“Oh yeah. That gunshot really set them off. There are tons of them.” Daniel poked his head out of the steel trapdoor. Logan, John, Albert, Spencer, Lily, Gabriel and I crowded around. “They’re all crowded around the door,” Daniel continued.
“How did they get up here?” Lily asked.
Daniel shrugged. “When there’s a will there’s a way I guess.” He looked at John. “It’s gonna be a while before we can make another run for supplies.”
“But we’ll be okay right?” Albert asked. “I mean, we have enough food up here to last right?”
John and I exchanged a look.
“We’re fine on water,” John began. “But we’ll be out of food in a few days.”
Logan stepped forward. “But if we could get down to the kitchens—”
“Even if we got to the kitchen, it won’t matter,” I said. “We only have enough food down there for maybe a few more weeks. I hate to say it, but this place may have run dry.”
Everyone looked over at me.
“What are you suggesting, Erik?” John asked.
I sighed. “I’m saying…we need to leave.”
Everyone was silent, giving me looks of shock and worry. I saw Albert turn and walk to the roof’s edge. Daniel climbed up out of the trapdoor.
“You can’t be serious!” Daniel said. “There’s no way we’ll be able leave right now. Even if we got through those walkers, what will we do then?”
“We can drive away in those,” came Albert’s voice.
We all rushed over and looked down. There, in the parking lot down below were two yellow buses. There were only a few walkers wandering the lot, and the buses seemed untouched.
“If we can get past those walkers, we could get to those buses and drive away,” Gabriel said. “Everyone could fit.”
“It’s perfect,” I said.
“What?” John asked. “Why do we have to leave? This is our home. If we can get to the kitchens, we can survive longer, and if we can go on more supply runs, we’ll be fine.”
“No. We won’t,” I replied. “How long do you think we can last on just supply runs? We’ve already gone through most houses around here. Other places have already been picked clean. We can’t survive here!”
Silence. John sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He walked up to me and got close.
“Fine,” he breathed. “But just know that I will not be responsible if something goes wrong. This one’s on you.”
He backed off and walked away. I shuddered and sighed.
“Okay…well.” My eyes fell on Daniel and Spencer. “How many guns do you have from your gun shop?”
Daniel shrugged. “About a dozen or so.”
“Good.” I started to walk away. “Get a gun in everyone’s hand if you can, and tell them to pack everything up. We’re getting out of here!”
It wasn’t too long after that when everyone was armed and ready. The tents, any remaining food, and the water were all packed up and in various backpacks. The women and children huddled together while the men with guns encircled them. At the front of the pack, John stood with his M16 and baseball bat.
“All right everyone, listen up!” John yelled. “The hallways are going to be tight. Only advance in groups of four or five. Wait at the end of each hallway for the rest of the group before moving on. The people who are unarmed should only follow once the hallway is clear. For those of you with guns, fire only when necessary. We don’t have much ammo, so we can’t mow down every walker we see. Push as many as many as you can back into the classrooms then close the doors. Understood?”
Everyone nodded solemnly.
The first group down was John, Daniel, Spencer, Gabriel, and I. We descended down the ladder to a small room closed off by two grey doors. At the moment, I couldn’t hear any walkers right up against the doors, but I still heard moans from the hallway. I took a deep breath and took a ready stance. I had my fully-loaded gun in my left hand and my machete in my right.
Don’t get afraid now, Erik, I told myself. There are people depending on you.
John and Spencer stood at the doors, ready to open them. John looked at everyone and nodded. He and Spencer threw open the doors and immediately began to fire into the walkers.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
The monsters closest to the door were dead in seconds, and the five of us poured into the hallway. I noticed about twenty or so walkers in the hallway itself. Many of them were coming out of a single classroom.
“Erik! Get that door!” John called.
“Got it!” I rushed to the door, decapitating a walker on the way. I kicked a walker into the classroom, causing the others to get pushed back as well, and I slammed the door shut. The class was packed full of walkers, and they all pushed against the door trying to get to me.
We made our way down the hall, killing walkers, as the next group came down. Albert, Logan, Samson, Joshua, and Rebecca came down the hall picking off the walkers that we had either missed or had not fully killed. As soon as the hall was clear, everyone else began to come down the hall. Roger Black came down with Reed and Chloe. Next came Lily, who had her gun out, and the Brooks and Berm family. All of the adults had oversized backpacks, and all of the kids were grasping the hand of their parents. They all walked down the hall slowly, and I turned my attention to the next hallway. It was completely clear.
Everything was going as planned.
Little Sarah Brooks screamed as a walker bit her neck. I turned around to find walkers filing into the hallway from the classroom I had shut. They quickly filled the hallway, surrounding the helpless families. I saw Sarah’s dad try to push the walker away from his daughter, but he was tackled from behind.
There were so many that I couldn’t tell what was going on or where anyone was. I heard Principal Berm’s wife scream, and Berm himself yelled, “Sandra! No!”
I ran towards the chaos, and my group followed me.
“Lily!” I called. “Lily!”
BAM!! I shot a walker in the head as it reached for me.
Just then, Lily and Logan ran out of the swarm. Lily grabbed my hand and tugged at my arm, trying to get me to go down the hall.
“Run! Everyone get out of here!” John’s voice boomed. He started to run as he took out another walker with his bat. He gave me a dirty look as he passed.
I watched as Berm and his son and daughter emerged from the mob. Walkers grabbed his little boy, and Berm had to rip his daughter away from her brother and run.
Everything was happening so fast. There were walkers everywhere, and I didn’t know who was dead or alive. I just ran with Lily’s hand in mine. We made it to a stairwell and descended. John, Logan, Daniel, Spencer, and Berm with his daughter were following behind the two of us.
We came to the bottom of the stairs and to a set of glass doors. The two buses were in sight. With a mighty kick, Logan blasted the doors open, but before we made it out, John stopped us.
“Wait,” he said. “Erik, Daniel, you’re with me. There’s still some food in the kitchens, and we’re going to get all we can. Everyone else get to the buses.”
At that moment, Albert, Ellis, Gabriel, Cynthia and her son, Reed and Brett came down the steps. John immediately pointed at Albert.
“Albert, you and Ellis get to the buses and see if they’re working. Everybody else, get in the bus and stay safe.”
Everyone ran outside, but Lily wouldn’t let go of my hand. She looked into my eyes and kissed me.
“You come back,” was all she said. I nodded, and we kissed again.
The cafeteria was just down the hall. It didn’t take long to get there, and we didn’t run into a single walker. The kitchens were clear except for one body that had hardly anything left of it. It vaguely looked like Lucas. Its mouth and eyes opened, but it couldn’t move. I raised my gun, but John stopped me.
“Don’t waist the ammo,” he said. He raised his bat and brought it down hard on the walker’s head.
We got the rest of the food without any problem, stuffing it into duffel bags. We left quickly. I was on point with my gun and machete at the ready, but we weren’t attacked. John stood behind me, and Daniel was about ten feet back.
We were almost out when I heard Daniel scream. A walker bit into hit shoulder. John quickly shot the walker, and Daniel fell to his knees, crying and whimpering. His shoulder gushed blood.
“Oh God no!” Daniel kept saying. “Oh G—”
BAM!!!
John lowered his smoking gun and grabbed the duffel bag Daniel had been carrying. More walkers began to appear at the end of the hallway. John grabbed my shoulder, and we ran outside. We hopped on the bus that everyone was in. Albert was at the wheel, and everyone else was sitting in the leather seats.
Seconds of silence felt like years. Eventually, Cynthia spoke up.
“Is this all who made it?” she asked sadly.
No one said anything, and she began to cry. Berm and his daughter began to cry as well.
Albert sighed. “Well, I guess we’ll best be going.” He started the bus and started to go when something caught my eye.
“Wait!” I called. Down the steps near the side of the school came Joshua, Rebecca, Spencer, and Brett. In each of their hands they carried an assortment of handguns, assault rifles, and magazines and boxes of ammo.
“Open the doors!” John shouted, and Albert did.
The four of them ran onto the bus.
“Go! Go! Go!” Brett called. “They’re right behind us!”
I looked back and saw a horde of walkers stumbling down the steps.
“Drive Albert!”
Albert pulled the bus out onto the deserted road as the rest of us picked through the new weapons.
“We got ‘em from those soldiers out in front of the school. Usually we couldn’t get to ‘em, but we saw a chance,” Spencer said. He looked around. “Hey Daniel!” No answer. “Daniel?”
Albert eyed him in the mirror.
“Spencer,” John began. “He—He didn’t…”
Spencer’s eyes welled with tears. “He’s dead?”
John nodded.
Spencer swayed and collapsed into an empty seat. He broke down and wept.
No one said another word as we drove down the deserted road.
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