The Cafeteria

'and in the depth of his eyes he saw a terrifying abyss, a pool of terrifying madness, blazing so hot it burned...'

Day One

When they entered the hallway, they were greeted by a long stretch of silence, by now the screams resounding from the distance had died out so an eerie quietness settled on the school.

The hall was entirely empty, as it seemed the zombies had gone elsewhere to graze.

They eyed both ends of the hallway warily before moving, they were all wearing canvas' so their steps were slick and silent, easily conquering the deadly echoes the quiet hall could create.

No sooner had they began moving was Dion shoved forward roughly.

"Go ahead, take the lead," Osaremeh said nervously, his grip on his sharpened pipe tightening.

In this unsettling atmosphere, even his tyranny seemed to have been nothing more than a facade.

The frown on James' face grew deeper, but he still didn't make a move, but the shadows encroaching his face suddenly seemed a few shades darker.

Dion addressed the group with a frown, then he began moving. He took the left, they were returning from where they had come, which was the opposite of where they should be going, as that was the direction of cafeteria.

'Damn it!' Dion cursed silently.

All these just for one person's stomach.

He paused and glanced at the other two who were nervously following Osaremeh.

'Maybe three people...'

Although it was obvious he was being used to test the waters, he somehow preferred it, because with the threat of the zombies involved, he would have a lot of freedom and should be able to control his own life to some extent.

But that didn't mean he was calm, not by a fat chance. Even as he moved, his heart was already seeking out through his chest.

In a few seconds he took his right to the previous hall and the moment he stepped in, his heart stopped for a second.

He came almost face to face with a zombie, although it was a few steps away it was facing their direction, and when the others arrived they froze too.

The zombie snarled a few times at the air, then it suddenly paused and sniffed the air with a new found interest.

There was a long pause among their group, they hadn't expected to run into one this soon, sure they had preparations for if they did, but right now a certain feeling of dread enveloped them and prevented Osaremeh from moving.

'But it's strange...' Dion thought.

The zombie was right in front of them, and should have been looking right at them, yet Dion felt like it wasn't the case.

Instead, it was as it sniffed hazardly about that he was getting a feeling of being discovered by a predator.

'This... this is...'

His mind suddenly drifted back to the beginning of the apocalypse, and everything that had happened in between, and then suddenly his eyes widened.

Realization had dawned upon him.

'So that's why'

He acted fast, with swift movements he ripped the iron pipe from Osaremeh's nervous grip and hurled it across the hallway with all the force he could muster.

The zombie had stopped sniffing about, and snapped it's head in their direction, it's dead body suddenly gaining vitality as it excitedly sprang towards them.

Then...

CLANG

The metallic pipe collided with the floor and bounced up, it produced a metallic melody that echoed across the enclosed hallway.

There was a brief moment where Osaremeh was looking at Dion in disbelief, and where the zombie had frozen in place.

But was suddenly lost as the zombie hissed and took off after the bat, halfway there it was joined by three other zombies that rushed out from an open classroom somewhere by the right, they tumbled over themselves to get to the bat fist.

They watched quietly for a while before Dion quietly led them to another intersection.

Osaremeh frowned, they might have lost the zombies, but he had also lost his weapon, in the process, he couldn't complain now as even Brian and Abdul who were on his side would look down on him, afterall they were all frozen but only Dion hadd moved.

He looked at Dion and frowned, he wondered if it was done on purpose, had he done it purely instinctively or was there a plot there somewhere.

'Damn it!'

He felt so naked.

The cafeteria was not that far away, after they rounded the hallway it was already up ahead and there was no zombie loitering about, it seemed that this area was relatively less crowded.

Dion frowned.

This was the cafeteria, and the bell for break had just been rung, possibly half the school should have come here to eat, so the quietness was suddenly so unnerving, something was wrong here.

If the zombies weren't outside here, then...

He looked at the tightly shut double doors with a frown, paused, then shook his head.

"We need to leave now".

There was a pause, James was inclined to believe Dion and after that save Abdul and Brian we're slowly inclining too.

Watching his control slipping Osaremeh got mad.

"You must be scared SP," his face revealed a sneer. "But we - "

Suddenly Dion grabbed him roughly by the scruff of his shirt.

" Think, use your brain you idiot," he was angry, but he still made sure to lower his tone. " It's break time, moron. Where do you think most of the students went to? If you are stupid enough to open that door, you would be killing us all".

Seeing the looks on everyone's faces Osaremeh got embarrassed, then roughly drew himself away from Dion's hands.

"We will open it," he said imposingly. " I am still hungry".

Dion looked at him in shock, this idiot was crazy, officially, 'cause only an idiot would put his pride ahead of his life.

"Do whatever you want," Dion sneered, he didn't have a weapon any longer, if he thought he could threaten him without one then he was sorely mistaken. "I'm leaving. I value my life too much".

He backed up and began walking towards the previous hall, after pausing for a moment, James also joined him.

"Osa..." Brian stuttered.

"What, you want to follow them too?" Osaremeh was furious.

"Of course not," Abdul interjected. "But... We... Maybe..."

Watching this Osaremeh was incensed, he fished something out from his back belt and pointed it at Dion.

"Stop!"

Dion turned around with a mocking expression, his mouth opened about to drop a sarcastic statement but he froze the moment he had turned.

"Jesus, Osaremeh put that gun away right this instant," James warned.

Besides him, even Brian and Abdul shifted away while eyeing him warily.

"Osa you should - "

"Shut it!"

He glared furiously at all of them, his hands were shaking but he still pointed his nervous grip at Dion.

"Open it," he used his chin to point at the door behind him. "Open it... now!"

It was at that moment Dion saw it, it sparkled in his eyeballs, perhaps it was within him all along and was just forced out after Osaremeh was forced to witness the cruelties brought by the apocalypse.

Osaremeh was a mad man.

"You can't shoot me," Dion was very afraid, but he decided to try and talk his was out. "The sound would attract tons of zombies here. So, you can't shoot me".

Osaremeh grinned widely, "Wanna bet?"

No ,he didn't.

Since Dion didn't have a gun, he couldn't refuse so moments later he was standing in front of the doors about to pull it open.

"Hey Osaremeh, maybe we should just - "

He turned around but was shut up decisively by the gun point.

With a shaky breath he pulled.

There was a pause as everyone cranked their necks to see clearer.

Dion felt his heart stop beating, right in front of him was a feast, students eating other students, blood was everywhere and there was no table standing, but by now the chaos had ended an the zombies lazily feasted on the corpses.

There was no single person left alive.

He was right, but it was in moments like this that Dion hated being right.

Dion did a mental calculation, they numbered above fifty. He was so afraid he forgot how to breathe.

He turned slowly towards Osaremeh, surely he wouldn't be unreasonable after seeing this, right?.

But when he turned he was met with an even more chilling sight, the gun Osaremeh had on him had been lowered significantly, but it was still pointed at him.

'He... he... he wants to shoot me in the leg!'

Considering what was behind him, a leg shot was a death sentence, as the noise would attract the zombies and he would be left bleeding and defenceless.

Time seemed to slow down as Dion anticipated the eventual pull of the trigger.

Slowly, slowly and then...

BAM!

The moment he was about to squeeze the trigger, James slammed his body into him and sent the bullet off course.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Abdul yelled in pain.

He had a bullet wound in his kneecap.

Dion was stunned for a bit, but between the gun shot and loud screams, the zombies were already half way to him, he took off in the opposite direction immediately.

"You bastard!" Osaremeh screamed angrily at James.

He took a wide swing at him, but James easily dodged it, then James retaliated with an elbow to his neck.

The gun fell from his hands as he dropped to a knee and held his neck painfully.

WHABAM!

James met his exposed head with a neat roundhouse.

Osaremeh crumpled.

By now Abdul had closed in, he took a swing at the unsteady James, but James blocked it with his arm and responded with his fist.

Abdul received a fist to his stomach and crouched in pain, James snatched the gun from the floor and followed after Dion.

They had just rounded the corridor when loud and terrifying screams filled the hallway.