Zombies?(on hold)

The World Turned Upsidedown

Everything was perfect. The key word :was. I had a hot boyfriend, great friends, the best grades (I was shooting for valedictorian of my class), and a normal life. I wasn't the most popular or the most liked, but dating the football quarterback had its perks. For example, everyone, except the head cheerleader, was nice to me and knew who I was. Before dating Zack, I was an absolute no one.
Now, let me explain what turned the whole world upside down. It all started in third period...
"Isn't it beautiful?" Mr. Dayt, otherwise known as Mr. D, breathlessly questioned the class. Not only was Mr. D my science teacher, he was also my favorite teacher. Before he started his career as a teacher, he was a scientist. He worked in a lab that studied viruses and diseases. His amazement with the body, more specifically the brain, lit a fire in me. Science class was the only class I actually paid attention in.
My parents had pushed science on me form a young age. They were both doctors; my mom is a nurse and my father is a heart surgeon. Ever since I learned how to read, they've thrown science books to me. In fact, that's the only genre of books we have in our vast library.
Mr. D waved his hand over a picture on the projector. The picture showed a brain, dissected to show the middle and all of the parts. He zoomed in on one section, "Can anyone name what this is?"
I quickly recognized it. It was the pituitary gland, but I didn't answer. I let the silence float around for a few moments. Sighing, I slid my hand up. As he scanned the room, his eyes lit up when they saw my hand up.
"Amber, please tell the class what this is."
I took a deep breathe and then let it out, " It's the pituitary gland. It releases hormones and has a main place in the endocrine system."
He smiled and nodded in approval, "I see someone's been doing some extra studying." Everyone stared at me, I usually never answered questions in class. I know they all thought I was weird. I was a brainiac with the highest grades while my boyfriend was close to failing half of his classes.
  Kasey, my best friend, poked my side, "Hmm, someone's been studying. Not a surprise."
  I rolled my eyes at him and returned my focus to the board. I could hear Zack goof off with his friends in the back of the room as Mr. D explained what each part of the brain did. My eyes were glued to his hands every movement. I hung on to every word.
•
  The end of the class never arrived, instead, an emergency alarm blared over the speaker. The alarm was so loud that everyone's hands flew to their ears at an attempt to block out the noise. A muffled lady's voice took the alarm's place. I removed my hands to be able to understand her, "We are on lock down! Everyone lock your door and cover your windows! This is not a drill. I repeat this is-"
  Her frantic yells turned into terrifying screams. Horrific screams with animalistic grunts mixed in. The intercom shut off with three beeps.
"I'm sure everything will be fine!" Mr. D called as he quickly walked to the door and locked it. Kasey found his way beside me and I just sat there, not knowing what was going on.
I turned my head to my friend's direction, his face was pale and he stared off into space. I stood up and made my way to the teacher. Kasey trailed me. "What do you need us to do?"
"Help me get these up," Mr. D pulled big black sheets of paper from the storage closet. We taped them over all of the windows and the small one on the door. Because it was a science room, we had the biggest classroom with the most windows. It took awhile, but we got all of the glass covered.
"Everyone, calm down!" Mr. Dayt ordered the teenagers who were screaming. Several girls were sobbing, while the guys all tried to look tough.
In all honesty, I was terrified. I didn't like letting my emotions show, though. Even though I wanted to join those girls and become a blubbering mess, I refused. Instead, my face stayed blank the entire time.
  Mr. D walked around the room attempting to settle the cries, as Kas and I sat against the back wall, farthest away from everyone else. I could hear Kasey's breathing start to stagger. I turned to him, "Kas," he opened his eyes to look at me. "Kas, everything is fine." I grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight. He closed his eyes and nodded, he couldn't talk. He was on the verge of a panic attack.
  Zack decided to finally show up beside me. I could feel his glare on Kasey's hand, but I shrugged off his look and continued comforting my friend. My words did a wonder on calming him down, but he didn't meet the eyes of anyone. Kasey was prone to terrible panic attacks, a fact he hide from everyone besides our group. 
  Mr. D urged everyone to be quieter. No one knew what was going on yet. We didn't know if someone broke in, or worse. Considering the woman's screams from earlier, I'm guessing worse.
  A sound similar to the one from the system earlier erupted in the hall. Uneven footsteps sounded out; it sounded as though something was being dragged. A few people let out whimpers, but Mr. D did his best to hush them. Zack reached his arm over my shoulders, more to comfort himself than me.
  The noise continued, coming closer and closer until it was right outside of the door, then it abruptly stopped. About five minutes passed and you could hear a pin drop. My curiousness got the best of me and I shrugged off Zack's arm.  I gave Kas' hand a quick squeeze and then dropped it. My feet hesitantly made their way to the door. My heart thumped faster as I peeled the corner of the paper off of the window. It was just enough to fit my eye on. I pressed my face against the small hole and yelped in surprise as I fell backward when I saw the 'thing' standing right outside the door. I crawled as fast as I could backwards next to Kasey. Zack had left to sit with his friends again.
  As I gulped for air, Kasey looked at me with wide eyes filled with worry. "What did you see?"
  I shook my head back and forth quickly as the moans from the creature started again. "I don't know. It looked like a human, but dead for a few months. His skin was grey, saggy, and torn in some places. It had cuts so deep you could see the bone. The hair looked like straw. The clothes were dirty and torn. And the thing was covered in blood!" I made no sense, but Mr. D nodded.
He thought for a moment and then rolled his eyes, "This is why I became a teacher. When I was still a scientist, the lab began working on a new super vaccine. It was supposed to prevent all diseases, but I saw flaws in their plan and their work. When I pointed them out, they fired me. They must've tried it on someone, and it looks like their great plan did not work how they thought." I nodded, urging him to continue, or maybe even tell us the flaw.
Mr. D made sure no other students could hear us and then continued, "To make this vaccine, they used many diseases. It's usually safe to give more than one vaccination at a time, but they were planning on doing hundred of diseases combined. Some of the diseases must've created new strains and made whatever we're dealing with now. I have no idea how it spreads, the new disease they created, so everyone needs to stay here until help arrives. I need to get to the lab immediately." The thing began walking into the door and making more noises which made kids whimper and cry.
I didn't have time for crying, "We'll help you!" I assured. We had to stop it before it spread to much. It was stupid of them not to consider the possibilities, and now we had to deal with their mess.
"No, it's too dangerous," Mr. D firmly declined my offer.
"A little danger never hurt anybody," my smirk was weak, but it seemed to do the trick because we began formulating a plan.
We drew out a map. The lab was eight hours away in a small town named Alpine in Texas. We needed to began our trip from Katy which was another town in Texas.
"We'll stop by each of your houses before we leave," Mr. D informed.
Kasey quickly shut down the offer, "We don't have to stop by my house." Mr. D gave a confused look. I knew he didn't have to pick anything up from his house, his foster house. He was treated horribly there, which is why he spent most of his time hanging at my place.
We basically just took him in as part of the family.