The Unmasking (A Zombie Novel)

Chapter One

I couldn't help but turn my head, chuckling some. "You sure you aren't one of them, Ashton? That description doesn't sound too far off from you."

He rolled his eyes. "Fuck off, Bartley, I wasn't talking to you."

I scoffed at the use of my last name and looked forward again, setting my phone face down on the corner of my desk as the tardy bell finally rang, and my Physics teacher made his way to the front of the room. Something about his composure this morning felt off, in a way.

"Good morning, class." He spoke, and the class immediately settled down. It didn't matter who was in here, we all had a respect for the man. "I'm sure you've all heard of today's recent events." He took a pause, most likely to gauge the class's expressions. "Listen, kids, I'm gonna be honest here.. It sounds like this virus is a big deal, and I really hate to be the bringer of bad news, but.. I think the CDC has lost control over it. There will be an emergency assembly during this period, they'll call for you over the intercom." He looked down, his hands clasped together, but I noticed he had been twirling his wedding band on his finger. "I'm most likely going to leave afterward. Until then, class, we'll be watching the news."

Mr. Withers's uneasiness set quite a few people off in the class. As I took a look around myself, I took note of people quietly crying to themselves. Other than that, there was a grim silence that settled over the room like a baby's blanket. Delicate. Very, very delicate.

The classroom television was turned on, but no one seemed to be watching it.

The silence was shattered when a quiet alarm began going off at the front of the room. The intercom, where everyone had been looking and waiting for an announcement, was alerting the school for a lock-down.

"Oh, fuck!" Someone shouted from the back of the classroom, and that's when panic beyond control started. Nothing had prepared the students of Thomasville High School for this moment. We were going to die.

A million thoughts ran through my head of what could be happening. Everything seemed for the most part normal on the way to school, but then again that wasn't very much of town. It could be that people had started to loot around town? But what would anyone want at a school?

The kids. Was my immediate thought. Parents. The adults were probably going crazy over something, and it was probably their focus on getting their kids out of school.

"Oh, fuck." I whispered, staying seated as everyone stampeded out of the classroom. I could hear people shouting profanities, accusing people of having the virus, and simply screaming. I was the only one left in the classroom. Mr. Wither's had stayed behind as well, and he looked shocked at what had unfolded in nothing but a few seconds. Ours eyes met for a moment, before I stood up on shaky legs, taking my backpack and unzipping.

"Mr. Withers," I began, emptying the contents of my backpack on to my desk. If this was really the zombie apocalypse, I'd probably need room for things besides my school books. "I hope you can make it to your wife. If this is what everyone is saying it is.." I almost peed myself at my own words. Adrenaline was starting to take over, and my hands were shaking as if I were 70 and have had palsy for the past 30 years ,"It was a pleasure being in your class, I pleasure to get to know you." I made sure everything in the front pockets was transferred to the main part of the backpack, and I slung it over my shoulder. "I hope we get to see each other again. Goodbye." I nodded to the man, heading toward the door.

"Ms. Bartley." I heard from behind me, and I turned my head, my shaky hands resting on the doorknob. "Good luck."

I smiled weakly at the man, and nodded again. "You too, Mr. Withers."

Turns out, opening the door wasn't as easy as I had anticipated it would be. I had to fight with all of my might to shove kids out of the way. How I was going to avoid getting trampled, I had no idea.

There was a small cut out portion of the wall between the main part of the hallway and the door that led to the classroom, and that's where I stood, eyeing out a place where I could join the mass.

This was a stupid idea. A really stupid idea. But if it wasn't the parents that caused the lock-down, and it was actually looters or zombies or both, it was better to get out of here before the stampede would be a bunch of people trying to get you killed.

There.

Without thinking about it any further, I leapt in to the crowd and started to move with them. I tried my hardest to stay close to the sides of the hallway, in case something went haywire and I had to make a break for a room, but it was surprisingly easy to move along with everyone else.

Or at least, that's what I thought, up until I felt a hard shove from behind. "Move it, we're going to die, we're going to die!" The girl shouted, and that's when I began my struggle to regain balance. That lasted for a good few feet before I saw the door to a janitor's closet swing inward, and I felt myself being tugged to the side.

There was no time for me to scream. No time for me to register what was going on. All that I thought as I was thrown to the ground in the closet was that I was going to die. Instinctively, I curled myself in to a ball to try and protect myself.

Seconds passed, and nothing came. Confused, I opened my eyes. The single light bulb on the ceiling had been clicked on, and when I looked up all the way I was met with a girl towering over me. No wonder I hadn't seen her when the light was off. Her skin was dark, and so was her shirt and overalls.

"Remi." She said simply, and extended a hand out to me. 

I took it after looking her up and down, coming to the conclusion that she was in fact a living, breathing, unzombified human girl. She was probably a freshman or sophomore, judging by her looks. She was a cute thing, but definitely not an adult yet.

When I pulled myself up, I found that this girl had not been towering over me. Not at all. In fact, she was quite short. I stood only at 5'4, and I was looking down at this girl. She had to be at least half a foot shorter than me.

When she looked at me expectantly, I realized I was still holding her hand, and was probably staring at her as well. I cleared my throat awkwardly, drawing my hand back to my side. "Evelyn." I replied. "Why'd you drag me in here?"

She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "It looked like you had your thoughts collected, unlike the rest of those bozos out there."

I stared at her a moment, trying to register all that had happened in the past few minutes. "Do you.. Do you have any idea what's going on..?"

Remi looked at me, and I stiffened when her expression hardened. "Well, now we know zombies are real. The only thing I can imagine is some idiot tried to make their fantasy a reality and it went bonkers. Now we're all trapped in this shit hole of a world." She grunted, peering out the closet door, which had a window on it. "I saw them myself. I came from one of the portables in the back of the school."

My eyes were widening as her explanation went further, and I had no idea what to do. "We.. We have to get out of here, then! What the hell are you doing in a closet?? Why aren't you getting out of here??" I started to pace the room.

She gave me a weird look. "I needed a weapon. It's not like I could bust out of this place and be safe forever. The zombies had to've come from somewhere, and it definitely wasn't from the inside of the school." 

She took one of the two industrial brooms in her left hand, and handed me the other. "Since I can't do much damage with a protractor, I figured I'd scout something that can do a bit more."

I looked at the bottom of the broom, a bit confused as to how I could use it, but I understood when I saw Remi unscrewing the handle from the brush at the bottom. She wanted to use the handle as a staff. I smiled some.

"Good idea." I commented, doing the same. When I finished, I tested the weight in my hands. It actually felt like I could bash someone's head in with it. "Listen, do you want to stick together? At least through the night? I think it'd be safer to have someone watch my back than be out by myself."

Remi nodded, raising a brow at me. "I wouldn't have pulled you in here otherwise. Let's go." She reached for the door handle, but just as she was about to grasp it, the door flew open towards us.