Z Poc: Young Brains

by catt dahman

  “Not one of us.”

  “Okay, we’ll go with your version.” I was so hurt and angry that I wanted to slap him.

  Before I could do that, Nick pulled me against his shoulder, and I cried hard for a while. When I was done, I used my shirt to wipe my face. He asked if I were done. I nodded.

  “Go with my version,” Nick reminded me. “I’m sorry about Robin.

  But she wouldn’t want you to get yourself killed, too.”

  “Curt? Jerico? Brandon?”

  Nick winced but didn’t say anything.

  Everyone looked at us curiously when we returned, but I could tell a lot had been going on there as well. The outcasts were sitting with us again.

  Mona was in a corner crying, and her face was a mass of bruises.

  Her nose was broken, both her eyes were beginning to swell shut and would turn black and purple, her bottom lip was split and bleeding, a front tooth was missing, another one was knocked sideways, and her big arms showed hand prints and bruises, as well.

  “What happened to her?”

  Lance looked concerned, “She and Jerico went at it, and he got pissed off.”

  I let my eyes slide away from Mona, not wanting to see.

  “You find your friend?”

  “Yeah, Nick says there must have been some asshole up here

  hiding and doing things. He got Robin.” I teared up again, but Brandon just nodded, accepting my story.

  “It’s gotta be someone hiding up here,” Nick added, “we’ll have to search and find whoever it is.”

  “We’ll look around and find out who it is.” He patted my back.

  “All of you be on the lookout; we have a murderer up here. He got Robin and could get any of us, so we’ll be looking for him.”

  I wanted to cut off his hand for touching me and then wash my skin, but I gave him a half smile that I thought he would see right through, but he took it as my fear of someone sneaking around.

  Brandon added, “He may be long gone now. But, we’ll try to find him.”

  “Thanks.” I hoped no one mentioned the obvious: we were blocked off, and no one was able to run around the school at will. How would a lone person survive all the walking dead down below anyway?

  But I played dumb. I gave Bev a warning look.

  For some reason, while I threw Brandon off the scent of my investigation and suspicions and mourned my best friend, I thought of the origins of my name.

  My name Arisbe is unusual. It’s Greek although my parents have never been to Greece. In mythology, Arisbe was the first wife of King Priam who divorced her and wed Hecuba who gave birth to Paris and Hector and other children; it was Paris Alexandros who kidnapped Helen of Sparta, taking her to Troy, which caused the ten-year Trojan War.

  Arisbe is also a species of butterflies that have a pattern that resembles the eyes of an owl.

  I don’t know why those things endeared the name to my parents,but it was what I was named: Arisbe Anne. I had been waiting in class with Mr. Tryon to share that with the class, but the zombie had interrupted.

  I had always searched for certain names. Brandon meant gorse, a thorny little plant. He was a very thorny plant. Appropriate. I thought a ‘thorny plant’ killed my friend. I thought about that a while instead of about what I had found and the growing fear I had. Brandon scared me more than the zombies.

  I knew Nick meant victory. Robin meant small. She had been tiny, and her life had a tiny meaning.

  Supposedly looking for the mysterious killer, we went back to the auditorium, let our eyes adjust, and used the precious flashlights we had raided from the office.

  “We ripped all this apart,” Jerico said.

  Down below, we saw one creature. One was on the stage, too.

  Was this all? Two? Carelessly, I ran to beat down the one who was walking around. Pretending I was hitting the one who killed Robin,I slammed the bat down over and over until the thing’s head was pulpy. Brandon and Curt had gotten the one on the stage.

  “You are a bad-ass bitch, ‘Rissy,” Jerico announced. “Ain’t she something?

  “Hell, yeah, I’d want her watching my back,” Curt said.

  I bowed. It was appropriate that I stood in an auditorium where I was acting to save my life.

  Marshall yelped, and we heard wet thuds. Brandon ran behind the curtains and found Marshall with a kindergartener. “I got it.” He slammed the ax down a few times, and the little girl’s head split.

  “Score….”

  “Do you puke every time we have a fight?” Curt demanded.

  Marshall was heaving, “I guess.” He chuckled and then caught the look on Curt’s face. Curt was pissed off. “I don’t puke when I’m killing. I do it after.”

  “I’m watching you now. That sounds weak, Dude.”

  “I was in a play once,” I interrupted.

  “That’s lame,” Brandon told me.

  Nick snapped, “No, it’s not. Shut up.”

  “In here is a walkway called the tombs. It’s locked, but in plays, it can be used. There is a closet that has three hallways running out of it.

  One goes a long way, and you walk up at a slant forever, and then there’s a spiral staircase, which leads to the top of the auditorium. On the stage is a sliding panel, and you can jump down there and get to the closet and then run up, and it looks like magic if you vanish from the stage and then appear way up in the top.”

  I continued, “The other hallway leads to the closet in the front vestibule, but it’s always locked, too. So you could vanish from the stage and run down and up and appear at the back of the auditorium.”

  “And why are you telling us all this, ‘Rissy?”

  I tapped my temple and said, “Because I am trying to get a plan worked out in my head that you guys may like. I wanted you to see if before I finished working it out in my head.”

  "Rissy is getting us a plan worked out,” Jericho’s voice boomed in the auditorium.

  “It better be a plan to get some of us out of here. It’s stinky here,”Brandon said, laughing.

  “Gimme time. I am working it out in my head.”

  “Hear that Puke-Boy? She’s getting a plan for us.” Jerico had never been overly close to Marshall, but he had accepted him at the edge of the in crowd. He felt Marshall was on the weak-link spot now.

  Lance didn’t turn on Marshall, and they talked as they walked back up the stairs of the auditorium with us; I was glad Lance did that.

  Miss Crater and Ruby made the dinner.

  “Didn’t you do anything?” I asked Mona and Mrs. Smith. “You have to help, or you know what will happen.” I wasn’t threatening them, just giving them a warning.

  “Look at my face,” Mona snapped.

  “It won’t look any worse if you got up and cleaned up things or helped with dinner. Seriously.” Curt chuckled.

  “You really like your new status with the cool kids, don’t you?”

  Mona said to me. “You have already forgotten what you were before.

  Nobody.”

  “Shut up, Mona. I’m just doing my part and working with the rest.”

  Mona couldn’t stop. “Maybe we’ll have a dance, and you can be crowned zombie queen.”

  “You are really a loud, rude, fat bitch, aren’t you?” Bev blew up.

  “I tried to warn you to stay busy, but you have some need to get on my case,” I added.

  “Yep, I was before, and I still am. I didn’t change and become part of the popular crowd.”

  Jerico kicked her hard, and the breath whooshed out of her. “And you don’t get to sit at the cool kids’ table, lard ass.”

  They gave us cold raviolis in a tomato sauce and green beans, mixed with peas and lima beans, seasoned, and then covered by cream of mushroom soup.

  “I found rolls,” Miss Crater announced. The food warmed on the little fire we made of junk such as our books and things from the science lab. Smoke was vented out the window.

  Plain as it all was, we de
voured the food, hungry but also grasping on to the fact it was comfort food. After Jerico finished three bowls of both, he set what was left over for Mona, as if she were a dog getting a bowl of some leftover food. Brandon tossed her a roll.

  “Soon, we are going to have to get out of here,” Brandon said.

  “We’re safe here,” Lance argued.

  I hated to side with Brandon, but I had to. “Now, that we have lost electricity, this is like a tomb. We have tons of bodies in here, and they’re rotting; they stink, and I’m sure that is a health hazard. We think maybe bombs came down, and we think the town burned. In time, we may have many more out there. It’s day four, and we’ve gotten no help, so I don’t think we can depend on anyone coming.”

  “The National Guard?” Mrs. Smith dared to speak.

  I was going to say that, but since they aren’t here yet, we should assume they aren’t coming.

  Jerico got in the secretary’s face. “Do you see the National fucking Guard?”

  “Watch your language, and do not speak to me that way. I have had just about enough of your bullying, selfishness, and disrespectfulness. Your parents will be shocked when I tell them how you have acted.”

  “My parents have likely been eaten,” he yelled. It had been the wrong thing to say to him.

  “That’s not so. We have hope, Jerico,” Miss Crater said.

  “Ha. We got a lard ass fatty, a dumb secretary who thinks she sees the National Guard, a puking puss, a chili choker, a dyke, and a Pollyanna teacher,” said Jerico as he pointed to each: Mona, Mrs. Smith, Marshall, Ruby, Sian, and Miss Crater. “I don’t know if we need two little kids either if they get all whiny and clingy.”

  “Sian may be okay,” Brandon said, “but she’s been working hard and can kick ass. I like that.”

  “My sisters have been less whiny and less trouble than most people, so keep that in mind, Jerico,” Bevvon said. She glared right back at him. They wanted to dump half of us, but I was in the group to keep.

  I was still in the top crowd.

  ‘’Rissy, you get that plan figured out by tomorrow morning.

  Okay?”

  I gave Jerico the okay sign with my fingers. That was a cool thing to do. It was soon time to sleep, I was tired, and the soreness was easing away. I sat and brushed my hair, fixing it the way Loveta had.

  While I brushed, Nick came over. “You care if I sleep here? I mean…just sleep. I’m not trying anything.”

  “Okay.”

  “Ohhh, she said ‘okay.’ We can be cozy now.” Lance flopped between Bevvon and me. He gave me a quick tickle and then wrapped her in his arms. She relaxed against his chest, the worry lines in her face relaxing. How had I missed that budding romance? She looked totally happy.

  We had RaVon, then Nivon, and Bev and Lance, and Nick and me lined up. Nick held my hand but didn’t try to get fresh with me.

  Curt, Brandon, Jerico, and Sian lined up, but they did guard duty, not trusting anyone else. Ruby slept alone. Miss Crater, Mrs. Smith,and Mona slept to the far side.

  In the night, I heard a fight going on.

  “Get up, and come with me.”

  “Go away, cabeza de mired,” Ruby said. There was a slap, a hand across a face maybe, and Ruby let loose another string of Mexican swear words. Another slap and the crying.

  “Leave her alone.” Mrs. Smith ordered.

  There was a thud of hard fists hitting someone. I heard two or three more hits. Then I saw it by candlelight: I saw Ruby being half pulled and half walking out with Jerico, Brandon, and Curt.

  I tensed and maybe made a move, but Nick wrapped an arm around me and whispered, “Shhhh, nightmares. Go back to sleep. No monsters.”

  Nick was wrong. There were monsters everywhere. I cried against his shoulder.

  Chapter 13

  Day Five

  I went over my plan and explained with dramatic drawings on the blackboard. As Jerico and Brandon and sometimes Curt poked holes and asked questions, I understood it was to prevent a catastrophe and mistakes, not because my plan was a bad one. It was really very simple, and although it had several steps that had to go off without hitches, it was only dangerous at two points.

  Oh, well, that depended on one’s view. It was going to be very dangerous once we were out of the sanctuary of the school, but being inside the school was deadly, too, as Robin, Tom, Scooter, Mr. Griffin, and more could have told us if they still had been alive.

  We took a while to decide who would do what and how it could be done safely, and then we made some partial practices. The rest of the time, we piled things up so we had only one stairway down to the lower half of the auditorium, with the rest blocked fully. That was critical to my plan. We scouted around the windows of the school until we decided which part was most empty of creatures, had a softer landing, and was the best for climbing out.

  Of course, that was the backside of the school.

  Curt taught us how to cut the sheets we had taken from the nurse’s office, braid them, and tie them into ropes. They tested the windows where we planned to climb from and found the wood to be in excellent shape since it was a section that had been repaired recently.

  Since both were good science students, Marshall and Bev gathered things from the science lab and lined them up.

  “Once on the ground, the idea is to quietly and quickly get to cover so none of the things see or hear us,” Curt explained. “Once we are down, it’s each person for himself. We have to be quiet. If someone is loud, I’ll cold-cock him myself.”

  “We’re splitting up?” Bev asked. She was both relieved and concerned. We would have less protection, but we’d still be safer.

  “Me, Brandon and Curt,” Jerico said. “Lance, Nick, Rissy. No offense, Bev, but you have the little girls, and they’ll hold us back.”

  She clenched her jaw but waved as if she didn’t think he was a selfish jerk. “Nah, I understand. We’ll be okay.”

  We ate quietly. Light packs of food were set to the side to carry with us; we ate corn, chili, and pears out of the cans. Never before had

  I missed my mom’s dinners so much.

  I imagined my parents and brother in some FEMA camp, eating MRE meals. While they ate, they talked about me. They would wonder if I had made it and where I was; they would watch anyone who was brought in, always hoping I was that person.

  Miss Crater found Bev and me in the restroom and begged us todo something.

  “I don’t know what you think I can do,” I told her, exasperated.

  “They like you.”

  “They like me because I am useful. If I twist an ankle or get weak,then I am useless. We have the top people and the outcasts, and it’s easy to go from one to the other in the blink of an eye. I could go at any time. Bev is lucky that she’s still in.”

  “Exactly. The second my feet hit the ground tomorrow, I go to outcast status,” Bevvon said. “And I have two little girls to take care of.

  Miss Crater, if you want to go with us, I think you can handle yourself and help me, and in turn, I’ll help you….”

  “Mona, Mrs. Smith, and Ruby….”

  “No,” Bev said, shaking her head, “You don’t get it, do you?”

  “That we’re on the outcast team, and you don’t want them….”

  I thought my head might explode. The facts were right in front of her, but Miss Crater didn’t see them clearly. Some adults would get it just fine, but some kids and adults couldn’t see the situation for what it was.

  It was beyond me that people could hang on to the ‘help’everyone’ mentality when we were facing the fact that the town was burning, that many were dead, and that we had creatures chasing us in order to eat our flesh. Why would we help those who couldn’t help us in return?

  I likened it to the example of how I couldn’t swim while carrying several weights because I would go under. But if left with another good swimmer, the two of us could help a third who just needed a hand. The weak could not survive this.

&n
bsp; I explained that as best I could. “Mona is beaten up, so she can’t climb down the side, and she can’t run at all. She can’t fight. Ruby is crying solid, and Mrs. Smith….” I shook my head. “I know why some are out of commission, but this is just how it is, so save your arguments.”

  “I thought you were better than this, Arisbe,” Miss Crater said.

  “You’re just leaving Bev, one of your friends to be an outcast? What do you think will happen to you as the only female on that team?”

  I faced her down until she spun and walked out of the restroom, disgusted with and offended by me. “She must think I am really stupid.”

  “Do you think they’ll let you go?”

  “I don’t know. I’m worried about that, but I hope that Nick and Lance might give them enough flak so that I have a chance to get away with you and Marshall. Is Sian with us?”

  “Yep.”

  “Just a few more hours and then comes the big break, and finally things will get really scary.”

  Bev hugged me. “I’m sorry about Robin.”

  I had told her the short version. “Thanks.”

  “It’s almost bedtime. Don’t make a big deal when Lance and I don’t show up on time. Keep Nick’s trap shut, too. I…well…keep the girls quiet, too. I told them I had things to do. Watch them for me?”

  “What are you doing?”

  Bev made a show of tightening her lips and shaking her head in

  the candlelight. “I’m going to try to help us just a little extra. Whatever it takes Arisbe, that’s what I am going to do.”

  I clutched her hand for a second.

  In the room, we went over last minute plans again, and Curt drilled us on unexpected possibilities. We traded off on guard duty, ignored those who were outcasts, and tried to sleep. I waited until

  Lance and Bev returned, giggling and whispering; then, I was able to turn over and fall asleep. Thankfully, Bev was okay.

  In my nightmares, the entire plan failed, and I was bitten again and again by creatures with relentless fury and hunger.