“Okay old man.” Sebastian said. “Here, take my ax, I can’t imagine you have that many bullets.”
Hunter nodded. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
Hunter slipped out of the cop car, letting Sebastian climb into his seat. He ducked behind a bush when Sebastian lit the siren. The car let out it’s normal yowl and the massive herd of people turned as one. From where he was hiding he was mesmerized by how they moved. Together they walked, not bumping into each other, but more like a centipede with thousands of legs. They were fluid, flowing after the car like a bottle leaking. And five minutes later, the front of the school was clear.
Hunter let out a little prayer for Sebastian and charged the school. There would be more inside, stuck in the building. And he had to save his kids. The front door was locked when he tried it. He needed another way to get in. Running alongside the building he saw a window that was shattered. Quickly he launched himself inside the room.
The room was empty, the door was crooked in the frame. Hunter glanced around, he was in a supply office. A copier, and a shelf full of papers greeted him. A small stack of kitchen timers set above the paper, next to a pile of staplers. Hunter stepped into the hallway, glancing back and forth quickly. His stomach rumbled from nausea. Why didn’t he have Sebastian come to the school?
He didn’t know his way around, especially not this new building.
The hallway was empty. He looked for a sign for the upstairs rooms, but he didn’t see anything. Hunter’s heart was pounding in his chest, all this racing around was exhausting him.
He heard the sick in the classrooms around him, thumping on furniture as he looked for the stairs. His heart was clawing out his throat. Hunter took a long deep breath trying to still it. The huge glass front doors were glimmering up ahead. Reflected in their glass was a long, wide staircase.
Relief washed over Hunter, as he took a few more steps. But as he turned the corner a swarm was coming down the stairs. The first fell suddenly, missing a step. But then they all moved in smooth unison, like undead soldiers. Hunter swallowed hard, staring at them.
It seemed like he hadn’t been spotted yet, so he tried to come up with a quick plan. Stepping back into the hallway he pressed into the wall. That herd needed to go outside.
Hunter suddenly had an idea. He quickened his pace and grabbed four of the kitchen timers. He rushed down the hallway silently. The herd was nearly at the bottom of the stairs.
Carefully he opened the front doors, begging the hinges not to squeal. He spun the dial to 1 min and tossed the timer out the door. The next timer he set to two minutes, then three, then four, tossing each timer out the doors. His stomach was churning as he turned. The first of the swarm had touched the end of steps. He slowly slithered back to the hallway, hoping they wouldn’t see him.
Or hear him.
Just as one turned and started to look at him, another turned his way. Hunter swallowed hard, but then he heard the first buzzing ringing noise.
Their eyes snapped to the timer, and they swarmed out the door. At least a hundred of them, most of them children that should have been in class. They quickly shuffled down the stairs and out the door. He hadn’t thrown the timers far enough, they were still pushed inside, but Hunter shoved the door hard, closing it behind them. As soon as it latched he breathed a sigh of relief.
They barely seemed to notice, as another timer went off and they turned toward it.
Straightening his cowboy hat, he grinned and went up the stairs cautiously. He’d be holding his kids in just a few moments.
Hunter tiptoed up the stairs quickly, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
Karen: Did you get the kids?
Hunter: Almost.
Karen: Hurry up.
Hunter: I’m trying.
Karen: We’re still safe
Hunter: I’m looking for their classroom now.
Karen: Love ya. Text me when you get the kids.
Hunter: k.
Hunter nearly tripped on the top stair as he was texting. He paused, glancing around. There were no sick people in front of him. He slowly read the sign, 215 was to the right. He glanced back down the stairs to the glass door. The herd that had chased the timers were pressed against the glass again.
The door had one of the lever handles, and Hunter wondered for a second if he should go down and try to barricade it further. As he stared he could see the herd slowly moving in rhythm, pushing against the building. They were trying to knock it down.
He looked at the sign again trying to figure out which way to go.
But a shiver crawled up his neck. At least they couldn’t open doors. He looked back and worried about the glass breaking. Just then the handle turned, the lever pointing down, then clicking back into place.
The sick must have hit it while they pushed on the building. His heart caught in his throat as the latch fell back into place. The door held. He was fine.
But then the handle turned again, and the door swung open. The herd smoothly flowed in, not getting caught in the doorway at all, one after another. After a few seconds one even stopped to hold the door for the rest.
“Mother of pearl!” Hunter muttered under his breath.
Hunter turned to the hallway, and all of the door handles were rattling.
Hunter started to run, trying to count the doors as he went. This time, he was counting down.
225.
He still needed to walk past ten more doors. The doors were rattling. Sick hands were shaking handles, and pulling and pushing trying to make the doors open.
Up ahead a door swung open. They could open doors. All at once, every sick person learned. The idea terrorized him. He raised his ax and chopped down the sick teacher stepping into the hallway. The teacher’s mouth open and shut repeatedly until it faltered, and he died.
Hunter was drenched in sweat now, panic rising inside him. Behind him, the swarm that had entered the building was climbing up the stairs. He could hear their muffled movements following him.
If the school hadn’t been on lockdown they’d all be free, swarming the buildings. Hunter swallowed hard, his phone buzzing in his pocket. He had no time for that now.
219.
Four more doors. He glance behind him and another door popped open. A huge man covered in muscles stepped out, his mouth clicking open and shut. He had to be almost seven feet tall. Hunter let out a scream, like a frightened child. “Not you! Not you!” He shouted as he ran, holding on to his hat with one hand and his ax with the other. It was Coach Jordan. His whistle still dangled on a string around his neck. That man ate a dozen raw eggs for breakfast and did pushups until noon.
Hunter turned and ran faster, sprinting all of his strength.
215.
He got to the classroom door finally, relief washing over him. “It’s me, Francis, open the door, open the door!” He shouted, pounding frantically as Coach Jordan hulked down the halls.
Hunter wondered if the ax could even penetrate that man’s thick skull. He heard a muffled sound on the other side of the door. “Open the door!” Hunter shouted again.
Coach Jordan was moving slowly, but he was getting too close. Behind him he could see a solid wave of sick. They were slowly filling in the hallway, rattling door handles as they walked by, trying to free more of their kind.
“No no no no!” Shouted Hunter, as he raised the ax and crushed it into the coach.
The man’s arm broke with the hit, suddenly falling uselessly to his side. But his mouth opened and shut and his other arm tried to grasp Hunter.
From the other side of the door Francis said, “It’s dad!” And he could hear her trying to open it.
“Not now! Close the door! Close the door!” Hunter shouted, as he hit the Coach with the ax again, this time he clocked him on the side of the head. Blood oozed from the larger man. But he shook his head once and then charged again.
Hunter screamed and stepped to the side, letting the larger man charge into the wall behind him. He was like
a massive bull.
Francis cracked the door open. “Dad!”
“Close the door!” Hunter shouted as he thudded the ax into the coach’s back.
The door clicked shut. Hunter let out a victorious roar, ripping the ax back out of the coach’s back. Then he thumped it hard into the man’s head. Finally, the coach slumped.
Panting Hunter pulled the ax back out, glancing at the herd in the hallway moving closer and closer.
“Let me in now! Hurry!” Hunter shouted, pounding on the door. “Please let me in Francis.”
He could hear the door unlock again on the other side, and Francis stood there armed with the leg of a chair. “You okay dad?”
“Yes.” He slipped inside quickly and they locked the door behind him. He hugged Francis so hard she nearly popped.
“Dad!” Jack shouted and climbed into his father’s arms. They all hugged, before he set them down and looked around. Two small kindergarten girls were sitting together in the corner, eyeing Hunter nervously.
“Well, we are all safe now. I’m here to save you.” Hunter said, boisterously, trying to cheer them.
The one girl’s glanced at each other. “The teacher went bad.” She whispered, and pointed at the window.
The shattered glass still had tiny bits of blood on it.
Hunter nodded slowly. “What is your name?”
“I’m Amy, she’s Apple.” The little girl said.
But before he could console her more, he heard the door handle starting to rattle.
Hunter walked to the window and looked down. They were too far from the ground to climb down. A small herd was already pressed back against the building. He looked back at the three five year olds and his daughter. No way they could climb down a building into a horde of sick. He wasn’t even sure how hard it would be to climb with these tiny people.
“Francis, what do you think we should do next?” He asked.
She stared down the window to the horde at the bottom. “Well, if we can’t go down we could try to go up… I thought about moving us to the roof if they break in, it’s just… I don’t know how we would get down.”
Hunter stared at the long length of space to the ground. “We’d need a firetruck.” He swallowed hard, thinking about the sick men he left at the fire station. “There is a truck at the fire station…” Regret flashed through him in a hot wave. “Sebastian can drive it here, and we can climb down the ladder.” Hopefully him trying to spare the lives of the sick firemen didn’t get Sebastian killed.
“Girls and Jack, do you have your backpacks ready?” Francis said, clapping her hands together quickly to get their attention.
The girls quickly slipped on their backpacks, and Jack put on his.
“Go pee, quickly.” Francis urged and she grabbed her own backpack slipping in the last bit of books. She turned and handed a bag to her father. “We’ve been ready, just in case. This is all the food we found.”
Hunter grinned. “You knew I was coming, you didn’t have to…” He waved his hand at her preparations.
“Better safe than sorry.” She said. “Let me show you my plan to get on the roof.”
The door suddenly made a loud thumping noise as the handle was rattled harder. “Time to go.” Hunter hissed.
Francis leaned out the window and tugged on a long thin rope she had braided. “I’ve been up there twice already. The kids are gonna need some help though.”
She scurried up the rope quickly. Hunter picked up Amy, and she clung tightly to his chest. He hoisted them both up the rope, begging it not to break. It was made out of strings, and belts and anything else that Francis could find to braid together. As he got near the top Francis leaned forward and pulled Amy up over the edge.
Hunter slid back down for Apple. While he picked up the second little girl, Jack leaned out the window and grabbed the rope. “Wait for me.” Hunter barked but it was too late.
Jack slid up the rope quickly and vanished.
The door was pounding and rattling behind them. Apple started to cry. “I don’t want to. No.” She kicked Hunter in the shin.
“Knock it off girl, we have to go.” Hunter said, trying to hold on to her, but it was like holding on to an angry cat.
Her teeth dug into his arm, and he yelped, dropping her.
She turned to run from him, but the door suddenly burst open. In stepped the sick, one after another in a smooth and orderly fashion. Not one bumped into the other, as if they were choreographed.
Apple screamed and ran toward Hunter. “Save me!” She cried, tears still trickling on her face.
“Hold on!” he shouted, using both hands to grab the rope quickly. They swung hard out the window, nearly crashing into the wall as the rope swung.
Sick, infected arms reached through the shattered glass.
He climbed up the rope, holding the girl tightly, and they finally made it to the top. Francis carefully pulled the rope up from behind them.
The roof was flat and covered in a gritty substance. Hunter picked up his phone and called Sebastian. “Hey, how is it going?”
Sebastian was quiet for a moment. “Um, well…The herd isn’t near the town anymore, but…”
“But what?” Hunter asked.
“Well, uh, I don’t think you’ll ever get that car back.” Sebastian said sheepishly. “I’m nearly back in town now, I um… I borrowed another car. Hope you don’t mind.”
Hunter snorted and straightened his hat. “I’m gonna need you to go to the fire station and get us off the roof of the school, we are safe, but a bit stuck.”
“Sweet. I’ll head that way now.” Sebastian hung up without so much as a goodbye.
Then he called Karen. “Hey honey, I am sorry I haven’t been able to save you yet.” He coughed slightly. “I hope you aren’t mad. I’ve got Jack and Francis though.”
Karen sighed. “Well, that’s a good start. Our sick people seemed to get smarter and suddenly got in the building. They opened the doors.” She sighed again. “Me and your father are in an office we got locked up tight. Thankfully the librarian had a snack cupboard.”
“What’s wrong then?” Hunter asked.
“They had those jalapeno spicy chips, and…” She paused.
Hunter started to laugh. “Oh no.”
“Oh yes.” She said softly. And then he heard the muffled sound of his father farting.
“I’ll try and hurry.” Said Hunter between laughs.
“See you soon honey. Stay safe.” Karen said, giggling.
And Hunter stretched out on the roof, and closed his eyes. He’d need to rest up, ‘cause this day wasn’t over yet.
About Mixi
Hello Gorgeous,
It’s Mixi. Me and Hayley have been working on this zombie series for a while, and I do hope you enjoy our efforts!
Leave us a review, we always work on the next book in the series with the most reviews :)
Love,
Mixi
www.mixijapplebottom.com
[email protected]
About Hayley
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Also by Mixi J Applebottom
Deadlocked Dollhouse
Padlocked Penthouse
Sunblocked Summerhouse
Firelocked Funhouse
Picklocked Powerhouse
Landlocked Lighthouse
Batlocked Bunkhouse
Gridlocked Guesthouse
Jaspierre
Jaspierre’s Descent
Jaspierre’s Last Chance
Run, Girl
Zapacolypse
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They Are Zillions (Book 2): Zurrounded Page 6
