Confrontation

'and in the days of the apocalypse, we learned to face our fears...'

Day one

It might have sounded grand and imposing naming it the 'bait strategy', but in reality its application was actually very simple.

Once the zombie was close enough that they saw its shadow approaching, James roughly grabbed Dion by the shoulder and shoved him into the hallway.

Dion yelped in surprise and landed in a not so graceful way, he turned around in equal measures of shock and fury but his momentum died the moment he saw the creature a few meters away.

The zombie tilted its head from side to side as if… confused? Dion could see it staring at him, but he somehow felt it wasn't. It was a strange feeling, it was better described as him feeling the absence of a gaze, and it thoroughly confused him.

But he didn't have the luxury of thinking so deeply right now, there was a literal zombie standing before him.

As if receiving the same signal, the zombie suddenly snapped its head in Dion's direction, there was a brief pause, and this time Dion knew he had its attention all to himself. As expected, a moment later it snarled and barreled its way towards him with its jaw open and saliva drooling down.

Dion was disturbed, he watched unblinkingly as the zombie dragged its broken foot behind it, painlessly, rushing, struggling, desperate, it left behind everything that made it human to follow its bestial instincts, which only told it to devour.

As Dion watched it draw closer and closer still, he forgot how to feel afraid, in that moment a certain feeling of clarity dawned upon him and he suddenly felt as if a fog which had been clouding his mind was lifted, thoughts flowed in and out of his mind smoothly and unobstructed, deductions and calculations flashed in the debts of his eyes, and he suddenly began adding new perspectives to his mind, taking in his environment and accessing everything, it was then that he…

… he frowned.

The zombie kept drawing closer, and just when it was upon him, a swift shadow flashed past and a fully recovered James smashed into it, and next Dion saw it was pasted on the science lab door.

CRACK

There had been a loud bone cracking sound, James had caught it with his knee, he delivered a perfect knee strike to its neck, and it seemed to have broken it.

Dion, "…"

Dion watched in surprise, the movie like moves had caught him off guard. The zombie gnawed effortlessly at the plain air, it twisted its head but even that hung at an awkward angle.

 "Muay thai, huh?" Dion said with a strange look. "Anything else I should know, Mr. Perfect?"

James gazed at him unamusingly for a while, then turned away, "Let's get moving before another one catches whiff of us, that one's not dead yet and honestly if that didn't kill it, then I'm not even sure we can kill these bastards".

Dion, "…"

 "Hey, what are you, a robot?" Dion raged. "How can you just say 'kill' like that, these guys are – "

 "No," James reacted violently, suddenly he was standing in Dion's face staring him in the eye. "These things are not human, not even remotely, they are just mindless husks moving about to kill us, it's kill or be – "

 "Shut up!" Dion was suddenly angry. "Don't say sh*t like that.

 "How old do you think you are even," Dion stabbed a finger in his chest. "What did you eat growing up that makes you dismiss human lives so fast… I … I was watching you, you have never even been scared since all this sh*t began. What are you, some… some sort of creep who gets off on… on… on apocalyptic desires, how's that creep, does all these sh*t turn you on, huh? Is that it, Scumbag".

Of course Dion knew what James was talking about, he saw how deranged and mangled these things were, so even if there was some cure to the outbreak, would they even survive it. Forget about their bones which had been broken in a thousand directions, he could still vividly remember the first person who died before him, the bully, that neck injury… could he even survive from something so fatal. So it was possible to just write everyone infected off as dead like James did, but still…

There was a moment of silence, then he heard James laugh dryly, it almost sounded bitter, "This would scare you, huh?"

In that brief moment, Dion saw various emotions flashed past James' eyes, before he suddenly looked away.

 "Let's go," he said.

Dion laid off and nodded, a moment later they were walking down the side of the hall.

 'When did I get so brave,' Dion mused.

He had stood up fearlessly to someone like James, and before that he had faced off against the zombie almost without fear.

He chuckled, '… adrenaline really is something crazy'.

But then his mood took a nose dive, it was now all clear. His mum, Mr. Feranmi, yesterday… it was all so clear now. With his improved mindset, he could make a 95% accurate deduction that his mum was aware of this, maybe it was what she wanted to warn him about before she was stopped by Mr. Feranmi. That left him wondering, what made her stop, what was it that Mr. Feranmi told her that made her change her mind, could it be more important than his life?

He suddenly paused, startled by a sudden possibility.

James looked at him and frowned.

Then Dion laughed, "No, it's not possible… it can't be…"

James' frown grew deeper.

 '… right Dad?'

*****

They walked aimlessly down the quiet hallway, there were echoing noise in the distance, a tell-tale of the dangers around, but in their path everything seemed clear.

They walked past a classroom and were about rounding another corridor when all of a sudden,

BANG

A body crashed into the classroom's transparent window beside them.

Dion and James jumped back in alarm, then hurriedly retreated to a safe distance to observe and the next instant they both felt a chill run up their spine.

It was a zombie.

It had noticed them from inside the class and had flung itself at them only to be obstructed by the glass, perhaps it didn't notice the glass window, perhaps it did, it was that nonchalance to self-harm they displayed that unnerved Dion, it was like they didn't even care so long as they could sink their fangs into human flesh.

 "Jesus!!!"

All of a sudden James exclaimed.

The zombie was pasted on the glass, and with such a close up view they could discern some very disturbing details, like the blood dripping down its mouth, the tiny pieces of flesh in its open mouth, the unnatural lack of clarity in its dead eyes, it was completely horrible.

BANG!

It pushed its head back and then brought its skull down forcefully on the glass, blood flowed, and a net of cracks spread on the window, but with inhumane indifference it ignored its wounds and repeated the action.

But even all these couldn't have made someone as composed as James suddenly loose it, instead it was what was behind the zombie. In the class, and just behind the zombie, there were several other zombies previously feasting on the flesh of some already dead students.

The noise from the window was enough for them to temporarily abandoned their food and raise their heads.

It was at that frightening moment that James discovered the classroom door was open, and as the creatures within snarled and were rushing to their feet, he considered his chances, could he reach the door and close it on time?

He decided against it instantly, even if he did reach the door first, the time he took to shut it would have already given these bastards enough time to take a few mouthfuls of his flesh, so he turned to Dion and shouted,

 "Run!"

In the next moment, James, "..."

Dion was already a dozen steps away, sprinting like his ancestors were surnamed Allen.

 "Fucker"

James quickly took off after him.