The panic that broke out was not unlike the panic that arose just a few minutes ago, this time however, Cody was able to get everyone under control, barking out orders like a Sargent.
"Michael, Ben, get over to the bell tower and stop the noise, make sure whoever did it is found, and if you need to, restrain them," Cody said, and turned away from the two boys as they nodded and ran out the door, "Doctor Venson, Miss B, I need you both to go make sure the patients, and the people don't start a panic, it's the last thing we need," he said.
Beck grabbed my arm, and I looked at him, but before I could ask what he needed, Cody was saying my name, "Kodi, Tucker, both of you go to the school and keep those kids safe, everyone else I want you on wall duty, make sure that nothing gets in, and that the gates are secure."
I looked over at Beck once more, noticing that Tucker was making his way through towards me, "Look Beck, I don't know what you're going to say but I need to go make sure kids are safe," I said, pulling away.
He once again grabbed my arm, and as Tucker approached Beck looked torn as to what to do, "Just promise to stay alive. If anything happens find Me," he ordered, and then seeming to realize what he had said, he quickly continued on, cheeks pink, "or Cody, or Sam, or Chester, and," he lowered his voice a notch so that I could only hear, "if things go bad, Kodi... don't try to be a hero, be smart," he said, his intense blue eyes coaxing an agreement out of my mouth that I wasn't sure I could even uphold.
A throat cleared to my right, and Tucker glared at us, "If you two are done wasting time, we need to go," he said, the irritation plain as day on his face.
There was no more time after Tucker interrupted to say anything further, and as we hit the sidewalk I began to thank my lucky stars that I had a trainer like Cody. We ran nonstop all the way over to the school building, which was more of a daycare with learning mixed in, and I barely broke a sweat.
On the way to the school, it dawned on me just how bad this situation already was, as I saw people running around and shouting. Most of them seemed to believe that the bell meant there were zombies in the compound, and that they should run for it. I wanted to stop but Tucker stopped me before I could even stray from the sidewalk.
"Kodi, I know it seems like a small thing to do, stop and explain," he said and took a breath, it seemed he wasn't in as good of running shape as I was, but he neither slowed down nor complained about my speed, "but if we did that then we'd risk being a moment too late to save a kid, or explain to a teacher what's going on, and why it's important that the kids go upstairs and be put into lock down mode."
An image of me stopping to explain to a stranger what was going on, and then as a result, arriving to the school only to see a little girl as sweet as Abby, or a little boy as helpless as Jamie be killed. This knocked any sort of idea that deviated from running straight to the school out of my mind.
As we ran up the steps that lead into the school building, I nearly crashed into a lady who was ushering kids inside a side door. With a quick scan of them, I wasn't sure whether to be worried or relieved that Abby wasn't present.
"Oh, thank goodness you're here," she said, and once the kids were all into the classroom she turned and threw herself into Tucker's arms.
To say I was surprised would be an understatement, especially as the girl followed up the hug with a kiss. I cleared my throat, partly because I was uncomfortable, but mostly because I knew we didn't actually have time to dawdle, as Tucker had not so kindly pointed out when he pulled me away from Beck.
Tucker had enough sense to look embarrassed, and as he pulled away from the girl, I got my first good look at her. She was on the short side with brown hair styled into a bob. Her brown eyes were slightly hidden beneath the black wire frame glasses, which had seen better days. There was a piece of tape written on with sharpie that served as a name tag. Savana was written in a very neat, almost printer styled hand writing.
She caught sight of me and then blushed as well, though looking slightly more apologetic than Tucker did, "Sorry about that, I was just worried," she explained, and then put a finger up to signal that she'd need a moment, and then she ducked inside the classroom and started telling the kids to settle down.
I looked at Tucker as the door swung shut, but he wouldn't look my direction. As we waited for her to come back out so we could discuss the situation with her I leaned against a door frame, worried out of my mind for those I have come to care for.
The classroom door opened once more and Savana came out, leaning against the door as soon as it shut.
"You need to keep the kids in the classroom, don't let parents take their kids unless you see the signal, invite them to stay here and help watch, but you can't let the parents take the kids from this building. It has the most safety features, and the most guards on call if anything were to happen," Tucker said looking pained, "parents knew that if something like this were to happen and their kids were at school, they'd have to heed our orders and not bring the kids into harm's way."
Savana looked upset, and I could tell this was something that had been argued about a lot in the past, but it seemed like a reasonable thing. This school was the safest building, and to take kids out of it where everyone is panicking, would be risking them being hurt on accident.
Savana walked over to a air vent, and after messing with it for a second, she pulled the cover off and reached inside, her hand came back with two guns. Tucker took them, and she went and pulled out another gun and three extra cartridges of ammo, next she pulled out a knife and a single flare.
"A similar set up is in most houses," Savana explained as Tucker handed me a gun and the extra ammo, "the flare, is if zombies have broken in. Once the first one is set off, certain people go to help ward them off. Keep your eyes on the skies, because flares go off when people see zombies," she looked as me, and helped me turn off the safety of my gun, as my hands were shaking a little too much to do it myself, "There are thirteen flares, after seven, or one too close to the school for comfort, we release the kids only if their parents have come to get them."
I pushed my extra ammo into the waistband of my bottoms, "What about you? What do you do?"
Savana's warm eyes got a little sad, but at the same time she looked like she'd rather do nothing else, "I volunteered for this job knowing that at the end of each day, I wait for each and every kid to go home to their parents, no matter how late they are."
The statement had an underlying meaning, and I wanted to say something meaningful in return, like how much people appreciated her, but when I opened my mouth she shook her head slowly.
"It's not to be a hero or anything, it's so that maybe one day they'll grow up to be a hero."
"Kodi," Tucker said, saving me from having to find the words that I wanted to so desperately express to Savana, "the flare.. the first one has gone up. It looks like it's by the south end... near your house," the last part had me more alert to the situation than before, if that was at all possible.
"You can go," he said, "back up is on it's way here as planned, and I know Cody sent you here because he thought it'd be safe, but from what I can tell you'll just be distracted until you're fighting alongside those boys."
I opened my mouth to argue, but like with Savana no words came out. But this time it was because I knew he was right, not because I couldn't express how much bravery it took to be willing to sacrifice yourself, especially for a bunch of kids who don't exactly show the love on a daily basis.
After I excused myself, I started running towards the house, about half way there I changed directions slightly and made a small detour. Michael's house looked abandoned, the front door was shut and there were no lights on, but I wasn't about to just not check and make sure. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if something happened to the little blonde angel.
I had to kick in the door, as it had been locked. I hadn't been inside a whole ton of times but I knew that Michael sometime's left Abby at home while she took a nap, and he was otherwise busy. He usually asked a neighbor to listen for if she woke up, but for the most part he got home before she woke up.
Because of this it didn't surprise me when I found Abby just waking up in her room. She looked at me and smiled a big, trusting grin.
"Kodi," she said and jumped off of her mountain of stuffed animals to come and hug me around my legs.
Her hair was a mess, so I quickly put it up in a pony tail, and smiled at her, using my nicest voice, "Hey sweetie, we got to go," I said.
Her blue eyes flashed with something as they rose to meet mine, "are the monsters here?"
My breath was swept away, and before I could stop myself from telling the truth to her, I was nodding, "Yes, Abby. But don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here, and to your brother, I promise," I said, holding her hands.
Her lip quivered but she nodded and ran to her closet, for a moment I was worried she'd grab a boatload of stuffed dolls, but she simply drew out a pink camo backpack and a whistle, putting the whistle around her neck, she grabbed her favorite doll off her bed, and then grabbed something else, a small box it looked like, and shoved the box into her pocket. When she had finished, I grabbed a coat out of her closet and ran to Michael's room, finding his grab bag as well.
Back in the kitchen I found a bat beside the fridge. I put my gun away, and decided to save the bullets for now. Abby looked at me expectantly, and I knelt down to eye level with her.
"You know when to blow the whistle right?"
She nodded like a brave little trooper, "If I'm in danger," she said, and I thanked Michael silently for not treating her like a little kid, even if she was one.
"Good job sweetheart, now do you know if you've got a flare in the house?" she looked confused, so I quickly went on, not wanting to waste any time, "it's like. . a red firework gun," I said.
Her eyes got wide and she nodded, running towards the air vent in the hallway. I followed after her, and nudged her to the side a little so that I could pull off the cover. Inside was a flare and two guns, both guns went into the bag for Michael, and the flare was put in the side pocket in case I needed it. Abby wandered off to the living room to wait while I did this. As a last second thing, I found a sharpie, and not having time to search for paper, I scrolled out a quick explanation to Michael in case he came back here before I found him.
I stepped into the living room right as a whistle sounded. I made it to the yard in no time at all, and as Abby ran past me, to hide behind me, I hit what used to be a strawberry blonde girl in the head with the handy dandy bat I stole from Michael. The zombie went down and I hit it a few more times until it didn't try to get back up.
I swallowed back any disgust I had, and turned to look at Abby, grabbing the flare as I did. Her eyes were large and she was hugging her doll for dear life.
"You got the monster," she said, looking up at me like I was one of her dolls.
I nodded, pointing the flare gun up to the sky and pulling the trigger, "That's right Abby, no monsters are going to get you with me around," I said, tossing the useless gun into the trash, and wondering just how many other flares had already been shot off.
I picked up Abby and held her on my hip, while making my way to the house. I wasn't sure how I knew, but I was certain one of the boys were there, holding up the fort and waiting for me to come and find them.