The Arising: A New Start of Life

Chapter 10

Jia was a Walker, but he wasn't bitten. I quickly shut the shutter as Jia and the people I killed slowly walked towards us. But I didn't shut it in time. Jia and one of the people I killed were stuck under the shutter. I stood back and watched them struggling trying to reach us. I looked around and saw my hatchet on the ground next to my sleeping bag. I grabbed my hatchet from the ground, and I held it tightly.

I used my left hand to aim at the mans head. I looked away and hit him as hard as I could with my hatchet. I opened my eyes and looked down at him. The hatchet was stuck halfway into his skull. But he was still trying to grab me.

I tried to take out the hatchet from his head but I couldn't. I had an idea. I stomped as hard as I could on the top of the hatchet to get it deeper into his brain. As I did blood squirted out onto my face. I took out the hatchet from his head and dropped it on the ground.

I dropped to the floor, catching my fall with my hands. I looked at the man with a large puddle of blood coming from his head and Jia next to him trying to grab me. Alleigh sat down next to me.

"Are you ok?" Alleigh asked.

I crawled to me sleeping bag again and I pushed up my pillow. Under my pillow was the pistol I got off of the people from yesterday. I picked it up. The pistol seemed much heavier then it did yesterday. I stood up and I walked over to Jia. I crouched down next to him. I was far enough away so he couldn't grab me.

"I'm sorry" I said aiming the gun at Jia's head.

*BANG*

Blood splat everywhere, all over my face again and all over my arm. I stood up slowly watching the blood slowly rush down Jia's head. I put the pistol into the back of my pants. I stood over the two bodies and looked at them.

"Is everyone ok?" I asked.

"Yeah I'm fine" Alleigh said.

"Scared me a little, but I'm good" Kiara said.

"I'm going to open the shutter. Stand back" I said.

I opened the shutter quickly as I saw one last walker limping towards us. It was another one of the men that I killed before. I picked up my hatchet from the ground and I swung at him. The hatchet lodged right into his head and killed him instantly. I took out the hatchet easily and watched as his body flopped to the ground.

I stepped back for a moment to take in what just happened. I looked down at myself and saw blood all over my shirt and pants. I also had blood all over my face. Kiara walked up to me with a rag and handed it to me. I wiped the blood off of my arms and face.

"How did they turn without being bitten?" Kiara said worried.

"I don't know" I said crouching down to look at the bodies.

"How come they turned but he didn't" Alleigh said pointing to the other man I killed who was still laying dead on the ground in the middle of the mall.

I walked over to the body of the man who didn't turn. I crouched down and looked at his body. I realised that I shot him in his head. The others were shot in their body, not their heads.

"This one was shot in the head and didn't turn. They were shot in the body and turned. Do you think maybe we turn if we die?" I asked.

"Then why didn't he turn?" Kiara asked.

"I think it could be because I shot him in the head. I destroyed his brain. Maybe we turn if our brains aren't damaged" I said.

I stood and I looked at the bodies again. Alleigh and Kiara both came up to me and stood beside me. If this is true, no matter how we die, unless our brain is damaged, we will turn.

SIX DAYS LATER

It was finally time to go back to Underdale. For the week we pretty much just sat in the game store and talked about random things, like what we wanted to be when we were older. We would talk about how we were gonna study for that job, and how we were gonna archive it. But we all knew that what we were talking about will never happen. Even though it has only been a little over a month since this all started I don't think anyone would be coming to save us.

We all pushed two trolleys each toward Underdale full of supplies that we scavenged. As we left I remembered Hunter, I wonder where she went, and I hope she's ok. All the Walkers that were in the car park a week ago have moved on so we were free to move through the car park without any danger.

We walked across the small bridge to get onto the other side of the Torrens River. Once we were on the other side I could see the Schools oval. The three of us picked up the pace so we could get inside as quickly as possible. But as we got closer, I started seeing piles of burned bodies. We slowed down a little bit.

"They must of been attacked by a large group of Walkers" Alleigh said.

I saw the school but it looked totally different. It now had metal sheets along the fence. It wasn't completely finished but it was getting there. I could also see a small wooden structure on the top of one of the buildings. We got up to the gate of the school and waited for someone to open it. It took a while but it was finally opened. We walked in to the school and only saw one teacher greeting us. It was Mr. Keely. We pushed in the trolleys and left them next to the front gate. I looked over my shoulder and saw Mr. Harris walking over to us.

"You guys got a lot" he said while taking some of the food out of the trolley.

"Save some for all of us man" I said laughing.

"There won't be any for you anyway" Mr. Harris said grinning.

"Huh?" I was confused.

"Take them into the Gym" Mr. Harris said.

"Wait sir. What?" I said confused.

Mr. Harris looked away from us and started to eat a few things from the trolleys. We were all dragged away towards the gym. I saw Mr. Keely open the gym doors as we were all chucked inside.

I heard them lock the door behind us. I stood up and looked around me. I saw students all laying on the ground looking at us. Some of the students were laying on the ground naked some were crying and most were holding their arms or legs because they were bleeding or in pain.

"What the hell happened?" I asked.

"Mr. Harris.... he changed.... I don't know what happened to him.... but he said something about the food running out .... so he chucked the us into here... he doesn't feed us. We are dying" Kevin said.

"The bodies out the front. Were you attacked?" I asked.

"They aren't Walkers. They are students who died from starvation or thirst" Kate said behind me.

I turned around and I saw her. She looked a lot better from the last time I saw her. I hugged her and she hugged me back. That's when I remembered. The pistol. They didn't search us. I felt my pants pocket and I could feel my pistol. I took it out of my pants.

"They are screwed" Kiara said looking at me holding the pistol in my hand.

"What are we gonna do?" Alleigh asked.

"We need to take this place over. They can't treat us like this. They can't force us to get their food. We have to make a stand. They may be stronger than us, but we can be smarter than them. All we have to do is capture Mr. Harris and we will have the upper hand" I said.

"How the hell do you think we can capture Mr. Harris while we are locked up in here?" A year twelve said from the other end of the gym.

"Well does anyone come in? Do they have rotations?" I asked.

"Yes. They check on us every now and then. But why would we listen to you. You're a year eight" the year twelve said.

"Because we know what we are doing, and we have a solid plan. You don't have to listen to us, but if you want to live, we are you're best shot" I said.

"Whatever" the year twelve said.

"What time do they usually check in?" I asked.

"Normally at night time, I don't know" Kevin said.

"I only have four bullets. Hopefully we don't have to use them" I said.