Chronicles of the Fall- #1- Empty Night

Chapter 2: The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend

DJ pounds on the door to the boy's locker room with the flat part of her balled up fist. It was locked. A booming sound echoes through the gym hall.

"Hampton! Are you in there?!" DJ yells, her voice cutting through the wooden door. If Hampton is on this hall, he will surely hear his friends. Laken joins in DJ's yelling, constantly checking behind her to make sure none of the infected are trailing them.

"Huh?! DJ? Laken? What's going on?" a deep, baritone voice sounds from inside the locker room. Something on the other side of the door clicks, and the door swings outward. A boy around DJ and Laken's age, 18, stands before them. He towers above even DJ, and his chiselled jawline and sculpted cheekbones reflect his expression of concern.

"That disease. There are infected in the school!" DJ explains quickly. Hampton blinks in confusion, his eyebrows furrowing. He runs his hands through his hair, which is styled into a dirty blonde quiff; a nervous tick he has retained even into his near-adulthood.

"We need to go, but we're not leaving without you and Faith," Laken adds hurriedly. Hampton nods once, and then disappears into the locker room. DJ and Laken glance at each other, confused and somewhat annoyed at Hampton's actions. They need to get out of the school as fast as possible. After a couple of moments, Hampton reappeares with an ash wood baseball bat.

"One of us needs a weapon," says the boy, resting it on one shoulder. "Now come on, we need to find Faith and leave."

The three friends turned back towards Five Points; Hampton takes the lead since he has a weapon. Halfway down the hall, they come upon more of the infected. Hampton doesn't even try to kill them with a blow to the head. Instead, he swings the baseball bat in the true form of an athlete, swiping the legs out from underneath the enemies. Their kneecaps pop out of place, the bones shattering, enabling the trio to get around them without injury.

Once they're all in Five Points, they're unsure of where to proceed.

"Where would Faith be?" DJ asks, concerned for their friend. Faith isn't the strongest, nor the bravest person on the face of the Earth. If met with one of the sick, she is sure to freeze up with fear.

"I don't know!" Laken retorts, racking her brain for possible locations. Faith has third lunch, the one after Laken and DJ's. Enough time has passed for Faith to have gone to lunch. Perhaps she's back at the lunch room.

"Wait, doesn't Faith have third lunch?" Hampton asks, echoing Laken's train of thought. She nods in confirmation. Hefting the baseball bat, Hampton jogs down the short expanse of hallway, leading them into the cafeteria once more.

The floor-to-ceiling glass windows that make up the cafeteria's north wall have shattered, and there are more infected than before. At first, before the things noticed DJ, Laken, and Hampton, they were standing on unsteady legs, vacantly staring into nowhere. However, whenever the trio's footsteps sound from the entrance to the huge room, all the heads turn slowly to face them. Seeing new prey, the infected begin to drift towards the three friends.

The remaining students, the ones who haven't fallen to the disease, have cleared out of the lunch room; except for one.

Faith.

She's at the other end of the cafeteria, pressed into a corner underneath a table. The infected must not see her, since she's still unharmed. Laken catches her eye, giving a slight smile despite the situation.

"We need to get to her," Laken gasps, fearful of what the infected could do to Faith.

"No shit," DJ growls. "But do you see all those things in our way? We only have one baseball bat!"