CHAPTER 23: OPERATION TAKE-BACK
Five hours has passed since I drove the Bus and brought all the cliques back to the school. Now it was time to take the school back from the walking dead. And to do that, we will have to close all the exits, clear the hordes still roaming around the grounds and clear all the school buildings. It won't be easy, but I'm sure we can do it.
It's 2:00 PM right now and I was in Crabblesnitch's office along with Clayton, Zoe, Pete, Russell, Johnny and Edgar, planning out what our next move will be. I was pretty much explaining the plan to everyone else. The plan that Clayton and I hatched up a while ago. "Okay, so we divided the school into four different sectors", I said while pointing down onto the map that we laid out. "Sector One is the dormitories. Sector Two extends from the parking lot to the Auto-shop. Sector Three extends from the Library and goes to Harrington House. And lastly, Sector Four is the Athletics Area. Each group will take on a single sector. Clayton will lead the non-clique students and kill any zombies in Sector One. Johnny, you and the Greasers will clear out Sector Two and kill any zombies in the parking lot and in the Auto-shop. Russell, you the the Bullies will clear out Sector Three. And while you're at it, don't destroy the Spud Cannons there. We could use those in case of an attack. And make sure that the electric door is shut and locked. And as for you Edgar, you take the Townies down to Sector Four and find a way to close the gate for the path that heads straight to the Observatory. I'll come and assist you guys while I'm at it".
I then went up to one of the bookshelves and pulled a few walkie-talkies off the chargers. "Now why would that crusty old man need walkie-talkies for?" Edgar asks as I hand each of them one with the exception of Zoe and Pete. "It was for the prefects", Johnny told him. "Makes sense", Edgar says. "I'm on channel one", I told everyone. As everyone switched their walkies to channel one, I then said to them, "Okay, so we all know the plan? We know what we're doing? You guys now return to your groups and explain the plan to them. Edgar, I'll be joining you shortly".
With the exception of me and Clayton, everyone left the office to returned to their group. "Well, it's time", I told him. "I never thought we would get to this point in time", Clayton says. "You still think it was a good plan?" I then ask him. "Well, we got the numbers now. And half the exits are closed off. If this doesn't work well, we could always relocate at the Carnival", Clayton answers. "The Carnival? Is that place still standing?" I asked him. "I don't know. Haven't seen it since all this started", he replies. "Well, let's head downstairs and get ready", I suggested. As I was heading out the room, Clayton tells me, "I never doubted you. Not one bit since you came to my doorstep". I gave him a nod of appreciation before we both left the office.
Once we got down to the main hall, I regrouped with the Townies. "Alright people, you all know the plan. Stay close to your group, don't take on two zombies at a time and ALWAYS aim for the head", Clayton shouts to everyone in the main hall. "I'm going to open the door. Once it opens head to your designated sector. And again, be careful". I got my new wooden plank as well as my Spud Gun and Super Slingshot ready. This was probably going to be the most dangerous mission I had do since I returned. Just as Clayton opened the doors, he shouts, "GO, GO, GO". With the doors open and everyone exiting to get to their designated sectors, I starting heading down south to the Athletics Area and clear it of any zombies that the Jocks may have left behind since my last time seeing them.
As I ran to the Athletics Area, I smashed a few zombies in the head that were in my way. After a while of running and smashing, I made it to the barrier in front of the Athletics Area. A few seconds later, the Townies including Edgar showed up. "Man, what happened here?" Edgar asks me. "It looks like someone use to live here". "Someone did at one point lived here", I told him. "Alright once we climb over the barrier, we're going to clear out the Gym and Pool buildings. Last time I checked, the Jocks had a pool full of zombie dogs. We're going to kill them", I then told the Townies. We climbed over the barrier and then went into the Pool building first. Once we were in the building, I took a good look down and saw the zombie dogs still wondering around. One of them noticed me and started to growl, setting the others into attack mode. "Go head and kill them all", I ordered the Townies. Edgar, Clint, Gurney and Leon aimed their Spud Guns, Bottle-Rocket Guns and Fire Crackers at the dogs and started raining holy-hell fire into the pool, killing all the dogs.
After the Townies killed the dogs, I took a good look at the remains of the few human corpses that were pushed into the pool a long time ago. They may not be recognizable after the dogs chewed on them, but once we take this school back, we're going to give them a proper burial. "Let's move on to the Gym", Edgar suggests. "Yeah, let's", I agreed. We all then went to the Gym and saw that it was still the same. Nothing has changed since the Jocks captured me and tried to use me as a pawn in their war against the Nerds. "Maybe we should look around here for supplies later", I suggested. Just then, my walkie-talkie started buzzing as Clayton's voice started speaking. "How's everyone doing? What's your status so far?" he asks. "We've taken both the parking lot and Auto-shop now", Johnny says on the radio. "We're just on standby now". "We've taken Library. Russell's crew going to Harrington House now", Russell says. "We've taken the Gym and Pool now", Edgar speaks into his walkie-talkie. I pressed the button on my and spoke: "We're going to head to the football field and check out the Observatory before we close the gate. Might need the Greasers down here for when we clear the Jocks Clubhouse". "We're on our way", Johnny says on the walkie-talkie. "We've just cleared the Boys' Dorm. Apparently, a few pests came in when we moved out. We're going to clear the Girls' Dorm now. We'll let you know how it goes. Clayton out".
"Let's head for the Observatory now", I told the Townies. "I want to see what we can savage there". We left the Gym and headed towards the football field. Once we got down the steps, we went along the path to the old Observatory. "You guys wait here", I ordered them as we got to the wooden gate. I went further up the path and went up to what use to be the Observatory gates. Everything was still the same here during the battle. There was more unrecognizable bodies on the ground. It was the Nerds and Jocks from the battle. As I looked around the mess, I stepped on a BB Gun. I picked it up and noticed that it was still loaded. "I could use this for later", I said as I put it in my weapon bag. I then went up to some of the crates laying around the grounds. They were filled with enough Spuds and Bottle Rockets as well as Fire Crackers and Super Fire Crackers. The Super Fire Crackers would be incredibly useful, especially since it did destroy the Jock's pick-up truck. After looking around in the crates outside, I went into the Observatory and checked out some of the crates inside. Still the same thing. Yeah, this stuff could be useful in the future.
I went back outside and regrouped with the Townies. The Greasers were also here now since they took their sector with ease. "Alright, we're going to close the gate. But I want to be able to open it in the future. That place has supplies that we could use later", I told them. "Alright, you heard him. Close the gate", Edgar orders his group. The Townies then grabbed the gate and pulled it shut. There was quite a few hatch locks for the gate, so we used them to lock the gate. From the looks of it, there was also meant to be a padlock. No need for a padlock if I'm coming back there later. I took my walkie-talkie out and called Clayton on it. "Clayton, we closed the gate. But we didn't lock it fully. There's supplies there that we could use later". "Roger", Clayton says on the walkie. "How close are you to clearing the football field?" he then asks me. "We have one more building. There's plenty of zombies in the Jock's Clubhouse, but I'm sure we can take them, especially with the Greasers with us now", I told him. "Roger that. Call back once the job is complete", he says.
We all then rushed to the Field House. During the jog from one side of the field to another, Clayton spoke some more on the radio. "Russell, what's your status?" "We've taken Harrington House. Sector Three clear", Russell says. "Good job, now head down to the football field. They'll probably need you to clear the last building down there", Clayton orders. "Roger, Russell out". "What's your status on Sector One?" I then ask Clayton on the walkie-talkie. "We got it almost clear. A few more zombies and the Girls' Dorm will be safe again", he tells me. "You think the non-clique students could help out down here once the dorms are clear?" I asked him. "I doubt it. These kids are very afraid. There's a reason it's taking longer for us to clear the dorms", Clayton tells me. "Don't worry, once the Bullies come down here we'll take care of the Field House", I told him. "Roger that, Clayton out", he says before signing out. We got to the front of the Jock's Clubhouse. After a few seconds later, the Bullies came down the stairs and regrouped with us. Now with three cliques down here, it was time to clear the Field House. I slowly walked up to the door and then forcefully kicked the door open, attracting the undead residents from inside. "GET READY", I told the three cliques as the zombies started coming out of the building.
I smashed the first zombie that approached me as several other zombies started flooding the football field. While everyone was slaying zombies on their own, I looked inside the building and saw how they got lured into the building. The other doors were left open and they're was a corpse on the floor, probably a Nerd at one point. "You are seriously messed up, Ted. I'm glad you are dead right now", I mumbled under my breath. I went straight inside the building and closed the doors. After I locked the last door, I turned back to the fighting and saw that most of the zombies was now dead. There was only four left. I ran up to the zombies and smashed their skulls in. Just like that, the battle was over.
I took the radio out and told Clayton, "We took the football field. What's your status?" "We've taken the dorms. This school is ours again", Clayton says. "We did it, guys. This school is ours again", I told the cliques. Everyone in the crowd then started cheering. "We're all good. No deaths here. How about you, Clayton? How's everyone doing?" I asked him. He sighed on the radio and took a long time to reply. "We've lost four kids in the process", he tells me. Everyone in the crowd then stopped cheering. "Who did we lose?" I asked him. "Ivan Alexander, Gordan Wakefield, Lance Jackson and Trevor Moore", Clayton says. "What about some of the younger kids and Eunice?" I asked him. "I left them in the cafeteria. They should be alright", Clayton tells me. I looked at everyone in the crowd and saw the looks in their faces, very sad that a few more people died in the process. "So, what's the plan now?" Clayton asks me. "We're going to clean up", I answered. "Bury the students or their remains, burn the zombies. This day isn't over yet. Let's get started".