High School of the Dead

Chapter 9

I finally calmed down about 10 minutes later. I had let go of Jane and we were sitting side-by-side against one of the walls, her arm wrapped around my shoulder and holding me close. Her body was soft and comforting, inviting me to stay like this forever.

She smells like vanilla...why is this so relaxing?

I lift my head off of her shoulder and wipe my eyes, blushing slightly as I realize how weird and embarrassing that sounds. 

I hope that my face is still red from crying!

Jane looks over at me and smiles softly. 

"Hey...you doing ok now?"

I blink back a few tears and try not to smile awkwardly.

"Y-Yeah..."

I wipe my remaining tears away and look around. Jack and Oliver are discussing something on the other side of the room and looking down every few seconds. I notice a faint light reflecting off of their faces and realize that they are looking down at their phones. 

"They wanted to see what was happening everywhere else," Jane says. "I heard them say that there was a video from a news helicopter of one of our school's buses tipped over. It didn't sound good..."

Zach and I don't take the bus to get home, so hopefully he got out of here with some friends when things started to go bad...

Zach stayed after school for band practice, but he was supposed to be at the Gaming Club's meeting before then. We should check the band room and computer lab where the meeting was at. He could still be there if they were trapped. 

I stand up and stretch, my back suddenly sore from being in one position for so long...next to Jane. Shit. Ryan! Focus! Jane stands up as well and we walk over to Jack and Oliver. They look up at us as we walk over.

"Hey man...you feeling better?" Oliver asks nervously, a look of concern on his face.

"We've been checking out the situation online," says Jack. "Some of the news stations have stopped broadcasting, but those that are still up have been telling everyone to stay inside and wait for the army to come save us."

"The east coast has been hit the worst," Oliver adds. "No word from California on what it's like over there. Their media seems to be offline or something."

I breathe after a few seconds. I'd been holding my breath since Jack started talking.

"Ok...what do you guys want to do then? Stay here or try to find somewhere else?" I ask. "We still need to finish looking for my brother and grab the keys to the gym locker room so I can get a clean pair of shoes. I have a spare there that we can use."

Jack and Oliver look at each other nervously.

"Ryan..." Oliver starts.

"Look man...I don't think we have the time, gear, or amount of people to safely look around here," Jack says sternly. "We have the crazy group of assholes and a mob of zombies to avoid, plus whatever is in the places we haven't searched yet. It's not worth the risk..."

"Not worth the risk?!" I shout. "My BROTHER is probably still in here somewhere! He could be trapped behind a door that's blocked by zombies trying to break in and EAT HIM!"

I stare at him speechless. Oliver looks away, ashamed for agreeing with Jack's reasoning. I know that what Jack says is true, but it doesn't make me any less angry. I pound my fist against the wall, pain surging through my hand immediately. I ignore it out of frustration.

"We can wait until Sam's parents get here. We'll be safe then," I declare.

"Fine. We can figure it out when they get here," Jack sighs, glad that we can stop arguing.