Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End

On the day when everything came to an an end, I remember it starting out like any other Thursday in my life. I woke up at 6:45 (like I did every school day), took a shower, got dressed, had myself a bowl of Fruity Pebbles, and then headed out for another eight hours of soul draining education. The only difference with that Thursday, other than the horror that would change the world, was that I was still reeling from the depression of Ashley's rejection.
     And it was bad too. I mean I've been depressed before, but nothing even came close to comparing to what I was going through then. Colors were dull, sounds were muffled, almost as if I were living underwater, my tangy bowl of awesomeness tasted like cardboard, and it felt like I was living in slow motion. Everyone and everything just zipped right past me in black and white blurs as I walked to school. Any other girl's rejection would've rolled right off my shoulders. I don't know. I guess I never expected her to reject me.
     Classes were slower than usual, heightened to near insanity thanks to the depression. I found myself on more than one occasion just staring out the window, drool practically dribbling down my chin. I wasn't daydreaming of anything. Mentally I was just gone, completely...well--zombified.
     What made matters worse, as if the depression wasn't enough, was that Ashley and I shared the first four classes together, and instead of sitting in the back of the class like we always did together, she was now sitting up front, refusing to look back at me. As if ignoring me was the answer to the situation. It made me angry that she was acting so damn immature.
     By the end of the third period, I had simply had enough and couldn't take anymore. Even if I wanted to talk to Ashley, there was no way that she was going to give me that chance. Three times did the end-of-period bell ring, and each time she was the first one out the door, practically sprinting, her stuff already packed minutes before.
     I tried to pull the same move during the second period but ended up kissing tile thanks to one of her friends playing defense.
     "Oh my God! Dylan, are you okay?"
     I hope she got an Oscar for that performance.
     It was insane. There's no better word for it. With one simple, yet extremely difficult expression of emotion, I could literally see our friendship of more than ten years start to crumble away at the base. A friendship that transcended childhood and blew past puberty like it was nothing. I was now having a harder time deciding what was worse. The fact that she turned me down, or that our friendship was eroding away.
     Fourth period was next and I knew he'd be there as well. I decided that there was just no way in hell I'd be able to deal with watching the two of them holding hands, or doing whatever else they could get away with when Mr. Dodge's back was turned. Instead I decided that I needed some fresh air and went to the one place I was always able to go to. The emergency fire staircase.

Outside on the staircase my view was a simple one. There were the front gates. Wrought iron barred. Obsidian black. After that was the parking lot filled with every make, model, and color of cars and trucks. Then there was Eastwood Dr. The single road that connected the school to the main streets, Rouse Road and Lokanotosa Trail. Beyond that was the treeline of loosely clustered oaks and palms where I could just make out from between the trunks Rouse Lake.
     I pulled my cell from my pocket and began scrolling through the pictures in the gallery. I stopped on the one picture that was most special to me. It was a picture of Ashley and I at Islands of Adventure over Christmas Break. We were both wearing Thing 1 and Thing 2 wigs and ridiculously large glasses that were far too big for our faces, doing the best to make the wackiest face we could. It was on that day that I realized just how much I was in love with her. I remember it being terrifying when I realized it, and yet it made so much sense.
     Suddenly I heard the emergency exit open, followed by "Why am I not surprised to find you here?"
     I slid my cell back into my pocket and turned to face Sara, her blonde hair with pink tips pulled back in a ponytail, and her icy blue eyes filled with annoyance. At age fifteen she was the smartest girl in my class, if not the whole school. How many other girls could say they skipped their junior year?
     "What do you want, Sara?" I asked returning my attention to the view, knowing that my day just got a little bit harder. A warm breeze blew past us. It smelled...funny.
     "What do I want?" she repeated, letting the door close behind her. "What I want is to be in class and not playing gofer for Mr. Dodge."
     "And how would Mr. Dodge know that I'm even here?"
     "I told him," she said nonchalantly. "He asked if anyone had seen you, and against my better judgement I said I did. He then asked if I could go fetch you. Fetch," she said with a chuckle. "As if I were some dog."
     "Well congrats, Lassie, you found me. Hate to tell you this though, but I'm not coming to class. So go tell Mr. Dodge that I'm sick and going home."
     "Oh please tell me that whatever...this is," she said gesturing with her hand to all of me. "Has got nothing to do with Ashley rejecting you yesterday."
     Red light. I felt my heart seize and I turned fully and face her. "And how would you know about Ashley rejecting me?"
     Sara may have been the smartest girl in school, but all those smarts would never help her think before she spoke. As soon as she realized what she had said, there was a fraction of a second where her eyes opened slightly. Almost like a deer in the headlights kind of look. She then turned and looked away.
     I grabbed her by the shoulders. "Tell me!" I demanded.
     "I thought it was common knowledge seeing as how she posted it on Twitter last night."
     A surge of anger swelled up inside me. No, not anger. Flat-out rage. I released Sara and punch the side of the building as hard as I could, immediately regretting the decision as pain shot up from my wrist and into my shoulder. I looked down at my knuckles and saw that I was bleeding.
     Just as quickly as the rage erupted did it suddenly disappeared, replaced by a new level of depression that crashed over me, flooding my brain like a tidal wave. I turned my attention back to my view and looked down at the cement.
     "Do you think a swan dive from the second floor would be enough to do me in. Figure if I'm about to commit suicide I might as well do it with some flair."
     "Knock it off DJ--give me your hand," she said pulling a handkerchief from her pocket and addressing my knuckles. "You and I both know you don't have it in you to off yourself."
     I scoffed. Course, she was right. Never in a million years would I be able to kill myself, but I hoped the scoff made Sara think otherwise.
     "There," she said tying a knot into her handkerchief. She then leaned up against the guardrail beside. "Your hand should be fine for now, but you'll need to see the nurse and get some peroxide on that."
     "Thanks," I said making a fist to stretch the cloth.
     "You want to know something?" Sara started. "Did you know that out of everyone in this school, it was you I always believed that had some form of higher maturity to not get sucked into the high school drama."
     "Sorry to let you down."
     "You're not letting me down. You're letting yourself down. Besides do you even know what the success rate of a high school relationship is? The ones that makes it through high school. Five percent. And then that percentage is cut down to two percent for relationships that make it through college."
     I lifted my hands up in exhaustion and dropped them back on the guardrail. "Leave it to you to turn something as complicated as love into a numbers game."
     "It's not a game," she snapped. "It's fact. Ashley and Greg will fail. It's practically guaranteed. And when it does happen, guess who comes out smelling like a rose."
     I'd be lying if I said I knew who Greg was. I knew the guy attended some of my classes, but I didn't even now his name, until then. I'd also be lying if I didn't say that I didn't feel an odd sense of satisfaction when I heard that he and Ashley would fail. However, there was still that chance. Not everything could be deduced with numbers.
     Sara lifted her hands and began messaging her temples. She sighed. "I don't have time for this anymore. Look, I'll just tell Mr. Dodge that your in the infirmary. Food poisoning because you decided to try to cook chicken or something. He'll believe me because I'm his favorite student."
     I didn't say anything. I just kept looking out at the view and listened as Sara walked back into the school, her footsteps echoing in the hall, and then the emergency exit slamming shut.
     Suddenly the door opened again and a pair of soft, warm arms wrapped around my waist. I could feel Sara resting her head on my back and squeezing me as closely as she could.
     "I'm really sorry about what happened," she said. "She's an idiot for not picking someone like you."
     She left without saying another word, leaving me with a smile on my face. Just when you think you know somebody, they turn around and pull another trick out of their hat. I noticed my attitude lifting. It felt like weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Maybe a hug was just what I needed. Maybe my day was going to start getting better.
     Suddenly I heard a banging noise coming from the front. I looked down, curious to know what it was. It wasn't the gates opening, that was more of a metal on metal scrapping since one of the pulleys was acting up.
     At the front gate was a single man in a dark business suit. He stood there for a moment, head down and shoulders slumped. The man took a step forward and walked into the gate as if he didn't know it was there. He did it three times before, "Can we help you with something?"
     From the administration office, Coach Jameson and Principle Dean walked out to greet the man. They both approached the man on the school's side of the gate.
     "Sir, are you all right?" asked Dean. "Can we help you with anything?"
     Without a word the man looked up, his face gaunt and pale as a ghost. He reached out towards Dean and Jameson, the two taking a step back to stay out of his reach.
     "Oh my God!" proclaimed Jameson, pointing at the man's mid-section. "Is that blood?"
     As both men raced towards a door welded into the gate, Dean pulling from his pocket a large ring of keys, I took the time before the man started staggering after them, both arms stretched out, to see what they were talking about. Sure enough, on the inside of his left side, his shirt was stained a deep red, almost as if he had just received the wound.
     It was Dean that reached the man first, tossing the man's arm around his neck, Jameson doing the same on the other side. They both began to drag him towards the gate when suddenly, and without provocation, the man dug his face into the side of Dean's neck.
     What happened next happened so quickly it can only be described as horrific.
     Dean froze in place, his face contorted in a level of pain that even now I cannot explain, and I have seen it so many times now. He released a heart stopping, blood curdling scream as blood began to erupt from his neck and pouring down his shirt. He tried to push the man away, but it was as if the man was attached.
     Jameson jumped away from the scene, but in a mixed martial arts sort of way, he quickly shifted his feet and sent his foot flying straight at the man's temple.
     The man fell to the ground, but not before ripping a giant chunk of flesh off Dean's neck, blood spraying all over the place like the mist mode on a Windex bottle.
      Jameson hooked his arms around Dean's middle and bean dragging him back to the door in the gate as quickly as possible. The man got back up to his feet as if nothing happened and began staggering towards the pair, groaning as he went.
     "What's going on out here?" shouted the school secretary, Mrs. Bell, not realizing what had just happened.
     "LAURA! CLOSE THE GATE! CLOSE THE F*****G GATE!" shouted Jameson as he dragged Dean through the door.
     Mrs. Bell immediately ran for the door and managed to close the gate just before the man could enter as well. She screamed as the man reached out and grabbed her by her blouse, trying to drag her closer to him, his mouth open, ready for another bite.
     Jameson lied Dean down on the cement and charged the gate where they were, sending a wrestling style, high speed big boot to the man's face through the gate, sending the man rolling back.
     "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" Mrs. Bell started. "What's going on? What happened to Mathew?"
     "The f****r bit him in the neck!" Jameson responded. "Get on the line! Call 911 and tell them we need immediate medical assis--"
     Suddenly Dean released another howl of pain, this one sounded as if he was gargling his own blood. His body began shaking, arms locking to his sides, his legs locking together and rolling up like he was trying to get into the fetal position, foam erupting from his mouth.
     Jameson and Bell ran to him, both dropping to their knees and trying to turn him over on his side when one of Dean's arm's shot upwards into the air and then fell back down, everything stopping altogether.
     The was a terrible minute of silence that seemed to stretch on for eternity.
     "Oh my God," Jameson said after he reached in and felt for a pulse, a combination of fear and shock plastered on his face as he looked up to Bell. "He's dead."

Author's Note

Yeah, so this is the 2nd draft of this chapter and I think it's a lot better. It's a hell of a lot shorter, that's for bloody sure. There was just to much mundane detail throughout the chapter in the 1st draft. I guess I wanted to make him more human, IDK. Let me know what you guys thought of this one.

Reviews

[Popble]

The only disappointing part for me was when it ended, this is great stuff!

[N.A.S.S]

Fun because I love stuff about zombies. and the ending was good. and the initial portions are so reminiscent of any school boy's 'love life' or lack of it thereof!
But I would like to say that having seen a lot of zombie movies and one t.v show, and some zombie novels as well, I would like you to do something more to make it interesting. For example, while writing a short story of mine on zombies even I had used the school/college gate as a starting point of terror. While reading I want something new and in this piece I sort of know what you are going to write. Even the portions about being upset about the girl has been done to death. So, a major twist is needed to differentiate it from all the stuff that has come out before it.

[Lexy]

some spelling but otherwise it is very good. CONTINUE!!

[J. Ghalden]

I snaked my way threw the student -- Through**
Outside my view was -- There should be a comma after outside
I really cared--loved Ashley.
I heard the start-of-period bell ring. By now Mr. Dodge would be finished with the roll call and he'd have me marked as absent. I'm sure Ashley would have noticed me missing from class, her trying so hard to avoid me and all. I wondered if she even cared, or if she was too busy being all googly eyed with her new boyfriend.
-- Is there a point to this paragraph being in different size than all the others? Or was it just a mistake?
I scoughed and returned -- Scoffed**
Other than those up there that I pointed out, everything was good and orderly. The only piece of advice I have is that you could definitely shorten the amount of unneeded details. You did a good job of using them, but there's too much and at points it gets blaringly boring. But overalll, it was good :)
To chapter 2!!!

[Hatchling]

Very good