Two Alive

by Jonez, Jeremiah W.

  “Damn it!” Johnathan wrenched Ms. Dottie up and off Sam but his heel came out from under him and he fell back. Ms. Dottie shook free and dropped back down on Sam and sank her teeth into his shoulder.

  A high pitch scream came from down the hall, and it was coming from Arthur, who was still watching the madness. Arthur looked about ready to run and Antonio was afraid for everyone's safety.

  "Arthur, get Antonio back to class! Tell Michelle to call the police!" Johnathan went back to helping Sam fight off the wild Ms. Dottie who was gnawing on his shoulder.

  “Ahhh, shit!" Sam screamed.

  Michelle came running around the corner and was floored by the carnage in front of her. Ms. Dottie was on top of Sam, growling like a dog with a bone and Johnathan was trying to pry her off using whatever method he could to do so. All Michelle could think was that Johnathan wasn’t using a proper CPI trained hold when dealing with a biter.

  Ms. Dottie’s backhand hit Johnathan in the eye and sent him reeling with blood starting to trickle down from an open gash. Johnathan wiped his eye and grabbed Ms. Dottie again and yanked her off Sam, his shirt and skin tearing in her teeth. Sam screamed and Ms. Dottie kept fighting until she broke free from Johnathan’s hold and turned to run down the hall at Miles. The small boy froze, only able to hold up the flattened cardboard to shield himself from the old woman. It wasn’t any bigger than his torso, but it was all the small boy had. Right before Ms. Dottie could get to him, Johnathan stuck his foot out and tripped her. She fell to the floor hard with a thundering crack.

  The hallway was quiet, aside from the dying snaps Ms. Dottie was making with her jaw. When Johnathan made his way over to examine the elderly woman, she was lying flat on the floor with what looked like a broken neck. Her chin had hit the linoleum so hard she had snapped her neck and Johnathan could see the indentation where her cervical vertebra had popped out of place. It didn’t look good. She had also bit off her own tongue and a huge chunk of it was on the floor in front of her. Blood was starting to pour from her mouth with each open and closing of her jaw.

  Even in her current state—unable to get up, unable to move or do anything but open and close her mouth—Ms. Dottie didn’t seem fazed by her injuries or bothered with the fact she might actually be dying on the floor right now. Johnathan tried to reach down to help her, and she snapped her jaw at him, growling through a mouth filled with blood. Johnathan watched her eyes slowly close and saw the rise and fall from her breathing gradually coming to a stop. Then it did. The old man wiped his eye again, feeling his chest tighten. He heard Miles whimpering nearby.

  “Ms. Dottie?” Miles asked with eyes filling with tears.

  Johnathan could hear Sam trying to get back up and saw Arthur finally moving to help him. Michelle was still at the end of the hall and she raised her radio to her lips to ask for emergency coverage. Johnathan shook his head and went to put a hand on Miles’ shoulder. “C’mon. We have to get the hell out of here.” He turned to leave and helped Sam back up and put the wounded man’s arm around Arthur’s shoulders.

  "Is she ok? What… what was wrong with her?" Arthur asked, at a loss for words for once.

  "Are you all ok?" Michelle asked but didn't wait for a response. "We have to take you all to a hospital. Is Ms. Dottie ok?”

  “No, she’s not.” Johnathan sighed and lowered his head. “She was infected with that UGEN shit. We have to get Sam to a hospital and call the police. But in the meantime, we have to evacuate the school.”

  A thud at the door startled everyone in the hallway and Miles went running to stand behind Johnathan. A second, harder thud was accompanied by incoherent shouting that seemed to be coming from multiple voices. Those men from the park had joined the man in the parking lot and all of them were banging on the locked door.

  “What the hell is that?” Michelle looked paralyzed.

  “Is that the man? Is that the man from outside?” Miles was still holding the flat cardboard box against his chest.

  “What man? Who is that?” Michelle asked.

  “We have to go.” Johnathan watched the door intensely. Hearing the bolts rattle with each new assault from outside. “We have to evacuate the school.”

  “What’s going on, Johnathan?” Michelle was looking at the men and her eyes kept going back to Ms. Dottie’s body on the floor.

  “Michelle, there are violent people in the parking lot, and we have to get everyone out of the school.”

  Michelle looked even more confused. “Wha--what?”

  “Ms. Dottie attacked Sam.” Arthur was shaking his head and wiped sweat from his forehead. He looked at Sam and saw the color was draining from his face. “What would make her do that? Why--why would she just do that?”

  “That UGEN shit did that too her.” Johnathan said, unable to bring himself to look at the body of the older woman. “She told me how she had been using it for her Parkinson’s. They’ve been talkin’ about the side effects of that medicine making people crazy on the news. This is that LRS-10 bullshit or UGEN or whatever the fuck… and I think those men outside may be on that shit too.”

  “Wait, what?” Michelle was looking at him strangely.

  “Michelle, we don’t have time for this!”

  Another loud bang at the door called everyone’s attention. Johnathan wasn’t going to stick around to see how long that door would last. He headed towards the front office with Michelle following close behind him, Antonio and Miles chasing her, and Arthur dragging the sickly looking Sam in the rear.

  “You--you think they took the drug and that’s what’s making them… crazy?” Arthur stammered, hoping for an answer to what was going on.

  “Look, I ain’t a fuckin’ scientist or a doctor so I couldn’t tell you what exactly is going on with those people. All I know is, they’re out there and they’re dangerous!”

  Michelle looked behind her as she swung the corner and continued following Johnathan. Her head was spinning. She wasn’t prepared for something like this when she was just starting to get over spilling her coffee. Now Ms. Dottie was bleeding to death on the floor, outside the staff bathroom. And something that sounded like a gorilla was trying to break open the door to the parking lot.

  “We… we have to call the police.” Michelle shook her head and blinked a few times. “We can’t just leave. What about Ms. Dottie?”

  “I--I agree.” Arthur’s voice was a whimper. “We shouldn’t go outside… if there’s violent people out there… we should stay inside.”

  “We have to get these kids the fuck out of here!” Johnathan broke in. He threw open the double doors of the front office and startled Justine. She snatched up the phone and started dialing, saying something about still not hearing from the roofing company. Johnathan pressed down the receiver button and took the phone from her.

  “Oh my god, Sam!” Justine waddled around the front desk, holding her stomach, when she saw Arthur carrying the wounded man to one of the couches. “Are you ok? What happened?”

  “We’re calling the police.” Michelle said to Justine then turned to Johnathan as she heard him dialing. “We can call the police and they can handle those people outside. Someone can give Sam a ride to the hospital, but we don’t have to leave the school. We just put everything on lock down.”

  “Everyone please start making your way towards the front exits! This is not a drill; we are evacuating the school through the front exits, now!” Johnathan’s words were repeated over the loudspeakers in the hallways and all the classrooms. He hung up the receiver and looked at Michelle, wiping his eyes when blood started to trickle down his forehead.

  “What are you doing John?” The principal looked frantic, staring up at the much taller man in front of her and feeling slighted. “You can’t make a call like that! I told you, we should stay in the school!”

  “Michelle, you didn’t see those people out there! They were mad! They’re going to break into the school if we wait for the police! When’s the last time you remember OPD respon
ding to a call in east Oakland, quickly?” He pulled the radio from where it was clipped to his back pocket, “We have to get out of here.” Johnathan pushed the button on his radio and started talking to the other staff members about avoiding the back parking lot.

  “Mr. Johnathan, what you want me to do? How can I help?” Antonio was pacing back and forth in the office, wiping tears from his eyes along with snot bubbles every time he sniffled.

  Johnathan just put a hand on Antonio’s shoulder. “It’s alright. Everything is gonna be alright. Try to calm down.” He wiped blood from his forehead again

  “Johnathan, you can’t just do that! I told you! I’m making the call!” Michelle tried stealing the radio from his hand, but he pulled away from her. “We’re safe inside the building!”

  A scream came through the radio and Johnathan recognized the female voice on the other end. He went sprinting out of the office and headed for classroom 12 just as Francine called for coverage through the radio.

  “Mr. Johnathan! Don’t leave!” Miles called after him. The stringy boy almost went after him but stayed in the office, clutching the flat cardboard box with his lower lip trembling.

  Antonio pulled up his sagging pants and went out in the hall, “Old man! You want me to go with you?” He shouted after Johnathan, but he didn’t stop.

  Johnathan left them behind and continued running, nearly slamming into a door when he turned the corner and it was opened in front of him. Teachers and staff were coming out into the hall and asking about the announcement. He didn’t stop to explain but just kept running for classroom 12 and snatched open the door as soon as he reached the knob. Inside, Amber was struggling with the small child, Hector, trying to fight him off in a far corner. The other students were scared and hiding behind Francine at her desk.

  Johnathan went to help Amber and saw Hector clawing at the air with dark veiny hands. The boy’s eyes were yellow pits and his mouth hung open in a gnarled grimace. He grabbed Amber’s wrist with a death grip and Johnathan went to pry the boy’s fingers off her. When he finally did, he saw Amber’s forearm was scratched to hell. She winced at her mangled arm and tears of pain filled her eyes as she went running for the door and out of the classroom.

  “Everyone get out of the classroom right now!” Johnathan shouted and used a desk to push the feral small boy back.

  Francine ushered everyone out the classroom and Johnathan gave Hector a solid push to give himself enough space to turn and run. He slammed the door shut when he exited and locked the wild boy inside.

  “John, we can’t leave him in the classroom by himself! You know that!” Francine tried moving Johnathan to go to her student still inside the room.

  “What happened?” Johnathan didn’t budge and held the door shut. “What happened? Why is Hector going crazy?!”

  “What do you mean? When is he not--”

  “Francine! What caused it?! What happened, exactly!” Johnathan stared into her eyes, stern and without blinking.

  Francine started slowly, “Amber gave him his inhaler and after he took it…” She held out her hand with the asthma pump. Small letters were in the corner in bold. LRS-10 SUPPLEMENT.

  Johnathan saw the words and shook his head. “Ok, it’s ok. Francine, just please take your class to the front exits. We have to leave the school now. Take everyone to the vans out front.” He turned to see Amber standing in the hallway, “Are you ok Amber?”

  Amber nodded but was too concerned with the state of her nearly flayed arm to give a better response. She was bleeding badly.

  “We have to get you and Sam to the hospital and get all the kids out of here.” Johnathan continued. “It’s not safe in the parking lot and it’s not safe in the school.”

  A loud pounding started up to his right, on the back door heading to the parking lot. Snarling and screaming could be heard coming from what sounded like wild animals. Johnathan started shouting for everyone in the halls to start making their way to the front exits. Students asked questions like, "What's going on?" and "Are we going to the movies?" Teachers asked, "What happened to Amber?" and “Who was at the back door?” Johnathan just continued pushing them towards the exits down the hall and redirected students who were asking about the back door.

  "It's ok, we're going this way." Johnathan spoke softly to one tall student with a slacked jaw who timidly pointed to the back door. "No, we're gonna go out the front. We're leaving."

  Michelle came around the corner and saw everyone moving and urged them back to their rooms. “Everyone please, go back to your classrooms. I called the police and they said they’re on their way." Michelle spoke loudly so everyone could hear her. "They’ve been getting calls about strange acting people all day and they think it’s some kind of YouTube thing.” She was eyeing Johnathan with contempt.

  “Are you fuckin’ serious? Does this look like some YouTube video?!” Johnathan pointed at Amber’s arm. “Michelle, we have to do something before someone else gets hurt!” Johnathan went past the principal and asked people to follow him.

  A huge crash could be heard outside in front of the school. It was so loud many of the people in the hallway dropped to the floor, thinking it was an explosion. Johnathan rushed to the front door at the end of the hall and kicked it open. Across the street an AC Transit bus had crashed into a house. The front half of the house looked like a bomb had gone off, it was completely leveled. Some survivors had escaped the crash unharmed but many of them were screaming and running away from more strangely acting people who were attacking passengers. A man was pressed against the window inside the bus being ripped to shreds as a group of crazed teens went after him like dogs.

  “Oh my god…” Johnathan watched from the bottom of the stairs feeling the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. Many staff members and students were exiting the building and looking just as shocked as he was. "Everyone... get to the vans!" Johnathan pulled kids with him out the door and many others went running to the three white vans parked in front of the school.

  There were students already in each of the vans, engrossed with the accident across the street. They were hooting and hollering, and some thought it was a live show to be excited about. Brandon got out the passenger seat of one of the vehicles and knew the situation was darker than any of the students could understand. He would have asked Johnathan a question when he came rushing over, but the older man pushed him back onto the van and told the kids to get in and put on their seatbelts. Arthur and Justine were coming out from the front office with Antonio and Miles.

  “Arthur, bring Sam! C’mon!” Johnathan’s call startled Arthur and he went back into the school.

  Johnathan heard a woman scream and saw two savage looking men fighting each other in the street, scratching and punching and screaming wildly. Both men were going at each other with killing intent.

  “C’mon!” Johnathan called to the other students and waiting staff, still at the school door. He grit his teeth and waved for them to come but no one budged. Michelle was there urging them back inside.

  Francine looked at the madness across the street and watched Amber rush to the van. She heard Michelle in her ear telling her to move back inside quickly. She saw Johnathan grabbing what kids he could, even if they fought him, still putting them on the van. He looked at Francine with a deep concern and she felt her heart start to pound. She grabbed Eryanna by the hand and told the other children from her class to follow her to the van.

  Another shriek from the people in the streets scared the students and some were putting their hands over their ears, uncertain of where to go and who to follow. It became a tug of war between Michelle and Francine when both women tried to convince the children where they would be safe.

  “C’mon everyone, let’s go get on a van!” Francine inched towards Johnathan, hoping the children would follow.

  “No kids, we have to stay in the school. It’s dangerous out there! It’s safer in the school.” Michelle was circling her arms to imitate reeling the children
back inside the door.

  “Francine! C’mon!” Johnathan called again and noticed a stumbling man in the crosswalk before a car came barreling into him and just kept going.

  More people were in the streets fighting for their lives as more insane individuals began to gang up and tear apart their victims. Some of those same insane people were starting to notice the school and the students and they were making their way over. Johnathan ran over to Francine and in the middle of her arguing with Michelle, he grabbed the teacher and pushed her towards the van. Francine lost Eryanna’s hand and the little girl was pulled inside the building and the doors were closed.

  Arthur came running out the front entrance of the school, panicky and looking hysterical. Johnathan would have called out to him, but then he saw Sam chasing Antonio, Miles and the pregnant Justine. Sam was a raving lunatic like those other wild people. His Raider hat had fallen off and his eyes were red, and his teeth were bared. Justine ran as fast as she could—it was more a waddle than a run—but she couldn’t keep up with the boys.

  Antonio and Miles didn’t look back, they just kept running and the small child dropped the cardboard he had still been holding onto. Johnathan got Francine on the van and went to help Justine but it was too late, Sam was on her. The wild man jumped on her back and dropped her to the ground, latching his teeth into her neck. Blood burst out and Johnathan knew she was a goner. There was nothing he could do. When Antonio and Miles got to the van, he practically threw them into the vehicle.

  Arthur was running across the front lawn and down the sidewalk to where his car was parked across the street. He drew the attention of the maniacs from the bus and they sprinted after him. He almost made it to the front door of his Sedan, but two raving bastards grabbed him and beat him to the sound of loud yelps.

  More of the strange-behaving people were moving towards the school. Many of them were already clamoring at the windows of the other vans and shouting at those staff members who hadn’t finished loading up. Johnathan took a student’s backpack and used it to shove one wild woman away as she came screaming at him. He looked and saw one packed van pulling off and barely avoiding the people gathered around the vehicle. Johnathan looked to the door of the school and saw Michelle standing behind the glass with students and other staff members who chose to stay. He saw the fear in her eyes but only jumped inside the van and slammed the door shut; right before the screaming wild woman tried grabbing him again.