Cortez
Day 0, 11:09
"What the hell is that!?" the annoying gremlin-like voice of Payton yelled next to me. I took out an Air Pod and looked at her skeptically.
"What?" she had interrupted a good part of a song i was listening to so i was pretty annoyed.
"That!" she pointed at the crack under the door. There was the same black fog i saw out side seeping under it.
"The fuck?" I glanced at it for a minute confused when a thought came to my mind.
Isaiah had said that the fog hurt people.
Shit...
"Get away from it!" I yelled as i scrambled out of my seat and to the back of the room. The room was small, barely twenty by twenty feet. The walls were glass so it made the room look bigger that it actually was.
We were all pressing to the far wall of the room not knowing what to do.
"What is it?"
"How did it get in?"
"The fuuuuuck?"
The others kept talking as it got closer and closer.
"Fuck this." Damaurie said as he tried to sprint to the other side of the room, but as soon as he stepped into it he fell face first into the corner of a desk.
"Dammmnnn..." exclaimed Lil'Head.
We all sat there in shock at the lifeless body, we didn't even notice that the fog had reached our shoes. I looked down at my feet seeing the fog swirling around in an eddie when ever i step.
"Why isn't it affecting us?" asked Sarrah to no one in particular.
Before anyone could even think of an answer Damaurie got up clumsily, almost like he was drunk, knocking over pens and papers to the ground.
"You good bro?" asked Lil' Head. Damaurie turned towards his voice. On his head was a large black gash and his glasses were cracked. Wait black? Isn't your blood red? Before I could question it any further he gave an animal-like snarl and lunged at the nearest person to him.
Payton.
"Get off me fucking pervert!" Yelled Payton as he pushed her up against the wall. She was trying to push him away but couldn't due to the cramped conditions.
"What are you doing dude?" asked Lil' Head as he tried to push him off of her but it had no effect due to his small size.
Damaurie seeing that Lil' Head was the smaller target he let go of Payton and fell on him like a cat to a mouse.
"Ahhhh! Help he's trying to fuckin bite me!" Lil' Head yelled as he was crushed to the floor. A scream erupted from him as Damaurie bit deeply into his shoulder. Seemingly from the pain Lil'Head passed out.
"Cortez do something!" screamed Payton.
I grabbed my bag and took out one of the machetes. I yanked off the sheath and prepared to do the most logical thing to do.
Cut off his head of course.
Before anyone could even question why I had machetes in the first place I swung left to right.
But cutting off someone's head was harder than i thought.
I only managed to cut half way through, the vertebrae stopping my blade short. Black blood leaked out of the wound furiously, coating Lil'Head's unconscious body in the dark ichor. Damaurie stopped biting his shoulder and got up slowly. He turned and faced me still leaking blood like a waterfall. An expression of fear clouded his features.
'Wait...fear? Zombies don't fear anything, they're mindless killing machines.' I thought to myself in a span of a second.
Damaurie tried to back up, knocking into desks and chairs. Suddenly the blood stopped pouring out and reduced to a small trickle and he fell over.
"You killed him." said Payton, breaking the silence.
"He was trying to eat Za'ray i had to do something." I grabbed the blade from his neck and flicked it sending drops of blood to the floor.
Payton wheeled on me. "So you had to try to cut off his fucking head? Like what were you thinking? How are you gonna explain that to the teacher?" She sat down in a chair and continued to stare at the body.
"Its like he turned into a zombie though." I put the machete down and went over to Lil'Head.
"Hey wake up." I shook him a bit and slapped his face a few times. He started to move, his eyes opened staring at me unfocused.
"You ok?" I asked as he sat up, his clothes were covered in blood. He smelled like pennies.
"I think so, my shoulder hurts like a bitch tho'" He rubbed his shoulder then looked at his hand. "What's this black stuff?"
I pointed at Damurie's body. "His blood." His face went pale as he looked at the body. It was lying in a pool, dark as oil, as his neck still leaked blood feebly.
"Holy shit man! You really killed him! What the fuck!" He got up and moved as far away from the body as he could in the cramped space. He looked at me like I was a crazy person.
'Like come on! I was the one that saved your life, ungrateful fuck!'
"What! Why are you getting mad at me?" I said defensively. He pointed at the body.
"Think about it bro you just killed someone. Your going to fucking jail! How are you gonna explain that to Mr. Thomas?"
"But i just saved your life. You should be thanking me for not attacking me!"
'I really don't get why he's mad like he could have died.'
"Uhh guys I don't think Mr. Thomas is gonna care that Damaurie's dead." It was Nathan that spoke, the first time since the class started. We looked to where he was pointing.
Since we were caught up in or out argument we didn't notice the crowd of people staring at us from the door. It had two big windows in it so we could see the group perfectly.
On the other side of the door there was a group of seven people. Mr. Thomas and the rest of the students. There were even a few I recognized. All of them were pawing at the door, smearing red and black filth all over the windows. I could guess from the two ravaged bodies on the ground near them that group had been eating them.
Just like how Damaurie was trying to eat Lil'Head.
Before anyone could really process this two figures holding chairs like battering rams came running through the group causing almost all of them to fall on the ground. The figures dropped the chairs and began beating on the fallen figures with what looked to be a bat and a fire extinguisher.
I looked at the one with the bat, his familiar grey jacket and unruly head of curls finally clicked with recognition.
"Isaiah?" I said out loud.
He was fighting them like a psychopath.
He was smashing skulls and caving in chests left and right. Surprisingly i was unsurprised about the new zombie threat even though it only happened a few minutes ago it seemed like old news, but this... this scared me.
To see the bloodlust and excitement in eyes as he was reducing people to bloody mush. People he knew. People he cared about. It scared me. And not a lot of things scare me.
See Isaiah isn't one of those people to look for a fight or anything like that. Isaiah would probably try to stop one if there was even one in his presents. So to see him enjoying this bloodshed really gave me a reality check. Part of me wanted to go out there with him slitting throats and chopping arms off at his side but the other part didn't want to go anywhere near him.
I don't know if I like this new Isaiah.
"Oh my god... why... what," Payton proceeded to throw up in her bag. I didn't blame her. It was a disgusting sight to behold.
With the tar colored blood plastering the windows and bits of skull fragments thrown around. And the thing is I knew the people this belonged to.
And so did Isaiah.
Jaden Ramos, a dread headed junior that Isaiah referred to as his 'father'.
Boom! Skull cracked open!
Talia Farnum, Jaden's girlfriend, also a fellow pot head and someone i wish to fuck.
Crack! Chest caved in!
Grady Evans, a guy that was infamous around the school for shitting in a shoe and throwing it into the boys locker room.
Snap! Neck broken like a pencil.
Isaiah didn't even act like there were people anymore just mere obstacles in his way. He glanced into the room for the first time and gave me a childish grin. The look seemed to say 'hey isn't this fun!' and before I could look give him a look saying 'Ya- but no' He turned back to the blood bath by shattering Mr. Thomas' shin and caving in his face.
He stood there breathing deeply. Surveying the carnage, that he practically only caused, with a smile on his face. He let out a whoop of excitement that could be heard through the glass. He came to the door and tried to open it but it wouldn't budge.
"Try using Mr. Thomas' keys!" I yelled through the glass. The black kid with the extinguisher took the lanyard from the teachers neck and unlocked the door. We spilled out into the hall as it was opened.
"Is anyone hurt?" Asked the black kid as he looked at the body in the room. I pointed to Lil'Head.
"He got bit in the shoulder but i don't think it broke skin. If it did we outta put him down so he won't turn into one of them." I looked at the bodies, the blood pooled around them so much it looked like they were laying in an oil spill. Lil'Head and the black kid turned on me.
"The fuck anyon' said about putting me down? I ain't no dog." Lil'Head said in his defense.
"Well I don't want to deal with anymore zombies than I have to." I said with a dismissive shrug.
"Hey," the black kid's voice boomed. "I got bit too and I know yo ass ain't gonna be puttin' me down." he walked up trying to get me to back down but I just held his gaze.
"Whoa guys, we needa chill. Nobody is gonna put anyone down. We don't even know if whatever this is can be transmitted like that." Isaiah put himself in between us and got the kid to back off. He crouched down and started to go through Jaden's stuff.
"You really have no chill do you?!" yelled Payton with disgust. "First you kill your friends and now you're looting their bodies?" She walked away.
"They're not our friends anymore." Isaiah said coldly. "You don't know what i saw. And plus." he said, suddenly more cheerful. "Jaden always had a vape that he never let me hit and he doesn't need it anymore." he found what he was looking for and took a hit off of the small device.
"Anyone else that isn't squeamish, I want you to go through their stuff. Look for anything useful. Food, water, lighters, stuff like that." Payton gave him a look. "Who said you were in charge?" she asked skeptically. He looked at her with a gesture of surrender.
"Ok then what shall we do oh, Wise Payton." she blushed in embarrassment and walked off with Sarrah on her heels.
"That's what i thought. Now go make yourself useful and don't empty your guys' bags of anything not useful so we can carry this stuff." She grumbled something under her breath but went and did what he asked.
With that all us boys began going through the bodies and their belongings. After a few minutes we came up with four lighters, a couple bottles of water, two lunch boxes of food, random snacks and Mr. Thomas's car keys. As a bonus we found another vape on Talia with extra juice and pods, also a small bottle of weed on Jaden.
Isaiah pocketed the weed and car keys and he handed me the vape. Payton and Sarrah came back with the bags (excluding hers since there was throw up in it) and we put the rest of the stuff in them. We were about to walk down the hall when I suddenly had an idea.
"Hold up." I said to the group and I ran back to the bodies. I crouched down and took two belts from the pile. I looped the belts on my shoulders to my hip in an X shape. Then I stuck my hip sheaths on them so that all I would need to do was pull the blades out from my back. I slung the bag back on and walked back to the waiting group.
"What's the plan now?" I asked Isaiah. He took another hit of used-to-be-Jaden's vape and shivered from the nicotine.
"We're gonna go drop off these four," he pointed to Payton, Lil'Head, Sarrah, and Nathan. " at Ms. Jensen's room and then i'll figure out what to do from there." he finished with a shrug.
"Trying not to think anymore than five minutes ahead?" I asked with a grin. He nodded in agreement and we started down the hall once more.
The black kid looked at us like we were crazy. "How are you guys so damn cheerful? We literally had to kill like 10 people." He started the hundred mile stare, obviously questioning his morals.
I went over to him and put my arm around his shoulder.
"You see me and this kid over here? We've had pretty shitty lives up until this point. The thing is we've literally dreamed about this day. You know the apocalypse? Because now we can do whatever the hell we want, do whoever the hell we want and no one can tell us otherwise. We're free man. Were fuckin-" Isaiah cut me off with a loud shush.
We were just coming up to a corner and he looked around it making sure we were clear. He pushed us up against the wall and motioned me over. We looked around the corner to see four people banging on the classroom door down the hall, the classroom we needed to get into. There were two bodies on the ground next to them with their insides on the outside.
Isaiah took off his bag and placed it on the floor, he motioned me to do the same. He looked at the black kid.
"I can tell you don't want anymore action so i want you to stay here and keep a look out. Tez and i are gonna hit em hard and fast." he gave me a grin that made me shiver and walked around the corner slowly. I set my bag down and followed him.
We walked towards the group trying not to grab their attention.
"One..." He counted down as we got closer. He shifted his grip on the bat.
"Two..." I said taking my blades out of their sheaths, the sound of metal scraping fabric finally alerted the group of our presents.
"Three!" we yelled at the same time and charged.