2 II

He lead me down the corridor, it was basically empty. We stopped in front of a group of lockers and he quickly opened one, pulling out two metal bats, he gave me one.

"Give it a swing," he suggested as he swung his onto his shoulder and standing, holding the bat over his shoulder and watching me.

I swung it around a bit, getting used to the movements and the sudden weight in my hands.

"Who are you and why do you just casually have two dangerous weapons in your locker?" I asked him, he laughed a little and placed the head of the bat back onto the floor and leaned on it.

"I'm Zion, and I'm part of a group of thugs. Having weapons isn't that unusual," he replied before grabbing his bag out of the locker and closing it. My attention was suddenly caught when the sound of screaming became more louder and desperate. We both ran to the window to see the two security guards attacking the students and teachers, biting them and trying to eat them.

People were running around frantically, trying to get away from the people trying to attack them.

I noticed more people coming to the outside of the gate, they were constantly hitting the two large gates or pushing against them. The constant rattling was almost loud enough to overpower the screams of people being attacked and people trying to get away. But then a loud creaking noise filled the whole area.

My eyes were drawn back to the gates, I could tell Zion was watching them as well. We watched as the front gates fell, leaving the school completely defenceless. Students ran out but something wondered in. Something that wasn't living. For once, I believed something that the government spoke of. I couldn't help but to think about my parents and whether they were ok.

I gripped onto my bat tighter as more and more outsiders came in.

"So much for a good first day of school," I mumbled to myself as both myself and Zion ran further down the corridor. The sound of shuffling and angry groans suddenly appeared as one of the infected people came flying around the corner and close enough to attack Zion. I threw the bat into the boys head and watched as it quickly and effortlessly fell to the ground with a loud thud.

Zion retrieved the bat and gave it back to me.

"Thanks," he said with a slight look of surprise on his face, I nodded and started running again, we ran to the furthest set of stairs and checked for the clear. It seemed to have calmed down outside now. We were sneaking past open classrooms and random windows and doorways when I took a peak outside. There were dozens of people, but they weren't people.

I tried to think of a way to describe what I could see. But the image of grey skinned people, lifeless eyes, drowned like structure, constant groans and thirst and hunger for humans along with the bite marks and infected wounds just drew me to one word. The final word from the president.

Zombies.

Zion was about to run out into the courtyard when I grabbed him and pulled him back down to our crouching vision. He was about to question me but I put a finger over my lips first and grabbed a bottle that had been dropped during the panic and decided to create a little experiment. I waved in front of a zombie but got not much of anything but a muffled groan in response. I then threw the bottle as far as I could to the opposite side of the yard. An echoing shattering sound graced my ears and the zombies all suddenly turned towards the sound and chased after it. I grabbed Zion and pulled him up to stand next to me.

"They have terrible vision but a sensitivity to noise. All their senses besides sight are used. We must keep a low and quiet profile," I tell him before moving as far and as quietly as I could away from the hoard of zombies, I reached the front gate and realised my suspicions were correct. Zion copied and then lead me to an alleyway.

"Well, I'll leave you here. Good luck, and thanks again for saving my neck back there," he announced before looking around the corner quickly and then sprinting away. Once he left I realised I was completely alone and that wasn't something I was comfortable with, then I remembered my father will be at home still, alone and most likely worried to hell about me.

Searching the streets I slowly shuffled my way to my house, avoiding any of the busy main streets that people would most likely be raiding for supplies. When I do finally reach my house I see the door broken in and windows shattered with droplets of blood slithering down them. My heart froze and suddenly I didn't know what to do, what if my dads dead? I didn't get to tell him that I loved him and that I didn't mean what I said to him when he and mum got divorced. I didn't get to play rugby with him or hockey or spar.

I didn't get to spend any time with him.

Without thinking I sprinted into my house, stepping over broken photo frames and random shards of wood and glass until I found my father, lying on the kitchen floor. His blood tinting the white tiles a sickly red. I quickly skidded down onto the floor next to him, not caring that the blood was staining my legs and clothes.

"Don't die dad! You cant," I yelled at him, he just smiled weakly and reached up to hold my cheek in one hand. His cheeks were going pale and his eyes were loosing life. Suddenly you could see his tired wrinkles that showed his age and exhaustion.

"Keep living my.." he start, then he coughed, a stream of blood crawling out the corner of his mouth as he continued talking, "blooming flower."

He choked again and I felt tears pricking at the corners of my eyes. He moved his hand from beside me and dropped a key into my hand.

"I love you..Willow," he looked at me with pleading eyes.

"I love you too, dad. I'm so sorry for everything! Just..don't die! Dont leave me alone!" I couldn't stop my tears from flowing in uncontrollable sobs. His blood stained hand fell from my cheek as he took his final breath. I cried harder knowing that he was gone, i placed my head on his chest. There was no beating from inside, there was no warmth. I stood up and wiped my eyes before looking at the key, there was a label tied to the end that had the word 'basement' sprawled out in uncontrollable script writing.

I looked at my fathers lifeless body one last time before heading towards the basement. Unlocking the door i opened it and then continued down the stairs into the storage room. There were katanas and weapons that i didnt know my father even owned.

First I looked at the blades, only two were sharp and ready to use, one was a katana with a brown leather and silver ribbon handle and the other was a long dagger with a similar handle but the blade pulled into a dangerous curve. I then looked for two sheaths that were suitable for them, when I found one, I grabbed a piece of rope and then quickly ran back upstairs and then into my bedroom. It took a while of searching but I found a belt and put it on, tying the two sheaths together and then onto my belt tightly.

After I found myself in my fathers room looking for a bag. I found one but I also found a photo of me, mother and father all stood together with the family dog, Coco, who died a few years ago. The memory of it made me sad but I shook my head and grabbed one of my dads winter coats and stuffed it into the bag before going to the bathroom and emptying the medicine cupboard. Returning downstairs, I ran to where my fathers body used to lie and then grabbed food, water bottles and other stuff that could help me.

"Wait--" I looked back at the place my father was lying to see that he was no longer there, only the pool of blood.

Any normal person would panic at this sight but after seeing what happened to the security guards back at school, I couldn't help but to close my bag, throw it over my opposite shoulder to my weapons and then grab the sheath with one hand and a handle with the other.

Creeping through the eerily quiet house I notice that not only was my fathers body missing but there was a new blood trail that lead me to the front door, I poke my head through the shattered window to see nothing. Literally nothing. No people, no zombies. Just rubbish rolling in the wind and descolated streets, neglected by the panicking public.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, I let go of my prepared weapon and just stood quietly for a moment.

The floor boards creaked.

Once - something was moving.

Twice - it was definitely come towards me.

Thrice - it was right... behind me. A loud and aggressive growl errupted from behind me, I turned around to see my father looking at me with those lifeless, zombie eyes-- no! He isn't my father anymore, he isn't alive, I mustn't let my emotions drive me to my death.

The dead creature lunged at me and I kicked it out of my way with a firm side kick to his rib cage. Using his recouperation time as my escape, I quickly ran out of the building, my weapons clanking at my side. Realising the issue, I grab hold of the sheaths with my closest hand and kept them still as I ran through the unfamiliar streets that now became the territory of death itself.