My deepest apologies for this bland chapter, but I needed to introduce the two new characters. I hope that you can still find enjoyment even though this is a dry chapter, but I promise the insanity and zombie action will come again.
"Look out!"
All eyes turned to the staggering thing that Jessica had pointed out. It was simply unrecognizable. Its light colored hair was bloody and muddy. The skin on the face was nearly ripped off, showing the little group the muscles that lie under it, and there were bite marks all up the neck and arms. Morbid thoughts ran through the teenagers' minds, comparing the stumbling thing that once had a life to a piece of swiss cheese.
"It was probably one of the original victims at the school," Annie mumbled and turned her head.
"Its so. . . slow. . ." Kyle said in disbelief, as he watched the thing progress closer to them in an almost trance.
"If its so slow, why do we fear it so much?" Kylie asked to no one in particular.
"Um. . . Because it kind of wants to eat us?" Lynne answered obviously and looked at Kylie as if she was crazy for thinking such silly thoughts.
"Kylie, you know better then to underestimate your opponent. Think of it like sports. They may look pathetic, but they may sudden get you when you least expect it," Kyle pointed out and finally, his gaze broke away from the contemporary monster moving closer to them.
"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt your little. . . conversation, but I kind of want to get somewhere safe," Lilian whimpered.
"Yes. Lets get going students. The locker rooms are right around the fence surrounding the pool. Safety first," instructed Mrs. Fernandez and looked up at Mr. Daylewood, who cleared his throat and nodded.
"Yeah. Do that. Then we can break down the issue and get a way to a more secure safety," Mr. Daylewood finished and then looked at Mrs. Fernandez for approval. She nodded.
Lilian, Lynne, and VyVy stayed close to Mrs. Fernandez who led the group. Laura, Tristan, and Annie were in the middle in a tight little line. Then, it was a terrified looking Jessica, the sporty twins, the rocker Tom, and finally Mr. Daylewood in the back.
"Kyle, how many people do you think have died so far?" Kylie whispered to her brother who was paying attention to his peripheral. No one ever looked there at the last second, now did they?
"Too many," answered Kyle simply and he turned back to his sister who bit her lip and looked back up at him.
"Do you think we are going to make it out of this alive? I mean, the last thing I saw on the streets was a van and it was going too fast. I think it may have plowed into something," she said.
"If it plowed into something, wouldn't you think that the ambulance would have come?"
"Thats the thing. If what was happening was really big, an ambulance may never come," Kylie pointed out worriedly. Her brown eyes were large and had a look of terror in them. Kyle could tell that it was genuine and that look was something he hadn't seen on her for a while. Not since they stayed up all night when they were younger and watched Goosebumps stuff. Kyle and Kylie barely heard Mrs. Fernandez say something about being careful up ahead.
"Kylie, sis, it takes an ambulance an average of 30 minutes to arrive at the scene of an accident. Its been, what, ten minutes maybe? Don't stress -"
Kyle was cut off as he tripped over something large on the ground, and in instinct, he put his hands out infront of him to block hisfall. His landing was on something somewhat hard object, but not as hard as the concrete his knee slammed against. Kylie let out a scream but was silenced quickly probably by some person.
"What the hell?" Kyle asked confused and lifted his body up.
What he had fallen on was a body. A body that wasn't moaning or grabbing at Kyle in a need to consume his flesh. Its head was bashed in and Kyle's hand was lying in a little pool of thick blood on the concrete.
"Oh dude. Thats like, totally rancid, man," Tom said and something in the tone of his voice sounded amused. He offered his hand out to Kyle and he took it, pulling himself off the dead body and ground.
"Its gross!" Jessica squealed and put her hand over her mouth in an act of disgust.
"Guys, shut up. I didn't see it!" Kyle bit back, feeling embarrassed at his clumsiness. He wiped his hands on his shirt and felt the sting of an open wound on the harsh fabric of his sweater.
"I said to watch out. Didn't you hear me?" Mrs. Fernandez asked concerned.
"No. We were talking," Kylie answered for Kyle and looked at him.
"Are you alright?" VyVy asked.
"Yeah. Cut myself, thats all. Must have done it when I fell," Kyle answered, looking down at the skinned part on his hand. There was a bit of blood on it and he wiped it off with the other hand.
"Are you bleeding?" Annie questioned suddenly.
"Yeah. Just a little bit. Don't worry. I can clean it up when we get into the locker rooms," Kyle answered and for a second, all the questions made him feel as if he was being interviewed after a winning game. But, there was no feeling of accomplishment, just a feeling of stupidity. Annie bit her lip back hard.
"Lets head to the locker rooms again, alright?" Lynne suggested and continued the walk.
"Yeah. Lets," Kyle mumbled and looked at his hand again. His knee was throbbing from the contact of the concrete at such a force, his hand was burning from the skin that was pulled off from the ground, and he was beginning to feel a slight discomfort at the situation. Who knew how many diseases these infected people had. They weren't zombies. They weren't some fictional thing that was only made up to bring in money and to make people hate going to the cemetary. It was some disease, some virus, that must have been an 'uh-oh' in some facility. Perhaps it was a matured bacteria stream that affected people's minds. That had to be it. There was no way that fictional beliefs could actually happen.
They turned the corner of the fence into the little pathway that led to the locker rooms. The first door was the entry to the boys locker room. Locked. The second door was a door into a classroom they used for swimming instructions and such. Locked. The third one was the door to the girls locker room. Unlocked.
Opening the door with a feeling of confidence and of hope, they stepped into the room and were immediately taken back at how such a terrible looking locker room held so much promise. The benches in each locker aisle were wearing down and if you moved on it in the wrong way, you were sure to get a splinter where the sun don't shine! The tan lockers had writing on them. The lockers were victims to bored teenagers with an available sharpie or a carving utensil. The flooring (which was as hard as concrete) had cracks and random chips in random places. So little, yet so amazing to them.
When everyone was in, Mr. Daylewood closed the door behind him and looked around.
"Shouldn't Kidd or Samual be in here?" Jessica asked, huddling into her white jacket even though it wasn't cold.
"Yeah. They knew we were coming here," Lynne answered and looked down the aisles.
"Well, I am here. I haven't seen Samual," a familiar voice said and when they looked to their left, Kidd stood there with her hands in her hoodie pockets.
"Kidd!" Annie said happily.
"Sup?" Kidd greeted back with a smirk.
"Boy, are we glad you are safe because if we saw one more little mindless thing walking around here, I was going to loose my mind!" Lynne said with a laugh.
"Yeah. I bet. By the way, we aren't alone in here. Guys, I think you know Hope and her boyfriend Kale," Kidd introduced as a blonde attached to a man walked in from the teacher's office. Hope was biting the inside of her lip and looking at all of them with her blue eyes as she did so. Kale, her boyfriend, kept his head low so you could barely see his face.
"Hi," Hope said simply and smiled.
"They ditched zero period to. . . get to know their bodies a bit more -"
"We had sex!" Hope interrupted enthusiastically.
" - So they've been here the whole time," Kidd finished.
"Do they know anything?" Jessica asked.
"Well, we do know that supposedly these things are dead. Totally zombies," Hope said after finishing from her lip biting again.
"Oh God. Another Annie!" Kyle mumbled under his breath before walking to the sinks to wash the wound on his hand.
"AND if you have any contact with them, you should make sure none of their bodily fluids inside you. If that happens, you're fucked!" Hope finished happily and smiled.
"Well, thats just glorious, now isn't it?" Lynne said sarcastically and sat down on the bench in that row.
"Is it safe in here?" Lilian asked as she glanced around.
"Totally. Teachers locked every door except the one that people keep walking through. Perhaps we should leave a sign outside that says 'leave us alone, we do not like you'!" Hope answered with a laugh.
"There is a TV in there, isn't there? And a radio? The PE teacher always played music before class and watched TV at lunch," VyVy pointed out with a sudden burst of energy.
"Yeah. We've been watching it. Taking notes, ok, not really. But you guys get my point!" said Hope.
"And?" Jessica asked as she stepped up to Hope.
"Go see for yourself. I'm not a messenger!" Hope laughed and backed away from the door, allowing people in.
The office was small with a desk in the middle across from the door. A blue couch was next to the door, across from the desk, and the TV was on a table against the wall. The familiar Dorothy was on TV with the look of fright still plastered on her face.
"And again, we remind you. Please stay in your home, lock all your doors and windows and don't leave your home. Local authorities will do their best to aid you but currently, there seems to be less help as these diseased and deranged criminals . . . attack anything that crosses their path," Dorothy's voice was an attempt at strength, but it received an 'F'. Then what she said next chilled everyone to the bone.
"Help may not come. This is Dorothy on channel 11 news. Please stay tuned for the latest updates."