Chapter 3

It's been three hours since someone banged on the door. Stomachs rumble around the now mostly silent gym as everyone except the staff tries to process what they heard. The gym's temperature has dropped about ten degrees with the approach of night and the temperature is only going downwards from here.

With the loss of signal two and a half hours earlier, everyone is on edge. The staff has been whispering in the corner for quite some time. Because I am one of the closest students to them, I can make out their conversation quite clearly and am not particularly liking what I'm hearing so I started recording their conversation when I heard them take a dive into mass murder.

"There are too many kids. They'll make too much noise. No way we make it out of the school alive while towing them around. On top of that, how long do you think they'll continue to listen to us when there is no one around that can punish them?" Whispered Ms. Kray. I think I understand why she's single now.

"They're all just kids! They'll die if we leave them here! We all heard those screams. This is much worse than what we were told! It is our job as not only teachers but adults to take care of them!" Ms. Jenkins whispered back.

"How long do you think the food in the fridges will last over two hundred people without any shipments coming in? We don't know how long we could be here! We could be here for weeks for all we know and the food in the cafeteria will only last this many people for five days at most. We will all starve to death if those infected don't break in here first!"

"Were screwed either way, but I say we should give ourselves the best chance possible. We escape, leave the kids, and perhaps someone forgets to close the door on their way out, and some infected get in and kill these kids. No witnesses. No crime. No one to refute our story. Best of all, we live." Ms. Kray said.

There were a few whispers around the circle and I sighed. Shit. "When should we leave?" Whispered the geometry teacher. "We leave tonight." Ms. Kray replied.

"You are all insane! You want to kill a bunch of kids?!" Ms. Jenkins whispered, clearly panicked. I stood, my back still towards them, and walked to the middle of the gym.

"Everyone!" I shouted, immediately gathering the attention of the teachers and students.

"Ms. Kray, our beloved principal, has successfully gotten all of the teachers to join her in escaping and leaving us alone tonight! Ms. Kray even suggested they leave the door open and allow infected in so there are no witnesses!" By now, every student in the gym had risen and was glaring daggers at all the teachers.

"Ms. Jenkins however, refused to participate in this plan and tried to convince the others to stay. Ms. Jenkins is the only one who stood by us. The rest were keen to kill us as long as their own survival was ensured." There was a lot of talking from the students as they continued to glare at the teachers.

"She's lying. Jenkins and her were plotting to escape and take all the food. I threatened to expose them and now they're trying to turn their attention towards us and make us seem like the bad guys!" Ms. Kray replied calmly. All the students turned towards me expectantly, as if waiting for me to confess or argue. What a bunch of cattle.

I smiled. "See, she's smiling, she is clearly-" Ms. Kray began but I stopped her. "I'm not smiling because I'm guilty, I'm smiling because I was smart enough to record the evidence of you plotting with the others." I brought my phone out of my back pocket, turned the volume up and played the recording.

There were gasps and shouts of outrage from students as they heard the recording. When it was finished, ms. Kray was practically fuming with outrage. "Bunch of brats! I worked at this school for ten years on a barely livable wage and have never once done anything for myself. I want to ensure my survival and suddenly I'm the monster?" She half shouted half laughed making her look like a maniac.

Even the teachers who had sided with her in their plotting took a step away from her and looked unsure.

I turned towards the crowd and pissed off students and shouted, "You know what? Let's allow them to leave. In fact, why don't we banish them? Think about it, we are on the second floor. The gym we are standing in is on the front half of the second floor. The cafeteria where all the food happens to be located on the first floor on the opposite half."

"Plus, considering the way our school was designed, there are no exits in the half of the school the cafeteria is located in. Now, the point I'm trying to make is that the school is probably filled with infected which means that, maybe our beloved teachers will make it out of the school alive. But, if they try to go for our only source of food, it's a death sentence."

There were shouts of approval from the crowd. Suddenly, a guy pushed his way through the crowd and I internally groaned. It was Mike. This is about to get real interesting. He turned to address the crowd.

"Why don't we make things more interesting?!" He shouted. Cheers erupted from the crowd, everyone clearly interested in what his idea was. "How about, to guarantee they don't screw us over by stealing our food and making it out alive, we tie their hands and feet together and shoved them out of the gym!!" Roars of approval erupted.

I sighed but I knew how pissed of crowds worked. If I tried to dissuade them from doing this, they'll label me a traitor and forget about me saving their asses. Hell, they might go so far as making me the next person they banish. Instead, I play along and smile, raising a triumphant fist into the air causing more roars of approval from the crowd. The teachers stood frozen.

"Everyone, keep an eye on the teachers!" Mike shouted and the crowd moved forward and formed a circle around the teachers. They really are just a bunch of cattle. Mike then moved to a corner of the gym where he'd snagged two chairs and a small table from the storage earlier. He went over and sat down and started playing on his phone. I sighed and ran up and sat in the chair across from him.

"What do you want?" He asked, setting his phone down. "You heard my recording. Ms. Jenkins is innocent. I have no objections to this plan of yours as long as she gets spared." I say.

"Despite what people think, I'm not a complete oaf. I know she is innocent but you have to think, these idiots won't trust her. Distrust leads to chaos and chaos leads to an uprising. Without the teachers, they are going to look to either you or me." He replied. I raised an eyebrow, surprised.

"Your right, you're not a complete oaf. But you're looking at this like you plan to stay. I know how to listen and what I hear makes me wonder whether either of us is even remotely capable of leading these people. You were planning to escape tonight with the rest of the basketball team."

"After hearing this, I planned to use it as blackmail to join the escape. If you want to stay now that you have a chance of leading everyone, be my guest. But from the moment I stepped foot into this gym, I planned to escape no matter what. It's your choice if you want to stay or go, but I'm leaving tonight." I say.

With that, I spare him one last look and walk away, leaving him to think about what I said. I am about to go talk to Ms. Jenkins when I'm stopped. "Been a long day for you, hasn't it," Grace says, stepping in front of me with her arms crossed and an accusatory look in her eye.

"I'm sorry I made sure no chaos or panic erupted when we got here and that I've been busy making sure the teachers don't kill us all. Is that what you wanted to hear Grace? I've had a stressful couple of hours and I don't need you to berate me for not spending time with you. You are acting like a lost puppy dog and I wish you'd leave me alone." I replied, my voice tight, my hands clenched.

I saw the hurt look in her eyes. I hadn't meant to take my stress out on her. After a few moments, she wrapped her arms around me in a hug.

I was surprised for a moment before I immediately wrapped my arms around her and said, "I'm sorry Grace." She squeezed me before letting go and saying, "It's fine. I know you didn't mean any of those things." I nodded.

"You are literally the best. Now, tell me all about that guy you've been talking to. Were you two talking or," I lift my eyebrows up and down suggestively, "talking." We both bust out laughing but I can only enjoy the moment for so long before the next big problem stops me in my tracks. Again. Oh, what a joy.