Chapter 2

Claire bit her lip, mentally shrugging. "Hurry up, the door is going to give away!" Joey shouted from the other side of the room. The door then burst open, the filing cabinet falling away as two men fell into the room and roared in anger. People scattered to the back corners as the diseased men stood and lunged at them. One ran at Leon who dodged, and grabbed a lonely skateboard sitting on the floor. He stood, swinging it in a wide arc and smashing the truck into the back of the man's head. The board splintered with a loud crack as the guy fell to his knees and Claire kicked him in the face. He fell onto his back and didn't move.

The other man lunged again at Leon while he watched Claire, and knocked him off his feet. Ada spun in a circle, bringing her fist around and punching the man in the throat. He staggered and fell back; cracking his head on a water fountain and smearing blood down the wall.

The door was closed again and desks were piled up in front of it. "Like I said," Leon panted, leaning against a wall. "Now what do we do?"

"We need to make a rope, but…" Claire shrugged. Someone else had to have ideas!

Leon swallowed then grabbing a light jacket. "Okay, then lets tie clothes together and use a makeshift rope." Claire nodded eagerly, grabbing a scarf and some jackets lying around the room. She spotted Leon's jacket, but decided that the innocent black leather needed a home. She slipped it on, refusing to use it in their rope.

Soon, a twenty foot "rope" had been created using jackets, scarves and belts from around the room. Leon tied one end to a filing cabinet that was bolted to the wall. Claire climbed over to the window sill, staring down at the desk remnants and hoping none of the crazy people noticed her. They seemed preoccupied around the front of the school so Claire felt relatively safe. "I'll go down first and make sure it can hold us."

Leon ran to her, smiling slightly when he saw his jacket slung over her shoulders. "Guess all those years of playing Tomb Raider finally paid off." He said nervously, helping her down and out the edge of the window. Claire smiled, wrapping one hand around the "rope" and letting herself down slowly. She made it safely to the bottom, staring up at the window; twenty feet in the air. They had just enough clothing to get to the bottom.

"Come down, guys! It's safe, just go slow!" Ada climbed down next, standing beside Claire as she waited for more people to go to the window. Joey hurriedly slid down the clothes rope, burning his hands. "Ada, I want you and Joey to go around the side of the school and warn me if any one comes our way." Ada nodded, grabbing Joey and running to the far corner.

Leon was still at the window, helping people climb down, but he couldn't control them. Two boys began shoving each other, battling it out to try to get down the rope as one girl began her slow descent. "No, don't shove!" Claire screamed as one boy punched the other in the face and knocked him back wards, out the window. Claire dived out of the way, into s thick bush as the boy screamed and grabbed at the girl descending the window.

Time seemed to slow as they tumbled, just twenty feet out the window, head first. Blood gushed from their faces and necks; and Claire knew they were dead. Tears welled up in her eyes but she refused to cry. Her friends needed her. "Leon, don't let people come down just yet." She dragged the bodies out of the eye line into the trees, unable to clean up the blood.

They urged the last thirty students out the window, Leon being the last one to leave. "We have to get out of here." Leon said, walking up beside Claire as she nodded in agreement. They ran after Ada and Joey who stood guard at the edge of the building. "Any news?"

Ada nodded, pointing to the left just past the football stadium. Twenty or thirty of the diseased began rumbling down the street and towards them. "Ada, I'm going to pull your car around and pick you guys up." Claire said, catching Ada's keys as she ran towards the mob and slid into the car. Leon was right on her heels and ducked into the passenger seat. "I wouldn't leave you behind." She smiled, throwing the car in reverse.

"I know, but I would worry about you." Leon blushed slightly as they pulled up to the curb and opened the doors for Ada and Joey. Other students tried climbing on top of the car but slid off as they drove. "Let's go to your house first, Claire. It's closest." Diseased people tried to grab for them and break windows; Claire had no choice but to hit them and drive on.

"I'm going to hell for that." She muttered, half smiling as Leon nudged her. "Hey, get my cell from my pocket and try calling my mom and tell her what's going on." Leon hesitated, but slid his hand into her right pocket and plucked the cell phone from her jeans. He wished he could keep his hand there, but figured he would get slapped, or worse.

After a minute he shook his head. "It's just ringing."

"Well, keep trying to—shit!" She yelled, swerving as and axe flew through the air and whizzed past the car. "He's running after us…" She turned down Van Cleef, the crazy axe man running after the car and following them down the street. "Everyone inside!" She said, pulling up to the house. Leon slid Claire's key into the lock and ushered Ada and Joey inside before locking it and following Claire to the kitchen. "Leon, keep trying my mom. We should drive down to UNLV since my mom and Leon's mom works there. When do your parents come back from Sacramento, Ada?"

She shrugged, sitting in a big leather chair. "They're supposed to come back some time Saturday…so tomorrow I guess. But now…" She trailed off as Leon's eyes became a bit wider.

"Here," He shoved the phone at Claire as her mother answered the phone.

"Mom, are you still at work?" "Yes, what's going on Claire? The people on the news are saying that there is some kind of epidemic that spreads rapidly…why are you calling me at school?" Leon eyed Claire suspiciously as she sighed and slumped against the counter. "I'm not at school. These people were attacking students so we came home. Ada, Joey and Leon are with me. Mom, we're going to come down to the college. Just stay there." Claire could hear commotion in the background and people shouting. "Okay, just be careful. The police said to protect yourself anyway you can. I love you." "Love you too mom." Claire closed the phone and slid it back into her pocket. "Apparently it's an epidemic; some disease that's effecting these people and we have permission to kill them…not like I wouldn't anyway." She smiled, leaning against Leon and taking a deep breath. "Good thing we're all 18 or it would be a bitch to get guns." Leon chuckled, rubbing her back.

"Claire, I think we should use your extra backpacks and bring food. We don't know when we'll have a chance to grab something to eat." Claire nodded at Leon, and tossed him four back packs from the hall closet. He began stockpiling them with contents from the fridge and pantry.

"We should also have knives or something to use as weapons in case any other the epidemics come after us." Ada said, pulling out a butcher knife and watching the light dance off of its blade.

Claire pulled all of the knives from the door and distributed them to the four bags. "Agreed. I have a few things up stairs. Be right back." Claire made a quick dash up stairs; Leon watching her walk away before Joey snapped his fingers in front of Leon's face.

"Keep on track man. We gotta get outta here." Leon scowled but nodded and handed a blue backpack to him. Joe followed Ada to the front door, waiting for Claire to come down. "Claire?" Joey called, standing at the foot of the stairs.

"I'm here." She huffed, walking down with a three foot long black aluminum bat, a ten pound sledge hammer, and two, two foot long pieces of 2 by 4. "Thought we could use these too." She smiled, handing Leon the sledge hammer and the 2 by 4's to Ada and Joey.

Ada rolled her eyes and took it. "Like we'll need these." Claire shrugged and stood behind Leon as he opened the door.

WA-BOOM! Leon ducked as a fist smashed into the door where his head used to be. He staggered back in surprise, but quickly regained composure and brought his right foot up; kicking the disease ridden man in the chest. The guy fell back and slammed his head into the concrete; blood pouring from the gaping wound. "Let's move." Claire said quietly, tugging at Leon and shoving him into the back seat as Ada and Joey climbed into the front.

The weapons and food were evenly distributed through out the four bags, including two emergency medical packs that Leon found in the bottom of the pantry. He and Claire carried the heaviest bags as they got out of the car twenty minutes later in front of the college.

Claire bit her lip as she stared into the car, everyone waiting for her to close the door and move so they could walk to the Health center to find their family members. "Claire," Leon said, stepping up beside her and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

She looked back and forth between the back seat and Leon. "I have this feeling that I should bring the bat…" She trailed off, scratching the back of her head as Ada looked around. She noticed groups of diseased milling around the opposing street. Finally, Leon shrugged and reached into the back seat, pulling out the bat.

"Then bring it. Trust your gut instinct." Claire nodded, pulling the back pack tighter and clutching the long handled aluminum in her right hand. "Good, let's go then." Leon slid his fingers into Claire's left hand, walking beside her to the Thomas & Mac Center.

Again, please read and review. I love all of our comments and any advice you have would make this an enjoyable story for everyone. I know, strange words coming from someone writing about a zombie invasion.