“Earth to Kat, earth to Kat.” Olivia snapped her fingers at Kat. “So, what happened with Bobbi earlier?”
Kat smiled an exaggerated smile, “I can’t tell you, but it’s good, believe me, it’s good.” Kat flashed her teeth at Olivia. “Arrrgh, just tell me, please?” She gave Kat puppy dog eyes, but they would have no effect on Kat's super-secret keeping abilities.
“It’s almost time for the bell anyway; you have to turn your paper in.” Kat changed the decidedly closed subject. With that, they were on their way to dreaded English Language Arts class with Mrs. Govan. She either liked you or hated you. She liked Olivia and hated Kat, in Kat's unbiased opinion. It did not matter if the entire class was talking to each other she would single Kat out if she opened her mouth to ask to borrow a piece of paper. And then the whole class would get to sit through yet another tirade of the importance of bringing school supplies and how they will never get anywhere in life if they don’t prepare and most of all they need to be respectful and quiet in class in order to learn. Gag me.Kat imagined yet another unfavorable scenario as she crested the threshold of the class. How she managed to get a B in that class amazed her on a daily basis. Kat was no Sam to be sure, Sam could get straight A’s with her eyes closed, Kat had to work a lot harder at it and sometimes she just didn’t feel like caring too much. Kat probably could get all A’s if she wanted to, but obviously there are way more important things going on in her life, like Quinn and Shawn for instance.
OMG, get me out of this class before I leave a drool trail on my desk. Mrs. Cabachon had to be the most boring, dull, lifeless, rude and overtly unfriendly human being in the entire universe. Sam was not even going to mention her complete lack of intelligence regarding the subject matter that she has been entrusted to teach them. Nine times out of ten she spouts erroneous information, and although Sam would take great pleasure in correcting her on these matters, it does absolutely no good. All Sam gets is yet another trip to see Mrs. Valdez and then she gets to see her mom, which isn’t a good thing, so Sam has learned to keep her mouth tightly sealed in class and Sam complains most fervently to her mom at the end of the day. Every day.
Today was no exception for her class; Sam couldn’t wait until the bell and head to Mr. Mata’s. he understood that her mind is a terrible thing to waste and didn’t make her muster through his lectures and instruction, but gave her work that actually challenged her mind. He was the teacher that helped her get into some online classes this year and by the end of the year she will have completed enough credits to start as a sophomore if that’s the route she chooses. Sam hadn’t told her mom or dad yet, but she was leaning towards the Navy because she wanted to get out of this small town and literally see the world. She thought her mom would be fine with it as she was in the Navy too, but her dad will go ballistic. He wants her to go to community college here in town before she even fathomed spreading her wings. Fat chance of that happening.
The bell interrupted her thoughts and she couldn’t get her backpack on fast enough to exit the class and meet up with Edie on the way. Another most certain reason that the kids here thought Sam was weird was that she didn’t date anyone. She just didn’t like anyone. No one at this school seemed to have any of the same things in common with her, except Edie. Edie liked a lot of the same things as Sam did, but she inherited a lot of the same girly-girl traits that Sam's sister had too. She was cute and liked boys and boys liked her back. Sam still couldn’t figure out why she liked to hang with her, but she didn’t argue with the order of things.
It was proving to be a long and treacherous Monday. Lizzy had a list of two thousand things to try to complete during her conference period. Most important, involved a trip to the lounge coffee pot to recharge her dwindling batteries. On the way, she wanted to stop and see how nurse Maggie's weekend was, but as with any typical Monday, the nurse's office was packed with the usual hypochondriacs looking for any reason to call home. Lizzy had to admit though that today quite a few of them actually looked sick.
The principal had something to tell Lizzy about Olivia. She was hoping it had nothing to do with her registration since she had to stay at the school for the state test. “Hi, Mrs. Valdez.” Lizzy peeked her head in the doorway of her office. “You had something to ask me?” Even as an adult, she felt
sheepish whenever she was summoned to the principals’ office. “Yes, the receptionist informed me earlier that some man came in this morning and said he was Olivia’s father. There was no information about him in any of our emergency data bases so the receptionist told him that he would be unable to see Olivia without some kind of documentation. The receptionist said that he just left after she told him that. Now, I’m not sure if we should be concerned or not because of Olivia’s mom, but I have his picture on the camera if you think she may be in any danger.
“Thank you for letting me know, I guess we should call the police just to be safe and I’ll let her mom know.” Lizzy was definitely concerned and would take extra precautions when they went home. She would give James a call just to be on the lookout for anything suspicious.
“Ok, I’ll call them now. It has been a strange day around here.” The principal shook her head.
“Oh really, how so?” “Well, this morning, the secretary forwarded a call from the CDC on the Navy base, I didn’t even know there was a CDC on the base, but anyway, they advised me to place the campus on lockdown, no one in or out. They said that they will be by later to explain the situation. Of course, I was suspicious and called admin and they said that they received a similar call from the CDC. They actually called the CDC in Corpus and confirmed what we were told, so as of about 20 minutes ago our entire school district is on lockdown.”
“Wow, that is strange, maybe they are doing a mock drill or something.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought, but you would think they would have given us some kind of forewarning or something. I tried to check the internet, but admin called and said the whole system is down right now. Even the phone lines are intermittent. I don’t want to panic anyone so I haven’t told anyone yet.”
“Thanks for letting me know, I have a radio in my classroom, I’ll see if there is any information on there.” “Thanks. And just keep this between you and me for now; I’ll make an announcement as soon as I get more information.”
“OK.” Lizzy had to admit that she was a little on edge. Living in the information age always meant being able to find out anything about everything at the touch of your fingertips. Everyone has become too dependent on technology. Lizzy actually remembers the days before the internet and cell phones. Whatever did we do with all of that free time?She mused. Lizzy actually wouldn’t mind a day or two without being tethered to a cell phone. When the girls were younger they would have a “no electronics” day at least once a week.She thought it helped them cultivate their inner creativity without the aid of technical assistance. Lizzy didn't have anything against technology really; she just thinks that everyone should learn how to do things without technology, just in case. Katarina believes in the ideology to an extent, but mostly because of all her “Doomsday Prepper” and Apocalypse survival shows that she loves.
Lizzy had to hustle back to her classroom so she could throw the trash out before her next class and hopefully catch a snippet of the radio. She didn’t even pause to attempt to say hello to Mrs. Cabachon walking down the hallway, it was generally a waste of time to try to communicate with her on a friendly level. She swore the woman ate urine soaked Wheaties every morning in order to maintain such a friendly demeanor. Lizzy could completely relate with the students complaints about her, but unfortunately being a teacher she couldn’t let them know that she agreed with them.
When she reached her classroom she could immediately smell the burned egg soufflés that her last class attempted to make. With all the construction going on in the gym next door the soufflés flopped miserably and burned in the process. Lizzy grabbed the overstuffed bag of noxious inedible, blackened lumps and h
eaded out the door to the dumpster. As she slung the heavy load into the dumpster a swarm of military green caught her eye about two blocks from the school. She stopped in her tracks to investigate further; it looked like the national guard was heading right for the school. She booked it back into her classroom and bolted the door shut.
Remembering the radio Lizzy told Mrs. Valdez about, she fumbled through the bottom drawer of her desk. Sweat began beading on her forehead and back of her neck, She couldn’t move fast enough, but she knew that something just wasn’t right. She threw the contents of the drawer on the floor, finally finding the treasured radio from the 1980’s in the depths of the piles of papers, glue sticks, and broken crayons. She randomly questioned why she hadn’t cleaned out this drawer sooner, but if she had she probably would have thrown away the dilapidated and rusty transistor classic that used to reverberate Michael Jackson and Madonna in its heyday. Batteries were another commodity that she wished she had more of at this moment. It never mattered how many times she ordered batteries from the school supply store, she never had any left over. She glanced at the clock and realized that the bell for class change would be ringing any minute, but she also realized that her clock had batteries. Hallelujah! She scooted her desk chair over to the clock and maneuvered herself on it grabbing the clock off of the wall. She ripped apart the backing, hoping there would be at least two in there. “Oh thank God” Lizzy muttered as she stuffed the batteries into the back of the radio. The backing had been misplaced, possibly decades ago, so she used her coveted tape from her desk to hold the batteries in place. You would not believe all the uses that students come up with for tape. Between requisitions of tape and glue sticks she could own stock in Wal-Mart. She hit the radio a couple of times with the palm of her hand until it came to life in pure static. She scrolled through the numbers hoping that there would be some available reception. She honestly had not even tried the radio since the new school had been built, there was so much available on the internet, who needed radios anymore?
“This is not a test. The Emergency Alert System has been activated in your area. Please remain in your home. Lock all windows and doors. Do not let any strangers into your home especially if they appear to be ill. Once again, this is not a test.”
“Oh my God.” Lizzy dropped to the floor and listened to the broadcast again. When the words sank in for a moment her first instinct was to get the girls and hide them, or run away. She ran out of the classroom and down the hall, dialing her cellphone for James at the same time. Of course the cell phone service was not working, but she continued re-dialing on her way to Katarina’s class. She didn’t want to panic the other students so she briefly caught her breath in the hallway before entering the room. The last thing she wanted was all out panic. “Excuse me, Mrs. Govan; Can I see Kat and Olivia for a little bit?” She smiled, hoping her fear would be masked.
“Of course, the bell is actually about to ring.” Kat and Olivia exited the classroom before Kat asked, “Mom, what’s going on?”
“I don’t have time to explain, just get Olivia to my classroom and get in the storage closet. Don’t ask anyone anything along the way,just go.” She could see by her mother's serious expression that there simply was no time for further communication and took Olivia by the hand to the classroom. Olivia was barely requiring the use of the walker as her strength and endurance had increased dramatically every single day. Lizzy had to continue to Sam’s class.
“Mr. Mata, Can I see Sam.”
“Sure.” Sam reluctantly made her way to the doorway. She hated it whenever her mom made PDA’s at school, but Lizzy would explain that she just couldn’t help such acts of motherly love, it was just who she was. “Sam, I don’t have time to explain, we have to get to my class.” Sam nodded, sensing that this was not an ordinary request and they scurried back to class just as the loudspeaker beeped to life.
“Atten tion students and staff, our school is currently code yellow. The Army National Guard is stationed just outside and will assist us with the process. I want to assure you that there is nothing to be alarmed about at this point in time. This is merely a precaution taken by the Centers for Disease Control. I am asking at the end of this announcement that all students and staff proceed to the cafeteria in an orderly fashion. We will have a brief assembly to explain what processes we will be experiencing and with everyone’s cooperation I am certain that this will go as smooth as possible. Thank you for your attention.” Although her words sounded professional and calming, the undertone that Lizzy and Sam could detect was nothing relating to calmness. Olivia and Kat looked like they could cry at any moment. Sam was in disbelief, but Lizzy could see her mind working overtime. “Girls, get into the storage closet. Take a knife from the kitchen and start cutting through the wall. When you get a big enough hole, I need you to climb in between the walls and put the drywall back in place. I will stack some boxes in front and you will be completely unnoticed.”
“Where are you gonna be?” Sam interrupted, noting that her mother did not include herself in the plan.
“I’ve got to find out what is going on.”
“Oh no you won’t, not without me.” Sam stuck her chest out bravely. Olivia and Katarina remained in their frightened poses. They could hear the students heading to the cafeteria in the hallway and lowered their voice to a whisper. “Sam, you have to stay here to protect your sister and Olivia. I just want to find out what is going on and make sure that you are not missed. Once I find out all that I can, I will get in there with you. We can cut through the back wall into the gym and make our escape when the time is right.”
“What the hell is going on mom, Mrs. V. said that th ere is nothing to worry about, why are you talking about hiding and escaping?”
“I was taking the trash out a few minutes ago and I saw the National Guard outside, I got my old radio and I heard the Emergency Alert Broadcast saying that everyone should stay inside and not let anyone in especially if they seem sick.”
“What do you think is going on?” “I don’t know, but it can’t be good. I just want to keep you here where I know you are safe.”
“Did you call James? Dad?” Katarina pleaded. “The phone lines are down and my cell phone isn’t working either. I’m sure they’re OK though.” Lizzy took Kat in her arms and hugged her tightly. She really didn’t believe a word that she uttered, but she didn’t want them to know that inside she was scared to death.
Chapter 4
“Mom, where do you keep the knives?” Sam asked as she was heading out the door. Kat and Olivia had already made their way to the storage room. Katarina dragged the walker in the storage room with them. They were already sitting on the floor behind some boxes, whispering quietly.
“Here’s the key, they’re in the cabinet above the refrigerator.” Lizzy tossed Sam the mass of keys on her ‘I love German Shepard’s’ lanyard.
Sam was glad she was tall, she thought to herself as she reached to unlock the precariously high cabinet where potentially lethal tools were hidden away from the student body. She grabbed everything she could get her hands on, you never know what they may need. She dumped her backpack, sorting through the necessities and other items that she deemed non-negotiable to keep. She kept her solar– powered tablet loaded with games and books, her gloves for her bow and arrow, and her coveted ear buds. Who knew that 6:18a.m. was quite possibly the last download she would ever get to do. Thank goodness she had dozens of apps that didn’t require internet access, especially her books. She could survive complete and total world annihilation as long as she had her books. She chucked anything that had to do with schoolwork, especiallyfor Mrs. Cabachon’s class, replacing these items with the dangerous utensils from the locked cabinet.
Sam felt extremely uneasy, possibly because her mom was out there and they were in here, or because she felt that at any moment someone would come in the classroom and find them. She ran to the storage room and closed the door. She didn’t like not knowing if someone was right on the
other side of the door, but it seemed safer to have the door closed. Lizzy had a nightlight in the closet so they weren’t in total darkness, but that didn’t seem to put Olivia and Kat at ease.
“What do you think is going on? Why did mom have to go? When will she be back?” Katarina rambled. “I don’t know Kat. Right now we need to get this wall cut, here, take one and start stabbing at it.” Sam handed her a knife that she would be least likely to harm herself with and Sam started at the bottom of the wall while Kat just surveyed what Sam was doing. It wasn’t as easy as Sam thought it would be. Katarina looked as if the knife she held was going to ruin her newly manicure nails. "You have to put a little muscle behind it Kat." Sam smirked at her.
"I'm doing the best I can, we can't all be like you." Kat spat at Sam and stabbed at the wall with as much force as she could exert without overextending herself.
Olivia was quietly making headway with her section of the wall by slowly dragging the knife at an upwards angle. Sam was amazed that just a couple of weeks ago she was in a wheelchair and now she was a mini army ranger cutting through a wall.
Time dragged on while they cut, and cut some more, seeming that they were not making any headway until Sam hit a soft spot in the wall and gouged a chunk away revealing the insulation and beams in between the storage room and their eventual escape route. It wasn't quite large enough for them to squeeze through but it renewed their ambition to forge onward.
Lizzy blended with the group of stragglers making their way to the cafeteria. They were tightly packed because it was not designed to accommodate the entire school, yet the noise level was not what you would expect. Lizzy thought everyone was in awe of the National Guard and their equipment wheeling in at a fervent pace. The kitchen had been converted to a command center for military personnel. The nurses’ office adjacent to the cafeteria housed the higher up personnel and the CDC. The library was being transformed into a makeshift hospital as gurneys rolled in and shelving that housed books was moved out into the hallways blocking any egress that could be made. The military personnel wore full fatigues with gas masks adding to the unease of the situation.
Undead Rising- Transcendendence Reborn Page 3