Chapter 3 : World can't be perfect

I was sitting in the cafeteria, along with a dozen of students, including Kevin, Jen and Mitchell, as well as Josie. We were talking about what we had found during the day, when Johnathan walked in, followed by Tom and a few friends. He stared at me angrily.

''You sneaky son of a bitch!'' He yelled at me, nearly exploding out of anger.

He got closer to me. Before I could squeeze in a few words, he continued his speech.

''You thought you could steal Josie from me?! The only damn thing that is mine in this fucking shit hole!''

''Calm down man... First, I didn't stole her from you... Second...''

''Shut the fuck up!''

''You shut up!'' Yelled Josie.

''Don't talk! You're mine Josie, mine, you hear?!''

He laughed sinisterly. He had lost it. My kiss with Josie had passed his limit. He could no more take it. He had gone insane, I could tell it by his voice tone.

He made a dash to me, and tried to punch me in the face. I dodged it, and, by reflex, my fist slammed on his mouth. He stumbled back, a hand covering his chin and mouth.

''Man, you're gone crazy?!''

''Sorry... I lost it... '' He said.

As he said those last words, he walked back to the staircase. I could properly say if he was sad or frustrated. I turned to Josie. She simply nodded. She didn't seemed to want to talk about this. I was understandable. We kept walking in the hallway, and arrived to the boiler room.

''Let's go take a look in there...''

''Yeah... Never been there before...''

I pushed the heavy door, and made an unsure step inside the well-lit room. Everything was cold, metallic, in this small room. A large boiler was set at the far end of the room. I looked near us, and saw a dead body, sitting next to a large machine probably used to regulate the boiler.

''Damn... It's the janitor...'' I said, after I recognized him.

Josie held her hand on her mouth. He had some sort of metal pipe blown out of his chest. He seemed to have been impaled by it trying to run from someone, or perhaps something. A look of fear was still etched on his face. On his frozen-in-time expression, we could read distress. He must've been begging for help until his very last moments.

I was finally able to get my eyes off from him. I spotted a large black suitcase, next to him, on the floor. On the handle, a bloody hand print had been left, probably by the janitor. It was unlocked. I lifted gently the top, to reveal one of the thing I would have least expected to be there, a gun. A neat, brand-new, nine millimeter caliber handgun, with a clip next to it. The clip was filled with small diameter bullets, ready to pierce the zombie's flesh.

I grabbed it, and slid the clip into the gun. Placing it into the back of my pants, held tightly in place by my belt, I gave a look to Josie.

''Let's not talk about this to the others... It won't help them...''

''Alright...'' She said, accompanying her answer with a nod.

I pulled down my shirt, to cover properly the firearm. We walked out of the room before the stench of the dead body made us puke.

Immediately, Kevin came to us, trying to catch his breath.

''Hey, we got a problem... Johnathan locked himself in a room on the third floor, and is threatening to jump down the window...''

''God-dammit...''

We ran up the stairs. In front of the door, Tom was already trying to get him out.

''Hey Johnathan, it's Matt... Come on, get out of there... It's not worth it...''

''You were the only one missing... Now my situation can't get any shittier...''

''Johnathan... Get out... You can sort this out... Just...'' started Josie.

''Motherfuckers! Now it can't get worse!''

''Try to calm down...'' I tried.

''Shut up!'' He yelled back.

Then, we heard the distinct sound of glass being shattered. I had no other choice. I backed up a bit, and rammed the door with my elbow. It shook a bit. I backed again, and hit it with all of my weight. It fell on the floor, half torn apart from the wall. Nobody was to be seen in the room. A window was broken in the far corner. From a closer look, I could see red colored liquid stains on the shattered glass. It was blood, it was obvious. Johnathan's blood. I made it to the window, and saw a hand grabbing the railing next to it, trying desperately to hang onto it. I looked lower and saw Johnathan, still hanging on by this right hand, quickly loosing balance. I grabbed his hand solidly, and pulled it up with all my strength.

''Come on, I'm pulling you up...''

''...Not worth it... I fucked up... I don't deserve to live...''

His hand slid from mine, and, before I could realize it, his head banged into the first floor's roof, and bounced to the the sidewalk. His head had cracked open, and blood was flowing out if it as if it had been a waterfall. A waterfall of blood, that is.

I felt tears coming to my eyes, but I contained them once more. I did not appreciate much Johnathan, but I had not wanted his death, suicide or accident. I turned to Josie. She looked shook up. A few tears ran down her cheeks. I sent her a encouraging look.

''Better him than us...'' Tom said, in a voice filled with regrets for his dead friend.

''Yeah... It'll be safer without him...'' Said Josie.

Panic started gaining me as a question passed through my mind. Had anybody else thought of suicide? Had Josie thought of it, at a point? I hoped not. She was the reason I was still alive for, in this upside down world. Loosing her would have been loosing me. The others were important, but she was indispensable. At least as much as oxygen...

We walked back to the cafeteria, slowly, reluctant to face the truth.

''As you may have heard... Johnathan... decided to finish this... horror voluntarily.'' I said, choosing carefully my words so I wouldn't shock any body. A few vague answers were echoed in the otherwise silent room. ''But... on the other hand... we have weapons, safety and places to sleep. We can survive. The only question now is... are we gonna stay here to wait for rescue, or will we try to do it on our own?''

''Let's face it...'' Tom said ''We have difficulty taking out one of these things... Hundreds of them, if not thousands, are waiting for us outside.''

He was right. We knew it. The solution, which wasn't really one, was to wait for the army to get organized and make a move against this. We were no heroes. No veteran soldiers. We were teens. We were far from being ready to confront this danger.

''Seems like the best idea...'' I said. ''I suggest that, from tomorrow on, we start getting things together to make this place more welcoming. If we are to stay her for a while, I guess it's better to clean out and organize it. Make it your home, because it might be so for a long time...''

Everybody approved at a different degree. Now our main problem was that the cafeteria's food supplies wouldn't stand for much longer. Until a few days, we would need to get some more food. After a few hours of debating on the best way to find some food, it was seven, and we weren't much closer to the solution. We ate some pancakes, our minds all locked on trying to find a way to get some more supplies.

Then, around nine, most people started getting tired, and got to their rooms. So did I.

''Hey Matt... Can I sleep in your room... It's not that... I'm scared but...''

''It's okay...'' I said, my voice as reassuring as it could get.

''We can go get my bag if you want?'' She asked in a shy manner.

I didn't knew what to answer. In fact, I knew it, but I lacked the guts to tell it. So that's why, ten minutes later, we were installing her sleeping bag in my room. She pulled off her shirt, revealing a black sports bra. I gazed a moment at her, lost in her beauty. Then, I pulled of my own shirt, and slid inside my bag without much enthusiasm.

Alone in my bed, I cursed myself as cold went over my whole body. A few minutes passed. I wasn't able to sleep. I got the idea of turning around to Josie's bed, which was beside mine. As my head turned to the side, my heart beat rose when I saw Josie was watching me too, her eyes shinning to the moonlight led in through the window.

''Josie...'' I started, not sure about how to finish it.

I didn't needed anymore words. She knew what I thought. We felt the same way. In a second, she was inside my bag. I felt the warm contact of her body against mine. We were so perfect together. I wondered why I had not dated her before.

Of course, it was a problem with my image, with my style. I wasn't bad enough for her friends. I did not reflect the right type of image. A pure product of a society that labels people, put them in categories like they were inanimate objects. It's strange how hard times can create a strong bond between people, in a short period of time and make disappear all form of social classes. No matter the appearances, no matter the respect amongst the others, in these times, people are just people. People are themselves. And the real Josie was even closer to perfection than the one I had met during school.

I felt her hands on my. Our lips met. Sleep didn't had any problems finding me. Even in this nightmarish hell, I was the happiest I had even been. I thought of what our relationship would have been like without this incident. But I remembered that, if life would have been normal, I would have been in my bed that night, and Josie in hers. We wouldn't have thought of each other. Well, she wouldn't have thought of me. Maybe this whole onslaught wasn't all bad, after all...