Day 2 – Part II

Those monsters pushed their way right through those tables and the boys that were trying hold them back. Everyone scrambled like disturbed ants towards the one and only exit. It was too crowded; we wouldn’t be able to make it in time.

“This way!” Lena screamed as she led us into the kitchen. Once we were all in, she slammed the door behind us and pushed a table in front of it.

We all sat there in the dark silence. No one spoke. The only sound was that of the people outside. Screams, running, glass breaking – it was Hell on Earth. All the tears of Hell were falling on us today.

The screams faded after about five minutes – the silence was thick enough to cut with a knife. Lena pulled her lighter from her pocket and lit the flame. A little dancing orange glow dimly illuminated the room.

Everyone’s faces were white – white as a sheet. We were scared; no one can blame us for it. Paul walked over to the counter next to the stove and grabbed the largest chef knife he could find. We all tried to find something to defend ourselves with, even something as ridiculous as a rolling pin. As long as it could put a distance between us and them.

The problem then, was that I knew zombies weren’t real. They just couldn’t be. The flesh eating, reanimated human bodies couldn’t actually exist. It didn’t make any sense. This wasn’t Resident Evil; there was no T-virus. There was no news of any catastrophe. No nuclear bombs. No  chemical spills. We just needed to find out what the cause was, to find the cure. That’s how problems were always solved in the movies. The truth of the cause was found, and thus the solution was born.

Dan pulled the table away from the door as Paul and Lena took point and Dan covered our backs. As Paul pulled open the door, I tightened my grip around the floor lamp I had grabbed.

We inched our way out into the dining hall. To our surprise, it was mostly empty. Dead bodies and blood littered the floors as well as painted the walls. We could see the silhouette of a person standing on the other side of the room.

We all stopped at the sight of it – we stood still until one brave person decided to go and investigate.

That person was me.

I inched up slowly behind it, when I got about twenty feet behind the figure, I whispered. “Are you alive?”

That was probably a harsh question if the person was alive but it was to the point. The figure jerked around. With the haste of their movements, I could tell there was something wrong.

The figure charged towards me! Then, I knew who it was now, it was Nikki – or what was left of Nikki. Her lower jaw had been completely ripped off and her chest was torn open. I could vaguely see her ribs.

I flexed my fingers tighter about the lamp, the closer she got. Her terrible stare frightened me. What to do? Hit her when she came to bite? Fling the lamp and run? Try to get around her without hitting her? None of them sounded like they’d honestly work. So I settled on combining the three previous options.

Apparently the two of us had the same idea, as she lunged forward right as I ran to the side. Her hand got wrapped up in my trailing shirt. Not a well fitting thing at all.

Day 2 – Part I

Rising into the air and slowly descending across the sea of students, a ball of crumpled paper collided with the side of Dan’s head and he blinked out of his trance. I was still so confused with the thought of such dimwits being accepted into this school.

“Assholes.” I thought to myself, I eyed the boys as well. Their names were Nate and Jason and they sat chuckling behind their notebooks—no doubt preparing another paper weapon to be launched at some unsuspecting student.

I hate people like that. They represented everything that I didn’t want stereotyped about teenagers. Stupid, annoying, inconsiderate and most of all—in desperate need of attention. It was kids like them that made me – us – look bad. Their demeanor reeked – absolutely stank of immaturity.

I followed Dan as he tossed the ball of crumpled paper into the garbage can near the door. “Hole in one.” I shouted as I walked behind him, he just turned and smiled as we proceeded towards our next class.

I tried to pay closer attention to what Ms. Kepley was teaching me as her excited voice bounced around the classroom, but I still felt a little heated. I just wanted to piss them off. What were they going to do, fight a girl?

Next was lunch time, the time almost everyone—even the teachers—looked forward to the most. We usually hung out outside under the shade of our tree. It was me, Maddie, Lena, Dan, Kristen and Paul.

Lena was an Asian girl who was very gifted. Gifted with intelligence, talent and beauty. During lunch, she refused to eat. Protesting about how the school is trying to kill us with their “leftover lunch of doom”; she just sat under the shade tree playing her cobalt-coloured guitar.

Kristen and Paul were a couple and they were both close friends of ours. Kristen was a beautiful, statuesque girl with the smarts to back it up. Paul was very handsome and athletic. He wasn’t a jock though. Surprisingly, he was very quiet and spent a lot of time doing church functions.

Lena gently strummed her guitar to the notes of a song she had written not ten minutes before. It was almost like a dance. She played the music as we ate and laughed softly. Our musical was disrupted with the loud crack of thunder. Everyone seemed to be put on pause.

High up above, the clouds were darkening and the bright blue sky was shrouded in a mist of grey and black. A storm was coming. The birds knew it. Hundreds upon thousands of birds were flocking together and flying west over the city of Goldsboro.

“That’s weird. It was supposed to be a clear day today,” Kristen said as she stood up from her seat next to Paul.

I watched her face as a single fat raindrop fell and hit her on the forehead. We all laughed as she glared at us with her trademark wry frown. I felt more drops as the seconds progressed on and finally, I found myself running with my friends towards the indoor cafeteria as the rain poured down in buckets behind us.

All of the Upperclassmen were gathered in the cafeteria, all two hundred of us. Paul pushed his way through the crowds and climbed on top of a table so he could turn on the television. Everyone went silent as the news blared through the tiny TV speakers.

…inside your homes. I repeat, everyone must stay inside your homes. Governor Perdue has declared the following cities under martial law: Raleigh, Goldsboro, all of Wayne County, Wilmington…

My body went numb at the mention of my own hometown.

We have…umm…limited footage of the attackers. Can we go to the tape there?

The broadcast went to snow and then switched to an amateur videotape. It was blurred at first and then focused on three different looking humans, slowly advancing on a terrified older man. He screamed over and over , “Stop! Stop!” Instead, they killed him. Pounced on him and dug their teeth into his flesh. Ripping out meaty chunks like little kids attacking a birthday cake.

Day One – Part II

I rolled back onto my side and stared at the clock once more.

4:15 PM

Maddie would be here soon. I slipped out of bed, fully clothed, and headed towards the bathroom to brush my teeth. As I passed by the mirror, I saw my ragged self. It was a pitiful sight which I didn’t look at long.

As I brushed the grime away from my teeth, the doorbell rang. With my toothbrush still in my mouth, I ran to the door and pulled it open. As I expected, it was Maddie, with my book bag in one hand and her car keys in the other. Her silver BMW was parked next to my Nissan Maxima.

“Come in,” I said with my mouth full of toothpaste foam. I walked back to the bathroom and spit the foam and grime into the sink. If nothing else, my teeth were clean.

When I returned to the kitchen, Maddie was standing in front of my coffee machine, fixing us a batch of extra strong coffee.  “Thanks for bringing me my stuff,” I smiled as I sat down at the bar.

“Oh, no problem, Jen.”  The words came out in rhythm, from behind perfectly straight teeth.

Maddie came and sat on the bar stool next to me. I could smell her perfume; it was called “Mark”. We wore the same brand.

“Hey, are you okay? You left in such a hurry. Everybody was worried about you.”

“I’m fine,” I assured her. “Just fine.” But the look in her eyes revealed me to be a liar. She knew. She even started to open her mouth to protest, one assumes, but paused. She just shook her head and chuckled at me.

She looked up at the coffee machine; it had just finished spitting out all of the hot, black liquid. She jumped up from her seat and went over to the cabinet where I kept my coffee mugs. They were on the top shelf and she struggled to reach them.

Day One – Part I

I couldn’t see. I was too tired to see. I blinked and my vision changed from bad to worse, my eyes began to water and I put my face into my arms as I listened to the crying of the intercom. I was a student at Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

“Jenny,” Ms. Kepley said as she passed by me. “Wake up, honey, I want to go home too.” I grumbled and leaned back, staring at the Promethean Board. It was cold. Very cold. My hair was still wet from the rain, which had conveniently stopped after I was soaking wet and inside.  The dampness surrounding my ears caused my teeth to chatter slightly.

A runaway strand of hair fell innocently into my face, but I didn’t mind it. I looked around the room and saw the other students were as tired and groggy as I was, not much of a surprise. It was the usual Monday afternoon of the new month.

“Remember, fellow class-mates. Lunch today…” The girl reading the bulletin began to say, but was cut off by a woman’s voice. I sat up in my chair at the static that stung my ears.

“Sorry for the interruption, students and facility, but I would just like to warn the student body of some recent cases of the flu around the area. You’re teachers will send you out if you’re sick. Wash your hands often and don’t come in contact with sick students or other ill people. Thank you.” It was Ms. Johnson, the Principal. In the past few days, a bad flu has been on the rampage around the east coast.

It really didn’t concern me, so I hadn’t really looked into it. It seemed about as dangerous as Swine Flu was a couple years back. Just some illness that the media got all hyped up about.

The rest of the day seemed to pass by in a flash and I found myself sitting in my CIS: 110 class. I stared up at the florescent lights, barely listening to the instructor.

Seems nice doesn’t it?

Well, I loathed this class. It wouldn’t be so bad if I had a different teacher than the one I had now. It was popular belief that he was racist, sexist and homosexual, hating the white females in the class and drooling over all the cute boys. As usual, we were forced to do endless Microsoft Word activities until our fingers began to bleed. I could feel myself beginning to fall asleep.