Chapter 4

Elise didn't stop running, she couldn't stop running. She didn't care about the burn in her legs, the sweat trickling down her spine, the way her chest was pounding against her chest or the way her breath came out in frantic, ragged gasps. She just needed to get away. She didn't look back to see if the man had followed her, didn't care to know, she ran towards safety.

She barely registered the shapes of other students bolting down the hallway alongside her, their united screams a cacophony of pure unfiltered terror.

The cafeteria doors loomed ahead, glass-paneled, wide, slightly ajar. A small cluster of students had already made it inside. Some of them were slamming their backs against the doors, trying to push them shut. Others were still running, just like her, desperate for any form of safety.

She didn't hesitate when she got to the door. She threw herself as violently as she could inside, nearly crashing into another student who had the same thought as hers.

The moment she crossed the door, she felt a brief, fleeting sense of relief that she was safe even if for the moment. This brief relief was immediately swallowed by the oppressive air of panic inside the cafeteria.

People were gasping for breath, some crouched over with their hands on their knees, others leaning against tables, chests heaving. The cafeteria, which had always been a space of noisy conversations and routine, now felt like a pressure cooker ready to explode at the light of a match.

Elise scanned the room. She could count at least thirty- no, nearly forty- people that had made it inside the hall safely.

Her gaze landed on a few familiar faces, Amari among them, her usual polished, untouchable persona completely gone, she was now a shaky sweaty mess just like the other students inside the room. Her hair was a mess, her eyes darting wildly, her hands trembling as she clutched the strap of her bag. 

Elise barely had time to register her shock before a new wave of students shoved their way inside.

Among them was that familiar blonde hair with red streaks, Marlowe had made it in safely too.

Marlowe however didn't look at Elise, didn't see her. She moved silently, slipping toward the farthest, most isolated corner of the cafeteria, sinking to the floor with her knees pulled to her chest.

Elise hesitated, her gut twisting. She wanted to go to her. She wanted to apologize, didn't know what for but she knew she needed to.

But before she could take a step forward—

"Shut the damn doors!"

The sharp, commanding voice cut through the chaos.

Heads whipped toward the entrance, where a tall figure stood—Damian, a senior. He wasn't the kind of person Elise had ever interacted with much, but she knew him. Everyone did. He was the type of guy who somehow always ended up taking charge when things went south. Just like he was in this dreadful moment.

"Why?" A voice challenged. "There could be more people coming in." It was another senior, Callum.

Damian and Callum were always in some kind of weird competition with each other, one always trying to outdo the other. 

"They're changing!" Damian insisted, his voice tight with urgency. "I saw it happen, some kid got bitten, and thirty seconds later, he was tearing into his own friend. If we leave these doors open, we're all going to turn into those dreadful things one by one."

A murmur of voices broke out.

"You can't just lock people out!" Callum shot back, he walked towards the door as if to stop Damian from making any other move. "You know how many people are going to need the safety this place offers, and you want to keep them out of it?"

"And what happens when one of them comes running in?" Damian snapped. "You wanna take that risk?"

A girl suddenly let out a choked sob. Elise turned to see a younger student, freshman, small, barely holding herself together.

"M-My sister is still out there," She whimpered, her voice barely above a whisper. "She was right behind me, and I—I don't know if she—if she made it."

The cafeteria fell into an uneasy silence.

Elise could feel it. The relief.

No one wanted to be the one to make the choice. No one wanted to be the person who said, Yes, let's shut the doors. Let's leave people out there to die.

Damian's jaw was clenched so tight it looked like it might crack. "I'm locking that door, sorry about your sister, but you have to believe that she has hidden herself somewhere safe."

Callum let out an audible scoff. "What, you think you're in charge now?"

"If no one else wants to make the call," Callum said, tone cold, "then yeah. I am."

More voices rose in protest.

"You're a goddamn asshole."

"We can't just let people die!"

"Fine," Damian said suddenly, his voice challenging the whole room."Then you stand by the door and take the first hit when one of those things busts in." He pointed at no one in particular.

Callum didn't even blink. "Gladly."

Elise barely heard the rest.

Her attention kept flicking back to Marlowe, curled up in that corner, head resting against the wall, her face hidden behind their knees.

She exhaled, forcing herself to take a step toward her.

"Marlowe."

She didn't react.

Elise hesitated. "I—"

But before she could finish, another conversation caught her ear.

"You saw the way they moved, right?" A girl was whispering, her hands gripping the edge of the cafeteria table. "Like they were being controlled by something. Is this some sort of invasion?"

"Yeah." Another student agreed, voice hushed. "Like… like they weren't even human anymore, they were definitely being controlled by something."

"Maybe it's, like, some kind of rabies?" Someone else offered weakly, it was a girl Elise knew as Anna.

"Rabies doesn't make you eat people." A guy snapped.

"Then what the hell do we call them?"

There was a pause.

"Vampires?" Derek, a guy from chemistry, muttered.

"Oh my God," Freya, a girl from chemistry, groaned. "Shut up, Derek."

"They looked dead," Anna offered weakly, quieter this time. "Their eyes were all fogged over, just… standing there. Before they went crazy."

A third voice broke in, sounding disgusted. "And that smell—Jesus, did anyone else smell that? Like something rotting?" Elise didn't recognize the voice, she didn't know who but they were saying the truth.

She had smelt something rotting when that man had barged into the class.

Something clicked in Elise's brain.

The stench.

The way they just stood there, completely still—until something triggered them.

"Wait," another student said slowly. "What if—"

But they never got to finish.

Because suddenly, a girl was screaming outside the cafeteria, she looked bloodied but seemed to be unchanged. She was running from something, and all too soon it was clear what she was running from. An army of these unsightly beings were running after her. It suddenly struck Elise. 

She looked like the girl that was just crying about her sister. Upon closer look at the girl with tear streaked face who was watching her sister run for her life with horror, she knew they were twins. The room went deathly quiet, everyone with a silent prayer that the girl would make it before the hoard of the dead came upon her. 

Elise turned her head just in time to see the shambling hordes of hungry horrors descend upon the girl like locusts. Only her screams could be heard, her twin suddenly screamed in pure pain, someone tried to hold her down, but it was too late, the zombies had heard her, and they collectively stood up, marching towards the cafeteria door. They were undead eating machines that were willing to leave nothing in their path.

And they were coming straight for the cafeteria.

"Oh my God—"

"They are trying to get in!"

"Get the doors—barricade the fucking doors!"

Damian was already moving, grabbing a table, shoving it toward the doors.

"HELP ME!" He barked.

Elise felt herself move on instinct, grabbing the other end of the table and pushing. Other students scrambled to do the same, stacking chairs, trays, anything to reinforce the entrance.

The army outside let out a wretched, guttural sound, like an animal trying to escape a cage as they piled on the thin glass of the cafeteria.

The doors rattled with their weight.

Everyone pulled back, hoping and praying that the temporary border they set was going to protect them from the angry hoard.

Another slam.

Elise's heart was hammering against her ribs.

This wasn't a prank.

This wasn't hysteria.

This was real.

And it was only getting started.

"Fuck me!" She mouthed silently.