Chapter 4 - Barry & Kyle
Kyle begins, "Baz walked out first, I followed. We could see a few brain eaters," Julie tusked. He shrugged, "The best name we have for them." He coughed and continued, "I ended up in front of Baz because I had the knife ya'know, one of those kids jumped me, but I swung at him and he fell, pressing against my shirt and ripping it." He chuffed, "I nearly fell if it wasn't for Baz," everyone sat in silence and listened on, "We were nearly at the door when must've heard us, it was a giant kid from two years down, he stood in front of the nurses door. I froze, Bazza just ran past me, and charged him crazy mother fuck-," He looked up as Miss Summers, "Crazy guy," he shook his head, everyone just sort of sat back and listened, "He pushed him but the glass doors are right there, pushed the guy right through the window. Did you hear the smash?" Zac nodded, "Yeah we didn't know what to do!" "Yeah, well Baz went through the window. I ran to help him but by that stage, other brain eaters heard the noise and headed towards the nurses office. I managed to get in and grab the blankets, but by the time I got to the door, a fair few of them had made it there…" He pauses and takes a deep breath. "I opened the nurses door, peered around it, Baz was gone. He ran outside, those brain eaters were following him but kept tripping on each other," He couldn't help but chuckle a little. "At least your safe," Miss Summers said smiling, leaning over to rub his head. "One of them obviously followed me." he pointed to the door. The kicking slowed down to a light tap every 30 seconds or so since he began talking. "I really hope Barry made it out and he's okay," Julie said sighing. "He's a strong guy, I don't see why he couldn't" Zac said smirking, about to grab a blanket when theres a banging on the door they had first entered in. "What the?" Zac responded out loud. "No another one," Kyle groaned, walking to the door. Zac jumped up on a table and looked out the window, "Naah man, It's Bazza!" Kyle quickly removed the table and unlocked the door, opening it for Barry, "Quick man! Quick!" Kyle hurried as he pulled Barry into the room, "Aww cheers man, that was close hey!" He walked in the room and looked at the women, "Baz!" Julie said happily, glad to see his face again. Zac jumped off the table and walked up to Barry, give him a hand shake, "Nicely done man," "Thanks for letting me in, I had to lose all those kids but its so dark out there now," he says, walking over towards his bag. He sees the blankets of the floor as Kyle barricades the door back up. "Nice work man!" Barry says as he grabs one and wraps it around him. Miss Summers walks over to Barry, "You didn't get hurt did you?" He sits up on one of the tables as she stands before him, he smiles, "Naah, i'm too quickly for them Miss," She goes to touch him when he waves his hand in front of her shooing her away, "Naah Miss, you'd know if I wasn't right, your that kind of nurse," He smiled at her and she didn't want to force an inspection on Barry if he is saying he was fine. She went back to the table and sat with Julie and Hailey. They began talking amongst themselves about trivial things like sleeping arrangements and what shops are at Central Shopping Centre where Julie's parents are stuck.
Kyle approached Barry and shook his shoulder while saying, "Man, we're so happy you made it back!" Zac chuckled, "Well.. maybe not all of us," Barry grabbed a near by pen and through it at Zac. He reached in one of the nearby desk draw and grabbed a lackey band, flinging it back at Barry. "Guys.." Kyle rolled his eyes. "I think we should switch taking watch. Just in case someone sees something, maybe someone will come rescue us," Kyle shoulders were raised with curiosity as he spoke, Barry shook his head, "Man, I dunno about you. But if its in the city, and it spreading… where can we go? I mean the shopping malls the best bet so far…" he trailed off, "Forget about going back to your homes, its really not worth it," Zac expelled, leaning forward and resting his head above his arms on the desk, Kyle looked over to see if the girls could hear them but they were busy talking. He then pulled a chair from underneath a table and moved it away, chucking his backpack underneath along with a blanket. Barry puts his arm in his shirt to scratch himself and says, "Central Shops are the best bet. For Julie's sake.. for all of ours," Zac paused and jumped up on a table, startled the girls and they turned their attention towards Zac. He peered out the windows, "I can't really see any now.." Barry stood up, "We should go now,' Zac continued. "Are you crazy?" Julie whined, Kyle and Barry turned to her, "It's too dark, we'll get lost, we could be out numbered and not see where to go next…" she said trailing off, walking over and sitting on a Chair next to Barry. "Yeah, I agree with her," Kyle added. "Zac, we have no form of protection.." Barry began, "A knife," he pointed to Kyle. "A chair maybe," he points to where Julie is seated. "It's been a fucked up day, we should just chill, sleep while we are safe, get up in the early morning and just get our shit and go," He stood up nodding to agree with the plan he kind of just added to as he spoke. Hailey pulled out her phone, her parents still had not replied to her since her first text. All phone calls are effortless. The time shows quarter past 10pm. "I dunno about you guys, but i'm beat," Hailey said, walking towards Kyle as her bag was on the table beside him. "I'll keep watch 1am, we change shift every 3 hours, Bazza i'll wake you up," he points, as if giving orders to the group, "Bazza you wake Kyle up," Hailey ends up chucking her bag underneath the desk next to Kyle's and he sees this, looking at her as she turns back to the group and share a sweet smile between them. "We'll all get up at 6am," Zac proclaims. Everyone seems to be onboard with the plan so far. "I don't think I can go with you," Miss Summers says softly, moving into the middle of the room and looking around the room, "You kids seem very brave," She smiles and takes a moment, "But.. I want to go home, my house is only a few streets from here. I'm going to get to my car and go home," Zac goes to say something but he sees Barry stand up and shake his head. "Are you sure Miss?" Barry questions, his voice filled with sorrow, worried for the schools nurse. "My car is just parked behind the gym," She pulls out her car keys. "But I don't want to leave you to fend for yourselves, I will drive you to the shopping centre," She nods, Hailey steps forward, "No Miss Summers," She leans forward and grabs Hailey's hand, rubbing it gently, "It's fine, It'll be okay, we'll just drive there, i'll drop you off, I have a remote garage so i'll just slip back in, i'll be fine.." Everyone remains silent, hearing her but taking in a possibility of plans. "Let's sleep on that one," Barry says, picking up a blanket and jumping on top of a table in the middle of the room, he puts the blanket over him and grabs his backpack to use as a pillow facing Miss Summers. She doesn't say anything else, she just reaches behind Barry and grabs one of the blankets, walking into the kitchen to find a place to rest. Zac positions himself to be able to see outside the windows. Fortunately the gym has solar powered lighting for after hours to keep vandals away which floods some of the areas nearby and in the distance. He looks out and for a moment he can see houses facing the school across the street. Julie grabs a blanket and hands the other one to Hailey. Julie looks up at Hailey and Kyle and hesitates knowing theres only two blankets left. "It's cool," Kyle says, smiling as Hailey takes the blanket. Julie grabs her backpack it puts it at the edge of the table, scooting up against it and resting her head on it as chucks the blanket over her head. Hailey drops to the floor and crawls under the desk, Kyle looks around the room, kind of unsure of where he should sleep and leans down to grab his backpack, "Come on," Hailey gesters, holding out the blanket to entice Kyle to share. He smiles and climbs under the desk with her, lying on his back beside her and looking up over at Zac scoping out the outside. He lets out a deep breath and closes his eyes. He can already hear Hailey softly snoring beside him. He drifts off to sleep.
"KYLE" He hears in the distance. Kyle wakes up startled, he looks beside him quickly and Hailey is gone, but he heard her voice calling him, "Kyle! Wake up!" he hears again, "I'm up!" He groans, waking up and see the sunlight flooding into the room. The room is a mess, the chairs are everywhere, the tables aren't where he last saw them. He can't see Barry in front of him or Julie to his side, "Hailey?" He calls out, getting up off the floor and rubbing his eyes. He sees her standing by the door to the outside, it's open and the table is upside down on the floor. The kitchen light is flickering, "What is going on?" He asks, grabbing his back pack and slinging it on his back. "Come on !" She cries out, practically screaming for him to hurry up. He can see she looks panicked, she has blood on her and her jacket seems torn. "Hailey?" Kyle cries out as he feels like he's almost running in the same spot. In anger, he pushes harder and moves very slowly closer towards Hailey. She is ushering for him to hurry up but he can't make it closer. He can't move. He's running on the spot. He looks down confused and sees his legs running but nothing is happening, he's not actually moving. Kyle looks up and shakes his head confused asking, "Hailey?" just as he looks up, he sees her at the door looking outside with her eyes and mouth wide open in shock. A man jumps inside at her, tackling her onto the desk and landing on the straight desk leg, piercing his shoulder to it. Hailey falls beneath him in the middle of the desk. He is a brain eater, using his hands to claw at her. She shakes off her fall and tries not to scream, pulling herself away from him as her grabs at her legs. She lets out a scream and Kyle finds himself able to move again, normally, approaching Hailey and trying to pull her away as she is being held onto. He kicks the brain eater in the head, shifting his attention from Hailey to Kyle, allowing her to get away. Kyle steps back, the brain eater moving the table as he reaches. Kyle quickly moves around him and Hailey grabs his hand. She pulls him out of the building, in the fresh air of the school he can hear the school bell again. The stop just outside the door and freeze. It doesn't seem like morning, seems like the same time he heard the school bell yesterday. "Hailey?" He asks, noticing she stopped breathing as heavily as she was before, "Are you okay?" He pulls on her arm, unable to see her face as her hair covers his view. He steps in front of her to see she has changed, her eyes piercing as she lunges at him. A brain eater. Unexpected, Kyle falls backwards and Hailey falls on top of him. She lets out a groan, about to sink her teeth into Kyle.
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