Opening the metal door into the sports lockers, we were met with the familiar smell of pungent sweat and rusted metal. We surveyed the room for infected, searching every shadow and nook before firmly and quietly barricading the door. A nearby bench was used to cover the entrance. Finally, we were able to get some rest. I walked over to the workout area, where I dropped my weapon and layed down on the hard floor.
"Finally, we can rest." I sighed, stretching myself out on the floor.
"It hasn't even been that long since our last rest, but my body feels like it was hit by a semi truck." Jake groaned, massaging his shoulders.
Soon we all were resting, whether we were on the floor or sitting on one of the many benches. Landon was across the room from me, using a towel to wipe the blood and gore from his fire extinguisher. Jake was somehow already asleep, curled up in a ball snoring. Henry was odd though… I knew he wasn't bitten, but he wasn't acting normal. And it was obvious why, his best friend just died, and he wasn't able to do anything to stop it.
"Henry, you alright?" I asked, getting up from the floor.
"You could have saved him…" Henry choked under his breath.
"What?" I asked, unable to hear him because of how quiet he was.
"You could have saved him." Henry seethed, his voice full of rage and hatred.
"Henry, I'm sorry about Derek, but none of us could have saved him, he said so himself." Landon tried to reason.
"Fuck you. Fuck all of you…" Henry growled hoarsely at the group, his voice getting louder, "This is your fault, Ethan. If you actually had some fucking balls he would still be here." He turns around, revealing his blood coated shirt. Tears streamed down his face, his shaky voice cracking.
"I KNOW THAT AS GOOD AS YOU DO HENRY!!" I shouted, waking up Jake, before softening my voice, "I should've been the one that got infected, Derek was better than I was. But we're past that… We can't save him, but we can live for him. And I'm planning on doing that."
"What's happening?" Jake yawned, wiping his eyes.
"What's happening is that Ethan is a fucking pussy, and Derek is dead because of him." Henry snapped, before calming his voice,"There is only one way that I can forgive any of you." Henry said, anger written all over his face, "If you help me find my little sister, I might forgive you and put this all behind me."
"Deal." I said immediately,"I know just as much as you do that I don't deserve to be alive right now, so I'll do whatever it takes to make up for it." I said resolutely, confidence brimming from my voice, "Where is she, the sooner we get her the better."
"She's at Graymont Elementary, it's a couple miles east of here." Henry said, calming down."
Jake let out a sharp laugh at what Henry had suggested,"So basically, you're trying to get us to travel over half a day's walk to save your sister, through probably one of the largest infected territories? Hell no we're not." Jake's smile slowly faded as he chewed Henry out even more,"It's a death wish and I of all people know that, I went there with you. That school is a concrete jungle in the center of the city. We're going to practically get trapped in there."
"I sadly have to agree with Jake on this. Even if we had a car with a full tank of gas, the roads would be full of infection." Landon said, rubbing his temples while running calculations in his head for how it would work.
"None of you care about me… None of you even cared about Derek's death… YOU ALL JUST CARE ABOUT THROWING PEOPLE WHO AREN'T USEFUL TO YOU OUT THE DOOR LIKE THEY'RE FUCKING SHIT!!" Henry screamed, a crazed and insane look wiped over his face,"None of you cared… I'll make you regret this."
Henry slowly walked over to me. I backed up, eventually my back was against the wall, and then he attacked. Henry threw a punch to my gut, knocking me down onto my knees, then landed a powerful kick to my jaw. Before he was able to do any serious damage, Jake shoved him away, knocking him onto the floor. Landon then restrained him by tying him up with his shirt.
"LET ME GO YOU FUCKERS!!" Henry screamed with rage, even more tears streaming down his face,"HE KILLED HIM!! DEREK'S ONLY DEAD BECAUSE OF THAT FUCKING ORPHAN!!"
Everyone went quiet. Even Henry in his crazed state knew that he messed up, but he didn't care.
"You know, you're right." I said, finally reaching my breaking point.
Henry blinked, thrown off.
"I don't care that Derek's fucking dead. And I don't care about your little sister. If you dont like it, then the fuck out of my sight." I said as I stood back up, cracking my neck, "I'm not going to care about you just because you're angry and obsessed with your sister. You are single-handedly sabotaging our chances of survival because of your selfish whining." I said slowly walking up to the restrained boy.
"You are a threat to this group's safety. You're not the only person in here who is grieving over what was lost, but your fixation is going to get us killed. Leave and don't turn back."
Henry stared like I'd just slapped him, instantly losing his aggression and his arms falling limp at his sides. All that remained was a scared highschool junior who was scared of losing his last connection to the living world. His eyes darted between us. First to Jake, who was still stared down at him with burning eyes, brimming with malice. Then to Landon, who wouldn't even turn to look at him. Then back to me, the one whom he blamed for all of his misfortunes. The room was dead quiet, the tension clinging to the air like smoke after a fire. No one moved. No one spoke.
"You want me gone? Deal." Henry said, his voice shaky,"I'm gone."
He stood up, and used his teeth to untie the restraints he had on. Then he walked towards the door.
"If my sister is dead…" He stopped for a moment, looking over his shoulder back at me,"Just know you won't have a good fate." After his last words, he pushed aside the bench and walked through the door, shutting it with a slam. He was gone, for good.
The room felt like time was at a standstill, the only noise left was that of our own breath. Jake was first to speak.
"Henry's fucking insane." Jake laughed, combing his hair with his hand,"I know that Derek's death really hit him hard but blaming his death on us, let alone calling Ethan an orphan… He's gone insane."
"He was hurting, but that doesn't excuse what he did." Landon paused, glancing over,"Ethan, you ok?"
"I'm fine." I said, rubbing my sore chin, "Just pissed off."
"Pissed is an understatement." Jake added angrily," Dude, he literally snapped at you for no reason. I don't care how close he was to Derek, hell we were pretty close too. But that doesn't change what he did."
"He's not the same guy we saw this morning." I said, staring at Jake and Landon.
Jake exhaled,"Yeah… That guy died along with Derek."
"Yeah, anyways… Is it just me or am I fucking starving." Jake said, stomach loudly gurgling.
"There's some vending machines down the hall, there should be some snacks." Landon told us, grabbing his fire extinguisher.
"Please let it not be just protein bars…" I prayed as we walked over to the vending machines.
Once we reached a machine that held all the snackable foods, Landon winded up his fire extinguisher, before bringing it down into the vending machine's glass. Covering our eyes from shards, we looked back at the holy grail of highschool snacks. The holy grail of name brand chips, candy's, and crackers spilt out like a waterfall of glorious snacks. I opened up my bag and stuffed whatever would fit inside. Once the vending machine was fully raided, we headed over to the drink machine. Same as the last one, Landon broke it open, and we grabbed as many waters and sodas as our grubby hands could carry. Soon we walked back to the weightroom, where we set down our snacks and had a long deserved break.
We all sat on the worn down mats, eating our snacks like we were kings. For those short few hours that we had freely to ourselves, it felt like everything was normal, that we hadn't just watched the horrors of war in front of your eyes. But time passes quicker when you aren't paying attention to it, and soon it was evening. Midway through whatever conversation was happening, I took a peek at the clock to see what time it was.
"Ah shit." I said, standing up as I brushed off crumbs from my hoodie,"It's almost four pm."
"Damn your right, time sure flies when you're not thinking about zombies attacking you every second." Jake added sarcastically, before also standing up.
"Let's head over to the sport's locker, there's gotta be at least a few things of use." Landon said, walking towards the sport's locker.
We all followed behind Landon, praying that something of use would be found in the sports locker. Once we reached its door, Landon broke off the overused padlock that kept it shut, then we went inside. Once in, we found the holy grail of survival weapons. Baseball bats, basketballs, uniforms, if it was a sport it would be found there. We all split up, searching for whatever would help us the most.
Jake headed towards the aluminum baseball bats, an obvious upgrade from his weathered wooden ones. Then he walked over to where the soccer gear was, grabbing some shin guards to protect his legs. I went to the uniform section, grabbing an old letterman jacket for protecting my upper body, before wandering a bit. Eventually I found what I was looking for, javelins. I was one of the best javelin throwers in the state, so these were an obvious choice. I grabbed the woman's size javelin---It was lighter than I was used to, but that just meant I could also use it as a spear. Landon walked to where the uniforms were as well, grabbing a jacket that fit him, before walking to an older section of the lockers and grabbing an archery kit.
Then me and Landon went over to Jake and grabbed some shin guards of our own. I walked back further into the locker room, soon coming back with shoulder pads and elbow guards for all of us. At this point, we felt practically invincible. Walking out of the sport's room with a newly found confidence, we were prepared for whatever this new world would throw at us. Me and Jake headed back to the weight room while Landon stayed behind a bit longer, before coming to us with a large whiteboard and some markers.
"What's with the giant whiteboard? You trying to finish 5th periods lesson?" Jake said, his voice drenched with sarcasm.
"Even if I were you wouldn't pay attention, so instead…" Landon said, opening a marker and drawing a pretty detailed map of our school,"I'll teach you how we are going to get out of here and find a place that's better than where we are."
"This is us." Landon pointed to a blue X on the board,"And this is where we need to get to within the hour." Landon said, drawing a black line, connecting the blue X to a red circle,"It's the fastest route I could think of, but that means that there is some risk involved… I estimate at least ten infected that we have to take care of."
"Shit…" Jake muttered, a grim look on his face,"Would they be in one large horde or multiple little groups?" Jake asked.
"I wish I could tell you that but I can't." Landon answered, stress all across his face.
"How long would it take to get out of the school?" I asked.
"Around 20 minutes, but that's if everything goes perfectly." Landon responded.
"Okay… Then let's head out now." I said as I stood up,"The longer we wait the harder it's going to get to leave."
"You're absolutely right." Jake responded, jumping up and walking calmly towards the door, "I've gotten bored of all this sitting, I've needed some exercise."
Walking towards the door with a rush of adrenaline, we pushed aside the bench and opened the broken door. Jake quickly surveyed the outside before giving us the signal to follow him. We walked through the stadium entrance and got to the stairs that just hours ago we were fleeing from. Taking a left towards the math building, we had to deal with our first infection. A single infected charged at us but this time we were ready. I lifted my javelin high into the air, and then planted my left foot with a heavy weight, then flung the javelin towards the target. It pierced through the air like a bolt of lightning, before hitting its mark. It pierced right through the infecteds left eye as blood splattered every which way. The infected immediately fell sideways into the floor, even more gore spreading through our surroundings.
"Holy shit… What a fucking throw." Jake exclaimed with a devilish grin across his face, "Keep this up and you might make the olympic team."
"You think the Olympics are going to get held after all of this happened?" I commented,"Enough joking, we need to get moving."
"You're right, let's kill more. The sooner the better." Landon spoke, walking towards the body and grabbing my javelin, cleaning it off before tossing it back.
We jogged towards the math building before we were able to reach its main door. I attempted to open it, but found it to be locked. Jake hushed me aside, before taking a swing at the door handle with his aluminum bat. One swing was all it took before the handle clattered to the floor in a heap of bent metal. Jake was excited at his new power, and quickly rushed in after him. We searched through the hallway before taking a left at a T intersection, meeting our newest targets. Three infected were in our way, and they were big. Each one of them looked like they could be a Center on an NBA team. Me and Jake charged towards one while Landon pulled out his bow. Jake struck low at one, hitting its kneecap. It stumbled down to where I was waiting. With a great force I pierced through its skull, bits of brain and blood leaking out.
The other infected attempted to pounce on me, but I managed to deflect its attack by smacking it in the face with my javelin. It stumbled back, trying to regain its balance, when it fell straight to the floor from an accurate shot by Landon's bow. Another one quickly flew across the hallway, sounding like a missile until it hit the other infected straight in the forehead. We quickly looked around for more infected before we grabbed Landon's arrows and gave them back. Putting them back into his quill, Landon quickly found the way we needed to go through. Getting back on track, we quickly zoomed through the winding hallways, trying to pay no attention to the stretches of human remains and blood splatters. Eventually we were able to reach the end of the building.
"Finally…" I sighed, slowing down as we reached it,"Now, where to next?"
"This part was actually the harder part of the journey… Why were there so little infected..?" Landon pondered,"Anyways… From here it's about 500 meters of open fields until the parking lot. Only around five infected should be on it, but keep up your guard. I don't want what happened to Derek to happen again."
"You're right. I'm done joking around, lets get the fuck outta here." Jake said, his normal tone becoming serious.
Walking through those doors with our hearts practically pounding through our chests, we looked for any infected. Just to be met with the worst sight possible. Nearly fifteen infected were in our path. We all just stared for a while, thinking over what we've gone through until this moment. But I wasn't ready to die just yet. I was first to move, gripping my javelin like it was the remainder of all my possessions. Next was Landon. He grabbed his bow and two arrows, loading one and holding onto the other. Last out was Jake. He was confident, a horrific grin across his face as he saw the fight that was about to be at hand. We charged, ready to put our lives on the line.
The infected took notice of us, charging towards us with palpable bloodlust. The first infected was struck in the eye by Landon's arrow. It whizzed through the air and straight through his head like it was an unstoppable force. A second arrow came flying past shortly after, taking down another infected with a shot directly to the forehead. I charged forwards at the commotion. One infected attacked me, trying to jump on top of me. I swung my spear towards it. Tearing through its flesh like a butcher to meat. A giant gash was left across its face and chest, but it kept charging. I adjusted the grip on my spear, intending to use it as a lance. I pierced forward at my adversary, piercing straight through its mouth, dropping it to the floor.
Jake took notice of my kill, charging into two infected to one up my achievement. He swung the bat straight into the skull of one of the infected, slamming it's head back and knocking it flat on it's back, splayed out in a gorey mess. The second began to lunge but was kicked straight in its neck, pushing it back. Using the distance to his advantage, Jake wound up and sent his second swing hurling devastatingly towards the last enemy, bursting its skull wide open. Shards of skull and grey matter rushed from every orifice on its face and the new tears created by the counterattack, and it crumpled to the floor like a sandcastle to a wave. Next up to bat was Landon. One was charging at him and another towards me. He quickly loaded his third arrow, brought the string to his shoulder, and let it fly, piercing the abomination straight through its kneecap, erupting from the other side of its leg causing it to unceremoniously crash to the floor. Using the incapacitated infected to his advantage, he loaded his forth arrow, and blasted it towards the one charging me, once more blasting out its knee. It stumbled toward me, but I was faster. Stepping back then forward, one thrust of the javelin put it down for good. Turning now to the infected at Landon, he loaded his fifth arrow and shot it in the head, killing it.
Only eight remained now. We were all tired, but we had to keep fighting. Using some of the last of my energy, I hurled my javelin at two infected who were charging at me in a line. The javelin pierced the chest of the first infected, and through the second's head. I charged forward, grabbing hold of my javelin, and I pushed back the infected. Both fell to the floor, and I stabbed each of them in the skull for good measure. Rushing forward, Landon grabbed two of his arrows and loaded one up. Pulling the string as far as he could, he shot an arrow towards one infected in the back of their group. The arrow pierced straight through its skull, and fell a few feet behind it. Me and Jake met together, and attacked them one last time.
We charged forward, weapons drawn. Three came at us. The first had it's chest caved in by Jake's bat, sending him back. The other went for his leg, but I pinned it to the floor with my javelin, severing its spine and rendering it incapacitated. The last one went for me. It clawed forwards at me, but my jacket proved its worth and withstood its advances. I swung my javelin sideways, slashing across its abdomen. Its intestines and stomach poured out as it crumbled into the floor, nearly bisected by the fury of the swing and the surprisingly sharp metal. Jake was fighting the one he flung back earlier, but dispatched the threat promptly. One swing from Jake's powerful swing sent it back to hell, or wherever these things came from. Now only two remained. Both went for Landon, but they were quickly dealt with. Using his last remaining arrow, Landon shot the closer one through the eye, killing it. The last one was used for target practice. I wound up my arm, took a step back, and launched an absolute bullet at the last infected. It ran through its left shoulder and sunk deep into its chest. Falling down into the grass, it slowly and painfully clawed its way towards Landon but was met with one final swing from Jake, ending the grueling battle.