Infection

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

-BAM-

Jake tensed as he stepped back from the door. The creature was slamming itself against the door, which luckily still held.

But maybe not for much longer.

The door was heavy, but was already very old. It was probably around from the time the school building had first been built, which was decades ago. The rusty hinges wouldn’t hold for much longer if the creature persisted in breaking the door down.

Jessica glanced around fearfully. “What is that? What happened?” She covered her mouth in horror.

Ashlyn was panting heavily, and rushed to pack their belongings. “Jake, what can we do?” She pleaded.

Jake said nothing and continued staring at the door as the creature slammed into it again, and the door shook. They were well trapped. There was no other exit from this room, except…

Except the window.

A rush of adrenaline hitting him, Jake ran toward the window and pulled the curtain aside, opened the windows and looked down. The crowd of zombies from earlier were still below, but had dispersed after their victims had been ripped off of their flesh. There was a narrow ledge below the window outside, which led around the building. “Quick, out!” Jake gestured.

He grabbed his bag and weapon, and slung his bag across his shoulders, and opened the window wider. Ashlyn climbed out of the window hurriedly and received her bag and weapon from Jessica, who followed in her path to get out. “Be careful, the ledge’s narrow…” Ashlyn was whispering.

-BAM-

With a clinging sound, the top hinge had broken and dropped. Another slam, and the right door gave way inward. The girls screamed as Jake climbed out as fast as he could. The creature was stuck at the doorway, its body size unable to enter the narrow doorway, giving Jake the precious few seconds he needed to make his exit onto the ledge. Jake had just reached the ledge as the creature tumbled into the room, screaming once again. Somehow, its voice had become a low-pitched growl, as it lunged forward toward the window and reached its arms out, toward Jake.

The three of them quickly moved sideways cautiously, getting away from the window as fast and as far as they could, as the zombies below them started turning and moving in their direction, attracted by the noise. “Careful, guys. Don’t look—” Jake whispered halfway, and was distracted by the creature’s long arm was swinging about at the window, attempting to grab him.

Jake tried to dodge but the creature’s long arm had managed to grab his bag. It screamed in triumph, half its head out of the window as it looked at the escaping trio. Jake cried out and struggled as the two girls screamed and tried to pull him. Jake lost his foothold and tumbled below.

“Argh!” Jake fell into the bushes, his weapon landing next to him. The creature had pulled his bag off and threw it away in another direction, screaming in frustration.

“Jake! JAKE!” Ashlyn screamed.

Disoriented, Jake slowly got to his feet, his vision in a blur and head spinning. He suffered minor scratches and had thorns in his arms from the branches, but was otherwise unharmed, the bushes cushioning his fall. He reached for his weapon and used it as support to stand up, and he realised that the large horde of flesh eaters were closing in on him. Suddenly more aware of his surroundings, Jake turned and tried to run, as he ran straight into the arms of a zombie which had been close to him. The zombie pinned him down on the ground.

“Get off…!” Jake struggled as he pushed the zombie’s shoulders, its pallid face inches from his own, its mouth struggling to get closer while biting down repeatedly.