Rot The Vote

Chapter 6

Ariana stood in shock at what she was witnessing.

She was staring at the total gore that met her eyes. The school reeked of blood and the poor janitor was the only person trying to mop it up. She gagged at the copper smell that assaulted her sense of smell. She held her nose as she entered in. The loud bang of the door echoed in the silent school. It made her heart race. At least the faint sound of AC/DC blasting from the janitors headphones interrupted the sound of complete silence. She traveled down the corridors, knowing her only key to safety was slowing being put just out of reach with every step. Her heart raced faster with every step, until she was sprinting down the hallway.

As she collided with the dark shadow that stood in the middle of the hallway, she screamed. She fell backwards landing on her butt.

"Ariana, we had this talk earlier in the year. No running in the halls." Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, but she recognized the voice long before she needed to see him. Principal Hammerlick.

Ariana scrambled backward.

"You can't get very far without these." Principal Hammerlick smirked, holding up a jingly, silver pair of keys.

"Oh, Principal Hammerlick, you found my keys!" Ariana exclaimed, getting up and brushing herself off. She smiled fakely at him, "Now, if I have could just have those back, I can go home. I wanna get enough sleep I can and study really hard for Orangejello's test, Ya know?"
Her eyes searched for a way out as she reached for the keys.

"Uh-uh." Hammerlick smirked shaking a finger at her like she was a child in trouble, as he held the keys out of her reach, "You saw what happened to Orangejello. I can't let a witness like you go. You might tell somebody. And then I'll never get elected, will I?"

Ariana gulped, "Look, if you just give me the keys and let me go, I wont tell a soul. I-it'll be our little secret."

Hammerlick looked skeptically at her. "I know you won't. You won't tell anyone anything ever again."

From his jacket pocket he pulled out a knife. Ariana's eyes widened in fear as she saw the light reflect off the sharp edge of the blade.

"This thing is razor sharp." Hammerlick smiled, "I promise, I wont make it hurt."

Ariana gasped as she took a step back. Hammerlick put two fingers to his lip and whistled. Seemingly out of nowhere, Ariana was grabbed by two zombies. Her nose was overwhelmed by the stench of rotting flesh. She looked to her left and gasped. It was Orangejello. She struggled to get away, but Orangejello had an iron grip. To her right was the assistant scientist, Professor Nemo.

Ariana twisted, turned, and kicked in an effort to get away. In a blind bit of fear, Ariana finally managed to get away using some Kung Fu like moves she learned in movies. She wasn't quite sure how, but she managed to get away. To be honest, she kinda thought it was a dumb idea. She kicked Hammerlick in the shin, making him drop the keys.

In a flash, she grabbed them and ran.

"You let her get away, you numbskulls!" she heard Hammerlick yell, "I should've never had zombies do the work! They cant get anything done!"

Ariana dashed out of the school and drove home.
***
Ariana had nightmares that entire night. That morning, when the alarm went off, she slammed her hand down on it. She considered calling in sick, but figured her schooling was more important than her sanity and proceeded to get dressed and went to school.

She trudged up the steps and mentally prepared herself for the chaos that was to ensue. She opened the door and entered. The halls were almost empty. She walked into the commons and sat down in the chair farthest from everybody. She was tired and just wanted to go home.

"Hey, are you OK?" A voice said from the seat next to her.

She was so infuriated by Hammerlick and his stupid zombie rights, she didn't notice the boy next to her.

Ariana nodded in response.

"Is it about the zombie thing?" The kid asked. Ariana sighed, annoyed.

"I can't believe that crazy principal of ours has gotten everybody to be pro zombie!" Ariana huffed.

"I know." The kid said, "They're monsters."

Ariana's mood lifted. "Finally someone gets it! They ate my mother! They're monsters! They don't get human rights! They're not HUMAN."

"I know. They ate my mother's cousin's aunt's boyfriend's sister's son's girlfriend's brother's niece's uncle." The boys said.

Ariana shot him a confused look before she shook her head. "Anyway, I'm Ariana. Ariana Blue. What's your name?" she held out he'd hand.

"I'm Evan." The boy replied, taking Ariana's hand.

"Evan..." Ariana prompted, waiting for his last name.

"Just Evan." The boy nodded.

"So what should we do?" Ariana asked, "Hammerlick has the whole school to be Pro-Zombie. Should we run an anti-zombie protest? That could be cool."

"No, that won't work." Evan shook his head, "I can snoop around for you, though. I think Hammerlick is up to something."

Ariana shot him a confused look, "Like what?"

"I dunno, but... There's something fishy going on here." Evan said.

Ariana raised an eyebrow and the rolled her eyes.

And with the bell ringing, Evan disappeared into the crowd.
***
Ariana sat in her boring math class, tapping her pencil against the desk. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She looked around. Her teacher was across the room helping a student. She looked at her texts from an unknown number.

Ariana. It's Evan. I have the 411 on Hammerlick.

It read. Ariana was about to text back when her phone buzzed again.

Hey. R u there?

Yes. I'm here. How'd u get my #?

That Yuki girl.

OFC. Now, LMK about Hammerlick.

Meet me @ locker @ TEOTD.

ISTG

PLZ. It's urgent. We need 2 TLK 121. Not over TXT.

fine. SMH

THX. GTG. C U L8R.

Ariana sighed. That boy was more trouble than he was worth. Someone cleared their throats next to her desk. Ariana looked up to find her teacher glaring down at her. The teacher held out his hand. Ariana sighed and handed her phone to him.

"You'll get this back at the end of the period." The reached said sternly.

Great. Ariana thought, rolling her eyes.