The Last Days of Salton Academy

by Jennifer Brozek

  Robert didn’t get to say any of the things he wanted to say—I hope they eat you or you all are getting the leader you deserve or even the simple go to hell—because the boys manning the rope all pulled at once and he had no air to give voice to his last curses.

  Jeff watched how far up they dragged the man. At the correct height, he called, “Stop. Tie it off.” They did as they were told and then joined Jeff in watching their former principal choke to death. For a long while, longer than Jeff would have thought possible, the only sound in the room was Swenson’s gagging, gasping attempts to get air. Then even those went silent as his body continued to jerk and twitch in futile gestures to get free.

  Finally, after a good sixty seconds of utter stillness, Caleb asked, “Is he…?” His voice was soft and he sounded like he was going to get sick.

  Jeff looked at Caleb. His friend’s face was as white as Swenson’s was purple. “Yes. I think so.” For a moment, Jeff couldn’t move. Then he forced himself to. If he was going to be the one to make hard decisions, the ones that would save them all, his actions needed to speak as loud as his words. He stepped forward, reached out, and took Swenson’s still warm wrist in hand. Jeff carefully felt around for a pulse. Nothing. He tried the other wrist. Nothing. He grinned as he looked up, suddenly elated. “He’s dead, Jim.”

  Ron gave a whoop of excitement and the rest of them joined in with their own shouts of relief and adrenaline. They pounded each other on the back and grinned until Jeff motioned them for calm. “Okay. We gotta go. We gotta get back to Hadfield. Get the lanterns. Flashlights only. If you need them.”

  The lights were extinguished as Jeff opened the folding staircase. They trooped out of the attic, turning off all but one flashlight as they went. Much more subdued now that they were in the hallway Steve asked in a whisper, “Swenson’s not going to, you know, turn, is he?”

  Jeff shook his head and answered in that same quiet whisper. “No. I’ll come back and check in a week if Shin hasn’t found him in his rounds.”

  “You think Shin’s going to find him?”

  “I’m counting on it. He patrols every floor of every building almost every single day. It’s what makes him so good at his job. He’ll find Swenson, assume it was suicide, and that will be that.”

  Ron paused at the stairway door. “And if he doesn’t?”

  Jeff shrugged. “We deal with it.”

  #

  Shin made his way from Hadfield Hall to the admin building. He kept to the shadows of the building as he did so. He did not believe that those already within would be looking out the window but one could never be too careful. After three months of survival, pretending things would be okay, everyone was beginning to realize deep within they would not be. Things were coming to a boiling point.

  He headed up to top floor of the admin building, taking care to be as silent as possible. The last place he saw the flashlights was at the end of the hallway where the attic access was. He tried to think of what could be in the attic that boys felt they needed to come here in the middle of the night. Nothing came to mind.

  The folding staircase was closed.

  Shin tucked himself into the shadows just inside one of the unused classrooms and failed to suppress a shiver at its chill. Winter would be early this year. The Salton Academy might see snow for Christmas. Probably before. He made a mental note to shore up the drafty spots in his room. There was a noise from above. It sounded like faint shouts of triumph. Whatever the students were doing they had chosen well. Sound did not carry from the attic and there were few windows.

  Shin froze where he was as the folding attic staircase lowered itself and the boys came down it with careful steps, using only one flashlight to guide their way. He listened in mute horror to their plans. Shin realized that not only had the four students murdered the principal, they were ready to murder him—if he did not act as they expected him to act.

  Waiting until the last sounds of the boys disappeared from the empty building Shin moved to glance out the classroom window. He was relieved to see the flicking shadows of the students and surprised to see that they did not use the flashlight outside. It was something to note for the future.

  He turned back to the attic access and unfolded the staircase, not wanting to see, but needing to see, what the boys had done to the principal. Poking his head above the floor of the attic he clicked on his smallest flashlight and scanned the room. The principal’s body was front and center, hanging still.

  Shin considered the scene and the perpetrators. He made a decision. He did not like what had happened but he was not willing to challenge the boys. At least, not yet. He couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t suddenly rampage and kill more of the students. For the moment the boys needed to feel safe and undetected. Shin needed to figure out how to deal with four healthy teenagers willing to kill without being murdered himself.

  Shin looked around, then entered the attic fully. He picked up the low stool that the boys intended to use as Principal Swenson’s means of getting up high enough to kick over and commit suicide. It seemed they had forgotten about this small fact in their triumph.

  He moved the stool to just under the principal’s feet, then carefully tipped it over and set it on its side. He slid it forward a couple of inches to make it look like the principal had kicked it. Stepping back, Shin examined the scene, nodded, and left the attic. Tomorrow he would get Nurse Krenshaw and have her announce the man’s death.

  Seven

  “Give me one good reason we should go back.” Joe looked around at his friends and fellow scavengers as they sat around the kitchen table eating stale pop tarts and dry cereal. “Seriously. Give me a reason we should go back and live with that asshole.”

  For a moment no one spoke. Then Melissa, looking at the rosy pre-dawn light through the kitchen window, shrugged. “Because we promised. Just because Jeff’s an ass doesn’t mean we need to be. If we don’t go back with the supplies they might not make it through the winter.”

  Nicholas nodded. “Also, where are we going to stay?” He gestured to the house they’d taken over. “This place is nice but it’s not indefensible. In fact, it’s an open invitation to be eaten if we tried to settle it and grow food and stuff.”

  “We haven’t see any zombies yet.” Joe shook his head. “I read that zombies shouldn’t be able to last as long as they supposedly do because of all of the carrion eaters in the world.”

  Now Lee looked up from his food. “No. We don’t think like that. We can’t. If we do, we’re dead.”

  “You can’t honestly want to go back to the academy after what Jeff did.” Joe paused. “Can you? You were so damn mad…”

  Lee pushed away his empty bowl and started in on his pop tarts. “Don’t be so hard on Jeff. Yeah. I was mad. I still am. But I get him. I understand why he’s doing this. At least I hope I understand why.”

  Melissa tilted her head. “What happened to him to make him like this? Do you know?”

  Lee didn’t answer for a long time. Just took large bites of the sweet, stale pastry, chewed, and swallowed. He looked off in the distance as he marshaled his thoughts. “You know our rules: Always assume there’s a zombie behind every door. Weapons at the ready. Stay as quiet as possible. No injured left behind, only dead. And no one goes home. You ever wonder why that last?”

  Nicholas nodded. “I always thought it was because it would be too dangerous to fixate on one point.”

  Lee looked at him. “No. It’s because you may find who you’re looking for and they may try to eat you.”

  Melissa, Nicholas, and Joe looked at each other, swallowing hard. Melissa pushed her food away. Joe frowned. “Did…is that what happened to Jeff?”

  “Yeah. On the first supply run.” Lee pushed the debris of his breakfast towards the center of the table. “He said we should go to his house because they were prepared for emergencies. Had a stockpile of food and stuff. And they did. Except…his mom was there, too. He had
to kill her.” Lee sighed, looking to the side. “And, his sister. She was upstairs in her bedroom. Dead. She’d left Jeff a note and killed herself with sleeping pills. If we’d been there a couple days earlier, she would’ve been alive.”

  “How?” Nicholas’s voice was soft with understanding and horror.

  Lee shrugged. “They all prepared in that family. Mormon, you know. It’s part of their thing or something. Kristi, that was her name, had supplies in her room. She’d locked herself in and waited for her big brother to come save her while her mom roamed the house, trying to get to her. She was stuck. She ran out of food and hope. We found her curled up in her bed, asleep-like, with the letter addressed to Jeff in her hand.”

  “What’d it say?” Melissa leaned forward.

  “Don’t know. He wouldn’t show me and I didn’t push it.”

  Nicholas and Joe exchanged a glance. “Damn,” Joe muttered.

  They were silent for a long time as the sun continued to rise, shining rays of golden light onto the kitchen wall. Melissa shivered. Lee stood with a purpose, pushing back his chair. “Time to forage. We got supplies to gather.”

  The rest stood with him, quietly cleaning up and packing for the day’s work.

  #

  Athena smiled, feeling more than a bit rebellious as she knocked on Evan’s door. Mrs. Hood had declared that all of the girls needed to use the buddy system because of Professor Leeds but she didn’t say that the buddy needed to be another girl. Yes, that had been implied, but as the world had pretty much ended she felt justified in using the loophole. Besides, she liked Evan. A lot. Eventually he was going to realize it. She smiled, knocking again.

  Her smile faded as Evan didn’t answer. Athena’s heart beat faster as the fear took over. What if he was hurt? What if the medicine had stopped working. What if…the worst had come? Her cynical mind cut through the panic: What if he was just sleeping?

  “Evan?” Her voice was soft despite her suppressed fear. She tried the door and found it unlocked. Stepping in she called his name again. “Evan?”

  The room was immaculate. The bed was made, the floor clean of dirty clothes, everything on his desk was put away in its proper place. Evan was not here. The only thing that stood out was the sheet of paper placed in the middle of the desk. Athena stepped to the desk and looked down at the paper filled with Evan’s cramped handwriting. She picked the paper up as she read the opening line.

  Dear Principal Swenson,

  It’s been so long since we’ve really talked that I don’t know how to start this letter. So I’m starting it like this. We both know that I’m dying. We both know there’s nothing to be done about it. I have, maybe, three months left. A month of half meds and two months of no meds. For those two months, right in the heart of winter, I will be unable to move without soul shattering pain, without my skin erupting in giant welts of open sores and flaking skin, without the comfort of either of my parents.

  You took me away from mom because you are selfish. You stay away from me because you are weak and ashamed of what your son has become. For this, I will not forgive you. However, as you are my father, and I do love you—despite everything—I want you to know what I do now I do of my own free will. It is not because of you. It is because I think it’s the best thing I can do for myself now.

  I’m going to go join the winning team. Soon there will be two zombies for you to deal with: Beauregard and me. Treat me as you will. Put me down or chain me up. I have no opinion either way. I will be like Beau. I will feel no pain, no joy, no love, no hate. I will feel nothing except the urge to feed. Right now, that idea seems like heaven.

  Live well, Father. I’m sorry I wasn’t good enough for you.

  Sincerely,

  Evan

  P.S. Tell Athena I loved her and have appreciated everything she’d tried to do for me.

  Athena dropped the suicide note from nerveless fingers. She covered her mouth with both hands, murmuring, “No, no, no, no,” into them. She stared at the paper, not able to think of what to do next. A train wreck of immediate thoughts crashed within her mind. She had to tell Principal Swenson. She had to raise the alarm. She had to get Nurse Krenshaw. She had to stop Evan from killing himself.

  It was this last thought that galvanized her into action. She might be able to stop Evan before it was too late. Turning from the desk Athena ran from Evan’s room, closing the door behind her. The wind of the door’s movement pushed the paper off the desk and onto the floor where it half hid itself under the bed.

  #

  Shin bowed his head as he watched Nurse Krenshaw examine Robert Swenson’s hanging body with the air of a woman who has seen this before. He tried to think if there had ever been a suicide at the Salton Academy. Vaguely, he remembered training about such things and an example of what to do, how to protect the student’s reputation, and the school’s reputation. There must have been but that would have happened before he was hired on. Nurse Krenshaw had at least a decade of service at the academy over him.

  The nurse was tired. She had been awakened by Shin far too early for her liking. “Yes. Suicide.” She picked up the kicked over stool and moved it as she shook her head. “I knew the man was a coward but I didn’t think he’d have the balls for this.” The old woman looked at Shin. “You don’t look surprised.”

  “His son is dying.” It was the only thing he could think to say.

  The impassive look on Nurse Krenshaw’s face softened. “Yes. I know.” She looked up at the hanging body. “I know he added the boy’s medicine to supply run list but no one really thinks they’re going to be able to find it.” She shook her head again. “That poor boy. First his medicine is running out and now this.”

  For a moment the two of them stood there in the dark silence of the attic with the body of the former Principal of the Salton Academy hanging between them. Then Nurse Krenshaw slid her professional mask in place. “Let’s get him down.”

  Shin nodded and moved to where the rope was tied. “When will we tell the rest?” He worked on the expertly tied knot, loosening it while keeping a tight hold on the rope so the body didn’t fall to the ground.

  “Immediately. As soon as we…” She paused and thought for a moment. “After we package the body up. We’ll leave it up here. Then we’ll call a meeting. I don’t want the children seeing us carrying the body before we tell them whose body it is and what happened. This will…cause ripples. I don’t know what everyone will do. And I’m not sure who will step up to lead.” She gave him a speculative look.

  He slowly lowered the body to the floor before he said anything. “I would not lead. I believe Mrs. Hood would be the best choice but I fear that someone else will step up. This could cause a lot more problems.”

  Nurse Krenshaw gave him a sharp look and nodded. “Professor Leeds will believe he deserves the mantle.”

  The two of them arranged themselves around the body—Shin at the head, Krenshaw at the feet—then hefted him into the waiting body bag. It was not an easy thing to move dead weight but they managed with labored breaths and strong stomachs. When they were done Shin looked at the older woman. “I believe many will object to Professor Leeds taking the leadership role.”

  “You included?” This time, Nancy’s look was considering.

  He nodded once and said no more.

  #

  Athena burst into the gymnasium already shouting Evan’s name. “Evan! Please! Evan, don’t do it!” She ran through the basketball court as the door slammed behind her, then stopped before the door to the back hallway. Steeling herself, Athena opened it up and walked down the hallway. “Evan?”

  Silently she prayed that he was all right, that he had just wanted to scare his father into some sort of response to show that the man still cared about his son. Her steps slowed. She didn’t like coming here. She didn’t like the zombie dog. But Evan had asked her to visit with the dog with him a couple of times. She had done so because she wanted to be with
Evan.

  Athena walked quietly down the hallway. “Evan? Please. Evan, are you all right?” She listened, standing just outside the cracked doorway that opened into the equipment locker where the dog was. She could hear the dog snarling and keening. The sound made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She wanted to run away. Then she heard a grunt. A human grunt. Evan. Her heart soared. He was still alive.

  She burst into the backroom. “Evan, thank—oh, God!”

  The zombie that was no longer Evan had just stood, allowing the dog its freedom. Even as she backpedaled with a scream, Beauregard, beloved of Evan, leaped for Athena and latched onto her warding arm. The two of them fell in a tumble into the hallway with Evan lurching after them.

  Athena screamed and struggled as the zombie dog ripped chunks of flesh from her arm, swallowing them whole. Athena screamed as Evan ripped open the soft flesh of her abdomen with tearing fingers and questing teeth. Athena screamed as the zombies ate her alive.

  Then Athena stopped screaming.

  #

  “Clear.” Nicholas’s voice was carried through the hallway of the ranch-style house without shouting.

  “Clear.” Melissa sounded relieved.

  “Clear.” Lee, as usual, sounded like he was shopping for groceries.

  “Fuck!”

  They turned as one toward Joe’s implicit warning of zombies. Joe, at the end of the hall, had his baseball bat up as a barrier and was keeping the old man zombie at bay, but just barely. The zombie had hold of the bat and was lunging at Joe’s face with snapping teeth as they wrestled. Lee and Melissa moved in, Lee swinging high as Melissa used her field hockey stick to hook one of the zombie’s ankles. She yanked as hard as she could as Lee’s bat connected with the zombie’s head. The zombie fell backward, letting go of Joe’s bat as a second zombie moved up.