John glanced from Ben to the door, then to the rest of the group. “Edd, go check the fences.”
Edd snorted, picking up another can of beer. “I’m not going out there; get the kid to do it.” He meant Zack; Edd hated him.
John nodded at Zack. “Go.”
He got up.
“It’s not safe to go alone,” Violet found herself saying. She hated herself for caring. Zack was one of them after all. But he’d been with Maggie and Violet in the kitchen all afternoon while they were preparing dinner. She knew he couldn’t have hurt Emily, and she felt fairly certain he wouldn’t have even wanted to. She didn’t want him to get killed if the dead were actually out there.
But John didn’t like being told what to do, and his eyes narrowed.
“Fine, you go with him.”
Fine with me.
Violet got to her feet, motioning for Maggie to do the same. She moved to Emily, taking her hand.
“No,” John said. “Leave her. No reason for her to be punished for your behavior.”
Edd was grinning. Violet shook her head, pulling at Emily’s hand. “I’m not leaving her here.”
John raised his gun again. “Don’t you forget who’s in charge here!” His voice echoed off the walls of the huge room. All thoughts of the spinach were gone. Violet knew he was serious now. When he next spoke, his voice was little more than a whisper. “I’ve been very patient. I don’t want to spoil our peaceful mood by killing you. But if you push me too far, I’ll do it.”
“Just go,” Emily whispered. “I’ll be fine.”
“Emily—”
John raised the gun, aiming it at Emily’s head now. “Will this work better?” Emily began to shake, and Violet reluctantly let go of her hand. John lowered the gun.
I’m going to kill you.
She didn’t know how or when, but she knew she would.
They walked the length of the fences, which took around forty-five minutes. It was dark now, but luckily there was no sign of any biters. Violet guessed Ben had gotten upset about the raised voices and that was why he’d been acting strangely.
It had started to rain around ten minutes before, just a light shower, but Violet got the feeling it was going to get heavier as the night drew on. It didn’t matter; her mind was racing too much to care. She was planning, planning her revenge on John. She knew she could kill him. It would be relatively easy. All she had to do was cut him, just a little, just like she had Daniel. Then the thing that lived inside her would come out, and she’d be able to overpower him. She could kill him and eat him. He wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone else ever again.
This is crazy. I sound crazy.
Crazy is okay as long as it’s secret. Just keep it to yourself. Secret-crazy is fine.
Maggie walked on her left, Zack on her right. Ben was up ahead. Violet could feel Maggie’s eyes on her, but she was too wrapped up in her thoughts to even look in her direction.
Okay, it’s decided. We’ll kill him. Me and zombie-me. Together. Just keep quiet. Act normal. Don’t say anything to make anyone suspicious.
“Violet, are you okay?”
“I’m going to kill him.” Violet’s eyes widened; she had not meant to say that aloud. Maggie looked shocked—not at Violet’s words, but at the fact she had said it within earshot of Zack. But now that it was out there, Violet decided she may as well go for it.
“I don’t care,” she said flatly, eyeing Zack now. “I’m going to kill your friend. Probably all of them. Maybe even you.” She paused, thinking. “Well, maybe not you. I haven’t decided yet.”
It was a reckless thing to say. If Zack decided to tell John, she would be dead by the morning. But he simply shook his head. “You won’t. You can’t. He won’t let you.”
“He won’t have a choice.”
“He’s strong.”
You don’t know what I can do.
But then another thought occurred to her, and she stopped walking, turning to face Zack. “Do you even like him? I’ve just told you I’m going to kill one of your friends, and you’re not even the tiniest bit concerned?”
Zack shrugged. “I’m not their friend. They don’t like me. But I owe them.”
Violet got the feeling an origin story was coming. And she was right.
Zack and Eliza ran, trying to ignore the sounds of chaos around them. People were everywhere, some trying to escape, the rest trying to rip the rest apart. Zack felt like he’d been running for hours, and Eliza pulled back on his hand.
“I can’t…” she breathed, her black hair clinging to her sweat-drenched forehead. Zack pulled her behind a car. For a few minutes, the two of them squatted on the sidewalk, just watching the violence surrounding them on all sides. Half the city was burning; the other half was filled with screaming and death.
“What are we going to do?” Eliza asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Connor, Sarah, Todd…all of them…”
“Don’t think about it. We need to get out of here.” Zack took hold of Eliza’s hand again, pulling her to her feet. Her eyes widened. “Zack!”
Zack spun around just as the foul creature leaned in to bite, and he managed to push the thing back. He pulled the kitchen knife from his pocket, stabbing again and again at the creature’s chest. But though he opened countless wounds and dark blood began to flow, the thing just kept coming. Then there was a bang, and the ghoul fell to the ground. Zack stood over its body; a small hole had appeared right in the middle of its temple. He looked up as three men climbed out of a car. One of them, tall and muscular, was holding the gun.
“It’s got to be the head,” he said. Zack, exhausted, just stared at him wide-eyed. There was a scream from behind him, but Zack turned around too slowly this time. Eliza wrestled with one ghoul as another sank its teeth into her neck. Her scream was loud and piercing, but lasted only seconds before another gunshot rang out. Eliza fell to the ground, a hole opening in the middle of her forehead. Two more shots, and the ghouls went down, too. More approached, but Zack was numb, watching wordlessly as the bodies continued to fall around him. Finally, it was over, and the first man told the other two to search for anything useful. He walked over to Zack, whose eyes were fixed on Eliza.
“She was infected,” the man said, his voice low. “That’s how it spreads, through the bites.”
“I know. I’ve seen it.”
The man looked at his friends, then back to Zack. “Come with us.”
“I knew John was dangerous, but he saved my life, and he and the others protected me this whole time. I just stay quiet and do what he says, and it’s kept me breathing this long.”
Violet shook her head. “They may have saved you, but they only care about themselves. They’ll only protect you as long as it doesn’t put their own lives in danger.”
“But what about your friends?”
“What about them?”
“If your friends are so great, so selfless, where are they?”
Violet opened her mouth, but realized she couldn’t answer. She had no idea. She scowled and continued walking. “Maybe I will kill you too,” she muttered weakly.
The storm outside raged, as it had for the past few hours, and Violet tried as hard as she could to get some sleep. It was a battle she was losing. All the classroom had to offer was the hard floor with a couple of thin sheets on top. The room was even colder than usual, and Violet could see her breath hanging in the air every time she exhaled.
She got to her feet, stretching and hearing her joints pop from having been curled up in a ball on the floor for so long. It was too cold; she wouldn’t sleep tonight. All she could hope for would be the chance to try and escape to the teachers’ lounge for a few hours tomorrow. Maggie would be able to prepare lunch without her; she’d done it before.
Violet glanced at Maggie, who was sleeping soundly.
Emily wasn’t here.
Violet’s mind had been racing all night: half desperately trying to think about what wa
s happening to her friend, half desperately trying not to. She’d been gone for hours. When Violet, Maggie, and Ben had been brought into the classroom for the night and she realized Emily wasn’t already inside, she’d tried to fight her way out. Maggie had needed to hold her back as Vince laughed in her face. Violet had eventually stopped fighting; she knew Maggie was right. She was on thin ice with John, and he’d like nothing better than to have a reason to shoot her.
It was strange to live in such close quarters with someone who wanted her dead. The biters were different. It wasn’t personal with them; they were just doing what they did. It was horrible and she hated them for it, but she couldn’t be angry about it, not really. But having a living person who simply hated her enough to want to kill her was something she couldn’t get used to. She knew she’d have to bite her tongue and keep her cool with John and the others. She may not have been much, but if Sam and the rest of her friends didn’t come back from the supply run, Violet would be the only one left to keep Maggie and Emily safe. Though she’d hardly done a great job so far.
She walked over to the table beside the window, sitting down and watching the rain hammer heavily on the glass. Her thoughts drifted to her absent friends. Violet found it hard to imagine them purposefully leaving her and the others behind, but what was the alternative? That they’d been ripped apart by a herd of undead? No. If they weren’t coming back, Violet was going to tell herself it was because they’d decided not to. Yes, it meant she, Emily, and Maggie were stuck, but at least the others wouldn’t have to endure it any longer. Perhaps they’d even find help? Maybe they’d come back to rescue them? They could be thinking of a plan right at that very moment.
She couldn’t depend on that. All she could do was try harder to keep Emily and Maggie safe. Violet was still watching the rain. She could barely see the world outside the window. The sky was dark, and the streetlights went off weeks ago.
The sky lit up, just for half a second at a flash of lightning, and the thunder rumbled. Ben raised his head, ears pricked up. Violet shushed him gently before he got the chance to cry, and within moments, he was asleep again.
Another roar of thunder. The storm was getting worse. She wondered if there would be flooding. There had been such bad flooding a few years ago that people had to be rescued from their houses in boats. Would that be such a bad thing now? She couldn’t imagine the dead would be too fast if they had to run through water. If the river burst, they might even get washed away?
Come to think of it, a little flooding right now would be pretty good.
There was another flash of lightning, and then Violet saw it; movement by the gate. But everything went dark again, and she lost sight of whatever it was. Still, she had seen something. There was something moving out there, inside the fence. She pressed her hands against the glass, waiting for more lightning. For what felt like an agonizingly long amount of time, the sky remained black. Then, just as she was beginning to doubt herself, lightning struck again.
There it was! Something was heading for the window.
Darkness again, and Violet instinctively dropped to the floor, heart racing.
How did the biters get inside?
She crawled toward Maggie. She knew she had to wake her quickly, get her out of sight before those things reached the glass. But just as Violet’s hand was about to touch Maggie’s shoulder, she heard the tapping.
The dead don’t knock.
Violet swiveled her head toward the window slowly. When lightning struck once more, she saw the faces she had wanted to see more than anything in the world. And Tom. Relief washed over her in waves. She ran to the window, opening it as wide as she could. Sam, Joe, Matt, and Tom climbed inside. Violet hugged each of them tightly, not caring one bit that they were soaking wet. Then she lightly shoved Matt. “I was so worried! Why didn’t you come back? Why did you come back?”
He looked confused. “What? Of course we came back. We wouldn’t leave you behind.”
Maggie woke up at the sound of their voices. She got up, flinging her arms around Joe’s neck.
“We couldn’t come back straight away,” Sam explained. “They would’ve locked us in the teachers’ lounge, and we’d be back to square one. This way, we still had the keys to the gate. We knew we could come and get you.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t leave anyone to guard it,” Joe said. “That’s pretty stupid.”
“They’re stupid,” Violet replied, shrugging. “Probably didn’t want to be out in the rain.”
“Well, whatever, we’re lucky they didn’t,” Sam said.
“Do you have a car?” Violet asked.
“Yeah, we thought it might be a bit of a squeeze if we all tried to get on my tricycle,” Joe replied.
Sam rolled his eyes, glancing around the room. “Where’s Em?”
Maggie and Violet stared at each other, both deflated. What would they say? How could Violet tell them what was going on?
“She’s with them. They…” She didn’t know how to finish, but it seemed she didn’t need to. Matt, Sam, and Joe all stood a little straighter, moving for the classroom door.
“It’s no good,” Violet said. “They’ve locked us in. We’ll need to go around the other way.”
Sam nodded. “Okay, you two get in the car. We’ll go and get Emily.”
Violet shook her head. “No, we need to be smart about this. They’re armed, and we’re not. We need to get in there quietly and get her out.” She took a breath, not liking what she knew she had to do. “I’ll go. I’m the quietest.”
She wasn’t sure why she had said that. It wasn’t true. Violet was the clumsiest, and therefore the loudest, but something told her she had to be the one to do it. A big part of her felt so angry that she’d been powerless to stop this happening. She at least had to be the one to put it right.
“You’re not going alone,” Matt said. “I’ll come too.”
Violet could see that Sam didn’t like the idea, but he reluctantly agreed. “Okay, we’ll get Maggie down to the car and wait for you. But if you’re not back in ten minutes, I’m coming in.”
“Me too,” Joe said.
They all climbed out of the window. It was colder outside than Violet had expected, despite the polar classroom. The rain felt like glass crashing down onto her skin, but it didn’t matter. She was free, and that was all she cared about. Violet passed Ben to Joe, then headed toward the main doors of the school.
“Please be careful,” Joe muttered.
Violet went back inside, with Matt close behind. She was thankful for once that John and the others were wasteful enough to keep the hallways lit with candles.
They approached the library, and Violet slowed down. She tiptoed now as she crossed the room, water dripping from her clothes and hair onto the ground. There were no candles lit in there, but she could see the outlines of the men sleeping not too far away. She tried to count, pretty sure despite the darkness that there were only three of them. Three men in the room meant one somewhere else. They would need to be fast. She scanned the surroundings for Emily, spotting her on the couch closest to them, her back to the rest of the room.
The men snored loudly. Violet could see garbage littering the floor. She made her way carefully, doing her best to avoid the debris. When she reached Emily, she gently shook her on the shoulder. Her friend curled up even tighter.
She thinks I’m John or one of the others.
Emily’s clothes were ripped, and there was blood on her leg. It was dry, so Violet was able to remain in control of herself.
“Emily, it’s me,” Violet whispered. Emily rolled over quickly, eyes puffy and bloodshot. She had a bruise on her cheek and her lip had been split. Violet felt anger boiling inside her, a hateful desire to go over and bash in the heads of the sleeping men, a desire that had nothing to do with being half-dead. But she knew they didn’t have time for that, and no real weapons to speak of. She tried to keep calm, squeezing Emily’s shoulder.
“We’re get
ting out of here,” she whispered. Matt helped her get Emily to her feet, but she soon realized her friend could barely walk. She and Matt each took one of Emily’s arms over their shoulders, leading her toward the door.
Halfway across the room, just as she was congratulating herself on how smoothly everything was going, Violet stumbled. Her right arm collided with a tower of beer cans. They clattered heavily to the floor. Violet stopped, jaw clenching, waiting for the sounds of yelling. But there was nothing; the men continued to snore. She caught Matt’s eye in the moonlight. He didn’t understand either.
“They took some pills,” Emily murmured. “They won’t wake up for hours.”
You are so lucky these men are drug addicts, Violet, or your clumsiness would’ve got you all killed. You might not survive dying twice.
They headed out of the room. When they were halfway toward the main doors out of the school, they heard whistling. The three of them froze. Violet turned to Matt, fear blossoming inside her. But there was nothing they could do; whoever was whistling was about to come out of the bathrooms a few feet away, and would block their path to the front door.
Please be Zack. Please be Zack.
It was Vince. His eyes widened when he saw Violet and Matt holding up a bruised and broken Emily.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he yelled. He was loud, and Violet was sure that even a cocktail of booze and mystery drugs wouldn’t keep John and the others sleeping much longer.
“We’re leaving,” Matt said firmly. “You can have this place, but we’re not staying.”
Vince reached behind him, pulling out a gun. Violet had only ever seen John with a firearm, and she had no idea whether this was it, or if Vince had one all along.
“Put her down, then go into that classroom.” He pointed with the weapon at the door behind them. Matt, Emily, and Violet stayed frozen in place.
“No.” Violet’s voice was firm, but she sounded far braver than she felt.
Alive? Page 14