Coming to my senses, I am vaguely aware of the warm body holding me tightly. My eyes flutter open to see Dawn peeking through the flimsy metal office blinds. Clutching my side tighter, Anna begins to stir from her sleep.
"Good Morning," I whisper into her hair. She blinks profusely, confused.
"Good Morning," She croaks as she begins to sit up.
"Everything okay?" I tuck her some of her messy hair behind her ear. She nods and I notice Peter groaning and stretching.
Drako sat perched in the office chair, unfazed and wide awake.
"Game plan," Dawn tears herself away from the window.
"Firstly, we don't really know if the whole school is safe yet," She stares each of us in the eyes intently. "Secondly, our objectives. Essentials. Food, water, weapons. We're survivors now. Drako stays here, keeping watch. We go out, the four of us, and stick together. We find a means of communication and we find some form of weapons. Once we complete those objectives, we'll split up. Me and Peter, and Chris and Anna. We scavenge the building for anything we may need. I have a feeling we're going to be here a long time." Dawn glances at Drako and nods before turning toward the door.
"Let's move out," She grunts and we stand, groggily stretching our sore limbs.
The sounds of our footsteps pattering echo in the abandoned hallway.
"We should check Officer Johnson's office, he might have some sort of weapons," Peter chirps.
"A police officer would never openly leave weapons in a school," Dawn scolds. "However, he might have some walkies." She adds. Peter grins proudly, his aloof personality still as alive as ever.
"He might have some files, too," Anna finally speaks up, her voice barely a whisper.
"What use would his files be to us?" Dawn snaps, annoyed.
"He has to have something like reports on repeat offenders for containing such items in their locker. Every officer has a 'Watch List'," Anna replies.
"She has a point," I squeeze her against my side as we walk and Dawn scowls.
Soon we're in Officer Johnson's office and immediately looking through files and collecting five walkies.
"Here's one," Peter pipes up, "Joshua Topplegon, repeat offender at..." He pauses.
"Misusing exacto knives? For what?"
Dawn snatches the file, "breaking and entering his own locker," She rolls her eyes, "The police are such quacks."
"I've got one, Russo Defaro," Anna looks up with her big and beautiful eyes. Pull yourself together, I shake my head. "He's been suspended for drugs, a flare gun, a hand gun, an air soft gun, and three pocket knives."
"Jackpot!" Peter shouts.
"Whose to say they let him keep all that in there anyway?" Dawn interrupts. "I don't see why where wasting time in these files. These repeat offender's weapons wouldn't be kept on the school grounds-" She stops short, her body freezing as if something just clicked.
"How could I have been so stupid," she mutters under her breath, more to herself than anyone. "Look for a Brandy Davis." She starts sifting through papers determinedly.
"Why? What's so special about her?" Peter quirks. Dawn's hands slow a bit, but only for a second, her face hidden.
"Just do it." She looks up, voice firm. But her eyes. They're glossed over, something brewing. The sudden paleness of her face, and her serious tone makes us silently scramble to help her.
"I've got it," I breathe the words quietly, holding out the file to Dawn.
She stiffly grabs it, hesitantly staring at it before opening it up, her eyes scanning for something. Flipping the Manila folder shut she heads toward the door.
"Let's go," she announces, her back towards us, before she throws the door open and heads down the hallway. Quietly we follow down the semi dark corridor. Her shoes screech as she suddenly stops, head down. Ever so slowly she turns and stares down the locker in front of her. Inserting the combination, the door soon swings open. Anna gasps at the contents and Dawns jaw clenches.
"What is this?" Anna whispers. The locker looks so out of place with its door covered in blurry photos of the Seikorae. The back of the locker was torn out to make room for the various weapons, obviously modified. Very bulky shotguns, bulky crossbows, powerful handguns, ammunition, and a sniper rifle. It looked like a hefty armory, very out of place in the middle of our school.
"Load up," Dawn starts grabbing a few grenades and stuffing them into the duffle bag that was in there.
Hesitantly we all begin to help empty the locker.
"Now is where we split. Pick a weapon." Dawn commands.
"I don't know how to use these," Anna frowns as she hold up a handgun like its a dead rodent.
"For the time being you don't have to. I'm issuing a meeting when we get back where we'll discuss the issue. For now just keep it on you." Dawn takes it, making sure the safety is on and sticks into the waistband of Anna's jeans.
Peter grabs a shotgun, as do I, and Dawn holds the crossbow, the duffle bag now draped over her shoulder.
"Dawn and I will go upstairs, you too search down here." Peter looks to Dawn for confirmation.
"Here," she hands is a stack of files instead. "Check their lockers for bags, or anything else you might find useful." Dawn then turns and nods to Peter, signaling for them to go.
Anna and I look at the first file and start walking. Glancing over at her I see her chewing her bottom lip, eyebrows furrowed in thought.
"What's on your mind?" I ask.
Shaking her head back to reality she replies, "This brandy person. Dawn was acting weird. And that locker was even weirder."
"Yeah it was pretty weird. But Dawn will tell us when she's ready. Right now we've got a task. Here's our first locker." I turn, rechecking the file as I attempt to enter the combination. Inside lies books and papers, like any normal locker.
"It's weird to think the owner of this locker is probably dead now." Anna breathes.
"I'd hope not, this is peters locker. He never takes his stuff home, hence the easy book bag." I grab the bag. Searching the shelf I spot a box under a pile of late homework. Nutrition bars. Placing the box in the bag, Anna giggles.
"What's so funny?" I look up in time to see her pull out various bags of candy and soda and I can't help but chuckle.
"That's Peter for you." I open the bag so Anna can place the sugary goods in it.
We continue to raid multiple lockers before a voice is coming through our walkies.
"Is everything okay?" It's Dawn.
"Yeah we're just finishing up." I reply into the small device.
"10/4 we're back at control, just waiting for you." Dawns voice returns.
"We're on our way," I slam the last locker shut before heading back down the hall with Anna. We're each carrying four bags full of various supplies.
When we reach the office, the blinds in the window ruffle before Peter opens the door.
"Let's see what you've got," Dawn stretches an arm out to take one of the bags.
"We found some food and spare clothing like sweaters or gym clothes. We found a few blankets too, and bottles," I hand set down the bags and begin to show her.
"We also... found..." Anna blushes deeply. "Tampons." She hands over the collection and Dawn nods, unfazed.
"We need to get organized. We need to recreate our own community. So let's start with a leader," Dawn stands up from digging in the bags.
"I think we should vote," Peter speaks up. We nod in agreement.
"I would like to nominate you, Dawn. You're clearly the leader type. You've gotten us this far and I'm not just choosing her out of favoritism," I announce. Dawn nods her head in acceptance.
"Yeah, or he'd pick himself," Peter chuckles earning him a smack upside the head. "Ow!"
"Peter and I found a few things too," Dawn carries on.
"Look at this kick ass marker board!" Peter props it up on one of the office desks.
"It'll help with organization." Dawn pulls the cap off of a marker and draws a few lines, seperating the board into sections.
"Let's go over a few rules. I think we should have a curfew. Five o'clock in the winter and eight o'clock in the summer, this way we'll be back before dark," She starts scribbling on the board.
"How long do you expect to be here?" Peter questions.
"I don't know, but it's best to be prepared. If for some reason we move locations, this rule will always apply." Dawn replies.
"How long do you think this apocalypse will last?" Peter rallies off another.
"Potentially forever." Dawn deadpans.
A still silence falls over us as Dawn continues to write.
"We may have plenty of food for now, but the supply has stopped, meaning we'll have to ration everything. Unless you plan on running you're own factory," Dawn smirks at her sarcasm.
"Ha. Ha. Ha. So funny," Peter pouts, upset that he can't eat like a black hole anymore.
"I'm thinking we can gradually schedule out our week but for now Sunday's we'll go to the gym for training. Wednesdays are strictly scavenger days." She continues to write, filling up a few more sections.
"Alright," Dawn puts the cap back on the marker. "Anna, I'm going to leave you in charge of finding places for all of this stuff. It should be organized, too. I'll trust you to decide our living quarters. We'll each need to be supplied a few of our own necessities and belongings. Maybe a bag and weapon per person, the rest is community supplies?" Anna nods at Dawn's command, before Dawn turns to Peter and I.
"You two are coming with me. We'll be looking for more supplies. I figure we can break into all the gym lockers and search for anything of use," She grabs her crossbow and crosses the room in long strides. "Get you're stuff, it's already 3:30."
I look at Anna to see her big blue eyes staring back at me.
"I'll be back before you know it," I brush her cheek with my thumb as she squeezes my other hand.
"I promise," I pull away and head towards the door. Glancing back at her one last time, I let the door shut, the image of her worried face burning behind my retinas.