The woman quickly put the phone back in her pocket and cleared her throat. She had to look calm in front of Arthur. He couldn't know what was happening, not when even she wasn't sure of it herself.

The familiar door of the janitor's closet appeared in the distance and Clara sighed in relief. She knocked a few times on the wooden planks and took a step back, waiting for the door to open.

It did open, slowly, the handles creaking loudly. A man's head poked out of the room. He was in his mid-40s, his five o clock shadow and bags under his eyes making him seem a bit tired, and was wearing a janitor's uniform.

He smiled softly as he saw the duo, but then frowned in concern.

“Is something wrong? You look like you saw a ghost, Clara.” he said, then chuckled uncertaintely.

Clara shrugged nervously. “You could say that, yeah.”

The man raised his eyebrows in confusion and stepped out of the closet. “What does that mean? What happened?”.

Clara looked behind her and back to the man. “There's a man outside, he looks… creepy… as if he were… dead. He doesn't seem to want to get out, so I was wondering if you could help in any way?”

Mr. Smith scratched the hair on his face and nodded. “Yeah, I'll see what I can do.” He quickly reached back in the closet and took out a broom. Clara looked at it then at the janitor. The man laughed softly and tapped the handle on his palm. “Well, we don't know, he may be aggressive, better to take precautions, right?”

Clara nodded. “I-I guess..”

She followed the janitor back outside and stood close to the door along Arthur.

The janitor walked up to the man, who was still in the same spot he had been before, and tapped his broom on the ground to get his attention.

“Hello? I heard that my colleague here has asked you to leave, is that correct?”

The man turned around and grunted, before slowly shambling towards the janitor.

“Hey?! Did you hear me? Scram, before I call security!!”

The man groaned and stopped, looking at the janitor with a blank expression.

Before anyone could reactor utter a single word, the man pounced on the janitor, making him lose his balance and fall to the ground. Mr. Smith yelped and grabbed his broom, trying to push away the man with it. The man bit the handle, and the janitor grunted, trying to get back up. As he moved the broom away, the man swiftly moved his head around and towards the janitor's face.

A scream of pain was heard and Clara quickly placed her hands on Arthur's ears. The man had bitten into the janitor's shoulder, and wasn't letting go. Blood splurted out of the wound as the man's teeth went deeper into the flesh, breaking the skin completely, before his head jerked back. The janitor screamed, his flesh ripping away from his shoulder. The man bit again, a weird gurgling sound coming out of his throat. Clara grunted and turned Arthur around. “Don't look, don't listen, stay here. I'll be right back.”

Arthur nodded and sat down on the ground into a ball, shutting his eyes and putting his hands on his ears. “Thank god he's an obedient child”. Clara thought.

The woman ran to the janitor and grabbed the assailant's shoulders, quickly pulling him away from her co-worker. The violent man growled and turned around, trying to pounce on the teacher, but the janitor quickly got up and hit him with the broom handle, the man tumbling to the ground, not moving anymore, his fingers still twitching.

Mr. Smith crawled a few inches back away from the assailant, his hand clutching his gushing wound as he grunted in pain. He swore under his breath, and Clara crouched down to look at the man.

“Is… is he… dead..?” The woman asked, her voice shaky from adrenaline and fear. The man wasn't moving. His breathing was very slow, barely perceptible. The janitor shrugged and hissed in pain. “D-don’t know…” he lowered his head. “S-shit… That fucker bit me hard… was he on crack or something?? Jesus… Christ, f-fuck, that hurt…"

Clara turned around and helped Mr. Smith up. “Let's go back inside and take a look at the wound.”

The janitor gave Clara a quizzical look. “S-shouldn't we call the cops? And what about the man..?” he stuttered in confusion.

Clara shook her head. “Line's busy, nobody's reachable right now… and I don't know what we could do with that man anyway… let's just wait until the authorities arrive.”

The man looked down, a shadow of horror passing through his tired gaze. “If they ever do....”

He went back inside in silence while Clara went to get Arthur. The kid was still in a ball, not having moved from the position he was in before. Clara gently nudged his shoulder, and the child looked to his side. “M-miss Clara..?” Arthur stuttered, tears in his eyes. Clara gently rubbed his head and lead him back inside. “It's alright Arthur, nothing bad happened, the weird man was just a bit mean, but it's all okay now.” Arthur tried to look behind him to where the assailant was, but Clara placed her hand on his eyes gently to shield his gaze, turning his head back to look at the door. “No, it's okay, let's just go back inside, alright?”

Arthur nodded and went back inside. Clara closed and locked the door behind her, then closed the curtains on the big windows. She didn't exactly know why, but it made her feel a bit safer. The teacher guided Arthur to the play section of the classroom, and walked back to the janitor.

She sat next to him and gently removed his bloody hand from his mangled shoulder. There was some sort of putrid yellow liquid mixed with the blood. It smelled bad, like pus. Mr. Smith winced and placed a hand on his forehead, closing his eyes. Clara looked at the man and frowned in concern. “Are you okay? You might've lost a good amount of blood... maybe you should lay down for a bit, while I go get the first aid kit.” She looked around then sighed. “I think it would be easier to just go in the infirmary, there's a bed there.”

Mr. Smith nodded and smiled softly. “Y-yeah, good thinking.” He stuttered, his breathing short and labored.

Clara went to see Arthur and gently tapped his shoulder. The kid turned around and looked up. “Hey, Arthur, we'll need to go to the infirmary. Take the toys you want, we might stay there for a while, Mr. Smith has a little injury we gotta take care of.”

Arthur looked down, then took a dinosaur toy and a plushy, and got up, following Clara and the janitor down the hallway.

The three arrived in the infirmary, and Mr. Smith laid down on the bed, while Arthur sat on the ground and started playing and Clara went to get the first aid kit. She quickly came back to the janitor, turning him on his back and inspecting his shoulder. She quickly cleaned up the wound, and bandaged it. “I'm sorry, this is the best I can do for now” the woman said softly.

The janitor smiled and cleared his throat. “It's alright, when everything is sorted, I'll get real stitches.” he then closed his eyes and frowned. “Are there any painkillers? I'm getting a huge headache…” he winced and brought a hand to his temple. Clara gasped and looked in the case. “Not in there, I'll go see if there's anything in the cupboards!” She quickly got up and looked around, opening and closing the doors. Finally, she found some Advil, and went back to Mr. Smith.

“S-sorry, this is all they had… I don't know if it'll do the job..” the teacher said sadly, handing over two pills to the janitor. He chuckled sadly, contemplating the shiny blue oblong pills for a second. “S’alright, I'll live even if it doesn't do its job.”

As he plopped them into his mouth, Clara sighed. “I'm really sorry Brendon, I didn't mean for that to happen…” she said sadly, sitting on a chair besides the bed. The janitor scoffed and smiled. “Eh, I'm used to getting hurt, this wound is just a bit bigger than usual.” He laughed a little and laid back down on the bed. Clara smiled back and scratched the back of her head. “I got this call from Brenda half an hour ago, she said the roads are blocked because of traffic, and that there's been other accidents…”

Brendon looked at Clara in fear. “You don't think…?”

“... That this man was related to the accidents? It might be the case, yeah…” the woman answered.

The janitor chuckled. “Feels like we're in a zombie movie, huh?”

Clara sighed. “Although… this man was still alive, so it can't really be, right?…”

Brendon nodded and turned around on his side, facing the wall. “Guess not..”

“Miss Clara, when are my parents coming to get me?” A small voice was heard behind the woman, and she turned her head to the side. Arthur seemed a bit concerned now, he was nervously tapping his foot on the ground, looking down with a scared expression. Clara looked down as well. She then stood up and stretched. “I'm not sure, but you shouldn't worry, honey. They'll come at one point. They always do, don't they?” She smiled softly at the boy and he hesitantly smiled back. “Y-yeah.”

Clara ruffled his hair and looked at the clock on the wall. Something about the ticking felt ominous to her. And something deep down made her think that maybe Arthur's parents wouldn't come. Just like the police didn't answer the phone half an hour ago when she tried to call them.

“I guess it really could be a zombie apocalypse…” The woman thought, sighing softly and walking to sit next to Arthur and watch him play a bit.