15.

A Chapter by Kira

Light. Voices. Pain.

"...just passed out. Don't know..."

"Broken wrist, looks like..."

Fluttering eyelids. More light. More pain.

"...Coming around now."

"Is it safe to move her?"

"Trace, I'm so..."

She tried to sit up, but her head spun; it felt like she was pushed violently down.

"Lucas," Tracy moaned.

His face appeared just above hers, blocking out the blinding light. She thought she'd never been so happy to see anyone, but that would probably change, depending on how long she could survive during this...thing. There was no word for it.

"Everything's fine," he said softly. "God, we must've taken out every one of those things in the school. The door held out until they were all gone, but then there was enough space to crawl out and find better shelter."

"He means the chemistry lab," Sammi interrupted.

Tracy was right--she could be happier to see someone. Her dizziness was fading, and she sat up, seeing perfect rows of tables and chairs. Like normal. If Lucas's speech hadn't dispelled her nausea, she might have thought she imagined the whole thing.

"It's Mr. Carson's lab," Lucas explained.

Ah, thought Tracy. Mr. Carson's situation was an: a few weeks ago he hadn't come into work, with no warning and no trace of where he'd gone. The news was that he'd eloped with his girlfriend (Miss Whittaker, the school librarian). The gossip had only just died down, but there was still no long-term teacher willing to take his place, so all of his students had relocated to Ms. Templeton's Honors Chem. The classroom wasn't being used for lessons, so nobody had been inside when everyone started changing.

Tracy silently thanked Miss Whittaker for ignoring Mr. Carson's obvious toupee, and thinking he might be someone worth marrying.

"If they're all gone...why are we still hiding?" Tracy groaned. Her voice was rough and her tongue felt heavy.

"We still don't know if this was contained in the school or..." Sammi trailed off. "And I don't think any one of us is willing to risk our lives checking. Why would people start turning into zombies here, anyway?"

"I don't know," Tracy said, leaning back against the dirty tile. Her head was spinning again, and she thought she tasted blood; lingering from a zombie's punch? Or had she simply bitten her tongue or something?

She raised a hand to her face and examined it. And just as she feared, there it was: a bright red stain across her fingers.

"I'm sorry, Tracy," said Lucas, and there was a flash of silver through the air just before everything went black.

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