The Monster Apocalypse

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER FIVE

Lots more blood splattered against her face, this time of the icky green kind, when a bullet struck the back of her father's head.

Brin screamed as the blood splashed against her face, her neck, her chest. Her father's zombie corpse, officially dead for the last time, collapsed on top of her, half of his skull missing, and now in chunks all over the dank basement room.

She wiped away the gunk, scooted back against Crispin, and looked past the body, to see Mr. Barker holding a gun by his side.

"Brin! Holy shit!" He raced toward her, kneeled down, and pulled her close to him. "Brin, are you all right?"

"Mr. Barker?" She didn't mean to say it like a question, but that's how it came out.

"It's me."

"How did you find me?"

She let her arms drop to the ground, revealing to the teacher her ugly arm wound.

"Oh no," he said. "No!" He pulled her arm toward him, and he examined the flesh wound; it wasn't big enough to turn her into a zombie right away, but big enough to warrant some worry.

"Am I going to die?" Brin asked.

"You're not going to die! Come on, get up."

Despite her lack of strength, Brin managed to find her footing with little help from her Film teacher. He held her close, then pointed to the boy.

"Who's this?" Mr. Barker asked.

"That's Crispin," Brin said. "Where did you get the gun? And where's the others—"

Before she even finished her sentence, the others appeared. First Dylan entered the back room of the Grisly High basement, a look of sheer panic on his face as he took in the gruesome sight of flesh and brains. Then Anaya brushed past Dylan and slammed her back against the wall, looking down in fear at the immobile zombie as if she thought he was going to come back to life.

Then came Ash.

"Brin?" He didn't step to any side; he just stepped on top of the zombie corpse and raced past it, all the way up to Brin. He gave her a hug before she was able to utter a single word.

"Ash? Is it you?"

"It's me." Then he noticed the wound, too. "Oh no. Brin. We have to get you to a hospital! What happened in here?"

"It was... it was my dad," she said. She looked at Mr. Barker, then Ash, then the other two, shocked and elated that they were all still standing, still alive and bloodless. "How did you all survive? And how did you find me?"

"We'll explain everything in a minute, Brin," Mr. Barker said, stepping past the others and guiding everyone toward the basement exit. "We don't have a lot of time. Hurry!"

Dylan walked side by side with Anaya, and Ash stayed close beside Brin, like he wouldn't dare split away from her again, even if Mr. Barker had that gun pointed at his head. Crispin huddled behind Brin, like he thought she was his only hope for survival.

"Ash," Brin said, pulling him toward her as they followed Mr. Barker down the dark, winding corridors, toward the school basement's exit door. "I'm so glad you're all right—"

"I traveled through time, Brin."

She was devastated by the last few minutes—particularly the part when her dad chewed on her own flesh. She was in pain, with a headache, a stomach ache, a back ache, and a shooting pain running up and down her arm that felt like a dozen knives were scraping her aching bones.

But she still forgot about everything as his words started to sink in. "Huh? How am I supposed to respond to that?"

"I'm not lying. It's the truth."

"You didn't travel through time! Stop being a jerk!"

"I did! I went through a portal to save Mr. Barker. I met Jack the Ripper!"

"You did what?"

"Yes, but then Mr. Barker killed him when he turned into a..." He stopped in mid-sentence, apparently confused whether to continue or not.

"Ash, who's Jack the Ripper?" Brin kept walking at a steady pace, toward the rest of the group, as Ash stopped in his tracks. His jaw dropped almost instantly.

"Oh no," he said. "That's right. We killed him before he could commit any more murders. So to you... and to everyone else... the man never existed!"

"Ash, come on!" Brin shouted. "What are you waiting for?"

Mr. Barker climbed the steps toward the basement exit, and Dylan and Anaya followed. Anaya looked back at Brin, with a knowing, dour expression on her face. Brin just nodded.

Anaya put her hand out. "Take my hand, Brin. I'll help you to the top."

Brin batted her hand away. "I'm fine. I really am. It's not as bad as it looks."

"You were bitten by a zombie, goddammit! Grab my hand!"

Brin did as Anaya said, and they all charged up to one of the many Grisly High hallways. Mr. Barker opened the door, gripped his gun tight, and re-entered the main floor of the school. Dylan followed behind him, so close it looked like he was checking out the teacher's butt. Anaya pulled Brin into the hall, and both girls looked to their left to see Mr. Barker headed toward the middle of the school, instead of the exit door behind them.

"Mr. Barker!" Brin shouted. "Where are you going? Shouldn't we leave through the back?"

She turned around and nearly knocked her bleeding elbow right against Crispin's face. Ash followed behind the boy, but she stepped past both of them, to look outside the door. There weren't any more zombies in the hall, but there were certainly tons outside.

Brin saw at least two dozen zombies, not walking toward them and the door, but toward the cavalry of policemen in the parking lot; the authority figures were whipping out their guns and firing uncontrollably at the flesh-hungry creatures. Brin watched a young male zombie fall to the ground, a woman zombie's head explode, a child zombie's rotting body get split in two.

She brought her hands to her mouth, disgusted and devastated. "The zombies are here to stay. Oh God, it's the end of the world!"

Mr. Barker grabbed her by her good arm and started running, making sure she followed close behind, as they ran past the science classrooms and made a left at the center of the school. "Brin, you're going to be a zombie any minute now if I don't get you some help!"

"Shouldn't you be taking me to an emergency room?" she asked.

"There's nothing a doctor will be able to do for you now. I'm the only one who can help you."

"What the hell will you be able to do about it—"

A zombie jumped out of the administration's office and lunged for Brin's feet, but Mr. Barker was ready. He turned and fired his weapon, the gauntly zombie's head exploding like a watermelon.

"Holy shit," Dylan said. "Mr. Barker, what kind of a gun is that?"

"The kind that kills these things," he said. "You can never be too prepared."

"Mr. Barker, what is going on?" Anaya added.

He shook his head and continued pushing Brin toward the Film classroom at the end of the hallway. "I'll explain in a bit," he said. "Right now? We need to save Brin's life."