Class of 2013 - 23

Chapter Twenty Three

It was after sunset before James and I moved the Suburban to the gate on the other side of the school. Once inside, we drove over next to the five modular classrooms and – after checking to make sure that nobody was around – went over to room P-1 and knocked on the door. A moment later Alice answered the door and looked out, checking for anyone else. With a nod and a thumbs-up, she held the door open and we went back to the SUV, slowly backing it up to the classroom door. When we were close, we got out and opened the rear doors to hide what was being moved into the room. We didn’t see anyone watching us, but that didn’t mean that nobody was.

Carrying the bound zombie into the room, we set it down on a group of tables that had the back of a filing cabinet lain across them. It was crude, and looked more like a mortician’s table than a doctor’s, but it would be good enough. Around the makeshift lab table were also some hard points for bindings to hold the specimen in various positions. Considering that she would be working with an animate creature she would need a way to control it. Looking around the lab, I began to notice that it seemed like someone had raided both the chemistry class’ supplies and the nurse’s office. Equipment from both was in the room, though I was fairly sure that she would have preferred equipment from Perris High. After all, ours was second rate on a good day. A small high school had a small budget.

Shaking my head a little bit to pull my focus back, I looked to Alice.

“You gonna be okay by yourself with this thing?”

She nodded and scribbled on her pad. “I’ll be just fine. Now, if you don’t mind, I should probably get started. I’ll lock the door once you two are outside. I have the only key to this room, so I’ll take care of making sure it’s locked when I leave, as well.” She smiled and then added, “Good night, you two.”

James and I gave little smiles and returned the ‘good night’, but even as we headed for the door, we were trying to shake the bad feeling we were getting. Leaving an eleven year old girl alone with a zombie, even if it was bound up tight, didn’t seem like a wise idea. We knew that it couldn’t get out on its own, and we knew that even if it did it wouldn’t be able to bite her. We also knew that she would be smart enough not to start making a fuss if it got loose. She’d probably find something in there to bonk it on the head with and tie it back up. Yet, despite this knowledge, we were worried. Of course, we couldn’t very well stay either. We had to move the SUV back to the front parking lot and Alice needed to have peace and quiet while she worked.

Back outside the classroom, we shut the back doors of the Suburban after we heard the door lock behind us, and drove back around to the front parking lot – making sure all the gates we used were secured as we went. From there we went our separate ways; James heading to the cafeteria to see if there was anything to eat, and me heading to see Chien. Most everyone knew better than to talk to him about things right now, and while I knew that he was going to be beating himself up about it, I also knew that someone had to at least try and talk to him.

Nobody blamed him for what had happened; nobody could blame him. If anything, it was more the fault of the gate guards than anyone’s for letting the truck in without checking it. Past that… well, you could theorize that it was Sweet’s fault for not ensuring that they were better trained, but that would be pretty shaky considering that we hadn’t had reason to check that thoroughly before now. So really… in some sense… it was the fault of the guards and Sweet, but at the same time it was the fault of nobody. Despite these facts though, he was blaming himself. Of course, most people that possessed a conscience would do this. If you’re a good person and you drive the zombie Trojan Horse somewhere to the detriment of others, you tend to regret it.

The first place that I checked for Chien was his room in the office, and not finding him there I began to search in other areas of the school. I was starting to get worried, wondering if he’d left entirely, by the time that I checked the weight room. Lo and behold, Chien was inside, punching a bag that had been hung up. They weren’t well aimed shots either. No, there was little if any technique involved in this. Instead, he was simply working out his anger and frustration. Stepping inside quietly, I shut the door and took a seat on a bench, leaning against the wall as he beat upon the bag. Some minutes passed as I sat there in silence, before he finally stopped, resting his hands atop the bag as he leaned on it.

“You’re not gonna be able to make me feel better, Roy.” He said flatly, and despite the monotone it came as a verbal jab.

“Never claimed that I could, Chien.”

“Then why are you here?” He glanced over his shoulder at me.

“Because I’m your friend, and even if I can’t make you feel better, I’m still gonna be there for you. We’re bros, dude.” I grinned a little, but he simply scowled in return. After a short pause of silence, he spoke once more.

“How long has it been, anyway?”

“How long has what been?”

“That we’ve known each other.”

“Oh… Uh…” I thought for a moment. “Fifth grade until now… so… eight years?”

“And you still try this roundabout shit to make me feel better?” He scoffed.

“Hey, don’t knock what always works.” I smirked a bit myself.

“Not gonna fuckin' work this time. I really blew it, man – and you damn well know it.”

I shrugged as he finally looked back at me, his eyes a big bloodshot, and the tracks of dried tears on his cheeks. “Chien, you didn't do anything wrong. Yeah, shit went wrong, but it isn't your fault. Did you drive the rig in here? Yeah, you did. Did you know it was full of zombies? Obviously not.”

At that, he snapped. “No, I didn't, and that's exactly the fucking problem, Roy! I should have known! Something was off, I should have been able to tell, but it never even came to mind to check!”

“And what the hell would have tipped you off that you had a cargo of zombies? Answer me that!” I snapped back at him.

“The temperature gauge for the trailer! It was set in the seventies. Those trailers are never set that high. The products that get hauled in them go bad if they're over forty degrees or so! That should have been a dead giveaway that something was wrong. It should have been set lower or turned off, not left running.”

“And you're telling me you should have noticed that instead of the immediate threat of being swarmed by zombies?” I raised a brow as I looked at him. “Exactly what would you have done? Hopped out of the cab to go to the rear and jimmy open the trailer? Check and see what was in it?”

“That's exactly what I should have done!”

“Bullshit!” I shouted back at him, “You know as well as I do that you handled the situation you were in to the best of your ability. You're just pissed at yourself because your best wasn't good enough this time. You didn't see this coming, so you're having a pity-party for yourself! Chien, all you're being right now is fucking selfish, and it isn't gonna help anyone – not even you!” I scowled at him. “So quit acting like a damned child!”

He grit his teeth as he looked at me, fists clenched at his sides, the gears of his mind spinning but not producing anything despite their hard work. Finally he hung his head and sighed, shoulders slumping. “You always do something like this. Just can’t let me be frustrated, can you?”

“Oh hell no.” I grinned at him finally. “That’s James’s thing. You’re our Asian! Our Asian can’t be down!”

“Oh shut up.” Chien shook his head. Then with a halfhearted, obviously forced, grin he added: “If you really want me to be happy, then we need to take that trip to Vegas, like I’ve been telling you guys.”

“Oh fuck… not this again… Really, Chien? Still?”

Chien grinned a little more, but it never quite reached his eyes. It was an act, I could tell, but at least maybe now he was more focused on his act than on why we were standing here. “Oh come on, mate! Think about it! Think of how Las Vegas is normally. Now think post apocalypse. Think New Vegas. Do ya really think that Vegas is gonna bother paying attention to state and federal laws anymore? Think about what it’s probably gonna be like after this!”

I was silent for a moment, and then grinned just a little at what he had said. “Okay… maybe we should at least go to check it out some time…” Of course, in the back of my mind I added: If it still exists...

==X==X==X==

While I was talking to Chien, James had gone ahead with his personal mission of finding something to eat – but had come up short. There was plenty to eat, but there was nothing that didn’t need to be cooked… unless you liked eating cold canned food or still frozen TV dinners. It was one of those dreadful moments in life where you had plenty to choose from, and yet nothing sounded appetizing. Thus was the dilemma of James. For the third time already, he was going through the storage in the cafeteria and looking through everything that there was to choose from. Still though, he found nothing that he wanted to eat. Leaning against a wall, he tilted his head back to knock against it. At the same time his stomach growled loudly, and both his hands went to it as a groan slipped past his lips.

“Fuck I’m hungry…”

“You too?” The male voice startled James, and he nearly fell over. As he recollected himself, he stood straight – discovering that the owner of the voice was none other than Johnny.

“Yeah…” James glanced to the side, trying to hide his embarrassment at being startled.

Johnny paid no mind to the fact that it had happened – it wasn’t something that really needed to be pointed out or discussed. “Let me guess… looked through everything and still can’t find anything that you like?”

“How’d ya know?” James grinned a little wryly, and then glanced around the storage at the same time as Johnny, noting all the open cabinets and obviously rummaged-through supplies. “…Oh. Right. That…”

Johnny chuckled, “I could cook something, if ya like.”

James immediately stood a little straighter, leaning forward slightly, his eyes a little wider than they’d normally be. “I will be your best friend forever if you make me something edible…” He paused, then added, “…something without onions….”

Johnny tilted his head slightly. “Garlic okay?”

“Do I look like Bella Lugosi to you?”

“Nah, more like Lon Chaney Jr.”

James blinked. “Really?”

“Friend, you went through that horde today like you were using a curse to your advantage. Yeah… you’re totally the Wolfman.” The Tennessean paused for a moment, pulling a leather strap around his neck up and pulling out a St. Benedict’s medal. “And I’ve got silver just in case, so don’t try anything.” At first the look he gave was serious, but after a moment the country boy cracked a smile.

James on the other hand launched himself at the tall Tennessean and enveloped him in a tight hug. “Dude! You’re fucking epic!”

Johnny just blinked a bit at first, looking down at his new friend. “I… uh… thanks?” He paused, “…Why am I epic exactly…?”

James looked up at him, as if shocked by the other’s question. “You’ve offered me food, you know who Lon Chaney Jr. is, and you have a St. Benedict’s medal. Do I need more reasons to think highly of you?”

“…I’m epic for one act of kindness, one piece of trivia, and something I own…?”

“…Just take the compliment.” James said flatly, and Johnny laughed.

“It’s taken, it’s taken…” He smiled. “So… any idea what it is that you would like? Any particular genre of food?”

James took a big inhale, as if to start listing off tons of things, only to answer with a quiet, “No.” And hang his head.

Johnny nodded and patted him on the head. “Italian sound good?”

James looked up immediately, eyes wide and hopeful as he let out a squeak of a “Yes.” And nodded at an exaggeratedly excited speed.

“…Want to help make it?”

James paused at that, “…Can I have seconds…?”

“You could have that even if you don’t help…”

Another tight hug was given to the Tennessean. “I love you, man…”

“…Is that a yes?” Johnny asked with a little wheeze as he started running out of air.

James nodded. “Yes!”

“…Cool…” Johnny said, though barely, and then paused for a moment. “…James…”

“…Yeah?”

“…Air...”

“OH!” Immediately James let go and stepped back. “Sorry…” He chuckled nervously, rubbing a hand on the back of his head, “…I forget my strength sometimes.”

“It’s fine…” Johnny chuckled softly, and then looked around the ransacked storage area. “So… uh… where’s the pasta at?”

James was silent for a moment as he looked over the mess he’d made. “…No idea.” And as if on queue, his stomach made that growling sound, as if it were twisting itself in knots.

Johnny blinked, looking at James’ stomach, and then glanced at the counter – spotting a pack of Pop Tarts. “Here…” He tossed them to James, “…go eat these. Should tide you over until dinner. I’ll look around in here for the pasta.”

“You’re a saint…” James smiled appreciatively, and stepped out to eat his Pop Tarts.

==X==X==X==

“Well, that’s the last of them…” Lea said, stretching with her arms above her head. She and Christine, along with a few of the other students, had been ferrying the corpses of the zombies away from the semi truck in the aftermath of the earlier events. They’d just finished with the zombies, but there was still the matter of the mangled corpses of their former classmates. Something which they had not yet planned for.

“What’re we going to do with the others…?” Christine asked softly, glancing back toward the rear of the refrigeration unit. “…We can’t very well just toss them in the tender-box too, can we?”

“No.” Lea said quickly, and certainly more harshly than she had meant to as well. When Christine flinched, Lea glanced down. “I’m sorry… I just… well, James and I both really don’t like that idea. Practicality-wise, it makes sense… but…”

“But it feels like you’re disgracing the dead…?” Christine offered.

“Yeah…” Lea nodded slightly, “…and the damnedest thing is that I’m not sure why…”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… if they were being cremated to be cremated, I wouldn’t mind.”

“…But because they’re being cremated to be used as a fuel source it bothers you?”

Lea nodded once more, though this time in full agreement. “Exactly. I’m not really sure what the main difference is. Their corpses turn into husks within twenty-four hours anyway, so it’s not as if anyone can recognize who is who by they time they’d be burned anyway, but it just feels wrong somehow. And my cousin… just… it was his idea! I can’t believe him sometimes! We knew the people at our school, a lot of them for years, and then it’s like they’re dead and he’s completely okay with throwing them in a fire to heat a goddamned boiler!” Her fists clenched, and after a breath, they slowly unclenched. “I know he’s cold at times, but he’s not totally heartless… even if James would like to think so. But this is uncaring into the extreme…”

Christine was quiet for a moment, mulling something over for the short span before finally speaking. “Lea, has anyone in your family, that Roy was close to, died?”

Lea blinked, “Well, yeah… our grandmother died back in December. Why?”

“How did he react?”

Lea shrugged, “He was the only person at the memorial that wasn’t bawling.”

“Memorial?”

“Yeah, she was cremated, so there wasn’t a funeral.”

Christine nodded slowly, “Anyone else die with similar reaction from him?”

Lea thought for a moment. “Well… yeah, basically everyone that’s ever died in our family. He’s never seemed to be really shocked by it or anything like that. Hell, he was more sad when his dog died than when our grandmother died. So what…?”

“Was he around any of the people that died when they died?”

“…No…”

“Did he ever see any of them in the coffin?”

“…No…”

“What about his dog?”

“Well, no coffin, but… he and my uncle were the ones that buried him.”

“I see…”

“What’re you getting at, Christine?”

“Lea, don’t you see the pattern here?”

“Pattern? What, of people dying and him not reacting?”

“…Sort of, but not exactly what I’m getting at.” At Lea’s slightly confused look, Christine continued, “Alright, look. Every time that someone died, he never saw them afterward. He heard they were dead, but without seeing the body, they were basically just… gone. When it came to his dog, he was right there and even had to interact with it. Simply put, he buried his dog; he didn’t bury your grandmother.”

“And that all means…?”

“It means that all these people, these desiccated corpses… to him, they aren’t people. They aren’t anyone that he knew. In some strange way, in his mind it’s not even real. He knows those people died, he knows he’s never going to see them again, but to him… these things really are as good as wood or coal.” The redhead looked out over the lines of bodies then. “And quite frankly… when you can no longer determine which corpse was what person… it becomes hard to hold reverence for an individual.”

“It’s still a poor excuse for not showing any amount of sympathy or care for the people that fell victim to all of this.” Lea said grumpily, crossing her arms and looking away. Christine smiled softly though, and stepped up to her, putting her arms around her, and slowly my dear cousin relented – showing the same affection.

“I never said it was a good excuse, Lea. I’m just telling you what I think is going on in that head of his.” She pecked her cheek then, and nuzzled her just slightly. “Besides, what exactly would you have him do? Make some sort of speech?” She rested her head on Lea’s shoulder lightly, “I may have gone to a different high school, but they all have the same basic dynamics. Think about it… He might not have really disliked anyone for any particular reason. He may not have been a scorned individual because of anything that the populous of this school did… but that doesn’t mean that he particularly cared about any of them either, now does it?”

Lea sighed, “No, I suppose it doesn’t.” Then she grumbled a little before admitting, “And neither did I, really. I didn’t hate any of them mind you, but… I didn’t really pay much attention to any of them, or their lives, until all of this went wrong.” She paused for a moment, “And it sucks, but I feel bad for that.” She pouted then, resting her head on Christine’s shoulder.

The redhead was quiet for a moment, and then whispered in Lea’s ear. “You know, it’s been a while since either of us have gotten to bathe properly… I think we should take a shower.”

A devious little grin came to the lips of the sniperess, and her hands slid down the redhead’s luscious curves, resting just above curve of her well-toned rear. “We…” She smirked, “As in… together…?”

Christine blushed, leaning back a little to look at her lover. “…Yeah…” She nodded slightly, swallowing thickly. “…If that’s alright…” She glanced away, “I thought it might cheer you up…”

“Oh, love…” She leaned in, whispering in her ear. “…It does more than cheer me up…”

It was just about the time that Lea’s fingers squeezed that tight posterior that a spray of cold water washed over them, and they abruptly looked over to see Molly, hose in hand, standing near the back of the refrigerator unit. “Come on you two! Quit grabbing on each other and let’s finish cleaning this!” She said in annoyance.

The soaked cheerleader and drenched sniperess both slowly turned their heads to look at the girl that had sprayed them, glaring daggers, and then after a moment they let go of one another and charged toward her. And Molly’s reply?

“Shit…”