Chapter 2
Hey guys, the second chapter is out, I got a B for my biology assessment, everything's all cool. This story gets a bit more quick-paced, you might find it interesting, you might not. Give me comments and reviews about my writing style, as I am a fourteen and a half year old passionate writer who strives to get at least an A for my English writing.

The next morning, I got up and yawned, dragging my sodden feet to the bathroom to brush my teeth, and lazily trudged down the stairs to grab a quick breakfast of bacon and pancakes. I wolfed them all down like it was going to be the last day I tasted the food; my family staring at me with a strange expression as I hastily gobbled the food up, grabbing my bag and dashing out to the route to school.

I noticed that many shops were closed today, except the convenience stores and pharmacies, and that lots of people were sporting red-rimmed bandages on their wrist or shoulder or leg. The sound of coughing permeated the air, and polluted the environment, giving me an idea – perhaps school was closed. I entered the ivory steel gates of Swift's International School, the logo emblazoned upon the walls of the entrance. People were wearing face masks, probably trying to prevent themselves from getting a possible airborne virus. Several students were coughing slightly as well, similar to the ones I saw at the street. Could it be that the virus had already reached Manhattan?

"Yo, bro, you heard the news?" Niqulos bumped my shoulder playfully, causing me to glare at him. "Who hasn't?" I rolled my eyes, as we walked to our classes, Ethan and Gordon joining us on the way.

When Ethan saw me, he greeted me and told us a theory about how my dream could be related to the virus splattered all over the news. We all had a good laugh at his serious face, but to tell you the truth; I was feeling rather edgy at the possibility of a zombie pandemic. I mean, zombies couldn't possibly ever exist, could they?

Apparently our teacher for Chemistry class was absent and sick, and so was about a quarter of the teachers in our school. Students that were sick sported panda eyes and bandages wrapped all on their arms, blood seeping a bit through the thin cotton gauze. In Chemistry, it was just Gordon, Juan and I, and there was a replacement teacher in front. I made a risky decision so bold I could've gotten my phone confiscated and probably gotten suspended has this not been a zombie pandemic. The blood on the bandages tied on the infected confirmed my suspicions, and I hastily texted the rest of the group to stray away from class to the cafeteria.

Gordon and Juan sat next to me; Gordon was ready and willing to follow my instructions for he was also rather frightened by the prospect of an outbreak here in our school. Juan, however, did not believe in the urban legends of zombies and rarely played any games, so he told us to move along, and that he'd catch up soon if there really were zombies. Quietly, Gordon and I sneaked out of Chemistry class, without the teacher and any of the students noticing; Juan distracting them at the front with some content displayed on the screen.

"Gerard, what's the plan, man? Why the cafeteria?" Gordon asked as we plowed our way stealthily to the direction of the canteen.

"Because, most people would not think to get to the cafeteria, and there are lots of supplies like food and drink." I responded, feeling my pants pocket vibrate, signaling the rest of the group's reply. Whipping my phone out, I read the responses.

Alideen: Wat? Zombie outbreak? U srs or not? Kk anyways there's nothing to do in Chem.

Ethan: I'll be there asap, try not to make a scene.

Niqulos: I'm about to go with Ethan and Alideen; to the canteen you say?

Samuel: The fk bro wat r u talking?

Hastily, I typed: No time, be there ASAP, Samuel! This is serious, I saw most of the infected with bandages wrapped on their limbs, so if you don't want to be infected, now's a good time as any!

I put my phone back into my pocket, and led Gordon to a hidden spot just outside the cafeteria. There was a speaker directly above us, so we could get ahold of any announcements in case of any emergencies. I inhaled a deep breath, trying to calm myself down, my hand clammy with pale sweat already from the warm summer weather.

As I waited for the others to arrive, I discussed with Gordon about what weapons we should be armed with, in the case of a sudden attack.

"They have knives in the kitchen," Gordon suggested, adding, "Also the gym has badminton and tennis rackets and baseball bats." I nodded, agreeing with his ideas. But the gym was usually locked, unless there was a sports lesson ongoing.

We had waited for what seemed like an eternity for the rest to arrive, Niqulos and Ethan arriving first. We were still waiting for Samuel and Alideen, and I truly wasn't sure whether Juan would be coming with us or not.

Never in my life had I experienced the feeling of anxiety to a whole new level; this was literally life and death here. If I was wrong, wrong about everything – the zombies, the infection – we would all be in deep shit.

I stretched my gangly frame, feeling some of my smaller bones crack as I moved them, and waited. Finally, Ethan spoke up.

"I've got to warn my family. In case of anything that's gonna happen to me, I've got to tell them what we're doing and where we are." He said with a set expression on his leather-brown face. Niqulos nodded, agreeing with him, and pretty soon all of us were leaving voice messages for the rest of our family.

Gordon told them about our plan, the one where we were going to the gym for some melee weapons to prepare ourselves for combatting the undead. I signaled for the group to stay back while I peered inside the glass doors leading to the gym. Empty. That was good, meaning that we could get to the gym equipment without much problem. Now there was only the unlikely possibility that the door to the equipment storage was locked.

Quietly, I pulled open the smooth glass door, beckoning to the rest of the group to follow me. Together we sneaked into the gymnasium and when we reached the equipment storage room, Gordon furiously jiggled the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge.

"What now?" He asked, wiping sweat off his brow.

I looked about, trying to look for something that could help us open the door. My eyes settled upon a piece of metal, and Niqulos went over to retrieve it. Alideen and Samuel had not reached still, invoking a sense of confusion from us – what could have possibly detained them?

Niqulos had already set about to forcing the door open; Ethan and Gordon taking turns to pry the door open. I was the lookout for potential roaming infected and teachers, both of which were equally disastrous. The four of us were crouched at the corner, trying to pull open the heavy spruce door and it was working; splinters of wood were tearing from the side and soon we would be able to unlock it.

CLANG

Ethan had accidentally dropped the piece of the metal due to the slipperiness of Niqulos', Gordon's, and his sweat. The sound echoed about the gymnasium, which was bad news for us since the gym was right next to the teacher's staff room. There was bound to be some teacher looking for us soon, so I told them all to hide, as I pressed myself flat on the ground.

Sure enough, the door leading from the staff room to the gymnasium swung open, revealing a tall, stout middle-aged teacher called Mr. Richard. Almost everyone in my grade called him Mister Dick, and he lived up to his name – he was an infamous pot-bellied man who shamelessly flirted with the girls and deducted grades whenever he felt like it. But the real reason why everyone really hated him was because he had extremely sharp senses; vision, hearing, smell, you name it. He could spot what would seem to most students could not observe, hear even the slightest bit of noise – that's why he came into the gymnasium, and smell the food from the canteen from the classroom. Maybe I exaggerated on the last bit, but the rest are true. Many kids have lost their phones and valuables due to this man, who was sharp enough to tell whether who was paying attention and who wasn't.

"Is anyone here?" His rough, raspy, burly voice echoed about the gymnasium, reverberating up my eardrums. I remained crouched on the floor, breathing heavily, praying that I would not be noticed. In the corner of my eye I could see Ethan hiding behind a half-meter wood bench; hard to spot but you'd never know whether Mr. Dick could see him or not. Niqulos did the same as me, pressed down hard on the floor five feet apart from me, and Gordon leaned against a side of the wall that was out of Mr. Dick's vision.

My throat itched, notifying my brain that it needed to cough. No, not now! I pleaded desperately, trying to fight the painful cough that would be very hard to stifle; if successful, Mr. Dick could still have heard it – after all the gym was quiet.

But when nature wills you to do the call of duty, I guess there's no fighting it.

COUGH

All eyes in the gymnasium turned towards me; Ethan shot a glare at me, Niqulos cursing, Gordon groaning, and Mr. Dick was alerted of the situation we were in. In a few strides, the pudgy teacher had arrived at my hiding spot, grabbing my uniform and hissing, "Caught you! Now, are the rest of you going to simply watch your friend here getting sent to the detention room or are you all going like a group?" His eyes scanned around the gym, spotting my friends' hiding spots.

Almost immediately, the rest of my squad stood up slowly, their eyes transfixed at me; some defeated, some angry, and some calm.

Mr. Dick led the way to the staff room, and we meekly followed, while the rest of the group talked to me. "Why the fuck did you cough?!" Ethan growled angrily, heat steaming from his head. Niqulos had to hold him back to refrain from punching me. I let loose a sigh as we walked on, replying, "A cough is a cough. Who knows? Maybe Mr. Dick will be the first to get eaten."

Gordon's defeated expression chilled me; it was seriously creepy. "For all we know, there is no zombie apocalypse and our future will be blacklisted for skipping class. I really need a scholarship, you know that? My family is not that rich. I come to this school because my parents want the best for my education. We're Chinese Asian you know?" I patted his back reassuringly. "No worries, Mr. Dick will get eaten."

Upon saying that, Mr. Dick turned about and gripped my shirt, hard, his porky eyes intense and glaring upon my own brown eyes, which were currently angry. However, I had to look up slightly at the teacher, him being a couple of inches taller than me, who forcefully pressed me up against the corridor wall.

"You're lucky we're still in school," he hissed, glancing around at Ethan, Gordon, and Niqulos. "Or else I'd be caving your head in with this fat fist here." He gestured at his meaty knuckles, which looked threateningly dangerous in my position.

I gulped down the accumulative saliva in my mouth, and mumbled an apology, all the time my eyes and expression were a mix of fear and anger. He was such a bad teacher and yet he did not know that. I really wished that my prediction of a zombie apocalypse was correct now.

There was a janitor holding a broom up ahead, moving slowly with a limp. This was an autistic pretty lady who was efficient at her job – sweeping. However, she was mute, and she seemed rather deaf so she couldn't acknowledge anyone most of the time. She could read, though.

Today the janitor seemed tired; her broom leaning against a side of the corridor, her hair askew and her eyes glazed, like they were tired. She was lethargically moving the broom back and forth, and seeing his opportunity; Mr. Dick approached the woman and grabbed the broom with a deft twist of hand, instantly forgetting about the kids he had arrested. He kindly offered to help her and started sweeping.

As if she did not understand, the janitor slowly approached him with her arms outstretched, like she wanted the broom back. I remembered that she valued her broom like a first-born child, and refused to let any student or teacher touch it.

Thinking he would get a peck on the cheek as a reward for his 'gracious' offer, Mr. Dick exposed his fleshy cheek with a mischievous smirk plastered on his face, while the janitor swayed closer.

Then I noticed something horribly wrong – bubbling saliva gurgled from the janitor's chapped, pale lips, and a ghostly, milky white in her eyes. She suddenly surged forward with such speed and strength none in the school had ever seen before, and within a split second she was face to face with Mr. Dick; her mouth widened and ready to bite.

Blood sprayed from the asshole of a teacher's plump cheek like a cascading waterfall; dripping onto the floor like a spoiled water faucet that could never stop. The janitor ripped the whole chunk of flesh free, chewing on it like a convict escaped from prison that hadn't eaten for multiple days.

Mr. Dick roared in agony, desperately cupping at his cheek in an attempt to reduce the blood flow, but before he could recover from his shock, the zombie janitor lunged upon him and pinned him down, gnawing on his shoulder. I returned to my senses, and saw that the rest of my friends were in a state of fear. "Come on, guys!" My friends turned to the sound of my voice, nodding as we started to jog back to the gymnasium.

"Don't leave me here, you assho – ARGHHH!" The pot-bellied teacher was interrupted in mid-sentence as the undead janitor started to tear at his stomach; long and thin intestines spilled out, all bloodied and disgusting. Resisting the urge to vomit, I sprinted up ahead while my friends followed from behind, both happy that the worm of a teacher was killed but genuinely afraid about what would happen next.

The agonizing screams screeched to a halt, giving way to dead silence that filled the already silent air. Seizing the metal piece that I had accidentally dropped from before, I pulled at the small gap between the storage equipment doors in an attempt for it to give way. This time, the door snapped like a twig, sending splinters flying everywhere; one scraped my hand and I felt a sharp sting flood my mind. Wasting no time, my friends and I charged inside the sports room and grabbed whatever sports equipment we could find that looked deadly enough to knock over some heads.

"Alright, what now?" Niqulos asked as we all caught our breath leaning against the wall of the gymnasium.

I thought a moment. If the outbreak was just starting now, with at least dozens of high school students infected by the disease, then the school would be overrun in less than half an hour. Most of the time, in a panic, kids would run as fast as possible, shoving past crowds of people, dying like flies if they run into zombies. Those lucky enough to survive committed suicide due to mental trauma, got bitten unexpectedly, or tried their hardest to survive.

"Guys, we're going to need to make our way to the convenience store just a couple of blocks away from here. We're gonna have to fight our way out of this school if we have to. Forget the canteen," I added, eyeing my friends. "It's possible some of the canteen vendors have been infected already and we might be chow. Capiche?" My group nodded. "Good." I said.

Hefting a heavy aluminum baseball bat between my hands, we slowly inched outside the gymnasium, but suddenly my ears were interrupted by an alarm signaling trouble within the school; the piercing sound causing me to drop my melee weapon on the floor. I clasped my ears from the sound emitting from a speaker near the entrance of the gym; where we stood. The ringing noise soon cleared out to be an announcement.

"St-students of Swift's International School, I regret to i-inform you about this. I-I believe that there are rabid people biting other teachers and students. P-please evacuate quietly and follow all instructions that your teacher give you, and – STOPP! HELPP ME!"

Normally, in our school, no matter how far you were from the classrooms, you could still always hear the buzz of kids and teachers talking. But now, as the announcement rang out and ended with a scream, the compound was deathly silent. I picked up my metal bat, recovered my wits and pulled my friends along; we were headed to the convenience store.

Then, the noisy buzz returned into the air, more ferocious than ever, and I could imagine the chaos that unraveled inside the studying block and administration block.

Picking up the pace, I led the way, followed by Niqulos and Gordon. Ethan lagged slightly behind, him being the slowest of the lot. I turned to the left sharply, walking straight out of the studying block, and ran into one of my closer friends but not in my group; Bill Marcus. He stood at the same height as me, built solidly but in no way extremely muscular, of Native-American descent. He was with his girlfriend, Chanel Gene and both of them had panicked expressions on their faces.

As soon as Bill saw me, his expression faded into relief, as if he was expecting one of those things. He was clutching a small pocket knife smeared with blood. "Good to see you, man," he greeted as we slapped hands. Bill nodded at Ethan, who returned the gesture. "Niqulos, Gordon." He also greeted the other two of my group.

"Where are you guys headed to?" Chanel asked us. "The convenience store," I replied, and then something I should have remembered hit me like a wave. Juan, Samuel and Alideen were still inside the studying block! I turned to my friends. "Guys, I forgot that Juan, Samuel and Alideen are still inside the block!"

"But what can you do about it?" Gordon asked as he nervously watched our surroundings, ready to make a break for it if he spotted any infected. I flashed a grin to my friends. "Watch me." I took off from my friends in a quick sprint, slowly accelerating up to my maximum speed as I passed various classes. Several screams resounded from the classrooms that I passed, but I ignored them, instead focused on reaching my chemistry class.

When I reached the chemistry classroom, I swung the door open with all force I had and saw the classroom smeared with puddles of blood; their sources revealed dead on the floor, some writhing about – they were zombies. Many were missing limbs and most had their guts spilled. I recognized one of their faces as Alideen, and felt a wave of sadness flood inside my system. However, there was no time to think about all these. I still had to find Juan and Samuel.

Bolting out of the bloody chemistry class and dodging the infected looming about in the hallways, I turned the corner and bumped into something moving equally as fast, causing me to drop the metal bat with a loud clang that probably alerted many of the zombies in our area to approach us – that was if they weren't already feasting upon something. I hefted the aluminum bat, prepared to knock dead my attacker and found that I wasn't looking at a zombie, but a freshman girl. She had wavy short hair that fell just below her chin and was wearing the standard female uniform – except that she had a tag that said freshman, I had one that said junior. She did not appear to be bitten anywhere, so I offered her a hand to stand up.

"T-thanks, my name is –" the freshman started, but I tugged at her hand.

"There's no time for introductions, man, follow me if you want to survive; I'm looking for my friends!" I pulled her along as she struggled to match my pace. We darted from classroom to classroom and I noticed that a wave of zombies were staggering slowly toward us. My stamina was depleting and I was almost out of breath, but I kept on for my own sake.

At last, we searched the whole studying block, and not a trace of Juan and Samuel was found. Alideen's death would be hard to tell Ethan – he was one of Ethan's best friends. The freshman girl was in a slightly better shape than I was so she wasn't panting and sweating bullets like me. We made our way back to where I started, but none of my friends were to be seen. However, blood-stains coated the ground like a trail, giving me small clues here and there. The thick horde was still trudging behind the girl and me, giving chase as if never going to stop.

"There!" The girl cried out while we were moving as I followed her gaze. My eyes settled upon a multi-purpose vehicle; a Toyota Vellfire to be exact. Niqulos stood at the open door, calling for us while nervously looking at his surroundings; however his voice was faint and hard to catch unless you really concentrated on the surrounding sounds. Luckily for him and unluckily for the freshman and me, the horde was behind us. And they were hungry.

I felt like giving up. Seriously. I was staggering and out of breath and I thought, why must I live in this hellish, fucked up world? I collapsed onto the ground, panting and sweating like I've never did before. This was not me sprinting in a 100m or 200m sports day event; instead I had run at least a kilometer and a half at full speed. The freshman girl tugged at my hand, screaming something inaudible but I found it extremely hard to hear and breathe. My eyes transfixed upon the heavens and my breath heaved. I slowly closed my eyes and smiled, feeling at peace.

Well then that's the end of the second chapter. I'll update in around a week or more, thanks for reading!