I almost wasn't able to finish this because Ariana Grande's new album killed me. but I got it done! enjoy xx
chapter six
When it happened, people nationwide called it Judgement Day.
His grandmother called it the Rapture.
André himself just preferred to call it the new world. He didn't think that the dead rising, walking on the earth along with them, had anything to do with any kind of religious symbolism. Just maybe a tough break for humankind and one huge mess up from CDC lab-coats that they couldn't clean up fast enough.
It started on the east coast. Lewiston, Maine. Someone got violently ill and died in the hospital twelve hours later, and reportedly attacked one of the nurses - bit right into her neck. At the time it had seemed like something the news reporters televised just to rouse up the public and cause an international panic. Then there were reports of it hitting New York and Florida, even cases of it arriving in Quebec, Canada. Then central America. Then Mexico.
André never paid attention to it. It was nothing serious, they'd get it under control eventually. He had English essays to worry about and songs to write and music producers to impress. Life went on.
If he had known back then that it would escalate so quickly, that he'd be here now, staring at the parking lot of his old high school littered with bodies, dead and undead, André would have never dismissed everyone's worry for paranoia. He would have never shaken his head when his grandma prayed for forgiveness every night, prayed for safety and immunity (later, she prayed for André, that he would be watched over and kept safe when the virus took her, too). He would have never laughed at the strange videos on the internet, thinking that people would do anything for their ten minutes of fame and attention.
Through the fence of the Asphalt Cafe, André saw the table just beneath the stage that he and his friends used to sit at on a daily basis. It was almost weird to see it now; it's dark blue color rusted and stained with soot from the smoke after the bombings deeper in the city. On the day it fell apart, André remembered sitting at that table. Beck and Jade had sat on the other side, staring down at their food, and Tori was sitting to his right. Robbie had left school early and Cat had never even shown up. The cafe, at that point, had been nearly empty. No music, and just three other full tables somewhere behind them.
The first student in Hollywood Arts to get it had been Sinjin, and then it was Berf. He passed out in the middle of class, foaming at the mouth and choking on his own vomit, and everyone else was sent home. It was only ten in the morning, and André remembered thinking that it was weird.
Knowing what had happened to them now, he didn't think it was weird anymore. Just sad.
"It's eerie being back here," Robbie said from somewhere beside him, squinting through his glasses at the cafe. It reeked of the dead, and a few straggled behind the fence. One was missing her legs and was stuck beneath the overturned lunch truck. André knew her. She was in his first period math class.
She wanted to be a comedian.
"Doesn't even look like Hollywood Arts anymore," said Beck as he slung a pack over his shoulder and shut the door to the RV behind him. "Everything is so dull looking now."
He was right. The school had lost its vibrancy and color, although it'd only been a couple months. The firebombing had done a great deal of damage to surrounding neighborhoods and areas that hadn't been directly hit. It'd turned the sky orange with fire and black with smoke that traveled for days after it had happened. Hollywood Arts wasn't hit, but it was close enough to have felt the aftershocks of it. André wondered where all the biters had come from.
André turned around, facing away from his old high school promptly. He suddenly didn't want to look at it anymore. Instead, he focused on his group. Tori was standing beside Trina, next to their parents. Robbie was at his side and Beck and Jade were standing by the RV - they'd attached it to the back of Mr. Vega's car, and it was where they both slept - and Cat and Sam were behind them all at the motorcycle, looking like strays. Solemn faces all around. He was beginning to get a bit sick of it; he missed smiling all the time, he missed feeling happy.
"We'll need to clear it and make sure it's safe," David Vega announced, scanning them all. Where they stood, they were relatively safe from biters. "Make sure that it's not already occupied. If it isn't, we make it ours. The fences are sturdy, they can hold."
"And if it is occupied?" Jade asked sourly, raising a pierced brow.
David regarded her with a sigh. "Then we'll deal with that when the time comes." He glanced over the school, one hand on his firearm at his belt, looking the very epitome of a policeman. "It's a large area, so we'll have to split up into groups to cover it all. Holly, girls, I want you with me. Everyone has a radio - use it if you need to. Channel seven."
Beck met his eyes and André nodded confidently. It made him feel better that Tori was going to be with her family, and it looked as if Sam and Cat were planning on sticking together. He nudged Robbie's side with his elbow when he noticed him looking a bit lost. "You can come with us, Rob," he said, ignoring the way Jade threw her head back into Beck's shoulder with an obnoxious groan.
Robbie nodded and looked down at his shoes, kicking at loose rock. "Thanks."
"Okay everyone," David said, "it's still morning, but let's try to get this done before night fall. The sooner we can get shelter, the better." He paused, his eyes hardening. "And remember: Aim for their heads."
"So, you gonna give me a tour of this place?"
"Sam," Cat chastised lightly, throwing her a dimpled smile over her shoulder as they ascended the stairs. "Maybe later."
Everyone had split up into three groups and had gone their separate ways. Cat had grabbed Sam's hand and announced that they would take the west side of the school campus, where the gymnasium and auditorium was. Both large areas with plenty of exits if they needed to make a run for it. Sam hoped not; she never much liked running, especially not in unfamiliar places.
Up ahead, Cat lead her through an empty parking lot in front of the track and football field, her fingers tightening around hers - if it had been anyone else, she might have pulled away. Sam was pleasantly surprised to see the lack of geeks, provided she ignored the two dead bodies. "We can get through those doors," Cat announced, pointing over to the building. "That'll take us through the girls locker room."
"At least it's not the boys," Sam mumbled, following her.
"Once, Beck and André stole Robbie's clothes from the showers and we got it on video," Cat giggled into her palm.
"Why?"
"He was making these horrible videos about us and posting them on TheSlap!" Cat said. "So Jade wanted to get revenge on him for being mean so he'd stop."
"Effective, but not a mental image I want," Sam said, pursing her lips. They stopped short in front of the locker room exit, and Sam moved Cat aside as she reached for the handle, and pressed her ear to it, listening closely for any signs of danger. "Just making sure," she explained when Cat furrowed her brow. She pulled away when she was sure she couldn't hear anything.
"Come on," Cat said, and pulled at the handle. The door didn't budge. She frowned, trying again. "I think it's jammed."
"Nothing is jammed if you try hard enough," Sam said, fixing the cuffed sleeves of her jacket before grabbing the door handle. "Put some arm muscle into it, you twig," she teased. "Okay, pull on three. One, two -"
With a moment of struggle, the two of them yanking at the door, it opened at last and sent them stumbling back. Sam regained her footing, her arm helping Cat steady, and they peered inside the dark locker room, the sun shining in from the door and the windows the only source of light.
Cat hesitantly entered first, acting as the guide. This was familiar territory for her. Rows of deep blue colored lockers were lined up, surrounding wooden benches. The showers were further in the back, the area dark, and Sam could hear water dripping against the tile. One of the lights was dangling from the ceiling, swinging in tiny circles, and some of the mirrors were cracked.
"Place looks like a dump," Sam said, closing the door heavily behind them as Cat moved for one of the light switches and flicking it on.
To both of their surprise, the lights came on, though they were dim. The one hanging flickered spastically.
"Oh! Electricity still works," Cat announced, as if she needed to.
"Thanks, Captain Obvious," Sam huffed. Her eyes scanned over the area, which would have been rather nice for a locker room had the circumstances been different - when they found a wooden baseball bat perched against the wall. Her lips twisted into a smile. "Oh yeah, come to mama," she hummed, walking over to grab it.
"We probably won't be able to get back out this way," Cat called out to her while she examined the bat in her hands, voice carrying in the empty space. "The doorknob won't even budge anymore."
"It's cool," Sam said, and waited for Cat before pushing through the exit leading out to the gym. "Let's go."
The gymnasium was huge, with a high domed ceiling and four sets of multicolored bleachers on either side of the room. In the middle of the polished wooden floor, someone had painted "H.A" in large, red letters.
And as soon as the locker rooms door opened, a large group of walkers turned their heads at the noise, their growls carrying throughout the room. Cat gasped in surprise and stepped back, blindly reaching for Sam behind her.
"Damn it!" Sam cursed.
"Oh god," Cat cried, chest heaving with rising panic. "We can't get out this way - where do we go?"
Sam brandished her baseball bat in front of her, adrenaline coursing through her veins like hot fire, but she knew that it was useless. There was too many of them, straggling forward quickly, pushing toward the two of them.
They were going to be completely surrounded.
She glanced around her, eyes scanning for possible exits around them that they could reach, and then:
"The bleachers!" Sam exclaimed, grabbing Cat's wrist and pulling her along. She shouldered passed a geek roughly, and he fell weightlessly off of his feet and onto his back.
Approaching the folded bleachers, Sam tossed the baseball bat to the top and jumped up to climb over while Cat turned to fend of geeks that had gotten too close to them. Sam scrambled to the top with little struggle, and turned to extend her hand out. "Come on!" She cried, heart pounding, her voice loud but lost in the echoes of the dead. "Grab my hand, I'll pull you over!"
Cat used both of her arms to shove a geek away from her and into the crowd and quickly turned, reaching up for her. Sam's fingers curled tightly around her forearm, and although Cat must have only weighed about 90 pounds, used the edge of the bleachers to help pull her up. Cat used her feet to help herself up, and the geeks, completely surrounding them now, grabbed for her dangling ankles.
The infected were on them all at once, pushing against the bleachers as Cat gripped the edge and desperately kicked out at them. One of her feet slammed against a geeks face, once, twice; but they were relentless, trying to grab her pull her down, their mouths gaping with rotting teeth and driven by mindless hunger. Cat was just narrowly avoiding getting bitten.
But Sam Puckett would be damned if either of them died today.
"I got you!" Sam said through gritted teeth, pulling her friend up with all of her might. Cat was finally able to swing one of her legs over the side and haul herself up. Cat fell into Sam immediately, pushing her back against the wall, and they gripped at each other at the top of the bleachers, breathing heavily.
After a moment, Sam rose to her feet and brushed herself off, glancing over the edge of the bleachers with a scowl while Cat scrambled for the radio. The sound of the infected echoed into Sam's ears, congesting and loud. They reached for them with fleshy hands, teeth crunching and grinding; the faces of the dead overwhelmingly everywhere she looked.
"Well," she sighed. "Shit."
so, Cat and Sam almost became zombie breakfast and got cornered, but at least they still have their radio! more to come soon, so please leave a review with your thoughts/predictions! :)