Journal of the Undead (Book 1): Littleville Uprising
Page 14
Mr. Raybach’s vacant eyes rolled back into his head and a moan gurgled out through the bloody bubbles in his gaping maw. Derek’s lifeless body dropped to the linoleum with a thud. Mr. Raybach’s biology room filled with ear-piercing shrieks, retching, and the sound of vomit splattering on the desks.
Still frozen, Emma watched as Ms. Collins emerged from the storage room clad only in a bra and a plaid skirt which was forced high up on her bulging thighs. Her panties were tangled around one shoe and dragging behind her. Just then, it struck Emma that the Raybach/Collins rumors had been true. She chuckled mainly as a coping method for the gruesome scene before her.
Ms. Collins latched onto Whitney’s long hair and reeled her in like a sport fish. In desperation, Whitney tried to shove Ms. Collins away. Instead, three fingers from her hand snapped like dried twigs between Ms. Collins’ powerful jaws. Still crunching through the bones and joints, Ms Collins dug her nails into Whitney’s shoulder while Mr. Raybach gouged out fistfuls of flesh from her opposite arm. With a pop, Whitney’s shoulder dislocated as the teachers sank their teeth deep into her body, tearing away oozing shreds. As she shrieked, the undead faculty tore her body limb from limb. Mercifully, she lost consciousness before the zombie pair plunged their claws into her abdomen, snarling over the entrails.
Realizing that Emma could be next, Evan sprang into action. He jumped on top of the lab table, avoiding his scrambling classmates, secured his backpack over his shoulders, and hopped from table to table to reach the opposite side of the room.
“Emma! Run!”
Mr. Raybach’s head turned, drawn by Evan’s shout. A section of intestines dangled from his mouth. Ms. Collins pulled out Whitney’s gallbladder and ferociously plunged her teeth in, sending a spray of thick yellowish bile down Mr. Raybach’s arm.
Leaping down from the table, Evan knocked Emma out of Mr. Raybach’s reach and she slid across the blood-soaked linoleum. Doused from yet another blood geyser jetting from a limbless classmate, Emma was completely covered in gore. Hoisting Emma to her feet, Evan clutched her hand and pulled her toward the door.
“We have to find Matt and get out of here!”
Emma stared at him with wide, terror-stricken eyes; then, mainly out of habit, she grabbed her bag and tossed it over her shoulder. The pair tried to weave through the other students to the hallway but their classmates were either frozen in fear, bawling, or vomiting from the carnage. Face to face with Christy, Emma saw fear turn to sheer horror as Ms. Collins lumbered toward them. Christy shuddered then voided her bladder in a flowing stream across the floor. Still firmly gripping Emma’s hand, Evan pulled her into the hallway only to run directly into Mr. Cortez.
“What part of silent did you kids not understand?” Mr. Cortez bellowed as Evan plowed into him. “And just where do you think you’re going? Get back in there!”
But his tirade was cut short when he caught sight of Emma.
“Wh-Wh-What happened?” Mr. Cortez stammered.
Looking past Emma, the hellish scene in the classroom left him speechless. Seizing the chance, Evan pulled Emma with him and started jogging down the hall. At the door to the stairwell, Evan paused to check on her. Trembling with fear, Emma looked up at him with eyes brimming with unshed tears. He pulled her into an embrace, stroked her hair, and tried to speak in a calm soothing voice.
“We’re okay now, Emma. Our first objective is to find Matt. Then all three of us are getting out of here safely. I promise. Deal?”
Emma nodded and croaked a barely audible, “Yeah.”
By then, several of their classmates had followed Evan’s lead and poured into the hallway screaming. In a flash, Tyler had reached Emma’s side and pulled her out of Evan’s arms.
“Emma, are you hurt? God, you’re covered in blood.”
“She’s not hurt and it’s not her blood so shut up. Quit scaring her!” Evan fumed.
“She’s coming with me so take off, Evan.”
“Like hell she is! Don’t you ever get tired of being Jake’s flunkey?”
“I couldn’t care less about Jake, or you for that matter. I care about Emma and neither one of you is good enough for her.”
He grabbed Emma’s arm and jerked her away from Evan.
“Really? If she had been depending on you to get her out of there, she’d be dead by now!”
“I wanna go home,” Emma whimpered.
The boys looked at each other and, with a nod, silently agreed to a truce. Each taking a hand, they escorted Emma through the door and onto the staircase. At the first landing, Emma froze, staring out the window. She pointed past the well-manicured lawn to a hill speckled with a cluster of people shambling toward the school.
“I don’t … What? Why?” Emma stammered, unable to find words to express the questions spinning in her mind.
“They’re zombies, Emma,” Evan answered.
“Yeah, okay,” Tyler snorted. “Zombies. Like in the movies, huh?”
“I’m serious.” Evan pulled his copy of Journal of the Undead: A Survivor’s Guide from the front pocket of his backpack. Tyler looked at the book, raised his eyes to scrutinize the walking corpses, then back down to the book again.
“My uncle wrote this book. It’s for real. He witnessed an uprising firsthand when he was stationed overseas. Critics tried to pretend that he was using zombies metaphorically to represent everything wrong in America. Eventually, Army officials came out saying the book was a scam. Personally, I think it’s just a conspiracy to keep the public uninformed.”
Emma stared at him in bewilderment. She had silently mocked both Evan and Matt for reading that book. Now she wished she had taken the time to read it too.
“C’mon, we need to get going and find Matt.”
“Coach had some of the guys stay behind to help clear the mess downstairs. I think Matt was one of them,” Tyler offered.
From the lower level, terrified screams reverberated off the walls. The boys, each holding one of Emma’s hands, rapidly descended the stairs. Suddenly, Evan skid to a halt. A logjam of students fighting to either go up or down the stairs left them impassable.
“Here’s what were going to do,” Evan whispered to Emma and Tyler. “I’m going to jump over the railing, then Tyler, you lower Emma down to me.”
Tyler did not look pleased but since he had no plan of his own, he agreed. Nimbly, Evan hopped over the railing, dangled for a moment then dropped softly to his feet.
“Okay, now gently lower Emma over the side,” Evan called up to Tyler.
Tyler scooped Emma up in his arms and cradled her for a second against his chest. Brushing a kiss across the only clean spot on Emma’s forehead, Tyler leaned over the rail. He dangled Emma down to Evan’s waiting grasp. Evan tried to respectfully avert his eyes rather than stare straight up Emma’s very short skirt. Once he had a firm grip around her legs, Evan called for Tyler to let go. Emma’s body slid like an unfurling ribbon down the length of Evan’s torso as her feet landed safely on the floor. Tyler heaved his bulky frame over the rail and landed with a thump next to the others.
Evan pulled them into an alcove under the stairwell to plan their next move. He retrieved a carefully concealed crowbar from the underside of the riser. Shielding Emma, Evan cracked the glass on an old firebox that was mounted to the wall. The old box had an ax encased in glass with a sign that read, ‘In case of fire, break glass.’
“Who would leave an ax on a school wall?” Emma wondered aloud. “That can’t be safe.”
“I’m pretty sure no one remembered it was still here. Once the sprinkler systems and automated smoke detectors were installed there really wasn’t a need to keep it, but we’re lucky it’s here.”
“You hid that crowbar there, didn’t you? What the hell for?” Tyler asked.
“Anyone with a brain can see the warning signs of a zombie uprising. I borrowed it from the maintenance closet weeks ago.”
Evan turned to Emma and put the ax in her hands.
“Now Emma,
listen, the only way to stop a zombie is to destroy the brain. If one comes near you, you need to hit it hard enough to crack open the skull and get into the brain. Understand?”
Emma nodded though she was not entirely sure she’d be strong enough. Turning, Evan signaled for Tyler and Emma to follow him. A blockade of students had lined up in front of the door in an effort to keep anyone, or anything, from entering the stairwell.
“Let us through,” Evan ordered.
“Are you nuts? Do you know what’s out there?”
“Do you know what’s upstairs? Just let us pass and you can go right back to your barricade, okay?”
A few students stepped aside, unblocking only one of the double doors. Evan, Emma, and Tyler squeezed through a tiny crack in the doorway to the main floor hall.
“We’ve got to find Matt.” Emma’s voice sounded determined, in spite of her fears.
She clutched the ax so tightly her knuckles turned white as she tiptoed down the hall. Evan and Tyler flanked her on either side. An eerie moan echoed down the hall, the telltale sign that they were about to encounter more zombies.
“Stay close, Emma, and remember what I told you. Destroy the brain.”
Half-eaten, mangled remains of unfortunate victims were splattered across the hallway. Slipping on what appeared to be a partially chewed kidney, Tyler fell into the lockers with a crash. Looking down, he noticed slimy guts caked into the tread of his shoes. His face lost color and he closed his eyes. Unable to hold it back, he leaned forward and a flood of vomit splashed to the floor.
“Are you alright?” Emma said with concern.
“Yeah, fine. Thanks.” Tyler wiped his mouth and tried to smile.
From an adjacent hallway, the undead shuffled into sight. All wearing the same vacant expression as Mr. Raybach and Ms. Collins, they shambled toward their prey.
“This was a bad idea. Let’s go back to the stairs,” Tyler suggested. As the only one without a weapon, he did not consider it to be a cowardly statement.
“We can’t. Look.” Evan pointed out two more zombies who had caught their scent and were on the way from behind the trio.
“We can outrun them. Emma, take my hand. We’ll cut down the hallway, past the teacher’s lounge and out the emergency exit,” Tyler strategized as he reached for Emma’s hand, but she jerked away.
“I’m not leaving without Matt. If you want to leave, be my guest.”
“Emma, be reasonable. We don’t know where Matt is or if he’s even still ali… .” Tyler’s voice trailed off as he saw Emma’s look of determination had melted into horror.
Tears trickled down her cheeks. Angry with Tyler, Evan spun Emma around and looked deep into her eyes.
“Don’t listen to him. Matt knows what to do and he’s probably looking for us right now. You and I will find him. But right now, you’ve got to focus because we’ve got company.”
Evan pushed her behind him and lunged forward, swinging his crowbar at the head of the largest zombie. Knocking the reanimated corpse to the ground, Evan unleashed a flurry of crushing blows to its head. Eventually the crunching sounds were replaced with a soft, thick thud. Having the height advantage on the next zombie, Evan’s blows were quick to penetrate the skull.
“I think he’s a teller at my bank,” Tyler muttered incredulously, pointing at the man.
Emma charged at the teller and, swinging her ax like a baseball bat, managed to slice off the top of his scalp. The chunk of skull soared through the air like a bloody foul tip. The force of the blow sent the uncoordinated creature reeling into Evan. Both fell to the floor as Evan’s crowbar flew from his hands and clanked down the hall. The bank teller’s jaws snapped hungrily and Evan used all of his might to try to push the rotund man away. Tyler had snatched the ax from Emma’s hands and battled what was once a UPS driver.
“Tyler! You have to help Evan!”
“I’m a little busy right now.”
Emma riffled through her bag looking for something to use as a weapon. Interlacing car keys between her fingers, as she had learned in self-defense class, Emma charged at the bank teller. Mustering every ounce of strength, she punched as hard as she could at the section of pulsing brain left exposed by her ax blow. With a squelching thunk, Emma’s fist connected and her keys lodged into the sponge-like tissue. The body dropped lifelessly as Emma pulled her keys from its brain. A dark, viscous fluid oozed from the wound and puddled on the recently waxed floor.
Emma struggled to roll the cumbersome body over as Evan wriggled out from underneath the dead weight. Evan sprang to his feet, picked up his crowbar, and scanned the area.
“Thanks,” he muttered.
When he saw Emma’s fist still clutching the keys spiked through her fingers and dripping with cranial fluid and chunks of brain tissue, he draped his arm over Emma’s shoulders and led her to the water fountain to rinse the gore from her hands.
Larger bits of brain caught in the mesh drain cover bobbed up and down in the water. Evan wet the bottom of his shirt and tried to wipe away some of the caked blood on Emma’s face, but he only managed to smear it more. Tyler joined them at the water fountain. Seeing brain fragments floating in the drain, he opted to skip the drink. Forcefully, Evan tore the ax from Tyler’s hands and gave it back to Emma.
“Go find your own. This one is Emma’s. If you take it from her again I’ll bury it in your skull,” Evan snarled, then calmly turned to Emma and smiled. “You’ve got quite a swing there, slugger. Listen, you’ll have better luck if you come down like you’re chopping wood instead of trying to bat one out of the ballpark, okay?”
Emma blushed and Evan’s smile widened.
“C’mon, let’s go find Matt,” Tyler blurted out, threatened by their chemistry. “Coach had the guys stay behind to help move that truck so maybe he’s near the front lobby.”
With new direction, the three jogged toward the scene of the crash in hopes of finding Matt. As they drew closer to the lobby, there were students and teachers running in every direction. Swelling into a bizarre crescendo, the lobby was filled with a symphony of students’ shrieks, faculty shouting, and guttural moans from the invaders. With the doors shattered, there was no way to keep out the flesh-eating threat.
An authoritative voice coming from the direction of the gym barked orders into the microphone. The voice commanded everyone to climb to the top of the bleachers where they would be safer.
“Matt!” Evan and Emma said simultaneously.
Taking Emma’s hand, Evan sprinted through the lobby to the entrance of the gym. Tyler glumly followed, wishing they had opted to make a run for his car instead. Matt was in the back corner of the gym bludgeoning the undead with his own crowbar. Emma wondered when he and Evan had started hiding crowbars in the school. She assumed they’d stashed a multitude of them around the school for safekeeping.
From the top of the bleachers, Jake saw Emma enter holding Evan’s hand. Outraged, he stormed down shouting profanities and insults the entire way. Fury had blinded him to the blood and gore covering Emma from head to toe. Jake shoved bodies out of his way, attempting to clear the way to his cheating girlfriend. A paunchy, undead construction worker blocked Jake’s path so he punched the monster in the stomach. Jake had fully expected it to crumble, completely unaware zombies cannot feel pain. Instead, the corpse’s massive hands snapped like a steel trap around Jake’s throat. Crushing Jake’s larynx, the thick thumbs of the construction worker plunged through skin and muscle to rip a gaping hole in his throat. It proceeded to shovel flesh into its voracious mouth. A shorter, stockier version of the previous worker joined the feast, sinking his tobacco-stained teeth deep into Jake’s back. It tore strips of flesh off the bone like a rabid pit bull.
“Jake!” Emma gasped.
With an overwhelming need to distance herself from the carnage, Emma raced across the floor. She desperately wanted to grab Matt and get out of there. Evan and Tyler were hot on her heels, shouting for her to wait up. Emma, however, was screa
ming Matt’s name and could not hear anything but the pounding of her own heart. Matt turned and saw Emma covered with viscera. Tears streamed down her face and Matt feared that she had been attacked. Emma launched herself into Matt’s arms and sobbed.
“Emma! Emma, are you hurt? Were you attacked?”
She was sobbing too hard to answer. Evan and Tyler caught up a moment later and Evan assured him that Emma had not been harmed. Matt nodded.
“Wanna use escape plan A or plan B, Evan?”
“We really need to get outta here … Now!” Tyler insisted.
“We’re working on that!” Evan’s patience with Tyler had reached its limit.
“Enough talk, man! Let’s just go already! This is ridiculous. All we need to do is shuffle and moan right along with them just like in Shawn of the Dead, right, Emma?”
“You’re an idiot! You’ll get yourself killed like that.”
“Let’s go, Emma,” Tyler ordered as he firmly gripped her hand.
“If you want to go, no one’s stopping you, but there is no way Emma’s going on your suicide mission!” Matt raged.
Tyler rolled his eyes before turning his back on them. He shuffled off, moaning like the monsters surrounding them. Picturing an Academy Award in his future, Tyler lumbered past a few zombies unnoticed. Shaking his head, Matt pointed.
“No way! It’s working.”
“No, it’s not. Tyler! RUN!” Emma shrieked but it was too late.
Tyler had meandered deep into the horde and was completely surrounded. Emma buried her face in Matt’s shoulder and wept as Tyler’s screams echoed through the gymnasium. Certain that Tyler’s death had been her fault, Emma’s knees buckled. Feeling wobbly, she sat on the floor to catch her breath.
“My fault, it’s all my fault,” Emma sobbed, hugging her knees tightly to her chest. Ever since the death of her mother, dealing with that one inevitable part of life had always been a struggle for her. It was one of the main reasons the Wexley twins had never had any pets.
Dropping to a crouch beside her, Evan and Matt both tried to reassure her that she could not be blamed for Tyler’s stupidity. Hoisting Emma to her feet, the boys worked on a new escape plan. Knowing she had nothing to contribute, she stared blankly at the monsters terrorizing her school, tears streaming down her cheeks. Evan feared if they didn’t get out of there soon, Emma might go into shock. She hadn’t been warned about the possibilities of a real uprising, instead believing it was just a horror movie theme.