She screamed as her sisters' gunshot sent a bullet through the walkers' skull, blood splattered across the wall of the alley and the half-decayed corpse fell to the floor.
It had been a relatively normal day in Atlanta; the weather was fantastic and in turn, the majority of the populace in a happy mood as they scurried through the streets. The sun was beating down over the city, everybody was going about their daily routines and Katharine was daydreaming as she stared out of the classroom window.
"Miss Kennedy!" The teacher snapped a ruler against her desk breaking Katharine's daze and bringing her back to the lesson. "Miss Kennedy, perhaps you'd like to tell the rest of us the answer?" With a guilty sigh, the young girl blushed a little and shook her head. "Okay, then maybe you'd like to stay behind after school?" Although given in an offering sentence, Katharine knew she had no option; she'd just got her ticket to detention.
Katharine was your average fifteen year old American girl. She enjoyed watching MTV and spending more than enough time talking to all of her friends on the phone late at night. She was "daddy's little princess" and doing well at school, though her attention did drift from time to time.
Her plaited blonde hair and crystal blue eyes certainly got her enough attention from the opposite sex but Katharine only had eyes for one guy, "Blake Tyler". Captain of the schools' soccer team, he was your typical jock and the most popular guy in school. The only problem was, he was in the year above Katharine and had never noticed her around. Luckily for her, Katharine was seated by the classroom window which looked out over the playing field where Blake and the rest of the soccer team were training for tonight's game. Since the weather was so hot, Katharine was even more distracted once they started to practice topless. Unfortunately, it was this distraction that had gotten her detention after school.
As the class went on and the kids became restless in the stuffy room, time seemed to slow down and Mrs. Jenkins' monotonous voice droned on and on and on… Who'd have thought they'd possibly never need to know about photosynthesis after their exams?
Katharine scribbled down a few notes between her glances out the window and occasionally pretended to pay interest to what Mrs. Jenkins was saying. Just an hour more and the school day would be over. Just one very long and incredibly boring hour. With another sigh, Katharine chewed the end of her pencil and blankly stared at the chalkboard. It didn't last long before the bell sounded… Jenkins pulled her spectacles to the end of her nose and peered at her watch, then gave a confused look at the clock. The children began to stir, some not realising it wasn't supposed to be home time even began to pack their bags.
"Sit down!" Mrs. Jenkins screeched over the tone of the ringing bell. "Jack! Beth! Take off your coat! It's not time to go yet!" As chaos began to brew throughout the classroom, Katharine looked out of window and noticed the headmaster was talking to all of the students in the soccer team who all had concerned looks across their faces. Her attention was drawn when the classroom door opened and Mr. Beckitt, the History teacher, walked in. The continuous bell rang on but the children fell silent as they waited to hear what was happening. After a quick whispered conversation with Mrs. Jenkins, he turned to the class and announced in a shaky voice.
"It has been decided that school is closing early. I'd like you all to calmly make your ways to the school yard, call your parents and let them know you're on your way home and then board the school buses we've provided out front." Amongst a few cheers from certain kids, everybody began to pack their things and collect their belongings as the hallways sounded fuller as other students made their way to the designated area. Katharine shared a worried stare with the girl next to her before the teachers ushered them out of the classroom.
The school corridors were packed as surges of students joined the rest of the slowly moving river of kids. Katharine clung to her back tightly and pushed her way past two boys who were blocking the way with their shirts over their heads causing general immature trouble. As the school evacuated into the yard, the sun's heat seemed to intensify, riding those yellow buses was not going to be a pleasant experience for anybody or their nose. As she pulled her cell phone from her pocket, she found her contact list and pressed "Mom".
"The number you are trying to call is not available, please try again later"
Grunting, she tried her father's number.
"The number you are…"
"Damn it!" She cursed as she thought of why they're both busy, then realised her signal bars were empty. With so much pushing and shoving going on around her, she dismissed the phone to her pocket and scanned the buses for one heading to her neighbourhood. Spotting one that would pass by her house she squeezed her way through the other students and eventually with a polite smile at the driver she climbed the steps and made her way down the bus. As expected, it was extremely warm and already most seats were taken so she continued to the back of the bus and parked herself on a seat next to a jock who was staring out of the window.
As everyone knows, there are rules about where you sit on the school bus, Jocks at the back, followed by the slutty girls who probably got their boobs out at the last party. Everyone else filled the front of the bus topped off with the quiet nerds who'd sit at the very front and annoy the driver with their constant chat about their level 40 Elf on the newest RPG craze. Under other circumstances, Katharine would've probably sat somewhere in the middle of the bus, she was confident and pretty enough to get close enough to the jocks and popular girls from the year above but would never dream of mixing with them.
"Hey!" As the bus doors closed and the engine kicked in, the stranger beside her turned to greet her and Katharine froze, a gasp formed a nervous lump in her throat. It was Blake…she was sitting next to Blake Tyler, her perfect guy. The sun shone through the window and highlighted his dusty blonde hair, his deep blue eyes had her mesmerised and his perfectly white teeth glistened as he smiled softly at her. The soft smell of freshly sprayed deodorant mixed with fresh manly sweat left Katharine weak at the knees.
"H…hi!" She stammered. Coughing quietly to clear her throat.
"You're Katharine, right?" Blake knew her. He actually knew her. He knew her name. She nodded in disbelief that not only was the love of her life speaking to her, he knew who she was. "Yeah, I've seen you around… and heard good things!" He said.
"Heard things?" She questioned him, suddenly confused as to what he knew (or thought he knew) about her.
"Yeah, Mr. Myers used your work as an example of how our work should be done in Math last week." He grinned. Shaking her head with slight embarrassment Katharine smiled.
"Could've been worse!" She admitted before letting out a controlled giggle. The rest of the bus was abuzz with chit chat, outburst of laughter and screwed up paper being tossed around, the typical school bus rituals. "So, how did you know I was the same Katharine from the Math class?" She quizzed as she fluttered her eyelashes.
"Well, without sounding like too much of a stalker, I've sort of known who you were all year. Ever since you tried out for the cheerleading squad anyway!" Katharine turned a nice shade of red. She'd tried out for the cheer team just so she could spend more time drooling over Blake, how could she have forgotten they'd met when he judged the tryouts. "You were quite good, if it was solely up to me, I'd have given you a position!"
"Yeah, well, looks like Amber got the last say on that one…" She replied through gritted teeth.
"What a bitch!" Blake jested which set them both off laughing. The pair joked and flirted non-stop as the bus turned off Route 75 and onto 85. A few minutes later, the atmosphere on the bus changed. The noise dimmed as more kids realised and began to stare out of the windows. The bus also slowed to a crawl before the driver stopped and stared over to the Atlanta International Airport. Blake and Katharine were some of the last people to realise and as their gaze was drew with the others' they spotted what seemed like a group of people slowly wandering across the runways.
"What the…?" "What are they doing?" "Dude, Oh My God!" Whispers of disbelief and confusion echoed around the metal frame of the bus and then a single scream. Everybody turned to see Melissa Carter, one of the popular, slutty girls from school was frozen in shock as she'd seen something on the other side of the street. The bus swayed as everybody raced across the seat to check the other side followed quickly by more screams and panic. The driver slowly opened his cabin door and walked to see what had caused the uproar.
Three people were kneeling to inspect over something on the side walk, he moved to the next window to get a better view. They weren't inspecting anything…they were feeding. Ripping the flesh of what seemed to be another person, the blood smeared across their faces as they devoured the meat. Guts were torn from the lifeless body and the three feeders just sunk their teeth into them as if it were a rare cooked steak on a Sunday dinner. The terror had risen and the bus was filled with screams and shouting, hysterical girls in tears squealed, one splashed vomit all up against the window. As the noise in the bus heightened, one of the feeders lifted his head and turned towards the frightened children on the vehicle. His eyes blurred and white, blood stained lips and a broken nose. His flesh hung from his cheek, revealing his teeth and gums and he chewed on the dead before him. Slowly he groaned as he stumbled to his feet, the glazed look in his eyes vacant and void of life and as he took a step forward, his ankle snapped. The kids on the bus winced as the sound of bone shattering fluttered through the windows, but the feeder didn't seem to notice. He took another step. Complete panic and fear was now the only way to describe what filled that bus.
"My God!" The driver darted quickly back into his seat and turned the key in the ignition. "Hold on!" He shouted to the kids and he switched into gear and thumped his foot on the gas. The tyres screamed as the bus raced down the street. Blurred images of deserted vehicles, bloody foot paths and more decaying walkers flew past the windows.
"What's happening!" A guy yelled as he puffed at his inhaler, trying to catch his breath.
The bus swerved around two cars that had collided and were burning in the middle of the road and then the driver slammed on the brakes. Everybody fell forward trying to catch themselves on chairs, bars and friends. The street was blocked with abandoned cars; doors wide open, some still had the engines humming and the radio playing white noise. The driver got out of his cabin once again, took one look back at the scared youngsters and pushed the doors open making his escape. Unfortunately for him, his quick escape was wasted. As he ran around the back of the bus, he came face to face with a walker. With a chilling scream, he fell to the floor as the zombie shredded his bicep with its teeth and pinned him to the ground. Not knowing what to do, the chaos resumed on the bus and everyone raced to the door.
Tears fled down Katharine's cheeks and she sat silently as the commotion went on around her. People jumping over seats, others being trampled as they clumsily fell to the floor under the surge of bodies.
"Katharine!" Blake shook her vigorously. "Katharine! Get up! Let's go!" As she came out of her frightened daze she looked him in the eyes and saw the fear in his eyes. Jumping over the seat in front of him, he grabbed her hand and pulled her from her chair. As they left the bus, they looked at the pandemonium around them. Kids were running in all directions, some tripping as they looked back at the beast eating their driver. A tree had fallen across the road after a van had veered off the road into it and screams were heard everywhere.
"This way!" Katharine still clinging to Blake's arm tugged him down the street towards the crossroads. Together they dodged the obstacles in their path and witnessed as their classmates fled, some unlucky enough to be greeted by a puddle of blood and a dismembered limb. As they reached the crossroads, they took a glance to the right and were not expecting what they saw. A horde of walkers was heading their way. Thirty, or possibly more, slowly limped down the street. A kid, who'd obviously thought he'd found a shortcut home vaulted over a fence right into the middle of the pack. Katharine and Blake watched as the panic consumed him and he froze in his place. Soon enough he was screaming as a few of the zombies ripped him apart to feed. The sight made Katharine extremely nauseous and she swallowed back her tears as Blake pulled her away from the crowd of undead.
"I've got to get home!" She spluttered through her tears and terror as they ran down the footpath. "My parents! We've got to warn them!" Selfishly in her fear, she ignored the fact that Blake has family too and worked her way through the streets towards her own. Whether out of heroism, stupidity or just confusion, Blake didn't seem to object to the plan either and so he followed Katharine where she led.
They stopped at the end of Liberty Heights, the street where Katharine had grown up. It had been the place where she learnt to ride a bike, where her parents had seen her off to school every morning and where she'd smiled respectfully at her neighbours. Now, it didn't seem to be the street she loved. A car had crashed through somebody's garden fence and into the living room. A flock of crows was scavenging and taking leftover meat from massacred bodies and not a sound was to be heard. As thoughts entered Katharine's head of how she'd find her own home and her parents she began to hyperventilate. Noticing her increase in breath, Blake pulled her close and hugged her shielding her eyes from the view of the street.
"Come on… they'll be okay…probably sitting at home waiting for you to return safely!" He comforted her as they cautiously started making their way to 98 Liberty Heights.
By this time the sun was beginning to set and had cast an orange glow over the city.
When they could clearly see Katharine's house, they gently picked up speed, still wary of anything that moved. The car wasn't in the driveway and as she crossed the porch she found the door still locked.
"They're not home yet!" She moaned, not knowing whether they were somewhere safe or in the infested streets trying to get home worried her more. After a moment, she signalled to Blake to follow her. She had forgotten her house key but knew there was a spare one under the plant pot by the back door and so they headed to the alley at the side of the house. As she moved around the corner she came face to face with something that seemed like a nightmare and as the walker lifted its' arms to grab her she let out a shrill shriek and then… BANG!