

Nika raised her eyebrow. "I guess he's in love with her. I thought it was more of a fatherly love, but now I don't know."

"And didn't Mrs. Hecox also say it was extremely rude to place your hands on a girls'—"

Aaron was interrupted by the rough sounds of coughing. Natalya jerked up, water spewing out out of her mouth with every cough. Mr. Hecox kept patting her on the back to help her get all the water out of her lungs, and seconds later the coughing finally subsided. She sat with her knees drawn to her torso, breathing heavily as the oxygen slowly returned to her lungs.

"Thank heaven!" Mrs. Hecox exclaimed in relief.

"Are you all right, Natalya?" Mr. Hecox asked, kneeling down in front of Natalya.

She coughed a few more times before finally responding. "Thank you, mister."

"I would do anything to keep you kids safe." He playfully brushed his hand through Natalya's hair before pulling her in for a hug to reassure her safety.

"Darling, now your clothes will be all wet," Mrs. Hecox said.

"I don't care, Agatha," Mr. Hecox replied, still holding Natalya close to him. "We almost lost one of our kids."

Mrs. Hecox stopped herself before she could say anything else. Instead, she and Nika ran to Natalya's side and threw their arms around her. Meanwhile, Aaron ran over to Jonah, who lay motionless on a towel beside the pool.

"Hey, Jonah?" he said. "You okay, bruv?"

Jonah didn't respond. He stared straight up at the ceiling, seemingly worlds away. His eyes and mouth were wide open and Aaron noticed him gently breathing. He must've been struggling less than Natalya.

"Jonah? Wake up, you idiot."

Aaron jokingly tapped Jonah's cheek. He was like a fish out of water, only he didn't seem to be struggling for air. However, with that one tap, Jonah jerked up from the floor, startling Aaron and sending him crashing down on his bum. He glanced over at Aaron and formed an out-of-place, goofy grin, but the moment was ruined by the sight of Jonah coughing up pool water.

"Jonah, you're alive!" Aaron declared.

"Yes, sir," Jonah replied, wiping water and saliva off his lip. "And for your information, I'm not an idiot. I just have bad luck when it comes to thinking."

"No kidding, bruv." The two punctuated that sentence with a fist-bump.

"By the way, where's..." Jonah said, trailing off before he could say "Natalya". His question was answered once he saw the Hecoxes and Nika with their arms wrapped around Natalya.

"Natalya!" Jonah called. He got to his feet and stepped off the towel to make his way to the others. Aaron followed behind him.

The group hug finally separated. Mr. and Mrs. Hecox's clothes were now soaked in water, and they couldn't help but chuckle at the realization. Nika, however, was in a bathing suit, so she didn't need to worry.

"Natalya!" Jonah said. "I'm so happy you're safe."

Instead of a welcoming smile he expected, all Jonah received from Natalya was a cold stare. "You did a great job saving me," she remarked sarcastically.

"Oh yeah..." Jonah replied nervously. "Sorry about that."

"I don't think you were the knight in shining armor Mrs. Hecox always tells us stories about."

"First off, I don't read stories of knights in shining armor. I read about Wolverine, Deadpool, and Batman, who are way better than a bunch of lame knights. Secondly, it's a little hard to rescue you when you're pulling me down and punching me."

Natalya raised an eyebrow, which made her the automatic winner in this argument. Even Jonah knew he was screwed once she made that expression.

"But don't worry, love," he replied nervously. "I'll get better at swimming. I promise!"

That response made everyone let out a chuckle. Even Natalya had a grin forming across her face since she knew how well that trick worked.

"Actually, he's got a point," Mr. Hecox said. "Maybe we should come here more often to strengthen your swimming skills."

"But please try to avoid sinking beneath the waves!" Mrs. Hecox added. "Or at least stay away from the deep end until you've improved."

"Okay, miss!" the kids replied in unison. And not just the Cod Squad. The rest of the kids from the children's home joined in with them. The others honestly forgot they were even there.

The rest of the day was just as fun as they hoped. They dried off and had a bite to eat with the high school kids, cementing that day as one of the most fun they've had in forever. Well...aside from the whole "nearly-drowning" experience.

And while they did occasionally return to the school once in a while for another swim, like most traditions it eventually became a thing of the past. Just a collection of memories from a happier time.