CHAPTER 4
Prelude for a Booty-Whooping
Or
Shooting the Breeze (Amongst Other Things)
"You open it." Nicholas requested.
"Like Hell I will!" Herb replied, "You open it."
"You're both being babies." Sissy proclaimed, breaking-up the both of them.
"Alright then," Nicholas turned to Sissy, "You open it."
"What?" Sissy shot back, "Are you nuts! I'm not going to open that thing!"
The entire group had been arguing for minutes over who would be bestowed the dubious honor of opening the back doors to the armored van that had, only moments ago, crashed through the front entrance of their boarding school; embedding itself perfectly into the threshold where the doors had previously been. Someone had brought up the possibility that there could be some useful munitions inside that they could use, but no one wanted to take the risk of opening the door to, possibly, find another zombie lurking inside.
"Well that's pretty brave of you;" Nicholas replied. He changed the pitch in his voice to a mocking emulation of Sissy's, "Ooh, look at me, my name's Sissy. I insist that everyone puts their life on the line for me but when it comes down to walking the walk, I wuss-out!"
"What in the Hell did you just say to me!" Sissy shouted. She was only moments away from popping one on the side of Nicholas' jaw.
Jeremy leaned towards Ulrich, "We're getting nowhere slowly."
"Tell me about it." Ulrich responded, "Someone's gonna have to open that door."
As Nicholas and Sissy continued with their shouting match, Odd walked over to the back doors of the armored car, placed both hands of the handles and pulled both doors wide open. Sissy and Nicholas, who didn't notice Odd moving towards the car, gasped at the sight and sound of the car doors swinging open, their hearts almost missing a beat.
Nothing happened. The driver was leaned over to his left with his head against the window and some ounces of blood pouring down his right arm onto the gear shift. There was a medium sized hole in the windshield, from where the zombie that was inside the vehicle was ejected from, surrounded by a large spider web crack which ran throughout the entire windshield. In the back of the car was an entire cache of weapons, ammunition, Kevlar, and other assorted tools.
"Score!" Odd shouted smiling. He reached into the car and began pulling out assorted weapons. The first Odd went for was a Desert Eagle he found on the bottom shelf on the right side of the car. He admired it for a second and tucked it into the space between his belt and pants. He then reached for a large FR-F2 sniper rifle he found placed on the same shelf further down inside the car. He then grabbed a few boxes of ammunition for both weapons and turned towards the group.
"This is exactly what we need," Odd said smiling as he climbed out of the vehicle, "Some W.A.D.'s!"
"W.A.D.'s?" Herb asked.
"Yeah! W.A.D.'s!" Odd answered, "Weapons of Ass Destruction!"
Herb eyed the Desert Eagle Odd had tucked into his belt.
"Hey! Nice gun!"
Odd placed his hand over the sidearm, "Hey! Finders-keepers baby! Get your own!"
"I heard that!" Ulrich answered climbing into the truck. Sissy and Yumi followed. Ulrich looked through the gun shelf as Sissy checked the one behind her. She reached for a FAMAS rifle that caught her eye. She held it confidently in both hands and turned to Ulrich, trying to catch his attention. She then noticed Ulrich reaching for a Remington 870 Entry pump-action shotgun. Ulrich, impressed with the weapon, reached for a box of ammunition and closely examined every aspect of the firearm. He then lifted the weapon up and aimed with it. Satisfied, he swung it over his shoulder, letting the weapon hang from his back by the flap.
"Excellent." Ulrich said to himself.
Sissy, in an attempt impress Ulrich, placed the FAMAS on the floor and reached for a Benelli M3T shotgun placed next to where she found the FAMAS. Holding the shotgun in her hands, she turned to Ulrich and tried to get his attention.
"Nice choice, huh?" She asked smiling.
Ulrich turned to her with a serious look on his face and nodded in approval. It was far from the response that she wanted from him, but he did acknowledge her, and that's all she really wanted. Yumi, holding a MP5K turned to Sissy and placed her hands on her discarded FAMAS.
"Hey Sissy, if you're not going to use this weapon can I?"
Sissy, looking a little disappointed over Ulrich's semi-apathetic response, nodded without turning to face Yumi. Yumi took notice of her sad demeanor, but decided not to dwell on it and grabbed the FAMAS. She then scuttled over to the doors and shouted to Jeremy.
"Hey Jeremy, think you can handle this?"
Yumi tossed the MP5K over to Jeremy, which he caught with both hands, followed by a few clips of ammunition.
"I don't know." Jeremy responded, "Let me try."
Jeremy slid the clip into place at the bottom of the weapon and, with it slightly tucked into place, put the clip-side part of the weapon to hisface and banged it against the side of the head,fastening the clip into place. He then reached for a switch located at the front side of the semi-automatic rifle and switched it to automatic.
"Does it look like I can handle it?" Jeremy added sarcastically.
Yumi looked back on the shelf of the car for some ammunition for her rifle. "Wiseass." She muttered under her breath, laughing slightly. Yumi noticed a few clips of ammunition as well as some boxed of ammo on the top of the shelf. She reached for them and climbed out of the car.
Yumi and Ulrich had piled-up many of the weapons they found in the car outside on the damp tile floor. Herb went and reached for an Ingram that had caught his eye in the pile and reached for it. He took a clip lying next to it and slapped it into place. Aiming the weapon at the floor, Herb admired it for a moment.
"Yeah," Herb said smiling, "This is my style."
Herb than reached for the handle on the weapon and accidentally placed his finger on the trigger, discharging four rounds into the floor. The rapid crack of the discharge echoed throughout the halls and caused the entire group to jump. Trying to catch their breath, everyone stared at Herb for a moment. Herb, who was now red in the face, slowly took his hand off on the handle and placed it onto the top of the Ingram. Odd then reached down into the pile and removed two Beretta 92G pistols. Walking over to Herb, Odd stanched the Ingram out of his hands and handed him the two pistols.
"No," Odd exclaimed, "This is more your style."
Herb, disappointingly, took the two pistols from Odd and stared at them for a moment.
"Dang." He said under his breath.
While Nicholas took the two Ingrams and ammunition, Jeremy climbed into the truck and scanned for more tools to use. During his search, he came across some Kevlar vests and a megaphone. Jeremy took the three vests and tossed them outside onto the pile.
"Take these," Jeremy said addressing the whole group, "We can use these too."
"For what?" Yumi said picking up the vest.
"Yeah. What for?" Ulrich added, "It's not like they're going to shoot at us or anything."
"Well I don't know about you, but I would feel more comfortable wearing those things if we ever have to go outside. You saw how those guys disemboweled that on cop earlier." Jeremy answered.
Ulrich and Yumi were quiet for a moment as Jeremy turned back into the car. They stared at each other silently for a moment and then slipped the vests on. Resuming his search, Jeremy then reached for the megaphone. He turned it on and then tested it out. His cracked, amplified voice came through clearly.
"Excellent." He said to himself. He then turned to the group. "We can use this to signal on the roof."
"What about flare guns?" Sissy asked as she fed shells into her shotgun.
"Nope." Jeremy answered, "The radio's been shot to Hell too."
"I'm not complaining." Odd said, loading rounds into a clip for his FR-F2.
"I bet you're not." Ulrich responded smiling.
Jeremy climbed out of the vehicle and gather some of the remaining ammunition for his weapon.
"Alright," he addressed, "I'll head to the roof and signal with the megaphone and check to see if there are any more surviv…"
A load moan came from the front of the vehicle, frightening the group into attention. They turned to see the driver slump out of his seat and begin crawling slowly towards the back of the car. The impact of the crash had somehow damaged a certain part of his spinal cord, preventing brain signals from reaching his legs, but his arms were working just fine as he edged inch by inch towards the kids, hissing and moaning wildly.
"Sweet Jesus!" Nicholas yelled, "He's still alive!"
"No he's not," Herb said correcting Nicholas, "He's dead. Remember how the crash killed him and what not?"
"I KNOW THAT!" Nicholas shouted, "But you know what I mean!"
"Who cares if he's theoretically alive or dead!" Sissy shouted, "Just kill it!"
"Okay." Nicholas answered turning to Sissy.
Everyone stood still for a moment and did nothing as the creature edged closer to the end of the car.
"WELL!" Sissy shouted.
"Well what!" Nicholas responded, "Kill it!"
"ME?"
"Yeah you!" Herb added, "You were the one that implied that we should!"
"I'm not going to kill that thing!" Sissy shot back.
"C'mon Sissy!" Nicholas pleaded, "We know you can do it! Remembered how you cleaned that one's clock earlier back in the closet?"
"Yeah, but that was different!"
"How?" Herb asked.
"Well, um…" Sissy took a moment to patch together a flimsy excuse, "Well, I was scared, and I panicked, and besides I had a bat! I hate guns!"
"Oh," Nicholas said in response, "Well, in that case, can I have yours? That shotgun looks sweet."
By this time, the zombie officer had made it to the back of the car and was prepared to slump out.
"Goddammit!" Yumi hollered, "Some kill it!"
A loud shot rang out as a bullet sped towards the zombie, striking the creature in the forehead. The force of the bullet sent the officer's head back about a foot, blowing out a hole in the back of his head slightly larger than a golf ball. The contents blew out on the floor of the car as the zombie's head went limp and hit the floor with a loud thud. Everyone jumped for a second and then turned to Odd, who was clenching his Desert Eagle with both hands. A cloud of smoke oozed out of the barrel of the gun and evaporated. After a few seconds of standing there in disbelief, Odd lowered his weapon and looked down at it. With his other hand, he caressed the top of it smiling.
"From now on," Odd said speaking to his gun, "Your name will be 'Odd Jr.'."
Tamiya and Milly had already torn the room apart for a cell phone or food of any sort, but to no avail. The room was littered with discarded clothes and school supplies and the creatures outside had yet to give an inch. They persistency was still strong and it was beginning to take a toll on the wooden door which separated the two girls from the mob outside.
"Anything?" Tamiya asked searching underneath a bed. Milly emerged from a closet she had been scanning through.
"No. Just clothes."
Tamiya curled up into a ball, wrapping her arms around her legs. The creatures outside were only feet away from her. She could hear their hisses clearly and with each pound on the wooden door, a little bit of Tamiya's composure escaped her.
"What are we going to do?" She whined, tucking her head behind her knees. Milly placed her hand on her back.
"We'll get out, I know we will. For all we know, there could be some more people coming to save us."
"You mean just like those last guys!" Tamiya answered raising her voice, "They got wasted! If they can't do it, who can?"
Milly didn't exactly want to agree with Tamiya, but she knew she was right. If eight heavily armed men in armored vehicles couldn't rescue them, who could? The idea of being killed by the zombies began to haunt Milly. She had been trying to avoid it and any other negative thoughts while searching the room, but at this time, it was about all she could think about. They had done just about everything in their power to find an escape from the room, but it was fruitless and the door was going to eventually give way if the zombie's efforts continued.
While sitting in quiet hopelessness, a loud, cracked voice came from outside, almost as if someone was doing a mike test for a concert. The voice was familiar and Milly picked-up on it quickly; It was Jeremy's.
"Hello! Is anyone there! Hello! Is anyone there!"
"Jeremy!" Milly whispered to herself.
Tamiya lifted her head and turned to the window, which was facing the classrooms in which the sound was coming from.
"My name is Jeremy and I'm trapped inside here with six other survivors! We have food and weapons, but we need rescue! If there are any other survivors, you can contact us on Ulrich's cell phone! His number is…"
"Ulrich!" Milly said to herself excitedly. She then turned to Tamiya, "I have his number save on my cell phone!"
"Yeah?" Tamiya replied, "But how are we going to get to it?"
Milly pondered for a second while Jeremy repeated himself outside. She looked around the room for anything she might have missed. The door? Most definitely not. If she could leave through the door, she wouldn't be locked in this room with Tamiya debating the issue of escaping. The window? No, it was bolted down, but for good reason. There were even more of those things outside in the courtyard than there were in the dorms. She then turned to the ceiling to find an air vent large enough for the both of them to fit through.
"How about that air vent?" Milly asked optimistically.
"That might work, but how are we going to reach it?"
Milly pivoted and walked towards a dress placed against the wall. "Help me move this dresser. We can use it to reach the vent."
Tamiya nodded and walked over to the side of the dresser opposite of Milly where she began slowly dragging it towards the center of the room.
The sound of the brass hinges on the door coming loose could be heard as the two girls moved the dresser and Jeremy continued his broadcast.
In Odd's crosshairs was a girl named Jodi Kirkland. Jodi grew up in the countryside of New Mexico, USA with her mother Sharon, father Alain, and older brother David. The Kirkland's were generally simple folks and didn't make a lot of money, but they make enough to set-up a future education fund for David, who planned to study in Europe after High School. Preferably in Italy. David was intrigued by the history behind the cities of Italy. Ancient Rome, the Vatican, and many other places of staggering beauty.
However, Jodi's loving brother didn't get that opportunity to study in Italy. Two months before graduation, at age 18, he was in a very nasty traffic altercation which ended with a large truck pining him to the wall. The medics didn't want to move the truck in hopes of worsening his situation and, judging by the rest of the damage, they figured that trying to salvage his life would be futile.
Jodi's folks then decided to invest the money that was originally intended for their now deceased son for their daughter, sending her overseas to France for school. Uncomfortable and confused, Jodi had difficulty adjusting to life outside of the States and so far away from her family. Luckily, she was approached my many friends who were sympathetic for her and recommended that Jodi join the cheerleading squad; which she did. Only a year after her brother's demise, Jodi found herself studying in France, making many friends, on the cheerleading squad, and making wonderful grades.
In Odd's crosshairs was a girl named Jodi Kirkland; what was left of her anyway. Hours earlier, she met her maker in science class the tattered remains of one of her classmates sunk his teeth into her arm and turned her into one of them.
Odd squeezed the trigger discharging one round. The round streaked through the sky and struck Jodi in the head, exiting out the back. The back of her skull exploded as pieces of her brain splattered themselves all over the other ghouls standing behind her. Jodi dropped to her knees as her cranial fluid ebbed out of the opening in the back of her head, and then plopped face-first into the dirt ground.
"Stop that Odd!" Yumi shouted as she came up through the stairwell. Not long after Yumi came up to get Jeremy to stop with his calls for help, Odd made his way to the roof to practice with his new sniper rifle.
"I'm just practicing Yumi." Odd said turning to Yumi, "I'm going to need to know how to use this thing if we want to use it to help us out of here."
"I know," Yumi said sneering at Odd, "But I think you've gotten enough practice in for now. There's about a dozen headless zombies down there now. Besides, we need to conserve our ammunition."
"Aw c'mon Yumi," Odd replied smiling, turning back to the courtyard, "Just a few more."
Odd pulled the trigger on his rifle again, letting off another loud crack.
"Huh," Odd said to himself, "So that's what Jim's brain looks like."
"Odd!" Yumi shouted, "That's disgusting! Show some respect for the dead!"
"It's kind of hard to show the dead respect Yumi when they're trying to tear your flesh from your bones and devour it in front of you while you're still screaming in agony."
Yumi clammed-up, scrunching her face angrily. "I don't care Odd! Stop it now and come downstairs."
"Fine. Let me put my things together and I'll be down in a few."
Yumi gave Odd a look of approval and turned to the door. Just as she placed her hand on the door handle, another loud crack of Odd's rifle cracked out through the air. Yumi pivoted back to Odd angrily.
"Odd!"
"Sorry about that Yumi," Odd said turning to Yumi smiling, "But that guy owed me money."
Panting and sweating buckets, Tamiya and Milly crawled through the vents in the direction of Milly's room. The air was stuffy and it was hard enough to breathe with the both of them still terrified. The both of them managed to get into the vent shafts by stacking together furniture in the previous room. They managed to get through just before the door broke and the barrage of the dead outside poured into the room.
Milly, who took the lead ahead of Tamiya, stopped occasionally above vent grates to look down and survey the damage. She had yet to find her room, but she had saw plenty along the way getting there. This vent, however, she stopped above of, had particularly frightened her. Though she remained unnoticed and a few good feet away from the horror, she was still frozen with fear. The hair on the back of her neck rose and stood on end and a rush of what filled like cold water shot through her veins.
"Milly," Tamiya asked, "What's wrong? Are we there?" Tamiya could tell that something was wrong. Milly had yet to stop for this long above any vent below her. Milly did not answer. Highly concerned, Tamiya extended her small hand and went to shake Milly's ankle. Upon touching her, Milly jumped and let out a light yelp to terror. She turned around to face Tamiya, who was frightened as well.
"Milly," Tamiya continued, "Are you okay?" Milly was quiet for a moment as she articulated her words.
"Tamiya," she answered quietly, "Whatever you do, don't look down through this vent."
"Why's that?"
"Just don't do it!" Milly replied desperately.
"Fine."
Milly scuttled forward and Tamiya followed behind. Making her way over the vent, the feeling of curiosity overtook her. What was it that Tamiya was so desperate to shield her from? What could possibly horrify her to a point to want to protect Milly from it? A corpse? A zombie? Perhaps the room was splattered with blood and guts? Then, the worse ideas began to sink in. What if it was one of her friends? Someone that she loves? Could she stomach risking seeing something that would corrupt her for life?
Finally, she decided to heed Milly's advice and pressed forward, oblivious to what lurked beneath the vent. Eventually, the both of them arrived to the vent above their room. Tamiya stared down through the grate into the vacant.
"We're here," Tamiya said with a hint of relief, "And it looks like the coast is clear."
Tamiya pressed down on the metal grate until it gave way. She then tossed it onto the beds so not to make any noise. Tamiya then slowly wormed her way out the vent and landed as quietly as possible on the carpet floor; Milly followed behind her. As a safety measure, Milly, as soon as setting foot on the floor, reached out and locked the door.
"We've made it!" Tamiya said to Milly, smiling for the first time since the whole incident occurred.
"Yes, we sure did." Milly responded. She almost felt like reaching out and hugging Tamiya in glee over making it as far as they did, but she was still too scared to move more than she felt that she needed to.
"Okay," Tamiya said, getting down to business, "Where's that cellphone?"
Milly remembered instantly. She walked towards her dresser and pulled back the top drawer. Shuffling through her clothes, she finally came across the phone underneath one of her blouses.
"Found it!" Milly said grasping her phone joyfully. She then placed her thumb on the power button as the phone lit up with its typical jingle. Looking at the screen, she noticed that the battery was low.
"Crud." Milly said looking at the low-battery indicator.
"What's wrong?" Tamiya responded sounding as concerned as humanly possible. They've gotten too far to have the phone cop-out on them.
"The battery's low." Milly answered, "I don't know how long it'll hold out."
"Then we're going to have to make it quick then."
Milly nodded and scrolled though the phone book for Ulrich's number. She eventually cam across it and dialed it up.
"I spy something…" Odd pondered for a moment, "…That begins with the letter 'Z'."
"You're a zombie." Ulrich replied unenthusiastically.
"Damn. I thought I had you on that one." Odd answered sarcastically.
In a period of just a few hours, the tone for the kids still at the classrooms had grown from panic to confusion to overwhelming boredom. Jeremy, Herb, and Nicholas were playing poker from a deck of cards that was confiscated from one of the students earlier in the year and was left locked in Mrs. Hertz office. Yumi and Sissy were hovering over the radio, awaiting any new developments. As for Odd and Ulrich, they just sat near the balcony, overlooking the still smoldering remains of the failed rescue attempt from earlier; Playing games like Charades to pass the time.
"Say Ulrich." Odd said attempting to change the subject.
"You're another zombie Odd." Ulrich answered.
"No, no. Not that." Odd responded, "I just got to thinking. Y'know, about Aelita."
Ulrich looked over his shoulder to make sure that no one, namely Herb, Nicholas, and Sissy, were eavesdropping on their conversation. Seeing that the coast was clear, Ulrich leaned forward and starting taking in a soft voice.
"What about Aelita?"
"Well," Odd continued, lowering his voice, "This is one really nasty situation we've gotten ourselves into."
"Yeah."
"I mean, it's really nasty! The hairiest!"
"Uh-Huh." Ulrich was growing impatient.
"I'm talking some straight-up Rapture, fall of human civilization…"
"Just get on with it Odd!" Ulrich demanded.
"Anyway, do you even think that Aelita will be able to fix all of it?"
Ulrich didn't know how to respond to that. It never occurred to him that this situation couldn't be fixed.
"What do you mean?"
"We've gotten ourselves out of a lot of nasty problems in the past, but this is the worst by a long shot! I mean, look out there! We're all that's left! And this isn't going on just here, it's becoming a global epidemic! Do you really think that just activating a tower is going to make this all better?"
Again, Ulrich didn't know how to process that remark. Was Odd losing faith in Aelita? Was he just concerned? And what if Aelita couldn't fix everything? They haven't communicated with her since before this all began.
Ulrich didn't have time to ponder though. Suddenly, his cellphone went off. The phone's jingle caught everyone's attention. Everyone stared wild-eyed at Ulrich at the sudden disturbance of their solemn quietness. Ulrich reached into his pants pocket and removed the phone.
"Answer it!" Sissy commanded.
Ulrich pressed the button for the phone and placed it to his ear.
"Hello?" He asked softly.
"Ulrich!" the crackling sound of Milly's voice came through the phone she was noticeably relieved, but also relieved. She wanted to cry.
Ulrich placed his hand on the receiver and looked at the rest of the crew. "It's Milly! She's alive."
Everyone was put at ease, except for Sissy, who was disappointed that it wasn't some rescue team, or her father at that. Scowling, she turned her back and walked towards the radio.
"Milly, are you okay?" Ulrich asked.
"Me and Tamiya are here in the dorms. We're locked in our rooms and they're outside! I'm scared!"
Ulrich put his hand on the receiver again. "Tamiya's with her. They're locked in their room at the dorms."
Ulrich lifted his hand and spoke into the phone again. "Are the two of you safe?"
"We're okay, but I'm scared!" Milly was sobbing.
"It's okay Milly." Ulrich responded trying to comfort her, even though everying wasn't really okay. "Just stay there, don't make any noise, and help will come soon."
A banging sound and a scream came though the phone.
"They're here Ulrich! They're at the door!"
The sound of moving furniture could be heard over Milly's voice. Tamiya could then be heard.
"Put down that phone Milly and help me move this dresser."
Crackling noises and the sound of the phone being dropped on the floor could be heard. The moving of furniture continued. Soon afterwards,her phone's batteries died.
"Hello?" Ulrich shouted, "Hello!"
It was no use, the line was dead. The conversation was over. All that was left was Ulrich with his phone and his worries. His panicking put everyone on high alert. Even Sissy looked-up to see what all the commotion was about. Knowing that Milly's phone was dead, Ulrich lowered his phone and pressed the button ending the conversation.
"What the Hell was that!" Yumi commanded.
Ulrich gathered his thoughts. "Milly and Tamiya are alright. They're locked in their room, but those creatures are just outside the door. I don't know how long they have."
Everyone was quiet. Again, the confusion set it accompanied by a feeling of helplessness. No one knew what to do. Suddenly, Ulrich put his phone back into his pocket and walked over to balcony, reaching for his shotgun. His picked it up and began sliding rounds into the chamber.
"What in the Hell do you think you're doing Ulrich?" Yumi commanded approaching Ulrich. She already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from him.
"Tamiya and Milly are in trouble." Ulrich finished feeding rounds into the weapon and pumped a round, loading the shotgun. "I'm going to save them."