Blood Moon by Gwendolyn Harper (books for students to read .TXT) 📕

watching Booker fix the sink.”

“Huh?”

“First man they’ve seen in a while that wasn’t in grade school or old enough to be their grandpa,” Nicole said, chuckling. “Plus, he’s hot. So, can you blame them?”

Caitlin’s laugh took her by surprise.

“Oh, now I gotta see this,” she said, turning.

The slam of the front barricade made everyone jump.

“Biters,” Jorge called, rushing towards them. “A whole herd.”

Leaving Kyle on his mat, Debbie stood and started giving the younger children orders.

Huddle up, don’t leave the room, no one by the doors or windows, no one in the back.

“We have to get Booker,” Caitlin said, already running for the corridor.

With Nicole close behind, they bolted for him, pushing against a wave of scared sixth graders.

“Booker,” Caitlin called.

Emerging from the bathroom he’d been working in, he slung his bag over his shoulder.

“I heard,” he told her, following the last of the young girls. “Y’see how many are out there?”

She shook her head. “Jorge just said it was a herd.”

“C’mon,” he said, jerking his chin towards the front. “Nicole, you grab something to swing just in case. Cae, you got the revolver?”

“Yeah,” she told him, already reaching back to pull it free from her waistband.

In the center of the room, Debbie was shushing the children, telling them all to be as quiet as possible. Jenny and Travis were helping a few of the more unsteady elderly into the room while the others found safe places to sit and wait.

“How many?” Booker asked Jorge, keeping his voice low.

“Too many for us to take on,” Jorge admitted. “I saw at least fifty, but there were still more coming across the field.”

“From the north?” Caitlin asked. When Jorge nodded, she looked to Booker. “I told you that herd would double back.”

“That dust up earlier must’ve brought ‘em,” he said, striding towards the door.

“Wait, you can’t go that way,” Jorge said. “They’ll see you.”

“Y’got another way to get eyes on ‘em?”

Jorge frowned and finally shook his head.

“I’ll be quiet as a…” Booker looked over at the cross hanging on the wall. “Church mouse.”

With Jorge’s help, they lifted the barricade slowly, keeping the noise to a minimum. Silently, Booker counted to three before cracking the door and leaning back to scan the surrounding fields and the drive.

It felt like a lifetime as he assessed just how badly they were fucked.

Exhaling sharply, he stepped back and shut the door.

“Definitely not fifty,” he said, keeping his palm flat against the heavy wood. “At least a hundred.”

The muscles in Caitlin’s legs began to twitch, begging to run far and fast.

Trapped. Surrounded.

She’d done this too many times already.

“How many entry points are there?” Booker asked, helping lower the barricade back into position.

“Four. Front, side door over there,” Jorge explained as he pointed. “Back door through the fellowship hall, and one in the utility room downstairs.”

From the corner of her eye, Caitlin saw Debbie leap up, hand covering her mouth.

“I’m missing one,” she said, glancing from them to the cluster of children and back. “I’m missing Sarah.”

“Who?” Booker asked, already starting for her.

“Sarah,” Debbie repeated. “She’s twelve. Short blonde hair, she was wearing a pair of blue overalls and a pink shirt.”

“I saw her with the other girls while I was fixin’ the sink,” he said, turning to scan the room once more. “Y’didn’t see her come back with ‘em?”

“No, no I haven’t seen her for over an hour.”

Jorge gestured to Travis and Jenny. “Check the fellowship hall, the kitchen—maybe she hunkered down in there.”

“You said there’s a utility room?” Caitlin asked.

He nodded. “Downstairs. Only way to get down there is through the second door past the kitchen. But we’ve forbidden all the children from going down there—”

Boredom and outlawed territory were a perfect combination to a curious twelve-year-old.

Grabbing Nicole by the elbow, Caitlin started off.

Booker reached for her. “Cae—”

“Stay up here,” she said. “Help them keep the doors secure. We’ll be right back.”

Jogging down the hall, she looked back at Nicole.

“Got something to swing?”

“Does part of a pew count?” Nicole said.

“I guess it’s better than nothing.”

As quietly as they could, they took the stairs, blindly dragging their hands along the walls to guide themselves.

She heard it from somewhere in the room.

Wet growling, like a beast with a throat full of blood.

Caitlin froze, left foot on the last step.

Was it inside? Was it close?

Reaching back, she grabbed Nicole’s forearm.

“Don’t move,” she whispered, barely audible.

Over the snarling, the clang of chains hitting over and over.

Caitlin tried to quiet the roar in her ears enough to listen.

She didn’t hear footsteps, shuffling or otherwise.

As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see the vague shapes of plastic containers, old filing cabinets, gardening tools… All sorts of junk that under normal circumstances wouldn’t feel like a possible death trap. If a Geek was inside with them, and they tripped, it would be over in a millisecond.

Clang… clang… clang…

Hungry, mangled groans and grunts filled the mildewed air.

“Over there,” Nicole whispered, gesturing towards the far side of the room.

A sliver of light appeared and disappeared in time with the clatter of metal.

The door was being pushed open, but not very far.

Nicole tapped her arm twice.

They’d move together, silent and fast.

With her revolver gripped tight in her right hand, Caitlin took the lead, weaving around Christmas nativity figurines and a broken desk chair towards the door.

There by the doorframe, not three feet from the Geek trying its hardest to push in, was Sarah curled into a ball in the corner.

Every time the door opened, a rotting hand would slip in, swiping at the air. It could smell her but couldn’t get to