It was a regular Thursday at school. 5th period was halfway through its course, barely any paying attention to their teacher. I was zoned out, choosing to pay more attention to the desolate landscape outside than listen to Mr. Garrison keep droning on about how the mitochondria was the powerhouse of the cell. Like me, my egotistical best friend Jake Ferguson was barely conscious---staring off into space trying to comprehend infinity. Opposite of us was our third gear in the machine, Landon Constantine. He wasn't a bookworm, but he was very focused on whatever we were learning. Each one of us plays a sport, I was good at javelin while Jake practiced baseball and weightlifting, and Landon was a long distance runner, best in our district in fact. Mr. Garrison was just about to chew me and Jake out because of how obvious it was we weren't paying attention when the lights flickered and went out. Soon our principal came over the intercom.
"Attention all staff and students…" Our principal sounded frightened. "There have been multiple break-ins across campus… Lock the doors and stay out of sight… h-HEY… GET BACK AAAUHG-" The intercom cuts.
Everyone looks around, searching desperately for answers, just for everyone to be as blank as one another. They we heard it. And soon we saw it. Three students were rushing past the classroom window when a group of bloodied students with chunks missing from their figures and black pus oozing out of their festering wounds came rushing from behind and tackled them. Their screams were etched into everyone. Blood spattered the window as we all stared in shock. That's when a few students decided to bolt out the door to help the injured students. As they attempted to fight off the attackers, they were lunged upon by the victimized students, their faces contorting as they shrieked, horrified by the mauled and maimed frames of the students that were pinned to the floor mere moments ago. They soon all became infected with whatever was spreading.
The rest of us who remained in the classroom soon drew arms, grabbing whatever we could find. Jake grabbed his baseball bat, while I grabbed one of my metal pens. Landon looked around the classroom, and found a small fire extinguisher. As they entered the classroom, Mr. Garrison grabbed his office chair and flung it towards the charging infected.
They fell back and clogged the doorway. One student tried to kick at one of the downed infected, but he was tackled by someone who climbed over the dam of bodies in the doorway. Getting bitten, he scrambles to get their head off of their neck. Eventually finding their hair, he pulls back and stabs them in the temple with a pencil, their body dropping lifelessly on top of him. As this is going on, more infected and regular students flood the entrance. We jumped into the fray. I stuffed my pencil into my pocket, and grabbed a desk and shoved back the invaders. Jake and Landon soon followed suit, Jake slamming his bat into their heads and Landon swinging the fire extinguisher like a mace. After a rough battle against the tens of zombies trying to enter, we managed to push them back and close the door. Those who remained were shocked at what was happening, and terrified of what may come.
"C-check if you were bitten!!" A student says,"If you get bit you could turn into whatever they were!"
The seven of us who remained checked for any marks on us. Me and my friends were fine, but two others had gotten infected. One was a female student, she was bitten on her calf, blood staining her white socks. She had gotten bitten after trying to grab one of her friends who was caught in the original fury. Another was none other than Mr. Garrison had bite marks on his bicep and multiple scratch marks across his upper body and face.
"WE NEED TO KILL THEM" A student said.
"Y-YEAH! WHAT IF THEY TURN AND GET US ALL KILLED??" Another cried.
As panic began to settle, Mr. Garrison began to twitch, slowly contorting into the demonic monsters that had just attacked us.
"G-GET AWAY! I DON'T WANT TO INFECT YOU!!" Mr Garrison said, as he slowly became more pale, color draining from his face.
Mr. Garrison stumbled towards the exterior window, grabbing a desk with a sudden burst of strength and throwing it towards it. Glass shattered everywhere, landing mainly in Mr. Garrison's face. As he climbed up onto the window, he turned his head, a tear streaming down his face. Closing his eyes, he faced the window, and dove. A second later, he hit the ground with a deafening impact. We all silently stared at the window for a moment, before we were thrown back into the horror of our new hell.
"NOW YOU! UNLESS YOU WANT EVERYONE HERE TO DIE JUMP OFF!" A student hollered towards the terrified student.
"I-I won't! I'm not just going to die because one one fucking bite mark!" She screamed.
As she cussed a flurry of words towards the students, she slowly became pale, just like Mr. Garrison. Noticing this, the student grabbed her arm and punched her in the face, knocking her down. As she cried with blood mixing with her tears, he dragged her towards the open window. Grabbing her by the waist, he tried to throw her out of the window, but she landed on the window sill where glass shards were standing upright.
She soon was screaming like a banshee, attracting the attention of the infected who began to bang on the door. Knowing that needed to be dealt with, the student grabbed her thighs and threw her out of the window. All that remained of her was blood and parts of her intestines, gently swaying in the wind.
Everyone stared towards the window, chills running down my spine after the horror and sheer quickness these events unfolded. One of the remaining students fell to the ground, trembling with fear. The one who pushed out the girl was staring at his blood covered hands, muttering "I had to do it… I had to do it…". I just stared blankly, slowly turning my head to Jake and Landon, who both had the same solemn expression as me. Our quietness and blank stares lasted for nearly half an hour, before someone said something.
"It--It wasn't your fault". A student said, slowly walking over to the one who pushed her out of the window, patting his shoulder.
The one who pushed her out of the window was a guy named Henry, he was a quiet kid who often spent his time daydreaming about who knows what during class. He was staring at his hands, stained with blood, when he finally moved towards one of the sinks in our science room. He quietly turned it on and washed himself off, the blood staining the water a deep red.
"What do we do? I still don't know what is happening, but it's kind of easy to put the pieces together". Henry said as he wiped off his wet hands, his voice quiet and shaky."I'm going to find a way to the sports lockers. Find a bat, try and get back to my house to get my little sister before anything else does."
"How? I'm 100% sure that the few of us left in this room are some of the only people alive. How the hell are we supposed to fight through three thousand of whatever those things are?" The other student said, standing up from the floor, legs shaking.
"I actually have a weapon," Jake said as he cleaned off blood and parts of flesh from his baseball bat,"For one, we could break into the roof and climb our way to the field, break into the locker room from there.
"NO…No, It'll take too long. I need to reach my sister as soon as possible." Henry said as he opened the teachers drawers, searching for anything useful.
"Well, there is allways the door." I pointed to,"It looks like the infected have left, all we have to do is stay quiet and not draw attention to ourselves."
"Well that's a good start, but do we even have enough weapons or clothing to prevent ourselves from being bitten?" The other student questioned.
His name was Derek. He was one of the quiet kids' friends, but he was outgoing. He was on the Varsity Soccer team by his Sophomore year, and he was a starter. Was the fastest on the team in fact, he helped us win the State championship last year. But none of that mattered now, now that everything had gone to shit.
"If we can get to the stairwell, we have a clean way to get to the sports locker." Landon added, with worry written all over his face,"But there is one problem…The cafeteria is right next to it, and given how Choir had outdoor practice today, there's going to be at least fifty infected."
"We'll be fine as long as they aren't infected in the hallway. The cafeteria is a wide open space so we can easily run around them." I said, grabbing the leg of a broken table."Let's find whatever we can before we leave. I'm not trying to end up like Mr. Garrison."
We all searched the classroom for anything that could prove useful to us. Derek found a leather jacket that Mr. Garrison used to have on the back of his chair. Henry grabbed one of Jake's spare bats, taping its handle for better grip. Landon did the same for his fire extinguisher. I grabbed a broken leg off one of the tables, before also taping it up. Once we grabbed all of the useful tools we needed, we grabbed our bags and stuffed them full of any food and water left in the class. Derek went out first, slowly opening the door and checking each side of the hallway.
"Clear!" Derek added,"It's about seventy feet until the first turn, then another ten until the stairs."
Derek slowly snuck out of the doorway and into the hallway, signalling us to do the same. We all slowly headed out behind him. First out was Henry, sneaking his way to the right side of Derek. Next was Jake, taking Derek's left. Then was Landon who took a spot slightly behind Derek and Henry. I snuck around last, staring at the pile of blood and sheer gore that lay across the quiet hallways. I grabbed a spot to the left of Landon, effectively forming a pentagon. We slowly walked through the hallway, looking at the carnage that had swept through less than an hour ago. Passing through this urban battlefield, we turned into the staircase, where a single infected roamed. She stared at us with a blank expression until she attacked, opening her mouth and running forwards at Henry. Henry lifted up his bat high, and swung as she leapt into his range. The bat hit her on the back of her head, slamming her face first into the floor. Bones and teeth shot out every direction along with a shower of blood. After silence for a few seconds, she got back up and attempted to attack him from his left side, only to be met with Landon's fire extinguisher. This time when she landed on the floor, her skull was shattered, and parts of her destroyed brain spilled onto the floor, finally ending her. Landon stared in shock, as he stared at her dismembered face. We stayed in that hallway for a good minute until we knew she was officially dead.
All of us slowly walked past her body and down the two flights of stairs, weapons anticipation infected on every step. And it was right to do so. Once we entered the hallway leading to the cafeteria, three more infected were waiting for us. Two charged towards Henry and Derek, while one leapt for Jake. The one after Jake leapt towards him, Jake just managing to force the infected to bite on his bat. Using the bat as leverage, he swung the bat high into the air, infected still dangling by, and slammed him into the wall. The infected's brain and skull shattered everywhere as Jake went for another swing for good measure. As this was happening, the two attacking Derek and Henry were about to pounce. The one after Derek went to attack his arms, only to be met with his fist. As his fist collided with its skull, dislocating its jaw. It staggered backwards, before attacking Derek again. This time, I came in beside him, and stabbed my broken table leg into the temple of its head, ending it.
The last infected going for Henry was met with an upwards swing from Henry's bat, shattering its jaw. Then it was dealt with by Landon's fire extinguisher, breaking through its skull and turning its head into mush. We all were out of breath after the sudden onslaught. We were looking around at each other to see if we were doing fine, when we noticed it. It was small, but Derek had been bitten. I stepped back shocked, knowing what was about to happen.
"Shit…" Derek said, his voice shaky as he pulled up his sleeve to reveal a laceration ,"It looks like I've got to go too." He said, eyes watering.
"h-Huh?.. N-No, it can't be true… TELL ME IT'S NOT TRUE!?!" Henry screamed, his voice cracking as tears streamed down his face.
"W-we can cut your hand off, If we amputate-" Landon tried to reason but was cut off.
"Nothing will work. I can already fucking feel the infection in my bloodstream." Derek whimpered as he took off his leather jacket, tossing it towards Jake, "Here, you'll need this more than me."
"I-I'm sorry… If I had been quicker I could hav-" I tried to say, getting cut off.
"There wasn't anything you could do, Ethan. Some things just don't go the way you want--Me getting bitten, some things just don't work out…" Derek sighed resignedly, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Hey, Landon?" Derek asked, facing the rattling double doors of the cafeteria and stretching his limbs,"You said the cafeteria was going to be infested right?"
"That doesn't really matter right-Wait… Don't tell me you're planning to sacrifice yourself?" Landon stared, tears streaming down his cheeks and worry in his eyes.
"It's the least I could do." Derek said, turning to Henry, " And Henry, I've known you for years, don't give up. You of all people have a reason to keep going, and maybe, yknow, later if you guys find a fix, you can come back and cure me…" Derek said, gripping Henry's shoulder with a somber smile, before turning away and walking towards the cafeteria.
Derek walked through the hallway brimming with confidence, a crazed grin spread across his face. He soon unbarred the groaning doors to the cafeteria where he encountered the groaning horde of infected. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked towards Henry, giving him a thumbs up. Then he turned back around, and ran straight through the amalgamation of infected.
"NOW'S YOUR CHANCE!!" Derek roared as loud as he could,"RUN PAST AND YOU HAVE AN OPEN ROUTE TO THE SPORTS LOCKER"
back
We all took his signal and dashed through the hallway and into the cafeteria. Running past we saw nearly a hundred infected students and faculty all hoarding around Derek. Only a few remaining stragglers were blocking our way with the three closest lunging at us, both of who were quickly dealt with. The first infected lunged towards Jake, but was blasted back by one of Henry's kicks. Two more lunged toward our group, but the first was splattered by Landon's fire extinguisher, and the other was tossed aside by Henry's baseball bat. Reaching the end of the cafeteria, I rammed into the door, flinging it wide open, and charged through towards our school's stadium. As we all exited, we heard Derek triumphantly laughing, practically telling us to live.
Running down the stairs with a newfound motivation to survive, we bolted to the stadium entrance. Passing through putrid piles of bloody, rotting organs and shattered bones, we made it to the entrance of the stadium. Reaching the entrance, we peered our eyes inside.
"Shit… There's over a dozen infected in there." Landon whispered, putting a fist to his chin, attempting to come up with a plan.
"Well we could either go gung ho, or we could try and find a way around." I told Landon and the group.
"What if we drew them out of the stadium?" Jake suggested,"If we could bait them out and circle back inside we could have the stadium without fighting.
"That could work, but we would need someone quick enough to draw them out, and for them to be small so they could sneak back in…" Landon pondered, then looking at us, "Oh don't tell me I've gotta do it."
"Well, you fit both of the criteria. You're not even 5'9 and you're in cross country." Jake said, all of us nodding in agreement.
"Ughh… Fine! I'll do it. But if I get turned, I'm going for Jake first." Landon said, angry.
Slowly creeping into the stadium, Landon surveyed the area, and quickly found where the horde was located.
"HEY, FUCKFACES!! OVER HERE YOU DUMBFUCKS!!" Landon yelled, waving his arms around like a lunatic.
The horde soon came rushing at Landon, who had to run at full speed out of the stadium. The infected quickly followed, but Landon was nowhere they could find. For he was inside the stadium, along with everyone else.
"Phew!" Landon sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead.
"Damn, that shit was olympic level!" Jake said, smacking Landon on the back.
"Don't get comfortable too soon, We still need to see if the locker has any infection or not." I tell them, gripping my weapon.
"You're right, let's not joke around until we really are safe." Jake admitted, picking up his bat and heading for the locker room door.
We all walked cautiously to the door, before I attempted to open it. I twisted the handle, just for it to not budge.
"Shit, It's locked." I groaned,"Landon, smack it with your fire extinguisher"
"I've gotcha." Landon said, walking passed me.
Once he reached the door, he swung his fire extinguisher high, before slamming it into the door handle. It managed to stay still, until the second swing which broke through it. We were finally in the sports lockers.