Dawning
Jane, Liza, Chris, and of course, me all thought the same thought at once: We are so dead.
Well, you can't really blame us. Being cornered by hundreds of zombies isn't really a good way to live your life. Chris had blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes with a red long-sleeve shirt on his pale, white skin. His blue jeans, though starting snug at the waste, ended around his ankles. He always had a mischevious vibe around him, and could never really be trusted. After all, what do you expect with the school's prankster? Jane had long, beautiful brown hair and chocolate brown eyes I could lost in…every night I dream of a wonderful life, zombie-free with that wonderful girl…but that's too much info already. You don't need to know that much about…Jane. Liza had red hair on top of a freckled face with braced teeth. She was my best friend since elementary school. I'm fourteen now, as are my friends. But, being cornered is a bad place to start. You know enough about us already. Let me give you our story as brief and short as I can:
ME: Chris, you going to First Period?
CHRIS: Nah, I think I'm ditching.
ME: Ditto. Who wants to listen to Ms. Rio ramble on and on about…stuff.
CHRIS: Nobody.
ME: My point is proven.
Don't get me wrong, though I'm not your average honor roll student, I don't usually ditch classes. I just decided it was time to try something new. Besides, it was this or go into the Social Studies classroom and get forced into taking the test that I just so happen to have forgotten to study for. Chris and I have first period together, but that's the only period of the day. There are 8 periods and lunch at our high school, though it's drastically boring.
CHRIS: Where are you going to hide so VP doesn't find you?
VP was Vice Principal Smith. He wandered the halls everyday for ditchers like us. So, of course, we have to hide. If Smith doesn't catch you, then you better hope you're in one of the security camera's blind spots. Of course, I didn't plan to ditch full-way. Just a bit…until the test was over. I already forged a note excusing a tardy. A very late tardy, mind you. The tests the teacher gives are the size of Siberia!
CHRIS: Well, Nick? Where are you going to hide?
ME: I think I'm going to hide in the area behind the locker rooms for P.E. That creepy hallway that has no security, and seems to be abandoned.
CHRIS: Mind if I join you there?
ME: Meh. The more the merrier, I guess.
CHRIS: Thanks, bud. Shake on it.
ME: I wouldn't be too sure I trust you for a normal handshake.
CHRIS: Oh, you know me too well.
ME: Well, are we going or not? We should go before the period starts and VP begins his watch.
CHRIS: True, so very true. Lead the way.
We walked through the carpeted halls of the school, until we reached the gym. Kids were pouring in for Gym if they had it 1st period. I enter it, Chris behind me. We stick around some of the school's football players as we make our way to the lockers. Fitting right in, we make it there safely. We slip through the single, bronze knobbed door and slither out the door in the back. Here we are. The hallway. Next we make sure that if the 1st period gym class decides to come out through here, to stay hidden. Still. There's a door to the very left that leads outside. The outdoors is monitored like crazy. But the door is next to a small part of the wall that's indented in. We hide in there. Nobody should be heading towards that door in the first place, so nobody should think to look to the side and see two boys ditching their classes. We've made it this far. I guess that means we're safe…
CHRIS: We made it. VP isn't going to find us here!
ME: I guess he won't.
CHRIS: Well, mister goody since you've decided to return to class after testing ends, I hope you're not going to tell anybody I'm here.
Chris nudges me, and raises an eyebrow.
ME: Fine, I won't give you away.
CHRIS: Thanks Nick. What are friends for?
ME: I dunno. This?
CHRIS: Exactly.
ME: Well, I'll be happy to add that to my knowledge
CHRIS: Certainly.
ME: So, you going to ditch the whole day or are you going to 2nd, 3rd, and all the other periods?
CHRIS: Meh. I think I'm going into 4th and 5th period…and HOLY.
We were right. The class was coming out. Just so happens to be an outdoor unit. The teacher leads the class towards the door. In a flash, I think that we are SO toast. The teacher turns around and starts talking to his class before they come closer. Something about why hiking is important. I don't stick around and listen, I dart out the door into the outside. The class is getting closer. I notice that Chris made it outside with me. The cameras start to tilt our direction. Caught. Then the class comes out. We look like part of the class that couldn't wait to go outdoors. I breath a sigh of relief and make sure the teacher can't see us. All the kids are talking away in our groups, and we follow behind. Far enough so they don't notice us, close enough so it looks like we're part of the class. It was this hike, however, that changed everything.
CHRIS: Yo, dude. Boring.
ME: Would you prefer taking a Social Studies test?
CHRIS: Shut up.
We walk along for a bit in silence and I start another conversation.
ME: This trail is called 'Madness.' It's because that if you go down the side of the mountain, it's super steep and you'll break a few bones for sure. The path that goes along the side…
I gesture to the cliffed right side of the trail as I say this…
ME: …is called Sanity. But rumor has it that every year, Sanity merges a little bit more into Madness and that in a few years, there will be no sanity…just madness.
CHRIS: You have no idea how awkward that sounded.
ME: Huh?
CHRIS: The world going insane…no sanity left. All that mumbo jumbo.
ME: Chris, really?
CHRIS: I wonder what would happen if I sledded down Madness during winter.
ME: It's Fall.
CHRIS: But Winter's coming…
ME: Chris.
CHRIS: What?
ME: I don't know. Let's catch up to our safe distance with the group.
CHRIS: We've come to an intersection….
ME: Which way did the group go?
CHRIS: Left?
ME: Right?
CHRIS: Maybe we should just head back.
ME: On campus? And let those camera's catch us! No way!
CHRIS: Well, you do have to go to Social Studies in the middle of the period
ME: Thanks for reminding me of the worst-case scenario I've gotten into.
CHRIS: Well, I know how to decide.
ME: How?
CHRIS: Eeny meeny miney mo…
We end up going left. That's when we hear one of the kids scream. We rush forward. What could be happening? Something worse beyond our fears. Turn after turn, we run straight into the group…running. Behind them, a slow…shuffling…
ME: Are those-
CHRIS: No way…they can't be real…
ME: But I think…
CHRIS: Listen to yourself…
ME: I know but, you see them too, right?
CHRIS: Maybe one of us is dreaming….
ME: Unlikely.
CHRIS: Nick…I think that class was smart.
ME: Yeah…I think we should also…
We take off in a sprint. Behind us are no doubt what we have come to fear. Something as scary as fear itself. As we run, I take one last look back. There's no doubt. We're running from…the…
UNDEAD.
Little did I know, things were going to get a lot worse. The zombies were slow, but still a menacing threat. I didn't care about being caught on those camera's anymore. It was better than becoming a fellow brain-eater!
CHRIS: So…one bite and we get infected?
ME: Yes…we become zombies ourselves if they bite us.
CHRIS: And there's no cure…
ME: The only way to kill them is to decapitate them…
CHRIS: Well then, we have no idea how big this virus has spread.
ME: There were quite a few.
CHRIS: They'll have strength in numbers…
ME: It's just like those movies. We try to hold them off…people going insane…
CHRIS: It's like every day we survive a bit of our sanity becomes part of madness. And it keeps happening until there's no sanity at all for it is all madness…
ME: No pun intended, right?
CHRIS: Well, maybe it was a little pun
ME: How can you be joking at a time like this?
CHRIS: We need the slightest bit of comfort before we slide over the edge, right?
ME: Fine. Comfort Provider. That's what you are now.
CHRIS: There's the kids!
ME: Good thing the zombies are slow…
CHRIS: We can just hope that one of the kids didn't get a bite.
ME: Please tell me that was another pun…
CHRIS: Sadly, it was not…of course, people have to be serious in times like this too.
ME: Fine.
We get to our safe distance, so the camera's don't think we're anything out of the ordinary. Inside, the teacher rushes into his office and the kids begin to change back. What is this? Any second now, a message could come over the announcements:
And don't forget kids, that school's been canceled for two weeks due to zombie threats. Thank you!
This didn't make any sense. How could those fictional movie creatures come to life?
ME: Well…there might be a cure! I mean, in the movies there wasn't, but this is real. And with today's modern technology, maybe we can-
CHRIS: Stop right there. First of all, you go to Social Studies. I'll try to sort this out.
ME: But—
CHRIS: Don't tell anyone about what we saw! It could cause a panic! Panic leads to chaos! Suicide, madness, freaks, just…I'll figure something out, okay?
ME: I don't trust you.
CHRIS: You don't know me that well I guess.
ME: Fine…let's just hope the threat isn't worse.
CHRIS: And that none of those kids were infected. They could zomb up any second and try to kill us.
ME: Meet you after class!
CHRIS: Ditto.
I hurried off, heart beating fast. Keep this a secret? I could do that… I looked back to give Chris one last look, then rush off again. An apocalypse is approaching…but the true question was: Could it be stopped?
End of Chapter One