In the middle of the day, a regular school bus came charging down the road, nearly passing through a red light. The woman driving was in her mid-twenties. She usually had road rage in her Mini-Cooper, but this was a desperate emergency. One of her high school kids said that people were starting to think that there was going to be an out break at an elementary school in a bad part of town. Her son went to a school a few blocks away. She couldn't stand knowing that her only child was so close to being changed. She slowed down just enough to pull into the school yard without hitting anybody.
A boy was waiting for the school bus in a bland school yard. There were only three other children. The boy, the smallest, other than a girl who was being held by an older boy, looked at the bus expectantly. The woman came out of the bus and smiled at the boy. “Hello, Adam,” she said. He was the brightest student on the bus. They had even had conversations about what this world was coming to.
Adam nodded in return. “Ashley,” he said. Without another word, the third grade boy looked over his shoulder and waved the other three children. A sixth grade boy, whose name was John, a fourth grade girl, whose name was Jasmine. The girl in John's arms was Amy, a kindergartener. Amy was out cold from her afternoon nap. They knocked on it and it opened on well greased hinges.
Inside, there was a janitor who was willing to risk his life for the safety of others. Mike was his name, and he had been the first to see the walkers. He called Ashley, who had dealt with them in the past. Adam figured that there was something wrong and asked Ashley about it. After discovering that their school would be next, John and Jasmine volunteered their lives to investigate. Amy had somehow figured out their plan and wanted to go with them. The janitor- Ryan- smiled a little and waved them to a staircase. “They're down here,” he said in a whisper. John put little Amy on his back and tied his belt around her so that she wouldn't fall off. Jasmine went directly behind Ryan and followed him down, then John and Amy followed.
They descended lower and lower. I shouldn't have come, I shouldn't have come, I shouldn't have come, Jasmine thought to herself as she followed the janitor lower. They reached an old service elevator and Ryan pressed the button. It creaked and groaned, but eventually came to a stop. John looked at the thing warily and said, “Shouldn't we take the stairs?”
Ryan looked back and said, “It's down in the boiler room. They might hear the door opening rather than this thing.” He got in and looked back at the kids.
Jasmine cowered behind John and muttered, “I don't like it...”
“Well if you don't like it then you shouldn't 've come!” John said and went into the elevator with Ryan. Jasmine sighed and got in with the others. After a bit, Amy came to a little and looked around. She was in a dark, smelly place with people she didn't know. The small child in John's arms squirmed, grabbing on to the janitor. Out of shock, Ryan flailed his arms and broke off a lever that was critical to the elevator.
The elevator creaked to a stop, making its passengers fear the worst. They were in between floors. Ryan shoved the doors open and looked up and down. “Alright,” he said in a whisper. “We're about a couple of feet above the floor of the boiler room. They haven't noticed-yet.” The addition made a chill run up and down the children's spines.
They managed to squeeze out of the elevator and onto the floor. Huddling together, they went to the other side of the room and decided to wait. Jasmine was too nervous and fidgety for this. She kept bouncing on one foot, then the other. She miss stepped and crashed into a pile of buckets. They all froze and waited for the worse to come.
And the worst did come. After a moment, there were unnatural groans and shuffling coming from the far, dark corners of the room. Jasmine got up and hid behind John, wielding a bucket on her head. John reached down and picked up a bucket and put it on Amy's head. He turned back to the slowly increasing hoard. Most of them had already started to decay from the heat and darkness. They all were completely turned. There were big pieces of flesh missing from their walking dead bodies.
As the zombies made their way to them, Ryan looked around. He noticed a work shelf that went to the top of the ceiling. He made his way to it, and the children followed. “Don't look back and climb,” he said. Jasmine went to the shelves and was about to climb when the bucket fell. She looked back and froze. They were so close, she could smell their rotten breath. Her eyes narrowed as she stayed in her spot. Ryan looked down and noticed that she was unable to move. “Hey, if you come, I'll give you my cat and dog!” he called down to her, knowing that she'd follow with that promise. She looked up and nodded. The terrified fourth grader began to climb the unstable work shelf.
Cat and a dog, Jasmine thought as she climbed, putting one hand in front of another. She wanted so desperately to look back, but forced herself to keep looking forward. They reached the top and she noticed that Amy was still asleep on John's back. Ryan reached into his back pocket and pulled out a screwdriver. He reached up and began to unscrew an air duct entrance. He pulled it off and threw it at a zombie's head. “Go on, I'll catch-” he never had time to finish his sentence. The metal gave way under their feet, causing the children and the man to plummet to their deaths.
Or, at least Ryan. Amy had woken up at the last minute, her eyes glowing a mixture of blue and red. Jasmine and John found themselves floating up to the air ducts. “Wh-what's going on?!” they shrieked as John and Amy went in first, then followed by Jasmine.
A strange voice came from the now unconscious Amy. “Go ahead, and don't look back.” Terrified, the children followed the adult like voice and made their way up and out of the infected school.
Once they reached the surface, they ran into Ashley's arms crying and explaining what they had seen. Ashley nodded, and put the children on the bus. Adam followed them in and proceed to calm them down. The woman pulled out her cell phone and called a friend who worked for the government.
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