by D, Hannah
“Hey there is something in here with us, I can see shadows coming from underneath those double doors at the end of this corridor” Zoe said to them as she gestured for them to come look.
“What do we do? Do we go up? Shout something? Sneak in?” Mike asked them.
“Who’s in there?” Arthur shouted.
“I am going to kill him” Sue said under her breath.
The shadows under the door stopped moving. Zoe, Mike and Arthur raise their weapons, Sue sank behind them, still not ready to fight. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The door knob slowly turning. The door creaking open. A hand curling round the door followed by the tip of a boot stepping out. They all breathed a sigh of relief as a head appeared from around the door and it was most certainly human.
“Arthur? Is that you?” A mans voice rang out.
‘Jeff?” Arthur answered.
“No fucking way! You’re still alive! And you came here! Man this is incredible!” Jeff said as he came walking out the door.
“Great minds think alike huh? This is amazing!”
Arthur walked up to Jeff and the two men embraced in a hug.
‘Well, at least it’s friends and not foes we’ve ran into’ Zoe thought.
“Guys, come down here, let me introduce you” Arthur called to them.
They all walked down the corridor and the closer that Zoe got to this Jeff the more curious she felt about him. He was handsome there was no doubt about that, he’d make any girl fall to her knees if he wanted. However, there was a hard edge to him, he looked like he was ready to fight at any given moment. Like even before this skin eater outbreak he never really knew how to relax.
“Jeff, this is my mum Sue, dad Mike and this girl here, well my dad saved her, brought her into our home, her names Zoe, she’s sound” Arthur said to Jeff.
“Nice to meet you all” Jeff said to them. His eyes landing on Zoe, examining her.
‘Maybe he’s curious about me too’ Zoe thought. She did feel a little flutter in her stomach which she pushed away almost as soon as it started. Zoe had no time for relationships, especially now.
“We’ve barricaded ourselves in here although we’ve cleared the building because, well, you never know what might get in, come on in” Jeff said to them.
They all followed Jeff into what was a gym hall and noticed there were four other people in here. A flash of blonde hair came barrelling up to them and launched herself into Arthur. Before long they were kissing. Mike and Sue just stared. Sue had her mouth wide open, ready to catch flies and Mike looked like he was trying to hold his laughter in. As soon as they stopped kissing Arthur cleared his throat and looked at his parents.
“Umm.. mum, dad this is Sophia. She’s, well, shes my girlfriend” Arthur said to them.
“It’s so nice to meet you eventually! Too bad it’s in these horrible circumstances!” Sophia said as she shook their hands.
“And who is she?” Sophia said as she looked at Zoe with jealousy and craziness in her eyes.
“Oh, this is Zoe. My dad saved her by inviting her into our home. She’s sound” Arthur told her.
“Hmm.. Nice to meet you” Sophia said to her. Zoe never got a shake of her hand.
‘Nice to meet you too” Zoe said to Sophia’s already retreating back.
“Never mind my sister, she’s the jealous type. She’ll cool down eventually” Jeff whispered to Zoe.
So they were brother and sister. Interesting. They didn’t even look that much alike. Zoe began to wonder who the other three people were who were sitting in the hall. Arthur seemed to know them.
‘Must be more of his friends. Didn’t any of these people have parents? Especially the little boy who was one of the three’ Zoe thought to herself.
Arthur was already beginning the introductions as soon as Zoe approached.
“Guys, this is my mum Sue, dad Mike and the girl my dad saved Zoe. These lot here are my friends Chris and Sarah who are a couple and Jeff and Sophia’s little brother Alex” Arthur introduced them.
“It’s nice to meet you all. Sorry to ask but where are your lots parents?” Sue asked them.
Zoe didn’t know if Sue was going into protective mum mode or if she was being nosey.
“Oh, our parents are living in England, we moved up here to live together, haven’t managed to get a hold of them since the outbreak happened” Sarah told Sue sadly.
“Our parents died in a car cash last year, I look after my little sister and brother” Jeff Tod them.
“How old are you” Zoe asked Jeff.
The question had just slipped from Zoe’s lips, she hadn’t meant to say it out loud. Zoe looked away from Jeff embarrassed.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to say that out loud” Zoe said.
“Don’t worry about it, I’m twenty six’ Jeff told her.
‘Hmm, there’s not that much of an age difference between us, only one year, wait why was she even thinking this, she was not going to get into a relationship with him!’ Zoe yelled angrily at herself.
“So is the building completely free from the skin eaters?” Mike asked Jeff.
“Skin eaters, hmm nice name, we didn’t have one for them yet, we’ll go with that. But the answer to your question is no. There are some in rooms that we locked them into. We stupidly locked them into the lunch hall and the nurses office. They were already in there and we had one weapon between us so they got locked into the rooms they were in” Jeff told them all.
‘How did so many get into the building?” Arthur asked Jeff.
“Must have been a party here, they all looked like they were dressed for a party” Jeff told him.
“We have weapons with us, well just knives for now. Arthur has a baseball bat and tennis racket. Why don’t you take some of the knives to help protect yourselves, just in case?” Zoe asked them.
“Yeah, that would be great, thanks” Jeff said to her.
Sue, Mike and Zoe put down their backpacks and began handing their new companions some knives. Even Alex got a knife. Better than him having nothing just in case.
‘You know, we could fight our way through the skin eaters in the cafeteria now and get more food and medicine?” Jeff asked them
“Yeah, sounds good, I’ll sign up to go” Zoe said.
“Me too! I do love bashing their skulls in!” Arthur said.
Zoe was beginning t get a little worried about Arthurs enthusiasm for killing the skin eaters. Maybe he had played too much xbox or PlayStation.
“Oh no baby, please don’t go! You just got here and we’re here together!’ Sophia whined.
Arthur tried to talk her around to being okay with him going up with Zoe and Jeff. She was really going to get on Zoe’s nerves. As Zoe turned away from Arthur and Sophia she rolled her eyes and caught Jeff looking at her with a smile. Zoe felt her cheeks redden. Zoe felt more mortified which caused her cheeks to redden even more. There was no winning this. As Zoe went to go distract herself by looking into her backpack she heard one more person offer to go with them.
“I’ll go too. Better with the four of us I think” Chris said.
There was no whining from Sarah about Chris going. Sarah just give Chris a small smile and squeezed his hand.
“We’ll go in the morning, it’s about to be completely dark soon and I don’t fancy our chances against the skin eaters in the dark” Jeff said to them.
“Good thinking my man” Chris said.
“I do think it would be good if we all got as much sleep and rest as we can. We’re safe here” Sue said to them. It was evident that Sue was going to be playing mum to them all.
“Yes mum” Arthur replied as he went off with Sophia a little away from the rest of them.
‘I do hope he doesn’t try to have sex with her with his mum in the room. He can’t be that stupid’ Zoe thought. But Zoe wasn’t going to hold her breath on that one. Zoe would love to see the look on Sue’s face if they did and she could hear them. Zoe would find that quite comic
al.
Zoe picked up her backpack and went off to the side a little away from the group. Zoe didn’t really know them and did feel a little awkward as she knew no one. Zoe didn’t even really know Mike, Sue and Arthur properly yet.
‘Feeling a little awkward I bet?” A voice came from behind Zoe.
It was Jeff.
“Yeah I suppose. I don’t really know anyone here yet. I feel a little like an outsider” Zoe told Jeff.
“I know the feeling” Jeff said to Zoe.
“Can I ask you something?” Zoe asked Jeff.
“Uh sure” Jeff replied to her.
“You’re twenty six, Arthurs eighteen. How do you know him so well?”
“I come here to blow off steam, met Arthur then. He came to the house every now and then which is how he met my sister, she’s the same age as him. I need to blow off steam. It’s hard looking after two children who are your siblings” Jeff told Zoe.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be so nosey” Zoe said to Jeff apologetically.
‘Ah it’s cool, I don’t mind sharing some things. So tell me something abut you. Why were you on your own when this epidemic started?” Jeff asked, looking at Zoe curiously.
“You’ll have to kill me before I tell you”
‘That bad huh?”
“You really don’t want to know”
“Got it. Well make yourself comfy, we have a busy morning ahead of us” Jeff said as he walked off to go barricade the doors to the gymnasium.
Zoe wasn’t ready to share her life story with anyone. Zoe didn’t know if she would ever be ready truth be told. These people were still strangers to her and Zoe had never had friends to share her story with, she was happy keeping it to herself.
“Shall we take turns to keep watch overnight?” Mike asked.
“Good point, I’ll take first watch from eleven tonight until one in the morning. Chris you can take second watch from one until three. Mike three until five and then Zoe here can take last watch from five until seven” Jeff said to them.
“Sue, yeah, agreed” Zoe, Mike and Chris all said together.
Zoe didn’t mind taking watch from five until seven. Zoe was used to the early mornings as she had gotten up at three thirty Monday to Saturday for job number one.
By this point it was now dark outside. It would be the first night they would spend with the world now crawling with skin eaters. It was a scary thought and by the looks of everyone in the room, they all felt scared.
There were no windows low enough for anyone to see out of in this gym hall but they could all hear the moans coming from the skin eaters outside. They didn’t sound close enough like they had gotten over the fence and were in the school grounds but they sounded like they were waiting at the fence, waiting for someone to come out so they could eat.
Zoe didn’t think anyone would actually sleep tonight, well, except for Sue, she went out like a light as soon as her head hit her backpack which she’d made into her pillow. Mike was sat up going through his backpack for the millionth time. Arthur and Sophia were cuddled up together but they were just staring at each other. Chris and Sarah were chatting quietly amongst themselves. Jeff was with his little brother Alex, reading him a story.
‘How sweet of him. Even through this mess outside he’s still trying to make life as normal for Alex as he can’ Zoe thought, smiling as she did.
Zoe felt alone in here, everyone else seemed to have someone they cared about and wanted to protect. Zoe had never felt that way about someone before, well she never had anyone feel that way about her anyway. Zoe didn’t know if she would ever feel that way about someone, she felt that right now wasn’t the best time to try anyway. Zoe did’t want to feel the hurt and pain of losing someone which was even more possible now than it was just yesterday.
“He can’t go to sleep without a bedtime story ever since our parents died, the stories make him feel better” Jeff said as he came to sit next to Zoe.
“It’s sweet and it still makes his life normal, you seem like a good man Jeff” Zoe said to him.
“Thanks” Jeff said back to her.
“I may just stay up with you for first watch, don’t think sleep will come to me” Zoe said to him.
“That’s fine, I won’t actually mind the company” Jeff said to her.
Everyone else seemed to gradually fall asleep. The hours began to tick by. Jeff didn’t bother waking anyone else up for their turns since he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway.
So Jeff and Zoe both stayed awake, they spoke a little but not a lot, mostly just listened to the noises from the skin eaters outside and got lost in their thoughts over them. They had a big day the next again day with fighting the skin eaters in the lunch hall and nurses office but Zoe felt ready for it. Zoe was prepared to fight the skin eaters and this time her knife wouldn’t get stuck in a skin eaters head.
“We’ll manage tomorrow you know, we’ll be able to get what we need” Jeff turned around to say to Zoe, it was like he had just read her thoughts.
“Yeah, we’ll manage, I’m ready to face them”.
“Me too”. Jeff replied.
And with that Zoe felt herself beginning to drift off.
Chapter 4
“Hey, Hey, it’s time to wake up” Jeff was saying as he was rousing Zoe.
Zoe gradually opened her eyes and found that she was lying on Jeff’s lap. Zoe sat bolt upright.
“My god, I’m so sorry, I don’t even remember falling asleep” Zoe said mortified.
“It’s alright, not had a girl fall asleep on me in a long time” Jeff said to Zoe with a wink.
Zoe’s face turned bright red. ‘Was Jeff just flirting with me?’ Zoe thought. Zoe never really got flirting, Zoe’s time spent with men was usually a hello, a quick drink and chat, straight to the bedroom, his or hers it didn’t matter, sex and then whoever’s house it wasn’t left straight after. Zoe just didn’t do relationships and had no idea how to flirt.
As Zoe stood up to let Jeff up she avoided making eye contact with him. She didn’t want Jeff to see how he made her feel. However, Zoe could feel Jeff’s eyes on her back.
“So I guess I’ll go get Arthur and Chris and we’ll get suited and booted to go up to fight these skin eaters and grab the food and medicine?” Jeff asked Zoe.
“Yeah sure, sounds like a plan” Zoe replied, still avoiding making eye contact.
As Zoe felt Jeff leave she felt herself breathe a little easier.
“Come on get yourself together, you just met the guy, you’re not a child with a crush” Zoe whispered to herself.
“Ahem, Zoe? Can I speak with you if you have a second?”
Zoe turned around and was met with Sue standing there expectantly.
“Sure Sue, go ahead.”
“I just want to ask you a favour.. Whenever you’re on a ‘mission’ shall we say with Arthur and it involves these skin eaters, can you please look out for him? He’s my only son and I… well I can’t lose him” Sue said in a strained voice, her eyes filling up with tears.
“Of course I’ll look out for him, you know he’s tougher than you think, he saved me when we were just down from that lamppost, killed a skin eater before it could kill me.”
“Thank you, I really appreciate this.” And with that Sue turned and made her way back to Mike.
Zoe was beginning to warm to sue a little. Zoe could understand why Sue was scared and why she didn’t want to help everyone they came across as she was thinking of her family but Zoe felt that Sue could toughen up a little. If Sue didn’t hold her own ground against these skin eaters, well one day there would be no one available to help her and she could become a skin eaters happy meal.
Zoe didn’t bother changing. Since she was going up to kill some skin eaters she may get covered in blood and brain matter so what was the point in getting changed now? Zoe ran her fingers through her hair, rubbed her eyes clear from the sleep sitting there, straightened out the creases in her clothes, grabbed her knives and mad
e her way over to Jeff, Arthur and Chris.
“Zoe, you ready to go up now? I’m so excited to get up there, are you!?” Arthur asked her excitedly.
“I wouldn’t say I’m excited but yeah I’m ready.”
“Cool, lets get going” Jeff said to them.
Chris didn’t say anything, he just turned around to give Sarah a kiss and then turned back and started walking with the rest of them.
“I’m leaving this gym under your hands to protect and keep safe” Jeff said to Mike as they were passing.
“You got it, no skin eaters will be coming in here!” Mike told him.
They made the doorway clear that Jeff had barricaded and with Jeff going first, they started making their way out the gym hall. So far, so good, no skin eaters were in the school so far. They were walking in singe file, all of their eyes trained in every direction. Their footsteps were as quiet as they could make them. Zoe had never walked so quiet and alert in all her life.
“Just up this corridor and to the right is where the lunch hall is, I managed to block the door by putting a pole through the handles so the skin eaters couldn’t get out so once I remove it I don’t know if they’ll all come barrelling out, I didn’t count them before I locked them in so be ready” Jeff told them.
“We’re ready” Arthur said, pretty much jumping from excitement.
Jeff walked up to the door. Zoe, Arthur and Chris right behind him. It was nerve wracking doing this, walking up to their possible deaths of being eaten by skin eaters but they all felt confident and ready to take them on.
“On three. One.. Two.. Three!” Jeff said as he opened the lunch hall doors.
As soon as the doors opened there was a skin eater making its way out. Jeff was on it in seconds, knife in the head and the skin eater went down. They didn’t have much time to think. The other skin eaters who were in the lunch hall began making their way to the doors and through them. Arthur was already in there, swinging his baseball bat.
“Aha you mother fucker! No breakfast for you today!” Arthur was yelling among other things.
