State of (Book 1): State of Decay

by Martinez, P. S.

  Was the school completely deserted? Was there a mob of undead waiting for us, or had another group already thought of what I did and were inside the school?

  I could have led us straight into an ambush.

  I adjusted my grip on my knife and wiped a droplet of sweat from my forehead as I fought off a few straggler zombies with Jude while we waited for everyone to get through the fence.

  “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” I muttered darkly, ducking through the fence opening.

  “It was a good idea, Mel. It’ll be alright,” Ghost said as he flashed me the grin I’d already become attached to. His smiles we little bright spots of encouragement to our group.

  The group moved, our shoulders still heavy with the loss of Jeffrey.

  We made our way across the front of the campus with its overgrown lawns and huge bobcat mascot statue. The school was comprised of large, two-story gray stone buildings. We walked up to the front doors of the school without running into a single zombie. So far, so good.

  The doors were locked tight. We didn’t want to use our guns if we didn’t have to. No reason to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves.

  “Find another way in? Maybe break a window?” I suggested.

  Jude stepped away from the doors, motioning for Ghost to come over.

  “It’s all you, Ghost,” Jude said.

  Ghost approached the locked double doors and took out a tiny pack from one of his large pants pockets, pulling out a few tools. Not two minutes later, the lock popped, and Ghost held the door open with a flourish. I grinned at him, wondering how many times his “special abilities” had come in handy over the past six months.

  “I vaguely recall spending my teen years trying to sneak out of school,” Ghost said wryly as we all entered the hallway.

  I turned quickly, my knife coming up in defense at the sound of approaching footsteps—we were not alone.

  “Relax, it’s only us,” Manuel said, his hands up and a smirk on his face.

  I lowered my knife and relaxed a fraction and so did everyone else in our group. Ghost clapped Manuel on the back, and they did some manly fist bump action.

  “How did it go? Everyone okay?” Jude asked.

  Manuel lifted the long duffle bag off of his back and motioned to two others in his group. All three of them were carrying large duffle bags, but only one looked full. It seemed the pharmacies had been picked over like we’d feared. At least they’d found some things though.

  “Insulin?” Jude asked. I sucked in a breath.

  Manuel smiled widely.

  “Got it!” he said. All of us let out a breath of relief.

  I high fived Manuel but not too loud.

  “Let’s all move quietly and find the cafeteria,” Jude said after a moment of us all letting our win sink in.

  “The quicker the better.”

  We moved through the eerily empty hallways with only the sound of our shoes echoing around us, squeaking loudly only the shiny linoleum floors. I tried not to fixate at the brightly colored bulletin boards that were announcing school dances and yearbook sales.

  I avoided allowing my gaze to linger on the award cabinet where groups of smiling faces mingled in with trophies watched as we walked past.

  But the fact that a place that was once so full of life and promise, a place that once held so many teenagers with dreams and aspirations for their future was now sitting abandoned like a ghost town wasn’t lost on any of us.

  We made a right turn down a hallway and saw what we had been searching for directly in front of us. A sign over the double doors read “Cafeteria”.

  A door to the right of the cafeteria entrance led out into an open courtyard where bright green tables and chairs sat, inviting kids to sit outside and enjoy their lunch in the fresh air. My heart felt pained by the reminder that I had been one of those teens sitting outside eating lunch with my friends, the majority of whom were probably dead now, just months before the outbreak. It felt like it had been a lifetime ago.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat as thoughts of Jess and her family swirled in my head.

  Surely she was still alive.

  “Melody?” Jude was staring at me while I stood there with my thoughts in places they had no business being.

  “I’m good,” I said, approaching the rest of the group with a sad smile.

  After Ghost worked his magic once again, we all entered the cafeteria and made our way to the back, where supplies would have been kept. Ghost and three other guys decided to scout out the room and other doors that led into the cafeteria to make sure the room was as secure as possible.

  When Jude opened the back room, he let out a whistle.

  I followed behind him and Z when they entered the storage room. I couldn’t stop grinning like a fool. Jude and Z shone their flashlights on the shelves that lined the rather large room. I spotted huge cans of peas, carrots, fruit cocktail, and tons of other vegetables all stacked in neatly organized sections.

  “Holy shit,” Z muttered.

  I walked over to where he stood rubbing his hand along a can like he’d found the Holy Grail. “Pulled pork,” he whispered in awe, a man entranced.

  Not even ten minutes later, after everyone had oohed and ahhed over the storage room, the school had been well scouted, and everyone had sat for a few minutes to rest for the first time since we’d fought our way into town, I was itching to be on the move again.

  “Now how are we going to get all of this out of here?” I asked. I was sitting with Jude, Z, and Manuel in the main room of the cafeteria.

  “We need to find a truck,” Jude said.

  Right. Find a good-sized truck with a decent amount of fuel.

  “Bus,” Ghost said, striding across the room.

  “Bus?” Jude asked.

  Ghost nodded and looked over at me. “According to our maps and the info we have, there should be a parking lot between here and the elementary school, probably half a mile further into the city. They keep the buses for all the surrounding schools there. They would be already gassed up and we could fill the entire bus with supplies and still have room for everyone to sit.”

  Jude narrowed his eyes. “What’s the catch?” he asked.

  Ghost didn’t flinch beneath his stare.

  “Looks like our luck has run out. I scouted out back. Surrounding the other side of the school and from this block over, the undead are swarming the streets. It would be dangerous.

  It might be our best bet, though.

  From what I can tell, it looks the zombies are now moving in huge packs, like some kind of herd.” Manuel added.

  I shuffled on my feet and stared uncomprehendingly at Manuel.

  Herd?

  “That’s nothing different than what we’ve dealt with before,” Jude said.

  Manuel rubbed a hand over his head.

  “No, not this time. They’re kind of moving across the city in a wave, like a flock of birds would.” His other group members nodded in agreement.

  His eyes met mine and then he clenched his jaw and caught Jude’s stare once again.

  “That wave is already headed this way.”

  I glanced out the front windows and realized how late it was getting.

  The undead were making their way across the city and they were moving in our direction. No way we’d be able to get back out of town before they arrived, not without leaving behind all the supplies we’d found.

  “If they’re moving in waves during the day, maybe by morning they’ll have moved past us or back the way they came?” I wondered out loud.

  Manuel nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking, but who knows? I’ve never seen them move together quite so in sync.”

  “I noticed they were acting weird too,” I murmured remembering the way they moved when we were fighting our way here. Ghost nodded, too.

  “They were moving more organized,” I said.

  “And some were standing idle in shaded areas, rather than any area like they used to
,” Jude agreed. He had noticed that, too.

  “Yes. The looked to be seeking shelter from the sun and only snapped out of their stupor and came after us once they were alerted that we were nearby.” Ghost added.

  “When they do blow through this area, will they be able to get onto the school property or are we relatively safe here?” Z asked.

  “And there’s still the problem of needing a way to get out of here with all of these supplies, so no matter what, we need some wheels,” Jude stated.

  Ghost nodded. He’d already figured that.

  Jude sighed loudly. “What do you need?” He asked Ghost.

  Ghost’s lips tightened into a thin line. “I’ll need two volunteers to come with me, and I’ll need Melody.”

  “Why?” Jude asked after a pregnant pause.

  “You and Manuel will need to stay here with the others and organize all the supplies so we can load them when we get back, and you’ll need Manuel to help if the herd comes through and the shit hits the fan while we’re gone.”

  Jude’s eyes were on me while Ghost spoke.

  “Melody has the most experience besides the three of us in the group,” Ghost went on. “She’s fast, smart, and deadly with a weapon. She’s the only person I know who can handle her shit under pressure besides you and Manuel. I need her backing me up.”

  My mouth dropped open quite unattractively when Ghost finished talking. I didn’t know what I’d done to earn his respect. I clicked my mouth and glanced over at Jude to see how he what he thought. He was staring at the ground, his jaw clenched so hard, I’m sure he’d have a headache later on.

  “Alright.” He said, through gritted teeth.

  I wasn’t sure if he didn’t want me to go because he didn’t think I could handle it, or if he didn’t want to be responsible if I didn’t make it back. Either possibility didn’t make me all that happy.

  I frowned, unsure why Jude’s opinion of me mattered so much.

  Jude looked at me questioningly. “Melody?”

  I nodded. I was in.

  “Let’s see who else is crazy enough to volunteer,” Jude said.

  M-M-M-Madness

  Ghost, Jude, and I headed toward the back of the school, followed by Z, and a short guy with shaggy brown hair named Nate. We only had a few hours of daylight left, and we definitely didn’t want to get stuck out in the middle of an unfamiliar city at night.

  Jude walked silently beside me as we approached the back gate of the fence that surrounded the entire high school.

  “Be smart. Don’t take any unnecessary risks,” he instructed.

  I smiled. Life was a risk, but I understood what he was saying. Come back safely.

  “Will do, sir.” I snapped a salute and he smiled.

  Ghost turned to look back at Jude and tsked under his breath, a half grin curling his full lips. I furrowed my brow wondering what I was missing.

  I could have sworn I heard Jude growl from behind me.

  We dipped through the opening in the gate and our fight commenced immediately.

  We had to take down several juicy zombies rapid-fire just to get away from the school. I ran with our small group, pausing only to slide my blade through the emaciated neck of one zombie whose ear was torn away from his head and hanging by a thread of skin. Even more disturbing was the ear bud and wire dangling from the nearly severed ear.

  I stabbed through the bashed-in skull of another zombie, refusing to look back at the high school. I would see Jude and the other again soon. I had to.

  Avoiding the undead this time around was not an easy task.

  For one thing, they seemed more aware and more active since the sun was going down. For another, their numbers had tripled since we’d gone into the school. Zombies flooded the streets, sidewalks, and most of the buildings.

  There really was no “safe” zone as we moved through the city. We ducked behind cars, took out dozens of zombies, and tried to do it all while making very little noise. If the zombies were acting herd-like, then I didn’t want to find out what a stampede of undead was capable of.

  I shuddered at the thought.

  The only thing in our favor was that the zombies were moving slower than normal. I hadn’t been going crazy back at the base. For some reason the undead were not moving as fast as they had been before.

  What is happening? Are they becoming organized somehow?

  Ghost moved rapidly, driving his long sword through the skull of a thin, blond female zombie wearing a nurse’s uniform before swinging it in an arc and splitting a large and extremely bloated one with dark gray skin and huge, bulging eyes from scalp to navel.

  The zombie exploded, its bowels splashing onto his pants and boots.

  I gasped, jumping back to avoid the spoiled sludge.

  Ghost’s eyes were wide, wondering how it was possible that so much rotten pulp could have fit inside one undead man. I wondered the same thing.

  We all kept moving, keeping to side streets as much as we could. We hurried, knowing time was of the essence. Within a block of the school bus parking lot, and as we were fighting our way towards it with our backs to busted-out storefronts, the zombie population thickened right before our eyes.

  Each of us were downing two or three zombies at a time, not making much forward progress.

  Ghost fell in beside me, panting. “Let’s cut through that store and come up to the parking lot’s fence line from behind.”

  I glanced over at the store, which miraculously looked to have its front window intact, and nodded. I got Z’s and Nate’s attention and pointed to where we were heading.

  Z bobbed his head and took down another zombie before sprinting with Nate.

  I cleared the front of the store right behind Z and turned to make sure no zombies were closing in our group while Nate and Ghost made their way the last few feet to the store. When they cleared the front door, I locked it and leaned against it long enough to catch my breath.

  I wiped my hands on my jeans and pointed my knife toward the back of the store.

  “We have to keep moving, the sun’s about to set and then we will be fucked for real,” I said between shallow breaths.

  We moved through the store, our breathing heavy and our hearts hammering. Pushing a door open, we entered the back room. Z stopped abruptly.

  “Oh, my God! Do you realize what store we’re in?” he said, his eyes bugged out in shock.

  I glanced around the room. In all honesty, I hadn’t even noticed what it was when we ducked inside.

  “We’re in a freaking Dunkin Donuts,” he groaned.

  I slapped the back of his head and shook my own. This kid was serious about his food.

  “Look over there.” He pointed across the room at what looked like very dirty and old deep fryers. “They made their own donuts right here in the store, too,” he muttered in awe.

  Suddenly, I heard banging on the front glass of the store, loud and frantic. The zombies were getting riled up.

  “Sorry, can’t stay and reminisce about the good ‘ole days,” I said, marching toward the back door. Nate and Ghost moved as well, but Z held back. I turned as Z squatted and put a handout to touch a large bag of donut mix and icing on a lower shelf.

  “Too bad we can’t take a few—” His voice was cut off by a guttural cry of pain when a petite, red headed corpse launched itself through the shelf from the other side and landed on top of him, ripping into his throat and tearing an artery.

  Blood sprayed in an arc across the room right before Ghost jerked the zombie off Z and decapitated it.

  I ran over to Z and landed on my knees beside him. Much like I had done with my dad, I cradled Z’s head in my lap, brushing back his white-blond hard from his forehead. It did indeed feel like a cloud of cotton candy.

  Blood pooled quickly creating a large puddle expanding out all around him. Green eyes wide, blood trickled from his mouth. His throat constricted several times, and his last few breaths came out in rapid pants as he lay there on the dirt
y storeroom floor and died.

  Ghost laid a hand on my shoulder a moment later. I wiped away the tears I hadn’t realized I’d cried with the back of my sleeve and stood unsteadily.

  “I’m ready. Let’s go,” I said stiffly.

  I turned away as Ghost did what he had to in order to make sure Z would never become one of the walking dead.

  “Let’s keep tightly together and get to the bus parking lot as quickly as possible,” Ghost said when he joined us.

  Nate and I both nodded, mute.

  We came out of the store in a whirlwind of blades and good thing we did.

  Zombies—tons of them—stood between us and a line of buses not a hundred yards away.

  We were fucked.

  No way around it. No way to sugarcoat it. And that pissed me off. I had promised Jude that I’d come back, dammit.

  I fought for all I was worth, but the moment Nate took out his gun, I knew there was no hope. His shots rang out in the city, drawing the attention of every zombie in the immediate area.

  “What the fuck?” Ghost bellowed.

  “Melody!” He shouted, drawing my attention to him just as a zombie sank its teeth into his arm.

  I screamed in rage and ran my knife through the zombie in front of me, skewering it through an eye, heedless of the putrid juices that splattered my shirt.

  I ran toward Ghost, fighting off four . . . five . . . six undead before I reached him. He was still swinging his sword, his huge bare arms bulging, his dark eyes blazing. He wasn’t going down without a fight. When his eyes met mine, they were sorrowful.

  I think another small piece of my soul died in that moment.

  I heard a cry of agony behind me, but I didn’t have the time or the strength to look back and see what was happening to Nate. When his high-pitched scream pierced my skull and then . . . nothing, I knew it was only Ghost and I left.

  “Melody!” Ghost bellowed again.

  I glanced up and saw him pointing his finger in the direction of the parking lot. I sliced my knife across the face of a short, chubby zombie and looked to where he was pointing.

  A small opening. Not much of one, but it was a spark of hope.