by Crisp, M. L.
CHAPTER 28
As night descended on Westlake High, Tyrone made his nightly round of checking the doors to make sure they were locked. Truth to tell, it was just something to do, it got him out of the office. He strolled by Allison and Sheila’s room, and peaked through the window. He saw them both playing ’got your nose’ with Darla. He smiled, it was a cute scene in the middle of an especially crazy day.
He decided not to interrupt and walked on, and saw Melvin getting ready to sack out on the floor. He walked by Scott’s room, but didn’t look in, afraid of what he might see. He decided to skip his nightly appearance in the library. Valerie was still upset with him, and he understood why. He decided that he was going to call a meeting tomorrow afternoon and hash this out. There has to be defined rules, he was certain they could work it out.
He arrived back outside his office, went to the double doors that led outside, and checked the lock. Still sealed as tight as a drum, but if he pressed his ear against the door, he could hear intense moaning and hissing on the other side. This seemed to be where the zombies congregated most of the time. He had given some thought to sleeping somewhere else, perhaps it was his presence that drew them to this area. If everybody moved to the middle, maybe they would wander away.
But this was his office, he wouldn’t be chased out of it by a bunch of damned ghouls. He went into his office, sat in his overstuffed chair, propped his feet on his desk, leaned back, and closed his eyes. Another day was over.
Kyle lay awake on the library floor, he guessed it was around four o’clock in the morning now. He slowly sat up, and studied the room, it was dark, but the moon shone through the panoramic windows. Tess was snoring loudly, so she was asleep. Miss Carpenter was hunched over in her chair behind the library desk, mouth wide open, she was fast asleep. Madison was curled up on one of the couches. Rodney was leaned up against a window, asleep.
Kyle got up and tip toed toward the door, and quietly opened it. He made his way down the darkened corridor, and to the stairs. He went down the stairs to the bottom level, and into the hallway. He passed the classroom Scott had commandeered, he knew Marla was in there. He wanted to go in and challenge him to a fight, but he knew full well he would lose. Even if he could win, Marla would just be pissed at him. Even at the end of the world, the jocks win.
But maybe not, not if he had anything to say about it. He kept walking, and turned the corner, making his way to the front of the school. He walked past the vice principal’s office, and stood silently in front of the double doors.
He had been thinking about this for days, ever since Marla stopped talking to him. He had held out hope that she would come to her senses, but once he saw her and Scott together, he knew he had lost her. He stared at the doors, he could still turn back.
But no, that wasn’t an option for him, he took a deep breath, and then whispered to no one, “I love you Marla.”
He casually unlocked the deadbolt, and pulled the doors open. The last thing he would see was a mass of zombies staring back at him. For a brief moment, they were still, then they started to move forward. Kyle closed his eyes, and opened his arms. A few moments later, the hallways of Westlake High were filled with his screams.
CHAPTER 29
Tyrone awoke with a start, he heard screaming, followed by unending moaning and footsteps. He cracked open his door, and quickly shut it. Almost immediately, there was pounding at his door. He stumbled in the dark, and found the intercom, and made his last announcement. “Attention, attention, the school has been breached. I repeat, the school has been breached! The creatures are pouring in through the doors by my office, I don’t know if they’re in other parts of the school yet. Get out of here if you can, find a safe place. If you can’t make it out of the school, I suggest going to the roof. Good luck, and Godspeed!”
Tyrone sat back down at his desk and stared at the door, he didn’t know how long it would hold. But it didn’t much matter, he didn’t have provisions in here to survive an extended siege. He opened the middle desk drawer, and pulled out the half empty silver flask of whiskey. He unscrewed the lid, and took a drink.
Valerie sat there, stunned at the announcement, how did this happen? It didn’t matter, it was up to her to save the students now. “Everybody, you heard him, let’s get to the roof!”
Rodney was already up and running. “No Miss Carpenter, there’s no supplies up there, it’s no good!”
“What then, try to make a break for the lobby?” Tess asked frantically.
“No, we don’t know how many are on the bottom floor. The cafeteria, we can seal the doors. We’ll have plenty of food and water!” Rodney yelled.
“Fine, all of you head that way, I’m going to try to close the door at the stairs, maybe that will keep them contained to the bottom floor!” Valerie said.
“Where’s Kyle?” Rodney asked looking around.
“I don’t know, I’ll try and find him before I lock the door, get out of here!”
Tess and Rodney made a break for the cafeteria. Valerie made a mad dash for the staircase. She noticed Madison right behind her. “Get to the cafeteria!” Valerie screamed.
“No, I have to find my sister!”
Valerie didn’t stop to argue, they made it to the stairs. Valerie was out of breath, she put her hands on Madison’s shoulders. “Try to find your sister, I’m going to make a quick scan for Kyle, but Madison, we can’t spend too much time with it. If we don’t find them right away, we have to get to safety, understood?” Madison nodded, and they both ran downstairs.
At the bottom of the stairs, Madison went in the direction of Scott’s room, and Valerie went the opposite way.
After the announcement, the others were quickly outside their respective classrooms. Melvin met Allison and Sheila in the hallway, Sheila had the duffle bag of fire arms, and reached in and handed Melvin a .45. Allison clutched Darla to her bosom, the little girl holding on to her tightly.
“What do you guys think, the roof, like he said?” Melvin asked.
“No, I’m getting Darla out of here!” Allison said.
“She’s right, the roof is no good anyway, soon this place will be crawling with the undead, we’d be stuck up there. We make a break for the jeep!”
“Sounds good to me!” Melvin agreed.
They started to run in that direction when they heard Scott. “Hold up, hold up!” Scott was running toward them, with Marla in tow. “What’s the plan guys?” He asked.
“We’re making a break for the jeep!” Allison said.
“What about the others?” Scott asked.
“We can’t worry about them right now, they’ll have to make their own way out!” Sheila said.
“Like, we can’t go yet, I have to find my sister!” Marla cried.
“No time! Come or don’t, but we’re leaving!” Sheila said.
Tears streamed down Marla‘s face. “Like, I can’t leave without her!” She said, and turned around and ran toward the staircase.
Scott did a double take. “Guys, I can’t just leave her!”
Allison held Darla tightly, as the little girl whimpered. “Scott, go get her, we’ll circle in the parking lot as long as we can!” Allison said.
Scott turned and ran after Marla. Allison, Sheila and Melvin all took off toward the lobby.
CHAPTER 30
Marla made it to the stairwell, and was about to run up when she heard her name being called. It was her sister! Marla ran toward her and hugged her. Scott was quickly coming up behind them. “Good, you found her, we need to go!”
Where?” Madison asked.
“The others are making a break for the jeep!”
“We don’t have time, those things are right behind me, they’ll be swarming the place before we make it there!” Madison said.
Valerie rounded the corner and joined them. “I couldn’t find Kyle, we have to get to the cafeteria!”
Scott looked back, but even now he could hear the moans getting closer, not to mention t
he stench. “Ok, the cafeteria it is, go!”
Marla and Madison ran upstairs, Valerie and Scott saw the zombies coming around the corner, they started up the stairs, but Valerie tripped, falling back into Scott, knocking them both back to the bottom of the stairs.
Valerie landed on top of Scott, but quickly got back up. She reached down to help him up, when she noticed the bone sticking out of his leg. He grunted in pain, Marla looked on in horror from the top of the stairs. She started to run back down, but Madison grabbed her and sprinted forward, pulling Marla along.
“I’ll help you upstairs, you can lean on me.” Valerie offered.
“No time, go on!” Scott said.
Valerie saw the creatures advancing toward them. Scott was right, she started back up the stairs, and didn’t look back when she heard Scott’s cries of agony.
At the top of the stairs, she was closing the door, but a zombie had already reached the door, and was pushing against it. Soon it was joined by its brethren, and Valerie could no longer hold them back. She bolted forward, but was soon overtaken by the mob of the undead. She tried to close her eyes, but one of the zombies reached down and plucked her eye out. She screamed as she watched it pop it in its mouth. She could feel her body being ripped apart at its mid section, in a grisly tug of war. Then, mercifully, she fainted.
Marla and Madison raced forward, toward the cafeteria. But they could hear the never tiring zombies getting relentlessly closer. It seems that they weren’t as fast as they had been when all this started, Madison noticed. That was at least one advantage they had, but then, almost as if in response to that thought, they could hear one breaking away from the pack. Madison looked back, it was Kyle! He was pretty torn up, but it was him, of course, he was freshly dead, so he was faster. Madison gasped, and Marla looked back too, and saw Kyle bearing down on them.
“It can’t be!” Marla said.
But it was, they were both about to drop from exhaustion, but Kyle was running after them and never tired. They pushed themselves forward, but Kyle was too fast, he was right behind them, and he reached out and madly grabbed at Madison, clutching her pony tail. Madison jerked backwards and Kyle’s hand grabbed her as his mouth moved in toward her face. Madison had taken self-defense courses, and instinctively grabbed his arm, and flipped him over her. He landed in front of her on his back, Madison looked around her, and saw the student store, it’s top half open. Kyle was scrambling to his feet, and the crowd of zombies was closing in from behind. She scrambled over the counter, and quickly shut the door and latched it.
Almost immediately, zombies were pounding at the closed door, as others moved forward. Marla watched, stunned, but she quickly regained her senses, this gave her precious moments, she darted forward again.
She finally came to the cafeteria doors, and banged desperately at the door. “Help, help, let me in, it‘s me, Marla!”
Rodney started to open the door, but as it cracked open, he felt a blade against his throat. Tess was holding a butcher knife from the kitchen. “You’re not letting that bitch in!” She spat.
Marla saw the door, which had just been so tantalizingly opened, slam shut again. “What the hell, come on, those things will be here soon!” Marla cried.
“Then I guess you better start running Barbie!” Came Grossberger’s voice from the other side.
Marla glanced over her shoulder, the coast was still clear, but not for long. “Tess, I’m totally sorry about everything I said, please, just let me in!”
Rodney started to open it again, but felt the blade push in closer to his skin, and a trickle of blood ran down his shirt. He held up his hands and stood still. Tess put her index finger to her lips, “shhhh.”
Marla didn’t hear anything from the other side now, but she could hear the zombies drawing nearer. She looked around, there was still a clear shot to the next hallway, and one last set of stairs. The roof, it was her only chance.
CHAPTER 31
Melvin huffed and puffed, his belly shaking, barely keeping up with the others. He stopped, and doubled over, out of breath. Allison and Sheila stopped. “Come on Melvin!” Allison admonished.
He shook his head no. “I can’t, I’m just too out of shape, you two go on, save that little girl!”
Allison started to argue, but Sheila grabbed her, and they ran forward. Melvin heard the creatures coming, he stood in the middle of the hallway, legs spread apart, aiming his .45. As the creatures came into view, he fired several shots into the crowd. There was one bullet left in the chamber. He turned to his side and ran into the bathroom. He went into a stall, closed and locked it.
The zombies were right behind him, they pounded furiously at the flimsy door. Melvin sat on the commode, listening to them bang madly, surely the stall door would give soon. Then he noticed one crawling in under the partition. He put the .45 to its head. It looked up at him, bared its teeth, and moaned. Melvin took the gun from its head, then placed the gun in his mouth, and pulled the trigger.
Allison ran as fast as she could, but the extra weight of Darla slowed her down. Sheila kept telling her to run faster, but the kid slowed everything down. Sheila made a decision, she had already lived longer than she thought she would in this dreadful new world. She stopped, and Allison came to a halt. Sheila reached into her pocket, and pulled out the jeep keys. “Here, take these, and this!” She said, holding out the duffel bag of weapons.
Allison looked perplexed. “We can make it Sheila, it’s not that much further.”
“Maybe, but maybe not. We don’t have time to argue, just take it and go. I’ll slow them down as long as I can, get that girl somewhere safe!”
Allison wanted to argue, but if she did, they really wouldn’t make it, she took the keys and the duffle bag, and ran.
Sheila climbed up on top of a set of lockers, steadied herself, and aimed her shotgun. As the zombies came around the corner, she squeezed the trigger. The lead zombie’s head exploded, and it slumped to the ground. The others tripped over it, the ones behind them tripped over the ones already on the ground. Her plan had worked, they were all writhing on the floor, trying to get up, and she chambered another round and fired. She repeated this until she was out of shotgun shells.
The zombies had regained their footing, and most continued down the hallway, a few others cornered Sheila on top of the lockers. They pushed and rocked the lockers until they fell over, Sheila with them.
A zombie lunged toward her, and she slammed the butt of the shotgun into its cranium, crushing it. But others soon took its place, and overwhelmed Sheila, pulling her apart like soft taffy.
Allison entered the lobby, and resisted the urge to do a victory dance. She wasn’t out of the woods yet. The incessant moans and hisses grew closer and closer behind her. She realized Sheila had been right, if she hadn’t done what she did, they would already be on her.
She finally reached the double doors, and pushed them open, she ran into the early morning air, the sun just peaking out. The creatures closed in behind her. The jeep was still there, all the doors still open, from when they had made their mad dash into the school weeks before.
She put Darla in the passenger seat, closed the door, and ran around to the driver’s side door, throwing the duffle bag in the backseat. She quickly got in, put the key in the ignition, fully expecting it not to start. But it did, the engine roared to life, and nothing ever sounded so beautiful to her. “Buckle up!” She said, and Darla complied.
The creatures were filing out of the school as she drove away. She promised Scott to circle the parking lot as long as she could. She didn’t see anyway he could have realistically survived, but she kept her word. As the zombies would get near, she would lurch forward.
No one else living left the school, so after a few minutes, she decided to leave. As she put the jeep into gear, she saw a lone figure emerge on the roof, jumping up and down, and waving her arms. In the early morning sun, she could make out the cheerleader uniform, it was Marla.
Th
ere was nothing Allison could do for her, she was on her own now. As zombies closed in on the vehicle, Allison punched the gas, and left Westlake High far behind.
CHAPTER 32
The jeep was still dangerously low on fuel, so Allison kept her eye out for a gas station. When she turned, she saw a small used car dealership. Right out front, it was there, a nineteen eighty four shiny red Pontiac Fiero. Allison stopped in the middle of the road, and pulled into the dealership. She told Darla to stay put, and she went into the dealer’s office, and rifled around until she found the corresponding keys.
The Fiero started like a top, it might have been her imagination, but she even thought it still had that new car smell. There were vehicles in the lot that made more sense for their situation, but she couldn’t pass this up, besides, she could always get another vehicle if necessary.
She and Darla transferred everything they needed from the jeep to the Fiero. Once they were done, they settled into their new car, Allison looked at Darla. “Where do you think we should go now sweetie?”
Darla looked at her with her big, soft eyes. “Maybe we can find my daddy.”
Allison smiled a sad smile. “I’m sorry sweetie, but I think you’re daddy is gone.”
Darla looked down. “I know, or maybe one of the funny people now. I sure do miss him.”
“I know you do sweetie, but I’m here to protect you now!”
Darla looked up, her big brown eyes meeting Allison’s. “Is my daddy in heaven now?”
Allison took a deep breath, and thought about it for a moment, then nodded her head. “You know what, I think that’s exactly where he is.”
Darla smiled a crooked smile. “Can I call you mommie?”
Allison beamed. “You sure can!”