High School of the Living Dead

Chapter 1: The Riots

I was dead the moment homeroom started.

Which was normal, homeroom has always been mind-numbingly boring.

Everyone was either talking to each other, to their friends online, or finishing homework assigned the day before.

Whatever they were doing, they were also trying to forget I ever existed.

I doodled in the margins of my bio notebook, trying hard not to think about future 'F' I was about to make on the history quiz that I neglected to study for the night before.

A small ball of crumpled paper hits the back of my head. "Hey, Sarah," Rick said, a guy who thinks that tossing balls of paper at someone's head is an acceptable way to get their attention, is trying to get my attention. Another crumpled ball of paper hits my head, "Sarah!"

I knew what he was asking for without looking at him, "Mrs. Webster, Mr. Mendoza, Mrs. Gonzales, or Mr. Hillman?"

"Mrs. Gonzales." Rick and I shared a Spanish class together along with three others. If we missed a class we'd share notes and if we didn't do our homework we'd copy each other's assignments.

We aren't close friends, but we're friendly towards each other. To be honest, he is the only person in the school that still speaks to me after I started my transition--after I decided I'd be happier as a girl. After everyone else decided I didn't exist.

I still don't know why he talks to me.

I grabbed the assignment from my backpack and gave him the paper.

He gave me a goofy grin that would make even statue smile, "you are a life saver."

"Don't worry about, it's nothing"

He was about to say something else when the the Principal's voice crackled over the intercom above the doorway. "Students, please be aware that your second and third period classes have been cancelled," the students hollered and cheered, "homeroom will extend until forth period, and please, stay inside your assigned homeroom. We are on lockdown."

I rolled my eyes.

Lockdown usually meant some dumb-ass put a cardboard box in one of the restrooms with "BOMB" scribbled on it in black marker. It had already happened over five times this year. It was never a serious threat. Just a stupid prank that would end in half the day being wasted in homeroom.

Not that I minded, I wasn't looking forward to that history quiz on the branches on government today.

As the minutes past, my classmates started to whisper to each other, which in itself was weird. They never whisper.

I overheard small bits of conversations and it seemed like there was a riot was happening a few blocks away.

I searched the internet on my cellphone and found the reason for the lockdown. Riots hit Pensacola, was the top story for the local news blogs and national news sites. The police were barricading the streets to contain the hysterical mob.

Rick leaned over my shoulder to read the news reports, "I guess the environmentalists are at it again," Rick said. "What are they trying to save this time?"

"Not sure. No one is. They don't even know what organization is rioting. All they know is that whoever started it has a lot of people on their side--over a thousand."

"That sounds like a lot of angry people."

"No kidding, the police are trying stop them, but they keep getting overpowered." I scroll through the article, "the only other thing they say is to stay inside, but the roads and highways are already jammed with traffic."