We stood in front of the cafeteria doors, hearts pounding like drums. Elliot was in the lead, bat ready, looking like he was about to star in some low-budget action movie.
I gulped. Alex was behind me, crowbar in hand, and I was clutching my broom like it was Excalibur. Honestly, if someone had told me a week ago that I'd be fighting zombies with a broom, I would've laughed in their face. But here we were.
Elliot pushed the doors open slowly, the creak echoing through the massive cafeteria like a horror movie sound effect. We stepped inside, eyes darting everywhere, looking for any signs of movement.
The place was huge, tables and chairs scattered everywhere, like someone had thrown a tantrum and flipped everything over. The smell of stale food and disinfectant hit me like a punch to the nose.
"Clear," Elliot whispered, though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than anything else.
We moved further in, nerves on edge. My brain, being the overthinker it is, started spiraling. What if there's a zombie hiding under a table? What if the cafeteria lady turned into a zombie and she's waiting to serve us… brains? I shook my head. Focus, Mira.
Then another thought hit me like a slap. "Guys," I said, my voice shaky. "We barricaded one of the doors. What if other survivors tried to get in but couldn't? What if they got eaten because we wanted to keep ourselves safe?"
Elliot paused and looked at me. "Mira, if we hadn't barricaded the door, we'd be the ones getting eaten. It's survival, not a charity event."
I knew he was right, but it didn't make me feel any better. I shook my head, trying to throw the guilt away like last week's leftovers. Right now, we needed food.
We slowly moved to the serving area, where students usually stood in line for food. The counter was empty, except for a few trays and some suspicious-looking stains. Elliot jumped over the counter like he was in some kind of zombie parkour competition, and Alex followed, though not as gracefully. I stayed behind, keeping watch with my broom.
"Hey, I found the leftovers from today!" Elliot shouted, holding up a tray of what looked like… well, I wasn't sure what it was, but it was edible.
"Nice job," Alex said, peeking over his shoulder.
I smiled, relief washing over me. No zombies in the school. For now, at least. We grabbed whatever we could find, some sandwiches, a few bags of chips, and a couple of juice boxes. It wasn't gourmet, but it was food.
We sat down at one of the tables, eating like we hadn't seen food in weeks. I devoured a sandwich in record time, barely tasting it. Elliot was shoving chips into his mouth like a chipmunk preparing for winter, and Alex was sipping his juice box like it was the last one on Earth.
After we'd eaten our fill (and by "fill," I mean we ate until we felt like we might explode), we started talking. Because, you know, what else do you do during a zombie apocalypse besides eat and theorize about how the world ended?
"So," Elliot said, leaning back in his chair. "How do you think this whole zombie thing started?"
Alex shrugged. "Maybe it was some kind of science experiment gone wrong. You know, like in the movies. Some lab created a virus, and bam, zombies."
Elliot nodded. "Or maybe it's aliens. They sent down a virus to wipe us out and take over the planet."
I rolled my eyes. "Aliens? Really?"
"What?" Elliot said, grinning. "It's possible!"
I stuttered, trying to come up with my own theory. "W-Well, maybe it's… um… climate change? Like, the Earth got so messed up that it, uh, created zombies to, you know, reset everything?"
Elliot and Alex stared at me.
"Climate change zombies?" Elliot said, raising an eyebrow. "That's a new one."
I felt my face turn red. "I don't know! It's not like I have a degree in zombie studies or something!"
Alex chuckled. "I think Mira's onto something. Global warming turns people into zombies. It's the next big documentary."
We all laughed, the sound echoing through the empty cafeteria. For a moment, it felt almost normal. Like we were just hanging out after school, joking around. But then reality came crashing back.
Because outside those doors, the world was still a mess. And we had no idea what was coming next.
****
After we finished our totally scientific discussion about zombie origins (because, you know, that's what you do when the world ends), the mood got a little heavier. We started talking about our parents. It was like someone had flipped a switch from "funny zombie survival" to "emotional family drama."
"My parents are in Switzerland," I said, poking at the crumbs left on my tray. "They went there for some work thing. I haven't heard from them since this whole mess started."
Alex didn't say anything, just stared at the table like it held the secrets of the universe. Elliot broke the silence. "Mine are in Austria. They went for some fancy wine-tasting trip. Knowing my dad, he's probably trying to fight zombies with a corkscrew right now."
We all went quiet after that, the weight of the situation pressing down on us. For a moment, we just sat there, staring at nothing, lost in our own thoughts. The silence was so thick you could've cut it with a knife.
And then Elliot ruined it.
"You know," he said, breaking the silence with the grace of a bull in a china shop, "if zombies can't fart, does that mean they're always full of hot air?"
I blinked. Alex blinked. The cafeteria blinked. Okay, maybe not the cafeteria, but it felt like it.
No one laughed.
Elliot looked around, his grin faltering. "Tough crowd," he muttered.
I couldn't help it, I giggled. Not at the joke (because, let's be honest, it was terrible), but at how awkward he looked. Alex started laughing too, and soon we were all cracking up, more at Elliot's expense than anything else.
"Except Mira, you guys are dumbasses," Elliot said, crossing his arms and pretending to be offended.
Alex looked at him and smiled. "Okay, simp."
Elliot's face turned bright red. "I, what, I'm not a simp!"
Alex raised an eyebrow. "I feel like the third wheel here."
"There's nothing going on between us," I said quickly, maybe a little too quickly.
Alex smirked. "Okay, if you say so, Mira."
I rolled my eyes, but then a thought hit me. "Hey, Alex," I said, "which school do you go to? You're really brave and, like, a natural leader, soo are you like from an All-Boys School?"
Alex froze for a second, then said, "Huh? What do you mean, 'boy'? I'm a girl. Are you joking?"
Elliot and I both said "Huh?" in unison, like some kind of weird synchronized confusion team.
"Wait, what?" I said, staring at Alex. "You're a girl?"
Alex sighed and pulled off her hoodie hat. Underneath was a head of blonde hair, and, wow. She was beautiful. Like, really beautiful. She had this kind of masculine-but-pretty face that somehow worked perfectly, and her eyes were this striking shade of blue. The only thing that didn't match was her voice, which was deep and, well, kinda guy-ish.
Elliot and I just stared at her, dumbfounded.
"Uh… hi?" Alex said, waving a hand in front of our faces.
I blinked. "So… you're a girl."
"Yes," Alex said, deadpan. "Congratulations, you've figured it out."
Elliot was still staring, his mouth hanging open like a fish. I elbowed him, and he snapped out of it.
"Well," I said, trying to recover from the shock, "this is officially the weirdest day of my life. And that's saying something, considering I fought zombies with a broom today."
Alex smirked. "Glad I could make your day more interesting."
And with that, Chapter 6 ended with the three of us sitting in the cafeteria, trying to process the fact that our mysterious, crowbar-wielding, zombie-slaying teammate was actually a girl.
Oh, and Elliot was still blushing.
"Note to self: never assume someone's gender based on their voice. Or their zombie-killing skills." – Mira's Internal Monologue