School Of The Apocalypse

Chapter 7/Church

Day 5; 8:36 a.m.

We piled into the truck and headed to the church. Autumn's dad drove with A.J. and Mr. Baker sitting beside him. In the back were Autumn, Auston, Kelsi, and myself.

I caught sight of Kelsi's rifle behind her as we drove. Autumn had a machete and a pistol; she could be deadly with any weapon, though. Auston had his sledgehammer ax. I looked down at my bat and my pistol. I hoped that I had what it took to be a leader and a warrior. This new world was changing me. For good or bad, I don't know, and that's what scared me most.

We all hung on as we got onto the main road and headed toward the church. I didn't know what to expect. I figured that everyone was dead, but something told me that that wasn't the case. Someone would have survived. Right?

I sighted the church and we pulled in. The bus was just where I remembered it being.

I asked Autumn's dad to keep the truck running so that we could get out fast if needed. Kelsi covered us with her rifle and Auston, Autumn, and I jumped out of the back of the truck to meet Mr. Baker.

"Let's get this done already," Baker barked at us. I didn't appreciate his attitude, but I didn't argue under the circumstances. I held my bat at the ready as we jogged over to the bus. I tried the door. It was locked. I snarled.

"Let me try," Auston interrupted. He pushed me out of the way and took his Sledgehammer Ax and tapped the door, vaguely hard, and it popped open.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

"Dad once locked his keys in his truck. Just tapped it and it flew right open," he stated. I laughed, thinking of how much of an idiot my uncle was. Auston grabbed the door and opened it.

A figure jumped out and tackled Auston to the ground. I grabbed the figure and restrained it.

"Let go of me," the person said. I recognized the voice as that of one if my friends from church.

"Lee?" I asked. The person stopped struggling and I let them go.

"Josh!" he said as he about tackled me. "Guys! It's Josh!" He screamed back into the bus. The bus produced five people from within. Jake and Mitchell, two of the pastor's sons, Carly, Lee's friend, Garrett, Lee's brother, and Nathan, the youth pastor.

We greeted them all and all was well, until I heard Mr. Baker scream. I turned to see five walkers on top of him. He was on the side of the church, out of Kelsi's line of sight. They ripped into him and he dropped his gun, screaming as blood flowed down his cheeks. Auston, Autumn, and I charged the monsters. Auston slashed one of the walker's heads off with the ax side of his weapon, and rolled afterwards. Autumn produced her pistol and shot two walkers over with one shot. I grappled one of the walkers and kneeled as I beat the bat into his skull. Auston smashed the skull of the other one in as it turned around. Its body flew off to the side, landing with the one I had dispatched.

We had stopped them, but we were too late. Mr. Baker lay on the ground looking me straight in the eyes, dead. Blood poured from his neck, staining the gravel beneath him. I looked down, horrified that I couldn't save him.

Then, came a moan. A moan the split my heart in two, Mr. Baker had turned. He was now one of the monsters we were facing. He started to crawl toward me. I looked at him. I stepped away, out of his reach and grabbed my pistol from its holster. I had to put him out of this cursed existence. I aimed. Closed my eyes. Then, fired.