Chapter 4

"Everyone run!" Shouted a random student. I looked over and froze. The door. Someone had opened the door. For the first time, we all got a good look at the infected. They had skin so pale I thought it was white and they all had half their bodies missing and organs hanging out.

Some limped because they were missing a foot, and some crawled because they were missing the entire lower half of their body. Dozens poured into the gym and began chomping their way through students. The teachers, who had been the closest to the door, were the first to fall. I scanned the entirety of the gym as quickly as possible trying to calculate my chances of survival. When I spotted Mike, I grabbed Grace's hand and bolted toward him.

Most of the students were dead now so, of course, the infected decided to point their attention at Grace and me. Oh, what amazing luck I have. The infected were closing in but I ran as fast as possible, practically dragging a terrified Grace behind me.

Twenty feet. Mike is twenty feet ahead of me. He is standing in the storage closet, staring at me, waiting as long as possible before he has to close the door so Grace and I have a chance to make it. Fifteen feet. Ten feet. Five feet. Zero feet. Grace collapses on the floor, out of breath while I help Mike close the doors. With the infected banging and pushing against the doors, were having trouble.

"Grace!" I shout. She stands. "Grab the metal pole in the right corner." Grace reaches in and grabs the pole and brings it me me. "Good, now, Mike and I will move slightly and when we do, you need to shove the pole between the handles." I say as calmly as possible as I begin to feel the adrenaline fade and my body weaken.

Mike and I move slightly, just enough for Grace to force the pole through. When she does, Mike and I back away from the door slowly but stay close enough just in case we have to hold it again. After a minute, Mike sighs in relief and looks at me. "Good idea. Should I use some rope to tie the door handles together just in case?" He asked.

I think about it for a moment and nod my head. Silently, he grabs the rope from the corner and ties the handles together. After that, we collapse on the floor next to Grace who is snoring. "What should we do? Were trapped." He asked after a few minutes of silence. I had been thinking about that myself. The only plan I had was a last ditch effort that had a 84% chance of killing us all.

"I don't know. I need to think." I said. He understood and kept quiet. After an hour of thinking of how to escape and coming up empty handed, my mind wondered to a more depressing place. Even if they make a cure, all those infected will die the moment they become human again because their all half eaten.

Then again, that's assuming someone even makes a cure. And that's also assuming the whole world is peaceful as ever while we are living in a land of nightmares. I sigh and stare at the ceiling. As I study the ceiling, I notice something strange. I stand up and grab the latter that's leaning against the wall and position right where I had been laying down.

When Mike sees me doing something he jumps up while Grace is still peacefully snoring. I climb the latter and rub my thumb over a section of slightly discolored white paint. I smile. This is our escape.

"Mike, wake up Grace and hand me something sharp and flat." Mike smiles we he realizes whats underneath the paint. He shakes Grace awake. He starts looking around and Grace asks, "What did ya find?" I smile down at her. "If I'm right, it should be a ventilation shaft. A big one." I say.

Grace's eyes widen and her smile grows huge. "Here!" Mike says, handing me a flat head screwdriver. "Good find." I say, smiling at him as I use the screwdriver to peel the paint. When the paint is peeled away, I smile, I was right. Its a big ventilation shaft. Big enough for humans to crawl through.

I use the screw driver to unscrew the rusty screws and the cage swings open. I look up the ventilation shaft and frown. It was a little small and Mike would have trouble fitting but we should be good otherwise. "We have the best luck in the entire fucking world!" Mike shouted, throwing his fist up in victory with a huge smile on his face.

Grace and I laughed at his excitement. "Now, lets get going before any more problems arise." I say. Grace looks at me and points at Mike and says, "I vote Mike goes first! He can use his body as a shield and protect us from any insects, bugs, and rodents." I laugh and Mike huffs, puffing out his chest. "Don't fear my lady's, I'll be your shield!" He says, making his voice deep.

We all laugh at our antics and I climb down the latter. Mike climbs up and jumps up into the vent. I look at Grace. "You go next." I say. She pouts but doesn't object. Once she comes in, I look down at the screwdriver in my hand. After a few moments of thinking, I internally came to a decision. I stuff the screwdriver into my back pocket and climb up into the vent.

Its dark, but I can make out the forms of Grace and Mike ahead of me. "I see an opening ahead. I think it leads to the health classroom." Mike said. "Poke your head down and see if there are any infected in there. If not, drop down." I replied. I hear Mike give a grunt in reply as he poked his head down.

"No infected. I'm dropping." He said. He carefully dropped down with Grace following behind him. As I approached the hole, I took a deep breath and plunged to the floor. When I stood, I immediately scanned the room for any imminent threats. "Mike, lock the door so no infected get in. Grace, search the teachers desk for anything useful. Mike, when the doors locked, help the Grace." They nodded their heads and went to work.

I walked over to the line of windows and looked outside. I sighed as my heart sunk. Outside, as far as the eye could see, were infected. Not in a big horde or anything, but spread out. Some in groups, some trios, some duos, and some just wandering. What made my heart sink was the solid fact that even if we did somehow manage to escape the school, there wouldn't be much of anything left for us out there.

That, of course, is if we manage to escape. If we do manage to escape, everything is going to be difficult until either a cure is made or we arm ourselves and start killing the infected. If we choose the weapon route, we can set up a base of sorts, create a means to get food and water without risking our safety and have enough weapons to defend ourselves and then, we have the next big problem.

I'm a reader. I have always liked reading and am obsessed with books. In any apocalypse, once you are armed, can defend yourself, and have food and water, the next big threat you have to face isn't the infected, its other humans. History has shown us that, out of all the creatures that walk the earth, human kinds greatest enemy… is ourselves.

If we do manage to get set up without getting ourselves killed, some people who survived will come around and beg for safety and shelter and leech off of our progress. Other humans will begin gathering in groups and form clans. We'll be back in the fucking middle ages. I groan. I'm over thinking this. Who knows, maybe humanity can unite to defeat the threat that's now making us face extinction.

"You look constipated." Mike says, walking up next to me and looking out the window with his hands in his pockets. Grace laughs and comes up on the other side of me and says, "He's right. You should probably take some medicine for that. In fact…" She reaches a hand into her pocket and brings out a pill bottle and we all laugh. On the label is our health class teachers name and it says the pills are for constipation.

"What do we do now?" Grace asks quietly. "I don't know." I reply. "Then lets find out together." Mike says. We all nod and its then I realize that a bond has formed between the three of us and I smile. I won't have to go through this alone. I have them.