Apocalypse [1]

Day 1- 09.57am

 Hayley’s head snapped up from her work.  That was the third shout they had heard from the corridors in the last ten minutes.  She looked towards Julie, her teacher, who looked just as confused as Hayley felt.  Julie stopped talking for a moment, and the class began whispering as she opened the door and peered out of it in interest.  Apparently seeing nothing of interest to report, Julie went to pull her head back into the room, but before she could do, a scream erupted from her throat, and Hayley sprang up from her chair. 

 Julie stumbled back from the door in shock, then pushed it closed with shaking hands and turned the handle so that the metal lock slid into place.  Then she backed away to the window in horror, staring at the door with widened eyes.

“What’s going on?” Hayley asked, watching Julie. 

“Don’t go near that door,” Julie warned as Hayley started to cross the room.  Hayley turned and looked at her twin sister, Megan.  Though twins, the sisters looked nothing alike; although both small and slim in build, Hayley had shoulder-length straight brown hair and a fringe that framed her brown eyes, whereas Megan had bright blue eyes and her wavy blonde hair was pulled, as usual, into a ponytail, and tucked behind her ears.

 Silently, Megan crossed the room to her sister, and together they approached the locked classroom door carefully, much to the protests of their fellow classmates.  Hayley peered through the glass of the door, and saw an empty corridor.  She was about to move away when a sudden thud! against the door made Megan stumble away in horror.

 Blood smeared across the glass as a student was flung against it, crying out in pity as she was forced against it by an unseen attacker.  She yelled out in pain, and Hayley saw a frenzy of limbs struggling against one another.  The face of the student was pressed against the glass of the door, and two desperate eyes willed Megan and Hayley for help as they stood and watched in horror what was unfolding before them. 

 Sprays of blood hit the glass; freckled it with red spots that dripped down the door.  The body of the girl was slammed against the wooden door with small thuds, and her agonizing cries grew fainter and fainter until they stopped all together, and the ripped, limp body of what was a young, healthy girl slumped to the floor.

“What the fuck…” Hayley started, trying to tear her eyes away from the motionless and bloodied body.  Hands grabbed the torn, scarred flesh from next to the door, ripped through the stomach of the student with short and bloodied fingernails.  Then something – something more animal than human – lowered its head to the corpse’s stomach and began to feast on what lay there, the guts, flesh and muscle that, a few minutes earlier, had been living.

“Shouldn’t we help her?” a boy named Russell asked uncertainly.  He was ignored.  It was clear to every eye in the room that she was beyond help.

Hayley turned to her sister.  Megan was stood staring in shock at the door of the classroom, her eyebrows furrowed and skin pale.  She swallowed, looked like she was going to be sick, and Hayley tried to pull a comforting smile, but found she couldn’t.  Not yet.

 Hayley watched through the glass in the door as more hands joined in the feast, more savages lowered their heads to eat.  They had surrounded the door now, and Hayley saw them.

 Bloodshot eyes, with tiny pinprick pupils, gazed hungrily at the flesh they tore and ate from their hands.  Many were pale in colour, with large purple rings around those bloodshot eyes, and veins lacing their way up the necks of the feeders.  Blood dripped from their chins as they ripped the carcass apart with bloodied, dirty hands, and they all emitted that same haunting moan from deep in their stomachs.

 Hayley watched as they reached down and tore the guts from the body, saw the intestines sprawled over the floor of the corridor as the ribcage was shattered and the organs exposed.  Blood gushed from the wreckage of the body, but this only encouraged them, made them hungrier.  There were three of them now, and more coming nearer, more hands reaching towards the guts that spilled over the floor. 

One by one, the hands dragged the remnants of the corpse away from the door, and Hayley cautiously leant forward to see that they were dragging what was left down the corridor slowly, leaving smears of dark blood on the smooth floor.

“What’s going on?” Megan asked, turning to the trembling group of students, all of whom were terrified. 

“I don’t know,” Hayley admitted.  “But you know what we have to do?”

Megan nodded grimly.

“Keep that fucking door shut, that’s what,” Russell said, pointing towards it.  “I sure as hell don’t want that to be me!”

“None of us do, Russell,” Megan said quietly, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, well,” Russell replied, crossing his arms too, and then moving to stand by the door. 

“We have to leave,” Megan said, turning to Hayley.  “Don’t we?”

Hayley nodded. 

“Are you out of your fucking minds?!” Russell cried, hysteria making his voice surprisingly high-pitched.  “You go out there, you get ripped to shreds.  Haven’t you just seen that?!”

“And we won’t forget it in a hurry,” someone else piped up.  Hayley and Megan turned to see who had spoken.  It was a quiet boy called Rori, who surveyed them all with the intelligent green eyes that peeped out from under an untidy fringe of blonde hair.  He stood forward nervously, and Russell glared at him.

“We have people out there,” Hayley started.  “People we care about, people we love.  We aren’t going to forget that either.  You think I’d be okay if that was my best friend pushed against the glass there?!  Or if was my mum? Or anyone I once knew?!”

“Better them than me,” Russell mumbled. 

“You selfish little shit!” Hayley cried.  “You selfish-”

“No-one is opening this door!” Russell screamed, pointing behind him and glaring at everyone who stood before him.  “Now is not the time to be a fucking hero!”

“It’s not called being a hero,” Megan said quietly but forcefully.  “It’s called being human.”

“No-one is forcing you to leave,” Rori reasoned, for Hayley looked as if she was about to start called Russell a selfish shit again.  “But I’m with them on this.  Let us out, please.  We can’t hide here forever, whatever is going on out there.  Just let us out, and lock the door behind us.”

Russell left out a deep sigh.  He looked from one determined face to another, and saw he was defeated.  He shuffled away from the door ever so slightly, and bowed his head.

“Who wants to leave?” he asked the crowd.

Hayley, Megan and Rori stood forward, as did another boy, who had dark wavy hair and dark eyes.  Hayley had never spoken to him, but remembered his name was Warren, and tried to give him an encouraging smile. 

 Russell nodded to the four of them, as if permitting them to leave the room.  Rori, Warren and Megan stepped towards the door, but Hayley, as if changing her mind, walked towards Russell instead.

“You know,” she said calmly.  “You really are a cowardly little shit.”  She drew her hand back and, quick as a flash, slapped Russell across his right cheek, leaving a red mark tingling.  Then she joined the other three at the door.

“Ready?” Rori asked.  They all nodded.

With a soft metallic click, the door swung open.