by Tim Moon
“Wait. What exactly are we looking for?” Ben asked.
“School books.” Charlotte gave him a quizzical look.
“Yeah, but how many? What grade? How are we carrying them? What else would they have that could be useful?” he asked quickly, rattling them off. “I mean, other than some of those star stickers, because you two are golden.”
He shot them both a wink, which earned him eye-rolls all around.
“Be a gentleman and get the door, will ya?” Anuhea asked.
“Sure.” Ben opened the door. “After you, my lady.”
He earned another eye-roll as they entered the school. Charlotte eased the door shut behind them.
73
Inside the school, the air was tinged with dust and the lingering odor of cleaning supplies. It had been at least a month since anyone else had walked the hallway. Stillness lay over the place and gave Ben a hollow feeling. Light filtered in through the classrooms and the small windows in the doors, but the hallway was mostly steeped in shadows.
Their footsteps echoed softly as they moved from room to room, checking for infected. Charlotte watched the hallway. It quickly became apparent that the school was abandoned, the same as it had looked from outside. Once the first floor was clear, Ben called a halt to the search.
“What class grade are we looking for?” Ben asked Charlotte.
“Oliver’s what, six, seven years old?” Anuhea asked. “Maybe eight?”
Ben gave her a blank stare before turning to Charlotte, who shrugged.
“That would put him in first or second grade, right?” Charlotte asked.
“That might be kindergarten.” Ben grunted and bit the inside of his cheek. “I taught English to elementary school kids, but I don’t remember how old they were.”
“Didn’t you celebrate birthdays?” Anuhea asked with a hand on her hip.
“Hey, it’s not like you know how old he is.”
“Don’t dodge the question.”
A crease formed between Ben’s eyebrows. “If they told me it was their birthday, I’d give them a treat in class. That’s it.” He looked around at the nearest classrooms. Both were kindergarten, perfect. “Let’s see what they have in here. If it looks too easy, we can go to first grade.”
“Let’s get a book from each class just to be sure,” Charlotte said as she entered the second-grade classroom behind Ben.
“Works for me.” Anuhea followed them inside.
Ben went to the teacher’s desk and sat down to begin searching the drawers. Where are the stickers? Kids love stickers.
“What do you guys think? A pirate or a sports car?” Anuhea asked.
Curious, Ben looked up to see her holding two backpacks.
“Pirate,” he said.
Charlotte shook her head. “Car.”
“Pirates are much cooler.” Ben leaned back in the chair. “He’s got a sword and a parrot. Easy choice.”
Charlotte rolled her eyes at him.
He chuckled before returning to his quest.
“Why doesn’t this teacher have stickers?” he growled.
“You two are hopeless,” Anuhea said with a groan. “Let’s take both backpacks. They’re so small, I’m sure we can fill both.”
“Or you’re just too big,” Ben said, smirking.
She threw the pirate bag at him. He instinctively leaned out of the way and it whizzed by hitting the chalkboard a good three feet away.
“Nice one,” he said with a smirk.
Anuhea turned away and unzipped the car backpack for Charlotte, who stuffed several books inside.
After a few minutes of searching, he was still without stickers. There were plenty of other odds and ends that could come in handy such as a pair of scissors, a box of ballpoint pens, paperclips, glue. All of which ended up in the backpack.
Three dark chocolate bars hidden in the back of a drawer went into a jacket pocket.
Charlotte might like these, he thought.
As they left the kindergarten classroom for grade one, a small aquarium on a bookshelf caught his eye. The murky water couldn’t hide the dead goldfish floating at the top. He leaned down to peer at the body. Poor thing.
“Rest easy, bud,” he muttered.
Anuhea poked her head back inside the classroom. “Are you coming?”
“Yeah, sorry.” Ben hustled out to join them. “How would you rather die? Slowly starving to death or a zombie attack?”
“Starvation,” Anuhea said without hesitation.
“Wow, okay.” Ben looked at Charlotte.
“Zombie might be quicker,” Charlotte said, her brow creasing as she thought. “But it’d be much scarier than starvation.”
“Unless they eat their way through your stomach while you’re alive,” Ben said. “That’s slow, painful and scary.”
Charlotte’s face scrunched up. “You shouldn’t joke about that, it could really happen.”
“Who’s joking?” Ben asked.
“What made you think of that?” Anuhea cocked an eyebrow at him. “Did you have a vision of your death?”
“I saw a dead goldfish.”
Anuhea and Charlotte gave each other strange looks.
They went through all the grades picking up books for Oliver. Textbooks for math, history, science and language arts were all there for the taking. Oliver would be set. If they needed anything else, they could always return. Or raid the library, which would have books they all needed. Especially for gardening and other things that were suddenly a top priority.
Both backpacks were filled by the time they reached fourth grade, so they had to search for another backpack. Ben found an old JanSport on the floor of a coat closet in a sixth-grade classroom.
Passing through each grade was like reliving his elementary school days all over again. Memories came back to Ben in quick flashes, and he figured the same held true for Anuhea and Charlotte. The smell, the classroom layouts, posters and essays on the wall. Hell, even the dead goldfish took him back through time. Back to when things were simple.
“This place is depressing,” Anuhea said.
“Why?” Ben asked.
“Each one of these empty seats is a student that will never come back here,” she said.
Charlotte walked over and put an arm around her shoulders.
Ben nodded, unsure what to say. He wandered over to a table and found a book about dinosaurs. He lifted it up.
“This one’s coming with me,” he said.
“We should probably hurry. It feels like we’ve been gone a long time,” Charlotte said, looking outside.
They still had plenty of daylight, a few hours at least. Charlotte made a good point and they still had stuff to do back in the neighborhood.
“You’re right.” Ben put the dinosaur book in his backpack and zipped it up. “I want to swing by the gym before we leave though.”
“What for?” Charlotte asked.
“Baseball gloves so I can play catch with Oliver. Or you, if you’re up for it.” Ben grinned at her. “We need a football too.”
“I want a bat,” Anuhea said.
Charlotte and Ben looked at her.
“For zombies,” she said, swinging an imaginary baseball bat. She clucked her tongue to simulate hitting a zombie in the head.
“Smart. We definitely need some baseball bats,” Ben said. “They’re much better than toothbrushes.”
Charlotte made a tsk-tsk sound.
“I still can’t believe you did that,” Anuhea said with a wry laugh.
Charlotte led the way out into the hall. They still needed fifth and sixth grade books before they went to the gym. The mood was relaxed and more cheerful than it’d been since they met on the beach, all those weeks ago.
Once they had filled Ben’s backpack with books, they made a beeline back to the gym. As they passed by the cafeteria, Ben slowed.
“Hey, should we check in there?” he asked, jerking his thumb at the cafeteria sign.
“For what? A mix
ing bowl?” Anuhea asked.
“They should have dry or canned food sitting around,” Charlotte said. “Have you ever seen an industrial kitchen? They use giant cans of food.” She held her hands up to demonstrate.
“Exactly.” Ben grinned. “Let’s do that last though, so we can drive the truck around and transfer stuff from their loading dock.”
They walked casually down the hall. The gym loomed ahead, and they grew quieter, hands gripping rifles, steps growing cautious. All that was visible from the hall was the basketball court. It was impossible to see into the office or locker rooms. That required a physical search.
A set of pull-out bleachers lined one wall. In the corner, two long ropes came down from the ceiling with blue pads underneath. The back corner held the office, its door propped open. Darkness beckoned to them. Ben eyed it wearily. Anuhea tried the door knob on the supply closet and shook her head. He didn’t want to go inside the office, but they needed the key to open the supply closet for the equipment.
“Anyone have a flashlight?” he asked in a whisper. Stopping ten feet from the door, Ben aimed his rifle at the darkness.
“No,” Anuhea and Charlotte said in unison.
Ben cursed himself for not bringing one. He could easily have fit a small Maglite in his jacket. Predicting what might happen outside the relative safety of the neighborhood was impossible. He knew that and should have come prepared.
“Charlotte, cover the window, please,” Anuhea said. Then with a nod to Ben she said, “I’ll follow you in.”
Licking his lips, Ben started forward without a word. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the dim light as he stared into the dark office. Shoes squeaked against the laminated hardwood floor as they crept forwards. Their tense breath puffing rhythmically. It was cold inside and Ben could see faint wisps of his breath in the air.
He hesitated at the door for half a beat and then walked in. Tall filing cabinets lined the right wall, so he swung his rifle to the left as he entered. Sweeping back across the room, he made out the form of a desk near the back wall. Two folding chairs sat in front of the desk – very spartan.
Anuhea whispered, “Clear.”
“Clear,” Ben responded. Then he raised his voice a little for Charlotte. “Clear.”
“Thank God,” Charlotte said with a heavy sigh.
Finding the keys in the dark wasn’t as time-consuming as he’d assumed. Anuhea found a key locker hanging on the wall beside a calendar. It was locked. While she tried to pry it open, Ben followed his instinct. The locker would probably be for important keys while the supply closet would be a daily use item. Opening and closing the key locker would get annoying.
A few minutes later, Ben found a set of keys in a desk drawer, along with paper clips, a few old protein bars, pens, and an absurdly large stash of colorful sticky notes.
“Found them,” he said triumphantly.
“Here,” Anuhea said with her hands out.
He tossed the keychain and she caught it with ease. Since his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he could see fine and decided to root around in the desk drawers for anything useful. Disappointment was all he found in the PE teacher’s office.
Anuhea knocked on the window, startling Ben. She grinned at him as she held up a baseball bat.
“Don’t do that shit,” he snapped.
“You should have seen the look on your face.”
“Asshole,” Ben said with a smirk. He brushed past her, intentionally bumping into her shoulder.
She pushed him back. “Punk.”
“So, what did you find?”
Anuhea swung her bat a few times through the air, testing the weight.
“I think I’ll name it Hulk,” she said as she tipped the bat onto her shoulder. “Because it likes to smash.”
“Great.” He dragged the word out sarcastically even though he did find it amusing.
Charlotte scanned the hallway through the windows but paused to glance back at them. “Stop making so much noise.”
“The place is clear, we’re fine,” Anuhea said.
“She’s probably right,” Ben added.
“It’s fine. You kids shop while I keep an eye out,” Charlotte said.
Anuhea had left the double doors to the storage room open. Inside were large rolling carts of basketballs, red balls for dodgeball or kickball, and various other pieces of sporting equipment. Anuhea found a plastic bucket full of baseballs and grabbed a couple. Ben riffled through the various boxes and buckets until he found some baseball gloves.
He tried to slide one of the gloves on, but it was too tight. It could work for Oliver in a year or two. A moment later, he found one that fit. He slid it on and punched the fake leather a few times.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about,” he said.
“Hey,” Anuhea said. “Look at these.”
Ben saw her strap a bright red shin guard on her forearm. There was a whole box of shin guards of various sizes and colors. A cheap substitute for body armor.
“Whoa, nice find,” he took the glove off and tucked it under his arm. She handed him a yellow shin guard and he adjusted the straps to hold it on. He rapped his knuckles on the hardened plastic. It would keep teeth out of his flesh. Big win. “These are perfect.”
“Keep looking, there might be more we can use,” Anuhea said.
Eventually, Ben had to dump a duffel bag full of badminton racquets to carry the shin guards—two for each forearm and one for each leg—for everyone, plus the baseballs, a football, several catchers masks, a tug-of-war rope and a dozen jump ropes. Nothing else looked relevant or was too big to carry easily.
“We may have to come back for more stuff,” Ben said.
“I was thinking the same thing.” Anuhea tapped the side of her head and pointed at him.
“Someone’s here,” Charlotte hissed at them as she ran over from the window.
“What?” Ben frowned.
“I heard a door shut and saw a shadow pass by down the hall.”
“Did you see who it was?” Anuhea asked. “Were they armed?”
“I didn’t see them,” Charlotte said with a shake of her head. “Shadow… Remember?”
“Damn it,” Ben muttered.
He zipped the duffel bag and left it on the floor. Following Charlotte, Ben went to the window to investigate the hallway. Anuhea crept over to the door, which they’d left open and took a knee. If anyone approached, they’d be met by a loud crack and hard tap.
The view through the window allowed them to see fifty feet down the hallway to the left, where it opened to the main entrance foyer. To the right, the hall ran the length of the gym and ended in three sets of double doors, the same as at the main entrance. They could only see one set of the doors from where they stood inside the gym. Directly across the hall were a multi-purpose room with a stage and a music room, to the left. The doors to those were closed.
Several long minutes passed. All was quiet.
Anuhea stood and leaned into the hallway. Her head swiveled both directions. When she leaned back in, she shook her head. “Nothing.”
“I swear, I saw something,” Charlotte said.
“I believe you.” Ben put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I’ll grab the duffel. Let’s roll out, we can always come back another day.”
Doubt crept over Charlotte’s face, but she nodded.
“I’ll check the front doors,” Anuhea said. “Catch up.”
“Okay.” Ben strode to the duffel and picked it up. It wasn’t as heavy as his backpack full of books, but it was awkward. He slipped his arm through the handles and hitched it onto his shoulder. The narrow handles dug painfully into his joint. Better than not being able to use his gun if he needed to.
They rushed to catch up with Anuhea.
Ben stopped behind her, dropped the bag and peered around the corner. Although the building was quiet, uneasiness twisted his gut. He could see part of the passenger side of the truck, through the main entrance doors.
Just the front corner. Not enough to tell if they had a clear path. The front doors were locked from the outside, but they might be able to open them from inside.
“I’ll check the doors,” Anuhea said, stepping away from the wall. “Watch my back.”
“We gotcha,” Ben said softly.
Charlotte watched the hall behind them and the one that branched off towards the library.
“All clear.” Anuhea waved them over.
With a grin, Ben let the sling hold his rifle while he lifted the duffel with one hand and drew his pistol, a recent acquisition from the neighborhood.
Anuhea held the door open for him. Frigid air rushed in, watering his eyes. Squinting against the sudden blast, Ben rushed outside, scanning for any threats — human or zombie.
They climbed into the truck and took off. If they wanted the food or more supplies, they would have to return another day.
74
Nancy opened the door. Her eyes were as hard as the cast-iron pan she held in one hand.
“Where the hell have you been?” she asked in a tone only mothers could produce.
“We took the second load to a school and picked up some gear.” Ben lifted the duffel and then turned to show the backpack.
“Benjamin Chase! I can’t believe you left bodies at a school,” she snapped.
“No one goes there anymore, Mom.”
“We told him the same thing, Nancy,” Charlotte said, smirking at Ben.
“Wow, anyone want to pull the knife out of my back?” Ben said with feigned attitude.
“Get in here,” his mom said.
Oliver stuck his head into the hallway. When he saw Ben and the others come in, he strolled in and followed them into the front room.
“What did you find?” he asked.
Anuhea grinned and took off the backpack. “Take a look.”
Oliver unzipped the bag and looked inside. Most of the excitement drained from his face, which made them laugh. He groaned and flopped onto his back to play dead.
“What is it?” Nancy asked.
“School books,” Charlotte said, beaming.
“That’s great.”
“I’m glad someone thinks so,” Ben said. “The duffel has stuff we can all use. Have a look while I get Chadwick.”