The zombies outside had vanished, and sothing about it felt wrong. Like, really wrong. Not the "oh no, I forgot to do my howork" kind of wrong, but the "oh shit, the world might actually be ending" kind of wrong.
We stood there in the hallway, staring at each other like idiots, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. Zombies don’t just disappear.
They don’t pack up their stuff and leave a polite note saying, "Thanks for the brains, see you next apocalypse!" No, they’re supposed to be out there, shuffling around, groaning, and generally being a pain in my ass.
"Okay," I said, breaking the silence. "What the actual fuck is going on?"
Elliot frowned, his brow furrowed like he was trying to solve a really complicated math problem.
"Maybe they were attracted by so kind of noise? Like, sothing loud enough to draw them all away?"
I shook my head. "No way. There was no noise last night. You and Alex were on watch, did you hear anything?"
Alex shook her head. "Nothing. It was dead silent. Well, except for the occasional zombie groans, but that’s normal."
"Exactly," I said. "If there was so kind of noise, we would’ve heard it. Which ans it’s not sound. It’s sothing else."
Elliot tilted his head, looking thoughtful. "What about sll? Maybe they were drawn to sothing by scent."
I blinked. That... actually made sense. Zombies were basically walking corpses, right? And corpses have noses. Or at least, they used to. I wasn’t exactly an expert on zombie anatomy, but it sounded plausible.
"Yeah," I said slowly. "That could be it. Maybe there’s a dead body nearby. Sothing rotting. Zombies probably love that kind of thing."
Alex made a face. "Ew. That’s gross."
"Yeah, well, so are zombies," I shot back. "But it makes sense. If there’s sothing dead and slly nearby, they’d probably go check it out."
Alex frowned. "Wait, but don’t dead bodies only start slling after a few days? Like, they have to decompose first, right?"
I hesitated. "Uh... I think so? I an, I’ve never actually been around a dead body before, so I’m not exactly an expert."
Elliot shrugged. "I don’t know either. But it’s the best theory we’ve got right now."
Alex crossed her arms, looking thoughtful. "Okay, but if the zombies are gone, this could be a real opportunity. We could make a run for the store nearby and grab supplies. Or even look for survivors."
I imdiately shook my head. "No way. It’s too risky. Sothing about this feels... off. Like, really off. I don’t trust it."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Since when are you the cautious one?"
"Since the zombies vanished," I snapped. "That’s not normal, Alex. Zombies don’t just disappear. There’s sothing going on here, and I don’t want to walk right into whatever it is."
Elliot nodded, his expression serious. "Mira’s right. We need to be careful. If the zombies are gone, there’s probably a reason. And until we figure out what that reason is, we shouldn’t take any unnecessary risks."
I shot him a grateful look. At least soone was on my side.
Alex sighed, clearly frustrated. "So what do we do, then? Just sit here and wait for the zombies to co back?"
"I don’t know!" I said, throwing up my hands. "But I’d rather be safe than sorry. This whole thing feels ominous, okay? I’m scared. And I don’t want you guys going out there alone."
Elliot placed a hand on my shoulder, his touch surprisingly reassuring.
"We’ll figure it out. Together. For now, let’s just... stay put and keep an eye on things. If the zombies co back, we’ll know. And if they don’t... well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it."
I nodded, feeling a little better. But deep down, I couldn’t shake the feeling that sothing was coming. Sothing bad.
And when it did, I wasn’t sure we’d be ready for it.
The debate was... well, it was a disaster.
Elliot, with his snarky personality, was all for charging outside like so kind of action hero.
"Co on," he said, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. "This is our chance. The zombies are gone. We can’t just sit here and twiddle our thumbs."
"Twiddle our thumbs?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow. "What are we, Victorian-era orphans? No one twiddles their thumbs, Elliot."
He rolled his eyes. "You know what I an. We need to do sothing. Sitting here isn’t going to magically fix everything."
Alex, ever the calm one, chid in. "Elliot’s right. We can’t just stay here forever. But we also need to be smart about this. If we’re going outside, we need a plan."
"A plan?" I said, throwing up my hands. "Great. Let’s make a plan. Step one: don’t die. Step two: don’t get eaten. Step three: profit. There, done."
Elliot smirked. "Wow, Mira. That’s the most detailed plan I’ve ever heard. You should write a book."
"Oh, shut up," I muttered. "You’re not helping."
Alex sighed, clearly tired of our bickering. "Look, we’re all stressed. But arguing isn’t going to get us anywhere. Let’s just... take a deep breath and think this through."
I took a deep breath, mostly to humor her, and tried to calm down. "Fine. Let’s think. What’s the goal here? Supplies? Survivors? A new place to hide?"
"All of the above," Elliot said. "But first, we need to see what’s out there. We can’t make a plan if we don’t know what we’re dealing with."
Alex nodded. "Exactly. So we go outside, but we do it carefully. No running, no loud noises, no unnecessary risks."
I groaned, running a hand through my hair. "This is such a bad idea. But fine. Let’s do it.
But if I get eaten, I’m haunting both of you."
Elliot grinned. "Deal."
We spent the next few mont preparing, grabbing our weapons, Alex with her crowbar, with my broom, and Elliot with his bat. We also made sure we had a clear escape route back to the school in case things went south. Then, we slowly began removing the barricades we had placed in front of the main door
The barricades were made of benches, because apparently, high school furniture is the ultimate zombie deterrent.
It took so effort to move them, and I may or may not have accidentally dropped a bench on my foot.
"Ow! Fuck!" I hissed, hopping on one foot.
Elliot smirked. "Graceful as always, Mira."
"Shut up," I muttered, glaring at him. "This is why I hate manual labor."
Finally, we got the door open and stepped outside.
The air was eerily still, and the silence was almost deafening. There were no zombies in sight, which was both a relief and deeply unsettling.
The main gate was still locked, which was weird. Normally, a teacher would’ve co to open it in the morning, but I guess they were all busy being zombie food now.
"Alright," Elliot said, keeping his voice low.
"Let’s jump the gate and head to the store. Stick together, and keep your eyes open."
We climbed over the gate, which was easier said than done. I may or may not have gotten my foot stuck and had to be rescued by Elliot, who of course made a big show of it.
"You’re welco," he said, smirking as he helped down.
"I hate you," I muttered, brushing myself off.
We started making our way to the store, moving slowly and staying close to the buildings.
The streets were empty, and the only sound was the crunch of our shoes on the pavent. It was... unnerving.
As we walked, a feeling started creeping over . It was hard to describe, but it was like a slow, gnawing dread that was eating away at from the inside.
The kind of feeling you get when you know sothing’s wrong, but you can’t quite put your finger on it.
I glanced at Elliot and Alex, and I could tell they felt it too. The tension was thick, and every shadow seed to move just a little too much.
"This is so creepy," Alex whispered, her eyes darting around.
"Yeah," I said, gripping my crowbar tighter.
"It’s like... they’re watching us or sothing."
Elliot frowned. "Who’s watching us?"
"I don’t know," I said, my voice low. "But sothing’s not right. I can feel it."
We kept walking, but the feeling didn’t go away. If anything, it got worse. The streets were empty, but it felt like we were being followed.
Like sothing was just out of sight, waiting for the right mont to strike.
And then, as we turned the corner, we saw it.
The store was just ahead, but the door was wide open.
And inside...
Well, let’s just say it wasn’t empty.
Reviews
All reviews (0)