Scarlet Memories (Book 1) (13 page)

Ian was about to lose it. He didn’t want to die being blugeoned to death by a crow-bar.

‘Take me to your leader. Who is that by the way?’ Roland asked Ian.

‘His name is Jeremy.’ Ian said as the man grabbed him by the neck and pushed him forward.

He hit the door with his face first. It nearly knocked him out. Ian led the man downstairs to where everyone was eating at the feast.

‘Where is everyone? I thought you said you came with a group?’ He asked. He held the cro-bar closer to his face as he squeezed on his neck.

‘They are all in the cafeteria eating. We finished rationing the food earlier today and wanted to reward everyone with a nice hot meal. They have been through a lot just to make it here.’ Ian expressd to Roland.

Ian knew that the man who came through the window probably was just doing this to protect his school. But, who was he really?

‘So, who are you?’ Ian asked him. He slowed down drastically as he questioned the man.

‘I’m the maintenaince man,’ the man grunted, ’what does it matter who I am? I work for the district and no one is supposed to be in here regardless of what’s going on out there.’ Roland spat out at him.

His blood was boiling. This guy actually had the nerve?

‘Oh, ok. Well, Don’t be mad but, I broke into your closet for supplies. Everything is there accept for a few useless things. I didn’t steal anything. It was to make a repair to a door in the school.’ Ian spoke.

His mouth had run dry. The man was holding his neck tightly out in front of him. Which gave him little room to swallow. Ian needed water badly.

‘Shutup!’ Roland yelled at Ian.

He didn’t have time for this man’s apologies. He needed to get these people out of here. Or it will most certainly mean the termination of his job. And he cannot have that. Roland suddenly stopped for a moment. His leg was burning where the woman bit into his leg. He hadn’t taken a moment to check on that just yet.

‘Hang on!’ Roland grunted at Ian.

He let go of his neck and fumbled with something near his shoe. Ian took this chance to inch his way closer to the cafeteria’s double doors. They were only 20 feet away. If he could make it, he could warn the others of this crazy man’s arrival. And possibly subdue him.

‘What do you think you are doing?’ Roland shouted at him.

‘Nothing, I’m nothing…’ Ian said. He stopped dead in his tracks.

He watched as the man stood up and pressed Ian in the back of the head with the bar.

‘Go.’ The man said.

He pressed the bar forward and forced Ian to move to the doors. He pushed them open slowly. He hoped it would give the others time to see him coming.

‘Alright! I want everybody on the floor now!’ Roland yelled.

He pushed Ian into the room and headed for the front of the lunch room.

‘Where is Jeremy?’ Roland asked.

Many of the people in the cafeteria were shocked to hear that this stranger knew his name. Ian watched as Jeremy stood up hesitantly.

‘I’m right here.’ Jeremy said lightly. He didn’t want to make himself known.

You could tell in his demeanor that he wanted to stay well hidden. But, he had to live up to what the group needed. And thus, mustered up the courage.

‘Is there something I can help you with?’ Jeremy asked.

‘He is here on business with the school. He wants us to leave because we aren’t authorized to be here.’ Ian blurted out before anyone had the chance to speak.

Roland elbowed Ian in the middle of his upper back hard. Everyone in the room could hear the cracking sound it made as it did. It sounded like he almost broke his shoulder blade. This man was unusually upset. His face had begun to turn a deep red color.

‘I told you to shut up! Didn’t I?’ Roland yelled.

He suddenly didn’t feel so good. He checked on the bite and it did break his skin. He had been bleeding for quite some time now. He didn’t think that a human could bite so hard. It felt as though Roland needed to throw up. His stomach was churning. He turned to the side and on the cafeteria floor, threw up. The consistency of the throw up seemed really red. Roland only had a few bowls of noodles and nothing was red in that. He tried to figure out what it could be as he cleaned his face and nose of the nasty slop.

‘Is that blood?’ Someone from the lunchroom asked.

You could see countless other people standing up and looking.

‘Is he infected?’ Someone else shouted through out the lunchroom.

After that was said the entire room jumped in uproar. They had gone this far thinking that they were safe. And now the infection was inside.

‘I got bit that’s all!’ The maintanence man cried at the people.

He had a perplexed look on his face. Everyone was staring at him like he had the plague.

‘What is it?’ He yelled at them all.

Ian backed away from him, by this time  he had already let go of Ian. Everyone staring at him distracted him.

‘Your going to turn into one of them’ Ian told him. He backed even further away.

‘What do you mean?’ Roland spat at them. He wasn’t sure what they were talking about. They couldn’t possibly mean he would be turning into whatever was wrong with the people outside. Nothing was that aggressive that he knew of.

‘Those people out there are dead.’ Jeremy said. He pointed outside.

‘I know because I have seen them die and come back.’ It was true. Some of the men lost were roaming out there as we speak.

Roland seemed to be coming around to the idea. It was hard for him to focus because he was busy with the pain in his ankle. It was killing him. So, bad that he was throbbing. He had never experienced pain like this before. His body was beginning to get hot all over. He knew that human beings mouths were dirty…But, they couldn’t get him sick this fast. Theses things could take time.

‘So, what do I do then?’ Roland asked. The fear was beginning to set in. Roland went from being a menace to hardly a threat at all.

‘So far, we don’t know what we can do. There haven’t been any updates that we know of on the news.’

Ian cleared his throat and looked at Jeremy. He had already wanted to tell the group about the other  video’s. Just didn’t know there would be a pshyco-janitor coming in to try and kill him. So, he assumed he wouldn’t have time to tell them. But, now.. this was the perfect time.

‘That’s not entirely true you guys.’ Ian stared at Jeremy. He seemed royally pissed that he was telling them. Especially now, with everything that was going on.

‘I found the media room. I went and and got on the internet. I found a few videos.’ Ian told the group. He saw that Roland sat down on a chair near by. No one seemed to see him as a threat at the moment. He seemed to be having some issues .

‘There were updates about the situtation out there. One of them being that this was the governments fault. They were doing some experimenting and it looks like it was us who did it.’ Ian paused. He wasn’t ready to tell them the next bit.

‘I also found something else out. And you might want to sit down.’ He told them. Jeremy’s face was red with anger.

‘The whitehouse has been compromised. We don’t think the government exist anymore.’

The group gasped in unison. They all were thinking about their futures at this very moment. How would they survive? Much less prosper with this going on? The government got taken down so easily..there must be a resistance? One man cried,’Why do you think it doesn’t exist?’

‘Because, our own boys are shooting anything in sight. It must have been an executive order from the President himself. They are killing innocent civilians along with the dead.

Roland collapsed onto the floor. He had sweat pouring from his skin. There was a considerable amount of blood coming from his ankle now. And he had begun to shake his body as if he were extremely cold. Sam walked rushed up to him and checked his vitals.

‘His heart is beating way above the normal average. He is going to have a heart attack at this rate!’ She said.

‘Somebody get me some cold water!’ Sam cried at the crowd of people standing around them. No one seemed to be making a move.

‘I said now!’ She screamed. Her voice was already getting horse.

‘This man is going to die. Do you want him to die right here with all of us?’ She asked.

The room started moving about again. It seemed that everyone understood what was at stake at this point. You could see several of the others running to the back of the cafeteria. They were fumbeling around with pots and water in the back.

Chapter Nine: Escape

‘We’ve got to move him upstairs into one of the offices or something. He is going to turn soon.’ Sam said.

She could see the yellow beginning to cross over his eyes and pupils. He had begun to bleed out of his ears as well. The group came in and pulled together to pick him the man up. They traveled through the halls and up the stairs. The man had begun to spit up a yellow substance profusedly. It was all over his body now and it smelled vile.

‘Try not to come in contact with his bile. We don’t know what turns them!’ Sam shouted at the people volunteering to move him.

Once she told them to be careful many of them adjusted their hands on his body.

Finally, they reached the upstairs offices. They found his keys on the inside of his pants and opened the furthest office from the classrooms. They did not want him close to the other people in the group when he turned into a monster. Sam had them dump the mans body into the office and shut and lock the door behind them. When they left him he was still breathing. Barely but, still breathing.

Sam saw the people who had helped tow the man upstairs going to change their clothing and take showers. The group wanted to take every precautionary measure that they could. Sam figured they weren’t only washing off potential germs and viruses, they were washing off the shame they felt in just throwing the man aside like they did. He would die in that room, alone. The worst way to die. Not to mention it must be painful what he was becoming. It was a slow and painful torture for anyone.

Sam stood behind the door of the office. You could hear the man inside grunting with pain. His voice was echoing through the halls. This could not be good for keeping cover from the undead outside. If anything it would attract more of them. And no one was sure of what the undead were completely capable of. It wasn’t wise to test that. Especially, not in there current situation.

Same left the office area and headed back down to the cafeteria. The majority of the group was down here. And she wanted to update Ian and Jeremy about the man upstairs.

‘He is going to die up there soon. Don’t you think we need to put him out of his misery?’ Sam asked the pair of them.

She watched as they exchanged glances.

‘I mean we have to separate ourselves from them don’t we?’ Sam asked.

‘We have to do the right thing.’ She pleaded.

Ian nodded his head in agreement with Sam.

‘I agree. I think we should do it. We can go up there right now. I’ll bring my knife.’ He said.

Ian wasn’t happy to kill someone but, it was necessary for the survival of the group. And they all had the feeling that humans would be a rarity to see here in the next few months. If the undead didn’t handle that, the government would with the murdering of it’s own people. Ian reached into his pocket and grabbed the knife.

‘Let’s go.’ He said motioning to Sam.

He wouldn’t even bother asking if Jeremy wanted to go. You could tell from the look on his face, that he didn’t care if the man suffered or not. They walked up the stairs and ran into Missy.

‘Are you going up there with the stranger?’ She asked.

She had a pale of water and rags in each of her hands.

‘Yes we are.’ Sam said nodding at Missy.

‘I want to come to make him comfortable.’ Missy stated.

She was all ready to go up anyways. Sam looked from Missy to Ian. Ian didn’t look like he minded much. He knew how Missy could be the nurturer of the group. Even before any of this happened. She was always helping with first-aid problems on the set of the movie.

‘You’re going to have to be careful. We don’t know  all of the ways this thing can be spread.’ Ian told her. He saw a smile spread over Missy’s face.

‘Come on lets go.’

They walked to the office area. You could still hear the man’s whimpers coming from behind the furthest office door. The three of them walked up to the door. Sam handed Ian the keys to the entire school.

‘He had these?’ Ian asked Sam.

This is what he needed all along. Jeremy wouldn’t be able to stop him from taking over. They were all getting tired of his dictatorship. They wanted to get out from underneath him.

‘Yeah, guess he was the Janitor and sole proprieter for the school.’

Ian felt bad for the guy. All he wanted to do was take care of the school. And in a bit of irony, he would die doing what he loved. Or seemed to be passionate about. Ian slipped the key into the door. It unlocked immediately and the group filed in. There wasn’t much that you could see in the darkness of the office. The lights were out. Ian reached for the light switch and felt something wet on the wall. It took him by surprise and he brought his hand back to his torso.

‘There’s something over here.’ Ian said to the girls.

His fear level was beginning to rise. He could also hear the heavy breathing of the girls in the room with him. They must be beside themselves. Ian felt on the wall once more. Finally, he reached the switch and flicked it on. Suddenly, light filled the room. All three of them were facing the wall with the light switch on it.

Immediately, the group could see blood smeared all across the walls. It’s deep rich red color staining the walls with hand prints everywhere. Upon seeing the walls, the girls screamed.
Where was he ?
Ian wondered. His heart was already picking up speed. Ian turned around the room and searched for the man. He wasn’t underneath the desk or chairs. He walked over to the window and pulled the curtain back. No, he wasn’t there either.
The only other place he could be was the…
Ian turned around suddenly. Missy let out a blood curdeling scream.

The man was hiding in the closet of the room. The last time that they saw him he wasn’t even able to sit up. Much less walk around. No one thought he would be able to get up and hide. Ian saw that the man had Missy by the shoulders and was leaning his mouth in to rip her flesh apart. Ian ran to Missy but, it was already too late. The man had sunk his teeth into her neck. Blood spewed all over the floor and all over Ian.

Sam had taken a step back and avoided the path of the blood streaming out of Missy’s neck. Her screaming got louder the deeper he sank his teeth into her.

‘Missy NO!’ Sam and Ian both yelled in unison.

Missy started to scream but her vocal cords were already being severed. You could hear her voice quickly disappearing. Ian looked down into his right hand. There he was holding his knife. Why couldn’t he just sink it into this man’s head? Was he that afraid that he couldn’t even save his friends life?

Ian pushed all of the bad thoughts from his mind. He sprung forward and jumped at the undead. It turned to Ian and let out a high pitched shriek. Ian held out the knife and aimed for the things head. The length of the knife was just long enough to allow Ian to peirce the man’s skull without touching him. So, the thing couldn’t sink it’s teeth into him. He fell on top of the man as he sank to the ground.

Suddenly, the door to the office opened and a member of the group walked in. It was a man named Paul.

‘What’s wrong I heard screaming?!’ Paul started to ask.

He didn’t even have time to see Missy leaping towards him. She had already turned into an undead. The bleeding from her wound on her neck had already stopped bleeding. But, you could see veins and ligaments hanging off of her shoulder. Her entire neck underneath her chin was skinned and nawed at. You could see her neck bone sticking out. Paul fell to the floor as Missy leaped onto him full force. She didn’t weigh much alive but, as an undead she gained strong force. She no longer seemed to have any primal instinct but to kill. And the perk of speed. She bit down into Paul’s arm and mauled it to pieces. Sam opened the door to the office and yelled at Ian to follow her. He was trapped behind Missy eating Paul. She jumped on him as soon as he came through the door.

What he needed was a gun. He couldn’t take her on as she was with a flimsy knife. He stashed it back inside his pocket. Ian mustered up his courage to push passed Missy as fast as he could. She didn’t even seem to notice him  flying behind her. Ian met up with Sam and ran downstairs. They listened as the sounds of screams filled the halls upstairs. It seemed like one after the other was being attacked from the sounds they were hearing. They were never going to get out alive if they couldn’t figure out how to get to saftey. Ian grabbed the key from his pocket. It was the key to the computer room. It suddenly gave Ian an idea.

‘Follow me!’ He cried to Sam.

He ran down the hall. Soon they came to the multi-media room. He unlocked the door and pushed Sam inside before himself. Hopefully, one of the undead didn’t see them come inside. Or they would easily break down this door. Ian locked the door behind them and stepped back away into the middle of the room.

‘What are we going to do?’ Sam asked. She was trying to catch her breath.

‘I never knew they could change that fast.’ Ian said.

He was staring off at one of the computers on the long desk.

‘We literally have no chance out there. We need guns.’

Ian sank down into one of the chairs infront of him. He had to come up with a plan. And he woud have to do it soon. Once they found out they were hiding in this room, the undead would break that door down.

Susan rushed to find Jaime. She had heard the cries for help upstairs. The last time she left him, he was eating his food from the feast. Hopefully, he was still in the same place. Susan made her way to the classrooms. She could see people scattering about, running any and every way they could. You could see undead popping up all around her. Susan came to their classroom and opened the door. Thankfully, Jaime was still  sitting on the floor munching on his meal.

‘Mom I heard them running around but, I didn’t want to move until you got here.’ Jaime said with a mouthful of beans and cornbread.

‘It’s good that you didn’t. I need you to get up and come with me.’ Susan told her son.

He didn’t question her at all. He stood up and filed in next to her. She walked up over to the paper cutter on the activity desk in the corner. She pulled up the arm of the blade and pressed her foot on the base of the paper cutter. She pulled as hard as she could on the arm. It began to bend slightly. Susan took a small break and jumped back at it. The screams were getting closer to the classroom and she didn’t have much time to waste.

The arm broke off sending Susan flying back a couple of feet. She raised the blade to the paper cutter above her head to examine it. It would make a fine weapon. And give her range as well. She wouldn’t have to get so close to the undead. She wraped a rag around the handle and reached for some duck tape that the teacher who belonged to this classroom had tucked away in his or her desk before the start of the summer. She found it and wrapped it around the hande and the rag. She would have more of a grip this way.

‘Come on Jaime. It’s time to go. Stick very close to me. And whatever you do, do not let those things touch you. Do you hear me?’ She asked Jaime.

She bent down and held his shoulders. She looked deep into her son’s eyes and kissed his sweet forehead.

‘If we get separated do not hesitate to run and hide. Those things out there won’t hesitate to hurt you. Ok?’ She asked him.

She watched as he nodded his head. Susan stood up and headed towards the door with Jaime following her. She had the make-shift blade hanging at her side. She peered out of the classroom door before exiting the room. Jaime fast behind her heels.

Jeremy was still in the Cafeteria. He heard all of the screams coming from the classrooms upstairs. Something had gone horribly wrong up there. He knew that he should have handled that idiot of a Janitor by himself. Ian probably got himself turned into one of those things. From the sounds of it. More than one of them were running around up there. Because of Ian’s stupidity, the whole group would die. How could he have trusted that Ian could handle one lowly undead. That was just too much to ask of him. What a weak person.

Jeremy ran into the kitchen at the back of the lunch room. He was searching for a butcher knife and anything he could defend himself with. There wasn’t much left. It looked like a lot of the knives had been cleaned out by the group earlier in the day. There was however, a few left. It looked like a smaller turkey cutting knife. As long as it was sharp, it would do. Jeremy took the knife and pressed the blade against his thumb. It was sharp alright. He would use this to defend himself. Jeremy ran back into the main area of the cafeteria. He could see that Susan and Jaime had made it down from upstairs.

‘Have you seen Ian and Sam?’ He yelled across to Susan.

She turned to meet his glance.

‘No, I haven’t there are too many of them up there. We gotta figure something out and fast or we are all going to be joining the dead.’ She took a quick glance down at her son and returned it to Jeremy.

‘I know. We need to shut the cafeteria doors. Maybe we can hold them off.’ He told Susan.

The two of the quickly started dragging chairs to the double doors. Since you had to push the cafeteria doors inward to open them they could baracade themselves in. Shutting the double doors Jeremy, Susan and Jaime started pileing chairs up. They even took a few tables and pushed them up to the chairs too. They were a bit heavy so it would take the undead several minutes to get in.