Class Dismissed...
(Special Extra Long Issue)
A bite... That's all it took to transform from the sensible,
half-decent person you are, to a bloody, chopped up, monster addicted to flesh.
As the days pass, I realize how much easier it is to die in this new world. I
walked up to Felix and said, "The world today is a big piece of s**t,
y'know?"
"Hell is painted in all different colors, and in this
case, it's blood..." He replied. Felix was very poetic and it made
everybody happier, if they were at all. "This world before was war,
political endeavors, and psychopaths just around the corner."
"I've been meaning to ask you, what was this place
before you turned it into your safe zone?" I asked.
"Well, this place used to be a high school, we haven't
gone into the main building and cleared it out though." he replied.
"Maybe we can do that today, if you're up to it."
A heavy sigh escaped my throat. Should I? It would be
endangering my life. But, even if there were risers in there, they would have
the build of a high schooler. They would be much easier to off. "I'll help
you, just this once though." I agreed.
"Alright, let me just get everyone else ready. You can
take that gear we gave you. Seems like you're the most effective with that
stuff." he replied. Five minutes later, I was all prepared for the horrors
within. Felix unbolted the door to the high school and all eight of us went in.
As he opened the door, a riser turned and shambled towards me. I ran up to it
and plunged my knife into it's neck, twisted the knife, and pulled it out. The
body fell to the ground with a thud.
"One down." I whispered into the darkness, "I
say we split up and check each classroom. On my count..." A crash came
from the engulfing darkness down the hallway, which stopped me mid-sentence.
"Go, go." I resumed in a raspy tone. As we crept down that miserable
hallway, a spike of fear thundered through my body as I stabbed a riser through
it's mouth. Yuck, I thought. A glop of riser saliva landed on my fingers. I
shook my hand back and forth, causing the saliva to slide off without a
problem. Don't want that in a cut, I thought.
"Hey, uh, John?" Felix asked, "Can we speed
it up?"
I looked into his eyes and saw fear. My eyes darted left and
right, and saw it in everybody's eyes but mine. "Have you guys even experienced
what's outside those gates?" I questioned. Everybody looked dumbfounded.
Guess they hadn't...
A memory passed through my mind, Jackson, being re-animated.
Had he been bitten? I did see a huge gash in his face. Maybe scratches spread
the virus also? Better avoid scratches then... As I took out another riser, A
cracking noise and screams caused me to turn around. A man, holding another
person's head in his hands. Except the head, was out of place.
It was Felix, he had snapped another person's neck. He was
laughing. I ran forward and smashed my fist into his face, breaking my fingers.
He fell to the ground, and spat blood on my boots. I knelt down and wrapped my
hands around his neck, shaking him back and forth. Blood squirted from his half-opened
mouth. His eyes rolled back into his head, and his struggling ceased. He was
dead. All around me, the people stared at me. One of our eyes locked and I
questioned him. "Did you know about this?!" I grabbed him by his neck
and put him against the wall. "Did you?!" I screeched.
"N-NO! ST-STOP PLE-PLEASE!" He screamed. My grip
loosened and he fell to the ground. I walked over to the body with the snapped
neck. I touched his face. He was dead. My fingers passed over his eyes as they
shut, for the last time. A screech from the darkness signaled the risers were
coming. They had heard us...
My eyes widened and I started pushing people into a
classroom. As the door shut, I saw 9 pairs of glowing eyes. A scream echoed
behind me. I turned around and saw one from our group pointing at something.
Not another one, I thought. As my body turned the corner, a hand grabbed my
ankle, causing me to fall over. My fingers gripped the pistol in my holster and
bashed the rotted hand into a pulp. A sigh of relief went through my body. I
clutched the riser by the neck and shot it in the head. Outside, the sounds of
Felix's intestines being ravaged and engulfed sickened everybody but me.
"He deserves it..." I blurted. Everybody around me stared at me
again. I grunted and got up, then put my ear to the door. I didn't hear
anything. Time to go, I thought. As my hand gripped the door handle, my fingers
stung with immense pain.
"What are you doing?" asked one of the team. He
looked skeptical. I gave him a dirty look and replied in a hoarse tone.
"Getting out of here. Nothing's out there anymore.
You're safe." I replied. As the door swung open, we all ran out and saw a
horde of risers. I was wrong...
"What the f**k John! You said nothing was out
here!" The man screamed. I pulled out my pistol and started offing the
risers, one by one. No reason for stealth now. A riser got past the barrier of
bullets and bit one of my men. I shot him. I had to, no other way...
A flash of light pierced my vision, and I saw Robert. My
hands found the pistol's trigger and I pulled it many times, each bullet
entering his body, splattering blood all over us. I ran over to his body and
slit his throat, and kicked him in the face. Another flash of light, and I was
looking down at a dead riser, not Robert. While I was distracted, a riser
grabbed me and bit my shoulder, but there was no pain. He had bitten my
backpack strap and barely missed my skin. I shrugged and finished off the rest.
The school was cleared.
"Now, let's dispose of these bodies. We may be able to
use this place." I ordered. I was still thinking about my hallucination.
Was I just going insane? I didn't know, and if that was the case, my son needed
to be able to survive, to be independent.
One of the team walked up to me and asked, "Why did you
kill that one riser so horribly?"
I gave him a stern look and made up a lie, "I thought
it would've been harder to kill that one. It looked bigger than the
others." He looked satisfied and walked away. I ran up to him and grabbed
his shoulder. He turned around, and I asked his name.
"Bruce, why?" He replied.
I looked up at him and said, "Nothin', Just wanted to
know." From that moment on Bruce and I were good friends. We made a plan
that if we leave, we'll do it together. I walked into my new living space, the
school office.
As I walked into the office, Kevin watched me and asked,
"Where's Felix?"
"Oh, uh, He was bitten by a riser, he died..." I
answered. He gave me a skeptical look and walked off. As I walked to the
sleeping bag in the corner of the office, my vision became dark and blurry. My
legs gave way and my head smashed into the carpet floor. I got up and looked
down. My legs were shorter and I was wearing shorts. Haven't worn these for
a while, I thought A piercing sound filled my eardrums and I cried out in
pain, falling to my knees. I looked up and saw a bright light coming from under
the door. I opened the door and saw huge flames. My first thought was, where
are Mom and Dad?!
As I ran through the flames, I cried for my parents. As my
hand found my parent's room doorknob, I opened it and saw Mom charred to death,
and my father, holding her in his arms. "No...N-no!" I screamed as
tears flooded my vision and I fell to my knees once more. "Dad...We gotta
get outta he-here, come...on." I stuttered. He picked me up in his arms
and ran through the flames, and out the front door. As he exited the charred
house, the floor fell in, almost crushing us. I looked down, and saw my
father's arm, burned to dis-repair. Suddenly, my father dropped me on the
ground, and blood splattered on my face. I looked at him, and saw a terribly
long blade sticking out of his chest, covered in my father's blood.
"S-son... augh..." he whispered with his last
breath. He fell to the ground and a man with many scars on his face smiled at
me.
"Hey kid, got any thing on you? I know your dad
does..." he asked. He reached down and took my father's wallet out of his
pocket.
"HEY! DON'T TOUCH-" I screeched as he hit me in
the head with the butt of his knife. I fell to the ground and watched as my
neighbor hit him in the head with a shotgun and then shooting him multiple
times. Everything went black. I woke up in a hospital bed, and heard the news.
My father died from blood loss. As I sat there, crying, my neighbor, the man
who saved me, walked in.
He said, "I'm sorry John, your father was a great man.
He once told me that if anything happened to him and your mother, I could raise
you as my own, and I will do just that..."
Another flash, and Robert was standing over me, laughing. I
jumped up and grabbed him by the throat, shaking him back and forth, and
repeatedly punching him in the face. Every second, his face was bloodier.
Another flash, and I was holding Kevin by the throat, his face bloody and
mutilated."Why Dad? Why..." he whispered. I immediately let go and
got up, afraid. My knees gave way, and I checked his pulse. He was alive, but
barely. He had to be taken to the med center, and fast.
I picked him up in my bloody arms, and ran across the
campus. Everybody I passed, stared. "HELP!" I screamed, "HELP
ME!!! MY SON!" As the med center's doors burst open. Bruce, now replacing
Felix as medic, immediately looked at Kevin and asked, "What the hell
happened!?"
"I woke up and saw Robert standing over me, and I
clutched him by the throat, punching him, and then he turned into Kevin! There
was nothing I could do..." I explained.
An hour later, Bruce bandaged Kevin's face and I checked his
pulse. It was improving and it made me feel less guilty. "Don't worry
John, I won't say you did this." He put his hand on my shoulder as he
comforted me. "I'll say he fell down the stairs, while running." It
did comfort me, at least nobody would question me about his injuries.
For a whole week, I lay there, right next to Kevin on the
floor, waiting for him to wake up. On the seventh day, I heard him grunt and
move his eyes under his eyelids. A good sign, he was still alive. I wondered
when he would wake up. Soon, I assured myself.
I also wondered if this was a dream, this whole new world. I
wished it would be. That night, I wondered who I could even trust anymore. What
if Bruce is planning on killing or maiming Kevin beyond repair while I'm gone?
Nah, he wouldn't do that.
As I turned to my body to the right, Bruce walked in and
accidentally stepped on me. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, John. Won't happen
again. I'm just here to inspect Kevin's face. Actually, have you noticed any
changes in his behavior so far? Has he moved at all? Made a sound?" He
asked.
"Actually yes, just the other day, he grunted and his
eyes were moving in his sleep." I replied. He gave me an assuring look and
walked off, leaving me to sleep in peace. I just hope there are no more
nightmares...
As I awoke, My head turned in the direction of Kevin, who
looked better, but not quite healthy, just like me.
As my head turned away, he started shaking and squirming,
his eyes rolling back. "WHAT THE HELL?" I screamed.
I
didn't know what to do...
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