Chapter 1

A Not-So-Regular Day



             Andy tapped his fingers lightly against the side of his desk as he watched the clock that read Two forty-seven, slowly tick by – not nearly at a quickly enough pace for his taste. He glanced over at Ashley who was more or less doing the exact same thing. At least it was science, which was Andy's favorite class because of the teacher Mr. Marcus. He was a man nearing his forties who had slightly graying hair that used to be pure black. Mr. Marcus didn't really teach, he kind of just ran around the front of the class telling jokes and stories about stuff that happened to his in his life. Most of it had absolutely nothing to do with work so everyone loved him. Someone tapped Andy's shoulder.

            "pppsstt! Andy," Said Cc. "I'm falling asleep!"

            "Me too…" Jinxx chimed in.

           "What time does this class end again?" Jake pondered.

           "Three o'clock, then we go to homeroom for half an hour." Andy reminded them all as he yawned. Suddenly Mr. Marcus stood up from his desk holding a green marker in his right hand and went to write something on the white board.

           "So before we wrap up class today, we have to take some notes on Atomic Structure and Ions and Compounds. You will need to know this for your test so please try to pay close attention for the rest of the day." The class sighed in unison making Mr. Marcus chuckle lightheartedly.

            After giving Jinxx –who was begging everyone in the room for anything to write with- a pen, he reached into his red pencil case to pull out a pencil for himself and was stopped by a blood-curdling scream from outside in the hallway. Everyone's head whipped around to face the door, but not a soul dared to move. Andy's eyes traced back to Mr. Marcus slowly and was worried by the way his features had become distorted. Finally he rushed to the door to look out of the small window and get a glimpse into the hallway.

            "Who was that?" Cc whispered to Jinxx. He shrugged and continued to watch Mr. Marcus.

            "I'm sure that was simply someone playing a prank on us," Mr. Marcus finally said to calm us down. "Everyone stay seated where you are." The way that Mr. Marcus didn't go out to check on it told everyone that it may more that a 'prank'…

             He walked across the room from the door to the little black phone that hung on the wall behind his desk and pressed three buttons, undoubtedly the office to figure out what was going on. He stood there for a few minutes and even redialed again, but no one was picking up. He put down the phone and stood there of a moment rubbing the back of his neck until one of the girls in our class stood up and looked a little freaked out.

            "Do you think they're ok Mr. Marcus?" She looked back at the door.

            "I am sure that everything is absolutely fine, the secretary was probably just away from her desk. If it will make you feel better though, we'll lock the classroom door until we know exactly what is going on." He made his way to the big metal door and turned the top lock, also bothering to lock the grey sliding lock beneath it.

           "There. Now take a seat, Jane, because I want to get these notes finish before the end of class." Mr. Marcus declared as he stepped up to the board and resumed writing as he was before anything had happened.


           "Murders roaming the halls?" Ashley leaned to the left and whispered to Andy. Jake overheard and played along.

           "My money is on Cult leaders roaming around. Hey you can't blame them." He paused. "They do need a sacrifice after all…"
Cc and Jinxx chuckled and the teacher overheard.

           "Boys, please. We only have ten minutes of class left. I need to have you all prepared for the test on-" Mr. Marcus was interrupted by a few loud bangs and some scraping from the outside of the door. Everyone jumped and a few of the students even stood up to turn to face the door in shock. A boy in the class named John started to walk towards the door to get a better look.

           "Stop that!" Mr. Marcus shouted at him. "You stay at your desk." He rarely shouted at anyone, which told everyone that this was very serious. Everyone did as he said and did not even attempt to make a move. Slowly Mr. Marcus walked towards the door and peeked outside. He moved to all different angles around the window but didn't seem to see anything. Just then a panicked and rushing male voice came over the intercom;

           "A lock down is now being ordered! Lockdown everyone! Lockdown! Teachers, undergo your usual lockdown procedures. Under no circumstances open the doors to allow any missing students inside the classrooms as usual. Stay down an—" His voice was cut short. Everyone including Andy, Ashley, Jinxx, Jake and CC were now huddled together side by side under the Science Lab table. Not one of them was joking around anymore as the silenced intercom became loud with the sound of gargles and gasps. Everyone was looking around at each other in horror for answers that no one had. Then the intercom fell silent. Andy's friends leaned in closer together so they could whisper.

           "What do you think is going on? A school shooter?" Andy asked reluctantly.

           "I don't know… This isn't just a drill, that's for sure…" Jinxx whispered.

           "Yeah, after all, Mr. Marcus didn't even know about it…" Ashley concluded in a hushed voice.

           "So what then?" Cc pondered. None of them could think of a logical answer. All they could do now was wait in silence for news, or orders on what to do next.


…….Four hours later……


            Due to the unusual circumstances, Mr. Marcus allowed the students to lie down so long as they stayed in the area where they were supposed to be in a lockdown. The entire classroom was eerily quiet except for the occasional noise of someone trying to turn the knob from outside and strange moaning.
           
            The five boys had together decided that the moans were most likely coming from a wounded survivor or two. There was definitely more than one of them out there. The five boys had noticed that for survivors they certainly were acting strange. The people outside seemed to be limping slowly around trying every door and were not going in any one direction… but again, they thought that they had found a legitimate reason for it; blood loss. They wouldn't be functioning correctly, or even be able to think straight with a lot of blood loss. Out of nowhere, Mr. Marcus stood up and faced away from everyone. He started pacing in a line back and forth. He had gotten the axe that would normally be used to break open the glass fire extinguisher case and held it tightly in his right hand. This gave Andy an idea. He looked around the room for a weapon incase things got to that point. He decided to check the cupboard beside him where the kids from foods class usually hid their dishes instead of washing them, he should have known, as he was one of them. Mr. Marcus was way too deep in thought to notice, so Andy opened it slowly and instantly felt much better. He found a few small steak knives and counted out five for himself and his friends. They smiled as he distributed them. He was such a good friend.

          "Thanks." They all mouthed as they got their new weapons.

          "Listen up. I have a decision to make and it is very important. We have not been notified and I am now very suspicious that we won't be. So, now we have to make a very adult choice for tenth graders to make. We have to decide whether we wait here or go outside and figure out what is going on for ourselves. So, I am going to let us vote because it is all of our lives that may be put into serious danger," Mr. Marcus took a deep breath. "All in favor of sending someone to go check, put your hands up."

          Slowly, around half of the class raised their hands. Andy raised his hand. Not one of his other four friends did however. He couldn't really blame them with a potential killer on the loose.

          "Keep your hands up. Now, all of you who do want someone to check, if you are willing to check outside, please keep your hands up.

          Every single person's hand dropped in a mater of seconds.

          "Now, all is favor of staying here, raise your hands."

          This time, nearly every single hand was raised in the air. Andy couldn't let them all do nothing. He wanted to mentally kick himself, but he couldn't let himself stay silent and watch.

          "Whh… Hold on guys. If no one is coming to save us," One of his classmates 'Neesha' looked very worried at the thought, so Andy decided to add something on to ease the intensity. "Hypothetically. If we just stay in here, we won't even know when whoever was here is gone. We also can't go forever without food and water. We're going to have to leave this room at some point and we will be stronger if we leave now- rather than three days from now when we're weak from hunger. What if only a few people go outside to check. If they are not here anymore we will come back." Andy decided to reveal the stash of knives to help convince them.
           "Who ever will come outside and check with me will get to keep one of these two knives. They are the only ones left in the room." He held them out in front of him. His friend's faces were a mixture of shock, disbelief and fear. Their faces clearly said 'don't do it.' for them. It did the trick.

           "I will volunteer." John spoke up after half a minute.

           "M-me too…" Said a brown haired boy named Tim who had never talked much to anyone, really..

           Andy turned to face everyone. "Looks like I have a team together then."