The Dead Ones

Delaney

Delaney's POV

People are panicking. That was the first thing that I noticed when I arrived in 3rd-period chemistry. Nobody was calm that day, not in the way that they normally were. I had a routine every day that I would follow, like most people. I would wake up to blaring alarm at 5:30 AM. I'd get ready for school, and take my morning walk there. Once I got to school, I would try my best to ignore everyone. I usually succeeded. The people at Oakleaf High can tend to be very... irritating, to put it nicely. 

I had just moved to Connecticut from Brooklyn. It's a huge change for me. It's not that people in Brooklyn aren't nice, because a lot of them are, but they aren't let's-talk-about-your-day nice. People in Brooklyn know how to keep their distance and make as little human contact as possible. Those are my kind of people. Oakleaf High people are not my kind of people. Especially the girls. Theyre all either sluts or over-enthusiastic theatre students. 

Anyways I was getting settled into my desk, (which is at the back of the classroom) when the teacher put a live news story on the monitor. I leaned forward in my desk a bit while looking at the screen. The video seemed to be shot from a helicopter. The camera quality was pretty bad, so it took me a while to figure out what I was looking at.

 At first, I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me. There was no way that the news station is broadcasting a herd of zombies. I thought that it had to be someone playing a prank on us. It didn't make sense. What would have caused a zombie apocalypse to all of a sudden breakout? 

The chatter in the once loud classroom disappeared completely as everyone focused on the news story. "B-Breaking news. What seems to be hundreds of living corpses are roaming the streets. Nobodys exactly sure as to how this has happened. Everyone stay indoors and place barricades up to prevent them from getting inside. Use whatever you can to keep these things out. I repeat stay inside and use something large and heavy to barricade the doors. This is not a drill. Stay safe everyone." 

People immediately started to panic. I didn't see the point. Panicking was just going to make the whole situation a lot worse. Of course, I was freaking out inside, but I didn't let it show. My chemistry teacher immediately shut the monitor off. There were students scrambling towards the door, all trying to get out at once. I heard screams echoing throughout the school. Even the teacher left the room, abandoning students. 

I looked around the classroom. There was a boy who was going through the cabinets scavenging for something. I looked to my right and saw a girl sitting in the corner rocking back-and-forth with tears streaming down her cheeks. She was wheezing and panting. It was only us three left in our classroom. I was still sitting at my desk, with one earbud in playing Bickenhead by Cardi B. 

I don't think that I understood the fact that this was all real. I was still processing what had just happened. Walking corpses, living among us? How was that possible. I think that at that moment, I realized how dire the situation was. I abruptly stood up from my desk, causing a loud screeching noise to echo through the classroom. 

The boy who was rummaging through the cabinets stopped what he was doing. The girl who was crying in the corner stopped her sobbing. My classmates both stared at me with wonder in their eyes. they were waiting for me to say something, and I had a lot to say. 

"We need a plan. If all of this is actually happening outside, we should follow the news ladies instructions and stay indoors. I feel like we may be the only three people left in this school. Just to be sure though, we will do a search and look for any others left here. Nobody is to go outside. We will barricade any entrance and cover up all of the windows. I have a feeling that in a couple of days we are going to lose power, so let's get moving." There was silence for a moment. The boy who I recognized to be Andre (the quiet kid in the classroom) broke the deafening silence.