Among The Dead

Chapter 1

I sighed as I leaned back in the uncomfortable plastic chair I was sitting in. A quiet yawn escaped my chapped lips as my teacher droned on about math. I wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying, but I couldn't just get up and leave. I had no idea what was outside the classroom.

The infected had only started entering the city weeks ago, and they brought a new plague with them. No one had truly figured out what kind of virus was causing people to come back from the dead. Not yet, anyway. The only information any researcher up to the task had managed to gather was common knowledge: people were dying, coming back, and eating other people. They were becoming something inhuman.

We should've gotten out while we had the chance, but the walkers flooded the cities before we could. My mom was trapped at her job in the city about an hour away, and my stepfather was about half that distance from me. He'd taken shelter inside his karate studio when the dead had gotten too close. I hadn't heard from anyone in my family in days. By now, I didn't care about math at all. I just wanted to get out of school and find my family.

However, the school had been in lockdown since that morning. A few walkers had approached the facility, and the idea that they were coming so close to our little town in the middle of nowhere had everyone scared out of their minds. I was doing my best to keep myself calm, though; it was the only way that I would be able to survive what was coming.

I flinched as the loudspeakers in the classroom blared to life. Thin fingers brushed my dark brown hair out of my face as I waited for the announcement to come. I was hoping that they would finally allow me and the other students to go home, but the moans on the other end of the speaker weren't very reassuring of that hope.

"Teachers and students," the principal customarily began, "we have a slight issue in the office area of the building. If all teachers could please advise their students to remain in the classroom until it has been solved, that would be much appreciated."

The din of panicked students was quick to muffle the sound of the speaker switching off. I had a small feeling in my chest that I knew what was going on, but the idea wasn't one I was willing to consider. Not until it came from the lips of my teacher herself, at least.

The walkers were in the building.

No one knew their exact location, according to her, but that little tidbit of information didn't help to calm any of the other children. If anything, it only made the situation worse. The panicked voices of the others who occupied the room filled it, drowning my rational thoughts in a flurry of screams and sobs. They sounded more to me like toddlers in that moment. I wanted to scold them all for bringing on a headache that should never have been. However, I never had the chance to say anything to them. The walkers took care of all of that for me.

The slap that resounded on the glass of the small window on the door silenced everyone. The moans and growls of the creatures outside the door roused the fears of the group of terrified children. The first scream became a catalyst for a contest of terrified voices. My head throbbed from the noise, but I couldn't keep myself from looking at the walkers.

The two that I could see fighting for entrance to the room would have seemed like normal people at first glance. However, my hazel eyes picked out the decaying parts of their faces easily. One even seemed like it had been bitten on its face, but I wasn't about to get close enough to the door to confirm that idea.

The bloody hands of the creatures scratched and clawed at the thin glass as we stared. Their thin fingers smeared a dark liquid on the window, making them harder to see. I shuddered when I realized what that liquid was. I didn't know exactly what or who their previous meal could have been, but I knew from the hungry look in their glassy eyes that they'd set their sights on us next.

"Everyone, back to your seats!" My teacher shrieked. Her shrill voice startled most of the students out of their panicked conversations. The other students quickly obeyed and shuffled back to their places in the classroom, though I didn't need to do much of anything besides sit down.

"Now, I want you all to create a probability formula to calculate who in this room would be the most likely to be eaten first. I'll send around a sheet for you all to write your heights and weights on to solve it," she continued, bringing forth a chuckle from me... Until she actually started passing around the sheet.

I had actually been hoping that she was joking up until that point, but no one else laughed. They all simply began to work, the woman responsible for the assignment sitting down calmly at her desk as the walkers continued to maul the door. The volume of their moans had increased with what I assumed to be the arrival of more of them, but no one seemed to be bothered by it. Except me.

"Mrs. Lewis?" I called, hoping to get the attention of the woman without drawing the eyes of my peers as well. I didn't like any of them anyways, so I didn't want any of them staring at me... or blaming me if the walkers eventually got in and we were still doing work.

"Why are we still doing work? Shouldn't we be doing something about the infected on the other side of the door?"

Her wrinkled face immediately scrunched up in a disapproving frown, eyes narrowing as the rest of the class turned their attention to their superior as well. I knew that she wasn't very fond of me, yet I didn't think that questioning her decision would push her so far that she would physically show it.

"Just complete the problems. Someone will be here soon to take care of them," the woman spat, turning back to whatever she was doing at her desk as she left us to do the work she'd assigned us. Others went back to their work, satisfied with the excuse, while I scoffed.