Zombie High: First In Class Read online

  “There’s nothing funny about this,” John said.

  She raised her head and scowled at John. “If it wasn’t for me you both would be dead. I can’t believe you’re both standing here whining about your location when others are out their dying or possibly trapped in worse places than this room. Man up and stop acting like two big babies. We need a plan, not to sit here doing nothing.”

  “I’m sorry,” Brand said. “And thank you.”

  John nodded. “The same but I’m just frustrated.”

  “I am too. Trust me; I don’t want to be here. I just want to be home with my daughter,” Carey said.

  “You have a kid,” Brand asked. “Are you a teacher?”

  “Nope, senior. I’m what you would call a teen mom. I want to graduate, not die here. We need a plan.”

  “Well, we decided to try to reach the main office and phone for help,” John explained. “School has officially been out for four hours, its night outside and yet nobody has come looking for us. I feel as if we’re trapped in some horrible nightmare while the rest of the world moves on.”

  “Maybe this zombie outbreak is worldwide,” Carey said.

  “Nope, it started in science. We were dissecting a combination of frogs and lizard when a guy was bitten by a frog and then went crazy,” Brand explained. “It’s possible the frogs managed to escape from the school building and into the town or they’re still hopping around in the halls which just freaks me out a lot.”

  “I tried to break a window but they’re all shatter proof,” Carey said. “We’re trapped.”

  John pointed his flute at the exit of the supply closet. “We need to fight our way to the cafeteria. It feels as if we’re going to be stuck in this school overnight. First, we’ll need food to give us energy to survive and find other survivors. And then we need to find a place that’s big and secure enough to campout. Finally and most importantly, we need to reach the main office and make a call. It’ll be a lot easier with an army of students to help defeat the zombies.”

  “I like the way you’re talking,” Carey said. “It’s a plan.”

  Brand knew it all sounded easy, but would provide a lot of hardship. “Yeah, it’s a plan.”

  The trio spent more time planning and trying to map out the school before they were ready to act.

  Chapter 7 – Rambo Style

  Carey lay on top of James as he blew at strands of her blonde hair. As usual she was spending time over at his family’s house, away from the trailer park where she lived. She wanted this moment to last forever, just him and her on his bed being together. She ran her hands through his low-cut dark hair and kissed the bridge of his nose.

  He giggled. “That tickles. I love when you do that.”

  “I know that’s why I keep doing it.”

  “I wish I could lie here all day but it’s my sister’s quinceanera and I have to start packing for school.”

  Carey groaned at the fact that he was leaving for college. “Are we going to survive this? A year a part.”

  James laughed. “Of course. You’ll graduate next year and then join me at State, right?”

  “That is the plan.”

  “Just promise me you’ll look out for Hector and Dora. He’s starting to let his football stardom go to his head and I don’t want Dora to get lost in the freshman shuffle.” James ran his hand down her face. “I love you and my family does too, my mom wouldn’t mind you playing big sister to them.”

  Carey kissed James. “I promise.”

  “Together, forever?”

  Carey simply responded with another kiss.

  Carey hated the word forever because everybody knew everything ended. As she crept through the halls of Harrison High she only saw endings. On many of the walls and doors blood was spread, so many lives lost today. She wondered how long it was before she would end up like the others, a mindless zombie.

  John, who led the front of the short line, came to a stop. “There’s a zombie outside the staircase entry.”

  “The other entries are too far,” Carey said from the back. “The less walking we do the safer.”

  “Right,” John agreed. “Plus this staircase entry lets us out closer to the cafeteria than the others.”

  Brand gripped his flute tightly. “I’ll take out this zombie, just watch my back.”

  “Are you sure you want to do this,” Carey asked.

  “Fear is something to be conquered is what my father used to say,” Brand proudly said. “I will not fear them.”

  John nodded forward. “Then the stage is yours Brand, be careful.”

  Brand slowly crept towards the stair well entry that was blocked by the roaming zombie. In one hand he held a flute and in the other a sharpened pencil. His heart raced but he imagined himself being watched by his webshow viewers. They would want him to be brave; they would root for him to succeed. The zombie’s back to him, Brand tapped the creature on the shoulder with the flute. Immediately, the zombie-student spun to face him and Brand drove the pencil until its skull. Carey and John rushed over as the body dropped to the ground and Brand removed his bloody pencil.

  Carey patted Brand on the back. “Great job, Rambo.”

  Brand smirked, his heart race stabilizing and imagining the comments he would get for his act of bravery.

  Chapter 8 – Baby Momma Drama

  Not one person supported her, including the boy who promised to love her forever. Carey only slept with James once; they both set the date to before the day he left for college. The moment was supposed to strengthen their bond even more and it did. Well, until Carey found out she was pregnant. She hated thinking back to the moment she told James over vid-chat. He had simply formed a frown and ended the call.

  It wasn’t long until his family cut off communication to her. Carey’s own mother simply said get an abortion, but Carey was not going to rid herself of the child she shared with the man she loved. He would have to accept what they created, she knew James. He was a good soul. She was afraid and sure that explained his reaction. It was six months since she found out and still patiently waited for him to come around before the due date.

  She ate lunch at school alone. Nobody wanted to socialize with the pregnant girl. As she sat eating her meal she spotted James’ sister Dora on the other side of the cafeteria eating with her friends. Carey flashed a smile hoping Dora would respond the same, but her gesture was simply ignored. The interaction cut Carey like a knife and left her in pain. She couldn’t sit and eat anymore; she needed to get some fresh air.

 

  She rushed from the cafeteria to the outside courtyard. “It’s not fair,” She said to herself.

  Out of nowhere, Hector grabbed her by the arm and dragged her near the school dumpsters. “Why?”

  She fought away from him. “What are you talking about?”

  “I don’t understand why you’re trying to destroy my family. Keep your baby momma drama in the trailer park.”

  Carey shoved Hector. “Why are you such a prick? Don’t pretend this isn’t your brother’s child, your future niece.”

  Hector spun his index finger around his ear. “Chick, you’re loco.”

  “Hector please stop with the act. Soon the wait will be over and new member of your family will be born.”

  Hector wrinkled his nose and shook his head in disgust. “People like you won’t drag my family down, white trash.”

  Carey hated the wait to reunite with her daughter. The bundle of joy seemed to be only person who truly love her. The teen mom found herself on a stairwell heading down to the first floor of the school. Two zombies blocked their way down but they were prepared to fight their way down.

  “I’ll get the chick,” Brand said, armed and ready.

  “And Carey and I will double team the chunky male,” John said.

  The trio charged into battle. Brand managed to easily impale his zombie in the skull with his pencil. The female zombie-student ended up collapsing on Brand and all her bodyweight s
ent him rolling down the last set of stairs. He took a hard bump that left his ankle in pain, barely unable to move.

  Casey and John were doing their best to pin their zombie’s arms against the wall. He was strong and kept chomping at them. The male zombie-student managed to bite a mouthful of Carey’s hair and was pulling her head towards his mouth. John managed to get the upper hand after lots of straining and impaled him with a two pencils he tapped together. The male zombie-students slid down into a sitting position as Carey and John rushed down to a wincing Brand.

  John moved the female zombie-student’s body off of Brand. “Are you ok?”

  “My ankle hurts. I’ll be fine I just need to ice it down.”

  Carey looked out the staircase exit door. “The cafeteria is a few feet away, but we’ll have to wait. A group of zombies are lingering near the area but hopefully they’ll roam away soon. Then we can carry Brand over and mark this part of the plan off the list.” Carey sat on the floor with them. “Until then we wait and hope no zombies come downstairs. Waiting sucks.”

  A hungry John and aching Brand could only agree with her, but the wait was unwelcomed.

  Chapter 9 – Homo, You’re A Homo

  Brand sat on his bed as he clicked through some of the emails his fans submitted for video topics. So far, he spotted the topic request of gay marriage almost five times. He did his best to stay up to date on the news, but apparently missed the newscast about how everybody now supported gay marriage and only wanted to talk about gay things. Brand just kept clicking through and decided to rely on his own choice of topic, rarely taking these topic requests seriously.

  Matt looked over his shoulder. “Wait, scroll back up.”

  “Why?”

  “I saw the word ‘gay’.”

  Brand shrugged. “Oh, some people want me to do a topic about gay marriage.”

  Matt laughed. “Awesome, do it.”

  “No, why would I? It’s boring and causes too much drama.”

  Matt hugged his arms around Brand’s torso. “Because someday you will marry me, doofus.”

  “Whatever. I don’t want to be the gay guy talking about gay stuff, it’s so overdone.”

  “But people don’t even know we’re gay. That’s going to change soon though.”

  Brand glanced back at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m going to post a blog soon coming out too everybody. It’s time the world knows the full me.”

  “It won’t change anything. Actually it will, you’ll get kicked off the basketball team.”

  “Nah,” Matt disagreed. “I’m one of the best players. And it will change something, the views on gays.”

  “What?”

  “People think all gay guys do is shop and prance around. They think we’re girls. I’m not a chick, they suck.”

  Brand shrugged. “Still, you coming out won’t change that.”

  “And that’s why you should do it with me. You’re more popular and will change a lot of views.”

  Brand shook his head in protest. “Nope, I’m more than just gay. I’m Brand, a very complex person.”

  “Homo, you’re a homo. It’s a part of you. A homo, a black guy, a web star, a great kisser, be proud of those things.”

  “I am,” Brand answered a bit annoyed. “But I don’t have to shove it down’s people throat.”

  “I don’t know if you’re being stupid or just trying to turn me on,” Matt joked. “Seriously, man up, be brave.”

  Brand was insulted by the last part of Matt’s comment. He was brave; he talked about and did things other students feared. Brand was very proud of whom he was and it didn’t matter if others knew or not. Of course in the back of his mind Matt taunting him to be brave stuck with him. He didn’t want to go through a corny coming out process and be praised in the comment or even deal with being insulted by others in comments on his video. Brand was fine with how things were.

  “Once I come out people will know why we’re always together,” Matt said. “They’ll know about it anyways.”

  Brand understood his point. He didn’t want his sexuality to be broken through the grapevine of high school gossip.

  “So, are you in or out,” Matt asked.

  “Fine, just write your blog and once you’re done I’ll read it on my show and simply say I’m your boyfriend.”

  Matt thought about. “I like that, subtle but a strong declaration of our relationship. Awesome.”

  Brand replayed the video of him reading that letter and coming out mentally in his head. It was one of his highest rated shows and even grew his fan base. It took him awhile to admit to Matt that he was right and to also thank him for helping him share his full self to the world.

  The experience taught Brand that he didn’t know everything and that maybe some of his views and opinions weren’t as right as he thought. He allowed more input from his team and actually used fan submitted topics on his webshow, no longer fearing their ideas and help would ruin his project.

  It felt good to have people help him, making planning episodes more fun and less stressful. Brand was a lot more optimistic about surviving this zombie invasion as Carey and John helped him from the floor. He would not be able to make it to the cafeteria alone and thanks to them, their help; they were only a few feet away from possibly arriving there.

  Chapter 10: Uh…Pizza Is Round…Sometimes Square…Triangular Slices

  Carey opened her eyes to discover Hector at her bedside. “Are you here to kill me and the baby?”

  “No, I’m here to apologize and stopped by to take pictures of my niece.”

  Carey’s tired eyes widen. “Am I dreaming?”

  “Please, you can’t dream up a man this sexy.” Hector boasted. “Anyways, I’m sorry.”

  Carey tried to get comfortable in the hospital bed, her body sore from giving birth “Sorry for what?”

  “Have you been on crack the last nine months? My family has been horrible to you. I’m sorry for calling you white trash,” He clarified. “That apology is coming from a guy, from a family that was called beaner trash the day we moved into this town. It happened at a diner when my dad couldn’t afford the bill. I remember being a kid and hearing a customer say that about us and it just stuck. My family has been running from the label ever since and my brother getting you pregnant was just a reminder that we were still associated with trash.”

  “Ouch. Thanks for calling me trash again.”

  “I don’t mean it that way, it just how it felt for a second but I’m over it. Anyways, that’s it.”

  “This has been an odd convo, but thank you. Do you think James will ever reach this point?”

  Hector nodded. “Yeah and I’ll do my best to edge him and the entire family in this direction.”

  “Thank you, Hector. You’re not an evil jock after all.”

  He laughed. “I’m still pretty evil, but if you ever need help, ask me. I know this will be a struggle.”

  Carey’s current struggle was making sure she didn’t drop Brand. She and John did their best to help Brand over from the staircase towards the doors of the cafeteria while also carrying their things. They managed to make it half-way until a passing group of student-zombies picked up on the trio. The trio picked up their pace, confident they could out run the zombies even while carrying a limping Brand.

  “We can do this,” John encouraged.

  They arrived at the cafeteria door and pushed against it only to learn the doors were blocked shut. Carey peaked through one of the circular viewing glasses to notice two lunch tables barricaded the door. The only direction they were able to go was backward, but zombies trailed them. They had no choice but to push. It was struggle, but once one of the tables budged they were able to part the doors wide enough to crawl through.

  They helped Brand through first, Carey went second and John climbed in last, a zombie nearly managing to grab his feet. No time to recover from their near death experience, they quickly repositioned the lunch tables
properly back before the doors and added an extra table to the barricade to be safe. They picked Brand back up and continued through the center of the cafeteria toward a buffet station that the kitchen was located behind.

  A set of twin girls with ebony skin and their hair in pig tails jumped up from behind the buffet armed with forks.

  “Freeze,” The twin on the right said as she aimed her forks at the trio.

  “Say something human or take a fork to the brain,” The twin on the left threatened.

  There was a pause, only the growling of the zombies outside the cafeteria could be heard.

  “Pizza is round-,” John uttered out.

  “-And sometime square,” Carey added.

  “-The slices are usually triangular,” Brand finished.

  The twins glanced at each other and back to the trio.

  “I’m Monie,” The twin on the left said, “But my followers call me, Mo.”

  “And I’m Georgia,” The twin on the right introduced, “But my hoes call me, Gia.”

  “Welcome to Café Zombie Death Zone,” They said in unison.

  The trio formed smiles, a bit of humor welcomed during such a dark time.

  Chapter 11: PMS…What A Mess

  Brand never thought he would find himself enjoying food from the school cafeteria. After the twins had made their introductions it didn’t take long for Brand, John and Carey to raid the refrigerators. John grilled himself a burger, Carey toasted a pizza and for some reason Brand found himself craving fruit and some weird tuna mixture he found in the freezer. The kitchen was fully stocked, which meant they wouldn’t go hungry for a while.

  Brand, John and Carey shared their story, but were interested in the twin’s journey.

  “I was lucky enough to find a well secured supply room,” Carey said. “How about you girls?”

  Mo titled her at her sister who sat beside her. “Gia left her tampons in the car.”

  Gia rolled her eyes. “I think we should just skip that part.”

  “I’m sorry but it happens to be a very important part of our story.”

  Gia narrowed her eyes and lowered her head in embarrassment. “Fine, continue, I suppose.”

  “Gia left her tampons in the car. One minute I’m sitting in English trying to flirt with this gorgeous hunk of a dude and my cellphone started to vibrate. I read it and I have received a text from my sister saying she was having a twin-mergency. It’s what we call emergencies that relate directly to us both but usually it’s just her with the problem.”