What we've become (featuring zombies)

Uninvited guests

"Issy." Eliza yelled down my ear. I rested my head against the warm, glass window of the bus and kept my eyes firmly shut. "Issy, I know your just pretending to be asleep." I looked across at Eliza's smug face. She had one of those faces which always seemed to be laughing at me, it was slightly unnerving. She had wavy light brown hair and bright blue eyes. Eliza has been friends with me for the last 3 years, we kind of got stuck with each other and then pretended that we chose to be friends. She was a bit annoying. She kept going on about all her other friends and her real friends and her best friends and her ex boyfriends. And she's pretty. I tried to push away the guilty feeling of hatred and jealousy that fired up in my heart.

"Are we there yet?" I asked with a weak smile, feeling guilty that I was thinking bad things about her. "No, not yet." she replied, quickly turning her attention back to her iphone. My eyes scanned across the year 11 class. Kayn was sitting at the front of the bus, she pulled a face at me and I pulled one back, feeling suddenly happy at being allowed to act childish. Kayn and I had met a year ago in art when the teacher decided to sit her next to me and after a few lessons we became good friends. She was the most intelligent person I've ever known, Kayn had long, dark hair, dark brown eyes and an incredibly kind smile. She also had an extraordinary gift to be able to paint and draw anything in a realistic and dramatic way. Sitting next to her was May.

May had short brown hair and constantly happy eyes. She always seemed to be full of energy no matter what; she was in every sport club that existed and never stopped talking. Some people found this annoying, but I thought it was amazing because it meant I didn't have to attempt to make conversation as she done all the talking and her never ending happiness was kind of uplifting. Opposite May, was Luke, Tanya and Liam. I've known them for along time and all three of them are like family to me. Tanya and Liam are both my age, 15 and Luke is Tanya's younger brother, 14.

"Issy are you even listening?" a hurt voice from beside me said. Eliza. I looked back at her blankly. "So as I was saying," she said melodramatically rolling her eyes, "Daddy said we could go on holiday twice this year because he has had a wage rise but I can't deal with the stress of packing twice so..." Did she really think I cared about this? I wish she was dead.

The bus came to a sudden halt. "What's wrong? Why aren't we moving?" Mr Johnson asked the driver, his voice full of panic. It wasn't a good place to be stuck, we were in the middle of nowhere, it didn't look like there would be any towns for miles. "I just got a phone call saying there was something blocking the road further up, we might need to wait for it to be cleared, they said it was pretty grim and I don't think the kids should have to see a car crash scene." He explained turning the engine off. The bus soon became full of noise and conversation again.

A colossal gunshot sound boomed across the sky. It was nearby. Everything shook. Screams. Panic. It sounded chaotic. But inside the bus it was completely silent. Everybody sat, paralysed with fear, completely still. Eyes wide with shock and fright, we couldn't even look at one another. After about a minute had passed I looked at Eliza and opened my mouth to speak. She looked back at me expectantly. Silence. No sound came out. I was lost for words, we all were.

Another gunshot followed. Crashes. Screams. Cries. Silence. And then from nowhere the whole class erupted into chaos. Thirty teenage girls and boys ran around the bus in tears with no idea where to go or what to do. They shouted and screamed helplessly and the bus driver manically tried to start the engine, but it wouldn't start, something must have been broken. His face turned red in panic and worry as he realised the pretty grim thing that was blocking the road might not have been a car crash and the kids might see something a lot worse very shortly. Kayn ran towards me saying hundreds of terrified words at once, I grabbed Kayn and Eliza and pulled them into the toilet at the back of the bus and locked the door.

"What are you doing?" Eliza screamed, her eyes filling up with tears. Eliza was always crying but now she had a reason. "Hiding. Eliza, what if the gunman comes on the bus!" I said my voice becoming weak and nervous. Kayn looked at her in shock as she left the toilet, "Oh my god! Can't you hear how close he is?" she pleaded with Eliza as she walked away moodily. We quickly locked the door behind her and sat on the cold, disgusting floor in silence, in the half dark, listening to hysterical cries outside the toilet door.

Another gunshot was fired. This time it was close. The class went silent again, maybe that was worse than the screams. We could hear the scrambling of feet and moved belongings as they hid under the seats. I never felt so grateful that there was a toilet on the bus. Then my mind flickered to all the people on the bus that could die. Death itself was a horrific event, but when it's your friends you care about, or even just people you know... May, Luke, Tanya, Liam. The thought of them moving away to another country was enough to reduce me tears but, dying? Could I fit them in this small compartment as well? I can't just leave them to die. Then what about the rest of the class? Am I going to pick who hides in toilet based on who's the closest to me? The whole idea made me feel sick. Was there time to save anyone?

The bus doors smashed opened. It didn't sound like one person. It didn't sound like a person. It didn't sound...human? Hundreds of moans and agonizing sounds of suffering entered the bus. Terrifying sounds of scraping and ripping, followed by screams and cries of pain. Maybe the person with the gun wasn't the danger. Maybe he was shooting the danger. Kayn looks at me with big fearful eyes, I think she had realised too. Was it some kind of animal?

I braced and shut my eyes tightly trying to block out the horrifying sounds of slaughter. My heart filled with anxious butterflies and the palms of my hands became clammy and sweaty, the human screams and cries of pain had stopped. The strange moans of whatever invaded the bus continued to haunt the bus. How many was there? 80? 100? More? More seemed to be filling up the bus and adding to the noise of their weird agonizing murmurs.

Scraping and bashing suddenly hit the toilet door violently like thunder. We both screamed, backing away towards the other side of the toilet, staring at the shaking door. Whatever was on the other side continued to try and brake the door desperately, a gruesome hand punched a hole into the door, grabbing the air fiercely. "Issy! What do we do? What do we do?" Kayn shrieked looking at me helplessly. I looked around the toilet for anything that could be used as a weapon, there was nothing, but why was I even bothering to look? I'm scared of everything, I've never hit anyone in my life. Sure I slapped someone once, but it didn't leave a mark or really do any damage and I felt guilty for months afterwards.

"We are going to die! Issy, oh my god, Issy do something!" She sobbed in an unsteady voice. I looked around again for anything that could be of use; Soap, toilet, shelf, toilet roll, window. Window. "Kayn, the window!" I said, my hands fumbling around at the latch on the small toilet window. Me and Kayn looked at each other with the same thought. Who was going to go first? My muscle memory almost made me say 'you first' and then I remembered there was murderous monsters savagely clawing at the door. We stood frozen, unsure whether to offer the other person to escape first or climb out first ourselves.

A loud noise sounded from behind us as the lock and one of the hinges broke. A part of door started to fall and pull away from the other half to reveal hideous, deformed faces which had the slightest resemblance to human faces. I hurriedly rushed towards the window, trying urgently to push my body through the small gap, but Kayn had the same idea and we both scrambled hopelessly, bumping into each other and gasping terrified deep breaths. The door became more and more further away from the wall and thousands of hungry zombie like faces appeared, tearing up the plastic then drooling over the broken door parts as their wicked eyes stared at us and their raw arms tugged at the door desperately.

"You first then,just go, get out!" I screamed half pushing Kayn out the small gap. Kayn struggled through the window and landed outside the bus. I pushed myself through the gap, ignoring the slight pains from squeezing through the window. As soon as I fell out the window the door broke and the zombies poured into the toilet, attempting manically to push themselves out the window towards us. Kayn turned to face me, reflecting my own shocked emotions in her expression, "Let's get out of here."