His duties

'a duty sworn, a post to uphold... for what is a man without his honour...'

Day One

After a few more moments of this unbearable silence, the older woman revealed a weak smile.

"Jerry, my boy," she whispered. "How is it?"

Jerry paused, then frowned, obviously dissatisfied with the level of noise he presumed she was making.

"No chance ma," he shook his head. "The compound is still crawling with... with... with them, there is no way we can make it".

" I thought so," she sighed.

A few moments passed in silence before a trembling but still grumpy voice was heard.

"If... if you know there is no point then why do you keep sticking your head out there, what if one of those things spots you?"

Jerry turned to face her with an irritated expression on his face, " At least I'm being helpful, Chinyere. While you are busy balancing yourself here like queen Elizabeth ".

" You - " she flared.

" Shhhh!," the older woman placed a finger on her lips, her eyes widening with hints of desperation. " DSP, do the two of you want to kill all of us here? Why can't you use your heads and be quiet for once, eh?"

Her reproach was harsh, but looking at how the junior students were gazing about in fear, Jerry felt ashamed of himself.

Their little space might have seemed secure but the truth was that it wasn't, it was far from that. They were in an isolated spot that was created between the block fence and the gym wall, the fence began from the wall of the gym and ran a long distance across till a place unseen.

This put them in a safe but hot spot, the fence made sure that the only way to access them would be the space between the edge of the opposite wall and the fence, that was where Jerry had been peeking out from. But that was also a very big risk, as if the zombies were to rush in through that end they would be boxed in, with the fence to their backs and the zombies to their fronts, they would only wait for slaughter, unless one could scale the fence.

"I'm hungry," one of the junior girls commented, she was even smaller than the others, most llikely a JSS1 pupil, her child-like eyes already red-rimmed and her terror filled body quaking at intervals.

Immediately, a junior student beside her began reprimanding her, as she quickly muffled her choked sobs and began muttering apologies quickly.

Hearing her, Jerry suddenly felt very weak, life felt bleak and hopeless.

They shouldn't be here as it wasn't safe, he knew. But there was nothing he knew he could do, the school compound was still crawling with zombies, so leaving was also a no go.

He leaned against the wall tiredly, then sighed.

'I wish there was someone... anyone... anyone at all who could help us'.

The fatigue was really getting to him, and now even his thoughts felt hazy.

But then, it was at that moment that a static and noisy electrical sound resounded across the school.

There was a prolonged moment of silence where everyone froze, confusion settled in. Jerry peaked outward again and noticed all the zombies already treading slowly towards the school, and even from this distance he could visibly notice some of the zombies gnawing excitedly on the huge speaker set up in front of the school entrance.

'What the hell was that?'

It was at that moment that the sound resumed, but this time it was no noise, instead it was a calm and steady voice familiar to everyone who schooled here.

"I don't know where you are right now, or what impossible predicament you might find yourself in, but if you can hear me that means you are still alive, and so far as you are still alive it means there is hope... I have established a safe zone, if you are hearing me right now, from wherever you are in their school, and whoever you maybe, be it a student, a visitor, educated-staffs or non-educated staffs, I want you all to head to the large common room immediately. We have enough supplies here to last us till we are rescued, and we can protect each other here... It may not be much but I promise you, you will be safe. Remember, large common room, second floor, fast!"

Jerry stared ahead blankly, he was sure of it, that voice was Dions'. While he and the others were still trying to survive, he had already created a safe place for all of them, he even had food.

He heard Dion repeat the same message with a few changes to the words about three more times, before he finished, and his voice was replaced by that same static noise. But this time it was constant and nonstop.

He looked back at the others and he saw excitement bursting forth from the depths of their dead eyes, the same look he was sure he had in his eyes now.

This was the Dion effect, a word from the Senior Prefect and respect was given, and now in this apocalyptic environment, he still performed his duties, keeping everyone safe.

He turned back to look out, and he noticed every zombie heading to the huge speaker releasing a huge noise, he was also sure the same scene will be replicated indoors with the megaphones across the hallway.

The perfect distraction.

Jerry turned to the others and nodded, it was now or never.

...

At a different part of school, in a classroom close to the cafeteria, a figure stood pressing a female student against the wall as its head dove into her neck and ripped out mouthfuls of flesh, the body of the dead girl trembling with each bite.

After a while, the figure finally let the corpse go and watched it fall loosely to the floor the with disinterest.

It ripped off a piece of its shirt and used it to thoroughly wiped its mouth, till it was less bloody and the red trail from its jawline till its shirt didn't show its origin.

Then it turned towards the hallway, its gory mouth forming a wicked smirk.

"The common room, huh?" it smiled.

And with that it joined the stream of zombies in the hall, weaving through them and shoving aside those that stood in its way, it calmly advanced through the hallway.

The zombies that it shoved aside just snarled and snapped at the air a few times before hurriedly rushing to the nearest megaphone, joining its kind as they piled on themselves and even caused self harm in their bid to reach the distant object.

As for it...

In the distance a senior male student stuck his arm in his pockets as he scrolled in a carefree manner...

... to the common room.