9 Sir Jim

Sheloah took a deep breath. "Tito… the carkeys of our tenant, you're holding it, right?" Sheloah stood up when she heard her uncle say yes.

"If ever…" Sheloah didn't know how to ask; if their tenant died. "If they're gone… then use their car to come here." Sheloah still dared to say it even though it was difficult for her talking about someone's death.

Her uncle sighed. "Yes, they are… gone, but why will we go there?" Her uncle was also hesitant to talk about their tenant's death yet he still asked his niece a question.

"We will go to SM to get some resources. Besides… it's safer here than there. I suggest you should all come here," Sheloah answered and her uncle let out another sigh.

"If that's the case, fine. We have to hurry up." Upon hearing this, Sheloah leaned on the wall behind her.

"We're going to get food, clothes, and other important stuff. We will also be raiding the gun shop to get some weapons to use," Sheloah added.

"Then let's get all we can from the gun shop," her uncle suggested and although he could not see, Sheloah nodded in response. "We especially need bullets," his uncle added and Sheloah started walking around the rooftop.

"We will be there by 5:30. Hurry up in going to school to drop off the others then drive later going to SM. Bring the gun grandfather gave you," Sheloah said to her uncle and once she got her uncle's approval, she hung up and walked towards Veon to tell him about the plan.

At one corner of the rooftop, he saw Veon talking to his family on the phone. She approached him slowly and as she observed him, she noticed that Veon was really worried about his parents.

"Pa… pa, don't leave the house. You and ma just stay put. I will pick you up once we are done getting resources from SM. Please… for now, hide somewhere in the house," Veon said, sounding desperate. He rested his head on the wall as his hand formed a fist.

Sheloah felt bad. Veon could not go to his parents and his parents could not voluntarily leave the house, either. His father's now old, unable to drive while her mother, didn't know how to drive. None of them had a choice.

"Lock the doors and block the windows. Just… hide in the room. Pa, use your gun if you have to," Veon said and he noticed that Sheloah was waiting for him. Sheloah silently gestured for Veon to continue but Veon ignored her. "I'll end this call. Just stay there, please… wait for me." With that, he ended the call.

Sheloah now approached Veon and he tapped his shoulder, comforting him. "We will return for them, I promise. I'll go with you." Veon smiled at Sheloah slightly.

"Thanks," he thanked and Sheloah nodded at him. "Let's go." The both of them then started walking towards the rooftop's door. Tyler and Josh noticed them so they followed suit. They pushed the water drum blocking the door and they all walked outside.

From the way Veon walked, it was obvious that he was rushing for this to end quickly. He thought that once they finish this, he would rush out to his family to get them.

Sheloah whispered his situation to Tyler and Josh and the three of them understood why he acted this way. If their family were defenseless, they would rush for their safety as well.

They were now outside the rooftop, but they didn't walk down the stairs yet. They were just hiding behind the wall. The melee weapons they brought now were the sturdy sticks that Tyler got from their school's sports fest billboard.

They didn't like sportsfest, anyway. It took too much time and energy. Just like what their teacher had said, it just lessens time for their lessons, making students rush for their given assignments and projects. Everyday would be practice for the cheer competition and once students got home, they would be tired, forgetting to do their school responsibilities.

Sports fest suck!

Veon and Sheoah's guns were kept properly and they decided to only use this as their last resort. Sheloah walked slowly to the side of the stairs and took a peek on the hole in the middle. She saw one zombie one floor down from where they are. Even though it was just one zombie, Sheloah felt a little nervous on how to kill the zombie, knowing that they only use melee weapons.

She looked at the boys with her. "There's one zombie down there," she whispered and they started walking slowly down the stairs.

The zombie's back was facing them. They studied the zombie's uniform and noticed that the badge on the zombie's collar was color yellow.

In their school, there are four colors that would indicate a student's grade or year level. If the badge was color green, it would represent the 7th graders. If it was yellow, the 8th graders. Red for the third years, and blue for the fourth years. Sheloah and her classmates are on their fourth year so they have blue badges. Since the zombie in front of them had a yellow badge, the zombie was considered an 8th grader.

Sheloah frowned slightly. An 8th grader, ranging from 13 years old to 14 years old, turned into a zombie. His fate turning into part of the undead army was rather depressing. He was too young!

The moment they came down, the zombie noticed them and looked back, which gave Sheloah a shock. She reflexively put both of her hands on her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.

Veon was alert. He stood in front of Sheloah to protect her and he strongly hit the zombie on the head. The zombie fell on the ground, his blood forming a puddle on the floor. Veon hit the zombie's head once more, making sure that his target was indeed dead.

Sheloah's hemophobia started to attack again. She quickly averted her gaze from the scene and turned her back on the dead zombie. Josh noticed it as he placed his hand on Sheloah's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Sheloah took a deep breath. "Yes, I… was just caught off guard," she said and she stared at the dead zombie again in disgust. "I should get used to this already. This is unavoidable," she added and they started walking down again, slowly.

They already went three floors down and they saw two zombies, standing at the end of the stairs. The four of them squatted quickly, hiding from the zombies. They took a little peek.

"One wrong move and we're done," Tyler whispered and Sheloah thought of a plan.

It would be best if they attack them quickly. They will run towards them and will hit them hard on the head with the stick. Once they do it successfully, the zombies will fall down on the next set of stairs below them.

"We run towards them. Once we're near them, we hit them hard on the head to make them fall down the next set of stairs. Sound alright?" They all nodded when they saw nothing wrong about Sheloah's plan.

They all ran quickly going down the stairs, with Veon and Sheloah taking the lead. Once the zombies noticed them, they both hit the zombies hard on the head and the both of them fell down. Tyler and Josh ran after Veon and Sheloah and took the initiative to do the last hit of hitting the zombies to make sure they were indeed dead.

Sheloah looked at their collars and noticed that they killed one 7th grader, ranging from 12-13 years old, and one third year student, ranging from 14-15 years old.

'How unfortunate.'

They all went one floor down and saw the home economics room. The moment they were already in front, they peeked through the glass of the door and noticed that there was someone standing in front of the stove.

Sheloah looked at her comrades. "Zombie or person," she asked and they all shrugged their shoulders, unsure.

"We have to enter to see," Josh said as Tyler held the doorknob to slowly open the door.

The moment the door opened, Tyler entered and suddenly a knife was thrown at his direction. They were all surprised as Tyler narrowly dodged the knife, which was now stuck on the door.

Tyler held his face as if he was the person in the famous painting "The Scream" and the four of them looked at the person who threw the knife. They noticed that the person who almost killed Tyler was their Math teacher.

Sir Jim.