Fun time was over.
Rodgers shifted his shoulders toward Jarvis, raising his eyebrows before asking
,“
Who are the good guys, really? Are we the good guys
?
”
Every once in a while, Rodgers liked to let out his inner teacher. H
e’
d challenge those around him, as if he were speaking to his students, with some sort of provocative topic that always got you thinking. The discussions would always be a reminder that there was more to his brute ready for battle external demeanor than met the naked eye.
Resting an arm on the seat in front of him, and turning to Rodgers, Jarvis responded
,“
I like to think so. We help people; we protect Avalon
.”
He was noticeably taken back by the question.
“
Yeah, but are we the good guys? Wh
o’
s to say w
e’
re good, and others are bad
,”
Rodgers countered
.“
I mean, in the end, history is always written by the victor. Does
n’
t matter if he was right or wrong
.
”
“
I do
n’
t follow what you mean
,”
Kyle chimed in.
“
Well, w
e’
re all out here trying to survive. Does
n’
t everybody feel like the
y’
re on th
e‘
good sid
e’
?
I’
m just saying,
I’
ll bet there are a bunch of little communities out there that all think the
y’
re the good guys
.
”
“
That may be true, Rodgers
,”
Jarvis said while looking back out the window
.“
I can say one thing though, if yo
u’
re on our side, yo
u’
re not trying to take from others. W
e’
ve had so many people who show up on our doorstep trying to take from us. Are we bad because we do
n’
t let them
?
”
Rodgers simply replied
,“
Do
n’
t know, Jarvis, seems like there really are
n’
t an
y‘
goo
d’
sides anymore
.
”
Looking back at that conversation, he may have been right.
Chapter 8
We made quick work of the forty-two miles between Avalon and our final destination, and before we knew it, the overgrown walls of the elementary school were in sight. Driving around a dry and brittle rotten tree that had collapsed across what was left of the road leading up to the school, we put the Hummer into four-wheel drive to pull ourselves up the winding path.
I could hear the pickup behind us shifting into gear just as we came into the parking lot in front of the school. Quickly surveying the area, we saw a handful of creatures stumbling through tall, flourishing weeds that had managed to sprout from between the cracks of the unkempt black pavement.
We pulled past a basketball post with a rusted metal hoop and strings dangling from a half-broken backboard. My eyes landed on what remained of an aged white tent as a loose flap slapped back and forth in the wind. The tent had black spots of mold multiplying over a prominently displayed red cross that sat along a set of crippled plastic doors.
“
Looks like a medical tent
,”
Kyle whispered, as if something was listening in the distance.
“
Whatever it is, i
t’
s long since been abandoned
,”
Jarvis said, peering out of the passenger side window.
Parking the Hummer, we waited until the pickup pulled up next to us. Mr. Mullet was already hopping out of the passenger seat, which h
e’
d crammed himself into after the field incident, and up into the bed of the pickup. After briefly glancing down at the dried pool of blood at his feet, he yanked a lever on the weapon turret and pointed the barrel directly toward the front door of the school.
I reached down to place my hand on the hammer resting firmly in my belt. The sky was bright, but this place had a darkness that was clawing at my skin. Something horrible had happened here.
“
You were righ
t
…
”
I finally let slip from my mouth, nodding over toward Rodgers.
Kyle and I had made a conscious decision to avoid places like this in the first weeks of the apocalypse. W
e’
d heard radio broadcasts telling people to head to designated areas for food and safety. At the time, w
e’
d figured thes
e“
Safe Zone
s”
would just wind up being a giant meat grinder, churning up the masses for the dead to sink their teeth into. By the looks of this place now, I feared that we were once again right.
Not taking his eyes off the school, Kyle said
,“
No telling wha
t’
s still left stumbling around behind those walls
.
”
“
Where did you say the medical supplies are located
?”
I asked, looking back at Rodgers.
“
My guess is the nurs
e’
s offic
e…
but I have
n’
t been inside, so we may have to do some digging
.
”
There was something off about Rodgers. He sat there, bouncing his oversized glove across his leg. Maybe his face was a shade paler, or his eyes were slightly wider. Either way, I had
n’
t seen Rodgers look this anxious or worried before. He, usually, just had two emotions: Happy and rage. This new look on his face set my mind racing as I realized that w
e’
d have a hell of a fight ahead of us if this place were anything like the last Safe Zone w
e’
d encountered.
With a clear sense of alarm shadowing his face, Kyle jolted forward, propping himself up in the seat to get a better view, fixing his eyes on the front entrance to the building.
“
What? What do you see
?”
I asked, squinting my eyes, trying to find what had him spooked.
Lifting his arm, Kyle pointed toward the front door of the school
.“
Look, the door is open a crack. It looks like the chain that was holding it shut has been cu
t
…”
“
Is that blood
?”
Jarvis said as he squinted his eyes and leaned closer to the window.
There was what appeared to be a dark red liquid running down the sidewalk leading up to the school. From the distance, I could also see some of the windows were busted in, and what looked to be bullet holes chipped into the brick surrounding the front door.
“
What the hell happened here
?”
Rodgers spoke the question that burned in all of our minds. His oversized glove continued to rattle atop his leg.
Jarvis lifted his hand over to the door lock and pulled it up
.“
Le
t’
s make this quick, boys. In and out
.
”
“
Extreme caution. No one rushes in. Le
t’
s make sure that ther
e’
s nobody else her
e…
dead or living
,”
Kyle added sternly before yanking his door latch and moving out onto the step guard of the Hummer.
Looking over his shoulder, he signaled to the three men still sitting in the pickup behind us and pointed over toward the small swarm of creatures that were slowly lumbering toward our vehicles
.“
Take care of that. Make it quiet
,”
Kyle loudly whispered.
I watched as the Three Amigos hopped out of the doors of their pickup, knives in hand. They moved in on the handful of rotting dead, which had clearly been stumbling for quite some time. In just moments, the Zs had puncture holes in their skulls, dark black brain matter spilling out over the cracked pavement.
A stain. I
t’
s all tha
t’
s left of us when w
e’
re gone.
Weapons drawn; Kyle, Jarvis, Rodgers, and I were now out of the car as well, cautiously moving toward the school. Looking back at the second team, Kyle held his hand out in a fist and pointed back toward our rides. The three of them scurried over to join Mr. Mullet as lookout
s—
prepared for anything. They had our backs, and we were trusting them with our lives.
Looking back on it, I wish we could have promised them the same.
The world around us was silent. Each step we took toward the front door echoed off the schoo
l’
s brick walls. Keeping my eyes locked on the broken-in front door as we approached, I raised my arm to wipe a bead of rolling sweat from my brow. My hands were slightly shaking as the fear of the unknown slowly crept up my spine, one vertebrae at a time.
Mostly brick with white trim running around the flat roof, the school was not unlike the one that
I’
d attended as a child. It seems like they all look like that for some reason. I never really was one much for school, especially as a child. I get the need to learn, but stuffing a bunch of kids into a room, expecting them to sit still and quite all day, seemed like it was going against a chil
d’
s very nature. Hell, I could hardly do it as an adult. A small part of me thought back to the second grade teacher
I’
d had. That bloated bitch always found a reason to send me to the principa
l’
s office.
I’
m sure I deserved it, but trust me, I would
n’
t exactly choke up if I learned she was stuck in a school someplace, roaming the halls as a
Z…
forever.
Kyle was the first to reach the broken door. Looking toward Jarvis, who nodded, and then back toward me, he lifted his foot out and hooked the inside of the door, sliding it open. Feeling my shoulders arch up as the rusted hinges creaked open, all three of us took a step back, lifting our weapons and aiming them steadily down the dimly lit halls of the building.
I nearly dropped my rifle as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. Hit with the scent of burnt flesh as we stepped closer, I quickly noticed six neatly stacked piles of rotting corpses, each six or seven Zs deep. All of them were oozing that familiar black gunk across the linoleum.
My foot slid across a few bullet casings that were riddled throughout the hallway. To the right of the entrance, an ashy burn mark ran up the full length of the wall, starting from the charred skeletal remains of a creature that had most its flesh melted off.
Everything in the place remained dead silent.
“
Someon
e’
s already cleared this place out, boys
,”
Jarvis said with a cautious optimism.
“
And i
t’
s been within the past twenty-four hours
,”
Kyle whispered as he slid his foot through the slick black bile while keeping his firearm pointed straight down the hall.
Jarvis looked at Kyle, paused, pulled in a deep breath and then slowly slid his boot through the doorway.
My first instincts were that this was a lucky break. At least, we would
n’
t have to bust through the army of Zs that obviously lurked in the hallways of this school. Someone else had already done the job for us.
“
Le
t’
s make this quick.
I’
ve got a shitty feeling in my gut. Why the hell would someone have done this
?”
Kyle finally spoke up.
“
Maybe whoever did this needed something in the school like we do. Hell, this is what it would have looked like if we had to clear this place out
,”
Rodgers said while kicking at a creatur
e’
s lifeless arm on the ground in front of him.
I just hoped they were
n’
t looking for meds.
“
Could be, but i
t’
s not sitting well with me. Le
t’
s get this shit quick
,”
Kyle replied.
Jarvis lowered his spear and nodded toward Rodgers
.“
Yo
u’
re with me
.”
Then he looked over toward Kyle and me
.“
I want you to hit the roof. Get eyes on our surroundings
.
”
I started to protest when Jarvis cut in
.“
I need your head straight, John, no rushing through the dark. I know what
I’
m looking for, and
I’
ll signal to you as soon we have it
.
”
Thinking for a moment, I looked over to Kyle, who nodded his head before saying
,“
Jarvis will get it. Le
t’
s you and I make sure we do
n’
t have any problems getting out of here once he does
.
”
Biting on my lower lip, I looked down the hallway toward the piles of the dead. Being outside where the air was fresh would be a welcome relief. Besides, I did trust Jarvis, and I knew h
e’
d get what we needed.
Splitting ways, Kyle and I stepped through the gore-covered linoleum floors, heading toward a rectangular white sign which rea
d“
Exi
t”
about midway down the hallway. As we moved through the hall, I realized that there was no rhyme or reason to this group of creatures. Old, young, male, femal
e…
they were all people from different strokes of life looking for someone to save them. They had been horribly led astray.
The exit sign had a door sitting beneath it, with another set of severed chains hanging loosely from the handle. Peering through the cracked but re-enforced glass, I could make out a near pitch-black staircase heading up.
As we crept up each stair through the darkness, visions of some unseen creature patiently waiting in the shadows danced around my mind. With my whole body inadvertently tensing up, as each boot squeaked across the next step ahead, I could
n’
t help but leap up two steps at time as our accent came to an end.
Bursting through the door at the top of the staircase, I found myself standing on gravel as my eyes re-adjusted to the sunlight on the exposed roof. The entire thing was covered in small white rock chips, clearly used to cover the melting black tar spread across the whole of the roof. Pulling my fists tight, I flinched as each step forward crunched into the open air as if we were stepping across a sea of fortune cookies.
Kyle nodded to me before taking off to the far side of the building to survey our surroundings while I moved toward the drop-off directly in front of us.