Fear the Roaming Dead

The Creatures in the Woods (chapter 2)

His pencil jotted down the notes quickly. There was no time to spare zoned out while taking notes for college. Wally concentrated on the professor's words and he didn't pay attention to the couple of students in the back who were talking away.

"Psychology is more than just reading minds, but most of you know that. It is, the scientific study of the human mind and it's functions, especially those affecting behavior in a given context. Psychology can be used for many things. Figuring people out, displaying dominance, interrogation, and plenty more. Those were just three prime examples. Humans, without knowing it, commonly show body language in which describes their mental and physical state at the moment. We won't cover physical state, this isn't medical class. Today we will be discussing body language and how it defines people." The professor turned around and began writing down notes on the chalkboard.

Some more people started chatting away, but Wally scribbled down notes as the professor was writing them. While writing the notes, Wally was on three different tabs on his laptop, all of them were over a psychology topic. Some of the students behind him eyed down the laptop weirdly and resumed talking about their weekend party.

The professor finished his notes just as Wally finished his. He put down his pencil, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair. Some students were just starting to write their notes and they gave Wally a dirty look.

The professor looked up into the stands and put his hands on his hips. He squinted and stared down the group of people in the back left of the room who were talking and not even minding their notes or class. "Are you people having fun up there?" Professor yelled. The group silenced and looked down on him. Some turned around in their seat and started writing down notes, some of them continued having a staring contest with the professor.

"Sorry?" one of them asked. "Are you guys done disrupting my class? I don't want to be here but my wallet says otherwise. You may not care but other people do. If you're gonna disrupt than just leave." he switched positions and put his hands in his pockets. "I'm not disrupting." said the student.

The professor took one of his hands out of his pockets and motioned the student down into the professor's area. Some students gasped and made childish "oohing" noises. The professor scoffed and said, "You guys are Juniors in your college years! Act like it." The student walked downstairs slowly while displaying a huge grin.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and walked up to the professor, his arms hanging at his side, and his grin was ear to ear. "What's your name, sonny?" the professor adjusted his glasses over his pale old face. "Lance." the student replied. "Good evening, or I should be saying goodnight, considering it is nine at night." "Goodnight to you too." Lance chuckled.

"Lance. You were clowning around back there, correct?" the professor asked. Lance nodded and his smile brightened. The professor took a step closer to Lance. "That's not something to smile about. I could send you home right now for disturbance." Lance shrugged. The professor took another step forward and leaned into his face. "I need you to go back to your seat and stop trying to draw the attention to yourself." The professor yelled while keeping eye contact with Lance. The college student crossed his arms and scoffed. "I wasn't. Just stop talking to me like that, I don't appreciate it." Lance murmured. "Then just get out of my classroom!" The professor pointed at the door.

Lance scoffed. The professor pointed again, this time with a more serious look. "Are you kidding me right now?" Lance asked. "I don't 'kid' anymore. Leave my room. You're welcome to come back tomorrow if you can behave." Lance made a 'are you kidding me' gesture and walked back up to his desk, grabbed his backpack and headed for the door.

Wally watched Lance walked out quickly and angrily. Lance slammed the door and the entire room was quiet for about a minute. Some quiet whispering awoke and the professor sighed. "Well back to-" Wally felt a heating sensation in his throat and his stomach felt like something just jumped inside him. He felt something extremely hot rushing up his throat. Vomit erupted from his mouth and spewed all over the floor in front of him. Some drool dribbled after the vomit came out. Wally covered his mouth and he stood up quickly.

Everyone's head turned to the spluttering sound of liquid. Some girls who sat in front of Wally screamed and jumped back out of their seat. Some guys sitting next to him quickly scooted away and plugged their nose. The professor crossed his arms and made a grossed out face. "Get your stuff and head out. We'll see you in a few days, champ." The professor waved. Wally blurted out. "Could you email me the notes?" he said.

Some people started laughing in the crowd. The professor looked up and smiled at him. He nodded. "What's your email?" Wally spoke up. "Wallace dot Williams at Yahoo dot com." The professor took some chalk and wrote it at the bottom of the board. He looked back up at Wally and put his thumbs up. "Go home and rest. See you soon." The professor continued giving his speech and walk.

Wally picked up his stuff and set his backpack in the chair. He powered down his laptop and put it into his backpack. He zipped it up, threw it over his shoulder, and started out of the building and towards his car.

Wally looked at the pictures on the walls. They were of old college professors who had made impacts on the Augusta Maine leadership board. Wally rubbed his temple and sped walk towards the exit. He put his arms out and shoved the door wide open.

Chilling air rushed into his face. The crisp temperature soothed his skin and gave him goosebumps. The moon was out and the maple trees and pine trees were gently swaying in the breeze. It was silent outside. Almost no locusts, cicadas, or crickets. No wolves howling, nothing at all. Wally took a deep breath and walked straight forward. He looked to his left to see Lance sitting on a bench outside. He had his phone out and he was playing some apps on it. He sat underneath the lamppost and was quiet as a fox. Wally stopped in his tracks and looked at him. His back was turned and he couldn't see Wallace.

From the blue, someone walked out from the far side of the building. They had a hood over their head and they were walking as if they were drunk. They stumbled around wildly and were heading towards Lance.

As he came forward, another person with a hat on came drunk out of the woods. Their legs tripping over the other and their skin looking a little pale. The one with the hood put their hands on Lance and grabbed them. They pulled their head closer to Lance.

Wally stepped back and smiled. "Is that Lance's boyfriend?" he thought. "I didn't know Lance was gay." Wally crossed his arms and watched. The man pulled his head closer to Lance's face. Lance turned to looked at the guy and he started scooting away. Almost as quickly as he reached Lance, the man did something unspeakable.

He took a bite out of Lance's face.

Lance fell off the bench and started screaming. The hooded man leaned over him and started digging into his stomach. The man in the hat reached Lance and also bent down next to him. He dug his hands into stomach and ripped out guts.

He was dead.