The UNDEAD: by Nick Venom (reading strategies book .TXT) 📕

The school day was coming to a close. The bell was about to ring. The students waited in anticipation. The clock read two fifty-nine. One minute remains. “I want to go home already.” thought Scar. Scar is known as an outcast that sits in the corner of the class not paying attention to what’s going around him. His grades started off strong, but slowly they fell. He didn’t care about school anymore. What about his parents, you may say? Scar doesn’t have parents or siblings to correct him. They were killed in a car accident with a drunk driver last year. That leaves Scar by himself. Well, nearly by himself. The only person that he cares about or listens to is Myra. His childhood friend who he has been with since the age of five. Eleven years later and the two remain best friends. Myra is a popular cheerleader that is kind-hearted and nice. A little too nice anyway. She has been criticized for being friends with an outcast, but she has always shrugged off their opinions continuing to be friends with Scar.

The bell rang alerting the class to their dismissal. Their screams were of joy, at first anyway. The screams of delight towards their summer break was cut short. The delight quickly turned into fear and terror. “Somebody was bitten by a homeless guy! The guy fell to the floor and looks dead."  Somebody screamed. “There are more homeless guys roaming the courtyard!” A girl shouted. “The guy who got bitten is now biting other people!” A guy reported. Scar saw what was going on outside. People biting and eating others for no clear reason. The thought of “Where is Myra” echoed throughout his mind. He had nobody aside from her that he cared about. He proceeded to run out of the classroom in search of her. Luckily, he found her with ease. She saw what was going on and stayed on the third floor with her stuff waiting for help. She realized quickly that something was really off. She saw the homeless guys as acting more like the undead than actual human beings. “The process of biting a human then that human going off to bite another resembles the actions of the undead.” thought Myra. The two reunited hiding in an empty classroom. They heard the voices of the lost that tried fleeing the undead but didn’t get far. Resembling a virus, the undead swept through the school killing all that face in their way. Now Scar and Myra are contained in this classroom as many undead moved through the many halls and floors of the school.

The undead still roaming inside the school were lured towards Scar through his shouting and the banging sounds. They left their hiding spots, rampaging towards Scar at a slow shuffle. This allowed Myra to sneak out of the closet and down the stairway carefully. She tiptoed down the stairs, reaching the ground floor without being noticed.

I hope he’s safe up there. She thought as she neared the exits. She pressed her hand on the door, but someone grabbed her and pulled her away. She swung wildly, but the person held her limbs. 

“I’m not here to harm you. Don’t go outside, it’s a massacre out there. The undead are outside waiting for people to try and escape.” The person said before releasing Myra. She turned around to face the person behind her, revealing it to be a dark-skinned kid, around her age. He had dark brown hair that went to his shoulders with large eyes, a small nose, and thin lips. He was a male with some feminine features. 

“How do you know?” Myra asked him. 

The kid pointed at the door. Myra didn’t notice it before, but there was blood on the door, sprinkled in small but noticeable amounts. “Some kids went out and were ambushed. They were killed outside or as they were trying to get back inside.” He explained.

“Oh,” Myra stared at the door. 

“What’s your name?” The kid asked. “I’m Alvin, a sophomore.”

“I’m your senior here. Myra, a junior. I’m with my friend Scar, a junior as well. He’s on the third floor attracting the attention of the undead.”

“He’s the idiot shouting and hollering?” Alvin asked.

Myra nodded. He is an idiot. She thought before turning away, her attention now on the stairway. “He’s supposed to be here.” 

“You expect for him to-” Alvin was cut off by the sounds of sneakers bouncing on the tile. Scar appeared into view, surprised to see Myra and a stranger standing in the middle of the hallway. 

“Let’s leave!” Scar whisper-shouted. He pointed at the door, but Myra and Alvin both shook their head.

“It’s dangerous outside,” Myra said.

“Then where should we go?” Scar asked, annoyed.

“Here!” Alvin led them to a nearby classroom. He closed the door behind them, barricading it with a few desks. On the window of the door was a taped piece of cloth that covered it in its entirety. Alvin had used normal white tape to glue the cloth---seemingly from someone’s shirt---to the window.

The grunts and growls of the undead passed by the door, continuing down the hall. They seemed to be looking for Scar, not realizing that he wasn’t going around in circles anymore. 

For the time being, they were safe.

“Thanks,” Scar said. He stole a few glances at Alvin, almost sizing him up like a love rival.

“Oh, you’re Scar from Division A230 right?” Alvin asked, his eyes glowing. 

Scar titled his head. “You know me?”

“Yeah, I sat behind you in trig, but you were always sleeping during class,” Alvin answered. 

“Oh,” Scar muttered. “Well, how did you survive? Was it locking yourself in a classroom like us?”

Alvin nodded his head. “I decided to lock myself in this room. I stole a broom from the janitor’s closet to use as a weapon.” Alvin told the two, pointing at his side where a broom laid in wait. 

“Do you know how to get out?” Myra asked. 

“No, there’s too many dead surrounding us that we can’t get out. We’ll have to wait it out until it thins.”

Myra shook her head. “We waited two hours on the third floor. We’re going to need food and water soon.”

Scar nodded. “We need food, water, and weapons. We can get most of that in the cafeteria.” 

Alvin agreed but had another idea festering in his mind. “What about the confiscated items in the principal’s office? We had that gun scare earlier in the year with that suicidal kid.”

Myra cringed. “Yeah… wonder what happened to him?”

“Rotting in prison or at another school. Who knows and who cares?” Scar remarked. “I’ll go to the principal’s office. You two go and get what supplies you can from the cafeteria.” 

Alvin and Myra nodded. 

“Be careful.” She told him as he approached the doorknob. Scar turned around, facing her, and nodded.

“I won’t die… I’ll make sure of it.” He brought the scissors into the air. “I’m armed anyway.”

***

Scar opened the door and peeked outside, seeing a couple of the undead roaming the halls in search of prey. He left the room with Myra and Alvin coming out after him. They ventured into the hallway, careful to avoid being seen. Myra and Alvin headed to the cafeteria while Scar went in the opposite direction to the principal’s office. 

Scar carefully traversed the blood-stained ground of the hallways, reaching a small office with a large sign over the door that read “Principal Flower’s Office”. He glanced around, noticing a few undead roaming an adjacent hallway, before going through the unlocked door.

Inside the small office were sporadic blood splatters and a body on the ground. Scar approached the body, scissors in hand, and stabbed at the head. The scissors penetrated the fleshy head as if it went through snow. The soul had long abandoned the body.

Scar looked around and noticed that the chairs, which were always on the right of the entrance for students to sit on, had been thrown around in disarray - they were sideways, flipped, rotated, and stained with blood. 

Aside from the chairs, papers also littered the room, Scar guessing that the principal had fallen into her desk and knocked off the papers. 

With the room clear, Scar dug through the office, quickly finding a large container with a large title, “Confiscated Contraband”, on the top of the brown box. Using the scissors, he cut the tape and sifted through the items inside. He found useless items such as giant pencils, dead phones, and large scissors. However, there were also useful items hidden between the useless. A knife, fireworks, matches, and even an unloaded M1911 with two magazines of ammunition.

He grabbed the useful items before stuffing them into his school bag. He dropped the scissors into the bag and equipped the knife and the M1911. He carefully counted the bullets, getting a total of sixteen bullets.

I… I have no idea how to use this. Scar thought as he looked for the safety. He found that it was already on safety, carefully placing it in his bag. He didn’t want to put it in his pocket and risk it going off and didn’t want to hold it due to his lack of experience.

Now armed and ready, he left the office, darting away from the undead and reaching the classroom earlier than expected. There he found Myra and Alvin dejected about their failure. “What happened?” He asked while locking the door behind him.

“Food’s spoiled or tainted,” Alvin said. “None of it can be used. We got nothing but a few milk cartons and a cold slice of a pineapple pizza.”

“Well, first of all, who eats pineapple on pizza? That’s disgusting.” Myra chimed in.

“Woah! Woah!” Alvin said, tilting his head. “It isn’t disgusting.”

“It kind of is.” Scar said. Alvin stared at him, hurt. “Anyway, I found some stuff in the principal’s office. I found fireworks, a knife, and a gun.”

Myra cringed at the word “gun”. 

“How many bullets?” Alvin asked.

“16.” Scar responded.

“Well, let’s hope that 16 is enough for the undead outside, or else… we’re stuck here. We’ll be dead.” Alvin remarked. 

Scar nodded. “I’ll make it enough.”

TBC…

“Is my house the closest of everyone?” Alvin asked.

“Yeah,” Scar said. 

“Mine’s a couple of blocks farther down, but there’s nothing but a few half-drunk bottles there,” Myra said. “Now, the plan is to use fireworks to distract