Closed Campus

by Gayle Katz

  “What’s the message say?”

  I read the text to everyone, Are you feeling guilty?

  “Let me see that,” he says.

  I hand my phone to Jack, and he scrolls through all of the messages I’ve received. After reading through them, Jack has a disturbed look on his face.

  “What?” I say.

  “You might not know who this person is, but it seems like this person knows who you are. They keep texting you even though you responded once asking for them to ID themselves,” Jack says.

  “Uh. You think I do know them then?”

  “Yeah, I do. It’s either that or just some crazy person. And I wonder if this person has anything to do with what’s happening here on campus.”

  “How did you jump to that conclusion?”

  “I guess it’s just the journalist in me. Or the conspiracy theorist.”

  From the hallway, all we hear is a scuffle on the other side of the door. Then a thud.

  “Did we say two minutes? These are the longest two minutes of my life. I hope she’s OK in there,” I say.

  “She’s not OK, and she’s not gonna be OK. That’s why we let her go back in there in the first place,” Jack tells me.

  “If she’s turning into what he is now, maybe she can connect with him. Maybe she can calm him down at least for a little while,” Bill says.

  There’s a loud bang at the door. The bang is so powerful, the chair jumps. So do I and everyone else.

  “I don’t think we can wait anymore. Her two minutes are up,” Jack says.

  “So what’s the plan now?” Logan asks.

  “We grab weapons, open the door, and see what’s happening,” Jack says.

  “If Jayce is still acting crazy, we gotta put him down. If we don’t take him out, he’s gonna take all of us out,” Logan says.

  “Don’t let him bite you. If you need help or if you’re in trouble, scream for it, OK?” Jack says to everyone, looking at me.

  “OK,” I say.

  Everyone grabs his or her weapon. Jack takes the heavy pan. I grab one of the metal desk legs. I figure it’s lighter than the pan so I can lift it. It’s also heavy enough to knock someone down.

  As I hold the makeshift weapon in my hands, I start to sweat. What am I doing? I’m about to try to kill someone. Yesterday I was in chemistry class. Today I’m going to bash someone’s skull in with this big hunk of metal. All these thoughts are running through my head as I see Jack approach the door.

  “Is everyone ready?” he asks.

  “Ready as I’ll ever be,” Bill replies.

  “Uh huh,” I say.

  Connor and Logan nod, but Nora steps back, away from the door.

  Jack moves the chair blocking the door again, turns the doorknob, and flings the door open. We race inside to see Abigail on the floor with Jayce biting at her arm again, a pool of blood gathering underneath. So much for her theory that he wouldn’t hurt his own kind.

  As soon as we enter and see what’s happening, Jayce stops gnawing on her and turns around, his mouth red with her blood. His dead, predatory eyes are like no others I’ve seen before. He looks like an animal, and we are interrupting mealtime.

  He lunges at me. I’m paralyzed by fear and don’t move. Jack uses the iron pan and hits Jayce on the head. Down he goes.

  Connor runs over to help Abigail.

  “What happened? Why didn’t you try to hit him?” Jack asks me.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know. I just froze. I can’t move.”

  “You can’t freeze up like that. You gotta keep moving. OK?” He tells me.

  Just then, Jayce gets back up and bites Jack in the arm.

  “No!” I scream. In response, both Bill and Logan charge and stab him with a couple of the newly fashioned antenna weapons. They don’t stop until the antennas go right through Jayce, pinning him to the wall. Jayce isn’t dead, but it doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere anytime soon.

  “Thanks,” Jack says to Logan.

  “Are you OK? He bit you, didn’t he?” I ask.

  “Yes, he did. But the duct tape saved the day.” Jack points to the teeth marks in the tape on his arm.

  “I’m totally fine. See? No need to worry.”

  I look at the marks and then look at Jack.

  “That’s a good idea you had,” he says.

  I smile. He smiles too.

  Now that Jayce is incapacitated, we look over at Abigail, who is crying and frightened and lying on the dirty floor. Connor is supporting her so she can sit up.

  “I guess I’m gonna turn into him soon. Into a zombie. You might as well kill me too. I don’t want to turn into one of them.” She closes her eyes, as if she is waiting for someone to take her out right there.

  “No need to go down that path just yet,” Jack says. “Right, Logan?”

  Logan nods.

  “You don’t know that for sure,” Jack says. “I’m thinking that we could just tie you down and keep an eye on you. You may turn. You may not. You seem just fine right now, except for being shaken up a bit.”

  “Are you sure about that decision, Jack? Look at her arm. She’s been compromised just like Jayce,” Bill says.

  “Yeah, what he says,” Logan concurs.

  “We had no choice with him. He was too far gone. Abigail is fine, considering everything that’s happened. Look at her. We can’t just start killing people indiscriminately because we think something is gonna happen.” Jack tosses the tape to Connor. “Tie her up. Watch both of them.”

  I watch Connor tape Abigail to the chair. She is still crying. Seeing Jayce pinned to the wall like that probably didn’t help matters. After she’s secured, he tends to her wounds with alcohol and wraps them with one of the T-shirts.

  Logan leaves us to do his segment on the news with Nora and Wyatt. I guess he’s trying to distract himself from what’s going on. They’re trying to keep everything light, but the warnings from the local AP are growing dire with bus crashes, power outages, and crazy people running around on the streets.

  No one in the media or on the air has officially uttered the word “zombie.” Instead they refer to them as infected, sick, or disturbed individuals. Whatever they’re called, things are getting out of control. The police and the hospitals can’t handle it all. If they could, we would have received help by now. My guess is that they are about to be overrun, at least according to the news Wyatt is getting from people on the street.

  After listening to a portion of the newscast, Jack, Bill, and I huddle to figure out our next move.

  “What are we gonna do now?” I ask, scared.

  “No clue,” Bill admits.

  “Well, we either hole up here and wait for help or we make a break for it and try to find help on our own. Simple, right?” Jack replies.

  “Yeah, simple.” Bill chuckles. “Staying here has its pros and cons. One of the pros is that the station is on the second floor. We’re off the ground, so those zombies might just pass us over. Plus the generator is working so we’ll be able to keep warm.”

  “I’m not sure staying in one place is the best thing for us to do,” Jack says. “If the police are overwhelmed, it might be a really long time until somebody comes to rescue us. We called them how long ago? Plus, this place is a dump. Jack peels a part of the wall off and it crumbles in his hands. “I’m not sure how long we could make it here, even with the generator.”

  “Hey. Stop picking at the building. It’s hard enough to keep this place standing.” Bill winces.

  “See?” Jack says to me. “Bill totally proved my point. I think we should plan to leave. But if we do that, where should we go? It’s snowing outside, and the weather is only gonna get worse. It’s already freezing outside, and those snowflakes are huge. If we’re leaving the station, I think we have to get off campus, see what’s actually happening in the real world, and find help.”

  “And how are we gonna do that?” Bill asks.

  “Do you have a car?” Jack asks back.<
br />
  “No. With the weather so bad and the snowfall up here, I don’t have a car. I prefer my mountain bike to get around. It doesn’t need gas, and since it has some serious treads on it, typically I can get through the snow with minimal problems. At least, that’s been my experience. What’s a car gonna do for us anyway if it’s stuck in the snow? No car. Freezing temps outside. Zombies running around the streets. Count me out.”

  “I’m not sure a bike will give us the cover we’ll need, but don’t give up on us. We need you,” Jack says.

  “I’m not giving up,” Bill says. “I’m being realistic about what’s going on here.”

  We all pause to think about our options.

  “I know where we might find a car,” I say. “And not just a car, but an all-weather, all-terrain vehicle to boot.”

  “Yes, keep talking,” Jack says.

  “My professor has this huge 4x4 vehicle that we could use. He always comes to class no matter what. He’s one of those people you mentioned to me earlier. They go to class no matter what else is happening.”

  “Where’s your professor?”

  “Near North Campus.”

  “North Campus? That’s quite a hike.”

  “Yeah, but I made the trek from there down here just last night. If I can do it, it’s definitely doable.”

  Moments later, we hear noises coming from the lounge. Connor comes bolting out, a look of sheer terror on his face.

  “She’s making those horrible sounds,” he says. “What should we do?”

  “Put tape over her mouth,” Jack says. “We can’t afford to make noise.”

  “OK. OK. I’m on it,” Connor says as he turns back to the lounge area.

  “Once you’ve done that, come back so we can figure out our next steps,” Jack says.

  Once Connor is gone we hear a new noise: loud banging and thumping coming from the back of the radio station near the newsroom.

  “Where is that noise coming from?” I ask.

  “It might be the back door,” Bill says.

  “The back door? I didn’t even know this place had a back door,” Jack says.

  “I hear ya. Most people don’t use it,” Bill says.

  “Aren’t we on the second floor?” Jack says.

  “Yeah. Technically, we’re on the second floor, but this building is a bit odd in design since it’s built on a hill. The back door is on ground level, while the front of the building is actually on the second floor,” Bill explains.

  “What?”

  “Strange. I know.”

  “Well, that’s not good. This place might be safer than others, but from the banging on the back door, it’s certainly far from what I would call safe,” Jack says.

  We run across the station to see what’s going on. As we sprint, we see the newscast ending. Logan and Nora take off their headphones and quickly run up to join us.

  Staring at the back door, my mind is racing. “What can we use to barricade the door?”

  “How about the desk over there?” Jack points.

  “Those things are so old and solid metal. It’s gonna be heavy,” Bill says.

  “The heavier the better. We’re using it to block the door from whatever is trying to get inside,” Jack says.

  Everyone goes over to the desk, and we do our best to push and pull the desk over to the back door. Carpet has worn away in some places, making moving the desk more difficult.

  All the pushing is making my hands red and raw. By the time we push the desk into position in front of the door, my hands are aching.

  Immediately we know that one desk isn’t going to be enough. The whole upper half of the door is still exposed. The constant banging is starting to compromise the integrity of the door. We can hear the wood on the door starting to crack.

  “Shit. Shit. Shit. They’re gonna break down the door,” Nora says.

  “No. We’re gonna be fine,” Jack says. “Just stay cool, all right? We just need another desk on top. Let’s grab the one next to it. We’re gonna have to lift this one onto the top of the other to block the rest of the door.”

  “Are you serious? Those desks are heavy just to push around. Lifting it is gonna be near impossible,” she says.

  Connor runs over to help.

  “For one person, maybe. But we’re six people. We can do it. Right?” our muscular sports guy says.

  Everyone nods. We run over to the second desk and start pushing it over to the back door. After a lot of huffing and puffing, the two desks are adjacent to one another.

  “We have to lift it now,” Jack says.

  Each of us moves to a different point around the desk. That’s the only way we can possibly get a good grip on it and have a shot at lifting it.

  “On my mark, we’ll all lift it and slide it on top of the other one, OK?” Jack says. “OK?”

  We nod.

  “Ready? Lift!”

  For a moment, it seems as if the grunting inside the radio station is louder than the grunting by those things outside.

  I’m by the back of the desk so I have to climb on top of the first desk in order to help pull the second desk closer to the door and line it up properly. All this time my back is facing the door. With the two desks almost stacked upon one another, I’m about to get off the desk on the other side when an arm punches through the wooden door.

  “Ah! Get it off me!” I scream. The hand has a tight grip on a pretty large tuft of my hair. I can’t move.

  Chapter 6

  ________________________________________

  12:00 p.m.

  Struggling against the hand is impossible. None of my efforts pay off, and I am being pulled closer to the door. Logan and Bill grab my arms.

  “Hold on. We’ve get you!” Bill says.

  That’s when I see Jack run away and come back seconds later with one of the metal desk legs that we’re using as weapons. He also grabs what looks like a straight razorblade tool for splicing audiotape. Razorblade in hand, he starts slashing at my hair to free me from whatever is holding on.

  Once I’m free, the guys pull me away from the door. Jack starts hitting the arm with the leg of the desk. After about five or six attempts, the badly bruised hand retreats. They finish pushing the second desk into position, blocking the door for now.

  I fall to floor in shock from all the commotion. I can barely breathe fast enough to catch my breath. My chest is rising and falling so quickly. I start to cry.

  “We can’t stay here,” I manage to choke out. “Those things know we’re in here. They’re not gonna stop until they get us.”

  Jack helps me to my feet, gives me a hug, and a reassuring smile. He has a great smile.

  “What are we gonna do now?” Nora asks.

  “Not sure. We still don’t know what’s happening out there. Like Jane said, we have no idea how long those desks will keep us safe,” Jack says.

  “What’s that smell? It’s like rotten eggs, only worse,” I ask.

  I smell myself.

  “Phew! I think it’s me,” I say. “I gotta wash my hands and my hair. Whatever that thing was it smells horrible.”

  “Connor, watch the door. Make sure it stays secure. If anything moves, tell me. We need to stay extra alert. If just one of those things gets in here, we’re done,” Jack says.

  “OK. Got it,” he replies.

  Jack and Nora go over to the local AP to see if there are updates.

  “What does it say?” Jack asks.

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing? The electricity is on, right? So we should be getting something.”

  “Not if the local AP is down,” Nora says.

  “I can’t believe that. They’re never down.”

  “Try the phone. Call the police.”

  He picks up the phone and dials.

  “Any answer?”

  “Fast busy signal. It looks like the phone lines are screwed up. I have a feeling we’re on our own, at least for now.”

  Jack walks over to Bil
l and asks, “Are there any other exits in this building? I’m looking to find out all the ways in and out.”

  “There’s one in the basement, but that door is solid metal, maybe steel, and it’s never been opened since I’ve been here. There’s also a hatch on the roof that’s accessible through the attic.”

  “Is that all of them, besides this back door and the front security door?”

  “Yeah, I mean except for the windows in the lounge and main office, that’s all of them.

  “OK, we gotta go check everything out and see what our options are. Logan and Bill, go down to the basement and check it out. Be careful. Keep your eyes peeled and see what you can see down there.”

  Jack runs over to the newsroom and opens a cabinet. He grabs a few flashlights and walkie-talkies and runs back.

  “I almost forgot. We stocked up on additional supplies just in case.”

  He hands a flashlight and a walkie-talkie to the basement twosome and tells them to take their weapons in case they run into any unexpected company.

  “Nora and Connor, go find the hatch in the attic and see how we can access it. Be careful. The building should be secure enough for right now, but stay sharp.”

  He hands another flashlight and walkie-talkie to them as well. He gives the attic group his cast-iron pan and desk leg.

  Bill chimes in, “Nora, Connor, be very careful in that attic. Not just in case any of those things are in there, but watch where you step. The attic was never finished. Walk on the beams only. Maybe we should switch and Logan and I should explore the attic instead?”

  Nora shrugs. Connor responds with a thumbs up and replies, “We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us.”

  “Stay in constant communication, and don’t get separated from your partner. OK? Jane and I are gonna check on Jayce and Abigail and see if we can get anyone on the phone. See if we can get some help.”

  With that said, the two groups start their missions.

  Jack takes a couple flashlights and a walkie-talkie for us too.

  He starts to walk but notices I’m not following. He walks back to grab my hand. We begin to walk back to the lounge together.

  “Thanks for saving me back there,” I say with a quiver in my voice.