So I named this chapter after the Pierce the Veil song "Tangled In The Great Escape" which has nothing to do with the story (let alone zombies), I just thought the title was unique enough to be a chapter name. So yeah, I'm not really good at typing action as I am suspense so if the action seems bland, if not a bit confusing, then that's why. It'll get better as the story goes on though so yep. On another note, I've decided to start typing a different SYOC story with a different idea than this (because I wanted to type that one first before this one, but did this one first anyway), so if you see that, please fill free to send an SYOC for it once I post it. I'll just be working on both of them (which shouldn't be hard since summer just started for me). So once again, there is a new poll on my profile, and please have fun reading the chapter (which once again is kind of sloppy :P)


Chapter 4:
Tangled In The Great Escape pt. 1

"Ten minutes until we head out."

The darkly lit room grew silent once those words were uttered. The group of nine teenagers were spread out inside the small room, cooling down and getting ready to go out and face whatever horrors lie ahead as they all had to mentally prepare themselves. It was something they knew they had to sooner than later, but at the same time they didn't know if they'd be as prepared when they leave as they felt at the moment. All in all, this will only be answered once they leave.

Conner had explained to the group about what him, Cass, Katie and her boyfriend Sam had seen while they were outside in the hallways. It was a grim explanation indeed. Like everyone else, they'd followed the crowd of students into the hallway, adrenaline being the only thing fueling them as they'd run to the front of the building, hoping to exit. They were stopped when more of them had come into the building, most likely due to all the noise that was going on. After this, all Conner saw was the blood from students who were captured by the strangers, and from there he quickly knew that they were no longer human; and if they were human, they'd gone mad. Whatever the real case was, all he really knew was that he needed to avoid them at all cost.

Before they knew it, one of them had grabbed Sam, a group of them soon climbing on top of him. By then it was too late to save him as his blood and guts spilled on the floor, his screams filling the hallways. Conner and Cass had to drag Katie away before she ran to her boyfriend and died herself. Katie was crazed with fear after that.

Seeing that the front door was no longer and option, the group of three turned around, zigzagging through the many hallways. Occasionally, they found commotion from some of the savage visitors who were inside, having no choice but to defend themselves before running away altogether. What startled them though, was that some of the people trying to attack them were student from their school who were clearly mutilated and bleeding out. They'd gone mad. The three then knew that this had to be the work of some sort of infectious disease.

Letting the thought of this possibly being the work of an infection sink in, they immediately decided to generalize what was going on as a zombie apocalypse, now avoiding all of those who were infected at all cost as they continued to venture through the building. Upon fleeing, they found Dainty who was all alone crying, recruiting her with them before heading out once more. That's when they'd all gone into the room Dustin and the other's were in.

Now here they were, sitting and waiting for the cue to start leaving. Still in disbelief, everyone decided that it'd be easier if they just assumed that what was happening was some sort of zombie like virus, meaning that the only trustworthy way to kill an infected person was through the brain. The student they killed would prove to be an example of said theory, meaning that whatever's out there is fast and agile but impulsive and savage, not feeling any source of pain and only dying when their brain has been destroyed. Whatever other abilities they may have, have yet to have been discovered.

Shay stood by herself, re-slipping on her sweater despite blood being all over it, being she wasn't going to go out there in just a tank-top. By now, the blood scented smell wasn't as strong, making it bearable to where; this was one of her favorite sweaters too. She grumbled as she stared at the ruined fabric, combing her fingers through her pixie cut hair, observing everyone else's outfits. She honestly felt pretty lucky to be wearing comfortable clothing for the occasion, unlike the rest of them.

Darren was wearing worn out converse with dark blue jeans, a white t-shirt and a black hoodie while Chris wore blue jeans with a silver belt buckle, black cowboy boots, and a black tank top. Sienna was dressed in a short lime green skirt with a plain white t-shirt and plain white sneakers, her arms covered in green, white, and orange bracelets. Conner wore a red button up which was half unbuttoned, showing a white tank top as he also wore levi skinny jeans and dark brown dress shoes, while having glasses on. Katie was very dressed up as she wore a long sleeved tight red dress with white polka dots, cable knit tights, a clock-locket necklace, the necklace made of plastic neon dinosaurs, and some knee high black boots with laces in the back, while still having her backpack.

Cass was dressed in a simple black t-shirt and ripped up dark blue skinny jeans to matched her worn out black converse. Dainty stood out the most in her outfit though, some people in the room disapproving of her fashion taste. She wore a pink dress with a collar and puffed sleeves, her hem reaching her knees. Along with it she wore a black waistcoat on top of it and a large, white tie loose at the collar, wearing white ankle-length gladiators with ribbons as well.

The room was quiet for what seemed like forever before Dustin pulled his cellphone out. He was bit surprised to see that he'd not received any phone calls from anyone, not even his parents. In a way, that calmed him while at the same time worried him. He had to make a phone call himself though.

Dustin dialed a number in his phone before pressing call, placing the phone to his ear. It rang and rang for awhile before finally he heard someone pick up on the other line. "Hello?" they asked. It was his sister.

"Are you OK?" was the first thing Dustin asked.

"Yeah," she said, sounding confused, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Do you not know what's going on outside?"

"No," she said. Dustin could slowly hear her voice growing worrisome as he lowered his tone a bit. "Never mind," he said, "Don't worry about it Annie. I'm coming home early; when I get there I'll explain to you what happened. Don't leave the house."

"I'm scared now," Annie said.

"Don't be, everything's fine, just... continue what you were doing before I left and make sure the doors are locked."

The two of them parted ways, Dustin looking at his phone to see that it was now noon, and hopefully when they leave, traffic won't be bad. "Who was that?" Dustin suddenly heard someone say. He looked up to see that everyone in the room was looking at him, Darren being the one who'd asked.

"That was my sister," Dustin answered, knowing now was the time to be honest with everyone, "Look, so I don't really know what all of you plan on doing once we get out of here, but I have plans of my own."

"Like what?" Katie asked.

"My sister's home alone right now, and I'm going there to make sure she's safe before I do anything else."

"So what, you're not going to stay with the group then?" Shay said.

"It's not that, it's just I don't know if you guys want to come with me. So if you do, you're welcome to come; we have plenty of food there and I think two blow up mattresses, along with the couch and my parent's and I's bed. But if you don't want to come with me, I'm not stopping you."

The room was silent for a moment before finally someone spoke. It was Dainty. "I'll come with you," she said, "I have no where else to go right now anyway."

"I'll go too," Chris said, being he's been to Dustin's house a few times himself and is completely OK with staying there. Dustin looked around before making eye contact with Shay. "Are you coming too?"

"Of course I am," she said, "You're like my brother, I'm not going to just ditch you now."

Dustin smiled lightly, seeing that all these people were comfortable with going with him. He felt safer. Eventually, Katie, Cass and Conner agreed as well, leaving Darren who ultimately agreed being he didn't want to be by himself out there. If he had the option though, he wouldn't go with them and just stick up for himself; but he knew his chances of survival were better in a group.

"OK then," Dustin said, "So five minutes until we head out. We aren't exactly armed well so if you find a weapon keep it close."

The whole room nodded and continued what they were doing before the small interruption. Katie stood with Cass, Katie near tears about the loss of her boyfriend as she clutched onto the pair of scissors she'd gotten from the front counter before they ran off. Cass saw the tears forming in Katie's eyes. While Cass felt pained to look at Katie in such a weak state, Cass was unable to act appropriately to her emotions, being she's always had the "Oh Well" kind of outlook on life. Still, Cass felt she needed to do something to make her friend feel better.

"We'll be out of here soon," Cass said, placing her hand on her shoulder. "Sam won't be," Katie murmured, tears streaming down her face. Cass gave Katie a hug, leaving her alone seeing as she probably wanted to be left alone right now anyway.

Cass walked over to Conner who was sitting in fetal position by himself. He'd grabbed a guitar as his weapon, being there was a guitar everywhere he turned. The sixteen year old squatted in front of the boy, hugging her arms around her knees. "How are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Conner said, "I'm fine. I thought I'd be more phased if something like this happened, but honestly I feel fine. I see you feel the same, am I right?"

Cass nodded, sitting down in front of him. "Did you see Natalia out there anywhere while we were running?" Cass asked. Conner shook his head, resting it back on the wall. "I hope we find her," he said.

"Me too," Cass added.

The two of them looked up when they saw Dustin walking over to the door, peeping his head out. The hallway was empty. This relieved Dustin as he brought himself back in the room, walking over to his backpack and slinging it over his shoulders. He then observed the room a bit before finding a stray pipe barely screwed into the wall. Everyone watched as he walked over to it, gripping his hands around the skinny pipe before yanking it off, some steam being let out from it while he held the weapon in his hands. He felt ready now.

"OK," he said, "Ten minutes have passed and the hallway is empty from the infected. Now's the time to get the hell out of here."

The whole room seemed to nodded, standing up from where they sat and exhaling in unison. "So what exactly is the plan on getting out of here?" Shay asked, crossing her arms.

"For the most part, we're just gonna go with the flow being as we don't really know this building all that well and hope improvising works. Our main objective is to get to the back exit and head to the front of the building from outside. Once we make it to that point, we'll figure out what to do next. Hopefully the buses are still there, but whether they are or not, the direction of where we go depends on how crazy things get out there; that is why we're just going with the flow of it all. Plus, there's only three of us with weapons, so as long as we don't run into any trouble, we should be OK."

The room had their doubts about 'going with the flow', but none of them could think of anything better to do for the circumstances, so they all agreed. "Overall, we just need to stay close and not split up. The back door should be around here somewhere, and once we're out of here, things should get easier."

Dustin walked over to the exit, the others grouping up around him as they paused. He looked out into the hallway. Good, it's still empty, he thought, turning back to the group. "Is everyone ready?" he asked. When the room nodded, he nodded as well, now lifting up his fingers as he began to count down from ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Two.

One.

His hands went down and the door opened, and before long everyone was out in the hallway. The floors were stained in blood that people obviously slipped on here and there. Two bodies laid on the floor which appeared mangled and stomped on from the crowd of students earlier. The building seemed quiet, other than the random screams or growling noises that were made somewhere in the distance. Now that they were out though, the plan was being taken into action.

They all ran down the narrow hallway before making it to the main hallway, window lights blinding them lightly and the more open space giving them a bit more comfort in the cramp building. They all paused in their tracks however when they looked down the hall and saw a group of infected strangers and students eating the remains on three students. The whole group paused in fear, preparing to start running the opposite direction once the infected realized they were standing there... but they didn't.

The group stood in place, confused as to why the infected hadn't spotted them yet. That's when they realized it. Chris looked over at Dustin and Shay, whispering, "Can they see us?"

"I don't think so," Dustin whispered back.

"Does that mean they're blind?" Shay asked.

"I don't know, but whatever the reason is, let's use it to our advantage," Dustin said, turning around and as quietly as possible running the opposite direction with the others.

Things were going more smoothly than any of them could of ever hoped for; all they had to do every now and then was make sure they weren't making any significant noise while they ran away. If only they knew where the back exit was, then this whole plan would be accomplished in the snap of a finger.

The smooth atmosphere for escape became more challenging when suddenly they entered the main hall of the building. Curvy stairs stretched against the walls, leading into more hallways on the second floor which looked completely vacant. It eased them that the room was lit up from all the ceiling windows that seemed to stretch across the whole roof. What made things so difficult howbeit was that there were two hallways which went into two different hallways, and one of the hallways had about five infected students who were clearly wary of a noise they may or may not of heard.

Upon pausing, Cass's shoe slid on some blood, causing her to not only fall back but for the noise of her shoe sliding on a blood splattered mess on the linoleum flooring to make the loudest squeaking noise imaginable to man. The sound bounced off the walls and echoed throughout the building, gathering the attention of the five zombies who were blocking the hallway. Dustin knew they'd already spotted their location, causing him to shout, "This way!" The group now running into the more empty hallway.

As they ran, they bobbed and weaved through any more infected zombies that were in the hallway trying to grab them. Though they were easy to avoid, they were fast as they jogged after the group of nine teenagers, making them winded and tired by the time they'd reached the next hallway, taking a hard right and nearly falling over. This hallway was much like the room they'd first gone into, dimly lit with guitars mounted on the sides of the walls. And much like the room, there were people in this hallway... and they were armed and surrounded.

They seemed to have their backs pressed to each other as they swung at the infected, trying their hardest to keep them away. It took the others a couple more steps towards them to realized that the four people were Noah, Jacqueline, David and Marian. They all seemed to be armed, Jacqueline holding a long and narrow pipe while David had a broken broomstick. Marian brought a wooden Louisville Slugger with her and Noah had a crowbar. They were unaware of Dustin and the rest of the group running towards them.

Dustin looked back; seeing that about five of the infected had followed them into the hallway, and with the other five or so infected attacking the group of four, he believed he could take them on. "We're going to have to fight!" Dustin called out in mid run. "Wait what-"

Before Chris could finish his sentence, Dustin tackled one of the infected attacking the group ahead of them, both of them crashing onto the floor as he stabbed his pipe into its eye. It didn't take long for it to die as Dustin yanked the pipe out, turning back to see one of them about to hop on top of him.

Before he could really grip onto what was going on, Marian swung her bat at the zombie, its neck twisting all the way around before she swung her bat on its head again, creating a giant dent in its skull as it laid in a pull of blood. "Need a hand?" she asked, reaching out for him. Dustin nodded, taking her hand as she helped pull him up. Eight more infected to go.

One of them began to run over to Cass who couldn't do anything being she was unarmed. This caused her to scream. Luckily, Katie from behind shoved the zombie face first onto the ground, Conner running over to the girl's aid as he swung his guitar down on it, struggling to beat its head in but overtime succeeding.

Once everyone seemed to get the basics down on how to kill them, the rest seemed easy. The infected's numbers now began to dwindle as they took turns throwing them down and beating their heads in. Eventually, all of them in the area had died, but they knew more of them would be coming soon. This gave them a small amount of time to talk.

"Are you guys OK?" Chris asked, walking over to Noah and David.

"Yeah," David said, "We thought we could just run out of here easy peasy, but... as you could see, that didn't work out as well." David smiled at his comment, but stopped when he saw that everyone was being very serious about everything. "Where were you guys heading?" Shay asked.

"No where in particular," Marian said, "We were just trying to get out of here first before deciding anything after that point."

"Well, we're all going to Dustin's place if you'd like to come," Conner said. The four thought about it for a minute as they looked at one another, looking back at the larger group in front of them before Noah finally said, "Fine, we'll go with you to his house. But after that, then we'll decide whether or not we want to stay there."

"Sounds like a plan then," Dustin said.

Darren looked back, seeing the shadows of what looked like a giant hoard coming their way.

"Um guys, I think we have company."


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