by T. Z. Leigh
It had taken Sam a few tries before he managed to get his phone out of his pocket while sprinting down the hallway. In his slippery palm, it almost fell and smashed to the ground, but he held it firmly because it was the only way of calling someone for help. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary that there was no reception on his phone. Half the school happened to be in a dead zone, but once running past the staff room, which was in the middle of the hallway, reception bars should have appeared at the top of his screen. But they didn't.
Sam frowned. Still, no signal! What the hell?
They came closer to the teacher's dorms. The three buildings were connected by enclosed glass walkways, designed to keep the school accessible in all types of weather. They raced through the walkway, sunshine blinding them from every angle, so they had to train their eyes on the wood flooring until reaching the other end. As if the situation wasn't terrifying enough, now they couldn't even see what was around them.
As Zachery opened the door that led into the dorms, he found someone there. She was facing away from them, but he still recognised her. It was his history teacher, Miss Adam. Her brown hair was in a French plait - as always - and she was wearing a suit jacket and skirt that showed off her thick calves. A regimental person by nature, she was retired from the army.
"Miss Adam, you have to come quick...something has happened to Dr Proyss!" Zachery cried out.
She turned around to look at them and this time, all of them screamed. She had been affected like the doctor, her skin burnt, eyes red and white, snarling with long sharp teeth.
Zachery felt sick to his stomach. What the hell is happening?
She started limping towards them as they ran back into the main building. Zachery had no idea where to go. All he knew was that they couldn't go back in the direction they came from, not with Dr Proyss headed their way.
"We need to go somewhere they won't be able to find us. Somewhere we can secure the doors," Zachery said, holding his chest and quivering with fear as he jogged.
"I know somewhere. The old war bunker near the tennis court. Nothing can penetrate that door once it's locked," wheezed Jamie.
Zachery slowed a little. "That's a dumb idea. Once we're in there, we're trapped. No way out."
Jamie put her hand to her head, as if trying to pry a thought out of it, "Shit. I didn't think of that."
"We need to go somewhere high up, out of reach. What about the balcony in the college hall? If the door's locked, we'll be fine," Zachery suggested, breathless yet hopeful.
"Yeah. Assuming they can't fly." April’s sarcasm obviously wasn't affected by her physical exertion.
"Let's just go. It's a good idea," Sam told them.
With that they all ran. Hard.
Chapter Six
On the college hall's balcony, Jamie paced back and forth while Zachery and April were seated. Zachery was grateful that Sam stood at the ready, continually staring at the doors to make sure he knew if anything was coming. They had put a plank through the handles of the doors and stacked as many chairs, tables, and whatever else they could find against them. However, Zachery had seen too many horror movies to think they were completely safe. He came out of his daydream upon hearing April's voice.
"So, what can we do? Two monster teachers are walking around who look like they wanna eat us. Since we're in the hall, we should have full bars on our phones right now, but still nothing. We can't call for help and we're stuck on this balcony. Suggestions, anyone?"
"Yeah, why don't you shove that phone up your..."
"Jamie, please. Not the right time," Zachery interrupted, having no patience for the girls' rivalry.
He'd put up with it in his Spanish class for weeks before Jamie had chosen another language. April being rude to Jamie's friend wasn't nice, but that didn't mean they had to become enemies for life.
"Zach, is there any other way of us contacting someone from outside school?" Sam asked, taking him out of his reverie.
Zachery, surprised by the personal address from Sam - who had never spoken to him before - tried not to show his shock. "They must have phones in the offices. Only problem is, how do we get there without running into trouble?"
"The question none of you are asking," Jamie stated, “is what happened to them in the first place? I've seen plenty of zombie movies and I know how they work. Why did they turn like that? What if one of us becomes like them? We don't even know the cause of it."
Zachery was dead silent. None of them had any idea what was going on or if she was right. But there was definitely a way to find out.
"There might be a way we can see what's happened. A few years ago, the school had security cameras installed after that teacher got attacked. Maybe something's been caught on tape. If we can get to Arron's office, we can check it out. I've worked on the system before, so I know the password to the computer. I can also try contacting someone for help from there as well."
Zachery almost regretted saying it. He knew they would have to venture off that balcony, something he did not want to do. Yet he was intrigued, and he wanted to find out what was going on.
"We can go through the classrooms," Zachery suggested. "It'll take longer, but at least there's a chance of us getting to Arron's office without running into any more monsters."
"Look!" Jamie shouted, jumping to her feet.
Zachery glanced towards the door to see Dr Proyss' face peering through the narrow glass window, still as ugly as last time.
Sam rushed to the door to ensure the barricade remained firmly against it and got a closer look.
"What the...?"
Dr Proyss had been joined by Miss Adam and two other teachers, all four of them trying to break the door. They looked desperate to get in, all of them drooling excessively as if their craving was about to be satisfied. Stuck on the balcony, they only had two options. Either find a way to climb down or jump off.
"Now would be an excellent opportunity for you to practice diving, Jamie. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine," April said, which earned her a few exasperated groans from everyone.
While Sam and Zachery leaned against the blockade they'd made to keep the door closed, Jamie and April searched for anything that might break their fall or slow their descent.
April shouted from the corner. "I found something in one of these old, dusty boxes! It looks like an old curtain! Really long! We can tie it to something and slide down!"
"Well, do it then! What are you waiting for?" Zachery was starting to wheeze from putting all his strength against the door.
April and Jamie quickly tied it to a pole on the balcony railing as a hand smashed through the little window in the door and tried to grab one of them.
"Done!" yelled Jamie, climbing over the railing and lowering herself down.
April followed her, not hesitating for a moment. "Come on!" she screamed.
"You go first," Sam told Zachery, "but hurry."
Sam watched him breathing heavily as he slid down and decided to take one last look through the window. There were only three monsters now. Realising that one of the monsters could be making their way down to the others, he ran as fast as possible and climbed down as if his life depended on it. He sighed in relief when he saw that the three of them were alone, and he ran after them as they entered the nearest classroom.
They raced through the intersecting classrooms, trying to keep an eye on everything. There was a horrifying possibility that a monster could jump out of nowhere. That's how it always happened in the movies. But it wasn't easy to navigate their way. All the classrooms on the ground floor looked pretty much the same. They had to keep pausing to discuss quietly which way to run. Then, as they ran, something made Jamie stop. The others stopped too, wondering what the hell she was doing.
"Why'd you stop?" Sam asked.
"I thought I saw something."
"What was it?" April squeaked.
Jamie took a deep breath, looking a little worried but unsure of herself.
"I though
t I saw someone. On the ceiling."
"What? Don't tell me they can crawl on the walls and stuff?" April hissed, looking all around her as if there were monsters everywhere.
"No. Like a normal person. I thought I saw a man."
"Okay, Jamie, you probably just imagined it. There's a lot going on... there are monsters after us. We need to go!" Sam exclaimed, pulling her arm so she would follow him.
They came to the last classroom that led onto the main hallway and Sam peered through the little window in the door, checking if he could see anyone. The hallway was empty so he took a breath, trying to steady his nerves, and opened the door. They quietly ran to the security guard's office, desperately hoping to find answers to their questions.
They reached there, thankfully not greeted by anything nasty, and locked themselves inside. Zachery had logged onto the system, but there was no WiFi. The phone lines were dead too. Panic edged its way down his spine and he gulped while pressing his fingers into his eyes, before facing the others to give them the bad news.
"We're on our own, guys. We're stuck here with these things."
"You can't get hold of anyone?" Jamie asked with disbelieving dread.
He stared at her for a brief moment. With the exception of her rejecting him at the party, she had never said a word to him before, let alone in a soft, timid voice. And because he'd had a major crush on her since he'd first seen her, it just didn't seem real that she was now gazing into his eyes, even if only in fear.
"There's no network at all. It's as if someone destroyed the nearest cell tower or something. No network. At all."
Her mouth gaped a little before she turned away to look at one of the monitors that spanned the wall. He couldn't turn his head away, but let his gaze drop to the floor so she wouldn't think he was a creep for watching her.
"There must be some other way," April asserted.
Zachery had to clear his throat before replying. "Unless the network returns, there isn't. Best thing to do right now is to find out what's going on."
He got to work on trying to look at footage from earlier that morning, or maybe the night before. Simultaneously, the rest studied the monitors, wondering if any of the monsters would appear on them. The room was an impressive sight. Around twenty screens, each switching between various locations in turn. The school did an excellent job with surveillance. They could see most of the school premises, except for the back of the student's dorms.
"No wonder they never caught us sneaking out," Jamie said.
On the screens, they saw the three teachers wandering in the hallway just outside the college hall.
"Where is the fourth?" Sam whispered under his breath.
"Huh?" April replied, getting closer to see what he was looking at.
"There were four teachers outside that door. By the time I climbed down off the balcony, there were only three. I wanna find out where the fourth one has gone."
"Oh man, I wish I never asked," she moaned.
"Here...look at this," Zachery called out to them.
The others rushed to see what he had found. On the screen played a recording that had been taken just outside the headteacher’s office. It seemed normal. The headteacher went into his office and five minutes later, another man came out.
"Okay, what's so special about that?" April asked.
"Watch this," Zachery said before pressing some keys on the keyboard to rewind the footage, leaning back on the chair so they could get a better view. He waited for their reaction, but no one said anything.
"So, what are we looking at?" Sam complained, getting annoyed.
"As you all saw, the headteacher unlocked the padlocks on his office door and went in alone at seven am. Five minutes later, someone else came out."
"What does that mean?" Jamie questioned.
"I don't know, but it's weird whatever it is...that some other guy was locked in his office the whole night? There are no cameras in his office, so we can't check to be sure."
When Zachery played the images again, Jamie froze.
"Wait," she said, looking as if she'd seen a ghost. "The man who came out of the office... it's the same man I saw on the ceiling just now."
Sam was obviously in no mood for meaningless drama. He puffed out air from his lungs. "For real, Jamie, what the heck are you saying?"
"I'm serious! I'm not making up some crap for laughs, okay?"
"Oh my God. Monsters, ghosts, what else now?" April asked, almost crying.
"Don't say that. Don't you dare say that! You're going to jinx us. Things always get worse when someone says that," Zachery said superstitiously.
"Look," Sam snapped, "we need to get out of here. Sooner or later, those things are gonna find us again, and now we have this freaky guy situation. We've got to find real help. There's still no signal on our phones, so there must be something funny going on. We don't know how many monsters are walking around. From what I've seen on the monitors, there are maybe eight of them. I have an idea, but I need to know if you all will be able to do it. To get to the main gate will be too risky, it's on the other side of the college…so here's the idea. We go out of this room's window, run to the nearest fence, then climb over. The only reason I'm asking is because it's twenty feet high. Can all of you climb that?"
April answered first. "Hey, if it's climbing or getting eaten, I'll climb that fence no matter how high it is!"
"Yeah. I don't fancy being their dinner either," echoed Jamie.
"I do have the urge to stay here and study these things, but I'm not exactly ready to die yet," Zachery said.
"Okay, Zach, that's interesting to know," Sam said, rolling his eyes.
Zachery shrank back into himself. He'd almost forgotten that these people didn't get him.
"This is how we'll do it. No offence, but I'm probably the fastest. I'll run to the fence first. If no monsters appear, then you should all run as fast as you can after me, and we all get out of here," Sam said.
Sam wasn't sure if he was being brave or stupid, but he felt like he had to protect them, like a dormant instinct just took over. The others, shocked by his bravery, just nodded.
There was a sudden bang on the door. Zachery sprung up from his seat and went to the monitor showing the hallway just outside the security office. Sure enough, he saw three monsters outside, all trying to get in. There was constant banging now, followed by April crying.
"That's our cue," Sam said reassuringly. He grabbed April's shoulders softly. "Just follow me out and get over that fence. Simple, okay?"
April nodded, no longer crying, just whimpering. Sam went to the window and sighed in relief when it opened. He stuck his head out and looked around. Since they were on the ground floor and he didn't see any movement, he jumped outside.
He ran as fast as he could towards the fence, his head whipping from side to side to check if the coast was clear. The crunching of grass and the beating of his own heart was all he could hear, then a faint rustling in a tree, which he ignored. He wasn't going to let a squirrel or bird distract him when his life depended on it.
He didn't see any monsters, so he motioned exaggeratedly with his hand for the others to join him since they were only fifty feet away. He started climbing the fence rapidly, knowing that they needed to get off the college grounds and obtain help. He fleetingly thought of Eva, but his thoughts were interrupted by a noise. The softest hum coming from above. He looked up. His stomach sank, and feelings of fear and regret reverberated through his body as he climbed back down rapidly. The others weren't too far behind.
"What's wrong?" Zachery asked when he saw Sam's face.
As a tremendous crash came from the security office, they knew that monsters must be entering the room. Sam lost hope. What could they do now?
"What is it?" Jamie demanded.
"There's electrified wiring above the fence. It's like it's been added at the top, running between the concrete posts."
"Then we have to go. Follow me!" yelled Zachery, sprinting acr
oss the grass.
"Where are we going?" asked Jamie.
"To the consumer unit," he replied amidst a wheeze, "we need to cut the electrics going to the fence."
Sam followed Zachery, leaving one danger behind. But in their quick escape, he never noticed the man watching them from a branch in a nearby tree.
Chapter Seven
"How do you know where that is?" Sam asked.
"Mr Baxter used to brag about me because I was a genius, apparently. After that, Mr Carne sometimes asked me for help with technical problems around school and after a while…we became kinda like friends."
Reflecting now, Zachery felt sadness and pity for his former self. He remembered looking at one of the screens in the security office and seeing Mr Carne in his usual overalls, but now with the face of a monster. Putting that image to one side to concentrate on the current problem, he thought of the place he needed to go. The consumer unit was on the ground floor in the staff room. He wasn't sure what would be waiting for them on the way, but if they had any hope of getting out, they needed to cut power to the fence.
They approached the outside door nearest to the staff room. It was a fire exit door, so they knew it would make noise when they opened it, but they had to take the chance. The door clicked twice loudly, making them all wince as they went in.
The hallway seemed deserted, but they peeked and saw what was inside as they came closer to the staff room. Two monsters walking with the same limp, going around in circles. It was almost comical how dumb they seemed to be, especially since they used to be teachers. Zachery smirked, then felt terrible for doing so, mainly because Mr Carne was one of them.
After retreating into the storage room next door, Sam cleared his throat.
"We need a way to get them out of there, somehow. We need to do something...like a distraction."
The others just stared at him expectantly, as if they were happy that he was the one to say it out loud.
