“Crista!” Ethan called out.
Ethan took a deep breath and prepared to search for Crista no matter where the search took him. Just as he was ready to leave the room, he noticed a rosary necklace.
It was far too extravagant to be one of the student’s, so Ethan concluded it must’ve belonged to Ms. Rodriguez.
Ethan grabbed the necklace, placed it in his pocket and left.
“Crista!” Ethan called out several times.
He waited for her to respond, but she didn’t. Besides the occasional noise of ceilings hitting the ground, and the horrendous growls his colleagues made, there was no noise at all.
Ethan made it to the end of the hall. He walked down the steps to the first floor, but stopped at the sound of a soft groan.
Ethan walked back to the second floor and listened.
Nothing.
He moved as quiet as possible back the other direction and listened for any sound. He didn’t hear anything, but his own heartbeat.
Just as his fear was about to kick in, he heard a faint, desperate moan.
He tuned his ears and listened for the sound again. Ethan moved closer to the sound.
Ethan entered the classroom and saw his coworker Mr. Felix Bradley unable to move behind a computer desk.
“Felix, are you okay?” Ethan whispered.
Ethan lifted the old man’s head. Mr. Felix’s face and body were completely disfigured and nearly unrecognizable.
Mr. Felix tried to speak, but words wouldn’t come out.
“Never mind Felix don’t speak. Let’s see about getting you some help.”
Ethan glanced towards the hallway, unsure of what to do. He needed to find Crista, evade the growling coworkers and find help for Felix.
The old man coughed up blood. Ethan wondered what happened to him. His left eye was no longer in the socket and half his face was missing.
“Ethan,” Mr. Felix said.
Ethan could do nothing but stare. Just saying Ethan’s name was a battle for Felix. He coughed up more blood and took a deliberate breath.
Ethan stared the man in the eye and gave him his undivided attention.
“Kill me.”
Ethan’s head shook in disagreement. “Can’t do that Felix, we’ll find a way to get through this.”
Blood poured out of the man's mouth and the one eye he had left.
“Kill me,” the old man gargled. He touched Ethan’s right arm to prevent Ethan from leaving him alive.
Ethan sighed. “Come on Felix, hang in there. We’ll make it through this!”
Felix’s one eye locked in on Ethan’s. “Please, Ethan.”
Ethan realized the man had made his decision and there was nothing he could do to change Felix’s mind.
Ethan gave a slow nod of understanding. He gathered his composure and positioned himself behind Felix.
He wrapped his toned arms around the old man's neck and squeezed until Felix succumbed to the suffocation.
Ethan stood up, took a deep breath and cursed. He knelt back down and closed Felix’s one remaining eye.
Ethan swallowed spit and asked for forgiveness.
Seconds later, Ethan heard a loud, familiar scream that made his body go numb.
“Crista!”
Ethan ran towards the scream. His heart pounded; horrible visuals of what he might encounter clouded his thoughts.
There was a knot in his throat, and adrenaline pumped through his body. Near the end of the hall, Ethan saw her trapped under a desk, with three other individuals.
Tears flowed from Crista’s face. She screamed and cried as the three individuals growled at her.
On the opposite side of Crista was a janitor’s closet. Ethan ran over to the closet and opened it. He cursed to himself as the wooden door made a distinct sound.
Ethan stopped and hid behind the door. He waited to see if the noise had attracted the individual’s attention. Satisfied that it hadn’t, Ethan scavenged through the closet.
He looked for anything he could use as a weapon, but all he saw were cleaning supplies.
I wish I was better at science. I’m sure some combination of these products could make a bomb.
Ethan continued his search. On the right, there was a small gray locker that housed janitorial tools. He rummaged through the locker and found two medium sized Randall made custom knives.
“Thank you!” Ethan whispered.
Ethan touched the tip of the knives to determine how sharp they were. The slight prick caused his finger to bleed. Without hesitation, Ethan gripped the two knives and busted through the room.
“Mr. Hunter!” Crista shouted.
“Don’t move, stay where you are!”
The three individuals turned their attentions away from Crista and focused on Ethan.
“Get away from her!” Ethan said.
His words meant nothing to the incoherent group. Their bloodshot eyes were becoming a familiar trait of his coworkers.
He was certain the bloodshot eyes indicated an infection.
He didn’t know what strain of infection they acquired, but he sensed their intentions weren’t benevolent.
The three infected individuals moved towards Ethan. He noticed their teeth were a lot sharper than normal and concluded the infection was the likely cause.
“Stay back Dale, I’m warning you!” Ethan yelled.
Dale could no longer comprehend anything Ethan said. The incoherent individual charged forward after Ethan.
Without hesitation, Ethan drove the Randall knife into Dale’s abdomen.
Dale let out a low pitch growl as the knife dug into him. Blackish red blood oozed out of him.
Just as Ethan took the weapon back out, Susan, charged forward and knocked Ethan off balance. He fell to the ground and Susan jumped on top of him. She snarled and tried to rip into his flesh.
With her teeth inches away from his throat, Ethan yelled and used all of his strength to kick Susan off of him. He thrusted the blade forward and slit Susan’s throat.
Like Dale, the same odd colored blood oozed from her throat and stained Ethan’s shirt.
The scene was horrendous and caused Crista to let out a thunderous cry.
Joe, the third infected, turned and faced Crista.
Joe dropped to his knees and crawled after her.
“Mr. Hunter!” Crista screamed.
Ethan spun around and spotted Joe with his bloodied hands around Crista’s ankles. Crista tried to kick him off, but Joe didn’t budge an inch.
“Get away from me you bad man, get away!”
Ethan aimed his weapon and flung it at the back of Joe’s head. The knife pierced his skull and he remained motionless.
Why didn’t Joe get up?
Ethan still had the other knife on him. He looked towards Susan and charged forward.
She jumped at him, but Ethan ducked. He turned around and drove the blade through her skull.
Dale stood back up and moved in Ethan's direction. Blood continued to pour from his body, but the blood lost had no effect on Dale’s intent.
Ethan removed his killing instrument from Susan’s skull and waited for Dale to get closer. Dale charged, but Ethan tripped the slow moving, mindless man.
Ethan jumped on Dale and the weapon penetrated through Dale’s heart. Dale shrieked, but continued to function.
“Interesting,” Ethan said out loud. Ethan took out the knife and tried his attack again. This time, he waited until Dale was closer and penetrated the knife through Dale’s head.
Blood stains from Ethan’s coworkers were all over his clothes.
“Crista, are you okay?”
Crista did not respond. She cried and begged for her mom.
“It’s okay sweetie, you’re safe now. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
As much as she trusted Ethan, Crista couldn’t shake the fear she felt. She couldn’t shake the images of what had transpired.
Ethan crawled under the table and sat next to Crista.
“Crista, believe me, I know you’re scared and confused, but staying under this table isn’t safe.”
Crista wrapped her little arms around Ethan and squeezed him tight. Ethan did his best not to break down and cry.
“Crista, no matter what, you need to stay by my side. Don’t run off like that again. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Ethan stood up and took Crista by the hand.
The two walked forward. They reached the bottom floor in record time. Ethan made certain he kept Crista near him.
Bodies of staff members, parents, and students filled the long spiral hallway.
As Ethan glanced through the bodies, he spotted a very recognizable uniform. The body of Officer Stanley lay among the dead.
Officer Stanley was in charge of the DARE program the local police ran at the school.
Ethan approached the officer. He wasn’t checking for a pulse this time. He already knew it was too late for the officer. Instead, he was checking for supplies.
Sure enough, next to the officer's mangled body was her 9mm handgun, handcuffs, keys and flashlight.
Ethan picked up the items and stored them. He fastened the holster around his waist and secured the weapon.
“Is that a gun Mr. Hunter?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Why do you have it?”
“So, that it’s in safe hands when Officer Stanley wakes back up.”
Crista looked confused but for the moment, Ethan’s explanation would suffice.
The duo proceeded down the hall. Ethan heard violent growls with each step he took.
Is anyone still alive?
“Come on Crista, let’s pick up the pace.”
Footsteps approached, and a figure emerged from the distance. Ethan reached by his side and pulled out the 9mm handgun. He aimed it at the figure’s direction.
As the figure got within range, Ethan recognized the figure to be the janitor.
“Frank, my God, you're still alive!” Ethan said. Ethan holstered the gun and walked over to the janitor.
“Is anyone else with you?” Ethan asked.
As Ethan got closer to the janitor, he noticed the same bloodshot red eyes he noticed his other coworkers displayed.
“Oh shit!” Ethan shouted.
He whipped the gun back out and aimed it at the janitor.
Ethan turned his head and looked over towards his student. “Don’t move Crista, do you understand me?”
Crista shook her head. “Yes.”
Frank inched closer and closer to them. He made garbled noises that even a linguist wouldn’t have been able to decipher.
“Don’t come any closer, I’m warning you!” Ethan said.
Frank didn’t take heed to Ethan’s warning. He lunged forward with reckless abandon.
Ethan steadied his hand and fired two shots into Frank’s temple. Both shots connected and within seconds Frank was dead.
Ethan's hand shook. This wasn't the first time he fired a gun, but doing so triggered painful memories.
Crista cried again.
“Calm down Crista, please stop crying.”
“Mr. Hunter, why did you shoot Mr. Martin?”
Ethan looked at Frank Martin’s lifeless body and studied it with sadness in his heart. He turned his attention back to Crista and knew she wouldn’t understand.
“Because Crista, Mr. Martin was already dead.”
To be continued…
Dead Awake: Episode 1 Page 2