Surviving A Nightmare

Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil, Capcom does.

A/N: '..'=thoughts

"..."=speaking

Chapter 2: The Attack

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Sighing, I roll over to look at the alarm clock. "Seven a.m." I mumble as the clock continues it's aggravating beeping. "Argh...beep this you fucking bitch!" I reach over and grasp the clock, before taking it and just ripping it's cord out of the wall. Sure, I most likely broke it, but oh well, who gives a fuck, right?

As I begin to get dressed, I hear the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance, so I walk over to the window as I'm buttoning the top button of my uniform shirt. Outside, dark storm clouds are building to the northwest, most likely from the approaching cold front. I don't mind, I like stormy weather for some odd reason.

For some odd reason, I also cannot shake the feeling that something major is gonna go down today. What? Beats the hell outta me, I'm not a fucking psychic.

I head downstairs, my backpack strapped across my back, and since I noticed that my parents were not home, I walked over to the fridge to see if they'd maybe posted me a note to remind me to lock up. But, to my surprise, no note. Come to think of it, I don't even remember hearing them come home last night. For them, that's just...odd. Although, with the way things have been going at the lab, they probably had to pull an all-nighter.

I shrug it off, figuring they'll be home this afternoon, and climb in my Jeep. After turning the ignition, I put it into gear and head off to school. As I drive, I can't help but notice how..empty..the streets are. Usually, around this time, people are heading off to work or school...meaning I'm usually stuck behind some old fart who needs to get the lead out his ass and put it in his fucking foot.

I reach the school about ten minutes before I usually do, so I'm not too surprised to see that the student parking lot is only half full. Hell, I cannot complain though, atleast I didn't have to park in "Bum Fuck Egypt" today. I grab my backpack and slowly start to head towards the entrance, where I see a couple of teachers and a cop standing next to the metal detectors. 'Oh, you mean they're actually gonna make us pass through those pieces of shit today? Wonderful...'

I toss my pack onto the table and watch as one of the Phys Ed. teachers rummages through it for metallic objects or anykind of 'illegal' substance. The only illegal substance she finds it the 20 oz. Pepsi I just bought on the way here, which of course she takes...'Fucking bitch, I was gonna drink that in third hour!' I roll my eyes at her as the officer motions for me to step through the metal detectors. I step through, and of course, it doesn't go off. I grab my pack from the Phys Ed. teacher and head off down the hall, adjusting the straps across my shoulders as I go.

The hallways, I notice, arent' very crowded as I walk down them towards the library. 'I guess today was a "skip day", and I just didn't know about it.' I stop in front of the library doors, and go to grab the door handle just as a loud clap of thunder sounds, causing many of the students currently in the hallways to jump and scream. "Heh...wimps." I twist the handle and enter the library, immediately spotting Shane and the others at our usual table. I grab my sketchbook from my backpack, along with a mechanical pencil and eraser, and walk over towards them, taking a seat next to Ashley and Shane once I get there.

For the next fifteen minutes, we sit there in silence, either reading, drawing, or studying. The storm is now really starting to get warmed up, flashes of lightning and claps of thunder resounding every thirty seconds to a minute. The halls outside are darkened somewhat, since they're all open, except for the ones in the departments and gym.

I close my sketchbook and place my mechanical pencil inside the spirals of it. As I go to get up, we here an ear-piercing scream come from the hallway, followed by even more after it. Curious, my friends go to stand up also. Just as they do, a girl comes running inside the library, red streaks of what can only be blood smeared across her shirt and pants. She runs over to where our librarian, Mr. Johnson, is standing next to the computers, and starts screaming at him. I can barely understand what she's saying, but it sounded almost as if she's saying that...someone just...ate her friend.

I turn to face my friends, and they're looking just as puzzled. We all turn back to where Mr. Johnson is trying to calm the girl down, but from what it looks like, isn't having much luck.

Of course, me being the curious..okay, nosey person I am...I slowly start to walk over to the library's exit, and open the door enough to take a peak outside. The sight that falls before me is just outrageous...along with disgusting. There, in the middle of the hallway, is her friend; lying on the floor, eyes glazed over and looking up at the halls ceiling as another person is hunched over him, eating out his intestines. "Ohhh fuck!!"

I turn my head in the other direction, only to meet the sickening gaze of what looked to be a walking corpse. Just as it reached it's decaying hands out to grab at me, I pulled my head back inside and quickly shut the door. I hold on to the door handle, but apparently, whatever had just tried to make a snack out of me didn't know how to open doors.

Sighing with relief, I turn back around to go and try the library's other exit. Just as I reach it, I am greeted by the sight of several of these "things" out in the hallway, many of them pressed up against the windows, apparently trying to get to the fresh meat that's trapped on the inside.

'Wait...fresh meat?' I stop, thinking of the sight I'd just seen out in the hallway. 'That thing was eating him...they look like rotting corpses...HOLY SHIT!' I shake my head, not wanting to believe my own theory. 'It's just not possible. There is no such thing as zombies!' I look around, thinking this is all one really bad dream, but when I recover, I'm still standing here, and so are those creatures. "No...fucking way."

I feel as though I'm trapped in some horror novel I've read, or one of my video games. 'Only in video games you could actually shoot the things. What're you gonna do now? Kill them by reading Charles Dickens?'

I smirk at my own thought, when I feel someone's hand on my shoulder. I spin around to find that it was only Matt, who was wearing pretty much the same expression on his face that I'm sure was on mine. "A..are those what I think they are?"

All I can do is nod. "Yeah, they are."

I watch him as he just stands there, looking out the window at the creatures who're trying to break through the windows. Thankfully for us, all windows are bullet proof. But yet, we're still trapped in here, with nowhere to go. I shiver as I feel the air conditioning kick on and a gust of cool air blows on the back of my neck. Wait...air conditioning...vents!

"Yes!" I yell as I look upwards, finding just what I'd been looking for. There's only one problem, the vents are rather small, and yet, while I, and a couple of others might have been able to fit in there...someone like Mr. Johnson and the girl who'd ran in there couldn't.

I look over to Matt, who'd apparently caught on to what I was thinking, then to Mr. Johnson. The poor old man just looked scared shitless, and given the situation, I couldn't blame him. I have to admit, I'm not one to scare easily, but then, I never thought I'd come face to face with zombies.

"Mr. Johnson," I speak slowly,"..do you have anything we can lock those doors with? Just as a precaution?"

He nods and reaches into his pocket, and with shaky hands, pulls out a set of keys for the library. Nervously, he walks over to the nearest door and attempts to lock it, but can't even get the key in the lock because his hands are shaking too badly. 'Poor old guy...', I walk over and without a word pick up the keys and lock the door myself, smiling to the old man before walking over to the opposite door and locking it as well.

I hand the keys back to him and he places them back in his pocket. 'Great..' I look around the library, taking note of the thirty or so people who're huddled together near book cases or under tables. 'I guess it's up to us to get them out of here...'.

While thinking of a way to get everyone out of here, I pace around in the same small area, back and forth, back and forth. After doing this for atleast ten minutes, a bright flash of lightning illuminates the library even more, and as a loud clap of thunder resonates immediately after it, the lights in the library blink before just going out. Thankfully, the school as a backup generator that starts up after the power has gone out, and restores power to the lights in the hallways, and classrooms. Nothing else though, not the computers, fax machines, printers...nothing. I stop my pacing as I listen to the many whimpers of some students, which soon turned into crying for some. 'Argh...I can't take it!' I take a deep breath, then scream. "Enough!"

I can feel all their eyes on me now, and I decide then that it's definitely up to me and if willing, my friends to get them and any other survivors out of here. Turning to Mr. Johnson, I speak in a calm voice...which surprisingly, isn't all that tough to manage. "Do you have a couple of flashlights in here? And a ladder, so I can reach that vent up there?"

He slowly walks over to the small store room that's just behind the counter where students can check-out books, and comes back a couple of minutes later with three flashlights. I take two of them, one for myself, and for whoever, if anyone, decides to come with me. "Keep one with you and the others. Only use it if the backup power goes out, understand?"

He nods and I walk over to where my friends are sitting. I explain my idea to them, "I need someone to come with me. I can't search this entire school alone."

They all nod, agreeing with me. Shane volunteers to help search, partly because he's the only one besides myself who could fit into the vent and not have a tough time maneuvering around, everyone else is either too short to even reach it, or in Paul's case, too muscular to even fit in it.

We walked over to where Matt had positioned a ladder he'd found in the store closet. Taking a deep breath, we all looked around at those watching us, those depending on us to get them out of here alive. I climb up first, my now empty backpack strapped across my back and the flashlight tucked into my belt. Once I reach the top of the ladder, I pull out a screwdriver and unscrew the vent, dropping both the tool and screws down to the floor once done. Before I climb up, I look down to Matt. "Make sure you have someone screw this thing shut once we're both up there, and do not undo it until we return."

I watch him nod, then with ease, I reach up and grip the edges of the vent. Easily hoisting myself up, I crawl into the encloses space and move up enough so that Shane could climb in behind me. While waiting I squint in the darkness, and reach to my side for the flashlight. I switch it on and point it out in front of me, then behind me to make sure the vents were clear.

Soon, Shane crawls in behind me, and we wait long enough to hear the sound of someone closing the vent and putting the screws back into place. With a nod, we begin to crawl along the narrow passageway, not knowing what we were getting ourselves into, or the nightmare that lies ahead....