Death's Little Angels

by Sylver Belle Garcia

  “Wait!” Tarynn said before Drew opened the doors. “Let me say a silent prayer.”

  “Girl, we don’t have time to pray! Don’t you hear those things back there?” Cookie shouted. “You can pray and run just like you can walk and talk. It works the same.“ Cookie snapped her lips as Tarynn mumbled something inaudible under her breath.

  Drew, with the help of Billy, flung the double doors open. The rain and wind immediately greeted them with brute blows to the body. Debris whirled around in circles creating mini tornados on the ground. Drew shielded his eyes with his hand from the rain like he was saluting a high ranking officer. He noticed a student walking towards them from the football practice field. Boy or girl? He could not tell who the student was because of the distance and rain.

  Drew and the group continued running until they made it underneath the awning that was connected to the cafeteria. The girls tried to shake themselves dry while Beetle and Billy followed Drew to the cafeteria door. Drew stopped cold in his tracks. He could not believe his eyes. Numerous bodies were piled into a corner adjacent to where the cashier usually sat. But that was not what stopped Drew. He looked on in horror as Kaleb toyed with an Eater pinned up against the wall by a table. Royal was standing on top of the table kicking the Eater in the face. Ashley along with the other cheerleaders cheered the duo on. Other students ransacked the kitchen and were eating ice creams, chips, and cookies.

  Kaleb raised his stick and began to chant Fight or die! Fight or die! Fight or die! The other students joined him in chanting.

  “What is going on in there?” Beetle asked.

  Drew turned around with his fingers to his lips. Sue Ellen and Mater slowly crept up behind Drew to witness the fiasco.

  “Man…” Billy said. “How in the living daylights are these fools going to be partying when the world is ending?”

  “Kaleb is really sick,” Mater sniffled through red swollen eyes. Seeing the Eater brought back memories of Marley.

  “Not as sadistic as Royal,” Sue Ellen added. She squinted her eyes. She remembered this so called secret that he had about her.

  Drew turned around to face the group. “Look guys. We will just hide out with them until the weather calms down or help arrives. Whichever comes first? Agreed?” “That is not a good idea,” Billy interjected.

  “Well, do you have any other bright ideas, Sherlock?” Drew barked.

  Beetle shook his head and glanced down at his shoes.

  Drew looked over Beetle’s head to see that the student who he saw earlier in the football field was getting closer. Much closer. The student had neared the corner and was coming into plain view. It seemed as if the student was dragging his feet. Drew squinted his eyes to focus in more clearly to realize that the student was missing an arm and something pink on the side of his neck was flapping in the brutal wind. The scary thing that frightened everyone about Steven’s appearance was most of the flesh on his neck was gone. His head was supported by nothing but a sheer skeletal spinal column bone.

  “Oh my God!! That is Steven Blane!” Cookie shouted.

  True enough as Steven shuffled in closer, Drew saw the shoulder length dark hair. He closed his eyes briefly to block out the scene that had cost Steven his life. As Steven stumbled upon them closer he opened his mouth letting the loud hoarse moan escape his throat. He reopened and clamped his jaws shut like a robot as he moved in closer to Drew and the others.

  The horrid sounds of Steven, signaled the other Eaters that were fretting about. Eaters from all over the back of the school yard joined Steven in groups as they headed toward Drew and the gang. The Eaters that Drew and the group had tried to escape earlier had made it to the double doors in heaps and began unknowingly pushing up against the barrier to reach the live victims. The Eaters always seemed to know when their food source was nearby. The undead stumbled into Steven and congregated behind him. The Eaters led by Steven, moaned and gurgled in sync as they straggled along slowly guided not by their brains but sense of smell.

  Cookie rushed past everyone in a frantic effort to get into the cafeteria safely. She yanked on the doors forcefully. “The doors!! They are locked!” Cookie yelled back at Drew with crazed eyes.

  Cookie began beating on the windows to get the attention of the students inside. Drew along with everyone else joined Cookie in desperate appeals for help.

  “Let us in! We are going to die out here!” Drew shouted in a cracked voice.

  Drew watched as Kaleb plunged the sharpened stick into the Eater’s head. The Eater dropped like a ton of bricks. Everyone laughed when the Eater toppled backwards and fell into the wall. Kaleb tapped Royal and pointed in the direction of Drew and the others as they stood outside banging on the windows.

  Royal jumped off the table and strolled towards Drew and his former classmates. He had a snide look on his face. Kaleb followed behind Royal closely while a group of approximately thirty students trailed behind them. Royal walked up to the doors and tapped on the window. He opened his mouth into a cynical grin.

  “Let us in, man!” Drew pleaded.

  Royal glanced back at the group of students gathered behind him and laughed loudly. He slowly held his right thumb up and then quickly turned it down. “You are on your own, Drew Jacks! This is my domain. I am king here. Find your own castle!”

  “You can be the king, queen, or president! I don’t care Royal! Just let us in! PLEASE!” Drew pleaded once more. He looked back to notice that at least fifteen Eaters had joined Steven moaning as they staggered closer to them.

  Royal looked towards the door and pointed at the hallway that Drew and his friends had recently exited. It seemed as if the door was about to bust at the seams. Royal then pointed at three more Eaters that had joined the fifteen Eaters who followed Steven. The sounds of the dead were like a bad chorus.

  “Please, Royal. Please,” Sue Ellen whined. “We are going to die out here!”

  “And so shall your dirty secret rest with you!” Royal blasted and evilly laughed again.

  Mater began hitting at the window with her Sock-a-bat. Sue Ellen joined Mater and swung her Sock-a-bat at the window where Royal stood. Royal jumped back quickly and continued to laugh. A sinister look crept upon Kaleb’s face as he chanted Fight or die! Fight or die! Fight or die! He raised his stick and pointed it towards the window where the Eaters moved in closer.

  Drew narrowed his eyes and placed his finger on the window pane and pointed at Royal. “You will pay for this. I promise!”

  “Not before you do!” Royal sneered.

  But getting revenge on Royal was the least of Drew’s worries. The screaming sounds from Cookie erupted as Steven Blane pulled her hair taking her down with him.

  Chapter 7

  There goes the boy running down the street

  Here comes the zombies time to EAT, EAT, EAT!

  “Agh!! He got my hair!” Cookie yelled as she kicked and hollered.

  Steven’s mouth opened wide as he gnashed his teeth and clamped down onto Cookie’s head. Drew could smell the undead from a distance away. The Eater’s mouth reeked of foul and putrid odors. Drew could not decipher if the Eater’s smell was like rotten meat or spoiled fish. Either way, the aroma was unbearable and suffocating.

  Mater reached back and swung her Sock-a-bat with all of her strength into the Eater’s head. The school made weapon landed with a crashing crack on the side of Steven’s noggin. His non-human body had no balance and he quickly fell over onto the pavement cracking open his skull. A dark brownish pink substance accompanied by thick gooey blood leaked from the slit in Steven’s head.

  Cookie jumped up quickly with the assistance of Tarynn and Mater. She frantically searched her body.

  “Did it get you?” Mater asked as she hurriedly body searched Cookie.

  “Nah, just a- a- few tracks. He pulled out some of my weave. I-I- I’m good,” Cookie hastily said as she ran her shaking fingers through the rest of her hair.

  More Eaters closed in on the group. Drew q
uickly called for everyone to gather in the formation that they were once in before leaving the classroom. The students in the cafeteria led by Royal cheered the Eaters on in a chant, Fight or die! Fight or die! Fight or die!

  “Everybody hold together and follow my lead,” Drew directed.

  Drew swung his knife rapidly at the wildly flailing arms that grabbed aimlessly for their bodies.

  “Go for the head!” Mater yelled as she continued swinging her Sock-a-bat at the Eaters who continuously made their way towards them.

  Billy and Beetle continued stabbing away at the bloody severed hands while Sue Ellen and Mater swung their socks filled with paper weights at the Eater’s head. The moans became louder as the group of undead students continued their attack on the living.

  “I don’t think we can hold them any longer!” Drew panicked as he stabbed an Eater in the forehead.

  More Eaters closed in on the group as they slowly backed up towards the cafeteria and was pinned against the glass. They never gave up and continued swinging Sock-a-bats and scissors. Drew glanced back at the onlookers in the cafeteria. Their chanting had stopped as they all looked on in sheer terror at what was going on outside.

  All of a sudden, the sound of loud pops was heard coming from outside of the current zombie attack. Eaters began following one by one to the ground by an unseen force. Drew went to stab the last undead student but it was dropped by a thick rock to the forehead. Drew scanned the area quickly to notice a group of three students accompanied by the seventh grade history teacher, Mr. Freeman, make their way quickly towards him and the others. A sling shot made of several rubber bands dangled freely in the teacher’s hand.

  Drew looked up to the heavens. “Thank you….” He quietly muttered out of what breath he had left. Everyone looked relieved to see a new set of survivors.

  “Glad we got to you guys in time. I am out of rocks. How long were you guys out here son?” Mr. Freeman directed towards Drew.

  “Not long Mr. Freeman but it felt like hours. If you wouldn’t have come… We would be one of those… Eaters out there.”

  “They are not Eaters they are called zombies,” a girl by the name of Olivia Gates snapped. She flipped her dirty blonde hair as if to wait for a challenge from Drew or anyone else.

  Olivia Gates was the best friend to McKenzie Ward who was found eating the principal earlier. Olivia was also the girl who ran for every extra curricular office whether it was Student Council or Beta Club and usually won. She was the most favored of all the popular girls who was envied by many even the cheerleaders. Olivia was a decorated ballerina and would travel to New Orleans to train on the weekends. Her 18 karat golden necklace with ballet slippers dangled freely from her neck. She swung her shoulder length hair over her shoulders again and waited for a challenge from Drew. Drew observed that she was just affected by the outbreak as everyone else; her right cheek had speckles of blood splatter on it.

  “According to the internet, they are called Eaters and what does it matter? Those things have moved us to the top of the food chain!” Drew shouted. He was at his wits end. All he wanted to do was get home at this point and get in his bed.

  “From what I’ve seen so far, girls like you die first,” Sue Ellen snapped. Everyone turned to look at her, even Mater was stunned.

  “Now is not the time Olivia and no more insults Sue Ellen.” Mr. Freeman turned his attention back to Drew. “Anymore students or teachers with you?”

  Drew shook his head. He turned back towards the cafeteria and gave way to Royal and the others inside.

  “What are they doing in there? And you guys were outside out here?” Mr. Freeman quickly glanced back and forth between Drew and the window panes, which separated them from Royal and the other students that were safely nestled inside the cafeteria.

  Mr. Freeman, followed by Olivia and the two other female students, went to the cafeteria and pulled on the doors, which opened its arms freely. Drew’s mouth fell wide open. He followed Mr. Freeman inside and secured the door quickly once every one was safely inside. Drew walked up to Royal nonchalantly and hurled a swift punch to the face. Royal fell into Kaleb who caught his fall. Kaleb grinned widely as he assisted Royal who held his face. Drew ran once more and tackled both Kaleb and Royal knocking them over onto the cafeteria tables.

  Drew fought with Kaleb on the tables while Royal rolled over groaning and grabbed his nose. Mr. Freeman stepped in and pulled the boys apart. The teacher was big and broad shouldered like a linebacker. He pointed at Kaleb and then at Drew.

  “You two stay in your spots and do not move! This is unacceptable and if school was in session you both would be reprimanded!” Mr. Freeman angrily stated.

  “They left us out there to die!” Drew shouted. He winced at the pain in his lip. He brought his hand up to inspect his face. Kaleb sneakily grinned and licked the blood that trickled from his nose. Tarynn walked towards the center of the confrontation.

  “And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars and on earth a distress of the nations because of the roaring of the sea and waves,” Tarynn pointed at the window where the rain fell down beating angrily at the pavement, “people will faint with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken…. Luke, chapter 21 and verses 25-26.”

  The room fell deathly silent. It was not until now that everyone knew that the time had come that man was being punished for his actions.

  Mr. Freeman stared at Kaleb and then Royal for what seemed like infinity. He shook his head. He glanced at Tarynn and his face softened.

  “Tarynn, I thank you for that scripture. I do pray that we all make it out of here safely,” Mr. Freeman said as he turned his attention back to everyone in the cafeteria. “Now, our school or possibly the entire town is apparently under some biological warfare attack. I came back through to see if there were any survivors. There are a host of buses boarding out front to get everyone out of here.”

  “I need to get to my Mee-maw and sisters,” Drew interrupted. Drew’s request signaled a wave of pleas from the other students asking for their parents and significant others.

  “Sorry son. We are headed to the Fairgrounds Center. That is the location that has been set up for us to evacuate. The National Guard is reportedly already there. We need to move and move fast guys. Whatever is going on out there is spreading fast. Pick up anything you have that you can use as a weapon or protection. Backpacks, sticks…” Mr. Freeman noticed the Sock-a-bats, scissors, and knife that Drew and his group was carrying. He nodded his head in approval. “Let’s go. Not much time left.” The teacher quickly headed towards the door with Drew, Sue Ellen, and the others following closely behind.

  “We are staying…”Royal said as he shielded his nose. Drew stopped in his tracks and glanced back in disbelief.

  A look of desperation crossed Mr. Freeman’s face as he noticed another Eater straggling along outside in the rain. He turned around to face Royal.

  “Son, listen. I am the adult here and know what’s best. There are a gazillion of those things out there. If you don’t come with me now then surely you won’t make it out of here alive.”

  “My parents instructed me to stay put in the event of an emergency. Here at the school. They won’t know to look for me at that ole’ musty Fairgrounds Center,” Royal blasted. He became confident as the followers behind him agreed.

  “I don’t have time to argue boy. We are leaving now and I suggest you come.” Beads of sweat were evident on Mr. Freeman’s forehead.

  “Can’t the buses come back here to pick us up? The car rider line is back here,” Royal pointed out the window. The car rider line was where the parents picked up the students who did not ride the bus or go to the after school program. “I do not want to risk getting scratched or bitten by those creatures.”

  “That was already discussed. It’s chaotic towards the front right now. The buses won’t be able to make a round back here.”

  “I am stayin
g put. I have seen what those creatures out there will do to you,” Royal snapped.

  “Your choice son,” Mr. Freeman said. He turned to look at all the students before settling his gaze down on Drew. “If you want to live, then come with me.”

  Drew tightened the grip on his knife. He observed Sue Ellen and Mater nod their heads in agreement. They had Drew’s back no matter what. Beetle secured his glasses over the bridge of his nose and hit elbows with Billy who crouched down in a stance as if he were about to start a race.

  Tarynn raised her fist towards the heavens and brought it back to her chest closing her eyes and whispered another countless silent prayer. She left her bible on the table as Kaleb made a loud scowl. “Don’t worry you are going to need this more than me,” Tarynn said as she patted the bible and walked over towards Drew and Mr. Freeman.

  Drew noticed he was missing someone in his original group.

  Where is Cookie?

  “Wait, Mr. Freeman. We can’t leave Cookie. Where is she?” Drew asked.

  “I’m here. I’m coming,” Cookie said as she slowly made her way to the front of the cafeteria. Her head looked funny from the missing hair that the Eater had chomped off. “I had to sit down for a minute. I haven’t fought like that in a long time. Thank goodness for that Vaseline.”

  Drew noticed that Cookie was not her usually spunky self. He could understand how draining it would be after fighting someone. He had wore himself out by tackling those two dud heads that had left him out to die. He could not imagine how Cookie must have felt fighting off an Eater.

  “Are you alright?” Drew asked.

  Sue Ellen and Mater turned around and stared at Cookie. They all noticed that when Cookie turned her head there was blood on her shoulder on the side where the Eater yanked half of her hair out.

  “I’m fine…” Cookie breathed deeply. She looked around at the bamboozled looks.