Chapter 1 - Mrs. Parker

"Hailey!" A girl hissed. Hailey swung her long brown hair around, "What Cassy?" She quipped. Cassy pulled a 'whatever' face and pointed to the book they were reading in class as she fixed her glasses. Year 12 English was never thrilling, and Hailey's attention usually was focused outside the window so she didn't hesitate to turn her head back. There was a middle aged guy in sports gear walking funny outside the school grounds. The teacher, Mrs. Parker called out, 'Hailey? Eyes focused please," Hailey turned to the front of the room to see the rest of the class looking at her. "Sorry miss, I couldn't help it," She pointed to the man walking outside. The class looked outside along with Mrs. Parker who approached the window. The class watched as the man collapsed. He fell to the ground and appeared to be twitching. "Oh no," Mrs. Parker gasped. She turned from the window and rushed to the hallway. As she exited the classroom, the students watched as two other teachers ran towards the man, another standing by the doors holding a phone to her ear. Mrs. Parker rushed back in, "They are calling an ambulance, sit down class, lets keep reading," She demanded. As the class settled back to their seats, their eyes were still focused outside. Hailey along with others continued to watch on despite Mrs. Parkers frustration. As the two teachers Mr. Kapes the gym teacher and Mr. Sheild the science teacher were both hovering over the fallen man. Cassy nudged Hailey in the arm and she turned to face Cassy. Mrs. Parker took a breath between reading when another student, Barry (better known as Bazza to his basketball team mates) called out, "Oh my god! Look!" All the students got out of their seats and Mrs. Parker rushed over. Hailey turned her head to see the fallen man grabbed onto Mr. Kapes' neck. The woman on the phone, Librarian Miss Aubrey dropped it and rushed towards the front of the school. Mrs. Parker quickly rushed out of the room while the students gathered around the windows. "What the fuck is going on?" Kyle said freaking out. Mr. Sheild pushed Mr. Kapes off the man. But he sat up and pulled out Mr. Sheild's legs beneath him. The woman running stops and turns, the students follow her line of sight to see numerous teachers emerge from the front double doors. Mr. Kapes shuffled away from the other two men and jerked towards the school. "What the fuck…." Hailey mumbled as Mr. Kapes pushed off the ground and sprinted. In the afternoon sun the blood running down his neck soaked his white shirt as he lunged for Miss. Aubrey. The teachers by the door rushed inside and closed it. Mr. Sheild and the fallen man were standing and ran up to Miss. Aubrey. Mr. Kapes held her down and bit into her. Her cries were minimal as her neck was devoured by the teachers.

"Holy fucking shit!" Zac, another student blurred. Everyone started freaking out, they weren't sure what they just saw. "This is that living dead kind of shit!" Hailey overheard a broken voice from Bazza retort. She reached for her mobile and saw two missed calls from her mum. "Mum?" She queried. There were no voice messages. She rang, but the phone went straight to voice mail. Her battery was running low. She was startled by screams and looked up. They were coming from outside of the window. Some of the guys had gathered to the far side of the room. "One of the teachers got inside!" Zac cried out. "Holy shit!" Cassy screamed, running from behind Hailey towards the hallway. Zac followed her out as some of the students were grabbing their bags and leaving the room. Hailey looked down at her phone, not really sure what to do. As the screams increased down the hallway, Hailey watched as students poured out of the school. The windows were closed and she quickly ran to the door. A few students were fixated at the window. Hailey closed the door as she saw Mr. Kapes take out a student running down the hall. Bazza, still in the room looked at Hailey and quickly pushed the teachers desk against the door. Hailey moved out of the way. She looked around the room and saw 4 other students, Julie and Lisa by the back of the room hugging each other. Jacob and Kyle by the window watching students run out as other students attack them. "We gotta stay away from these.. these brain-eaters man!" Jacob stuttered. Everyone looked towards Jacob. He said out loud what we were all thinking. Zombies. Well, Brain-eaters as Jacob put it. Bazza stepped towards Jacob just as a loud bang against the door thrusted the table a few feet across the room. The door swung open enough for Hailey to peer down the hallway. In the split moment she had to see what was going on, her she feared the worse. Bazza quickly grabbed the table, helped by Jacob and Kyle and they shoved it forward. Closing the door. They all quickly grabbed the student tables and chairs, blocking the door. Hailey stepped backwards and leaned against a cupboard. She watched as the guys piled the door and hopefully blocking anyone or thing from coming in. She stared towards to the door, when Kyle stood in front of her, "Hailey," He called, shaking her arm to snap her out of her trance. She looked up at him, "So many students.." she uttered before letting out a little weep. Kyle quickly pulled her in for a hug and looked over as Jacob and Bazza were by the window.

"Man, we have to get out of here!" Jacob said, peering out the window as he saw students fleeing the grounds, some getting eaten by other students, some managing to escape from view. The screams in the hallways died down as they moved outside. Bazza paced along the edge of the windows. "We could jump out of here," He looked at the far window. He started to unlock the window. "I'm not leaving here!" Julie wailed. Everyone looked at her, Lisa stood up. "What chance do we have of getting across those lawns?" She looked outside of the windows. She clearly was shaken up by the recent events. Kyle let Hailey go and Jacob joined Bazza in opened the window. "I think we need to make a run for it," Bazza asserted, "We can't stay in here. We have to run for it," He looked at Lisa and Julie, "Our plan is, we can't go out going that way," Bazza points to the front of the school, "So, we need to get to the gym. It's on the furthest side of the school grounds. We get to there, we can make it out…" He looked at everyone, hoping to gain approval for his plans. Kyle grabbed his backpack, "I don't want to risk it, but staying in here is a greater ris-" There is a bang at the door. Everyone stops. "What was that?" Lisa queries. "Brain-eaters," Jacob mumbles. Bazza opens the window, "Come on," He rushes and grabs his backpack. "I don't think I can do this," Lisa cries as Julie reassures her, giving her her backpack. "Come on.." She guides her to the window first. Another bang on the door and the tables are knocked enough to start falling, creating a loud bang. "Holy shit!" Kyle cries out, reaching out for Hailey who quickly bent down to tie her shoe. "We have to go!" Julie demands as a chair crashes against the cupboard, knocking a vase of fake flowers Mrs. Parkers had put up to seem like she had a secret admirer every day of the school year. There was a moment of silence as everyone heard the smashing of the vase. It shattered, throwing shards of the ceramic vase across the floor. A loud groan could be heard as the door started to be shoved open. "Go, go, GO!" Bazza demanded, opening the window. Without thinking, Lisa jumped head first out the window. All of the sudden, Mrs. Parker appears before her and grabs her head, pushing her thumbs into Lisa's eyes. She screams out, and Julie instinctively pulls her back into the room. Her efforts are useless as Mrs. Parkers hands are wrapped in Lisa's hair and drags her out of the window. As Lisa falls on top of her, her former teacher sinks her teeth straight into her face, gnawing on her nose and ripping off the skin. "Now!" Bazza screams as the door pushes open and hands can be seen reaching in. Hailey looks back to see the bracelet she gave Cassy for her birthday and realises she needs to make it out. Zac looks around the room and grabs pair of scissors near by. He quickly sticks his head out of the window. He sees Mrs. Parker is preoccupied with Lisa's face as her body is now limp on top of her. He jumps out of the window and squats down. He sees students running towards the street, and some in the distance near the basketball courts which is near the gym but looks back, helping Julie out of the window. "Come on! Come on!" He ushers, just as the door the classroom bursts open. Bodies fall into the room, which one would easily mistake as former students of the school. Hailey jumps out of the window and Kyle follows her quickly. Zac keeps watch as Bazza pushes his backpack through the window. "Come onnn!" Zac hissed, trying not to be too loud. The brain eating students pooled into the room but were trapped on top of one another, allowing Bazza to slip out of the window. He quickly put his backpack on his back and pointed to the basketball courts, "We need to go there, come on !" He said, moving to the front of the pack and leading the way. Everyone followed behind him, he reached into his bag as a loud crash could be heard. They all stopped, seeing a car smash into another in the carpark. "Now!" Bazza insisted, beckoning everyone to follow his lead.

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