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You hurry along the third floor in the dim light of the hallway, and the moans and growls of the infected echo through the high school. The teacher's lounge lies ahead, and as you approach, you hear arguing from inside.

"He said he will be back, and we're waiting as long as it takes," Madison says as you push against the door. It moves an inch and bumps the furniture still stacked to stop intruders.

"Open up. It's me and Jaime," you say and lean into the surface of the door. It shifts a few more inches.

"Hold yer horses," Woody says through the wall, and from the other side, the sound of moving furniture can be heard scraping the linoleum floor. Once the door is cleared, it swings open, and you enter. Madison sits on a lounge chair with her lightly injured arm perched on a shelf, while Brody stands near a tall filing cabinet he must have just moved from the door.

"Whoa," Madison says as she lifts her eyes to Jaime.

"What are you, like six-ten?" Brody says and raises a hand over his head to match Jaime's height.

You introduce everyone by name, ending with your tall friend. "Everyone, this is—"

"Jaime," Woody says and strides up next to his cousin, stone-faced.

"Hey there, Mos—" Jaime stops and clears his throat. "Woody. How you doing?"

"Fair to middlin'," Woody says and pats Jaime high on his firm chest.

As Jaime and Woody catch up on the events of the last few days, you move over to Madison to inspect her arm. She flinches as you raise it but doesn't argue as you inspect the damage. You can tell she's appreciative of your help. A quick look of the wound shows it's a graze that broke skin, and though it may be painful, it's not fatal or serious. You take out your first aid kit, dress the wound, and wrap gauze around it.

"You should be fine now."

"Thank you," Madison says. She holds a clean cloth against it, and even though it's unnecessary, you can tell she thinks it helps. "I feel better already."

Woody walks towards the door and peers into the hallway. "Time for us to skedaddle. That last roun' of zombies weren't the last. And I found these." He pops a huge ring of keys out of his pocket and tosses them to you.

"Those look like Mr. Flaherty's, the maintenance man," Brody says. "We can take that old maintenance elevator the teachers use. It leads to the back of the parking lot."

As you prepare to leave the lounge, you recall the list of locations for a SurvNet server. "I need to make one quick stop before we go," you say and drag out the small box server from your duffel bag.

"What's that?" Jaime asks.

"Looks like a portable PC with no monitor and just a network card," Madison says, though her voice fades as everyone turns to stare at her. "I guess."

"That's right," you say and step through the back door of the teacher's lounge. The hallway is clear, and you use Mr. Flaherty's keyring to pop open the door to a storage room, one of the rare ones with a window overlooking the back lot of the school. Placing the Survnet server right up to the glass, you plug it into the electrical outlet and wire it to the school's network. The box hums and LEDs light up showing it's connected.

"We really gotta go." Woody keeps an eye on the hallway as you work.

"We're done. The server will use the school's power and network as long as they last, and when they drop, its backup power should keep it alive for months or years even." You move to the door and everyone follows. "Time to head home. We're done here."

"Let's go. I've been in this school for too long," Jaime says with a laugh. "Any place open on the way home still selling cheeseburgers?"