Of Eyes and Fingernails

"I remember it like it was yesterday. Everyone's screams were hitting my eardrums, but not making it to my scattered brain. I was scared. So scared, but I didn't show it, and there was nothing I could do. Let me start from...well, the start. My name is Andrea. I'm fourteen years old, and I'm alive."

Andrea's pen hit her desk along with her aching head. She had to document what had happened to her. What had happened to everyone. People had to know. It had started in school a full month ago and was almost under control...Except for one tiny thing. Almost everyone was dead. It had started in first hour, which had been dragging on and on.

"Okay class," Mr.Maskee began calmly. "I know it's first hour but please just bare with me, okay?" Everyone in the class moaned. It was another day in school. Every hour seemed to crawl along at an unbearably slow pace in the final days of April. With only four weeks of school left, everyone was becoming impatient. The monotony of the teacher's voice turned to a droning buzz in Andrea's ears as she slowly drifted off to a daydream. Just as she was about to get the boy of her dreams in her boredom induced fantasy, the intruder alarm began to sound. Everyone in the class stood and began to run to the door as the intercom came on.

"Everyone remain calm and proceed to the cafeteria and surrounding rooms. This is not a drill! Do not use the south doors as an exit." The voice grew frantic as it broad casted from the south office of the school. "I REPEAT," The voice shook. "DO NOT USE THE SOUTH EXIT." As every student in Mr.Maskee's class turned frantic, the sound of sprinting children filled the hall. Everyone crowded into the doorway, pushing and shoving like hungry cattle trying to get to their feed. Mr.Maskee hushed and shushed the children, trying to calm them, but with no success.

Andrea was in no hurry. She was known for staying calm in even the most panic inducing situations. She slowly filed out of the doorway behind everyone else and was immediately lost is a vast sea of bobbing heads, flailing arms, and frantic screams. She wormed her way through the crowd in order to get to the back. She wanted to get out of the mob of middle-school kids and walk alone to the safe-rooms. Like a massive wave, the adolescents pushed her back. She gave up and continued walking and being shoved toward the rooms.

The halls were bursting with screams of panic and horror. As the back of the horde finally came into view, many children's faces were skewed with tears and snot. They were hysterical. Something in Andrea's gut told her that whoever was in here was not joking around. These kids had seen something terrible. She could see it in their absent, troubled eyes. Being the curious girl that she was, Andrea decided to stand up on the stair railing the crowd had approached. She scanned the hall behind the clump of kids, looking for any sort of sign of an intruder or terrorist.

After what seemed like an eternity, the screaming, shoving mob had passed her, and the halls had turned into an eerily silent sanctuary. Suddenly, two teachers came sprinting down the hall. Andrea knew she would be in trouble for not staying with her group, but the teachers said nothing. One of them, a rather large, burly man, grabbed Andrea by the waist, hoisting her off of the thick railing and onto the floor. He gripped her hand and drug her behind him, not once breaking his cheetah-like stride. As they ran, Andrea looked behind her, hoping to catch a glance of the intruder, but only saw another oncoming wave of shadows. Something was odd about the way the shadows of  people moved. Something about the way they walked was off, but she couldn't tell why.

Before she could lay eyes on the other people coming down the hall, she was pulled around a sharp curve and toward the "safe rooms." The safe rooms consisted of the cafeteria and three surrounding rooms. The first room was room A, the cafeteria was B, the third was C, and the last room, of course, was D. A distinguished looking man with sharp features and a clipboard stood in the hall, filing people into rooms and giving directions. He grabbed Andrea by the arm. "You get into room B. Stay in there until we are cleared."

At once, she was shoved into room B and the door was closed behind her. She looked around. As a precaution, she locked the door and shut the hatch to a rectangular opening into the hall, When the cafeteria's door and small opening to the hall were shut, it looked like a cave. There were no windows to the outdoors. A small waiting room led to the very large dining hall which had a kitchen, a supply closet, two bathrooms, and a generously sized area for tables. The dim lighting gave the area a greenish hue. She sat down on the floor along with the other thirty-odd people in the room. No one spoke.

After minutes of silence, Andrea broke it. "So, uh," she laughed nervously, "pretty crazy stuff, huh?" The room remained silent as the man in the hall finished his last orders. Andrea's friend, Chris, spoke. "This is real. And by the way, you're lucky you got to this room. All the others are packed." Andrea nodded. Everyone in sat on the floor, even the teachers (who looked just as scared as the children.) All of them had solemn looks on their faces and some had tears running down their cheeks. One girl was sitting in the corner sobbing. Her boyfriend had his arms wrapped around her, trying to provide comfort, but her face was blank and scarred. She spotted several of her friends; Chris, Josh, and Logan all sat separately around the small waiting room. A knock came to the door.

Everyone looked around uncertainly, wondering if it should be answered. Andrea got up and opened the door. It was the man who was earlier ordering people around. His eyes were frantic and he spoke quickly. He had put on a haz-mat suit and wore a protective mask. "Keep the doors shut and locked. Stay calm and quiet. We'll send our men in later to explain what they can. Everything is under control. DO NOT leave the room.' One teacher stood from the corner. "You call this under control? Look at this!" She used her arm and waved it around the room as if putting every worried face on display. The man, without answering, pulled the door shut. Andrea locked the door once again and turned to face the thirty others sitting in the room. After she was sure no one wanted to speak, she sat back down and rested her head on the cool, concrete wall.

Andrea woke with a start and sat up, rubbing her aching head and squeezing her eyes shut. Through her blurry vision, she noticed that everyone had crammed themselves against the wall on the opposite side of the room. Their faces were painted with horror as they all turned to her. Logan put his index finger to his lips, warning her to stay quiet. Andrea stood, tilting her head and listening like a protective dog. Sure enough, the sounds from the hallway soon reached her ears.Scrape, scratch. Scrape, scratch. Long, dragging strides travelled from under the door to her eardrums. Mustering up all her courage, her feet carried her to a small latched window. It was a few feet away from the door and was covered by a wooden board. As soon as she approached it, everyone knew that she dared to look outside.

Her shaking fingers crawled up to the chain lock as stifled gasps echoed from the back of the room. The lock clicked, leaving the window open to reveal the unknown contents of the hall. She bit her lip as she cracked the window as slowly and quietly as she could, just enough to put her eye against the small opening to see who or what awaited her outside in the long hallway. At first, all she saw was the dim light that filled the school and the black and white concrete walls. After a small break in the troubling sounds, a shadow stretched across the large bricks making up the school. Andrea held her breath.

To her horror, a figure came into view. And then another. And another. Long fingers stretched longingly in the air. Legs absentmindedly carried decrepit, rotting bodies across the tile floor. Torn cheeks revealed yellow teeth, or no teeth at all. Small bits of flesh clung to drooping tendons. Broken necks and bare bones made her stomach churn. Useless eyeballs rolled out of sockets, hanging only by threads. As calmly and quietly as she could, Andrea shut and locked the window. She couldn't handle any more of this grizzly scene. She looked around the room at expectant faces before vomiting in the nearest trash can. Then, walking to the front of the room, she spoke, voice wavering. "Just don't go out there." Everything went black as her inert form hit the ground.