BZZZZZZZZZZ! This was the school bell, signifying the end of sixth period, and today, the end of school until after Christmas Break. Usually, the Cross-Country team would be going home at this time, but today was special: it was Fam Bam Christmas. They would all go to Mary’s house to celebrate as a team, as a family. That is, they would’ve if a chemical leak in the Science Wing hadn’t occurred today, turning a student of sixth period science into what comics or TV shows would call: a zombie (unbeknownst to the school of course.)
The team was going to ride together to Mary’s house, but when they reached the Science Wing door of the school, it was locked!
“What the---?” Mack’s voice was cut off by the intercom:
“ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS LEFT IN THE BUILDING: THERE HAS BEEN A CHEMICAL LEAK IN THE SCIENCE WING. PLEASE EXIT THROUGH THE FRONT DOORS OF THE SCHOOL AND WE’LL ALL BE OKAY!”
The last part sounded a bit rushed, maybe even a little shaky, but the team didn’t notice because the set of doors behind them swung shut!
“Oh crap!” yelled Alec, “What do we do?!!”
“We have to stay calm, they should see us through the cameras and open up the door,” said Andre, the oldest on the team.
“Uh, guys?!!” this came from Ken, the youngest on the team.
Ken’s left index finger was pointed up to the ceiling, where the camera was supposed to be. But, instead of a camera, there were only wires sticking out from the ceiling.
“Okay, this is getting scary!” this from Millie, Mack’s girlfriend.
Just then they started hearing moaning, such as a moaning you make when in pain, and it was coming from Mr. Quitz’s room!
The team made a break from the doors back to the rest of the school, but they were locked!
“Okay, what do we do?!!” asked Mary.
“I have an idea!” Rochelle exclaimed.
“Well, you’d better hurry up, we don’t have much time!” Tanner’s index finger was pointed towards the door of Mr. Quitz’s room, where Kaden Delante was walking toward them.
Rochelle started smacking the doors with her backpack, and the rest of the team joined in.
Kaden’s face was all green, and he was limping. His mouth was gaping open, making the moaning noise they’d heard earlier.
“Whoa! Kaden, what happened?!!” Mack was moving toward Kaden.
Millie made a move to grab Mack’s arm, but he kept moving.
¨He looks like a zombie,¨ said Alec, more curious than scared. Alec had always claimed to never get scared, but today that reputation would be tested.
¨Z-z-zombies aren't real,¨ Ken was almost whimpering at this point.
Kaden lunged, grabbing Mack by his ankles. Mack screamed as his leg was bitten into!
“Mack!” screamed Millie.
It was too late, Mack began to turn green, and he started moaning like Kaden.
Millie moved to grab Mack again, but Andre grabbed her around the waist and yanked her back. It was also at this moment that the team broke through the doors.
They started streaming through the door and into the hallway, but Mack got a hold of Tanner’s shirt before he was through. Before the team even noticed he was gone, they heard Tanner’s screams, and eventual moans.
“Alright, we have three zombies chasing us and two of them are our best friends, what are we gonna do?!!” Ken was sobbing at this point.
“It’s gonna be okay!” sobbed Millie, not sounding like she believed it herself.
“We need to get out of here!” yelled Andre.
As they got the end of the hallway, they turned right to go to the front doors.
“We should try the Hickdan doors!” Mary realized aloud.
“She’s right!” yelled Rochelle.
“You guys try that, the rest of us will go to the front doors,” ordered Andre.
“Got it!” Mary and Rochelle ran for the Hickdan doors as the rest of the team ran to the front doors screaming to attract attention to save Mary and Rochelle.
¨We should try to call the police or something!¨ Alec still didn't seem that scared.
They heard Mary and Rochelle scream in frustration and realized the door must be locked.
“Shut up!” Alec yelled.
But it was too late, the zombies ran toward the two girls. Not knowing what to do, they ran into Mr. Hickdan’s room and closed the door.
“Wait, Mr. Hickdan has pinata bats in there!” exclaimed Ken, trying to get his phone out of his bag.
The rest of the team did the same, finding that no one’s was working.
¨I guess calling the police is out of the question,¨ Alec was finally starting to sound just a little afraid.
¨We have to save Mary and Rochelle!¨ said Millie, ¨We need a plan!¨
¨I got this!¨ Alec was now trying to fight the fear in his voice, but to no avail.
Alec started running down the hall to Hickdan’s room.
“Wait!” yelped Andre.
Alec was screaming, again trying to attract the zombies’ attention, but it wasn’t working. The zombies were still pounding on the door, until Mack let out a scream, but not just a regular scream. This scream shattered the glass on the door, and resonated through the hallway. Alec flew backward and flopped on the ground, and Ken started screaming, this a regular scream.
“Ken! Are you okay?” Millie screamed, her’s barely audible over Mack’s.
Mack said something to the other zombies that the remaining team couldn’t understand. Tanner and Kaden started working on opening the door while Mack ran through the hallway, towards Alec.
¨What are we going to do?!!¨ cried Mary.
¨I don't know,¨ Rochelle responded, ¨we need to find something to hit them with!¨
¨We can't, they're our friends!¨
¨We´re going to have to, or else we´ll die!¨
¨You´re right,¨ sighed Mary.
Just down the hallway, Andre started to run towards Alec, but turned back around when Mack slid and bit Alec’s arm, which was sticking out from his body.
“Quick, grab Ken’s legs, we’ll have to carry him!” Andre ordered Millie.
They picked up Ken, who was now unconscious, and started running toward the front doors again. They were fast, but zombie Mack was faster, and since he knew where they were going, he cut them off from the auditorium hallway.
“Upstairs, upstairs, upstairs!” yelled Millie.
They made the right to go up the stairs, Mack right on their tails. He jumped onto the wooden railing, grabbed the railing of the next flight, and pulled himself up.
“Turn around!” ordered Andre as they rounded the corner to the upper flight.
He and Millie turned around, but Tanner, Kaden, Alec, and Rochelle (now a zombie) were at the bottom of the stairs.
Ken jolted awake at Andre and Millie’s screaming, rolled out of their arms, and stood up.
“Come and get me Mack,” he taunted.
He jumped up onto the railing, and pencil dived through, barely squeezing between it and the wall. Mack dove after him, but his dad-bod caused him to get stuck between the railing and the wall.
Ken started running away, toward Mr. Hickdan’s room, followed by the rest of the zombies.
These zombies weren’t quite as fast as Mack, so Ken made it inside Hickdan’s open door unscathed.
He went to the closet to get the bats, but they weren’t there.
“Oh crap!” exclaimed Ken, sobbing again.
The zombies entered and ran towards Ken. He ran around the room, but the zombies split up and cornered him by the trapdoor.
Ken started praying while still sobbing. He could hear Millie and Andre screaming down the hallway, but the zombies were intent on killing him.
Tanner’s mouth was closing in on Ken’s neck, his breath smelling like death itself.
Ken closed his eyes, accepting the fate God had for him.
THUNK!
Ken opened his eyes to see Tanner slump to the ground, a pinata bat where his head was.
“Sorry Tanner,” Mary said, actually sounding remorseful.
“Oh yeah, sorry to you guys, too,” she said as she swung the bat at the rest of the zombies, making a clean thunk on all of their heads.
Millie and Andre entered in time to see her hit Alec.
“How did you survive?!!” Millie’s mouth was gaping open.
“I hid in the trapdoor,” Mary replied, now crying.
“And Mary decided to hide in there until I was almost bitten,” Ken joked, “but seriously, thanks Mary.”
“Next time a zombie is about to bite you, just give me a call,” Mary said, laughing through the tears.
“Get over here guys,” Andre said, also crying.
The remaining four cried and hugged.
They all awkwardly turned, and eventually disbanded, when they heard someone clear their throat just outside the door.
There, standing in front of a ton of people in hazmat suits, was Mack, now back to normal (or as normal as Mack had ever been.)
“What just happened?!!” asked Mack, almost whispering.
The team ran over to him, still crying, and hugged again, as the guys in hazmat suits worked on the rest of the zombies.
- - - - - - - - -
About an hour later, the team walked out of the school, everyone back to normal again, agreeing to still do Fam Bam Christmas. They were accompanied by the men in hazmat suits.
But one man in a hazmat suit remained in the building, particularly in the Science Wing, where the journey had started.
The man was holding a test-tube full of the green liquid that had turned Kaden into a zombie.
The man took his helmet off, revealing jet black hair, tan skin, and an eye-patch over his left eye.
He spoke into the transmitter in his ear: “Yes sir...Yes sir...Yes, everything went according to plan, the kids were all injected with the serum...Yes, even the ones who weren’t affected by our virus...They don’t know it yet, but they’re on their way to our lab as we speak.”