Zombie High (22 page)

When you get her up on the table, she manages to
hoist herself up and begins climbing on hands and knees
through the vent. Not willing to give the three zombies
who are closing in any more time, you follow her and
squirm into the opening as well. Once inside, however,
you find that you are too big to turn around, and you can’t
get the cover up to close the opening. Yelling into the
darkness of the vent, you tell the others to hurry, and that
there is no way to block them from coming.

You hear a loud curse word from Day, but nothing
else as the first of the three zombies manages to find the
duct’s opening. You crawl as fast as you can, faster in fact
than the girl you just saved, and wind up with your head
hitting her in the butt. That’s when you realize two things.
First, the zombies with their poor coordination and
inability to climb stairs have no way of getting into the
vent, and you all could actually take a minute to decide
where you’re going. The other thing, which happens to be
far more relevant, is the fact that as you have now
stopped to give the older girl a moment to move forward
so that you can avoid any more embarrassments, you can
feel the entire air shaft you’re crawling through swinging.

Opening your mouth to say as much, you suddenly
find yourself biting down on your own tongue as the
entire thing drops from whatever had been keeping it
suspended, and you, along with the other three students,
crash through the ceiling tiles and onto the hallway floor.
Dazed by the sudden fall and deafened by the crash, you
take a second to realize what’s happened. By the time
you figure out that the air ducts couldn’t hold the weight
of four teenagers in them and that they began to move,
it’s already too late.

The three zombies that managed to follow you into
the teachers’ lounge are coming out, and several more,
already in the hallway, are on their way. You manage to
stand up, which is better than Day who lies unconscious in
the broken vent, but are quickly tackled by the closest
zombies. The last things you hear are the screams of your
own voice as your throat is torn out by a pair of teeth
belonging to one of the teachers which look like they
haven’t been brushed since the Reagan administration,
followed by the gurgling sound you make as blood pours
into your trachea.

Looking back from the zombies to the older girl,
you shake your head at her stubbornness before
abandoning her. The phrase,
God helps those who help
themselves
, floats through your head and while it may or
may not be purely scripture, in this case it seems fitting.
Clambering your way up, you crawl into the vent and
begin to make your way down when you realize that you
never got to put the cover on the opening. You tell
yourself that the zombies are probably not coordinated
enough to climb up if they can’t even do something as
simple as use stairs, and then you hear something behind
you. Looking back, you see the face of the older girl, and
think for just a second that perhaps she is putting the
cover on. Instead, she begins to climb her way up as well.

Grateful that her face won’t haunt your nightmares
as someone whom you might have been able to help, you
look forward into the inky darkness and begin to crawl
again. That’s when you hear the girl behind you scream.
Apparently, she didn’t get in far enough before the
zombies recovered, and they now have her leg. You try to
think of something you can do to help, but she quickly
takes that option away from you as she latches onto your
ankle and pulls. Somewhere inside, you know she was
just trying to find purchase on something to pull herself in,
and your leg just happened to be the thing she grabbed,
but part of you feels like she’s doing this just to get back
at you. That’s when you feel your leg go out from under
you, and like a table with only three legs, you fall.

From there it only takes a few seconds, but the
zombies in the teachers’ lounge begin to yank on the fresh
meat of her leg, dragging her back to their makeshift
dinner table, and she brings you along as her plus one. To
the zombies, it must have seemed like a magic show
where the handkerchiefs are tied together and pulling on
one gets the others to come out, because within a minute
they find themselves with two tasty treats instead of just
the one they pulled on.

Heeding the advice of everyone around you, you
decide to wait for Mr. Castle to arrive. The waiting only
takes about fifteen minutes and when you hear a
knocking at the door, you realize it’s in a familiar pattern
you recognize from the movie
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
.
Rushing to the door, you help Mr. Ray move the stuff
blocking the entrance and then watch in amazement as
Mr. Castle comes in with nearly thirty students behind
him. Thinking back, there were plenty of times you
almost got caught, but somehow this group was able to
stay together and not get infected despite the fact that
they must have looked like a food train to the zombies as
they went through the halls.

As Mr. Castle steps over to Mr. Ray, he asks, “Are
these all yours?” referring to the students in the room.
“No,” answers Mr. Ray with a shake of his head. “I
had a full class but lost some when we had to barricade
ourselves in here. These four joined us just a little bit
ago.”
Turning to face you and the band kids, Mr. Castle
says, “I’m not going to ask you what happened out there.
We’ve all seen some pretty bad stuff by now, I’m sure, but
I need to know if any of you have been infected.”
Looking to the others and then back to Mr. Castle,
you say, “I’m clean, and I think they are, too, but I just
hooked up with them a little bit ago.”
Looking to Ryan, Chris, and Bagdonas in turn, Mr.
Castle receives a “No” and a shake of the head for each of
them. He gives them each a cursory look from head to
toe, and then, as if satisfied, turns back to the other
teacher.
“I’ve got most of the stuff you asked for,” begins
Mr. Ray, “but some things are just impossible given the
supplies we have on hand here at the school.”
“I’m sure it will be fine,” says Mr. Castle. “We just
have to make it to the roof.”
Stepping in, you ask, “I’m sorry, did you say we’re
going to the roof? How are we supposed to get up
there?”
Addressing you, although clearly annoyed that you
are questioning his plan, Mr. Castle says, “There is a hatch
in the maintenance closet on the second floor.”
Taking the hint, you let the two of them talk for a
minute while you check out the other students who came
in with him. There are a few of them like Abby and Logan
who you recognize, but several of them are just students
you’ve seen around the school and have never really
talked to. You consider walking over to talk to Logan, but
with the room this crowded, it seems kind of pointless to
try and move around everyone.
Standing up on one of the chairs, Mr. Castle
surprises you and announces, “Okay, everyone. I know
it’s been a rough day so far, but we need to keep moving.
Our goal is to get up to the roof. I’ve already told most of
you how to get there, so if we get ambushed by these
creatures just turn around and find another way there. If
someone goes down, the same rules apply as before.
Keep moving, and don’t try to help them. These things
are just looking for any excuse they can get to sink their
teeth into you and once they have, there’s no helping you.
When we get to the roof, we should only have to wait for
a little while and then help will arrive.”
Raising your hand, you ask, “What kind of help?”
Smiling, he says, “Let’s just say I know a guy who
owes me a favor or two. If we get up there, he’ll come
rescue us.” Addressing everyone again, he says, “Mr. Ray
will hand out what he has to those without any weapons.
If you have something already, let one of the others
choose first. All right, five minutes people, let’s go.”
As everyone begins gearing up and heading around
to the different workstations to assess which weapons
suit them best, you overhear Mr. Ray talking to Mr. Castle
say, “I can’t believe you want to arm a bunch of kids.
Something just doesn’t seem right about this. I mean, if
we go through with this, we’re not going to be the same
afterwards, and these kids will never have a chance at a
normal life.”
Turning to face him, Mr. Castle says, “There is no
more normal. Don’t you get that? If these kids want a
chance at life at all then they’re going to have to step up
and be ready to defend themselves against those who
would take it from them.”
“I hear you, but don’t you think by arming them,
we’re going to turn them into monsters without souls just
like those things out there?” asks Mr. Ray.
“Honestly, no. That type of thinking is a myth born
from idiots and bad logic. People who have never been to
war and never seen what I have sit back in their
comfortable armchairs making declarations like that all
the time, never recognizing that it’s the ones who go out
there and do something that give them that false sense of
security to sit and do nothing. The use of violence in
defense of yourself and others does not make you a bad
person. The fact is, if the enemy or in this case the
zombies, hadn’t started this, then we wouldn’t be doing
what we are now. These kids would instead be thinking
about their high school romances, the ways that they
could skip class, and what’s supposed to be on today’s
lunch menu that doesn’t include human flesh.” Pointing
to Logan, he says, “That one would be thinking about
what assignments are worth doing tonight,” and then
pointing to another kid, he adds, “and that one would be
doodling pictures of his favorite actresses wearing tight tshirts and Daisy Duke shorts. These things out there have
already destroyed that. Heck, you want to talk about
crossing a line, they ate a priest for Pete’s sake. I’m not
trying to make us into heroes, but we most certainly are
not monsters. We’re doing what it takes to save people.”
Realizing that too many people are looking at him
and listening, Mr. Castle stops talking and walks back to
the door. When he gets there, he addresses the group
and says, “This thing, this parasite or whatever it is, has
turned the people we knew into monsters. Now, they
want to turn us into one, too. Personally, I’m not going to
let them. Stick to the plan and the rescue will be here,”
and with that, he opens the door and steps back out into
the hall.
Almost all of the students who came in with him
are following closely, and with them, Mr. Ray and his
students. Picking up your two-by-four, you look around
and find that as the band kids go, it’s just Logan and you
left to follow. Giving him a nod, you ask, “Ready?”
“As I’m gonna be,” comes his reply, and then the
two of you leave together.
Out in the hallway, you find that the students have
aligned themselves on both sides of the hallway as they
proceed towards the stairs. When they get to the
intersection, the lead person on the right gives the all
clear for the left hallway since they have the better view,
and the lead person on the left gives the all clear for the
right. Standing in the middle, Mr. Castle makes a few
hand gestures and whispers to a couple of students and
then heads around the corner and towards the stairs. It
only takes a minute, and then the lines are moving once
again, both sides making the turn and filing into the
stairwell.
A part of you thinks that maybe this is all going too
easy, that you were expecting some bloody showdown
with a huge horde of zombies that you would have to fight
off to get to safety, but you have to admit that you’re glad
it hasn’t come to that. That is, until you spot Nathan
shambling up from the direction of the nurse’s office.
Holding out a hand for Logan to stop, you point down the
hall.
With a sad disappointment in his voice, Logan says,
“Nathan, oh, buddy, I thought you might have made it.”
Then turning towards you, he says, “Get up the stairs, I’ll
be right behind you.”

You are desperate to help, but you also know that
Logan and Nathan were best friends up till yesterday.
Clearly Logan wanted to be able to say goodbye in his own
way before easing Nathan out of this existence he’s now
in. Nodding to Logan that you understand, you head up
the stairs.

When you get to the top, you find that there are
several bodies on the ground, clearly ex-humans who had
been roaming around up here eating whoever they could
catch, now dispatched to wherever zombies go. Aside
from them, you find several students armed with the
various supplies from Mr. Ray’s lab standing guard at a
couple points in the hall. Just as you’re about to ask the
first one a question, Mr. Castle comes out of a small room
a little bit up the hall and asks, “Are you the last one?”

Looking over your shoulder and then back to him,
you say, “No, uh, Logan’s still downstairs.”
“What?” asks Mr. Castle in what would surely have
come out like a Drill Sergeant screaming at a cadet if it
weren’t for the fact that any loud noises would attract
more zombies to them. Stomping across the floor, until
the two of you are nose to nose, Mr. Castle asks, “Haven’t
you ever heard of the phrase ‘
Leave No Man Behind’
? If
you were in the military I would have you busted down to
KP duty for the next month. Now turn around, we’re
going back for him.”
Defending your actions, you say, “Logan said to go.
He said he would be right behind me.”
Whirling around to face you, Mr. Castle asks, “And
if your friend were cleaning a loaded weapon with the
barrel pointed at his face, and he said don’t worry, I got
this, would you still just walk away? Think about it,
because that’s essentially what you did.” Seeing the
distraught look on your face and the fact that your eyes
keep flicking back to the maintenance closet where the
hatch for the roof is, Mr. Castle leans in and whispers,
“We have a student down there, someone who may need
our help, and you want to be a yellow turd and save
yourself. Well, I’m not going to let you. You take one step
for that roof before I say so, and I will personally break
one of those legs you’re so fond of running away with.
Your only option at this point is to come with me.”
You’re a little scared of Mr. Castle right now since
he’s clearly reverted back to some kind of mental military
man, and you find yourself worried enough that he might
actually go through with his threat to break your leg that
you begin to follow him. You know you’ve heard
somewhere that in the military people used to get shot
for things like abandoning their posts and disobeying
orders, and right now, with the stress of an apocalypse
and all, there’s a chance he might actually do it.
As he begins to descend the stairs, he holds up a
hand telling you to wait until he gets to the landing
halfway down and then waves you forward. When you
get there, he asks you in a low voice which almost sounds
like Batman, “Where was he when you last saw him?”
Answering in a whisper, you say, “Right outside the
door.”
After waiting a second, Mr. Castle says, “I don’t
hear anything. Let’s go check it out.”
Following the teacher down the steps, you almost
run into his back when he stops next to the door.
Carefully and precisely, he slices the pie, opening up his
field of view ten to fifteen degrees at a time making sure
everything is clear, and then he holds a finger to his lips in
a classic ‘Be quiet’ signal and waves you ahead.
Stepping around him, you are startled to find
Nathan hunched over Logan’s body and already elbow
deep into his abdomen. The blood around the body is a
sickening pool of red, and the sounds of what used to be
Nathan chewing on Logan’s innards is disgusting. Despite
all the things you’ve seen and done today in the heat of
battle, you find yourself ready to heave.
Seeing your reaction, Mr. Castle claps a hand over
your mouth and pulls you back into the stairwell. Once
inside, he says, “That out there could have been avoided.
You think about that when you wake up with a cold sweat
running down your arms from nightmares of this day.”
Then pointing up the stairs he says, “Now get your butt
upstairs and up onto the roof.”
Without looking back, you bolt up the stairs, surely
making more noise than you ought to, but only caring
about getting to the roof, to clean air and to safety. When
you get to the maintenance closet on the second floor,
you find a small ladder in the back of the room leading up
to an open hatch and the blue sky above. Without
hesitating, you begin your climb.
When you get to the top and are just about ready
to exit the school, a pair of dirty grimy hands comes
reaching for you. For just a second you think that they
might be those of one of the infected, visions of Nathan
downstairs still fresh in your mind, and you almost lose
your grip on the ladder. That’s when you hear the voices
of the other students celebrating. Taking one of the
offered hands, you climb the rest of the way out and find
that everyone else is already up here including a new
person you hadn’t seen with either group, Mrs. Gail, the
school registrar.
Smiling as you pass everyone, you step over to
where she sits back smoking a cigarette, and ask, “How
did you make it up here? I didn’t see you with the group.”
With a smirk on her face and the sarcasm of an
older woman who’s seen it all, Mrs. Gail says, “I’ve
survived this zoo for the past thirty years, and this,”
gesturing towards the zombies below on the ground,
“isn’t even in my top five worst days.”
Mr. Castle and the rest of the students make their
way up out of the hatch soon thereafter, and while you
can’t be certain, it looks as if there are fresh stains you
hadn’t noticed before on Mr. Castle’s pants. You don’t
bother asking about them. Instead, you just wait with
everyone else, happy to be alive.
Within about fifteen minutes, you hear the
distinctive sound of a helicopter, and when you look up
you spot one painted in military camouflage dipping down
towards your location. It takes a while for everyone to get
loaded on, and it’s probably not the safest setup to have
this many people aboard without seats, but no one says a
thing as the helicopter begins to take off and point its
nose towards safety.
Congratulations, you made it out of school alive, but the
question is - at what cost?