by Shawn Kass
Finished with the attendance, Miss Dikeo begins walking over to you with a sheet of paper in hand saying, “The class is on page one hundred and twenty in A Tale of Two Cities answering the questions on this handout. You should find all of the answers within the next three chapters of reading, but like I already told the rest of the class, they are not all in order.”
Realizing that in all the commotion of the morning, you never got a chance to use the bathroom and this assignment is about the last thing you feel like working on right now, you have a choice to make.
If you ask to use the bathroom, turn to page ……………. 14 If you continue working, turn to page ………………..……… 21
Continue to the Athletic Office
Realizing that the weights would probably end up being too heavy to swing around for very long, and you don’t really want to try carrying them all back to the teachers’ lounge, you give up on that idea and refocus on the athletic office. As you reach the stairs going down to the office, you and Alexis both hear a sound from the other end of the gym where you just came from. Turning around, your worst suspicions are confirmed as you watch a small horde of zombies push through the doors. There’s no way to tell if they followed you by smell, or if they were drawn to the area by Alexis’s initial yelling out in the hall, but either way, now is not the time to assign blame. It’s time to get yourself equipped and start kicking zombie butt.
Following Alexis into the basement, you enter the athletic office and spot the old gray trash barrel in the corner of the room with the sports equipment in it. Without getting any closer, you can already count a half dozen bats, some wooden and some aluminum, along with a few plastic and wooden hockey sticks, a couple of lacrosse poles, and a badminton racket with several broken strings. Approaching, you assess the bounty and figure the lacrosse pole and badminton racket were never meant for much hitting, and you’ve seen too many hockey sticks break on slap shots to bet your life that it would hold up to you cracking it against a couple zombie skulls. Reaching in, you wrap your hands around the leather wrapped handle of an almost new looking aluminum bat and smile.
“That looks even better than mine,” says Alexis from behind you as she steps forward to see if there are any more like it in the barrel.
“Yeah, well, let’s hope it does the trick then.” Just then, you hear the first zombie as it literally falls down the stairs behind the two of you. Looking back, you see the zombie lying on the ground for a moment, and then it finally starts to crawl its way in as more zombies follow it down the stairs.
Rushing forward, you lift your new aluminum bat high overhead, prepared to bash it into the face of the zombie and stop when you feel it scrape across the low basement ceiling. Realizing you will have to watch the clearance of your swings, you adjust the grip and swing the bat like a golf club into the bridge of the zombie’s nose, snapping its head back. Not waiting for you to wind up for your next swing, Alexis steps in front of you and takes out the next one. Between the two of you, four more zombies are dispatched to their eternal sleep.
“Looks like we got’em,” says Alexis. “Yeah,” you agree while panting for your next breath. “You all right? No bites or anything?”
“I’m good,” confirms Alexis.
“Okay then, let’s get some more of these,” you say as you hold up the bat, “and move on to the next thing on the list.”
“Sounds good,” agrees Alexis.
Turning back into the room, you head for the plastic trash can with the sports equipment but only make it a few steps before you hear a scream. Turning around quickly, you find a new zombie, this one wearing a cheerleading outfit, with its teeth sinking deeper into Alexis’s arm.
Acting on instinct, you rush forward and slam the butt of the aluminum bat into the zombie’s forehead, trying to dislodge it from Alexis’s arm. As it stumbles back, you switch your grip and swing the bat into its temple. The thick sounding wet impact of the bat reminds you of the noises your dad’s meat tenderizer makes when he is preparing steaks.
With the zombie dead, you look to Alexis and then more specifically to her bleeding arm. You know if this zombie outbreak is anything like those in the books and movies, she’s been infected and will change soon, too. Meeting her eyes, you know she has come to the same conclusion. You have a choice to make.
Go back & gather more weapons, turn to page ……….. 86 If you push past her and run, turn to page ………..……. 88
Go Back for More Weapons
Trying to reassure her, you say, “Don’t worry, Alexis. We can get through this. I’m going to grab some more bats, and then we’ll make our way to the nurse’s office. I’m betting if we put some alcohol and peroxide on it, you’ll be fine.”
With tears welling up in her eyes, Alexis pulls in a sniffling breath and nods, saying, “Yeah, I think you’re right. It doesn’t look too bad, just a little blood. I bet once we clean it up, it will be nothing more than a scratch.”
“Exactly,” you agree, a little too enthusiastically. “It’s just a flesh wound,” you say in a bad British accent, quoting Monty Python. “Just let me grab these bats, and we’ll be out of here.”
Turning, you make it halfway across the room when you hear the door slam shut behind you. Running to the door, you scream to be let out, only to hear the faint voice of Alexis from the other side saying, “I’m sorry. I can’t let you risk yourself to save me. I’ll go to the nurse’s station for the first aid kit on my own and come right back. You’ll be safe in here.”
Yelling back you say, “Come on, Alexis. Let me out. I can help you.”
With a trembling voice, Alexis says, “No. I don’t want this infection to win. I don’t want to turn into one of them and bite you. At least this way, I know you’re safe.”
Before you can respond, you hear the fading footsteps of Alexis running up the stairs. You try banging on the heavy metal door, but it doesn’t open, and she doesn’t come back.
At first, you hold out hope that she’s successful and is just taking a little longer than expected, being cautious and all, as she returns to let you out, but by the time you find yourself in such desperate need of using the bathroom that you are forced to relieve yourself in a corner, you’ve pretty much given up all hope.
You’ve inspected the area thoroughly and found a small metal placard on one wall behind a bookshelf which confirmed your worst fears. This room was first built as a fallout shelter back in the sixties when people feared things like nuclear weapons from Russia. Now, it would seem, it will be your crypt.
* * * Three days go by, and while you have found yourself a few protein bars and energy drinks to keep yourself going, you end up dying of dehydration.
The End
Run
Leaping up the stairs two at a time, you say, “Come on, we have to get out of here!”
Still standing at the bottom of the stairs, Alexis says, “But I got bit. What are we going to do?”
Stopping at the top, you look back and say, “Just come with me. We’ll go to the nurse’s office and soak it in alcohol and peroxide. I’m sure that will clean it up.”
Understanding your plan, Alexis sniffles once more before she regains her composure. Leaning down, she picks up her bat and sets her face with a fierce look of determination before saying, “Okay, let’s do this,” and follows you up the stairs.
When she gets to the top, you say, “All right, the goal is the nurse’s office. The fastest way there is across the gym through those doors and then hang right out in the hall.”
“What if we run into more of them?” asks Alexis.
“Then we knock their freaking heads off and keep going!”
Bringing her bat up to her shoulder, Alexis smiles and says, “I can do that.”
Together, the two of you head out, running across the gym floor, jumping over the bodies of the fallen zombies you saw on the way in, and trying not to slip in the puddle of muck accumulated around each of them. You reach the door first
and burst through it, knowing that Alexis is right behind you. In the hall however, you find a dozen zombies, mostly ex-students, milling around, as if they were waiting for you to come out. Without hesitating, you bring your bat up in an arc, catching the first zombie on the chin, shattering its jaw.
You continue to swing away at the mass of zombies even as Alexis enters the hall behind you and begins to help. The two of you seem to have things under control as you knock down one after another of the horrid creatures, but since you are each too busy swinging and not communicating, an accident was bound to happen.
When there are only two zombies left, you wind up for your next swing and step forward as you begin to bring the bat home like Babe Ruth going for a homerun. Unfortunately, Alexis was too busy putting down her nightmare version of the head of the chess club, and when she winds up for the last zombie, she accidentally hits you in the head, causing your bat to fly from your hands and you to drop to the ground.
Apologizing profusely, Alexis leans down to look into your crossed eyes and asks if you’re all right. Unable to find the words to respond through the dense soup of fog which seems to have overtaken your brain, you also can’t remember what’s wrong with the deformed looking face of the kid that is stepping up behind her.
You try to concentrate, try to recall something that seems urgent, but when you blink your eyes, you find it’s because something thick and wet just sprayed across your face. Unable to get up, you realize that a burning sensation of pain is coming from your arm. When you try to look over, you find Ginger, one of the redheaded guys from your fifth period math class, leaning his face against your arm. He seems strange for some reason, almost like he is taking a nap there, but with his mouth resting against your flesh.
The End
Heading For the Shop Class
Deciding there will be far more useful things you can use in the shop than a few bats and such, you turn and quickly head for the other end of the school. On the way, you pass by the Registrar’s Office and see the closed blinds quickly slap against the glass window of the door. Stopping, you whisper, “Miss Gail, are you there?” You know that she’s been around the school for something like thirty years, and despite being almost retirement age, you know that she’s a survivor, someone you’d happily have with you in this mess. After a minute of receiving no answer, you return to your quest, heading for the shop class, hoping that if Miss Gail is in her office that she is okay in there, but you’re unwilling to try to break your way in.
Turning left at the end of the hall, you find the double doors leading into the shop class. The doors have crash bars on both sides and a double hinge allowing you to easily push your way through from either side in case you’re carrying supplies or a finished project and don’t have a free hand. Entering, you find every tool and machine you can think of for cutting, shaping, and finishing wood. Band saws, table saws, sanders, wood lathes, and more are positioned around the room at different work stations, and a workbench runs along the far wall with hammers, screwdrivers, and various power tools all hanging off a pegboard, each with their own outline drawn in black Sharpie.
On the side of the room, closest to the door you came in, you see shelves of scrap wood ranging from twoby-fours to plywood. The only question is, what are you going to do with it all?
If you turn on the machines to build something, turn to page ………………. 93
If you just want to take two-by-fours and leave, turn to page ………………. 96
Turning on the Machines
Deciding that you want to build something truly awesome to destroy zombies with, you grab a couple of pieces of wood and flip on the band saw. Initially your idea is to build some sort of crossbow - like device which shoots wooden bolts out at the zombies. You don’t plan on making the bolts perfect, the way you figure it, is that they just have to fly out and stick into the zombie’s brain like that one guy in the walking zombie TV show. Estimating the bolts to be about a foot long or so, you begin cutting the wood. You are already planning how you are going to use the sander to grind the ends of the pieces into points when the first zombie shuffles its way through the door.
At first, you see just the one, and while scary and gruesome looking, you have no doubt that you will be able to dispatch him quickly using the hammer off the pegboard. Approaching it, you try to figure out which end would be better to use, the flat side used for hammering nails or the claw end with the rounded hooks on it used for removing nails. Deciding to use the claw end, you lift the hammer overhead and bring it smashing down into the zombie’s skull where it sticks. The zombie crumbles to the floor as if you’ve thrown a switch turning him off, taking the hammer with it.
For a brief second, you are ecstatic. You’ve just defeated a zombie, one of the undead, and you want to celebrate. That’s when the door opens again, and you see the fifteen to twenty other zombies making their way in. Looking back, you realize your critical mistake. The loud sound of the machine being on must have attracted their attention, and you never got a chance to finish your ultimate weapon.
Your eyes travel to the wood on the shelves, but there is no way you can get there without going through the incoming monsters. Your only option is to try to fight them off using the tools on the pegboard, but somewhere deep inside you already know there’s no way a few screwdrivers and hammers are going to give you the space you would need to fight them all as they surround you, and the power tools, with their cords are wrapped up, will require an outlet which means you’ll be leashed to one spot on the wall while fighting them.
Running for the tools, you know you’ll lose, but you plan to take as many of those dirty creatures with you as you can.
The End
Take the Two-by-Fours
Realizing that you don’t want to attract attention to yourself by turning on a bunch of noisy machines and that while having nails and screws sticking out of a plank of wood might cause more damage they would also, more than likely, just get stuck in a zombie’s skull meaning the weapon would be lost, you opt to just quickly grab a couple of two-by-fours and head out. Rummaging through the scraps, you find four of them that are right about the length of your arm and a piece of rope. You decide to tie up two of them and strap them to your back using the rope and carry the other two when you go.
There are some tools in the room as well, but without a mobile power source, the buzz saw and drills are pretty pointless. Somewhere along the line, your school never seemed to get on board with the battery operated kind. Anyway, with those options lost, your eyes fall on the hammers and screwdrivers. They’re not going to give you as much distance as you would like, but in a pinch, they might save your life. You push the handle of the hammer into your belt loop and shove a couple screwdrivers in your back pocket before you prepare to head out.
Returning to the door, you consider your options from here. The girl said you could enter the teachers’ lounge if you brought back weapons, food, and a first aid kit. Clearly, you have the weapons covered, so now you need to choose if going for a first aid kit or going for food is next.
If you go for the first aid kit next, turn to page ………. 98 If you go after some food next, turn to page …………. 348
Next Go For the First Aid Kit
Thinking that while you now have a means of defending yourself, it would be really helpful if you could help others. You opt to get a first aid kit next. You try to think back to your health class with Miss Prego whose real name is Miss Jefferson, but whom the students secretly nicknamed because she managed to get herself pregnant every school year for the past three years, to remember what is in a standard first aid kit and if it’s going to be enough. You know most standard kits have compress dressings and bandages, not to mention aspirin and antibiotic ointment. This stuff will help if someone scratches themselves or gets a cut, but if it’s a bite from a zombie, it’s not going to do much good. Rubber gloves, you figure, are probably in most kits nowadays, and those might help you from getting
someone’s infected blood on you. Other than that, the only things you can remember are breathing barriers for CPR and gauze. None of it sounds like it will do much if a zombie attacks.
Considering that they all probably had to take the same health class as you, the two questions that come to mind then are whether or not the people inside the teachers’ lounge are already hurt and need something simple like this stuff, or if they are expected there to be something else in the kit. Reviewing the things you know about zombies from sources like Jonathan Maberry’s books and Romero’s Night of the Living Dead movie, you consider the idea that this is some sort of highly communicable virus that is being transmitted from person to person by bites. If that’s the case, then perhaps some hydrogen peroxide or alcohol might kill the virus in a bite wound if administered quickly enough.
With this thought in mind, you consider the fact that there are probably two places in the school where you can find these things. The nurse’s office, like the girl upstairs recommended, or the back room in the science labs.
If you head for the nurse’s office, turn to page ……….. 196 If you head for the science labs, turn to page ………….. 206
First Aid Kit First
Being the caring person that you are, you figure that it would be really great if you could help others, so you opt to get a first aid kit first. Who knows, maybe someone will be so grateful that you were able to help them that they will be willing to share their stuff, and you’ll have less to gather. You try to think back to your health class with Miss Prego whose real name is Miss Jefferson, but whom the students secret nicknamed because she managed to get herself pregnant every school year for the past three years, and remember what is in a standard first aid kit and if it’s going to be enough. You know most standard kits have compress dressings and bandages, not to mention aspirin and antibiotic ointment. This stuff will help if someone scratches themselves or gets a cut, but if it’s a bite from a zombie, it’s not going to do much good. Rubber gloves, you figure, are probably in most kits nowadays, and those might help you from getting someone’s infected blood on you. Other than that, the only things you can remember are breathing barriers for CPR and gauze. None of it sounds like it will do much if a zombie attacks.
