Henry, Nick, and Thomas stood and watched her while she drank nearly half of the bottle of water. She let go and took several deep breaths. Henry dug into his pocket and pulled out the small picture of Addie’s daughter. He held it out to the girl. She examined it, then looked up at Henry.
“Have you seen this girl?” Henry asked. She nodded once. “Is she alive? Can you take us to her?” She nodded once again. She slowly walked backward, still facing Henry, Nick, and Thomas.
She continued down the hall until they reached what looked like a storage room. She tapped on the door in a calculated rhythm. The door creaked open, and Henry saw a couple pairs of eyes.
“Rosa MacEntyre?” He heard some rustling around. “Rosa, I know your mum, Addie. I’m here to help you, and take you home.”
Then he heard a scratchy, weak voice, “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”
“Look, I have a picture that she gave me. She has been looking for you, but she hasn’t had the wherewithal to get into the school until my crew showed up on your doorstep yesterday. She desperately wants you home.”
“What’s your name?”
“Henry Daniels.” He pointed to the others. “This Nick Cooper, my fiancée’s brother, and this is Thomas Anderson. He’s a family friend.” There was a long pause. “We can help you all. Please come out. We want to take you back to your mum, Rosa. We don’t want to hurt you in any way.”
“I don’t know any British guys.”
“I know you don’t know me.” Henry was flustered. “Shit,” he said under his breath, and ran his fingers through his hair. Nick watched him carefully, hoping his temper would stay in check.
Nick began pulling out bottles of water and more Power Bars. He set them down at the door. The little girl snatched them up.
“Hey,” Nick scolded in a gentle manner. “Those are for them. I know you’re thirsty and hungry, but they are, as well.” She set them back down where Nick had put them. A pair of hands came out near the bottom of the door and grabbed the waters and bars. They heard wrappers crinkling and the sounds of water being guzzled down.
“Rosa, please, come on out. We haven’t harmed this little lass here.” Henry was pleading with her.
Then the door opened an inch at a time, until they saw there were three teens crammed in the tiny storage room. One by one, they exited the room into the hallway. Henry smiled.
“Thank you. Can we sit and chat?” Rosa nodded. Everyone sat down on the dirty tiled floors, leaning up against a bank of metal lockers. Rosa glared at the three of them. “It’s going to be difficult getting all of us out of here. We’re parked out front.”
“I know. We saw you pull up,” Rosa mumbled.
“There are hundreds of undeads roaming down there. You all are pretty brilliant, I must say. Piling up the true deads on the stairs, serving as a barricade.” The kids all smiled at Henry’s complement. “Now, if this is a high school, I’m curious to know…”
“My mom was a teacher. I was helping her in class on that day,” the youngest girl said, while picking at the holes in her worn cotton pants.
“What’s your name, little love?” Henry’s voice was dripping in sweetness. She looked up at him with worry, fear, and some relief on her face.
“Julianna.” Henry smiled at her. Then he looked at the boy next to Rosa.
“I’m Justin, and this is my sister, Shay.”
“I’m glad to meet all of you. Obviously, the circumstances aren’t quite ideal. Quick question: Why was Julianna out by herself, when the three of you were tucked away in the storage room?”
“We cleared out this floor several weeks ago. She tends to want to be by herself, and when we heard the glass breaking in the doors, we scrambled into there. Julianna was nowhere near us. Where were you, anyway?” Justin looked at Julianna, waiting for a response. She blushed and seemed to be embarrassed.
“I was sitting in Mrs. Hanely’s room, imagining what it would be like to be in school again.” Rosa put her arm around Julianna in a loving manner.
Shay seemed to be much like Thomas. She was in the background, and watched what was happening in front of her. Henry cleared his throat. All the kids looked to him for some instruction.
“Alright. I say we go back the way we came in. Do you all know the school quite well?” They nodded. “If we run into trouble, I’m going to rely on you…” Naturally, he looked at Justin, “to help navigate.” Everyone was looking at one another, their fear saturating the air.
“What kind of weapons did you have?” Justin got up and went into the storage room. He came out wielding a couple baseball bats and a few metal bars that could have been chair or desk legs.