If my memory serves me right, Alex would be having his English class right now on the third floor of the school. I rushed to the third floor, being careful at the same time so I wouldn't slip and break my neck.
I ran to the classroom and never have I ever been any happier opening the classroom door. Alexander Marshall was sitting on the front row of seats of the classroom. The two other students that I recognize are Arlene Park, the Korean girl sitting just behind Alex, and Jackson Curtis, who was on the back row, talking to some other students. The rest I do not recognize, are new students, or just people I don't really care.
The teacher, a short, middle-aged man, said when I entered the room: "Hey! What are you doing here? This isn't your class!" The attention of the class all went to me as the teacher tried to block me from going near Alex, but I managed to shove him out of the way easily.
Alex stood up almost immediately as soon as the teacher was out of my way, "Hey, what's wrong, Reiner?" he asks me, but I grabbed his hand instead of answering.
"We have to get out of here. Something bad has happened near the school entrance." I managed to say, though I know this doesn't explain anything.
"Woah, woah, woah. Reiner," he puts his hand on my shoulder, which surprisingly calms me down a bit, "Now tell me what is going on."
I tried to calm myself down by breathing properly, before saying: "Some guy just got in the school and attacked the principal and some teachers."
I could hear some of the other students giggle after I gave Alex my explanation. Who would even believe that some crazy person would go in the school and just begin attacking people like a zombie?
"Young man," the teacher said, " I would like you to leave this room. You are disturbing my class. If you refuse, I..."
"Shut up! If you....."
My sentence was cut off when Arlene stood up and said: "Sir, can we just take this conversation outside so you can continue with the class?" The teacher glared at her for a few moments before sighing. Then, in an instant, Arlene dragged the both of us out of the classroom. "Okay, now you can continue."
"Okay," I said and began to explain what has transpired today. "Then I thought about you, so I came up here to get you."
"Wait...so you got my sister involved in this mess?" He asked me in a serious tone. His eyes were as cold as ice now. Dammit! He's so scary whenever he does that stare. "Hey! Where is Chloe? Is she okay?" He had already grabbed the collar of my shirt and began shaking me violent.
"Woah, chill, Alex." Jackson emerged from the classroom. I could hear the teacher screaming inside. "Calm down before you kill Reiner."
He stopped shaking me but still grabbed on to my collar for several more seconds before letting me go, his eyes still glaring at me. "Take me to her then."
"Wait, we're not going back to class?" Arlene asked.
"Well, if what Reiner said is true, then we'll get caught up with whatever is happening downstairs if we stay here."
"What is happening downstairs, anyway?" Jackson asked. Dammit! Do I still have to explain to him everything again?
"Some guy got in the school and attacked some people. Those he attacked began attacking others as well." I managed to give him a brief summary of what I had just said to both Alex and Arlene.
"So you're saying that the guy's a zombie?" Jackson asked.
"Zombies aren't real, Jacks," Arlene scolded Jackson, "Be serious!"
"Well, I guess you could say they're zombies, if you want......." I was cut off by the sound of the bell ringing. It wasn't just the bell in the third floor that was ringing. It was clear that every bell in the school was ringing. Shit something must have happened in the Principal's office.
Then something hit me.
"Shit!" I swore.
"What is it? Why are the bells ringing?" Arlene asked.
"I just realized that there are probably more of those things outside the school."
"So?"
"If all the bells in this school is ringing, then...." I didn't need to finish my sentence for them to understand what I was going to say. "We need to head to the cafeteria immediately before any of the students come out."
We were probably the unluckiest group ever. Before we even reached the first floor, the stairs were already crowded. Everyone was asking what was going on and why the bell was ringing. We managed to squeeze our way through the crowd, but before we were even ten steps from the first floor.....
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the scream of a female student echoed in the hallway. I stood on my toes, risking falling of the stairs, and caught of a glimpse of the screaming girl being bitten by the principal.
Everyone did not move. They were all shocked why the principal was attacking a student.
"Shit! We need to get out of here!" I suggested.
Then....
CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All the windows of the first floor broke as several people...no, several of those things threw themselves into the students. Some were biting into the students' limbs and faces. The students began to panic and ran around in all directions. Some of the students tripped and are trampled by the other students' feet. Others were fighting, trying to get them out of the way.
"Fuck! We can't get to the cafeteria!" I said. We managed to grab on to the stairs' railings to avoid being pushed over by the stampede going down the stairs. "We'll have to find somewhere else to lay low."
"The Computer Laboratory!" Arlene suggested. "That's where Thomas and Carly usually hang out. They weren't in class today, so they're probably there."
"Well, It seems like we don't have a choice." Jackson said.
It was hard, but we managed to climb up to the fourth floor of the school, by then, there were barely any students in the floor, except the bodies of several students. I felt an intense urge to throw up, and I did after seeing Arlene and Alex vomit. What happened here? How are there dead bodies here? Those things still haven't gone up here. Did the students up here stampede after hearing the screams below? I don't recognize any of the dead students, but I didn't feel thankful because of that.
"We're almost there, guys. Let's get going before those zombies or whatever get to us."
I had almost lost all my strength throwing up, but I managed to drag my legs to the Computer Laboratory.
Alex turns the knob, but it doesn't budge.
"Dammit! Why does the door have to be locked?" Alex began banging on the door. What if the Laboratory is empty? Shit! We never thought about this scenario. Those things will soon catch up with us and overwhelm us.
The door opened. I managed to push through and stumble in the room. Almost immediately, a keyboard struck me in the face. Then I felt a sharp pain on my back, like someone was trying to break my back.
"Hey! Stop!" Jackson screamed as the door closed behind us. "It's just us, for god's sake."
I looked up and saw both Carly Watson and Thomas Baldroy, each with a weapon at hand. Carly immediately drops the keyboard she was holding and helps me up.
"Oh my god, Reiner!" Carly said as I stood up. "I'm so so so sorry."
Thomas, who was holding on to a metal baseball bat, quickly rushed to my side and helped me up. "Really sorry there, man. Thought you were one of those things out there."
"You could have broke my back, asshole." I said as I reject his offer to help me. "I can get up by myself."
"How did you know what was happening down there?" Alex asked.
“Didn't you see what's outside?" Carly replied with a question.
"When we heard the bell ring, we didn't think of it much." Thomas said. "Thought it was just a fire drill or something."
"Until we looked out at the window." Carly pointed to the rows of windows at the back of the room. "Whatever's happening down there, it's a lot worse out there."
We wasted no time going to the windows to check what is going on. I was a bit slow, because of the headache caused by bothe the bells ringing and the keyboard hitting me. I really hope that I don't develop a concussion, because now is not the best time.
Carly was right. As soon as we had seen what was on the other side of the window, almost all our mouths gaped open. I heard Arlene gasp softly.
The scene outside was similar to the scenes you find in any disaster movie: it was total chaos down there. Black smoke was rising from several buildings in the city. Cars where everywhere. Some were had crashed into one another, some were just abandoned in the middle of the street.
But what's especially terrifying was the fact that there are several bodies lying around. I immediately spot several students running out of the school, only to be mowed down by several of the infected who had tailed them from the school.
I looked at my companions on my side. Everyone had tears streaming down their faces.
"This isn't real, is it?" Jackson, who was usually happy and cheerful, said, shock and fear were etched on his face.
"In a world where planes fly and cars that drive by themselves, why not?" Alex said.
"So now how do we get to the cafeteria?" Arlene asked. "Obviously it's suicide going down there with all those things roaming around."
"Why would you want to go to the cafeteria? First of all, it's in the first floor. Second, how would you know that the cafeteria is safe?" Thomas asked.
'"Well, I trust in Chloe," I said, "I told her to barricade the cafeteria before those things started to come out of nowhere."
"One way or another, we are going to have to leave this room." Alex said. "How long do you think we'll last in here without food and water? And with only one weapon?"
"Well, it's probably better if we travel at night." Carly said. "People in zombie movies usually move at night."
"Well, Carly, this isn't a movie. This is real life." I said. "What if those things become more active at night."
"I was just giving my opinion." Carly frowned before walking away to the other side of the room, bumping my shoulder along the way.
"I think waiting for night to fall is a great idea." Jackson said. "If these things really become inactive at night."
"Yeah, and since we still aren't sure if that is true, we'll probably lose a limb or two, or probably our lives if those things go berserk at night." Arlene said, her voice loud and her arms crossed.
"Everyone, shut the fuck up!" Alex shouted. "There are no supplies in this room, so we probably won't last a day here. So I say we leave this room either now or when night falls. Anyone who refuses to head to the cafeteria at night can stay here, for all I care. So, any more questions?"
We had all fallen silent to the mini speech Alex had given. He was right. Even if we don't want to leave this room, we'll be forced to eventually by dehydration and starvation.
An explosion booms from outside. We stare out of the window and saw lots of smoke rising far east from the city. Another explosion occurs, and the smoked thickened.
Before anyone could say or do anything, all the lights went out. The bells had stopped ringing. Everything was silent.
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