Chapter 5 : The breach

Nothing lasts forever. This is the only thing you can be sure of on this earth. Our situation was no exception to this.

In the cold night, the not-so distant sound of glass being shattered echoed throughout the otherwise silent hallways. I sat up in my bed, awaken by the sudden noise.

''What was that?''

''I... don't know... I'm sleeping...'' was all Josie could say before she fell back into sleep.

I stood up, and my vision focused a bit more. I was still having difficulty seeing through the night, but I'd have to deal with it. As I stepped out of my room, the adjacent classroom's door opened, and Mitch walked out, a worried look on his face.

''You heard it too?''

''Yeah...''

He lifted his baseball bat. I drew my pistol and cocked it. We walked together to the staircase and went to the first floor. A faint, almost nonexistent sound was heard. Then, a few moans broke the silence. They were inside.

We walked carefully in the mess hall. As shadows slightly moved in the locker room zone, I stumbled backwards. I fingered the direction silently. To the growing noise coming from the zone, almost covered by the moans and groans of the silent walkers, I could tell they were zombies.

Mitch took out his lighter, and the small flame lit a rather large area around us. The bruised and wounded face of a zombie was in our direct vicinity, a few more hidden behind, in the shadows.

''Damn...'' I let out.

I was about to shoot him down when I located many others, much more than I had expected, behind him. They were at least a dozen, but more of them could be taking place behind. I placed my gun back in my pants, and ran for the manual shutter control lever. The locker room had shutters to separate it from the rest of the school, so the students would not mess around during class hours. We had to shut them before these things made it too far, or we would not have any protection against them.

Mitch took the left side, and I took the right one. We pulled it open and slid it over the entire path. After the shutter was in place, we placed the safety lock. It clicked, and a feeling of relief took me over. But it was short lived. They would break through at a point somehow...

We ran back upstairs.

''EVERYBODY GET THE FUCK OUT OF BED! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!''

Room after room, the doors opened, showing a bunch of tired looking students.

''They have taken the locker room. We have locked them in there, but it won't last long. We gotta get out of here. Get any clothing, food or weapon you have, and bring it to the cafeteria.'' I explained.

Josie took my hand, and I could feel her fright. She was scared. We were all scared. But this was no time for personal problems. We had dozens of problems down there, waiting for us with open arms.

We all went back to the mess hall. Most of us were holding a weapon that wasn't all meant to be used at such end. We had tired looks on our faces, and most of us were still half-sleeping. But what happened next really got us awoken.

A loud thud, followed by a metallic sound. This meant one thing. The shutters were breached. We were dead meat.

''MOVE!''

As hordes of zombies took over the room, some even breaking in by some of the classroom's windows as if a signal was given, panic started to gain the group. I grabbed Josie's hand, and kept shouting to get away from the gates, but most of the students were paralyzed into place, struck by the most fearsome aspects of the creature. In the mostly shadowy and unlit cafeteria, the old fear of darkness took over many students as the flesh eaters dove in for the kill.

Josie and I kept running to the kitchen doors. Kevin and Jen were on our heels. As I slammed open the kitchen double doors, I let pass my girlfriend, as well as Kevin and Jen.

''Mitchell!''

The individual in question turned around, nodded, and ran to us. As he passed the doors, out of breath, I took a good look around, my eyes adjusted to the lesser light of the room. Shadows and violent silhouettes drawn in the darkness. I could not identify any of them. I could not even tell if they were human of zombie.

''No!!''

The long scream came to my ears. It was Tom. I say him, a few meter in front of us.

''Come on, man, you're almost there.''

He did not answer. Something wasn't alright. I was still far from how bad it was. Next to him, a small object was laying in a puddle of blood, and a pack of zombies took place nearby, apparently uninterested in Tom.

I walked closer to him, and could see what it was about. He was on his knees, and, with his hand covering his face, I could tell he was crying. The piece of meat on the floor next to him revealed to be a human arm.

''What... are you... okay?''

Still, he didn't responded. He lifted slightly his head and nodded in the direction of the pack of infested zombies. Then, as I saw a corpse in the middle of the bunch of creatures, I knew what it was.

''Kate...''

Tom fell to the ground. His girlfriend was the meal these zombies were sitting around. A grotesque, barbaric scene that would remain engraved in my mind forever.

''Come on man... I'm getting you out of here...''

I lifted him the best I could, and, against his very will, I dragged his powerless body to the kitchen. As I was about to shut the door back, Phil, the school nerd, ran inside. I let him in, and I finally blocked the door with a stack of heavy food trolleys.

''Tom... You okay?''

''How in the fuck do you think I am, my girl's just been eaten in front of me!''

''Calm down man...We gotta pull through this...''

''What for? So I can live the rest of my life alone?''

''Look, Kate died to help you get out of this hell... I don't think you'll honor her death by dying yourself in this school.''

''And since when do you know Kate that much?''

''Okay man... you win... If you don't want to do this for you, I don't care. Do it for us. We need to get out of here. We need help. After we are out of here, you can do whatever you want. But dying here will only make our escape harder for us all.''

A silence occurred. We were all observing each other in a nervous, almost paranoid way. We were only seven left. And there was no way we were going back there to search for other survivors. There was Josie and me, in a corner of the room. Jen and Kevin were in front of us, and Mitchell stood silently next to me. Phil was alone, a few feet away from the group, and so was Tom, in the opposite direction.

''So, what we got to fight back?''

Josie glanced down at the rather heavy steel bar she held. Mitchell had a butcher knife, larger than normal. This tool was made to slice heavy meat, and it would still be used that way. Kevin flipped his smaller knife in his right hand. Jen had just grabbed a heavy frying pan from the kitchen drawers. I grabbed another pan and tossed it in Phil's hands.

''Take this...''

''Thanks''

We were in no case equipped to defend or take back the school. There was no point in staying these any longer.

''Okay, let's get out by the back door, and sneak our way toward the parking. There must be some kind of vehicle there to grab hold of.''

''What about the other?''

''They are dead... We can't do nothing about this...''

I could feel Tom's sadness as I said those last words, but it was what I had found to keep the others from running back into the room to search for survivors. This was no time to play heroes.

We silently got out one by one through the kitchen back door. In the pitch darkness that had overwhelmed the outside world which we had been cut off from for the last few days, death would have no pity for the defenseless teens we were. We had to be cautious, very cautious.

We all proceeded to the nearby car park. Outside, a very unpleasant feeling of being watched was as ominous as the darkness that was surrounding us. I could almost feel the burning glare of these mindless zombies observing me, cataloging me as a piece of meat.

''We should head to the police station...''

''Yeah... but it's too far on foot.''

''The principals car isn't big enough for us all.''

''This'll do...''

I pointed a small model bus stationed in a corner of the parking. A handicapped sign on it's side door signified it was a special bus for those with physical handicaps. It was perfect. I lifted my gun and headed for the still open door. I popped inside and searched quickly the area. It was clear of any resistance.

''Okay, it's clear...''

Soon, we were all aboard the bus.

''You okay to drive?'' I asked Tom, who was the best driver of the group.

''Yeah...''

He looked a bit less in pain than in the school. Maybe just because that damned building was bad for our mood. The fresh air had helped us clean our thoughts.

''Somebody saw the keys?''

''Yeah... I got them...'' Mitchell said, handing the set of keys to Tom. ''I found them on the first seat.''

Tom nodded, and started the engine. A few seconds later, the rather small bus was back in business. I could not believe how much we were lucky on that one. Guess luck had finally showed up for us. The bus rumbled, and it moved a bit. We all took place. Everybody sat, excepted me. I stood next to Tom. Josie was sitting next to me, in the first row of benches.

''You okay to find it in the dark?''

''Yeah...''

The bus' headlights came on, and the white beam seemed to light our hearts at the same time as the road in front of us. Soon enough, we'd be at the local police station, and this whole deal would be history...

I hope you liked that chapter, and I know I've been a bit long to update. That's because I've been working on another story, a GTA story. Check it out too, it's worth it. Anyway, if you have time enough to read this, leave me a review, it won't be much longer... Thanks to my reviewers, I'm always happy to get some feedback...