Run or Die Trying [Finished]

Episode One: Outbreak

The Rochester Middle School felt like a prison. It's March thirteenth and the snow is melted with some old snow still around. The dirty, muddy kind. I was in Science in the A Wing of the school, which was closest to the entrance since it was the "A" Wing. I was on my phone scrolling through my Instagram feed while we did a Science lab.

James was the smartest friend of mine and he did most of the questions while I did graphing and hands-on lab work. I had my headphones on, listening to Pity Party by Melanie Martinez and had them blasting. I couldn't hear a thing around me and it was the best feeling ever. It was like being in only my mind with no annoyance around. A way of escape. That's music for me.

I felt my shoulder get nudged and I looked over at James. He waved his hand in front of me to get my attention. I pulled my headphones down and tilted my head, "Yes?"

"Graphing, April, you have to be graphing this," James spoke in annoyance. He has blonde hair that's cut neatly. His eyes were a hazel color and he has straight, paper white teeth.

"You sound worried that we'll fail," I shook my head with a smirk on my face.

"Well considering you're in April land, yeah, I'm worried that we'll fail. You have to work."

"And I am. Believe it or not, I get As and Bs and I'm laid back about it," I began sketching out the graph, "and not all tense and serious like you."

"Mr. Muzzy doesn't exactly like you, ya know," James spoke matter-of-factly.

"Oh I know, and I don't like him, but he wont fail me because of that," I wrote the numbers down and labeled the graph. Mr. Muzzy was awful. He was creepy and annoying and I hated him with a passion. I often asked questions in that class too. The most questions.

The speaker began to muffle in like an announcement was about to happen but James continued, "I wouldn't put it pass him."

"Hey, it's not my fault that I'm not the golden child of the class," I gestured to James. He opened his mouth but that's when the speaker muffled louder.

"Lock down! This is not a drill-!" and that was it.

We all stopped what we were doing and ran to the spot to hide when there's a lockdown. It was against the wall and my brown, straight, long hair tangled as I pressed my back against the wall. James stayed next to me and some other kid was on the other side of me. I believe her name was Katy. I've never been in a real lock down. The worse thing to happen at school was in elementary and a fox was on the playground. My favorite animal.

My palms felt sweaty. My body felt hot and I was shaking. I wasn't the only one I'm sure. We stayed there for an hour. Longest hour of my life of just sitting there. That was until I heard the echo's of gunshots. I flinched and tensed up. That didn't sound good. The gunshots kept going until they suddenly stopped.

Mr. Muzzy went out of the room to look around. We all stayed still, some kids crying quietly. Ten more minutes had passed before we heard a scream. Mr. Muzzy.

"Shit," I mumbled to myself. I was shaking badly. I took my phone out and saw a text from Mittens.

M: Hey, how's it going?

A: I'm terrified rn. Something is happening and I don't think it's a shooting or anything

M: omg are you ok? What's going on?

I didn't know what to say. I had no idea what was going on. I kept texting her to calm myself down. The room was so quiet. Too quiet for my liking. More time passes before an announcement goes off and it was a different teacher.

"Something has come up, something bad. An infection of some kind or a virus. Zomb-" and that was it.

"Zombies?" I asked out loud.

"Impossible," James shook his head, "zombies aren't real."

"Tell that to the Walking Dead," I stated and got out of my spot.

"That is a tv show," James fixed his glasses and went to the door, peaking out from it. I quickly followed and so did the rest of the class. The hall was empty so we all stepped out of the room but saw blood on the floor, outside of the A Wing.

"Oh god," one girl covered her mouth. The blood was speared along the floor with splotches on the wall. I wanted my headphones on and blast my music. I can't though because I have to focus on what's going on. This is a serious matter and I didn't know of what to do. No one did.

I looked at the doors of the other three classes. They were locked of course. I headed down the hall towards the main entrance hall where the blood was but James grabbed my arm, "are you crazy?"

I was shaking and had tears in my eyes. James noticed then looked at the floor where I stared at. Mr. Muzzy lying there with chunks of his skin gone. On his side and right leg. He twitched. We jumped.

"Is he alive?" Katy asked.

"I don't know...." I responded.

"He has chunks gone," James stated the obvious.

"I didn't even notice," I gave him a look and be quickly looked away.

Muzzy twitched again. I never liked the guy but that doesn't mean I wanted him dead. I'm not heartless. I stepped closer. Gasps were in the background and mumbling.

Then there was silence and I stopped in my tracks as Muzzy groaned and sat up. Slowly. He twitched again and very slowly got up.

"Muzzy?" I finally spoke to break the silence.

He turned, groaning more. His eyes looked like dirty water and faded. His skin was pale and his voice was rough. He made noises just like a-

He lunged toward me and I ran backwards, falling back. I began to crawl back as fast as I could while catching my breath. Everyone began to run back down the A Wing.

James pulled me up and dragged me towards the wing but of course, the dead bastard got in our way.

"Change of plans," James grabbed my wrist and ran towards the library with me. I slammed the door closed behind us and looked around frantically.

"I need something long like a broom. There has to be one in here, like in a closet," I spoke fast, due to being in a stressful situation.

"Hang on I'm looking," James spoke loudly. He ran around the library and saw the dead librarian and gagged.

I pushed him away and ran to a closet with him. He threw it open and a broom was right there. I grabbed it quicker than I've grabbed anything before.

My feet moved by themselves at this point and at their own speed. I saw Muzzy right at the door and that's when I quickly slid the broom stick between the handles.

"That should hold him," I breathed out.

"But now we're stuck in here," James sat on a bench in front of one of the book shelves. The one labeled historical fiction.

"I can live with that," I sat on another bench and pulled my phone out. I loved reading so being in here wouldn't be terrible. I was terrified though.

I messaged Mittens instantly, finally answering her question from earlier.

A: The mystery has been solved. The hell I went through is by none other than the undead.