It's been a week since the group left. We've had no sign of them. We were told that they were meant to come back yesterday. But we haven't seen them.
All the friends of the students who went out normally wait out at the fences for them to get back. I've kept my eyes peeled for them every time it was my turn to guard the perimeter.
I looked around the STEM building seeing everyone's faces. Everyone's changed since the start of all of this. Everyone is quiet for once. To be honest it's a good thing. I felt someone tap me on my shoulder. It was a new guard called Kevin. He's a year nine. It was his first year here. Same as mine.
"My shift has ended it's your turn now" Kevin said.
I nodded and stood up. I pushed my chair in and walked out of the STEM building and out to my normal spot, the back fence next to the schools oval. I stood still and I looked out at the oval. I could just imagine the four of them running towards me. I would open the gates for them and they would have hundreds of bags of food, water, and Ice Tea. My favourite drink of all time.
I looked up at the clouds. I watched them as they slowly went over head.
"hey!" I heard a faint voice.
"help!" I heard the faint voice yell.
I looked down and I saw Kate, stumbling across the oval. She fell to the ground and started crawling.
"Shit" I said as I quickly ran to the gate.
I grabbed the lock and felt in my pocket for the keys. Kevin never gave me the keys, and I forgot to ask him for them. I looked over at Kate and I saw two Walkers slowly walking towards her.
Without thinking I quickly grabbed the top of the fence, and pulled myself over the fence. I ran across the oval towards Kate who was still trying to crawl away from the Walkers.
Once I got to her she put her hand out for me. I quickly grabbed it and put it around my shoulder. I slowly picked Kate up. I noticed that she had blood all over her. She had blood over her clothes, hands and all over her face.
I didn't need to worry about that right now though. I needed to get her back inside. We kept going but I could tell Kate was getting tired. She was starting to walk slower. I looked behind us and I saw the the Walkers were going faster than us.,
"Come on Kate, keep pushing. We are almost there" I said.
"I... I think I'm going to pass out" Kate said as she stopped walking.
She collapsed to the ground. I caught her so she didn't hurt her head. I slowly put her down onto the green grass and looked at the Walkers. I didn't know what to do. I turned around and put my hands over my mouth.
"SOMEBODY HELP! HELP!" I yelled as loud as I could.
I waited a couple seconds and no one came so I started yelling again.
"HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE!" I yelled.
I looked at the gate and I saw a whole heap of people running over.
"OPEN THE GATE!" I yelled.
I saw Mr. Harris walking over to the gate. He just stood there and looked at me. I quickly picked up Kate, putting my arm under her legs and my other arm on her back. I quickly ran back to the gate. She was heavier than I thought.
I got to the gate and caught my breath. I looked up and I saw Mr. Harris just standing there. He wasn't opening the gate.
"Open the gate" I said.
"Excuse me? You don't tell me what to do" Mr. Harris said.
I looked over at Kevin as he quickly walked over and unlocked the gate. He opened the gate as I quickly slipped inside. Kevin closed and locked the gate. I put Kate down onto the ground.
"Is she alive?" Kevin asked.
"She's alive" I said.
I saw Kiara and Alleigh running over. They stopped and looked at me. I turned around and faced Mr. Harris. He looked around a little.
"Did she get anything?" Mr. Harris asked.
"What do you mean did she get anything? Is that all you care about. She could of died. Hell we don't even know where the other three are, and all you care about is if she got food?" I said.
Mr. Harris slowly stepped over to me. He looked down at me and looked right into my eyes. I could feel and smell his breath.
"You really think I don't care about her, or as a matter of fact anyone here?" Mr. Harris asked me.
"No. I don't think you do. You've changed. You need to get yourself together. These runs can't keep happening. We aren't strong enough. None of us are" I said.
"You trying to take lead? Let me just remind you who the leader is. It's me. You do as I say, or there will be repercussions. Now step away" Mr. Harris said.
I slowly stepped to the side as Mr. Harris walked over to Kate. He got on his knees and looked at her. She woke up and was looking at Mr. Harris.
"Did you get anything?" Mr. Harris asked.
"No. They all died. All of them. Right in front of me. I had to make a run for it. I was the only one who made it out. They are all dead. There all dead! I saw them die!" Kate yelled.
"Shut up" Mr. Harris said punching Kate in her face.
"Hey! What the fuck!?" I yelled stepping in front of Mr. Harris and Kate.
"What did I say to you literally a few seconds ago? You are really pissing me off" Mr. Harris said.
"Step back. Leave her alone. She's already been through enough" I said.
Alleigh and Kiara both walked over and stood behind me. Kevin walked behind me and so did a lot of other students, like Jia.
"You guys will regret this" Mr. Harris said walking away.
I turned around and looked at Kate. She had a big bruise on her cheek. She was knocked out again. I slowly crouched down and picked her up again.
"I'm gonna take her to the library. It's probably the only place here that has comfortable couches and chairs" I said.
I slowly walked away heading towards the library. Alleigh and Kiara both followed me. They held the door open for me and Kate. I put Kate down onto a couch slowly and carefully.
"What if she turns?" Kiara asked.
"She won't. She's not dead" I said grabbing a chair and sitting down next to Kate.
"What are you doing?" Alleigh asked.
"She was talking about how the other three died. I wanna know what happened. Also someone needs to look over her" I said.
"Can we stay with you?" Alleigh asked.
"Yeah. Definitely" I said.
Alleigh and Kiara pulled up a chair and sat down. We were all quiet for a few minutes, all looking at Kate, waiting for her to wake up.
"You guys remember our first day of school? How that science teacher, I forgot his name, it was Mr. A.... something" Kiara said.
"Arnese?" Alleigh said.
"That's it. Do you remember when Mr. Arnese made a bomb, and it went everywhere. Like everywhere" Kiara said laughing.
"Yeah, and it took almost thirty minutes to clean up as well" Alleigh said laughing.
"Yep, that was a mess alright. Remember that time you accidentally hit the teacher with an eraser trying to throw it into the bin?" I asked giggling a little.
"Yep. That still haunts my dreams" Alleigh said laughing.
We all laughed together. It felt like we were back in the real world again. It felt good. I miss the world before. The world that we once knew is dead, and this new world is ugly, it's harsh, it's survival of the fittest. It's a hard world to live in.
I looked at Kate and I saw her eyes slowly open. She looked around at us and looked confused. She tried to sit up but I kept her down.
"You should rest. You've been through a lot" I said.
"What happened?" Kate asked.
"Mr. Harris punched you" I said.
"What? Why the hell did he punch me?" Kate asked.
"A stupid reason. I just wanted to ask, what happened out there? Where are the others?" I asked.
Kate looked away from me. I saw a tear run down her cheek and land onto the couch.
"We went to this restaurant to look for food and we were gonna stay there overnight. That was our final day. When we walked in we didn't know that the dead where inside. There were lots of them. At least over ten. Xavier, Luka and Wren all were circled by the dead. They couldn't do anything to get out. I couldn't do anything. I watched on as they were being eaten alive. I watched on as their blood squirted around the room. Then I ran. They died in front of me. It could of been my fault. Maybe if I didn't agree with Xavier to go inside, they would still be alive" Kate said.
"No. That's ridiculous. It's not your fault. You wouldn't of known that they were inside. It's not your fault. I think you should close your eyes and get some rest. You've had a long day" I said.
Kate closed her eyes and rolled over. She rested her head onto her hands.
"Thank you" Kate said.
I stood up and the three of us all walked out. She should be ok on her own now. If she needs help she can also call out to someone else in the library.
"We've got to stop this. He can't let anymore people out there. If he does this will just happen over and over again, and suddenly we will have no one left" Alleigh said.
"We tried already. There's no way we can change his mind. We just have to accept it for now" I said.
"Just accept it? Come on Sam. There's gotta be something we can do?" Alleigh asked.
I looked into Alleigh' eyes. She looked back into mine. I looked at Kiara. They were waiting for me to say something.
"We have to come to terms with it. Mr. Harris has too much power. There's nothing we can do" I said.