Rated T for intense, graphic violence and some language. Reader discretion advised

Alright, this is the first fanfic I've posted here in a while, so honest and constructive criticism is recommended but if you just want to give love to the fic, that's cool too. Now let's get on with the story because there is nothing like a group of grade school kids brutally killing each other, lol.

Arnold of the Dead

It was a normal day at P.S. 118 it seemed. Children were playing around in Mr. Simmons class. Paper and spit balls were hurled across the room, and talking filled the air, nearly muting the teacher's voice. It was close to the end of the day, the last day of the school week, but the joy and relief that many kids have during that time of day, Arnold didn't share. Something inside of him didn't sit well, and he's had that feeling all day. His best friend Gerald noticed this.

"Hey man, what's up? You've looked as down as a kid who's had his toys snatched from him." Gerald asked, wondering about his best friend's depressed state.

"I… I don't know. I've had this uncomfortable feeling deep down. I don't know how to explain it." The football headed boy replied, as he nervously played with his hands.

"Is this about the baseball game after school? Man, you know we're going to whoop Harold's team like a bad child." Gerald boasted, with a smirk on his face. The kids had planned a baseball game after school, with Harold and Gerald being the team captains. Gerald was thinking about the baseball game, giving him a confident look on his face, but this soon disappeared when he glanced at Arnold's face still filled with unease.

"It's not the game , Gerald" Arnold responded. "Its… something I can't quite put my finger on."

"Is it something at home that's bothering you?"

"No, not really. Things have been pretty good at home. I'm sorry Gerald, If I actually knew, I'd tell you, but…"

"Don't forget to show up at the field after school," Harold interrupted. "So you can get pounded in baseball, HAHAHA!" laughed Harold. He soon pulled a bag of jawbreakers out and popped several in his mouth. One of them missed however and rolled towards the door of the classroom. Gerald, on the defensive, responded, "Yeah a team is getting pounded tonight, and it won't be mine, ain't that right, Arnold?"

"Yeah," replied Arnold. He had tried to sound more upbeat, but was still unsettled. Harold sensing Arnold's disturbed state, would jump in, "HA, even Arnold know what's coming to him today."

"Yeah, what's coming to him is the sweet taste of victory, ain't that right, Arnold?" Gerald fired back, nudging his good friend.

"Maybe this game will lift me up, take my mind off this feeling." Arnold thought to himself, as he lifted his head from off his desk. "Maybe this game is what I need." His thoughts would be interrupted when a red haired kid of short stature, wearing a white polo shirt, shorts, socks and flip flops came meandering into the classroom. The young boy, unaware of the jawbreaker beneath the sole of his shoe, put his foot forward, losing traction and started rolling on the jawbreaker. He nearly took Mr. Simmons out, had the teacher not dodged, at the last second. The boy would fall with a solid thud on his behind.

"I'm ok." Eugene muttered in a daze as he gripped a cloth covering the teachers desk, trying to regain his footing, but unfortunately for the clumsy boy, he pulled the cloth down with all the contents including heavy books, teaching aides, and writing utensils, with it. The boy was pummeled with the items as he lied on the floor defenseless. The classroom exploded in laughter at Eugene's misfortune. Mr. Simmons helped him up, leading Eugene as he stumbled to his desk.

"Harold, I've told you before, please no candy in the classroom." Mr. Simmons sensibly reminding Harold in a calm, yet demanding tone. "And remember class, don't forget your reports on great inventions of the 20th and 21st centuries. It's always amazing to see how these inventions helped shaped the world we live in today, and hopefully you will too." He informed his class, trying to put a positive and interesting spin on the assignment, but the kids weren't having any of it. It was just an obstacle in the way of their weekend. The school bell rung, releasing the kids from the boredom of school to the excitement of the weekend. "Be safe this weekend." Mr. Simmons yelled to the kids as they were leaving the class.

"Oh baby, I've been waiting all week for this game." Helga Pataki announced to the kids around her locker, including Arnold ,Gerald and her best friend the studious Phoebe. "I'm ready to slug some homers with this bad boy." said Helga, as she pulled a brand new alloy bat from her locker. The kids were impressed with the expensive bat. "Oh and football head, remember this is a baseball game not a being nice contest, bring your A-game, not that lovey-dovey crap." Helga snorted at Arnold, as she took practice swings with the bat, one of which nailed Eugene, still recovering from earlier.

"I'm ok," the accident prone boy responded.

"Gosh Eugene, can't you go a minute without having something hit you?" a sarcastic Helga asked, still swinging her bat.

"We'll get em', today, don't trip. And all your troubles will go away," said Gerald in an attempt to lift Arnold's spirits, as they were about to walk out of the school, when an urgent announcement was made over the intercom.

"Children please, RETURN TO YOUR CLASSROOMS," Principal Wartz yelled into his microphone. "PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR CLASSROOMS! THERE IS AN EMERGENCY!" the principal stressed, his voice growing in despair as he tried to catch the attention of the kids in the halls of the school. They could feel the agony as the tone of his voice belted from fear. The children of the school stood still trying to gather info on what could be going on.

"CHILDREN PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR CLASS UNTIL FUR- NO!, THEY'VE FOUND THEIR WAY INSIDE! NO STAY BACK, GET AWAY YOU BRAIN MUNCHING…NO…NOOOOOOO!" the intercom cut off. The fear among the children shot up. Rumors began circulating that there were random attacks outside. Mr. Simmons tried to calm and assure the kids that they were safe.

"Children, let's just return to the class, we'll hopefully be safe… ," unfortunately for Mr. Simmons, as he walked past a window, a man popped out of nowhere, grabbing the balding teacher. The man's skin had a pale grayish green complexion. It was covered in lesions and cuts. His skin had the horrific smell of something decomposing, causing some of the children to vomit. His eyes had a blank, lifeless glare. Mr. Simmons tried to get away, struggling for his life, but his actions were futile, as the man dug his teeth into the teacher's neck, tearing into his carotid artery. Blood began squirting everywhere, as the teacher cried out in anguish, pleading for help. The kids stood paralyzed in shock and fear, as they watched the teacher slowly being devoured. Those that weren't in complete shock, screamed in fear. Chaos soon enveloped the entire school. Kids were stricken with pandemonium.

"Holy shit, did you see that?" an erratic Gerald asked Arnold, still stunned by what he saw. He tried but no words could leave his mouth at the time. Unlike the other kids however, Helga took her bat and began walking down the hall toward the cannibalistic man and Mr. Simmons.

"What are you doing?" queried a worried Phoebe, watching her friend approach a dangerous situation.

"You know I've never been one to stand still while shits going down," replied Helga, with a slight smirk on her face. She began to pick up speed as her began to propel her faster and faster. She took a big leap towards the cannibal, taking a mighty swing. A heavy crunching noise filled the halls. Brain matter and blood blanketed the girl with the large pink bow. The man collapsed into a pool of blood. Helga began to approach her teacher, barely alive and barely coherent.

"Help… me," asked a scarcely audible Mr. Simmons due to the damage to his throat.

"I will," Helga responded, whispering into his ear. "I'm afraid I have to do this," as she cocked the bat over her head.

"NO HELGA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Arnold screamed.

"Putting him out his misery," she swung the bat downward with all her might, crashing it into her teacher's skull. More blood spurted upon the young girl. Arnold approached her with vigor, angered at what he had just seen.

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL HIM! WE COULD'VE GOTTEN HELP!" Arnold screamed at Helga, as Gerald and Phoebe followed. They were both stunned at the fact that their friend, their classmate, just killed their teacher.

"Doi, football head, have you never seen a zombie movie? He was bitten, he was going to turn into a zombie and possible eat us alive. Do you want that? Besides, he was bleeding to death and was in complete agony. We couldn't leave him in that state," Helga replied as she began walking towards a storage room.

"Zombies? No way. Zombies aren't real. There has to be an explanation," Arnold told Helga in complete disbelief of what was going on. "Zombies really? No way. That only happens in movies and video games. The way that guy looked, he looked really sick, but he wasn't a zombie. Was he?" Arnold thought as he tried to wrap his head around this thoughts would be interrupted as more zombies broke into the school. They came through the windows and the doors of the school, attacking the first things they saw. Children were being ripped into, as the zombies devoured their innards.

"Dude, I think they're actually zombies. Look at them. They look like the zombies, smell like zombie, eat like zombies. They're zombies dude, we've got to face it," Gerald told Arnold as he shook him, hoping he would come to his senses. "Phoebe, can zombies actually exist, answer me dammit," a shook up Arnold demanded from the young, bookish girl, grabbing her arms very tightly.

"You're hurting me,"

"ANSWER ME!"

"It's…It's not impossible theoretically. Perhaps through advanced forms of rabies, Mad Cow disease, neurotoxins, or some other disease, or chemical that can possibly debilitate the human brain to a zombie like state," Phoebe briefed Arnold on the possibilities. He loosened his grip on her and hung his head. "I'm so sorry Phoebe, I was just…"

"It's ok Arnold, I completely understand," Phoebe told Arnold, trying to reassure him. The group arrived at the storage room finding it locked. Helga tried to charge into the door shoulder first but to no avail. "Some help here," Helga told the group as she scowled. Together, they leaned in and charged the door knocking it inward. Arnold and Gerald tried to barricade the door shut with old desks, while the girls looked around for weapons in the dark windowless room.

"Ok, we're gonna have to work with this for now," Helga conveyed to the group after finding some items. She collected a couple of two foot long iron pipes, a two foot long crowbar, a hatchet and a spade.

"Pick your weapon folks, we're gonna need them," Helga said to the crew. Phoebe picked up the hatchet; Gerald chose the crowbar; while Arnold reluctantly chose a pipe, while Helga put the rest of the items in a bag.

"I don't think I could kill anyone, whether they're a zombie or not," Arnold revealed to Helga, "I couldn't take another person's life."

"Quit being so naïve Arnold, it's a zombie apocalypse. Its kill or be killed. That's how it is out there. Love and peace isn't going to cut it anymore, bucko," said Helga breaking it to Arnold. "Is it really that bad out there, if so what about my Grandpa and Grandma, I have to find them, save them," Arnold thought to himself. He would be disturbed however as a group of zombies started to break down the barricade.

"Ok looks like it's time to roll. Hey football head, ready to go back out there?"

"I guess. But if we do, we have to find my grandparents."

"Right now, we have to concentrate on surviving," Helga asserted, brandishing her bat, getting it ready for action. Gerald and Phoebe were doing the same as well, while Arnold stood back contemplating of his grandparents and their safety. The door burst open, knocking the desks back, allowing several zombies to pour in. Their mouths and hands were covered in blood and flesh, as they stretched towards the kids. But Helga was ready and waiting. As a couple of zombies lunged at her, evading their blood stained hands, then kicked one, sending it falling back into the group of zombies. She took a hard cut at the closest zombie to her, smashing its head open. Another came lunging towards her, but she tripped it, sending the zombie falling to the floor. She lifted her foot up and gave it a few stomps to the head, before it stopped moving. One zombie was able to get her hands a few inches away from her head, but she deflected the zombies disgusting mitts, as she swung hard at the zombies head, connecting. The impact upon its head made a loud crunch as its brain matter, blood, and cerebral juices splattered the doorway. Gerald and Phoebe would get in on the action, as the zombies began coming after them. Phoebe took a swing at the zombie's legs with the hatchet, taking out one of its leg. The hobbled zombie fell to the floor allowing her to split its head open. Gerald took a swing at a zombie's head with his crowbar connecting and killing it. Arnold, still apprehensive about killing, nervously walked towards the group.

"Way to go falling into the background and letting us do all the work. Listen pal, you're no good to us, if you're a scared little punk," Helga snorted at Arnold, pushing her finger into his chest. "It's not that, it's that I don't think its right. They may have a cure out there somewhere," Arnold angrily replied, knocking her hand back.

"Listen people, all this fighting isn't getting us no where. We have to stick together," Gerald conveying to both Helga and Arnold while separating the two.

"Gerald's correct, our chances for survival rises substantially, if there are more people working together," informed Phoebe.

"Fine, but let me ask him this. One of us get caught by a zombie, what's he gonna do, punk out like a little bitch?"

"Enough Helga, leave him alone," said Gerald, defending Arnold.

The group stepped out into the hallway, and was left aghast at what they saw. The halls, which during normal times was filled with kids playing around, getting to class, was now covered in the blood, flesh, and remains of their fellow classmates and teachers. Most of those who weren't dead were now mindless, incoherent, grunting, flesh devouring zombies.

"It's…it's… it's hell," muttered Gerald, reacting to the sight of the hallway, now a killing field.

"AHHH!" a loud scream caught the group's attention. They followed the noise until they caught up to it, to find that the lanky, hippie girl Sheena had been caught by a group of zombies. They tried to save her but it was too late. The zombies started sinking their teeth into her body and drug her off. The group hung their head in disappointment, as they failed to save a friend. Things were about to get worse however. The screams had garnered the attention of many zombies. A mass of them gathered and began approaching the crew's direction. If that wasn't bad enough a zombie came out of nowhere and snatched Arnold from the group.

"ARNOLD," shouted Helga, but she had enough on her plate. At least ten of them surrounded the group and more seemed to be coming, preventing her or the rest of the group from retrieving Arnold.

"Alright folks, let's go out swinging," Helga yelled in an attempt to make a rally cry. And swing they did, trying to take out as many zombie as possible.

Arnold, meanwhile, was desperately trying to free himself from his zombie captor. The zombie was ready to eat the young boy, and it was not losing its grip, but Arnold was able to grab the pipe he had earlier, smashing it in the zombies head. Now that he was free, he had to help his friends out. He rushed to the group of zombies, trying to attack his friends. They were holding out, but getting overwhelmed, that was until Arnold jumped in. He rapidly swung the iron pipe, taking one out. They began to gather around him, but he was prepared. Using his martial arts training his grandmother taught him, he sprang into action. He deflected the hands of the zombies with incredible dexterity, allowing him to setup for a roundhouse kick, sending several of them falling back. With another swing crushed the skull of another zombie. Sensing a couple of them coming from behind, he performed a leg sweep, knocking the two over. He took the pipe, using it to impale one of the zombies lying on the ground, while he stomped on its head. He removed the pipe from the zombie, hurling it at couple more, spearing them in the face. He kicked the two bodies off the pipe, and began to twirl the pipe in his hands rapidly. He leapt a couple of feet in the air, taking a hard swing, striking several zombies to the point their skulls burst open. He picked up the pipe, deflecting a couple of zombies coming towards him with it. Using both hands, he got the pipe spinning again, letting it twirl above his head. The pipe spun with dizzying speeds, striking the zombies repeatedly until their skulls gave in, splattering brains about. The group took advantage of an opening, slaying the last few zombies in that horde. Helga, Gerald and Phoebe were left in awe at Arnold's battle prowess.

"MAN, THAT WAS FREAKING AMAZING!" an excited Gerald said to his best friend.

"It was an incredible display of martial arts. You're an exceptional combatant," Phoebe complimented.

Helga was equally impressed, but her pride wouldn't let her show it.

"Uhh, that was umm… alright I guess, wasn't anything special," Helga said, trying to downplay his display of fighting. However, when the coast was clear, she disappeared around the corner to reflect on what she saw, pulling out a locket with Arnold's face, clutching it dearly.

"Oh my precious Arnold, I would have never paid heed in eons, at your fighting prowess. You are the ultimate specimen of a man, sensitive, understanding, harmonious with his fellow man, but when time calls for it can also be a strong, heroic, fearless young man. It would be my honor being with you until the end of the world…"

Helga was unable to finish her declaration, as one of the zombies they had just fought, wasn't quite dead yet. It grabbed her leg, catching her off guard. She let out a scream. The others came rushing to her rescue. As soon as Arnold arrived, he lifted his pipe up over his head, and released, slamming the pipe into the zombie's cranium, finishing the job. "Don't think you're some hero, football head," she told Arnold, while gathering her composure.

"We have to see if anyone else need our help," Arnold threw out to the crew. "There are probably still plenty of us alive. Let them join the group, it'll make us stronger, right Phoebe,"

"Uhh, right," Phoebe responded.

"What, are you crazy, you'll get us killed," Helga fired back.

"I'm going to try find the others to see if they need help, you come with me or not," said Arnold in a demanding tone.

"Fine, Arnold, even you couldn't survive, on your own," Helga sighed.

As they were about to make their way, they saw Sid running down the hall in a panic. He had blood all over him, and tears in his eyes.

"Oh God, I've seen some terrible things," Sid said to Arnold, clutching him.

"It's ok Sid stick with us and hopefully we can make it out of this together," Arnold told Sid in an assuring voice. The group began running the halls of the school, looking for survivors but to no avail. They continued on their way, slaying a few zombies in the process when Arnold and company stopped in their tracks. A young red haired girl with pigtails, wearing a green dress and shoes, was kneeled over the body of a kid.

"Lila?" Arnold politely asked trying not to startle her, but gain her attention. The girl stood up and turned around revealing a blank, lifeless glare, completely lacking of conscious. Her mouth was flowing with, blood, and her skin was dry and pale. "LILA, NO!" Arnold screamed.

"Oh this is too good, I'm taking care of this," Helga declared with a sadistic smile on her face. But Arnold held her back, yelling "DON'T". He approached her cautiously, as zombie Lila sauntered toward him. He stood still for a moment, and began to reminisce over the time he spent her. The girl he had feelings for. The girl he cared for. The cute, sweet, nice, considerate, polite girl, who though lacked the same feelings for him, he still loved her nonetheless. But what was standing in front of him wasn't the Lila he knew; it wasn't really even a fraction. The things that made her what she was, her cute smile, her innocent demeanor, were gone, replaced with the mindless stare and appetite to eat flesh. He couldn't stand to see her like that cringing in agony. He took his hand and began slowly caressing her bloodstained hair.

The group was stunned and bewildered. "ARNOLD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" shouted Gerald.

"KILL THAT BITCH!" screamed Helga.

"KILL IT!" yelled Sid. But none of them understood. They never invested as much emotionally into her. It was killing him inside seeing her like this. With a tear rolling down his cheek, Arnold lifted the pipe above him.

"I'm so sorry," Arnold in a low, saddened tone told the zombie Lila. With the pipe he slammed it into the girl's head making a moist but loud crunching noise that filled the school.

Wow, that was long. I didn't anticipate it would be this much work. The following chapter won't be nearly as long, lol. Hopefully you enjoyed it, and I said I haven't written anything in a while so reviews would be appreciated, especially well rounded constructive criticism.