Zombie High (23 page)

Refusing Logan’s offer to go and head for the exit,
you decide that you’ll let him do what he can for his
friend, but if things look like they’re going south, you’ll at
least be there to step in and give him a hand. Watching as
Nathan approaches Logan, you realize that Nathan is
much bigger than Logan is. This worries you a bit, but you
figure that with Nathan being the infected one that Logan
should be able to outwit him and outmaneuver him, not
to mention Logan does have a weapon. That’s when
Logan gets stupid and puts the weapon down. Not
wanting to call attention to yourself, you quietly curse at
Logan for the extra risk he’s taking.

Talking to the thing which used to be his best
friend, Logan says, “Nathan, buddy, I know you’re in
there. I know you can hear me, and I just wanted to say,
I’m sorry. I’m sorry you’re like this, man. It was supposed
to be you and me fighting side by side when the zombies
came. We talked about this, and now look, you had to go
and get yourself bit.” Shaking his head, Logan says, “I’m
going to have to put you down, man. I know that’s what
you would have wanted, and it’s what you would have
done for me.”

You can’t swear by it, but when you look to the
zombie that used to be Nathan, you think he might have
actually smiled at this last thoughtful gesture, but if he
did, it only lasted a second. His face contorts into a snarl,
and he increases in speed towards Logan who is already
racing in with fist held high. As Nathan steps in face first
and goes for the bite, Logan meets him with a swift and
devastating punch to the side of his face. The blow is
powerful enough to knock Nathan to the ground.
Stepping out into the hall to watch the two of them, you
see Logan jump into the air and body slam the zombie just
as it started to get up, slamming it back into the hard tile
floor chin first which forces the creature’s jaw to slam
shut with enough force to break at least one of Nathan’s
teeth. As the fight continues, Logan manages to slip his
arm around his ex-best friend’s neck, and begins pulling,
attempting to snap the zombie’s neck. For several
seconds you wait, expecting to hear the audible crack of
its vertebrae, but nothing comes. Moving to get a better
view, you see that while the thing’s neck is twisted
uncomfortably, it’s not far enough to break bones. At the
same time, while in this awkward position, it’s actually still
working its mouth as Logan pulls, trying to bite on Logan’s
face.

Not willing to let this go on any longer, you lift your
two-by-four and swing for the zombie’s head. As your
board breaks, you realize that not only was there not
enough force to break a skull open, but Logan must have
gotten in the way somehow and taken part of the blow
because he is now falling back away from Nathan holding
his hands to his head. Taking a second to apologize out of
habit, you almost get caught by one of Nathan’s sweeping
arms as he attempts to grab you. Jumping back out of his
reach, your left foot lands on the broken piece of wood
from your two-by-four, and you slip to the ground. Seeing
this, Nathan makes his move.

Launching himself forward with more skill than you
would have thought a zombie possessing, Nathan gets on
top of you and pins you to the ground like a wrestler from
the WWE. From there, he attempts to bite into your arm,
but you manage to pull it from his grasp just a second
before his teeth clamp down. From there it becomes a
mass of rolling, snarling, and vicious blows, but without a
way to damage the thing’s brain, you know you’re going
to lose.

As Nathan come in for his tenth or maybe eleventh
attempt to bite your neck, you find your arms unable to
keep him at bay. Somehow knowing this, Nathan leans in,
putting all of his weight on you, and you find he’s getting
closer and closer to his goal. Somewhere in your head a
memory from one of the
Aliens
movies plays where
Sigourney Weaver is up against a wall, and the creature is
leaning in with its mouth wide open ready to bite her.
That’s when you feel the pressure almost double, and
your arms give out. Luckily, the added weight is from
Logan who just came to, and he is standing over the both
of you, with one hand on Nathan’s chin and the other on
the back of his friend’s skull. You hear him say the words,
“Forgive me,” and then you feel a jerking sensation run
through Nathan’s body just before it slumps down on top
of you.

A moment later, Logan helps you to roll the twice
dead Nathan off of you, and you say, “Thanks.” When you
catch him rubbing his head where your two-by-four struck
him, you add, “Sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry,” Logan smiles. “My teachers always
say I have a thick head. Now at least we know it was good
for something.”

As Logan helps you up, Mr. Castle comes down the
stairs and asks, “You two all right?”
“Yeah, we just had to take care of something,” says
Logan.
Not asking for clarification as his eyes flick to the
body, Mr. Castle asks, “Anyone get bit?”
“No,” you say shaking your head. “We’re both
clean.”
“All right then, let’s get going, I don’t want us to
miss our ride,” says Mr. Castle.
Suddenly remembering the people in the teachers’
lounge you say, “Mr. Castle, while I was out earlier, I came
across some people who were holing up in the teachers’
lounge. They asked me to get some supplies and …,”
Holding up a hand, Mr. Castle says, “I already found
them. One was infected, but I got the other two out, and
they look all right.”
Nodding, you follow Logan up the stairs and to the
maintenance closet. Inside, you find all the usual cleaning
supplies stacked on shelves, but in the back of the room,
you spot a small ladder leading up to an open hatch and
the blue sky above. Apparently grateful for your help,
Logan lets you go up first, and you begin climbing without
hesitating.
When you get to the top and are just about ready
to exit onto the school’s roof, a pair of dirty grimy hands
comes reaching for you from above. 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. You
almost lose your grip on the ladder, but 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 working here.”
Mr. Castle and Logan make their way up out of the
hatch right after you, and after closing up the hatch, Mr.
Castle turns to the group and says, “You all did good down
there. I’m proud of you. Just hang tight, and our ride will
be here to pick us up in a few minutes.”
True to his word, he had a military helicopter there
within the next few minutes, and as it lands on the roof of
the school he says, “Find a seat, or sit on the floor, it
doesn’t matter. Just get in.” Ultimately, you end up
sitting right between the pilot and Mr. Castle in the small
space between their seats. It’s certainly not the safest
way to travel, what with 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 have survived the first day of the zombie apocalypse
and saved as many people as possible. I wish you luck
making through tomorrow.

Bagdonas always seemed like a nice girl, but
considering how close the horde of zombies are and how
many there are, you figure there really isn’t much you can
do but die right along with her. Besides, you’re going to
have to use every ounce of speed you have left if you
want to stay out of sight from the undead mob yourself.
Turning around, you leave the little nook of a spot you had
been crouching in and make a run for it back towards the
shop, searching all the while for a place to hide.

Running your butt off isn’t enough, and by the time
you’re halfway down the hall, you hear the unmistakable
moan of the zombies as they enter the intersection you
were just at. Risking a look back over your shoulder, you
see that several of them have spotted you and are now
splitting off from the horde to pursue you, the closest
means of satiating their incurable hunger pains. Turning
your head forward again, you curse Bagdonas under your
breath for leading them, however inadvertently, in your
direction.

From somewhere else in the school you hear a loud
scream, and you feel bad enough to try to take back your
curses just in case it was Bagdonas who just got taken
down by the zombies. At the same time, you find the
reserves of strength and endurance you didn’t know you
had and pick up the pace a bit more.

When you get three-fourths of the way to the shop
class, you spot the boys bathroom on your right and make
a screeching turn with your shoes on the tile floor to enter
it. Upon opening the door, you see a dark figure moving
inside, and it appears to be coming right at you. Leaping
to the side, scared out of your mind, you slam your
shoulder into the wall before realizing what you saw was
your own reflection in the darkened mirror. Rubbing the
spot which will surely become a bruise later, you promise
yourself that this will be worth a laugh someday, so long
as you can make it out this mess alive.

Looking around, you see the usual things, a pair of
sinks along one wall, a pair of urinals on the other side, a
single stall for those needing to do more, and a small
window set high above the stall. Knowing that the
zombies saw you and will be in here in a minute, you try
to judge the space you have, only to realize that there
really isn’t enough room to swing your two-by-four
around. You do have the option of doing some close
quarters fighting with the hammer and screwdrivers you
took from the shop, but you have no idea how many are
coming in, and frankly, getting that close to them doesn’t
seem very wise. Alternatively, you might be able to hide
out in the stall. With them being essentially brain dead
monsters and all, they might not even look for you there
and just leave. The third option is to try to get up to the
window somehow and crawl out. It will be a bit of drop
down to the ground, but so long as you’re careful, you
should be all right and then maybe you can get
somewhere safe or at least find a phone and call for help.

If you try to hide in the stall, turn to page …………….
281
If you try to fight them, turn to page
………………..
292
If you go for the window, turn to page …................
295

Not feeling too good about your chances of selfdefense against an unknown number of zombies, and not
seeing any way to get up to the window, you decide that
hiding in the stall is your best option. Stepping in, you
quickly close the door behind you and turn the flimsy lock.
Looking around, you see the usual: a cheap plastic toilet
paper dispenser with only a few handfuls left before the
roll is empty, the ‘porcelain of prayer’ as your older
college bound cousin calls it, and a few inappropriate lines
of graffiti written in black marker on the walls. Essentially,
nothing that’s going to help you. That’s when you hear
the door.

At first it sounds like whoever is opening it is
tentative about doing so, as if they expect someone to be
waiting on the other side, but then you hear the door hit
the wall as it’s pushed open fully and a stream of zombies
comes in. It takes a minute for them to find their way to
the back of the small bathroom, and you use this time to
carefully climb up onto the toilet seat and crouch down,
figuring that you don’t want one of them to see your feet
or the top of your head from the other side of the stall.
Through the crack between the door and the stall wall,
you see the shadow of one of the creatures pass by a
second before you see the mangled face of Jason, a smart
kid from one of your afternoon classes. As quietly as you
can, you send up a prayer that he won’t turn and see you
through the same crack that you’re secretly watching him
through.

For whatever reason, it seems as if God, your
guardian angel, or whomever is out there heard you,
because a moment later Jason passes by to continue his
stumbling walk elsewhere. Unfortunately, not being seen
isn’t the only thing you should have been worried about
because a second after you send up your thanks in quiet
prayer, you hear the sound of the bathroom door close.
That’s when your brain kicks in, and you realize zombies
can’t do simple things like pull on handles and the
bathroom door only opens in one direction, in. That
means however many of them are in in here, they’re
going to continue to be in here until they either decay to
nothing or someone lets them out.

If you don’t want to die in here, it looks like you’re
going to need to make a choice. You still have the
hammer and screwdrivers since the two-by-fours will be
even less useful in the enclosed space of the bathroom
stall, or you might be able to reach the window while
standing on the toilet seat.

Considering that you still don’t know exactly how
many of the walking dead made it in here, and knowing
that the only tools you have to kill them with are going to
require you to be up close and personal with them, you
decide to opt for escaping through the window. You know
that most of the windows in the school only open so far,
but you figure it should be enough for you to squeeze
through. Now the only problem is reaching the blasted
thing.