School Yard Apocalypse Book 1: Dead Flesh

Chapter 5: Three months

(((Thanks so much for reading, please vote if you are enjoying! Above is 'R.I.P. to my youth' by The Neighbourhood and a picture of Xanna)))

Three months. We were running out of food. Hayden was gone, neck ripped out by a DF on a supply run to the girl's boarding house. Megan was devastated but Nick had been coming to Upper Highland a lot to comfort her. She was being an extra bitch to me lately as well which didn't help my newly found depression. After all of this death and tragedy I felt worse and worse every day. It wasn't enough to leave them though... I thought about it sometimes, ending it quick and easy just like Olivia had done but... I couldn't. The only thing that kept me going was them. I promised myself that I would do anything to protect my friends, even to the extent of my own life. I could see the stress lines clearly visible on Xanna's face. She was still trying to lead us and by this I meant she was trying to keep us from starving to death. Megan was still the one in charge of supplies but Xanna made sure that everyone got enough but did not go over their ration. My stomach growled for about the hundredth time that day. Shut up! I know you're hungry! I yelled mentally, it growled again in response. Ouch please stop, it hurts... I begged but of course the hunger pain didn't fade. I thought that surely the amount of fat stored up in body over the years would be enough to satisfy my needed energy but noooo. I groaned and tried to ignore it like I usually did. 'Are you okay?' Maeve asked from beside me. She was staying in Upper Highland for the day because... well... just because she wanted to really. 'Yeah, just hungry like everyone else' I answered truthfully. She nodded causing her slightly curly brown hair to bob. She looked into my eyes with her grey-blue ones and smiled her bright smile with perfectly straight teeth and cute freckled cheeks. 'Well look at the bright side' she started, 'at least we are still alive and all together.' I smiled back and she hugged me. I hugged her back. Maeve was such a great comforter. I saw a flash of light blonde and suddenly Lydia was here too, joining our hug. 'You guys okay?' she asked.
'Yeah' Maeve and I answered in unison.
'How about you?' I asked her.
'Yeah, things could obviously be better but... it's okay for now' she answered.
Lydia brushed her long hair back with her hand and smiled at us. Her bright blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight flooding through the window.

The sun began to set just as Miles, Brooke and I got back from a run to the sports centre (gym) for anything else we could scavenge. The only things we found that we hadn't already gotten were another cricket bat hidden in a corner, a base ball (who knows, maybe it would come in handy?) and a few rusty nails that we collected from an old air conditioning unit. The building was pretty damn secure now. Brooke and Dean had used whatever they could to board up the doors and windows and now DFs had no chance of getting through. There was a group of about twenty that wandered by one time but they couldn't get through no matter how hard they hit the doors with their rotting limbs. We trudged upstairs and blocked it off once we were up there, nothing was sneaking into our building. As I walked in I saw Tate as usual. He had pretty much permanently moved in now but no one seemed to complain. From what I heard, Darren had pretty much taken over the other group but he apparently wasn't a bad leader. Speaking of leaders... 'I think it's about time for a change in leadership Xanna! You can't be in charge anymore! We never even got a vote in the first place because you just suddenly decided that you would be the leader without anyone's consent!' I heard Miles yell. Here we go. We were all starting to think Miles was right though. It wasn't like Xanna was a terrible leader but well... we never did get to vote, she kind of did just step in and- 'Miles you never stopped me from stepping up! Nobody did! No one but you has complained about me being leader and it's just because you're jealous!' Xanna retaliated, interrupting my thoughts.
'Well actually Xanna...' Caitlin started earning a death glare from Xanna that shut her up.
'Come on babe we need to stop fighting. I think a vote is a good thing, we should all get a chance to say who we want to be leader' Madi added in to calm Xanna down.
'Fine' Xanna answered, not sounding too pleased but going along with it anyway.
So we sat in a circle on the floor making me think we had gone back to like second grade or something. 'So how are we going to do this?' Dean asked the question we were all wandering.
'Anonymous or no?' Miles added.
'No, I want to hear everyone's opinion' Xanna answered.
'Okay... everyone good with that?'
No one seemed to object so the voting went ahead freely. Xanna went first explaining why she would remain a good leader and obviously voting for herself. Megan kept count of the votes on a piece of paper. Miles went next. He put a lot of good points in like the fact that Northpoint, a shopping centre down the road, would have to be the next place to look for food and that we shouldn't bother scavenging the school anymore because everything was practically gone. He also mentioned that he had been keeping a close eye on everyone and figuring out their best qualities and talents so he could place them in certain teams or in different areas of work. Overall I thought that Miles would be a pretty good leader and considered voting for him over Xanna. Miles finished up by voting for himself and passed it on to the person next to him. Dean voted for himself, Brooke voted for Miles earning a hurt look from Dean, Caitlin also voted for Miles, Solomon voted for himself, Megan voted for Xanna, Tate voted for Miles which was surprising since I thought for sure that he would vote for himself being the past leader of the other group, and then it was Madi's turn. She looked a little worried and confused, not knowing who she wanted to vote for. I raised an eyebrow at her because well... I was expecting her to vote for Xanna straight away, she was her girlfriend after all, but she stayed quiet for a little while before taking in a deep breath. 'Okay' she started, 'so I think Xanna is doing an alright job as leader but... there is someone else I want to vote for because I think she would also be a good leader and I know that she won't want to vote for herself. So yeah... Sarah, I vote for Sarah.' Wait what!? I turned to her with an expression that was something between shock and confusion. 'What?' I said out loud. Everyone looked towards me making me feel a little nervous. 'No way Madi, I don't want to be the leader' I argued. She sighed in response, 'Damnit, I knew you would say that. Fine I change my vote; Xanna.' I sighed in relief as everyone's attention started to drift away from me. I was next. Oh geez... just vote for Miles, he seems leader worthy and you know him a little from when you go on supply runs with him. He's cool. 'Uh... I vote for Miles' I spat out quickly. Xanna looked worried, she knew that Miles was getting way more votes than her. That was everyone in the circle. Wait a second. Where the hell was Mitch? The others noticed that we were a man down as well and they started to look around. Oh no I thought, where is he? How did I not notice he was gone!? Oh no oh no oh no... Suddenly the door to the bathroom swung open and out stepped a kind of sick looking Mitch. 'Sorry guys I wasn't feeling very well, I think I ate something that was way past its expiry date...' I hadn't noticed that my sigh of relief was a little too loud until Madi smirked at me. Argh shut up Madi I cursed at her mentally. He came over and sat down next to Miles, his face a little pale and dark rings under his eyes. Man, is he sure it was just bad food because he looked awful. I hope he's okay... Dang it brain stop being so lovey dovey. I shook my head slightly and focused on what Miles was saying to stop the embarrassing thoughts from appearing again. 'So yeah just vote for who you think should be leader' Miles finished explaining to Mitch. He nodded and put his fingers on his chin in thought. 'Hmmm...' he hummed.
'Come on Mitch you're as slow as Madi' Miles teased.
'Hey!' Madi retorted as Miles cracked up.
'Okay well...' Mitch replied, 'I think it should be someone responsible, someone kind, someone that cares about everyone else over themselves... I vote for... Sarah.'
No! Not again! Wait hold on... Mitch voted for me!? 'She already said no' Madi answered for me, 'I voted for her too.' Mitch sent me a disappointed look and sighed. 'Oh' he said, 'well then... uh Miles I guess.'
'Has everyone voted?' Caitlin asked us all earning nods all around.
'Looks like we have a new leader' Megan concluded, 'congrats Miles.'
Miles beamed. 'Thanks guys' he answered in appreciation. Xanna didn't look happy. She scowled at Miles and stormed off downstairs. I expected Madi to follow her and cheer her up but she stayed right where she was as if she hadn't even noticed. Is something happening between those two? I wondered, whatever. It's none of my business anyway. 'Well uh... meeting's over guys' Miles finished, causing us to all get up and get back to work. Madi went downstairs to work on dinner, Megan went to do her daily check on our supplies, Brooke and Dean went to check the defences, the others did whatever it was they were doing and as for me... I was on fire duty. The firewood pile was downstairs by the kitchen so I followed some of the others down to get some. A had a few logs in my arms when yelling erupted from the kitchen and Madi came out with a sour look on her face. 'Something wrong Madi?' She jumped when she heard me but quickly calmed down. 'Oh yeah it's fine. Just some issues we're working out' she replied with a reassuring smile.
'Uh, okay' I answered as I started walking back to the stairs.
'Oh no not again!' I heard from upstairs as I started my way up.
'Come on Tate it's your turn, you have to do it' Caitlin insisted.
'But it's so gross' he complained.
'Do. It.' Caitlin basically demanded.
Tate growled and took the empty bucket in Caitlin's hand. As he walked by me I could hear him swearing under his breath. He went into the bathroom and slammed the door behind him. 'Bathroom duty?' I asked Caitlin.
'Yeah, he's such a baby. It's really not that bad.'
'Empting the bins, cleaning the toilets and sinks... yeah not that bad' I answered sarcastically.
That caused us both to giggle. 'Okay maybe it is pretty bad, but everyone has to do it.'
'Yeah...'
Caitlin smiled and headed downstairs leaving me alone. Realising that my arms were killing me, I dropped the firewood on the floor next to the pile of ashes where our fire usually was. Okay, now I just need paper and a lighter or match. I grabbed a little wad of clean toilet paper from the bathroom and put in on the ashes before piling the wood and sticks on top of that. Most of our fire wood was either scraps from the gardens or pieces of old furniture but as long as it was wood, I was fine. I quickly rushed downstairs again and got the oven lighter from the kitchen and brought it back upstairs. The paper was soon on fire and lighting the wood. I had done this a few times so it was pretty easy. We had a fire pit in our backyard at home... home. I wandered what was happening out there. I lived a little outside of the suburbs near a dam. Maybe it wasn't as bad out there because it's not as heavily populated as in the city? I had hope. We had chickens and a vegetable garden and lots of space... now that I thought about it, it wouldn't be a bad place to set up camp. The only problem would be actually getting out there. The city was still pretty packed with DFs, we hadn't seen any other survivors since Tate's group. Although... Mitch and I had seen some cars that were still in pretty good shape around the school. We could take one and drive it out of town, surely there would have to be less DFs in the suburbs. Maybe we could even stop by people's houses on the way and see if their families were okay. Tate had his license, Darren would have his learners too probably Brooke was also a really good driver. We could take two or three cars with both groups and move away from the school. There was nothing left for us here anyway, everything was looted. It was a good idea to suggest this to Miles, he would probably agree with me. Speaking of Miles, he came upstairs and saw me by the fire. 'Good job on getting the fire going' he said to me. I blushed a little, not used to getting compliments from boys and replied with a simple thanks. He sat across from me and smiled. I smiled back. Should I tell him now or wait? He did only just become leader and he is probably really busy with other things I thought. 'What's wrong?' Miles asked obviously noticing my expression.
'Nothing it's just well... I had an idea' I answered.
'Okay, what is it?'
'I was thinking we should get going soon. There is nothing left in the school and sure we could loot Northpoint but that's risky...'
'I get where you're going with this but where do you suggest we go?'
'My place. We have tons of space to fit everyone and a few good resources for food and such...'
'Where is it?'
'Out of town, near the dam.'
'Hmmm, that's pretty far...'
'Yeah but we could drive there. Tate, Darren and Brooke could probably drive and Mitch and I saw some cars near the road that looked usable.'
'You and Mitch saw cars by the road... how? I thought Xanna banned people from going near the highway in fear of attracting a bunch of DFs.'
I blushed. 'We uh... we were on the roof.'
'You guys were on the roof!? Do you know how dangerous that is? What if one of you fell?'
'I know Miles but it's a really good place for scouting out the area and it's also a good place to you know, get away from everyone and relax and-'
'Are you and Mitch dating or something?' Miles cut me off.
My expression turned to horror mixed with embarrassment and I was now blushing even more, heck I was probably about as red as a strawberry right then. 'I...I... No!' I stuttered, 'I found him there by accident and he told me not to tell anyone else... we aren't... like that. We aren't even really friends...' Miles nodded in understanding. 'Okay, alright, sorry geez. You guys should be really careful though, after Olivia... I just don't want anyone getting hurt, or worse.'
'We know that.'
'Look, I'll consider your idea about moving but for right now the school is our safest bet. I just think that everyone getting in a car and driving together when there is potential danger is more risky than looting a shopping centre down the road. If we see DFs at Northpoint then we can just sneak away, not alert them but if we are on the road with a noisy vehicle and we run into a giant herd or it breaks down and we get stranded then we are doomed.'
'Okay, I understand.'
I really do. Miles is right, maybe it is too risky to move I thought. He nodded again and stayed quiet. That was pretty much the end of our conversation. The darkness consumed our building quickly and the light of the full moon shone through the windows. Miles curled into a ball and started to snore on the other side of the fire, he must have been tired considering we hadn't even had dinner yet. Suddenly I heard a thump and turned to see Mitch stumbling up the stairs. He didn't look good. Without thinking I got up and rushed over to help him. He put an arm around me, which made me blush and shiver slightly, and I helped him over to his mattress. Miles woke up and came over to help me lower him onto it. He groaned in pain as we did so and I started to think that something was seriously wrong. 'Mitch you're getting worse!' Miles stated obviously.
'Well duh Miles' he huffed, taking the words right out of my mouth.
His eyes widened and he quickly covered his mouth. 'Bucket! Now!' I yelled to Miles who got up and ran down to grab something. He came back up just in time for Mitch to puke his guts out into the pot he brought. 'Argh ha ha!' Mitch groaned. Poor thing. He looked up at me and tried to smile but another wave of nausea seemed to hit him and he went back to his pot. Miles gagged and backed away. 'I do not like vomit' he grumbled and went downstairs again. 'Are you sure it was something you ate?' I asked. He closed his eyes, obviously tired from the amount of vomiting he had just done. Maybe I should ask him later, he looks a little too... busy now. Mitch opened his eyes again and looked into mine. He must have seen the worry in them because he frowned. 'I'm okay Sarah, I just need some rest' he reassured me.
'Are you sure? I could get you some medicine...'
'No don't worry, I'll be fine by morning.'
'Okay...'
Even in this state he still managed to take my breath away with his small smirk. It was only then that I realised how close we were. I was sitting beside him, looking into his eyes and our faces were so enough that I could smell his breath. It smelled like puke but I didn't care. My instincts told me to back up as fast as possible and I did with another blush and a stupid awkward look on my face. Mitch frowned and raised an eyebrow at me. I just covered up my panic with a small grin. Surprisingly I thought I saw an annoyed expression as he turned away to stare at a wall. My heart sank, I must have been to close or something. He was annoyed that I was still sitting next to him, in fact he probably didn't even want me here. I got up and tried not to show my sadness as I trudged downstairs to see what the others were doing. I came face-to-face with Xanna as I entered the kitchen and she raised an eyebrow. 'What was with Miles coming in here and stealing one of our pots?' She sounded pissed. 'Mitch needed it... he's sick.' Xanna's expression turned to worry, 'is he okay?'
'No' I answered truthfully, 'he doesn't look okay but he did say that he would be fine, he just needs rest.'
'Okay. Look after him.'
'What? Me?'
'Yeah, why not you?'
'Caitlin's the medic!' I argued.
'Mitch knows you better. You guys are practically dating, going up onto the roof every morning to do who knows what...'
'Wait what? Number one: we are not dating! I just told Miles that geez... and number two: how did you even know about that!?'
'You guys aren't exactly quiet, Miles is a heavy sleeper, he is pretty much the only one who doesn't know.'
'But... it's a good look out spot, I thought you guys would want to come up too so we kept it a secret.'
Xanna laughed, 'we didn't want to disturb you' she answered before winking. My eyes widened, 'it's not like that!'
'So you've said' Xanna smirked.
'Shut up! Dirty minded idiot' I mumbled the last part so Xanna wouldn't hear.
'Whatever.'