“Lost cause,” I stated. Anthony raised an eyebrow.
“You see, we’ve got all these classrooms up here on the top floor, we could probably accommodate another hundred people without running out of space. And we could fortify the main entrance to the school after clearing the first floor and basement levels, but there are dozens of classrooms. There’s no way we could fortify and protect the windows to ALL those classrooms.”
There was a rumbling of agreement around me, and several people were nodding. Anthony still looked upset with the plan.
“Do you have a better idea?” I asked.
“Fine. This is a good plan. But I want another person from the school with me that knows their way around if me and my friends are to be the first ones in the building. Marcus! I want you with my group,” he said.
Marcus didn’t seem too thrilled about the idea but nodded.
“And Danny boy!” Anthony continued. Travis and I both turned and looked at Danny, his face trying to hide any surprise before all eyes were on him.
“I heard Daniel gave a lesson in firearms and self defense today. I think that sort of expertise gets you a spot with the first platoon rather then with the runners. I want him on my team through the front door. Vince can replace him as a runner,” he demanded, a smile crossing his face again.
I could tell Travis was about to object, but Daniel beat him to it.
“Fine by me,” Daniel said.
After that the meeting was adjourned and we all went to get some rest. We were going to perform the mission around mid-day, hoping that the lighting would be best then. I spent the night worrying about Daniel, hoping that he’d be ok being one of the first through the front doors. I also tried to suppress this horrible feeling of suspicion: a suspicion that Anthony was up to something. He had looked too smug after the meeting. He had conceded to my recommendations too quickly. Then again, we had been the ones up to something earlier. Anthony had no idea we had been planning our own version of High School Reclamation 101.
I rolled over in my sleeping bag and saw Travis wide-eyed and staring back at me.
“Can’t sleep either, huh?” he asked.
I shook my head and we quietly got up and headed out of the gym. That was the polite thing to do, and the rule. If you couldn’t sleep you were welcome to have a conversation, just take it somewhere else where you weren’t disturbing the others.
We walked out of the gymnasium and in to the hall, River quietly at my feet.
Turning in to the hall, River took off towards the glass walkway.
Travis looked at me, bewildered. I shook my head to explain that I didn’t know why she was running off, but we took off in a jog after her.
I opened the subsequent doors for her, and she continued trotting along. Then I noticed her hair was standing up on end.
We made it through the opposite door of the walkway and River came to a halt at the doorway to the top of the stairs. She stood on guard there and growled with her hackles raised.
The doors were definitely rattling more then I had ever seen them do previously. Travis and I each pressed up against the glass in an attempt to peer down the stairwell.
I thought I would be prepared, but I still jumped back when the chairs slammed in to the doors again.
Taking a deep breath and pretending Travis hadn’t seen me jump, I pressed back up against the glass.
It was pitch black down there, and the lights up on this side of the school were dimmed, so I could see nothing.
I could hear the occasional moan coming up from below.
For a brief moment I could have sworn that I saw lights from down below, but then I strained my eyes to try to focus on it I could see nothing but the metal legs of chairs against the moonlight.
I pulled back away from the doors in unison with Travis.
“It just feels like a bad omen that they are so active tonight. But if it makes you feel any better, the chairs rattle against the doors like this at least once a week,” Travis explained.
“Yeah, it doesn’t make me feel any better,” I confirmed.
He laughed and we went over to the cafeteria to stare at the sky.
“So what River is your dog named after?” Travis asked me. River hopped up next to him and he commenced ear rubbing.
“Tam,” I replied.
“Like the one in London?”
I chuckled. It was a common mistake.
“Nope, that’s the River Thames. River Tam was a character in my favorite TV show ever: Firefly!”
“Ahh, the space cowboy show. I saw it once, was pretty fun. But my favorite show was always Doctor Who. I loved the idea of being able to travel through all of space and time, and the amazing manipulation of history that played out in those shows. Plus they had the best creepy monsters,” he said.
“We could use a TARDIS right about now. And River Song is my second favorite River. Both great names for a warrior woman,” I said, reaching over to give River another scratch.
“Is that true River? Are you a warrior woman?” asked Travis jokingly.
River gave an affirmative bark and we both laughed.
I kept petting River, but Travis leaned in closer so that our shoulders were touching.
I wanted to look at him, but for some reason didn’t have the courage. How strange it must seem to anyone not in my situation: to be able to tackle death and survival without the blink of an eye, but to be too scared to look someone you were developing a crush on in the face
Luckily for me Travis was more brave in that matter, and he gently placed his hand on my thigh.
It was like electricity shot up my leg, but the good kind. I turned to finally look at him and smiled as our head’s came in closer and our lips touched, filling my body with that weightless sensation of lust and desire.
Before I even had a moment to comprehend what had happened the lights flicked on and we were pulling away from each other. And at the same time River started to growl ever so slightly.
“You two love birds enjoying your high school moment? Wish I had a cheesy eighties sound track, it would be so fitting right now,” said Anthony, who was standing towards the back of the cafeteria by the light switches.
“Don’t think it’s any of your business,” Travis said.
“And I don’t think it’s worth getting too attached in this world we live in. Plus you two should be sleeping considering what we have planned for tomorrow,” he growled.
“We couldn’t sleep,” I said lamely.
But I was also watching Anthony, noticing that he was sweating and that his jacket was torn. He also had his automatic weapon strung up over his back as if he had been on patrol.
“We could say the same to you. What have you been up to?” I asked, watching his face suddenly shift from anger and jealousy, to one like he was trying to hide something.
“Just practicing some moves to keep myself ready,” he replied, not convincingly at all.
“I want you two back in bed, and you know the rules: no funny business in the sleeping area,” he ordered, then quickly turned away and headed back towards the gymnasium.
“That was weird,” Travis said.
“Did you see how sweaty and dirty he was? He looked like he had just been on a mission himself,” I said.
“Yeah,” Travis concurred and trailed off.
I turned back to look at him and he seemed not all there.
I placed a hand back on his knee and smiled at him.
“Travis, I like you, at least what I have gotten to know of you in these last couple days. But it’s probably best we focus on the mission and our plans before we let anything else happen between us,” I said, not knowing if I meant it.
“Probably. I just want you to know. I’ve never met anyone like you before. And I really want to keep getting to know you,” he smiled back.
We headed back to the sleeping area, holding hands until just before we entered the gymnasium.
Chapter 61
It was m
id-day just as planned. The sun shone down on us, but it was still frigid. The six inches of snow from the day I joined this school had mostly melted, but a couple inches of it remained stubbornly stuck on the ground like ice.
We were all huddled up by our vehicles about sixty feet from the entrance of the school, rehashing our plan.
I found it strange that while we stood there talking no zombies wandered out of the broken front doors. I figured with all the movement of the chairs in the stairwells the night before that there would be several wandering the halls, and thought they might have come stumbling out to the sound of our cars pulling up, but no such luck. I actually had wished they had joined us. It sure would be easier to dispose of them out here rather than inside the unfamiliar ground in the school.
Anthony and Daniel were just finishing up describing their plan of attack and were about to enter the school and start completing the first wave of clearing the building.
“Danny!” Travis called him over to where the two of us stood.
He trotted over.
“Be careful man. We need you back safe and sound,” he said. The two hugged.
I reached over and squeezed Danny’s hand when he pulled away from Travis’ hug.
“Be safe,” I said simply. He nodded, then turned and followed Anthony’s crew of meatheads in to the school.
Walter and Mary came over towards Travis and I, Walter with his arm around Mary.
“So what type of equipment are you going to have us look for?” asked Mary.
“First we’ll hit up the science classrooms. I guess a basic high school science laboratory should have some of the materials we might need for medicine making, or for making explosives. I remember when I was in senior year chemistry at my high school we made aspirin from scratch, I think that’s a common assignment. So hopefully we can find materials for that. Then I could also use a bunch of the equipment as make shift medical tools too,” I replied.
The sound of gunshots filled the air and we all turned and looked back towards the school. There had been two quick spats of shots followed by silence. The lack of yelling or moaning was hopefully a good sign. I turned back to my group.
“Then in the nurse’s office which is closest to the main entrance, I assume almost everything,” I continued.
More gun shots, then silence.
“I still wish River was with us,” I said out loud.
“Me too. But maybe it will be safer for her staying out of all the potential hazards we might run in to in there,” Travis said. He reached over and grasped my hand to comfort me. I squeezed his hand back and we leaned against each other.
“I always want River to be safe, but I think we would be safer having her for our guide,” I commented.
I noticed Walter and Mary were looking down at Travis and my hands and smirking. I suddenly felt very embarrassed and pulled my hand back to my side.
Walter chuckled. “There’s no need to hide it Diana. Mary and I found each other because of this apocalypse. There’s a lot of bad things that have happened to both of us since the outbreak, but finding each other is one of the good things. Works a whole lot better than online dating if you ask us, having to work together to survive instead of judging someone based on how they dress at the first date, right Mary?”
“Yes hun,” she said back with a smile, and they bent towards each other for a quick kiss.
“I’m happy for you two,” I said, not wanting to start a conversation about Travis and I, who really weren’t an item to be discussed.
“And we hope that you two get the same fulfillment we have,” Mary said. The two of them walked back to one of the other cars, probably to give Travis and I some alone time.
“Well that wasn’t awkward at all,” joked Travis.
I was trying to think of how to reply when our radios lit up with static followed by Anthony’s voice.
“The first level is clear. Send in the salvagers, we’re heading to the basement,” he instructed.
Travis grabbed my arm and pulled me back after I started to walk towards the school.
“You be safe too,” he said as he held both my hands and looked at me.
“You can count on it,” I said. I leaned in and gave him a quick impromptu kiss.
I didn’t linger to see his face, just turned around feeling a bit smug. Of course, that smugness melted away just as quickly as my shadow did stepping in to the school.
Chapter 62
The first noticeable change in the school was the smell. A horrific, rotting stench. Knowing that the majority of the perishable food was upstairs in the kitchen helped your imagination fill in the blanks of where that smell was coming from.
And so did the scene surrounding us.
There was broken glass and debris throughout most of the halls. To our right was a pile of dead bodies, rotting and brown. They had probably been there for weeks, from when this all started. Luckily aside from stimulating my gag reflex it didn’t really hurt us.
The lights were out, and I realized that our thought about doing this mid-day maybe was not the best. Instead of light shining through doors or windows in the classrooms, the sun shone straight down, and it felt more like twilight than noon. But I did start to feel warm, possibly from the adrenalin pumping through my body, and possibly because heat was more contained in this part of the building.
I gazed around and saw the light shimmering through the dust filled air and littered hallways. I found myself really wishing River was by my side. Travis was my back up, and while I really liked and trusted the guy, having him outside was not the same as having River by my side by a long shot.
“Ok you guys, the biology and chemistry labs are just down at the end of the hall there,” said Lance, pointing towards the hall running away from them. “Biology on the right, chemistry on the left.”
“The technology classrooms are all the way at the end of the school this way,” he said, pointing towards the end that would connect to the stairwell by the pedestrian tunnel.
Walter, Mary and I turned back towards our hallway and started toward the classrooms at the end.
We arrived there and looked around us, seeing half a dozen classrooms each on either side of the hallway. Walter and Mary had been pushing carts whereas I had just brought a large duffel bag to start.
My crowbar pressed down on my back. I would probably regret taking it with me as we piled up on goods, but these days I refused to go anywhere without it. Anthony had encouraged us to leave our weapons behind, arguing they would have secured the school, and carrying less would give us more room to lug more items out.
I reflexively reached for the crowbar as I entered the first room on my right, while Walter and Mary went to their left.
Looking around I saw the room was empty, and I put my crowbar back in its holder.
I rushed over to the first bookshelf I could find and started scanning for any useful items.
There were some beakers and Bunsen burners, which I grabbed as they might become useful, but I was overall unimpressed with the selection there.
Next I opened some drawers to find a collection of Petri dishes. I left this behind.
The drawer below that was full of scalpels, blades, and tweezers. If we could find a way to sterilize them those would definitely be helpful, and I shoved them in to my bag.
I picked up the instruments when a muffled thud caused me to jump upright and take in my surroundings again. I stood as still as I could and looked around, gently placing the duffel bag on the floor and grabbing my crowbar.
The room was perfectly still. No sounds or movement caught my attention. It seemed too still.
I placed my crowbar on the counter and went back to collecting more scalpels.
I opened up the next row of drawers when there was both movement and the sensation of something grabbing my hand. I yelped and jumped backwards reflexively.
I didn’t have the time to realize that it had just been a mouse in the drawer scampering out and over
my hand to what it perceived as safety, when the thudding returned. My shout had sent something in to a frenzy in the closet at the back of the room, and a low, oddly muffled moan that rose throughout the room as the thudding continued clued me in to what it was.
Briefly thanking the mouse for scaring me and causing this zombie to reveal itself before it could spring on me, I turned to face the closet. Holding my crowbar at the ready, I pulled myself up behind the door and prepared to open it in one quick motion.
Out stumbled not one but two zombies. I swung and hit the first in the head, but the second fell on top of the now dead body and lunged towards me, causing me to lose my grip and fall backwards.
As the vicious, blue-lipped face of an undead female came falling towards me I pushed the length of the crow bar upwards and was able to catch it in the mouth during our crash to the ground.
I now had the weight of two bodies on top of me, the crow bar’s end lodged in the skull of the first just to the right of my face, and the body of the crow bar wedged as far as it could be towards the back of the throat of the second. Against all my inner instincts, I reached up and grabbed the back of the head of the female zombie and tried to pull it more towards me, hearing her jaws crack in the process. It didn’t stop her from chomping towards me, but it kept her from being able to pull back and re-angle before I could get all my weight under me.
With my hands on either side of the crow bar, far to close to her teeth, I heaved with all my might and pushed the two off me. I let go of the crow bar to keep my hands away from the now freed jaw of the zombie. Scrambling to my feet I kicked her in the head.
Wheeling around I didn’t see anything that looked like an adequate weapon. I turned back and saw the monster rising back to her feet and stumbling over the body of her counterpart as she headed towards me. I back-pedaled, tripping on a stool, when I did the most natural thing I could think of.
I picked up the stool and swung it towards the zombie’s head with as much strength as I could muster, feeling bone crunch and the body go limp from my swing.
Eves of the Outbreak Page 29
