Mission Dangerously Possible

"There's too many of them! We can't take them all! We need to get inside now!"

Thea urged us and quickly we ran to safety. I bolted towards Jelo's house, which was the closest to where we were, and the two of them followed my lead while, for some reason, screaming at me as they locked the gate and door behind us.

"Seriously?! Here?! You run here of all places?!" He shouted.

I plopped down on the living room floor to catch my breath and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds all while still tightly holding onto this rusty frying pan!

My brain was still in the process of taking in everything that was going on. Our school trip got cut short because of a virus that was spreading throughout the country that, oh yeah, SOMEHOW TURNS PEOPLE INTO ZOMBIE-LIKE THINGS AND I WAS ABOUT TO DEFEND MYSELF AGAINST THEM WITH A FRYING PAN! A FRYING PAN OF ALL THINGS! AND OUR SWEET UNCLE WHO USED TO MAKE WOODEN SWORDS, SWINGS, AND SLIDES WAS BENT ON EATING THEA'S LEG A FEW SECONDS AGO!

Also, my mom was missing. I think the whole town was except for those who were infected like Uncle Paris. Wait… Could my mother have been among those outside who were infected?! No! Now is not the time to think like that Lanz! Get it together!

Thea pushed the curtain aside to look out the window, "What were we thinking, running here for safety? The gate and the door aren't going to hold!"

That's when I realized what a huge mistake I just made. She was right! What were we thinking?! Well, mostly me, since these two just ran after me since I was the first to run. The gate to the house was old and rusty, it was changed a few years before Jelo's grandparents moved in, which was probably over fifty years ago!

Assuming all the infected had the same strength Uncle Paris had earlier when he wanted to eat Thea's foot like a Shish kebab, their brute force alone could probably knock the whole thing down including the fences!

The door's durability was the same as the gate. You know what, scratch that, it's probably in even worse shape than the fifty-year-old gate! How am I sure about that? Well, that's because we accidentally took it off its hinges when we rammed into it while playing basketball. It was a few days ago, the guys were teaching me how to play since the school's sports fest was coming up and I was chosen to be a player for the team I was on, despite the numerous times I told our head teacher that I had no experience let alone interest in playing basketball! Jelo threw the ball while DJ, me, and another friend of ours tried to catch it and ended up slamming onto each other and falling to our backs on the door!

Luckily for us, Jelo's parents weren't home because they were on a trip. Jelo had won a free cruise trip to the Caribbean at the mall a month ago and decided to give it to his parents as a gift for their anniversary. But of course, the truth always comes out. We weren't trying to hide it or lie about it though, we wanted to tell our parents what happened, right after we fix the door or pay for the repairs. But things didn't go the way we planned it, no thanks to DJ. He accidentally blurted it out in front of my mother, who called their mothers and we got scolded by them for a while. We ended up fixing the door temporarily and then contributed to the repairs using our savings, it was scheduled for tomorrow. And that is why I am sure that the door won't hold!

Then, as if an alarm had rung, I sat upright as I realized I had forgotten about something, or rather, someone!

"DJ!"

The both of them looked at me all confused about my sudden outburst or what DJ had anything to do about the current situation. They looked at each other as if I had spoken in some foreign language or had lost my marbles.

"What about him?" Jelo asked.

"Earlier, he called me and probably was trying to tell me about the Inmourtis before everything had spiraled! But I couldn't understand what he was talking about, his signal was so bad! I thought he was talking about bees. Which didn't make sense at the time, he must have been saying zombies. He's still at school, many people are, we have to go back!"

Thea looked so lost, "In-a-what?"

"Inmourti. I'll explain later, right now we have to go to Collis. I think DJ is in trouble!"

"A noble gesture Lanz, I admire the bravery and determination, really I do. And with what you just said about DJ's call I want to go back too because not only is DJ there, Harvey is too! But I think you're missing something here, a very important something. AN ACTUAL PLAN!" she exclaimed and then tried to calm herself, "We need an actual plan. We can't just wing this because if it slipped your mind it is dangerous out there. I almost became dinner and would love to avoid that! I want to go back to Collis and check on my friends too, but there is a massive obstacle between us and anywhere else right now! We need to pass THE LITERAL WALKING DEAD!"

"Well, what do you propose we do then? It's not like we can wait around for rescue! Like you said the gate and the door aren't gonna hold. I know there's strength in numbers but let's be honest here, three of us against twenty of them does not sound like great odds to me. Yes, I counted them before I ran. And I don't think I can stomach hitting Granny Rose any more than you."

Thea's heart sank when I mentioned the old lady we were close to ever since we were kids, "Granny Rose? No, no, no! Granny can't be- She can't! Granny… Granny isn't like Uncle Paris!"

"I know what I saw Thea! And I don't like it any more than you! She's infected by the virus, just like Uncle Paris!

"Both of you, calm down!" Jelo stood up and looked at the both of us, "Thea we have to face facts. I saw her too, she was wearing her favorite silked Kimona. She wasn't the only one there too. The convenience store clerk, Mr. Parker from the bakery, and Mrs. Willows were there too. They're all infected."

Thea's legs gave in and she fell to the floor. I went to her to help her up and for the first time in years, I saw her cry. All the people Jelo mentioned were people she knew and was close to. She worked a summer job at Mr. Parker's bakery and enjoyed her time there, Mrs. Willow was Granny Rose's daughter-in-law and got along with Thea well. Even the convenience store clerk was someone from Thea's old school.

"We don't have much time," Jelo said and then turned to me, "Lanz, you mentioned something about a virus.

"Yeah, I did," I helped Thea to her feet while answering. I laid down all the things I put together from what little information I had, "When I was looking for my mom I stumbled upon letters in the kitchen, one was from the homeowners. There was a meeting held yesterday at HOA because of a disease. They were going to tackle the advisories set by the various departments of the government. I don't remember the name of the disease because it was a mouthful, but I do recall the virus that caused it. It helps that we already heard about it."

Thea blinked a couple of times, "Hold on, what do you mean we?"

"Do you remember yesterday when you and I were exploring the convention?"

"Of course I do!" She answered, "How could I forget?"

She looked at me directly as she said that. Yesterday, our entire group of friends was supposed to explore the convention together. Unfortunately, we all got separated after the first showcase. Thea and I stuck with each other to avoid getting lost. She spent fifteen minutes trying to calm me down because I was so engrossed with the new robot alarm clock I bought that I didn't notice I had walked into the Submarine Experience.

Thea's one of the few people that know about my Thalassophobia, it's not something I like to talk about and I didn't exactly tell her either. She found out about it back when we were kids.

"Anyway," I said, moving on, "After the submarine thing, someone came into the PA booth. At the time we shrugged it off as a student playing a prank, now I wish it was just a prank. Do you remember what that person said? I vaguely do, but it was something along the lines of 'Beware the Inmourti' or something similar to that."

Jelo closed his eyes and sighed in frustration, "Latin for the undead… How could I have missed it?! The teachers started to act strange after that. I should have seen it!"

"None of us saw this coming Jelo, don't be so hard on yourself." She reassured him.

"But my gut knew something wasn't right!" He threw the shovel on the sofa and picked up a piece of paper on the coffee table then showed it to me, "Could this be the letter you're talking about?"

"The exact one!"

Thea moved closer to take a better look at it and then turned to me, "Hey I think I saw something like this on our kitchen counter! Although I'm not entirely sure since our house currently looks as if a typhoon had passed through it. The whole place was just a huge mess! Normally I'd ask which one of my siblings made the mess but…"

"But what?" I asked.

"No one was home. The house was empty. I checked my siblings' rooms and saw their clothes scattered on the ground with their luggage gone from storage. Same with my parents…"

I was shocked by what she just said. I hesitated at first but brought myself to say it out loud, "M-My mom… My mom wasn't home either, her room looked like it had been ransacked and most of her clothes were gone too."

"This was lying here when I arrived, I was about to read it when I heard the commotion outside. It's from the HOA so every household in our block would've gotten one," Jelo stared at the letter scanning its contents, "But that doesn't explain why our families or anyone else in town disappeared."

"What do you mean by our fam-" I stopped myself from talking and looked around the house, "Where're your grandparents?"

Jelo looked sullen, "I don't know. They weren't here when I got home."

He pocketed the letter and that reminded me of the other letter that I haven't read yet but that can wait. We had more pressing matters to attend to. Jelo looked out the window to get a hold of the situation.

"It's obvious that our best option is to get out of here and head to the school. If the town is empty, we can't ask anyone for help. At the school we can, Mr. Williams and some students are probably still there. We can tell them what's going on and hop on the bus to get somewhere safe."

"I agree. But, any ideas on how we can get out of here in one piece?" I asked him, "The front door is obviously off the list of options."

Grrr

My eyes widened and shivers were sent down my spine as the growls and groans got louder, which could only mean one thing, that they were getting closer! And just then, we heard Uncle Paris pounding on the gate. We looked at each other in horror, we had to make our escape and fast!

"UH, UHM, Uh- OH! I got it!" Thea exclaimed and turned towards Jelo, "Isn't your room right in front of my brother's? We could use a plank or a ladder to get to our house from there! We could also grab the first aid kit in his room and I could get my phone on our way out!"

"Smart! But what if some Inmourtis were still at the gate when we get out? We'd just be a few meters away from them." I pointed out.

"Then how about we go from Thea's crafts room to your bedroom and escape from your house?" Jelo added, "What about that? Sound like a plan?"

Ggggrrrarrr!

We heard the loud noise of the gate slamming onto the ground. They had already knocked down the gate! The loud footsteps of the Inmourti aggressively walking towards the door made me tremble. If there were something that measured the amount of fear right now we would have already caused it to overload!

"SOUNDS GOOD! LOVE THE PLAN! NOW LET'S EXECUTE THE PLAN! CAN WE PLEASE GO NOW?!" I shouted and then we all ran upstairs.

Jelo was the first to reach his room, he held onto his trusty and rusty shovel while Thea left the rake downstairs to hold the door. I bit my frying pan and then Thea and I grabbed the ladder that leaned on the cabinet and followed him inside. We placed it on the window sill pushing it slowly to reach the other window.

Smash!

We all turned around in shock as the ladder accidentally hit Jelo's lampshade and it shattered very loudly! We panicked because almost at the same time, they were already at the door and pounding on it!

"Will it hold?" Jelo asked.

"I volunteer to be the guinea pig!" Thea said and climbed onto the ladder. She crawled until she reached her brother's window. She lifted it up and then went inside, landing on his bed. She smiled at us while giving a thumbs up, Jelo and I were relieved! We were close to getting out of here!

But our small moment of joy was broken when we heard the door slam. They were in! Jelo grabbed his backpack then climbed on the ladder and I followed closely after, Thea held the ladder down on the other side so that it wouldn't move a lot. The height I could plummet down adder to the fear I was feeling. I was terrified but my only options were either stay behind and get infected or try the dangerous method of escape that could potentially keep us out of harm's way. I choose the latter.

As soon as I got inside, Jelo pulled the ladder in. Thea picked up the first aid kit on her brother's shelf as well as the pair of Arnis Sticks he had beside his bed. After that, we rushed along the halls to her crafts room. There, she picked up her crocheted backpack and put the kit inside along with my frying pan. Then, she opened the window to place the ladder.

But here was one slight problem, Thea was already on the other side when we realized that my window wasn't open. Unlike Thea's brother, I have a habit of locking my window every night.

"What are we going to do now?!" she asked in a silent scream, "I can't just break it!"

"Why not? I own the room, don't worry about compensation!"

"I'm not worried about compensation! I can't break it! I won't break it!"

"Do you have other ideas? Just break the window!"

"No!" said Jelo, "It would attract the Inmourtis we were just trying to escape from Lanz! Besides, we do have another option!"

"What?" the both of us asked at the same time.

"The roof!"

I stared at him, making sure I didn't mishear what he just said. The roof. The roof? THE ROOF?! Is he out of his mind?! There was no roof outside my window, only above it! Please tell me he isn't suggesting what I think he's suggesting…

"I think you need to get your eyes checked again because your eyesight may have gotten worse! From what you're suggesting we wouldn't die from being infected, we would die from breaking our bones! Breaking the window is our only option here!"

"No, it's not. If we're careful we can probably make it in one piece. Here, hold this," he said and then gave me his shovel, "I'll show you it can be safe. If something goes wrong, then break the window."

"Then that will just make more noise!" I said as Thea crawled back to her room.

Jelo didn't waste any more time and started making his way to the other side of the ladder. He slowly stood up and grabbed onto the roof, he pulled himself up while latching onto the wall on his left, and safely landed on the roof above my room. He started making his way to the front of the house and carefully jumped from the roof to the small balcony on the second floor. I couldn't see him from where I was but I think I heard a faint 'ouch', he must've landed on my mom's cacti…

"Y-Your turn!" Wow, he took the fall like a champ!

Thea and I looked at each other and then at the ten-foot drop that awaited us if we screwed up.

"After you," she said while gesturing to the ladder.

I took a deep breath and started crawling. I tried my best not to shake and find my balance as I stood up and reached for the roof, then copying what Jelo did, I landed on top of it and moved a little to give Thea some space for her landing. When she got up as well we started slowly making our way to the roof on top of the balcony.

But I knew everything wouldn't be smooth sailing.

"LANZ!" Thea shouted in a whisper.

I accidentally slipped and almost fell to the ground flat like a pancake if it weren't for Thea. She reacted quickly and grabbed my hand tight and pulled me up the roof.

"Thanks!" I said as soon as I caught my breath.

"No problem," she said, panting.

We continued walking and eventually made it to the balcony and jumped down. I tried to avoid the cacti as much as I could but my arm still landed there. I barely stopped myself from screaming!

"Are you okay?" I asked Jelo who was sitting on the floor.

"I landed on top of a cactus, pretty sure the answer is no."

"At least you didn't cry."

He stood up and opened the door, thankfully I didn't lock it earlier, "Come on, we still have a long way to go."

We went downstairs and grabbed a few things. I put my socks and shoes back on and then grabbed my backpack, it had snacks, my phone, some clothes, and some cash. I had a feeling I was going to be needing them.

"Here," I turned to Thea who spoke and saw that she was handing me my frying pan, "To protect yourself."

"Thanks… What am I supposed to do with it though?"

"Come on you two, it's time to go!"

I nodded at him and tightened my shoelaces. We couldn't waste any more time. As soon as Jelo opened the gate we immediately ran keeping an eye out for Inmourtis as we made our way to the main road and back to Collis Academy.

By the time we reached the school the three of us were out of breath. Making it here wasn't easy, we didn't stop running and even encountered some Inmourtis along the way but we manage to run from them with our lives and bodies intact. Now the only thing standing between us and DJ was just this pedestrian la-

Beep! Beep!

"LOOK OUT!" Harvey shouted from a distance

My eyes widened as I saw a bus heading directly at me, I tried to run back but stepped on a rock that caused me to trip and fall flat on the ground!

All of a sudden it seemed like everything had slowed down, the sound of my friends' voices, the honking of the bus, and footsteps running toward me. I tried to stand up but the pain on my foot before was now doubled by my sprained ankle, I couldn't stand!

Thea yanked me out of harm's way, saving me from almost being run over.

We both landed on the sidewalk which also had rocks scattered everywhere because of the repairs going on. Jelo helped Thea first and then me, my foot was hurting bad but I was more worried about Thea since she landed pretty hard on the pavement.

"Are you okay?!"

She looked at me as if I was asking her to solve a mathematical equation in the middle of everything that was going on, "That is supposed to be my question, not yours! I'm fine, I got a few bruises, but I'll live. What about you?"

"Sprained my ankle. Thanks for saving me, again."

"Like I said on the roof, no problem, just… Don't make it a habit, it's starting to look like it."

"I'll keep that in mind." Then I felt Jelo slap my back, "Ow! What was that for?!"

"What do you think?! Be more careful will you, that is the second close call you had tonight!"

"Althea! Lanz!" We turned and saw Harvey running towards us, his uniform was torn, and his face seemed like it splashed with something.

"Harvey? What happened to you?!" Jelo asked as soon as he got to us, "Is that… BLOOD?!"

"Y-Yeah… It's not mine. A-Are you both okay?"

"Uh, yeah…" I answered.

As for the bus? It was still swerving until it hit the old lamppost on the edge of the road. Jelo helped me stand while Harvey and Thea ran towards it. The door opened and out popped our economic teacher, Mrs. Jung.

"Everybody off the bus! Our school nurse was on the first bus home so get yourselves checked before you go."

"Mills? Ackerman?" she said as soon as she recognized Thea and Harvey, she looked behind them and saw us, "Jenkins and Caldwell too? But wait for a minute, Mills, what happened to you?!"

"What happened? THOSE… THINGS… HAPPENED! MR. WILLIAMS SENT ME OUT HERE B-BUT…" he pulled Mrs. Jung towards the school but she broke loose, "YOU HAVE TO HELP THEM! BECAUSE IF NOT THEY'LL BE JUST LIKE THE O-OTHERS… THEY'LL BE-"

"Bitten?" Thea said cutting off Harvey.

Other students got off the bus holding their heads, shoulders, or anywhere that they felt pain from the impact of the bus when it slammed on the lamppost. I looked but it didn't seem like any of our friends were on it, they probably took the third bus home. They huddled around us to see what was going on.

"How did you know?"

"Probably because we've been running from the same things too," Jelo answered.

"It's not safe for you to be out this late at night, especially right now!" Mrs. Jung exclaimed.

"Home isn't exactly safe either ma'am. Considering the things we just went through just to escape from there, home isn't a place where we want to be right now! After all, we don't dream to be our neighbors' dinner!"

What Jelo said made no sense to our schoolmates and classmates, but the look on our teacher's face told me that she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"What are they talking about?" said one of our seniors.

"Is it just me or does Mr. Jung look shaken up?" said another one.

"I-I beg your p-pardon? There must be a mistake, we were told Valens was safe!" Mrs. Jung said, stuttering.

"Ma'am it wasn't a mistake that caused us to climb out our second-floor window just to get safely out of Arbor Town. It wasn't a mistake when I hit my uncle, whom I've known for most of my life, just to save Thea's life! Everyone in our town, except for those infected is gone and we have no clue where they are! But I'm betting you do, ma'am. You've known about this since yesterday haven't you? Tell them what we're up against. Our classmates and upperclassmen have the right to know because knowing about it might mean the difference between living and dying right now!"

"What is he talking about ma'am?" asked an 11th grader.

"Jenkins what are you going on about?" Thea's expression changed at the sound of the one who spoke. It was Clarisse MacConnell, and she wasn't Thea's favorite person. She didn't hate her but she just doesn't get along with Clarisse most of the time.

Jelo paid them no attention and looked straight into Mrs. Jung's eyes, "Tell them, ma'am."

"He's right tell them," everyone looked at Harvey whose eyes spoke what he was feeling, "I just watched people I know get bitten and fall to the ground like dominos. The halls of the school right now are filled with your students' lifeless bodies, you know why? Because we didn't know about anything! If we knew just even a fraction of what we know now we could have reduced the casualties even a little! This is your chance to make it right!"

Mrs. Jung looked at everyone who was waiting patiently for an explanation, she let out a deep sigh and faced them.

"The day before we left for the convention the school was informed of a rise of emergency cases in Prasinos that mostly had a common factor, almost every single one of those patients was experiencing cases of dehydration, delirium, and deteriorating eyesight. Of course, we took the necessary precautions and even considered canceling altogether but we were told it wasn't anything serious so we went ahead as planned. But then yesterday a doctor came to the convention center and told us it was a mistake to hold the event. As you know, he was kicked out of the convention but by then we knew something wasn't right and that the situation was more than a minor concern."

I started to hear murmurs and whispers from the crowd, some of them were talking about the ache they felt, and some were asking questions. I turned my attention back to Mrs. Jung who was continuing to explain what she knew.

"Later that night, most schools called for a meeting with the event organizers. That's when were informed of the situation. About how it was first discovered last year, how many have been infected, its mortality rate, and that an outbreak at Prasinos was likely to happen. They called it the Apethantha Disease, apparently it can cause those infected to experience the symptoms I've said before in its first stages. We were also told that the next day's events could be canceled and prepared us for that possibility, and here we are now."

"Okay, okay," Clarisse said with a smirk on her face, "This is obviously just some prank. Next thing we know you're going to have one of those 'infected' people pop out from behind us. Look this isn't funny, you're not tricking anyone either. Also, you're going to have to pay for the damage to the bus. If you hadn't run to the middle of the road we wouldn't have crashed! And seriously Caldwell, how'd you get Mrs. Jung in on this?"

What part of the conversation made Clarisse conclude that this was a prank? You could hear from the tone of Mrs. Jung's voice that she was serious. I thought that was obvious for everyone to see! But I guess not.

"Hey Clarisse, could you do me a favor?" Thea asked, "Zip your mouth for five minutes, okay? Some of them want to listen!"

Clarisse and I aren't exactly buddies. Harvey and I had more of a chance hanging out at the library than me spending even five minutes with Clarisse. She was just a bit of a… How can I put this nicely without sounding mean or offensive… Show off…

You could probably describe her as the typical popular girl you'd see in those teen rom-com movies. It would just take one glance at her to know that she belonged to the popular group in school. Her rebonded hair, branded pure, and designer bag were a dead giveaway. It exhausts me to recall what I had to put up with when I was grouped with her and Thea for a project in Mrs. William's class.

"I'm sorry Thea, but I just don't buy your little prank! Come on, where are the cameras?"

How is it that she's the one asking yet we're the ones who were confused? What is this girl talking about?

Thea scratched her head in frustration, "What cameras? We're not doing a hidden camera prank here Clarisse! Why aren't you taking this seriously?!"

"AHH-! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!"

Our attention shifted when we heard cries coming from the direction of the school. There were students desperately trying to escape and two of them held up Mr. William's unconscious body.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" an upperclassman said.

"What's going on?" Clarisse muttered.

Thea looked at her and said, "Tell me, MacConnell, is it a prank now?"

Three upperclassmen immediately acted and went to help. They all brought Mr. Williams to the bus and Thea gave him first aid. According to the people he was with he wasn't bitten but he fell down the stairs while driving away the Inmourti that had attacked.

After that more students came out running and screaming, but they weren't the only ones to come out. Several Inmourtis were on their tail!

"EVERYBODY GET BACK TO THE BUS!"

Mrs. Jung urged the students to get back on as quickly as they could all while trying to contact the other teachers to tell them that Valens was no longer safe.

I leaned on Jelo and we both dashed towards the bus but just as we were about to get on Thea ran out and Harvey chased after her.

"THEA!" he called out.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" I shouted as we quickly turned around to follow her.

Harvey wanted to chase after Thea as well but was stopped by two upperclassmen from getting off the bus.

"Let me go!" Harvey demanded but he couldn't cut free from the two that held him, "Lanz! Jelo! Get her back here!"

We nodded and went to get her, she was standing still in the middle of the road and looking towards who knows where!

"Thea we have to go!" I pulled her but she wouldn't budge. She shook my hand off but didn't even bother to look at me, instead she just pointed towards our classroom window and shouted, "Look!"

At first, I couldn't understand what she was trying to show us. It was just a dark classroom just like the rest until I spotted the flickering lights that went off in a pattern:

-.-. --.- -..

"Long, short, long, short. Two long, one short, long. One long, two short." Jelo observed, "CDQ. Come quick, danger!"

Our eyes widened as we realized who was sending the message. While other people would send out the most obvious distress signal using morse code SOS, short for 'save our ship', there's only one person we know that would use this outdated distress call, "IT'S DJ!"

We didn't want to waste any more time and ran into the place many were trying to escape from. Was it a smart thing to do? The correct answer is no! Normal people would head for safety, which in this case was the bus, not run to imminent danger. I could hear Harvey from behind saying things like 'Get back here!' and 'It's not safe!' but we were still set on getting inside the school. Jelo was also having a hard time with me since I was already injured. But what choice did he have? What choice did I give him? I was adamant that I not be left behind. Our friend was in trouble, I was not going to sit on the sidelines!

We ran inside and a gruesome scene awaited us. Five people were on the ground covered in bites and blood, three were our upperclassmen, and two were our batch mates!

"A-Are they…" Jelo couldn't even finish his sentence.

Thea ran towards them and checked to see if they were breathing or still had pulses, "He's alive but he barely has a pulse. We need to get him to a hospital and fa-

Ggggrrrarrr!

Two Inmourtis came out from the hallway and in panic Jelo dropped his shovel, it made so much noise causing the Inmourti to run towards us!

"Upstairs!" I shouted and then we ran. An Inmourti lunged at Thea but she avoided him by ducking and sliding. She grabbed the shovel before making her way to the stairs.

The three of us ran upstairs and went straight to our classroom. Before we could even come in we already saw the state of our classroom through its window. Some tables and chairs were blocking the door and the locker fell, under it was DJ who was constantly flicking the flashlight in the same pattern, calling for help.

"DJ!" Jelo shouted.

"Stand back."

"Wha-" My eyes widened in shock and couldn't continue my question when I saw Thea forcefully opening the door by kicking it down!

We both gulped and I whispered to him, "Remind me not to make her mad."

Thea pushed away the chairs that blocked the entrance and rushed to DJ. I leaned on the door, keeping a lookout while the two of them worked together to get DJ out of there.

He was half conscious, it made Thea worried that he might have a concussion. Jelo lifted the locker while Thea pulled DJ from under it.

"Hrrr…"

"DJ, can you hear me?" asked Thea.

"Hrrr… T?"

"Yeah, it's me," then she turned to Jelo, "He's responsive, I think he's okay."

"As okay as a guy who had a locker fall on top of him can be…" he mumbled.

Thea rolled her eyes, "He's sarcastic, he's fine. Anyway, we have to go. The bus cou-"

"Is already leaving!" Jelo cut her off as he looked out the window.

"WHAT?!" the three of us exclaimed.

And at that moment I heard the ding of the elevator and its doors opening.

Ggggrrrarrr!

"The bus isn't our only problem!" I endured the pain of my foot and walked with a mix of hopping to shut the door, "They're coming!"

Ggggrrrarrr!

Oh, the irony. That elevator has been broken since the beginning of the third quarter, how convenient is it that it's working now that there is a virus infestation?!

Jelo ran to me and helped barricade the door with our desks and stacked the chairs on top of them for good measure.

"That should probably keep them out," I slumped down, realizing that my foot was bleeding badly now not to mention the pain from my sprained ankle.

"Yeah but you've also kept us in," Thea noted.

"We're in no condition to run, DJ can hardly pull himself together and Lanz can barely stand! We're safer here."

Just then, two Inmourtis began pounding at the door. They were the two I saw in the elevator. The tables and chairs moved little by little as they desperately tried to get in.

Thea dragged DJ to the back of the room, holding him by the neck, I think it actually jolted him awake. Jelo got in front of them, and I hopped on one foot to the corner before embarrassingly stepping on DJ's leg and falling flat to my face!

"What do we do now?!" I asked as soon as I sat upright and clung to my frying pan as if it would do anything against them.

Thea held her sticks in one hand while still holding DJ's neck in another, the poor guy looked like he was choking but I know Thea didn't mean to do it. She let him go as soon as she realized and apologized.

Because the door and the barricade kept on moving Jelo was thinking of a way out of here, you could almost see the gears in his head turning. He looked at the three of us and was about to open his mouth to talk when a loud clang caught everyone's attention. And by everyone, that includes the two Inmourtis at the door.

Not even a minute after that, a familiar voice shouted at the top of their lungs.

"DINNER IS SERVED!"

I blinked a few times and scrunched my face. We all looked at each other and knew we were thinking of the same person but I, again, was the only one who spoke aloud, "Is that who I think it is?"

"Urgh," DJ grunted, "Yeah, it is."

Thea helped him sit upright and smirked he smirked as if he could see the person right in front of him and named them.

"It's Ethan."