Carrion (The Bren Watts Diaries #1)

Chapter 27

The shattering of broken glass resounded below on the main cafeteria—several of them—followed by a unison of mindless roars and shrieks from the infected, one that curdled my blood and bones as I stood in front of Jonas's body with half of his head torn into pieces from the shotgun shell.

A hand grabbed me from behind, and I threw a swing, expecting one of the vectors to sink its teeth into my neck, but I ended up slapping Logan on the face. He caught my second strike with his hand and gave me a deathly glare, but it disappeared within an instant when the door behind us started rattling, and the moans of the infected followed after.

"Through here!" Luke said, pointing at the small, narrow side door to our left that was easily missed when we entered last time, between two pillars with the word STAFF ONLY. NO STUDENTS ALLOWED.

I scrambled forward toward Jonas and picked up the shotgun lying beside him. I ran toward the cart, struggling to open my bag as I shoved a few cans inside as I could.

"There's no time for that! They're coming up the stairs!" Logan said. He grabbed my arm and dragged me toward the side door.

"But—!"

"Leave it! You're no use dead."

I glanced back one last time at the cart filled with food—an amount that could feed us for a week or two, and I cursed, wanting to punch the world for the turn of our luck. I had to force myself to run through the side door as Luke and Yousef shut it behind us.

"There's no lock!" Yousef said with fear brimming in his voice.

Suddenly, the vectors thundered against its frame, banging ferociously, desperate to get in. The door, fortunately, held them back for now, but I am not interested in seeing for how long. I whirled around and headed down the dimly lit corridor, walking to the front of the pack. Emergency lights lit up the way, and I was thankful we didn't have to rely on our flashlights. We came upon a fork on the corridor, one going left and the other going straight.

"Which way do we go?" Logan asked.

I had no idea. I regretted letting Miguel go. He knew the place more than I did. Then again, I hoped he and Margot and Felipe were safe. Hopefully, the sound of gunshots pushed them into hiding.

"Left. It's the direction of the hallway. Maybe we can get back out there and then head to the cathedral," I said.

"They left us. Those fuckers left us!" Yousef fumed, trembling.

I glanced at Logan at the corner of my eye and saw him frown and his brows furrowed.

"Let's not worry about that now," Luke interjected. "We'll have a good talk with them once we get the fuck out of this place."

"Yeah, damn right," Yousef echoed. "Oh, I got a lot to say..."

"Then save it for later," Luke said.

The corridor was like a maze, and I realized they served as an alternative path connecting a dozen or so classrooms in this area of the wing as if the backbone of the building. It didn't take long for us to find an emergency exit map, which we used to guide ourselves through. We found a connection to a music room that would lead us out to the same hallway outside the cafeteria, but it wasn't that simple as I imagined since the door was locked. So were many of the doors along the back corridor, and we tried most of them, careful not to rattle too loud on the doorknob else, we peaked the attention of the vectors hiding behind them. Most of them were locked.

Except one.

A single door stood at the end of the corridor with a placard on top saying JONAH CRYSTON PERFORMANCE THEATER, and at the bottom of it said BACKSTAGE ENTRANCE.