Infection

That night as I lay in bed thinking about how badly

I messed up was the when it all began. I‘m not sure exactly how it started, I don‘t think anyone is the only thing that’s sure is that it started somewhere around my town. At first it spread slowly so that morning as the people of the town woke up they had no idea that in a few short hours there small quiet town would turn into Hell.

***

The day started out just like any other for me I woke up cussing about how much I hated the morning. I ate my usual breakfast and headed to school. When I arrived at the school everything appeared normal. I like everyone else had no idea what was coming. I walked in the building to my locker where Mitchell and Mathew were waiting for me.

“Hey Dennis. Said Mathew “don’t be surprised if Mcfeely calls you to his office today.”

“Why?” I asked sleepily.

“Because I tried to blame yesterdays sandwich incident on you of course.” replied Mathew a smile on his Neanderthal like face. “told him you threw it first and I think the dumbass believed me.” I didn’t bother replying to Mathew I was really in no mood to deal with his stupidity so I slammed my locker and walked to class. I got into Miss Fords class and sat down at my desk thinking about how big of an a*s Mathew could be. The only person in the room was Hilary Kennedy the fattest girl in the school; she was sitting at her desk munching a doughnut. She had a whole box as well as two large cups of coffee in front of her.

“Damn.” I thought to myself “wish I had a doughnut.” About that time Mitchell walked in and took a seat next to me.

“You look like your thinking about something really important.” He said.

“I’m just thinking about how much I would like to steal that lard asses doughnuts.” I said looking over. “ I mean it’s not like she really needs him there’s enough meat on her to feed a small country.”

“You know Dennis.” said Mitchell looking at me the expression on his face was suddenly serious. “Look Dennis you’re my best friend but I need to tell you that.. Well you can really be a prick sometimes.”

“I know I like being a prick it makes people leave me alone.” I snapped back.

“Yes but I don’t think its good Dennis. I mean if you weren’t always like that Mary probably wouldn’t have said no.” He continued.

“I’ve never been a prick to Mary though.” I insisted.

“Yes but it’s a small school she’s bound to have seen the way you treat other people. Take Hilary for example maybe if you were nice to her instead of calling her a lard a*s.”

“Hold on a second.” I said, “I can’t be nice to her she’s a b***h, you remember that time she made fun of my Grateful Dead shirt. Plus she’s disgusting I mean just look at the way she eats.” Hilary was now on her fifth doughnut, the edges of her mouth were covered in powdered sugar and little drops of it fell like snow on to her desk and shirt.

“Ok Dennis.” Mitchell said sounding defeated “just do yourself a favor and think about what I said.”

“Whatever.” I said trying to indicate by the tone of my voice that I had absolutely no intention of thinking about it. By the time our conversation was over about everyone had arrived in the class. The last person in was Miss Ford a few seconds after she walked in closing the door behind her, there was a loud squeak from the loudspeaker followed by Mr. Mcfeely’s monotone voice.

“Good Morning.” he droned “Tonight is the girls basketball game against Fredericksburg the cost is $5.00. Also a reminder to everyone that the toilets are not trash cans. Also I need to see Robert Criss and Dennis Dymond in the office, have a nice day. The announcements ended and most people in the room were looking at me.

“Great.” I muttered to Mitchell. “This will be about Mathew.” I got up slowly and walked across the room to the door. All eyes in the room were on me as I nervously walked out. As I closed the door I heard someone say “wonder what he’s in trouble for.” This really annoyed me I really hated all of this negative attention and I couldn’t understand why people couldn’t just mind their own business. The schools office was just down the hall from Miss Ford’s room. I walked down the hall and across the entrance hall to the office where Robert Criss was already sitting waiting for Mcfeely. I didn’t know Robert that well he was in the same class as me and had a reputation as a trouble maker.

“How’s it going?” Robert said to me as I sat down in the chair next to him.

“Ok”. I replied “what did they get you for.”

“Oh I put a cat fish in Mr. Smiths fish tank it ate his other fish.”

“That’s great.” I said laughing.

“What about you.” Robert asked.

“I’m not really sure to tell you the truth.” I told him. Just then Miss Wright the secretary walked out from Mr. Mcfeely’s office.

“Robert, Mr. Mcfeely will see you now.” She said in a strangely tired sounding voice. Robert stood up; he glanced at me, rolled his eyes and headed into Mcfeely’s office. Almost the second the office door closed Miss Wright suddenly collapsed. I jumped up and ran over to where she lay on the floor breathing heavily.

“Miss Wright are you ok.” I asked as knelt down close to her, terrified that something might be seriously wrong.

“Not feeling well.” she gasped her breaths were fast and shallow and now that I was close to her I could see she was covered in sweat. “I think I need…” What Miss Wright needed exactly I never found out. As she choked out those words her eyes suddenly rolled up in her head she gave a violent jerk and was still.

“Oh my God.” I gasped she had just died right in front of me. I jumped up wanting to get as far from the body as possible. I ran forward and burst into Mr. Mcfeely’s office, he and Robert both jumped with surprise.

“Dymond what do you think you’re doing!” Mr. Mcfeely yelled standing up.

“Its Miss Wright sir something’s wrong I think she’s dead.” I sputtered holding on to his door afraid I would fall if I let go.

“What are you talking about Dymond.” he said as he walked around his desk and moved past me. He walked past me out of the room; Robert stood up from where he was sitting and walked over next to me. I slowly turned around to see what was happening. What I saw made my blood run cold, Miss Wright who had just a few moments before had lien lifeless in front of me was now standing with her back to us. “Ann are you ok?” asked Mr. Mcfeely as he walked towards her. She didn’t answer she just stood there with her back to us arms hanging limply at her side. When Mr. Mcfeely reached her he put his hand on her shoulder and slowly turned her around. As Miss Wright turned around she made a strange groaning noise, her eyes looked glassy and her face was very pale. “Ann what’s wrong are you ok?” Mr. Mcfeely asked.

“Araaa!!” Miss. Wright screeched, she lunged towards Mr. Mcfeely who held her back with his hands on her shoulders pushing her away from him.

“Ann what the Hell are you doing!? Mcfeely yelled he pushed Miss, Wright away from him and she fell to the ground. “Get in my office now!” Mcfeely yelled turning around. Robert and I both backed into the office as Mcfeely came running towards us. Miss Wright was back on her feet before Mcfeely reached the office. She ran towards him moving so fast he appeared to be in slow motion as he made it in to the office and reached around to close his office door she caught him. She jumped on him throwing him back into the room past Robert and I. They fell back on Mcfeely’s desk with Miss Wright lying on top of Mcfeely. She reached down with an open mouth drool fell from her lips onto Mcfeely’s neck. Robert and I stood and watched in horror both of us rooted to the spot as Miss. Wright leaned down and bit into Mcfeely’s neck. Mcfeely screamed as she bite in with a horrible squelching noise, blood welled up around her lips.

Miss. Wright was now chewing on Mcfeely’s neck beneath his agonized screams was a sound almost like someone eating a juicy piece of fruit. She pulled her head back tearing away a large chunk of flesh, blood squirted from Mcfeely’s neck like a fountain hitting Miss Wright in the face as she gulped down the pieces of his neck before moving in for another bite. By this time Mcfeely had stopped screaming he lay back on the his scared eyes staring into face. His arms were still feebly stirring attempting to push Miss. Wright off.

“We gotta get out of here.” Robert suddenly whispered in a trembling voice. I jumped at the sound of his voice and knocked a book off the shelf behind me. Miss Wright turned and looked at us her face covered in blood bits of flesh dripping from her mouth. “Run!” Robert screamed from beside me. I turned and ran through the door Robert followed slamming the door behind him. Seconds after the door slammed shut Miss Wright crashed into it beating against the door in a desperate attempt to escape.

“What the Hell was that.” I gasped.

“I don’t know.” Robert replied breathing heavily. Screams behind us made us both turn through the door into the office waiting room we could see people running through the halls. Robert walked to the door to get a better look and I followed. Out in the hall it was complete chaos students were running everywhere screaming and yelling. A girl who looked strangely like Miss Wright had before attacking Mcfeely jumped from one of the class rooms, she immediately tackled a another student and began biting him. “I’m getting the hell out of here.” Robert said from beside me. He ran off not in the direction of the parking lot but up the stairs in the entrance hall deeper in to the school.

As I watched Robert run away I thought suddenly of my friends, Mitchell and Mathew where somewhere in the school in the middle of all this. I knew I had to do something fast so I decided to go look for them. Once I found them we could try to escape. Running into that hallway was probably one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. It’s almost impossible to force yourself into a situation that every part of you is desperate to avoid. I was terrified of what was happening down that hall I had no idea what was wrong with these people only that they were killing….no eating everyone in sight. I tried to move through the hall as quick as possible which was difficult. There were people everywhere most trying to move in the opposite direction as me. I could now see at least five people who seemed to be affected by whatever strange illness had affected Miss Wright. Most of them were attacking other students. As I pushed past the doorway that lead to the stairs I noticed that two students had fallen in the doorway and had been trampled to death.

As I neared the end of the hall I saw Mitchell he was on the ground. He was holding off one of the janitors who leaning over him attempting to bite him. I knew I had to do something fast to save Mitchell. I noticed a fire extinguisher next to me behind a small glass door. I ran to it and tried to force the door open looking over my shoulder to see if Mitchell was still holding it off. It took me a few seconds of fumbling with the latch to finally open the door and pull out the extinguisher which set off the fire alarm. The screech of the fire alarm rose above the sound of screams and bizarre wails of the infected. I ran towards Mitchell holding the fire extinguisher. I had just about reached them when I slipped in a large pool of blood that had been pouring from a large wound in the neck of a girl. I d flew forward crashing into the janitor that was attempting to bite Mitchell. The janitor and I feel to the ground I dropped the fire extinguisher as I fell. I landed hard and it knocked the wind out of me before I had a chance move the janitor had turned to me to attack. The janitor lunged towards me I knew I didn’t have time to move and closed my eyes preparing for his teeth to sink into me.

The bite didn’t come instead a loud whack! Made me open my eyes; the janitor was lying on his side shrieking, blood welling out of a gash on his head. Mitchell stood over him with the fire extinguisher. The Janitor tried to get up and Mitchell brought the fire extinguisher down on him again this time hitting him in the chest. The sound of breaking ribs was followed by another shriek from the janitor. Before he had a chance to move again Mitchell brought the extinguisher back up and slammed it down again screaming like a mad man. He repeated this three times in rapidly until finally the extinguisher ripped into the janitor’s chest with a terrible squishing and cracking sound blood splashing out around it on to Mitchell. Mitchell stood back panting staring down at the janitor who was still moving somehow. “Mitchell let’s get the Hell out of here. “ I yelled jumping to my feet.

“What the f**k is this!” Mitchell yelled looking at me.

“I don’t know let’s just find Mathew and get out of here.” I yelled. I started walking away and Mitchell followed. As we made it to the door at the end of the hall that lead to the entrance to the gym I looked around to see the janitor struggling to his feet the fire extinguisher still embedded in his chest. We ran through the entrance to the gym and out the doors that led to the parking lot. A large group of students and some teachers were standing in the parking lot none of the infected people seemed to have made it out of the building yet. I spotted Robert Criss arguing with Mr. Kirk one of the science teachers.

“Look I just want to get the Hell out of here!” Robert yelled at him.

“Robert we are responsible for you right now we can’t just let you leave during an emergency.”

“Cut the teacher s**t Kirk.” Robert yelled “the damn worlds ending.”

“Robert I’m just as scared as you are but we need to stay calm.”

“People are being eaten and you expect me to stay calm!” Robert yelled. Robert wasn’t the only person who was panicking some students had their cell phones out attempting to call people and there were quite a few people crying. Now that I was in a place where things were calm I started to freak out to. I still couldn’t believe what was happening how could this be real?

“Mitchell, Dennis!” I turned and saw Mathew running towards us. My feelings of panic and confusion were momentarily over come with relief that Mathew was ok. “I can’t believe you guys escaped too.” Mathew said as he stopped running. “Why are you covered in blood Mitchell? A zombie didn’t bite you did it?

“No it’s not my blood.” Mitchell replied. “And what do you mean zombies they don’t exist.”

“Like hell they don’t!” exclaimed Mathew “The schools full of them.”

“No Mathew that can’t be it there’s just something wrong with those people they can’t be zombies.” said Mitchell.

“They have to be.” Replied Mathew almost yelling. “They have all the symptoms they have an insatiable hunger for human flesh and you have to hit them in the head to kill them.” He declared triumphantly “This is exactly like the time you guys said moth, man wasn’t real.”

“No it’s not Mathew.” I interjected. “Moth man doesn’t exist and he definitely doesn’t live in your driveway.”

“Yes he does exist and I saw him!” Mathew yelled.

“Look maybe now is not the time for this argument guys.” said Mitchell “whatever’s going on its serious. Mitchell was right I thought to myself there were more important things to worry about. Suddenly the absurdity of Mathew and I arguing about moth man in a moment like this hit and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“What are you laughing at you demented f****r?” Mathew asked

“Nothing.” I gasped in between laughs. So far everything outside was relatively calm there were still students panicking and crying, the teachers that were there were still trying to maintain order.

“Listen up everybody.” Mr. Richards yelled. He was standing in the bed of a truck; he was still wearing his safety glasses from the shop and held a hammer in one hand. “I’m not sure what is going on in there or what is wrong with those people. I know what we’ve seen is very freighting and disturbing but we need to remain calm. We have been trying to call the police unfortunately we have not been able to get through to them but we will keep trying. So please just stay here and remain calm.” After he finished speaking Mr. Richards jumped from the truck and went over to where the other teachers were standing.

“Why won’t anyone just admit were in the middle of a zombie apocalypse?” Mathew asked turning to Mitchell and I.

“Um let’s see because it’s not.” I snapped back. I had no idea what was wrong but I couldn’t bring myself to admit Mathew might be right zombies only existed in movies. Someone screaming interrupted my thoughts. I saw a girl who had been sitting up against a truck crying on her boyfriends shoulder, screaming and pointing towards the school. I turned just in time to see a group of the “zombies” burst through the doors and run towards our group. Everyone started panicking as they ran towards us I saw Mr. Richards rush towards one of them and pound its head in with his hammer. Most of the other teachers began to run. “Let’s go!” I yelled to Mitchell and Mathew.

“Where!” Mitchell screamed back.

“To my car let’s go!” I took off running towards my car and they followed. We made it to the back of the parking lot and jumped into my car Mitchell got in the front Mathew in the back. I started the car and started to pull out it was obvious right away that we weren’t the only ones with the idea to escape. A few people had already made it to their cars and tried to drive away. However, in their hurry to escape to cars had crashed right at the entrance blocking the road. I decided it would be stupid to wait and see if they got the cars going and the path cleared. So Instead of pulling the car out I put it in drive and crashed through the fence that separated the edge of the parking lot from the road.

“Where the Hell are we going to go Mathew yelled from the back as we got on the road and began to pull away from the school.

“Well go to my house.” I said “Well see if anyone’s home and try to figure out what’s going on.”