High School of the Dead

Chapter 17

They came around 1:30 in the morning. They came from in through the windows, both the front and the back. They had scouted us and surrounded the house, waiting for Mr. Williams to go to the front door before smashing in one of the back windows, luring Mr. Williams towards the back of the house as another smashed in one of the front windows. It was the perfect plan. They managed to rush in and grab Mr. Williams before he could draw his revolver. 

Mr. Williams screams for us to run away, but his voice is cut off after a second. I jump out of my bed and grab my backpack and baseball bat. I open my door and call out for everyone else to hurry to my room. Jane, Jack, and Oliver rush to my room in a matter of seconds.

"Where's Mrs. Williams?!"

"I don't know!" Jane hisses. "Let's go! Hurry!"

I open up my curtains and don't see anyone else outside. I unlock one of my windows, pull it up, and kick out the screen. 

"Go, go, go!"

I help Jane through the window and climb out after her onto the small, slanted section of roof on top of the front of our garage. Oliver crawls through next. I hear loud footsteps approaching my room fast and Jack lets out a shriek of terror as he runs for the window. He manages to get halfway through before a set of large hands with black gloves grabs him around the waist and starts pulling him back into my room. 

"NOOOO!! NO! NO! HELP!!! HELP ME!!"

Jack's earsplitting screams continue as he disappears into the room. Oliver, Jane, and I stand frozen in place on the roof, our faces as white as ghosts. We break out of our daze as we hear Mrs. Williams start screaming from downstairs while Mr. Williams calls out to her and Jack continues his shrieks. We shuffle along the slanted roof to the edge of the house. I glance down and feel my stomach clench as I suddenly realize how high up we are. 

"Come on, Ryan!" Oliver shouts. "Move!"

I take a deep breath and flatten myself on the roof, swinging my legs out over the edge and pushing myself in that direction. Oliver and I toss our baseball bats over onto the ground. I inch my body over the edge and soon have my whole body dangling by my fingers on the side of the house. I take another deep breath and loosen my limbs - I'd heard from my gym teacher that this helps prevent major bruising - before letting go and falling onto the plants along the house. The plants help to break my fall a little and I roll onto the grass. Oliver and Jane follow suit and join me on the ground. 

"I don't think they're coming after us, but let's get out of here!" Oliver says quickly.

"Wait. What?! We have to save them!" I argue.

"Save them?! SAVE THEM?! Ryan, they have GUNS! And there are at least two or three of them, if not more! We CAN'T save them! We have to get out of here!" Oliver hisses under his breath.

"We can't just leave them! They'll die! Or worse!" I whisper.

"Ryan!" Oliver growls, grabbing my shoulders and leaning in close to my face, "THEY. HAVE. GUNS! All we have are baseball bats and knives! We aren't superheroes! We can't do some crazy ninja shit and jump out of the shadows and stop them! We don't have guns! We're just high schoolers! WE CAN'T SAVE THEM!!!"

"You don't know that! What if-"

"Ryan! Are you kidding me?! Listen to yourself! You're delusional! We need to get out of here before they come after us!"

"I'm not leaving! I'm going back for them!"

"RYAN!"

I turn around and start heading towards the back of the house. Oliver grabs my shoulder and I shake him off.

"Ryan, stop this!"

"NO! If you want to ditch them, fine. But I'm not leaving my friends behind!"

Oliver scowls and shakes his head. "Do you even have a plan?! How do you possibly think that you can save them?!"

I stop and turn to face him and Jane. "I might...but it would be infinitely easier if you two helped."

"And what exactly do you plan on having us do?"

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