Endless Recess

Silence in the hallway| Part 1

The next morning came fast, as everyone was on edge.

The group was called into the teacher's room, where only Mr. Asher sat on the sofa, he looked more serious than ever.

Sarah, Mathew, Mason, Emma, and the surprise guest, Annie, stood in front of him.

"I'm surprised you want to help us Annie, but I thank you anyway" Mr. Asher addressed the tall girl, who may be even taller than Mason.

"It gets boring sitting on my ass all day here, wanna see how it's everything out there" she replied nonchalantly looking around her.

"This is not a game Annie, there is a serious danger out there."

The student dressed in black smirked at him and briefly glanced at Emma, before rolling her eyes and resting her back on a wall with her arms crossed.

"She is joking Mr. Asher, she wants to help us save Mr. Landon" Mathew spoke up quickly.

Emma didn't have the time last night to speak with him about Annie's words, not that it would work. Mathew had always been kind and eager to make friends despite his awkward nature.

So instead she stared angrily at Annie, who in turn seemed overjoyed by her reaction, licking her lips as she gave a macabre smile from ear to ear directed at Emma.

A smile that vanished as soon as it appeared, right before anyone else saw it.

Mr. Asher was tense and nervous, he didn't felt comfortable with the situation they were now in, but knowing that any other way was very unlikely to be successful he reaffirmed himself before addressing his students once more.

"I think it's clear that I want you to go down and try to get the antibiotics in the infirmary" he spoke with a steady almost robotic voice, he must have been thinking about what to say for a while "but still, I just can't ask you to do it" sincere, his voice became tired and defeated.

"You don't have to, Mr. Asher, we want to do this for Mr. Landon" Mason said, standing directly in front of Mr. Asher.

The troubled teacher looked up at the young student, then his eyes went through each one of the others individually.

He saw them as what they were, children with entire lives ahead of them, the weight he would have if anything happened to them.

Taking a deep breath Mr. Asher stood up from the sofa, walked to a nearby desk, and from one of the cabinets he pulled out a pair of keys.

"These are the spare keys to both the infirmary and the medicine box" he approached Mason and handed to him the keys "also, in this paper, I have written the names of all the medicines we need now and may need in the future. In order of more to least important" taking out said paper from his pocket, he also gave it to Mason.

The teen stared at the paper in detail, reading through the names written for a moment before passing the paper to Emma, who grabbed it and began reading it as well.

"Have you thought about how will you reach it?" Mr. Asher asked Mason as he sat again on the sofa.

Mason gave him a confident and tiny smile before talking.

"We tried to count them last night with Mathew, there are more than two hundred of them, at least the ones we could see through the windows."

Emma felt her heart quicken at the mention of the numbers, and she wasn't the only one getting nervous, as Sarah leaned closer to her, glancing at her and trying to hide her growing fear with a faked smile.

Something that pushed Emma to get rid of her fear, at least for the moment, by any means necessary.

So she focused on what Mason was saying.

"We can use the long bushes in the inner garden to hide from view and crouch our way to the infirmary and while we do that, I have spoken with Jason, Brook, and Luca to make a sound through one of the windows in the hallway near the barricaded stairs."

Emma remembered earlier that morning how the three guys heard Mason's petition with mixed reactions, but Luca's eagerness to help with the mission made both Jason and Brook more willing to participate.

"With them distracted, we will go through the dining hall silently and quickly, move from the garden to the infirmary, get the medicine and rush back to safety" Mason's confidence seemed to relax Mr. Asher a little.

Fixing his hair with his hand Mr. Asher let out a tired sigh and remained silent as he stared at the ground still thinking about another way to help his friend.

Yet, none came.

"Fine, I trust you will make sure everything goes well Mason."

Mason simply nodded and turned to his group.

"Everyone ready?."

Emma squeezed the lead pipe on her hands tightly and looked at everyone else, their mouths tightly pressed shut and their eyes anxious. But none faltered.

Mason then turned to the door and moved forward, Mathew following close behind and then Annie, calmly walking next to him.

Emma couldn't hide the contempt in her eyes as she and Sarah walked behind them.

"Something's up with you two?" Sarah asked her silently as they walked through the hallway.

"I don't trust her, I know she's up to something."

"Well I don't trust her that much either, but a lot could've had changed after a month locked up in this crazy world don't you think?."

Emma watched Annie and Mathew make the quick chat as they turned the first corner, Annie looked much more friendly than her usual self and the naive Mathew fell for it.

"I never knew her before the outbreak, but all I know is that she could be dangerous."

Sarah was a little surprised to see Emma so hostile.

"Why do you dislike her so much?."

"Every time we have spoken, she just gives me a bad vibe" she said struggling to come up with a good argument "Besides, she spoke once about manipulating someone and I think she's after Mat."

This seemed to catch Sarah's attention, as she stared at the pair suspiciously for a moment, then she appeared to contemplate the situation further before speaking with Emma again.

"Did she said she would?."

Emma opened her mouth to respond, but soon realized she couldn't.

"Look, Annie may be a creep now and then, but she doesn't seem like a dangerous person to me" she said pointing ahead of her.

Emma looked at Mat and Annie, while he looked anxious for going out the tall girl seemed to try and make him laugh, messing his hair and pulling his air, flustering the young shy teen to her great amusement.

"Heather can be a b***h, a lotta times, but you saw it yesterday with Mr. Landon, she's not a heartless monster."

Conflicted, Emma pondered on everything she had been thinking about, while Annie was sketchy, she truly had never done or said anything bad.

She never said she would manipulate Mathew, it was Emma herself who reached that conclusion.

And she also kept to herself what happened to the teachers that went out, that didn't make her evil.

Because, then Emma would be bad as well, and that couldn't be right.

Right?

She tightened her grip on the lead pipe resting in her hands, self doubts rapidly mounting up on her back.

Maybe she was the one in the wrong for judging someone without knowing them.

"Hey, don't beat yourself too badly over it, you are under a lot of stress" Sarah hit Emma's arm softly "give it some thought once we are back, not everyone is what they seem."

Emma stared at her weapon carefully, walking automatically without looking up, she felt conflicted and confused.

When she raised her gaze from her hands she saw Mat red with embarrassment pouting at Annie, who smiled joyfully.

Maybe she was in the wrong.

But she didn't get more time to think about it, they were now at the doors of the dining hall.

Everyone was there, giving concerned stares at those who would go into the belly of the beast.

"Where is Mr. Asher?" Luca asked searching with his eyes behind the group.

"He is probably with Mr. Landon" Miss. Juliet spoke walking forward to the group.

"Come on baby, again?" Heather was standing near a window, her arms crossed, dejection painted on her face "can't anyone else go?

"We discussed this, Heather" Mason, giving a short and emotionless answer as he often did.

This didn't settle well with Heather, who frowned and began walking away from the group, her friends anxiously following behind.

"Fine, whatever."

Not bothering to give him a glance she angrily walked away, her shoes making a loud "tap" as she went.

Emma saw how for a brief moment, Heather seemed to look at Annie, without thinking, she turned to see the dark-haired girl wink at the lioness with the same mischievous smile she gave her so many times ago.

Recalling what Harley had said, something was up with those two.

"oof" Brook said looking painfully uncomfortable, earning a quick and angry stare from Mason "oh f**k!, Sorry, I swear it just comes out on its own."

An awkward moment of silence after, Miss. Juliet walked forward hugged, Mason.

"I'm sorry for not being able to help more, none of you kids should go have to do this."

Mason patted on her back a couple of times.

"It doesn't matter, all that matters is to survive" He replied as he broke the hug "we will save Mr. Landon."

Miss. Juliet's saddened expression turned around a bit, trying to force herself to smile at her students, despite the immense pain and guilt she felt, sending them off to what could be their deaths.

"Thank you" she then looked at the rest of the group "to all of you, I have no words to express my gratitude."

Taking distance from the group, Miss. Juliet steps aside, signaling the moment for them to move.

"Everybody, put on your mask" Mason pulled out from his pocket a piece of cloth, just as everyone else.

"W-wait!" Luca said rushing to the group, a heavy-looking backpack in his hands "I finished them last night."

Opening it up, Mason took out the completed vambraces for each one of them, very thick layers of cloth that could be tied around the forearm with what seemed like shoe cords.

Everyone else walked up to the excited guy and grabbed their pair of protection, Emma being the last to pull out the gear.

"This is amazing Luca" she said genuinely amazed by the professionalism of his work.

His chest swelled with pride and his eyes shinned with that childlike excitement as he turned back and picked up another backpack on the floor.

"That's not all! I remembered Jose's story from when he was pinned down on the floor by it and made THIS!."

He pulled out from the backpack a handful of what looked like a scarf, however, they seemed visible thicker, probably made the same way he did the vambraces.

"I don't know how good they would be against their bites, but it's better than nothing right?" he stretched his arms forward carrying the scarfs "you can also use them as a mask! They are thicker so the smell won't get in as fast."

"Hold your horses men! We are barely putting on these things" Sarah shouted at the excited Luca, shaking the vambraces she still had to put on.

"O-oh, right."

The group secured the vambraces in place tightly, Emma could feel that the pieces were slightly thicker than the first time she saw them.

Once they were prepared, they grabbed the scarves as Luca was showered by both compliments and teasing from the rest of the group.

The scarfs just as vambraces were a patched up mix of different clothes, so they had different patterns and had different textures.

Especially the former, as the scarfs were considerably heavier, not as much to be uncomfortable but enough to be noticeable.

The group was now fully clothed, so Mason turned around to see the faces of everyone who would go out with them.

"We will discuss how are we gonna do this downstairs, let's go."

With his signal, the group moved forward as everyone stared at them with concerned stares.

"Luca, you too come and stay on the second floor of the dining hall, I'll give you the signal to make Brook and Jason create the distraction" Mason said to his determined classmate, who nodded in agreement.

Once inside the dining hall, everything remained in darkness, as everyone supposed it was better to keep things in the dark as to not attract any more of them outside of the school.

They went downstairs, Emma noticing how Sarah carefully touched the ceramic floor with her shoes trying to be certain she wouldn't slip again.

"The sink was closed days ago, don't worry about it" Emma said as she stood behind her on the stairs.

"I know, I just feel better doing this" Sarah replied, as her hands shake slightly.

Once the entire group was downstairs the improved barricade came to view, the long tables and chairs were better placed to prevent anything from breaking through and blankets making anything from the other side able to look inside the dining hall through the small windows on the doors.

Mason waved at the group to seat on one of the few tables that had not been moved, everyone in the group was carrying their empty backpacks, Mason pulled his from his back, and from inside of it he placed some sort of map on the surface of the table.

Everyone sat on the nearby chairs and stared at the clear drawing of the school.

"This is how we are going to do it" Mason remained standing "I, Mathew, and Jose will be at the head, while Sarah and Emma remain in the middle, Annie stays at the back just in case one of them sneaks on us, we move on a straight line."

"W-wait, this is not-"

Mathew couldn't finish his sentence as his brother raised his hand to silence him.

"Annie?" He said looking at the seemingly dozed off girl, who yawned in return.

"I don't care, Mason, at back, at the head, whatever you want."

Mason then returned his eyes to meet Mathew's, who seemed more at ease with Annie's response.

"Once we go out, we move into the inner garden, I will guide us through its bushes to the infirmary, once inside, we barricade as silently as possible so we can take our time with the medicine, understood?."

Everyone agreed, making Mason lean forward and grab the map off the table, the rest of the group stood up as well.

Mason looked up at Luca and gave him a thumbs-up, making him nod and rush to the hallway.

"Let's begin moving the barricade."

The group moved to the gathering of tables and chairs, moving them quietly and carefully. Soon the shouting from the second floor was heard.

Jason, Brook, and Luca were sticking their bodies out through an open window, the one that was cracked when Mr. Landon smashed the body of one of them by swinging his metal pipe at its head.

"Come on you bastards!" Brook shouted at the top of his lungs, of course wearing a mask or risking throwing up at the potent stench of the rotting bodies.

The undead raised their heads silently and began marching to the windows, lifting their arms and opening their mouths no making a single sound besides their bodies colliding with each other.

"It's working! Yeah, you bunch of disgusting f***s! You ain't eating Asian tonight!" Jason shouted as well, even looking as if he enjoyed it.

"You all stink!" Luca yelled last.

Both Brook and Jason stared at their classmate confused, expecting more of an actual insult for whatever reason.

"I don't, curse that much" Luca said, clearly embarrassed.

After an uncomfortable silence, they returned to the task at hand.

Meanwhile, the group dismantling part of the barricade was steadily making progress.

Emma moved the last chair as Mason walked to the door and carefully raised his head to see through the broken small windows of the door.

The horde was several meters away, at least a hundred of them stretching their arms trying to reach for the loud kids on the windows.

"The path is clear, let's go!" he said as quietly as possible, grabbing his lead pipe firmly.

Emma took a deep breath and held the pipe close, once again, she would have to face death.

But this time, the same fear that wanted to force her into running back, was pushing her, to move forward.

Mason opened the door slowly and moved forward with Mathew and Jose close to him.

Then Sarah and Emma went ahead.

The first floor was very similar to the second, lacking any walls that separated the garden from the hallways except the occasional wide pillar of orange concrete to hold the second floor in place.

She frantically inspected the hallways in search of any lone corpse, having learned from the night Layla died, she didn't want to be surprised again.

They quickly rushed to a nearby pillar, it was wide enough to conceal the six of them while crouching and if they stick together.

The garden had several tall bushes, if they were standing it would be no issue, but Mason wouldn't risk catching the attention of one of them, especially with his younger brother with him.

Making sure everyone was with him, he moved forward, only to be stopped and immediately pulled back by his brother.

"There!!" he whispered visibly scared as he pointed at the left.

Everyone turned around and Emma's blood abandoned her face as she turned pale.

A corpse emerged from the garden, dragging its mangled body on the ground as it was missing its legs.

It turned its twisted excuse of a human face and saw Emma directly in the eyes, with its lifeless white eyes.

Its jaw opened and it began to quicken the movement of its arms as it tried to close the gap within it and the six teens ahead of it.

Emma felt all her muscles grow stiff, paralyzed with fear her face contorted into one of horror.

"Calm down, don't move" Mason said at everyone else.

He grabbed his lead pipe with his left hand and pulled out from within his varsity jacket a kitchen knife.

"No! Use the pipe!" Mathew whispered fearfully.

"No, it could be too loud."

Waiting silently the seconds felt like hours, as Emma looked away to avoid staring at the lifeless features of the creature.

A habit of her of course, she searched with her eyes something to focus on, and she found it, for not too far away laid the stairs that at the moment were barricaded with the toppled locker.

Without thinking, she stared at the ground where she saw the last of Layla, at first she almost felt her heartbreak through her chest at the sole idea of looking at her body.

Yet an overwhelming relief invaded her as she wasn't met by Layla, but a dark stain on the ground.

Then it hit her, Where is Layla?.

At the same time, her attention was drawn back at Mason, who had recently plunged his knife deep into the eye socket of the corpse, making it immediately go limp.

Mason tried to pull the knife a few times but gave up fast.

"We don't have time for this, let's move."

Emma shook her head, trying to move those thoughts somewhere else at the moment, she had to focus on the now.

"Come on! I'm waiting here!!" Brook screamed wildly while pulling from the edges of the window ferociously.

"Dude calm down!" Jason said shaking his still screaming friend.

"I got a little riled up" Brook said, his face read after screaming continuously for almost an entire minute.

"There!" Luca said pointing at the garden.

Not only the two friends, but most of the students rushed at the windows wearing their improvised masks.

The group was now crouching throughout the garden, Mason carefully looking for any corpse as he could without risking being spotted by the ever-growing horde behind them.

"Oh God" Miss. Juliet was extremely upset, her chest going up and down rapidly as her hands couldn't stay still.

She fleed the scene unable to endure looking at her students under such threat.

"Come on!" Luca encouraged Brook and Jason to keep making noise.

Now being able to see their friends in danger, the trio shouted and yelled louder than ever.

Emma stared at them briefly, feeling thankful that Mason's plan worked.

While they were constantly on edge, Mason's firm and confident orders made the group move swiftly to the fountain in the middle of the garden.

It was made out of marble, with water still shooting out of its pillar in the middle, as long as the school had electricity, the fountain worked.

They rushed to it to avoid getting caught in the big empty round space surrounding the fountain, as there were no more bushes to hide, so they used the big structure as cover from the view of the undead.

"Alright, we are halfway there" Mason looked at the sides and quickly raised from the ground to look ahead "and there are none in front of us."

Emma and Sarah audibly let out a sigh of relief, while Jose and Mathew cleaned the sweat from their foreheads, not from the sun, but from the fear they felt.

"Let's keep moving everyone" Mason held the map firmly in his hands.

Despite going to the same school for years, the garden was always somewhat confusing, especially when you can't look above the bushes.

The group once again moved forward and as they got into the paths with bushes separating each other Emma felt a hand on her shoulder that only could belong to one person.

She turned around to see Annie staring at something behind them, directly at the fountain.

"What's that?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

Emma hesitantly focused her attention on the place Annie was pointing and saw a paper stuck at the lowest part of the fountain, a note.

One of Layla's notes.

Without thinking twice, Emma rushed back to the fountain without raising her body from the ground and began to take out the piece of paper trying to not damage the letter.

"What?! Emma!" Mathew shouted quietly when he turned to see his friend separated from the group.

Mason felt his brother shoved him to get his attention, when he turned to see him he saw him pointing back and at Emma, who was now meters away from them.

"What the hell is she doing there?" Visibly angry, Mason asked at his brother.

"I have no idea!."

"..un back! Emma!."

The shouting from the windows caught his attention, as he focused on what they were saying, he looked up at saw everyone pointing at Emma.

Meanwhile, she was almost done tearing the paper from the fountain, the loud sound of the water violently clashing deafening her ears.

But as she finally got the paper safely, a shadow made her quickly glance up.

To meet a corpse with its jaws open staring at her, two or three feet away.