TW: Flashbacks to/Mentions of homophobia

When they reached the school parking lot that evening, they all broke into a sprint. They had, surprisingly, only run into a handful of zombies on the trek from the Christmas Tree Emporium to the school; and a sense of utter relief at reaching their destination washed over the four of them. Trainers pounding the pavement, they headed towards the side entrance- shouldering their respective weapons as they stopped in front of the door. No one wanted to make the first move; not knowing what exactly they'd discover in the halls of the school.

After a bit, Steph stepped up; grabbing the door and yanking it open. If there was one thing they didn't have time to do, it was stand outside waiting for another horde of zombies to find them.

They all filed through the entrance, stopping short at the receptionist's desk; where they saw Savage sitting, in the dark, eating something and clearly not interested in the disheveled group of students who had found their way into his school.

Steph stood there, registering his face and instantly feeling a heavy dread growing in the pit of her stomach.

She'd tried to talk to her parents about how Savage treated her- how he'd confiscate her keys, her phone, her library books. She'd only transferred to the school three months ago, and she didn't know how much longer she was going to last. It was like Savage had some personal vendetta against her- and she had a few running theories as to why that was. The most obvious reason, she knew, was that she was arguably the most visibly queer student at the school- and that Savage clearly had some sort of problem with queer students (or queer people in general).

Steph was no stranger to homophobic teachers- before Savage, she'd had an English teacher back in Canada who would find a way to incorporate at least one anti-gay lesson per week. She'd also had a gym teacher who was very liberal with his use of anti-gay language, often singling out the less-athletic boys and "too-athletic" girls. Steph had learned from her years in school that being gay was more often than not viewed as something laughable; something that made you lesser, something that justified the ways in which other people could harass you and make you feel like you didn't belong anywhere.

But as terrified as she was of Savage, Steph was determined not to let him break her. Her parents had kindly suggested that maybe if she tried to dress a little less "gay" that maybe the bullying from her teachers and her classmates would stop- but that wasn't a choice Steph was ever going to make. She'd spent too many years trying to be what everyone else wanted her to be, and she wasn't about to change for anyone.

She stared at Savage; heartbeat hammering in her ears as she spoke.

"What are you doing?"

He slowly looked up, taking his plate and placing it down on the desk; silverware clinking.

"I'm eating my Christmas dinner, Miss North." He regarded the four blood-soaked students standing in the entryway, getting to his feet.

"I suppose you'll be wanting to see your parents."

My parents are in fucking Mexico. Steph thought, keeping her eyes trained on Savage as he walked over to the door that led to the main hallway- opening it for the four of them.

Chris walked through readily, mumbling a "thank you". Anna and Nick followed, and Steph was the last one to walk through the door. She kept her head down, intentionally not making eye contact with the soon-to-be headmaster of the school as she practically jumped through the doorway.

It's going to be fine, Steph tried to tell herself as they all walked down the darkened hallway towards the cafeteria.

We'll find Anna's dad, and maybe we'll find Mr. Gill, I'll get my car keys back-

Instantly, Steph thought back to two days ago; how Savage had been on her ass about her editorial piece for the school paper, how Nick and his friends had harassed her in the cafeteria, how she'd eaten lunch alone again, hiding in between the stacks of the school library where no one would try to bother her.

Lisa was the president of the school GSA- and while she was nice enough, Steph knew that no one really wanted to hang out with the weird androgynous Canadian kid; Lisa included. What made matters worse was that no matter how hard she tried, no matter how she thought she was doing things right, she never seemed to figure out how to socialize and actually make friends. She hadn't had friends back in Canada, and she hated herself for thinking that, maybe, Little Haven would be different. The closest thing she'd had to a friend was her girlfriend- now ex-girlfriend, and as they walked towards the cafeteria Steph felt her heart begin to race.

She had no friends. At this point, she had no parents. She was stuck, in a hallway, with the two people who had made school a living hell for her- and they didn't seem to care. They didn't care. Nobody cared.

Back in a control room at the military base, Doctor Dawson and tech advisor were sitting at a control panel; observing the simulation.

"…Reggie, that blonde girl's readings are fluctuating pretty intensely."

Reggie, the tech advisor, rolled his chair over to another computer at the far end of the room and began typing.

"The simulation draws on the memories of the participants in order to create a more vivid experience… I'm seeing increased activity in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, accelerated heart and respiratory rate-"

"-Reggie."

"But given the nature of the simulation, I don't think-"

"-REGGIE."

"What?"

Reggie turned around, eyes widening as he watched the video feed on the monitor begin to cut out.

"H-How…"

Dr Dawson began scribbling notes down furiously, watching as the screen began to glitch- the code that had been running on Reggie's computer now beginning to re-write itself.

The virtual stand-in for Arthur Savage glitched momentarily- and to Dr. Dawson it looked eerily as if the character smirked evilly at the camera as the four students walked down the hallway.

Reggie spun around, typing furiously as he tried to undo the code that was rapidly re-writing itself.

"I don't understand…"

Dr. Dawson watched, eyes glued to the screen as the simulated Arthur Savage lock the door as the students filed into the cafeteria- walking away towards the kitchen entrance.

Steph's heart raced. She'd thought that the zombie apocalypse was bad, but it clearly hadn't affected her as much as being in the school building had. The mere thought of having to stay in the building any longer than they needed to made her sick, and she gritted her teeth. High school was hell- or at least, that's what teen movies told everyone- and while she maintained a steely air of indifference on the outside, internally she was a nervous wreck.

What if Savage was a zombie? What if Savage was going to use them as zombie bait? What if Savage was going to use her as zombie bait? What if Anna's dad was already zombified, and they'd come here for nothing, and they were all going to die and get turned into zombies?

The lights in the school surged momentarily, and Steph's ears began to ring. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking a shaky breath before opening them.

They had reached the cafeteria. She followed the others inside, not wanting to look back at Savage, not being able to look forward at Nick. She instead glued her eyes to the ground, shuffling into the lunchroom behind Chris.

"It seems as if something triggered a complex post-traumatic stress response in Miss North's brain. The signals, which were being fed through the computer processers, ended up being misinterpreted as a code that was used to override the entire system."

Dr. Dawson stated matter-of-factly, looking up from the readings from one of the monitors.

"So, in other words…"

"The kid's made her own worst fears her virtual reality."