Final Chapter: What Lies Ahead

Written by Vasil Verdhi

As the zombies climb the stairs in search of new food, Ricardo and his group make their way towards the last flight of steps all the way up to the third floor. With nowhere left to go, Ricardo bashes the lock on a door behind Derrick. The group proceeds up the steps one last time where they find themselves with another door. Almost as soon as they get to the door, they barge right through it and now find themselves on top of the school.

With none of them having never been up there they decide to look around make sure that it is safe to make camp, despite the fact that Demetri assures them that the doors were locked means that no ones up here. Derrick hears this and can't help but to think what if they were locked for a reason. The seemed to not bother Sam as she looked around to make sure that it was safe per Ricardo instructions. She thought up it best to just go to the highest point of the school and just survey the roof from the top.

She went all the way to the last corridor on the opposite and where she climbed a series of ladders and made it to the top. "Who the hell are you?"

"Who am I? Who are you? After all I was here first."

"My name is Sam. What's your name? And how did you get here? And better yet why are you here?"

OK, My name is Alex, I got here through the fourth floor window. And I'm here because I'm socially awkward and no wants to play with me. Now why are you here?"

"I will tell you that after you take this seriously and tell why you really are here?"

"Well, after I tried making an escape with one of the security guards, they ended up getting caught by the zombies before we could make it out. So now I'm here just biding my time until something happens. Now why are you here?"

"Well I'm here with a group of students, because we thought it was a safe up here and we might find help."

"Safe yes, help no. There's nothing to help we are screwed, get your last meal prepared 'because this is where you and your friends die."

Sam looks at him and before she replied, " Sam. Did you find something up there?" Shouts Derrick as he finishes his search.

"Not something, someone."

The three of them head off towards the rest of the group. Once everyone is together and the rest of the introductions are out of their way, a group meeting is held to decide what should be done next. Demitri suggests that they should try to go back down and try to break for it. Derrick is skeptical of this and states that's its better if they just wait. "Listen guys somebody from the army or something has to come and saves. Come on we're students, we need help."

"What are you talking about. When stuff like this happens, they nuke the place to keep the disease contained." Alex replies.

"OK, I don't think they are going nuke us. That's going a little too far, but we really can't stay here. Well not like this." Ricardo goes on to tell them, "If we are going to stay alive, we need supplies. So who wants to go down with me?"

Alex first to comment, "I'm not going back down there, I've already been as close to dead as I can handle for one day."

Ricardo stops him there, "Relax man I need someone to cover my back, you look like you can't even do a push up let alone kill a zombie."

Alex stays silent. "Well I guess I'll go with you as." Demetri says as he gets his knife ready.

"Wait a second, who locked the door behind us when we got up here?" Derrick asked the group.

Sam realized quickly that no one did, meaning they were open to further invasion. She quickly rallies the two already heading down. The two seemed unfazed as since they were already heading down, there was no need to worry. Unfortunately for them there was.

Upon arriving at the door they see a horde of zombies gathered at the bottom of the stairs. Before they are notice they slip back outside and managed to remain undetected. Now they wait, as long as nothing happens to startle them, the horde will make its way back down. Nearly half an hour passes and it seems that none of the zombies come up. To be on the safe side though Ricardo heads to the door to scout.

Thud! He hits the floor as a zombie lies on top of him before it turns its head towards him, slowly rising. It is almost instantaneous, he sees her. The one who bashed his heart around as she cheated on him with some random student, not even worth the recognition. As she get on her knees, she lets out a scream. Demetri rushes in to stop her but is second place as Ricardo takes his sledgehammer as best as he can and gives her a good hit right on the jaw. "Demetri hurry and close the door downstairs." Ricardo no longer calm or even rational.

"Demetri. Stop wasting time and close the damn doors." Shouting with rage as he takes his sledgehammer in both hands and goes on the attack.

On the floor, he attacks her relentlessly. Quickly one after another almost methodical in his assault. Not one shred of reason left in his attack just pain and sadness releasing itself in the form of uncontrolled animosity. With no more of his former composure intact he curse at the corpse as his assault finally comes to a close. He finally puts the hammer down and falls to the ground himself, lost in what can be considered a weight off his shoulder.

While Ricardo gathers himself, Demetri decides that it is past if the group just stay put. Everyone still gathering themselves can't help but agree. Derrick goes on to pour chemicals on the ground, he is quickly asked by Alex as to why he is doing this. He replies,"Give me your lighter and I will show."

With no reason as to say why not he hands himself the lighter, Derrick then proceeds to ignite the lighter and drop it on the chemical stained floor. As the fire ignites the chemicals Derrick guides Alex and the others to higher ground. Once they reach the top it clearly stands burning in brilliant orange flame. HELP.

Chapter Six: No Hope

Written by Vasil Verdhi

The empty blue ocean above and the cold stone bed under him, that's all he feels everyday. The sun gives neither warmth nor brightens any part of the day covered in an intangible darkness. As the time passes by he can only wonder why he is not like the rest of them. How is it possible that He shares their skin and can be confused for them, but in the end he cannot be them, in fact he will never be them. The fact of the matter is that to be like them or even you is something he detests just like how they detest him. In the end hate is what connects them. "I hate you, every last one of you stupid students from you noisy guitar playing hipsters to you pretentious honor roll ass kissers." This is all that's heard from his mouth never a word of praise or respect, such things are only heard in a blue moon.

Well whatever the case may be belonging is something he does not do. He blows smoke into the air and just continued to stare further into the blue void. He didn't know what to expected to find in the sky that will change anything, "The only thing good about the damn thing is that it's there. Always there whether you need it or not the sky will always be there for you. It seems like a childish thought, but the fact that the sky never really leaves you is more than most can say about themselves and those around them. Oh well unlike the sky I'm not free to be here for however I see fit, especially for eternity."

The fact that he talks to himself never bothered him, he thought it rather natural after all doesn't everyone think to themselves? The bell rings meaning it must be another period and he decides it it's time to go back inside, the most annoying part of the day by far. This is such a pain is what you see in his face. To get inside the school, he has to go down two ladders and get in through the fourth floor window. After powering through those difficult daily hurdles he arrives at the window. "I'm not the luckiest am I?" The big blue bulge did not reply. Wait a second, in need of a treadmill, I know who this belongs...."

Unfortunately she didn't take too kindly to the method of entry nor the treadmill comment and she didn't hesitate to make this apparent as she guided him to the discipline office. As the guard waddled her planet sized self off he made it a point to commend her choice in braving the stairs today instead of the usual elevator ride. "Then again though the elevator can only hold so much."

The disciplinarian thought it best to get my attention," Alex. Alex! ALEX!!!"

"What?"

"Don't what me, and take off those earphones."

"But then I have to hear you talk."

"Just take off the damn earphones and sit down."

"Huh, ok. So what's up?"

"What's up, what's up is that you have been trying my patience for the past month and I am already this close to having you expelled."

"Well close didn’t cut it in your last marriage so I'm assuming that it doesn't do it here either. So if you'd be so kind I will take my suspension and be on my way, I'm late for English class and I haven't read any of my sparknotes."

"I swear to God if you weren't in school I'd beat the shit out of that snide mouth of yours, but this pink slip and detention will have to do for today. Now since you obviously didn't hear from atop the school you are to report to the gym at once."

"Why?"

"Something important now move yourself there."

"Of course, whatever you say." He then proceeded to move out of there and just roam the halls.

"Finally she stopped talking God damn just because you're old doesn't mean you get to stop brushing your teeth. Now then, where's my cell phone? Oh great I believe I have left atop the school as the old lady put it. I guess I might as well go and get it not like anyone's going to catch me. Again."

Passed the stairs, through the window up the ladders, and no cell phone. Well if it wasn't there then he had no idea where else to look, there goes a couple hundred dollars, again. It's time to go back again. He looked over the ledge today, He almost never does this, why would he? Today was different though as he peered over the ledge he took notice of security guard who caught him greeting one of her coworkers, but something was off about him. His posture was terrible, he walked like he had a just recovered from a stroke, his skin was a cold pale color and he just kept walking closer. Closer, closer, closer, no response to anything she said. He only got closer, he didn't understand why she hadn't called for help he seemed sick. Though when Alex thinks about it maybe it was better that way. When he finally managed to get to her it was brief but her face definitely lit up in a panic.

He bit her, right on the neck. His jaw stretched out, clamped down and tore off a chunk of her neck. She couldn't utter a sound as she grasped her crimson collar struggling, gasping for air. As the blood poured out of her wound the strength faded from her legs as she collapsed onto the cement. He backed away from the ledge, stunned, shocked, He didn't know what to feel.. As He tried to calm himself, a strange sense of fear took over.,"I just needed to get away from the ledge. Oh my God, what happened, what just happened to her. She's dead. She’s fucking dead. She died right there, right in front of me." Finally starting to get ahold of himself he stopped talking and was grasping for any clue to figure out what happened he turned to the window and just stop half way.

He finally managed to overcome his paralysis and made his way to the window. As he moved his head to the frame He was pulled through the frame by cold hands. Once more he couldn't tell who it was until he managed to hit the floor. He looked up and it was the security guard who caught him the first time. He couldn't help but ask, "the hell is going on?"

This was quickly answered as he saw that he was mistaken and found it was just another fat guard.

"I don't know. We need to get out of here."

"Brilliant, how do we go about that."

"Obviously we need to get to the front door, after which we will proceed to my car and get the hell out of here. Anymore questions?"

"Obviously yes, but lets just go with what we got?"

"Ok, good. Now lets go."

After their genius strategy session, they made their way down the stairs where their hope fell fast and future looked as grim as the face of each and every zombie in the massive horde that appeared to be slowly rising. With the huge crowd of zombies climbing and creeping closer, they decided it best to play it safe, go to the lunchroom and see what could be done from there. Although not empty of zombies it wasn't that bad and any ones that came after them the guard managed to take care of those few unlucky zombies. Luckily she had a gun and this made Alex think that "I needed something to keep myself safe with in case she became one of them. After all she is only human. The thing about it is that I don't like people. I can't trust those who I have seen lie to their best friends and go on through life like its nothing. I've always been quite and in that quietness that's all I've seen. The traitors showing me why Caeser was killed, why Jesus was crucified, and why I will likely be left to fend for myself. This is why I need to get my hands on a knife from the kitchen. Oh damn I think I'm going crazy."

Explaining to her his need to protect himself was easy as its an obvious given that they need ways to protect themselves rather than solely relying one. They approached the lunch counter and right behind it was a group of screaming, mad in the head zombies driven by nothing instinct. The sat around in a circle feasting on the rats that crawled their way. Still more productive than when they were alive if you ask Alex, just uglier. Luckily they didn't move around that much which allowed him to sneak around and grab two knives. Though just to make sure that they were able to give a good cut he slashed the lunch ladies managing to give them a debilitating blow after a series of hits. After all they had it come serving that crap with a straight face and having the nerve to charge two dollars when a prison meal is more nutritious.

It was time to make their way out and He didn't think he going to survive. It really wasn't reassuring when you could tell that your partner was feeling the same way. Despite having not one but two knives Alex couldn't help but feel outclassed by the fact his blimp of a guard had a gun. Simple fact is that bullets run out, but they do a lot more than kitchen knives. This coupled with the fact that they were about to face a tidal wave of zombies did little to cement any hope of survival. Oh well, it's time to charge despite how he felt felt.

It began with a loud bang as they opted to throwing lunch table down the steps, clearing their way with whatever table parts they could take to fight. Bashing their way through as many as necessary to get to the second floor. Where luck was finally found as someone found it best to close the doors and seal them. With the first wave already leaving them breathless, he knew he should have stopped smoking and that Jenny Craig would have definitely been a good option for her. Nonetheless the idea of making it out the front door seems less than likely, so it was decided that a hasty exit through the side door near the basement was the better idea.

After a minute breather it was time to make one more desperate rush down the stairs. The blunt table parts ran their course until they finally snapped. Without the scrap parts it was time to finally use what they had brought from the beginning. Unfortunately the gun was already low on ammunition so Alex shared one of his knives with her. Kicking down zombies before they could bite them, slash at their throats, and stabbing at their very core. They did all they could to keep alive, taking their time, step by step reaching trying with all their might to get free. Hacking their way with dirty kitchen knives and rotten flesh around them, they made it to the first floor. It was just one more flight away.

Thump! On the floor she went as they started to claw at her leg, dragging her down the steps they came to eat. They came with a hunger so primal and pure no amount of stabs and slashes can break through the atmosphere of the need to feed. She grabbed onto his leg and brought him down. Scraping his way to the top of the steps he reached back down to bring her back. She fired her last shots into the crowd desperately trying to get free. But the gun was out and like that she was taken down the steps to a nightmare of dying flesh and ravenous undying hunger. She screamed, that's the only thing he can remember as he ran up the steps. Her screaming followed Alex right to the top. He couldn't take it anymore, right to the window. Crawled his way through it, took all the crap around him put it on there and set it on fire with his lighter.

Alex went up the ladders all the way to the highest point of the schools, far from the screaming and the death that permeated the levels below. He decided to just wait for them to circumvent the fire somehow and come and get him. Until then though he might as well get one last smoke in, while he let the sky envelope me one last time.

Chapter Five: When the Dead Come Knocking

Written by Deborah Sim

Sam worked diligently on her tenth concentration while jamming to her collection of Gold Panda's electronica.  Her mind was greatly occupied by the music, but her hand, as if though having a mind of its own, continued to steadily control the strokes of the bristled paint brush gliding on the canvas. In this manner Sam worked patiently, enduring the constant jab of needles stabbing at her finger joints. Finally, she could not take the pain anymore and decided to take a break. Besides, her eyes were beginning to blur. Sam dropped down the paint brush and rinsed out the palette. Then placing herself three feet away from the painting, she observed her work as she massaged her fingers. She concluded that she must receive some critique from her fellow AP Art classmates and made her way to the nearest cubicle.

“Yo Linda, can you come over to my cubby for a sec?” But no one was there. ‘Probably went to the bathroom,’ Sam thought as she coolly walked over to the next cubicle, while jerking her head back and forth to her music. “Hey Mike, can you...” Also not there. Sam took a quick peek at the remaining cubicles. Not a single person was to be found. ‘Strange...’ she thought. Sam quickly opened the red curtain, which separated the AP from the regulars, and to her surprise found the entire class empty. “Whoa, what the... Where did everyone go!?” Sam took off her new set of Dr Dre 'Solo' and instantly heard screams from outside. Shocked and confused, Sam looked out of the tiny, glass door window, and immediately dropped to the floor in horror. “What's going on here...what are those things?...” She was dumbfounded. After somewhat understanding the situation, she started to panic. “Holy mother of, oh god I'm gonna die! I don't wanna die! I'm too young to die! Is this really happening?! Oh god! What do I do!? What do I do!? Oh my god, oh my god!

She heard a moan from the other room. Sam froze. She told herself, “it's okay Sam, all doors in the art room are always locked from the outside.” She heard the monster wildly slam its decaying body against the door in the photography classroom, which was connected to the office of the the art department. Unfortunately, the office was also connected to the art room. Sam violently began to pray, with tears streaking down her cheeks. Then the noise stopped. Sam opened her eyes, and placed her left ear against the wall. She heard slow moving footsteps. It was walking towards the back of the room. ‘But why?’ Then Sam remembered that there was a door directly connecting the two rooms at the back hall in the art room. As her eyes widened, she also remembered that that door's lock was broken.

Before she could even budge, the creature had made its way through the door. It turned from the corner of the hall and came face to face with Sam. “Oh Shit!” Sam exclaimed. Crazed by the sight of flesh, the creature leaped towards Sam, however Sam dodged in the nick of time. She ran for it and made it to the other side of the room. The zombie, as quick as it could, dragged its deformed figure towards Sam once again. Sam's hand reacted without the brain's command, as it always did with her paintbrushes, and grabbed an enormous pair of scissors lying on top of a desk. Her body, understanding the hand's motives before the brain, moved forward and she stabbed the zombie right through its head. Blood gushed out and splattered all over her face.

Sam was frozen in place covered in blood, while the body lay still on the floor. The stench was unbearable, but Sam did not have the luxury to think about how unpleasant the smell, and sight of the dead creature was. Her first thought was to barricade the entrance, in which the zombie had made its way through. She grabbed two chairs and dashed to the back door only to be stopped by another zombie, who had just entered. Sam gasped. It was too sudden. Sam shut her eyes, thinking that this was the end for her, and waited for her horrific death. However, nothing happened. Sam opened one eye and saw the creature staring, standing before her. She closed the eye and waited again, but the creature did not move. Sam opened both eyes, and looked straight at the monster, which was staring right back at her. The creature then turned and wobbled its way back out the doorway. Sam was shocked and confused. “What just happened!?” Sam wondered. She examined her surrounding, hoping to find the answer to her confusion, and realized the muck that she was covered in. “Could it be that this stuff is anti-zombie!?” Then a light bulb entered her brain. “ I've got it! If I cover all the entrance with this stuff, this entire place’ll be anti-zombie! Sam, you’re a genius!”, and with this statement Sam went to work.

She first barricaded the back door with every desk, and chair she could find. Then, hesitant at first, Sam cut open the body and pulled out a handful of its guts. She rubbed the brownish red gunk on all the doors and windows. Sam thought to herself, “it’s a good thing I have a strong stomach, we Asians eat things as gross as this everyday.” She now moved at a faster rate, thinking as quick as her hands. Sam collected any, and every material she could possibly use as a weapon and placed them in the AP room. She quickly rinsed her hands and hid in her cubicle. Realizing that she had not eaten anything at all this morning, she took out her bento box that she was saving for 7th period, and chucked down spoon full of white rice and kimchi. What she had experienced so far had taken a lot out of her, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

After her stress meal, Sam busied herself sharpening anything with a razor, or a pointy end. The cries from outside had faded long ago, and there was absolute silence as far as her hearing could reach. Then, out of nowhere, there was a loud boom. “Whoa, what was that!?” Before she could think any further she heard the sound of the door knob twisting viciously. “Probably another zombie. If I stay quiet it’ll go away.” And so she would have thought, if it was not for the fists banging at the door and the voice of a human being crying out, “Anyone in there?!” Sam jumped to her feet and dashed to the door. With a broken scissor tightly gripped in one hand, Sam took the risk and turned the doorknob. As dangerous as this was, Sam could not jeopardize her chance of not rescuing possibly the only other person alive. She yanked open the door, and to her delight found not one, but three Central students standing before her eyes.

The three, all in a frenzy, shoved their way in, and the last person slammed the door behind them. Sam stared at them with bewildered eyes. She could not decide whether she was excited to find others human beings, or angry at the fact that they attracted zombies to the art room.

“Um hi?” Sam whispered out in a tremble. The three students just stared at one another, while panting heavily. Then Richardo spoke slowly, taking a giant breathe between every two words, “Its not, safe here. We should, the balcony. Safest, I think.” Everyone nodded in an agreement, as they were finally catching their breath. “How are we gonna get up there?”, asked (blank). “I think the elevator’s the best choice we got”, pointed out Demetri.

Chapter Four: Chorus of the Dead

Written by Raymond Du

Derrick sat in the hot gymnasium, among the large crowd of confused and nervous students of Central High School. A feeling of dread had filled him as he looked around the gym room, wondering what exactly was going on in the school. He listened carefully to his fellow students chattering around him, trying to pinpoint any conversations that might have offered any information. Unfortunately, everyone was just about as confused as he was. He watched the faculty members whispering among themselves at a distance, by the exits, but they were much too far to hear. He couldn't help but feel sick as he looked at their distraught faces. He heard someone whisper his name, and broke his attention away from the faculty members’ discussions.

“Derrick! Do you have any clue what’s going on?” Said Michael, one of his classmates.

“Not really,” he replied lazily.

He wasn’t very much in the mood to talk. Just a few hours ago he was sleeping in his advisory, before waking up to the voice on the announcement demanding all of the staff and students to report to the gymnasium immediately. The gym was close to his class, they were both in the basement so he was able to groggily make his way down there before all of the other students crowded the hall.

He listened to the conversations around him again, focusing his attention back on the teachers. Apparently, from what he could make out from their conversation, some kid was really sick and was throwing up all over the nurse‘s office, but he didn’t understand why it would require all two-thousand or so of them to crowd up in the gym room… “Maybe we’ll be let out of school early…” He took a deep breath, the air was heavy and smelled foul, a stench of something rotting. He heard a scream and looked behind him, one of the staff members standing next to the exit was seemingly attacked by a person… Only it wasn’t a person, for even at a distance he could see that it’s skin was visibly rotting away, and it’s eyes were cold and dead.

“What the hell is going on?” He thought to himself, sitting in shock as the whole school erupted in panic and students began screaming and running away from the creature.

“Is that a zombie? There’s no such things as zombies! This can’t be possible…”

More zombies began spilling into the gym room from the back, as he sat there in shock. He watched as a few of the faculty members tried to fend off the creatures, only to be overwhelmed by the growing mob of them.

He began to move, pushing through the crowd of confused, panicking students. There were too many people, and the whole of the gymnasium was in disarray. Thinking quickly, he broke away from the crowd and ran to the door leading back upstairs. He ran quickly towards the nearest room he could find, the robotics lab, which was directly down the hall. He was close to reaching the door when he noticed that there was a zombie at the end of the hallway opposite of him. He unintentionally let out a slight yelp that alerted the creature, which also began to race towards the robotics room. Realizing that he wouldn’t make it there in time, he made a sharp right turn and ran down towards the first corridor, where his chemistry lab room was. The zombie gave chase, letting out a terrifying moan as it ran as fast as it’s dead legs could carry it after him.

Reaching the door of his class, he opened it and quickly slammed the door shut behind him as the zombie rammed into it. The door wasn’t the sturdiest, but it would do. Derrick’s heart was beating quickly, his adrenaline was pumping as he breathed heavily and sweated profusely. His shirt was soaked in sweat, not from the running, but more from the fear alone. He quickly locked the door and pushed as many desks in front of it as he could, then walked over to the clogged sink in the middle of the room and rinsed the sweat off of his face, it quickly flooded over and onto the floor as he dozed off for a moment, lost in thought. “Is the whole school infested with these things? These zombies…?” Noticing the mess he made, he quickly turned the sink off. The sound of the zombie’s raspy breathing outside of the room soon subsided as he heard the noise of sneakers quickly pounding against the floor, people were running down the hall, unknowingly taking the zombie’s attention away from him.

He looked around the room for anything he could use, in case the zombies were to break in, and found a few sturdy metal rods about a meter in length, he grabbed one. Foraging for more things that might come in handy, he found many chemistry equipments that were of no use to him, such as Bunsen burners, glass vials, a jar containing a piece of sodium, and containers of various solvents. He sat down and groaned, he was probably going to die, with no food or clean water to drink. Either he would starve to death in this room, or test his luck and make a run for it, assuming the zombies don’t break in first… He checked his phone, the signal was dead. “Oh great, everything’s going terribly wrong. This can’t be really happening!” He closed his eyes for only a moment and quickly fell asleep thinking, “I’m going to die…”

Not long after he fell asleep, he was awoken by the sound of screaming coming from outside. His stomach churned, he was still living in a nightmare... He slowly got up, realizing someone was probably being murdered by those ravenous zombies right outside of the room. Carefully approaching the door to check, he saw a large group of zombies outside, well over ten of them, tearing away at someone on the floor who was obviously trying to find refuge in one of the chemistry labs by his own. Letting out a fearful squeal at the sight alerted the zombies of his presence and they quickly bombarded the door. He ran back to the far corner of the room, realizing that the door couldn’t possibly withstand the force of the zombies pushing against it.

The door gave in and swung open, knocking the desks aside as the zombies spilled into the room, falling over one another. Derrick’s pale hands gripped the metal rod hard, but he realized that it was definitely impossible to fend off so many zombies physically, especially because of how weak and skinny he was. The zombies stood up and hastily began to run toward him, but they slipped and fell on the pool of water on the floor. Looking at the flooded sink and water on the floor, where the zombies were scrambling to get back up, he remembered the large piece of sodium, stored in the jar of kerosene. Remembering that sodium reacts violently with water, he quickly grabbed the jar, smashed it open, the kerosene spilling all over the table, and threw the sodium into the puddle of water where the zombies lay. He took cover behind a table and covered his ears… And then came a crackling sound, like that of thunder, and a large explosion…

It worked as planned, peeking over the table, he saw the wrangled remains of zombies splattered across the room. His ears still ringing from the explosion, he got up and knew that he had to move quickly, knowing that the sound from the explosion would attract more zombies to him… His clothes were covered in dust and blood, his vision was blurred. He began moving towards the door when two figures appeared within the still dusty room, Derrick held onto the metal rod tightly, getting ready to strike at the shadowy figures. Then a voice called out to him, “Derrick, is that you?”

“Oh hey there, guys…” Replied Derrick. The dust finally settling, he could now see their faces. He recognized Demetri, the senior from robotics, who used to tutor him for physics. The other student he didn’t know personally, but recognized him as the captain of the famous wrestling team, Ricardo. He was both athletic and smart, yet he was still known throughout the school as a humble and caring person.

“What happened here? Are you okay?” Asked Ricardo, concerned.

“Yeah, are you okay?” Asked Demetri. “Did you cause the explosion? The noise probably attracted the attention of more zombies…”

“I’m okay. And yeah, I know… Sorry about that. But there was no way I was going to fend off that mob of zombies with this pole…” Derrick replied.

“It’s cool,” replied Demetri. “We have to think of something quick… The zombies are probably making their way towards us now. We don’t want to be cornered in this room. Especially with the door half broken.”

Derrick quickly replied, “We should try to leave the school, maybe? I need to find out what my fam-”

“I don’t think we should leave the building. I’m sorry… I was outside for a moment and it was…” Ricardo stopped mid sentence, silence fell between the three of them.

“We need to worry about ourselves first. We need to go… Now!“ Demetri yelled, as he began to run out of the room.

He was right, zombies could be heard coming down the stairs, even at a distance. It must’ve been a lot for the cries of the dead to be heard from that far. At least twenty or thirty, maybe even more! Derrick stood there, a look of dread on his face. Ricardo grabbed his arm and pulled him slightly to get him moving. They quickly ran down the halls, reaching the middle corridor, Demetri taking a sharp right turn and going running by the robotics room while yelling back to Derrick and Ricardo, “Keep going, we need to go upstairs! The roof would be the safest place to go, the robotics room won’t be able to barricade us from the zombies for long.

Reaching the stairway, he stopped abruptly. Demetri’s eyes widened as he simply yelled “run back!” Over ten zombies were quickly making their way slowly down the stairs. They turned around and ran towards the third corridor. Derrick glanced back at the growing horde of zombies behind them. Looking forward again, he saw a zombie walking out from the corner of the corridor. Demetri quickly lifted his crossbow shaped weapon up towards the zombie’s neck and pulled the trigger. Surprisingly, two buzz saws ejected outwards, which he used to quickly cut down the zombie in their path. They quickly turned the corner but was forced to back into a corner when they saw more a few zombies coming towards them from the stairway.

“Shit there’s no way out of this!” Exclaimed Derrick.

“I’m not going down without a fight!” Yelled Ricardo, adrenaline pumping through him, he lifted the heavy sledgehammer and slammed it into the skull of an approaching zombie with ease. The vile creature crumpled to the floor as he quickly swung it at the next zombie straight downwards, into the skull where it lodged deeply into it. Another zombie lunged at him while he was trying to pull the hammer out and was intercepted but Demetri, who ran the saw blades across mouth of the zombie, cutting the upper portion of it’s head right off. Derrick was amazed at how easily Ricardo was able swing the sledgehammer around but he knew that they would be outnumbered and overwhelmed soon, especially with the mob of zombies approaching from the other two corridors and the ones coming from down the hall of the first corridor. They were cornered… Derrick backed into a door as he watched Ricardo kick the zombie loose, off of the sledgehammer and into another zombie behind it. He attempted to open the door, but it was locked. He banged on it hard, the door was very large and hefty, probably impossible for them to open. He peered into the small window on the door, it was dark. He began hopelessly pulling on the door knob again.

He turned around, the two of his companions were still fighting the few zombies that made it to their small corner. The roaring moan of the zombies - the chorus of the dead - was growing louder as the zombies approached from both sides, forcing Ricardo and Demetri back. He panicked, they were trapped and they will be violently torn apart by the large mob of zombies. Ricardo looked back at Derrick and yelled “hurry! Try to open the door, we don’t have much time.“ While Demetri yelled “I can’t keep mowing down these zombies. Damn thing runs on batteries!”

Out of complete desperation he banged on the door again and cried “Anyone in there?! Maybe…?” His voice trailed off, “oh God, I’m going to die. This is hopeless.” His legs weakened at the thought of dying and he leaned against the door for support. Surprisingly, it abruptly swung open and he quickly stumbled into the dark room…

Chapter Three: Demetri’s Struggle

Written by Aaron Petrella

As more and more zombies slowly piled up in the gym, Demetri had to act quickly to find an escape. As he made his way away from the crowd, he could hear the terrified screams and could see a galore of students frantically running to the doors. Demetri had to get a weapon if he was to ever escape. Running as fast as he could, he made his way to the storage room hoping it was open. It wasn’t. He then made his way to the teachers room. Demetri was so focused on finding a weapon that he did not notice a vicious zombie was tearing a fellow student to shreds. He made it to the room and closed the door behind him. He hurried as he was looking for some sort of weapon that would be useful. Demetri freezes. Even though he was in a room with the door shut, it seemed like the screams were only getting louder. He snapped out of his trance and noticed a big pair of scissors on the teachers desk. “This will do!”, he said. As he stood by the door, he gripped the doorknob tightly and took a deep breath. His knuckles turned white and his heart was beating fast. He opened his eyes and without thinking, he pushed open the door and ran.

Demetri jumped over a dead body whose insides were spilt all over the floor. He made it through and escaped to the narrow stairwell leading out of the gym. He quickly sprang up the steps, going up two steps at once to get to the top faster. He heard a zombie as it was turning the corner towards him. Demetri impaled the zombie in the head with the scissors and without stopping he sprinted ahead. He could hear the zombies behind him getting closer and closer. Demetri reached for the gate and closed it, leaving the zombies trapped behind it. He stopped and looked at the zombies behind the gate trying to bite the fence as if they could get through. As he was staring, he noticed a girl he knew. He looked closer and saw that it was Angelica! His eyes widened as he slowly backed up, turned around and left. He made his way to the robotics room and darted inside closing the door behind him. He locked it and there was a sudden silence. He took deep breaths and sat down in a chair. Demetri closed his eyes and tried to take in all that had happened. His pulse died down and he opened his eyes. He signed into the computer and looked to see if anything about the outbreak was on the news. His eyes wandered down the screen as he read:

Emergency Alert! Mil. Officials urge civilians to stay inside

and keep doors closed and locked. Take precaution!

conserve food items and water!. Flesh eating monsters

are on the loose and scientist believe it has something

to do with an infection or virus. Be on alert.....

As he continued to read, his reactions remained still as he had no words for what was happening. There was a loud bang on the door! Startled, Demetri reacted quickly and grabbed the scissors then pointed them at the door. He jumped out of his seat and saw that it was Ricardo. He rushed to the door and let him in. Ricardo, without hesitation, dashed inside and fell to the floor. He was drenched in blood and out of breath. As he struggled to muster out sound, Ricardo said, “Thank... you.” “Oh, it was not a problem.”, Demetri said. Demetri just stared, not knowing what else to say. “Nobody else... let me in.. their rooms..” Ricardo was still out of breath. It took Demetri awhile to answer back. All he could say was, “You’re welcome.”

Demetri went to sit back in the chair and continued reading. He glanced over to Ricardo and noticed him still but out of breath. He grabbed a water bottle off the desk and handed it to him. “Don’t worry it’s not open.” Demetri stood over him and held the water bottle towards him. Ricardo took the water and drank it in giant gulps. Demetri offered him a chair, “Relax, sit, and take a breather. What happened?”

As Ricardo finished up the last drop of the water, he crushed the bottle and threw it. “I lost everyone!” Demetri jumped, not expecting him to yell. “Okay chill! Tell me what happened.” Ricardo didn’t look at Demetri as he started to talk. “Well I was in the gym just like everyone else. I met up with my friends and was looking for my girlfriend Angelica.” He paused and looked at Demetri. “You haven’t seen her have you?” Demetri responded quickly, “No! I have not seen her. Sorry.” Even though he knew that his girlfriend was already a flesh eating freak. Looking distraught, Ricardo continued, “Oh, well, as I was searching for her, I heard a scream. I turned and I saw a person eating another person. It was horrible! There was this kid named Jackson. I tried to save him but he was stubborn and wouldn't stay with me. He was mauled by a zombie too! Everyone ran and I didn't get a chance to think. Even though everyone was running, I was still looking for my girlfriend through the swarms of people. Angelica! I screamed her name but no response. The gym was getting empty fast and there were only these crazy people eating everyone. Not seeing Angelica, I had to get out. I got to the top and the gate was closed! Some idiot closed the gate and there were zombies still inside!” Looking ashamed, Demetri slowly looked away knowing is was himself that closed the gate. “Oh yea. Some idiot..” Demetri slightly chuckled uncertainly. “ So I made my way up the narrow stairs next to the elevator out to the patio and back inside the school. It’s worse out there. Empty cars and dead people everywhere. I went room to room hoping someone would let me in. But no one is that nice. You are the only one.”

Demetri got up and made his way over to the power tools. He searched for screws so that he could make a sturdy weapon to use. “What are you doing?” Ricardo questioned. “Making a weapon because I know that I cannot stay in here forever. I am going to need something to survive all this mess.” Ricardo just watched as Demetri looked for more screws. “I need to go back out there” said Ricardo. Demetri didn't even turn around and continued on his work and said, “Are you sure you want to do that?” It didn't take long for Ricardo to respond, “Yea, I need to find more of my friends and my girlfriend.” Ricardo got up and headed for the door. “Wait” Demetri stopped working, "You can't go out there!" Ricardo stared at Demetri. "And why not?", said Ricardo. Demetri stuttered at the thought of what to say next. "Because... We can look for her together. You're going to need help. I can help you." Ricardo shrugged and agreed. Demetri blew a sigh of relief and continued his work as Ricardo sat down. "I hope we find her man. I need to see my girl." "Well I'm sure we will find her and you too can be together again." Demetri felt guilty that he didn't tell him about his girlfriend yet. Ricardo said,"Hey. you almost done there?" "Just about." Demetri screwed in the last screw,"And Wa-la!"

He pulled the trigger and two saw blades projected out and cut the chair in half. "Awesome!" Ricardo shouted,"Can you make me one?" Demetri laughed,"Sorry dude only had..." An explosion was heard from down the hall. "Did you hear that?", Ricardo asked. Demetri ran to the door and stuck his head out to look at what the bang was. "It came from over there, near the chem lab. Let's go check it out!" They pushed their way through the hall. Luckily there was barely any zombies at all but two. There was smoke coming out from the door down the hall. They ran towards it and they saw a student covered in dust and dirt. Demetri looked closer. "Derrick?" Derrick coughed,"Oh hey guys how's it going?"

Chapter Two: The Escape

Written by Chris Velez

He was trapped. That was it; Ricardo was going to die in the basement of Central high school, torn to pieces by the same students he had called his friends for the past four years. All these thoughts rushed through his head as he was scrambling up the stairs to get to the main corridor, to escape the horrible clutches of hundreds of zombie students chasing him from the gymnasium. He had made it up the last flight of stairs when his heart sunk so deep in his gut that he froze in place. All that faced him now was an impenetrable metal gate that was the only way out. The only way he could make it out alive to tell the tale of how he fought his way through a horde of zombies and survived the zombie outbreak.

At that moment he could feel the horde on his heels so he had to do something quick before he became mince meat. That’s when he remembered the second set of stairs that led up to the patio outside. By the time he pivoted on the ball of his foot to bolt for that door, he was jerked back by the cold, dead, fingers of some lifeless freshman. His grip was the strength of a heavyweight wrestler and Ricardo couldn’t tug away. All he could think of was to try to kick his way out as hard as he could. It took several kicks right to its hand before it broke the fingers. By then, he could hear the groans getting closer and closer. He got up and sprinted as fast as he could up the dark, abandoned staircase with the thought of a zombie’s fingers right at the back of his neck. The fear was enough to drive him right through the door at the top and onto the patio. He quickly got up and shut the door behind him to keep the zombies trapped inside. He got through to the outside but what Ricardo was to expect was beyond his imagination.

Once outside, Ricardo could immediately hear the city was in chaos. Running across the patio he looked over the ledge to the street. Cars were run off the road, some in flames, and others covered in blood. The streets were littered with zombies, mindlessly wandering around. He knew he wasn’t going to be safe anywhere but inside the building so he made it his priority to get in there and get the sledgehammer from the wrestling gym. Having a weapon like that could protect him and allow him to quickly kill one of those things with a blow right to the head. Once he had his weapon of choice, Ricardo could go in search of his girlfriend Angelica. Fortunately for him some kids left a pencil stuck in-between the side doors, probably for a quick run to the Chinese store across the street or something. He carefully and quietly made his way into the school trying to not make any noise that might attract zombies. Thanks to the movies, Ricardo knew all about surviving a zombie invasion. In the distance Ricardo could hear people screaming and crying from down the hall. This brought his memory back to where he might find Angelica. During the chaos in the gym, he lost sight of her but saw that she made it through one of the side gym doors with others that lead up to the health rooms. She had to of escaped before the gates came down and hid in the basement somewhere.

Moving from cover to cover, Ricardo made his way up from the side door to where he could see all the way down the first floor hall. He was just about to go around the corner when he saw two people barge right through the math corridor doors being chased by a couple zombies. Ricardo had to do something to help them. He ran out into the hall and yelled out, “Follow me into the wrestling gym.” Ricardo ran ahead and held the door open for them. “Grab that table and put it up against the doors,” he said to them. Once they heard the zombies go away, Cory and Jasmine proceeded to thank Ricardo for saving them. “Dude, we wouldn’t have known what to do if you hadn’t come along,” said Cory panting for air. “How did you get up to the first floor so fast?” exclaimed Jasmine, “We were one of the first to get the heck out of the gym when all hell broke loose.”

“I was able to find my way out to the patio,” replied Ricardo, “But it’s a war zone out there. Last thing you want is to attract the attention of hundreds of those things.”

“I know what you mean, we both had a look outside from the Language office before being overrun by the group you saw chasing us,” said Cory.

Now that they were safe for the time being, Ricardo went ahead and got the sledgehammer from the closet. “Sorry to have to leave you guys so soon after meeting, it would be good to stick together, but I need to go find my girlfriend down in the basement.”

“We understand from the determined look in your eye that we won’t be able to change your mind,” said Cory holding Jasmine close to him. We would be doing the same if we ever got separated. Good luck and be careful.” From there Ricardo made his way down to the basement from the stairs right by the wrestling gym.

He peeked through the door window and saw undead everywhere. It seems like most of the students who were bitten got out the gym and have been trapped down in the basement with nowhere to go. Ricardo knew the only way he was going to get through this hallway was to run as fast as he could and make his way past these zombies and swing at the ones who got too close. Most of them were very slow so he had the advantage of being really quick and able to maneuver his way around them through the hall. Ricardo decided that he was first going to go all the way down the north corridor in his search for Angelica. He made his way down the hall by swiftly dodging any zombies that tried to swipe at him and a few times having to hammer them right in the head. It was like hitting a rag doll because of such an impact the hammer had directed right at their weak spot. Once inside the lab rooms, Ricardo checked every little corner for Angelica, trying not to yell out her name, even though that’s exactly what he wanted to do. He made his way from room to room until he got to the small section of three classrooms in a corner. When inside one of the rooms, he heard what sounded like someone screaming down the hall, attracting all of the zombies’ attention and finally getting caught at that very spot. There were now a large number of them, about ten or more concentrated in that one area. Ricardo noticed that one of those rooms were barricaded from the inside so, perhaps some students managed to get out of the death trap that was the gym and find someplace safe. All Ricardo hoped for was that Angelica was somewhere safe. He wouldn’t stop until he found her.

Ricardo decided to go ahead and check the locker rooms by the gate. Running by there he could hear the footsteps of all those zombies he managed to get away from. The noise from them was so loud he could hear it from down the hall. As he was making his way into the boy’s locker room, he encountered one stray zombie who must have wandered up from the basement. Ricardo went to kill it but slipped on a puddle of water from a sink left on. Before he could realize what happened, the zombie was in top of him trying to bite his face off. Using one hand to push the zombie away he grabbed the sledge hammer and jammed it right in its mouth, breaking its jaw. Flipping it over and finishing it off with one more hit, he thought he was home free. Suddenly a dozen or so came out of nowhere in the locker room. Ricardo knew he had to run, but once he made it to the hall more zombies had somehow surrounded him again. This time he stood and fought, killing four of them before the blood on the handle made it hard to grip. There were zombies coming from all sides so Ricardo had to run over to the Robotics room. He spotted someone inside and banged on the door for them to know he was alive. When he thought he wouldn't be lucky this time, the door swung open and he rushed in, collapsing on the floor panting for air.

Chapter One: The Outbreak

Written by Mavelyn Rivera

Students flocked to the red bricked building standing tall on the hill located between Ogontz avenue and Broad street. The crisp early morning air was refreshing and many students chose to hang out on the patio before coming in to the school. A group of kids snickered as they saw their friend, Justin, stumble across the walkway on the way to the patio.

"He must have had a rough Sunday night."

"Pfft, Jackson, his idea of a rough Sunday night consists of eating ice cream and playing minecraft until the break of dawn."

"Oh yea, Caylie, and your Sunday nights getting baked and watching Robot Chicken are any better than his."

The kids waited for Justin to approach them and they noticed the palor in his face. His dark eyes were bloodshot and looked sunken; his brown hair hung in oily clamps over his pale face. One of the students asked him why he didn't just stay home. "I've been feeling this way since Saturday morning, I was planning on going to the nurse later and asking to get picked up", he replied.The other kids noticed the slight shake in his voice and the tremble in his hands as he held his bookbag over his shoulder. Shortly after, the shrill of the morning bell was sounded and the students made their way into the building.

The stale and humid air was a stark contrast to the crisp morning breeze enjoyed by the students minutes prior. The long line leading to the metal detectors was unusually long and the hot hallway was not making the wait any easier on the three students. It was especially trying on Justin who stood there with such a face of dispair that his friends worried for him. They suggested he sit down on one of the benches along the hallway and he could move up to their position in line once they get close enough. Justin made his way to the bench and sat down with his head in his clammy hands. His legs visibly shook and he could feel his heart thumping in his chest. The incessant chatter of the students waiting in line racked his brain; each syllable like a hammer relentlessly banging on his skull. He gagged.

Jackson and Caylie looked back to call their friend Justin when suddenly he ran by them, past the yells of the security guards and around the corner. The security guards raced after their friend but the chase only seemed to last about as long as it took for Justin to puke. By this time the noise had died down and all eyes were trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on up ahead.

"Did he puke?"

"Who was that? Was that Justin?"

"Jackson, what's wrong with your friend?"

"Relax man, he wasn't feeling good. I guess he was trying to run to the bathroom!"

The murmuring continued until long after the short morning entertainment, as some of the students considered it, was over. By the time Jackson and Caylie passed through the dim colored metal detectors the school officials had taken Justin to the nurse's office further down the hall. They worried about their friend, Justin, and planned on checking up on him during third period lunch.

"Okay, Caylie, I'll see you later."

"Remember, we'll just meet in the lunch room and then go to the nurses office."

"Yea. I hope he's still there. They'll probably just send him home right away."

They said their goodbyes and went along their separate ways to their advisory rooms. Jackson walked slowly through the emptying wide hallways; the few stragglers making their way into their respective advisories. He could hear some students talking about the events of earlier and wondered if people had nothing better to talk about. As he mulled over that he heard running footsteps behind him and was almost run over by some freshmen. Before he could yell some obscenities in their direction he was interrupted by a monotone voice over the loudspeakers.

"Attention, students and staff. Please report to an impromptu assembly to be held in the gymnasium. I repeat, please report to an impromptu assembly to be held in the gymnasium."

Soon afterwards, the emptying hallways began to fill with kids pouring out of their rooms. The wave of students suddenly overtook Jackson and he moved along with the others. On their way down he wondered about his friend. Those sunken eyes and pale face flashed in his mind for fleeing moment. It was very discomforting. When he got to the gymnasium he looked around the mass of faces staring back at him. He was looking for his friend Caylie but could not find her. He decided to take a seat alongside some seniors on the second row of the bleachers.

“Hey, you guys happen to know what’s going on? I saw some kids running down the hallway right before the announcement. Is it related to this?” Jackson asked one of the seniors next to him.

“Oh, I heard my teacher talking about a sick kid being sent to the nurses office this morning. Something about a really contagious virus.”

“Yea, I heard the nurse herself came down with the same symptoms soon afterwards. Someone said she was puking and her face was really pale,” added one of the other seniors.

Jackson looked around the gymnasium. It seemed like the entire school was here; he started to really worry about his friend. I guess he really did have a rough sunday night. He should have just stayed home. Jackson wondered if school was going to be cancelled today. That would be great. He needed more sleep, Justin wasn’t the only one had a rough night. The students sat around for what seemed like hours and slowly started to get more impatient. The complaints started to arise and many tried to leave their seats much to the disapproval of the teachers trying to keep order. The gymnasium was a vast room that could easily house the student body with plenty of room to spare. However, ventilation was poor and it was beginning to reek of sweat and bad body odor. Damn how much longer will we be in here? At this point many students could be heard yelling out to the teachers to be let out or to go home. Steadily the noise in the gymnasium grew and more tried to leave their seats. The seniors sitting next to Jackson decided to move closer to the doors leading outside. Just as quick as the students were up a loud banging began on the doors leading to the hallway. The loud noise echoed throughout the gymnasium and the student’s chatter shrank to a murmur. Each loud bang rang in their ears like a loud percussion and it was increasing in speed.

Jackson looked towards the teachers and they looked just as confused as the others. They stood in place; everyone seemingly in a stupor and locked into place. Either by fear or confusion he could not tell. However, his instincts screamed at him to move and exit through the door next to the bleachers. One of the teachers snapped out of that confusion holding everyone in place and slowly moved towards one of the doors. As he slowly placed his hand on the knob the door swung open with such force that it knocked him down to the floor. Suddenly, chaos ensued. A dozen or so people flooded through the door and ran towards the bleachers. At first everyone stayed rooted to their seats; why were these students running towards them. Was that blood on their shirts?

“Oh my god! Are they eating him! Look, they're eating the teacher on the floor!

Suddenly, everyone sprang into action. As the students who breached the gymnasium doors ran towards the bleachers with inhuman speed Jackson saw that their faces were disfigured in some ways. Some were missing an eye while others had gaping, oozing wounds on their faces. The students on the first bleachers were the first to be taken down. Teachers and students alike were being torn to shreds with such ferocity Jackson questioned whether these people were human at all. All the while Jackson could not move his legs. He was transfixed by the scene playing out before him. The stench of rotting flesh and death assailed his senses and he reeled. He was dimly aware of the Senior next to him screaming into his ear.

“We gotta go, c’mon man! This is some serious stuff and we have to get out of here!” The senior closest to him, Ricardo, pushed him until he was almost fell off the bleachers.

Jackson was able to gain his senses just before someone lost their footing trying to get to the door next to him. She fell and immediately the ravaging lunatics launched on her and tore her to pieces. He couldn’t believe his eyes and he stumbled off the second seat onto the floor. Ricardo quickly followed and his friends pushed on by.

“Lets go, we can’t stay here. These people aren’t human. Look! Oh my god, they are getting up again!”

“How is he alive, his neck has been torn off! What the f---!”

Several students screamed and pointed at those that have fallen getting up and walking again. Many of them sporting gaping wounds and missing entire limbs. Jackson was dragged on by Ricardo who decided to help his poor soul as he seemed incapable of fending for himself. As they made their way towards one of the side doors leading outside Jackson spotted his friend Caylie. She was standing over Justin!

Jackson broke away from Ricardo and ran towards his friends. He tripped over someone groaning on the floor; a puddle of blood slowly spreading over the glossed woodwork. He got up and slowly walked over to Caylie.

“Hey! Oh my god I’ve been looking for you. What are you doing we have to go. Lets help Justin up and lets go! Jackson shook Caylie but she still had her back to him.

He noticed a rancid smell and looked quickly behind him. The chaos around him was in full tandem but not close enough to get them just yet. He shook Caylie again and his nose scrunched from another whiff of that rancid smell of decaying flesh.

“Caylie, WE HAVE TO GO!”

No response. He decided to use more force and turned her around to face him. Jackson gasped. He was staring at his friend but only a blank look stared back. Eyes that no longer saw the light of day and a facial expression that reflected misery and pain no living being can ever comprehend. Suddenly, she lunged at Jackson and all went black.