“Stab their heads!” Thomas yelled at Shay and handed her his machete. He started shooting the undeads that were rounding the corner. She stood paralyzed with fear, holding it in midair. Justin snatched the machete, and stabbed every one of their heads. He stood over them, bat in one hand and sludge-covered machete in the other, with his chest pumping with adrenaline. Henry had already moved forward.
Nick yelled, “Henry! Three o’clock!” Henry spun and shot the two undeads. They fell into a crumpled mess. Again, Justin jammed the machete through their soft rotting flesh. Julianna was pressed right up against Rosa, who was protecting her the entire time. They battled for what seemed like hours. Henry had run out of bullets so he grabbed the bat from Justin. Every undead he hit exploded. He kept hearing retching behind him as they went.
Then Nick yelled again, “Six o’clock, six o’clock, six o’clock!” Henry turned around, and there was another herd narrowing in on Nick. He pulled the rifle out of his pack. All five went down with close range shots.
“Julianna!” Henry yelled. “Which one was your mother’s room?!” He waited a split second for her response. “Julianna!” He turned around, only to see her standing in front of a classroom door.
An undead woman was clawing and biting at the window in the door. She was working hard trying to open the door, but undeads have a serious lack of coordination. Henry ran up to Julianna.
“Is that her?” She stood staring, tears flowing down her filthy face.
“Momma,” she whispered.
Henry knelt down in front on Julianna and grabbed her shoulders. “Sweetheart, I need you to listen to me carefully. That may be your mum’s body, but that is not her. Your mum’s soul left when the virus took over. That is not her. Your mum is already in heaven, little love.” Julianna kept shaking her head. “Julianna, did you hear what I said?”
“Yes,” she choked out.
“I’m going to help her. Let’s go back to Rosa.” She grabbed Julianna and dragged her away from the door. “Thomas! Do you have anything left in your Sig?” Thomas handed him his gun.
“Jus’ a couple, I think.” Henry nodded. He looked back at Julianna. She was pushing her face into Rosa’s body. Rosa nodded at Henry. He grabbed the handle and swiftly pushed the door open, which trapped Julianna’s mother between the door and the classroom wall. He reached around the door, jammed the muzzle of the Sig to her temple and pulled the trigger.
Julianna screamed. “Momma!” She struggled against Rosa while Rosa tried to comfort her.
Henry let the door swing back just enough to allow Julianna’s mother to fall to the floor in a grotesque pile of blood and rotten flesh. He paused. His heart ached for Julianna, as he understood how she was feeling.
He swallowed hard, and his body filled with rage. Henry was working hard to keep the demon at bay. He walked his aching body into the classroom and cleared it. He grabbed a sweater that was hanging around Julianna’s mom’s chair.
Rosa brought her inside the classroom, shielding her from her mother’s rotting corpse. Henry handed Julianna the sweater, and helped wrap it around her slight body. She went to her mother’s desk and opened all the drawers.
Julianna looked back at Henry. He walked over to the desk again, and saw a large stash of snacks and candy. He pulled off his pack and unzipped it. Julianna loaded his bag up with all of the food stash. Then she grabbed the picture of her and her family off of the desk, and held it close to her body.
“Is there anything else you would like to take?” Henry softly asked her. Julianna went to the closet in the back of the classroom. “Wait. Let me open it.” He swung open the door in haste, but it was more like a pantry closet. There were cases of water on the floor. Henry looked around and saw a couple backpacks still in the room.
“Thomas, give me a hand and empty those packs.” He filled the backpacks with the bottles as Henry handed them over.
He looked around the closet for anything else that would be useful. Henry grabbed a few more items, such as paper products and some jackets that were left there by the students.
They gathered their goods and headed back to the hall to make their way back down the stairs. Julianna stopped just short of the door and turned around, giving one last look at the classroom.
“Come on. We have to go.” Rosa gently tugged Julianna away from the doorway. She resisted, but it was time to move on.
Before they made their way to the first floor, Justin stopped them. “Which way did you come in?” he asked Henry.
“Off to the side, behind the cafeteria. The front entrance was loaded with undeads.”