Endless Recess

Warming up| Part 1

As Emma woke up from her sleep she stretched her arms loudly and did a big yawn.

She looked around her empty classroom that she had all for herself. It was big and most of the desks were either placed at the bottom of the room or nowhere to be seen.

She stood up from the makeshift mattress she was resting on. A bunch of thick sweaters and jackets that looked like a nest.

She turned her attention to the windows. No curtains covering the sight of the ghost city at the horizon. But she preferred it that way.

Shaking her head a little bit she decided to leave her room and begin that Saturday with energy.

She slept in what used to be the old girl's room. Now that the second floor was secure everyone had gotten their classroom to make their room.

All the lockers in view were open. Emma recalled how the past couple of days she had been opening all of the lockers on the second floor. A big and delicate task but managed to not break any lockpick while gaining all sort of things for everyone.

The door of what was the boy's room opened and both Mason and Mathew step out of it.

"Morning."

Said Mason walking by Emma and waving at her with Mathew next to him. She waved back as Mathew stopped following his brother and turned his attention to her.

"Hey there Emma, enjoying the privacy?"

"Almost. It's good not waking up to Heather's demands but I had kinda gotten used to all of us being together. It made me feel safe."

"I can sleep with you if you want" Mathew said giving her an awkward smile.

"Don't be weird Mat" she said with an amused and accusatory expression.

"I mean it in a friendly way!" he turned his face away from Emma's while crossing his arms.

"I know it dumbass" she laughed and slapped him on the back.

"T-then?"

"My answer it's still no, I have to learn to feel comfortable being alone."

They remained in silence for a moment as each passing second became more uncomfortable.

"That sounds a little bit sinister don't you think?" Mathew finally spoke staring at Emma with slight concern.

"It did come out like that" she scratched her head nervously "But I simply want to work on improving myself."

Mathew stared at her with doubt for a moment, before returning to his usual relaxed expression.

"Yeah, I think everyone is aiming at that right now" Emma began to walk and Mathew followed next to her "Especially us."

They walked past where the barricade used to be, now an open space. And when they turned on a corner they saw the hallways cleaned and the lights on. The windows on all the left wall now covered by blankets.

"What's up guys?!"

Jose shouted raising his hand to clash it with Emma's, he seemed happy with a pair of earbuds blasting some type of Spanish music, a towel on his shoulder.

"I still can't believe there were so many chargers in those lockers. Things have truly been different now that everyone can return to their cellphones" Mathew said turning the screen on of his.

"And the books!" she said with excitement.

They turned around the next corner and saw Brook and Jason carrying a couple of laptops each.

"Outta our way!" Jason shouted with a big smile

"Today we will do it! You will all see!" Brook said raising his fist into the air as they both ran past Emma and Mathew.

"Jesus, they are like kids" Emma said smiling kindly at the pair while shaking her head.

"Oh come on, imagine if they do get the passwords correct? I just pray that one of those laptops will have something good to watch. Then projector seats useless at the moment."

"You do make a point. Maybe some good 'ol Christmas movies? We are like two weeks from it."

Mathew stared at Emma incredulously.

"Then you only have one chance because four of five of them were in guys lockers. All they are gonna have is p**n I assure you."

"I bet you would love that!" Emma said pointing at him with faked indignation.

"That's why I pray!" he said puffing his chest.

"You are gross!" Emma laughed after punching him in the arm.

"I am HONEST!" He replayed while laughing as well.

Then both of them halted as they stared at the barricaded stairs leading to the first floor. On top of the locker laid a mountain of desks, some broken.

A tiny altar of sorts had been made with origami flowers and a handful of handwritten letters. After all, Layla had died there.

"Thank you for suggesting we do this, Mat" Emma said without looking away from the altar. Melancholy on her eyes.

"I wish we could have done more. But this is all we can do for now" Mathew said while making a cross on the air and kissing his thumb.

They stared at the place in contemplating silence for a while. Until Emma took a deep breath and looked at Mathew.

"Let's go? I'm sure there are others up already" Mathew said.

They left the scene and went up the stairs, once at the roof they saw the desks made table filled with plates and spoons. A different desk with a couple of pots of steamy stew.

Miss Juliet was serving each plate as Mr. Asher helped her out everything in place.

There were already a couple of students sitting. Luca, Adam, and Sarah.

After saluting everyone they sat together near the waiting group.

"I see everyone is waking up already. Just in time" Mr. Asher said grabbing the plates of both Emma and Mathew.

"We can help with cleaning today Mr. Asher" Emma said while Mathew nodded aggressively.

"Oh no Emma, today is Mathew's turn and he is not getting any help. It's fairer for everyone" Mathew sighed in defeat as Mr. Asher had a hearty laugh "And you have done enough for us already. So have this Saturday for yourself, Emma."

Soon the rest of the students came into the roof. Only Hope, Brook, and Jason missing their meals.

Even if it was the same every day it was a true feast to eat delicious meat even if it was once a day.

Emma enjoyed her meal while glancing at Mason now and then. He was sitting with his group eating in silence. Staring at his plate trapped in deep thought.

Until his eyes lifted and clashed with Emma's. She immediately looked away and focused on anything else. They ended up resting on the school coliseum in the distance.

The lights coming from its windows a couple of nights ago. There were clearly people hidden inside there. For how long? How many? Many questions came to her head.

But the lights were never seen again, even after they had tried to show them their own lights once cellphones had been charged. Maybe they were dead?

"Where is Mr. Landon?"

Mason's voice made her return her attention to him. Just as everyone else did.

Mr. Asher and Miss Juliet stared at each other. They sat at the head of the table, an empty seat on the right where Mr. Landon should be sitting.

"He should be eating with us."

"He also missed yesterday's workout" Adam added.

"I didn't see him yesterday all day too" Said Luca.

After remaining in silence for a while Mr. Asher cleaned his mouth with his hand and leaned forward.

"He is not feeling well so he is resting in his bedroom for now."

"How so? What does he have?" Said Sarah looking at Mr.Asher worried.

Asher took a deep breath looked at his students with concern.

"Mr. Landon has an infection in his arms. He is resting to recover."

The students stared at each other in disbelief and worry as those who had food on their plates stopped eating.

"Why keep it a secret?" Mason said once a few seconds had passed, staring directly at Mr.Asher with a stern expression.

"It was no secret it was his idea to stay quiet about the matter, don't want to upset the kids, as he said it" Asher responded with an equally stern look.

"But what happened to his arms?" Asked Joshua leaning forward with his Bible between his arms.

"In one of the moments he held back the horde" Jose said under his breath and as he spoke his eyes widened "as he scratched? By them?!."

A few gasps and many fearful eyes were shared among those sitting at the table.

"Calm down, this is no game or movie. The nails of them are dirty, of course, that an infection is likely to occur, especially with the advanced age of Mr. Landon" Mr. Asher said raising from the table.

"Why have we been sitting on our asses instead of going to the infirmary?!"/ Mason said raising from his chair as well.

"You almost died TWICE last time you went out! If-"

"We HAVE to get out eventually! Why try to get comfortables in here when the only way of surviving it's escaping this city?!" Mason shouted angrily at Mr. Asher.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking Mason!" Asher shouted back hitting the desk with his fist.

"Both of you calm down!" Miss Juliet said rising from her chair and pulling Asher's ear.

The grown man stared at his co-worker with surprise and annoyance as she walked to Mason who stood as a shock as Mr. Asher when the young woman pulled his ear as well.

"Mr. Landon may not be the most loving teacher, but he DOES care" she said directly at Mason's face as he was forced to seat down.

"Why then-"

"I said it already! He CARES!" She shouted at Mason somehow retaining her soft voice from sounding angry, coming off more as desperate.

Emma glanced at her classmates and saw Heather awkwardly swiping her phone with a finger while occasionally looking up at the scene.

Mason on the other hand seemed defeated or unwilling to raise against Miss Juliet, something understandable considering all the love everyone had for her.

With everyone silent Miss Juliet waited a couple of seconds to see if she would get any reaction from Mason, once she realized the fighting was done she glanced in Mr. Asher's direction.

"Is not like we are going to sit idly as Mr. Landon feels worse, tomorrow I want to call the same students who went out to the teacher's room. We will discuss what to do then."

The students looked at each other with a mixture of anxiety and alertness.

Especially Sarah, Jose, Mathew, and Emma, while Sarah and Emma seemed on board with the early departure, Mathew and Jose looked uncomfortable.

"Please, finish your meals and try to not think of it until tomorrow, that is what Mr. Landon wanted" Mr. Asher said as he sat once more.

The meal went on in silence for a while as the first to go were Heather's group, followed by Mason and Adam, then everyone else.

"Mr. Asher" Emma said walking up to the man carrying a pot, Luca and Joshua helping near him as well.

"I said it was better we discuss this tomorrow, Emma."

"No, no. I wanted to know, can we see Mr. Landon?"

"Oh, I'm afraid not Emma, he was sleeping when we left him so he should get as much rest as possible. I will ask Hope to let you know when he's awake, she is taking care of him" Mr. Asher said giving an understanding nod at Emma.

Then they left the roof with Miss Juliet close by as Mr. Asher complained of his ear to her, making both laugh and tease each other on their way down.

"Well, those are not great news" Mathew said behind Emma as he let out a long sigh.

"Do you think he might?" Emma turned around to meet Mathew's concerned gaze, matching hers "I mean, you know, change?."

"I-i don't know, and to be honest, I don't want to think about it" He said walking past Emma "I just know I want to have some words with my brother" he stops with one foot on the first step of the stairs "What will you do?" he turned around as he asked.

"I want to get ready" she answered with no hesitation "But I also want to see how's everyone holding up, I don't want spirits to go down now that everything is starting to go up."

Mathew seemed to think about something, opening his mouth to say something but closed it before a sound came out.

"What?"

"I will tell you later tonight, want to meet me out here after everyone's asleep?"

Emma agreed and Mathew seemed more relaxed immediately, then he left.

She stood there in silence for a moment thinking about what to do, the cold breeze of December making her shiver slightly.

Turning her head around she stared at the desks now made dining table, looking at the ghostly silhouettes of her classmates and teachers, compared to how things were a couple of days before. Everything seemed more lively.

With that thought in mind, she involuntarily began to walk closer to the edge of the roof, until she stood half a step from falling.

On that place she allowed her head to look down on them, on the undead.

Hundreds, raising their arms and opening their jaws with anticipation, making no other sound than the occasional shoe on the concrete or the sound of bodies being pushed around.

She stared at their mangled, rotten faces and for a moment the bravado she was putting on for others vanished as her skin turned pale and her heart beat faster.

Images of the past invaded her senses as she relived the night of thunder when her best friend died horribly at the hands of them.

"I'm not afraid" she whispered with a shaky voice.

The horrified faces of her classmates and teachers came to mind as she couldn't help but imagine their bodies being torn apart by the relentless horde.

And when it felt as if all was too much to bear.

She spits on them.

Her fear-filled face turned quickly to one of amusement and once she steps back a thundering laugher escaped her lips as she held her stomach with both arms.

Suddenly her laugher stop and her face changed to a mixture of concern and sadness.

"Keep it together, what the f**k is wrong with you?" She whispered at herself as she took both hands to her face.

She shook her head aggressively and let out an angry grunt as she stomped the ground once.

Taking a deep breath she brushed the hair away from her face with both hands and moved back to the entrance of the stairs.

The door of the improvised gym opened as Emma entered the room.

All desks had been placed elsewhere, leaving an empty room where anyone could exercise if they so wished.

That day it was Sarah and Luca.

They both wore only shirts and their pants, as washing clothes was a whole ordeal most students wanted to avoid as much as possible.

They were in the middle of the room, in a position to do push-ups. Sarah had little to no sweat as her surprisingly bulky arms barely put any effort in raising her body.

Meanwhile, Luca was drenched and breathed very heavily, complaining in between pained whimpers

"Come on is not so hard!" Sarah said smiling broadly at him and slapping him on the back, making him drop dead on the ground.

"Don't kill the poor guy Sarah" Emma said holding back her laugh.

Sarah on the other hand made peals of laugher as Luca's sweaty face turned red.

"I'm fine!" he said with a breathy voice as he tried to push his body from the floor.

"Anyways, what brings you here? Want to workout a little bit?!" Sarah said excitedly as she pushed her body from the floor and walked up to her.

"Actually, yes!."

Sarah's reaction was so extreme that it was difficult to tell if it was faked, complete shock on her face as she stared at Emma.

"Come on, you are making me have second thoughts."

"I just never expected you to say yes! But by all means, let's begin!" Sarah said grabbing both shoulders of Emma and shaking her with excitement "but you won't workout with those clothes, right?"

"I thought about changing in here but" Emma stared at the half-dead Luca "I didn't know you had company."

"Luca!!" Sarah shouted making the dying man raise his head "Take a bath already and let me work with this one in a lifetime opportunity!" she said pointing with her finger at the door.

"But, I can still go on!" Luca said raising from the floor and raising his fists to the air.

"You told me five minutes ago that you wanted to be done for the day" Sarah said with a confused expression.

"I was just tired at the moment, but I'm fine for real!."

Sarah stared at him for a moment and then realized what was going on, she crossed her arms and smiled mischievously at him.

"Cut off your macho moment and get out before you fart again when doing sit-ups."

Luca looked with indignation and humiliation at Sarah, who seemed quite pleased.

Now with his face burning, he grabbed his things and fleed the room.

"Now! Strip girl!" Sarah was having fun with the idea of working out with Emma.

She in turn rolled her eyes and proceed to take off her hoodie together with a very ugly Christmas sweater underneath.

"Wearing that should be punishable by death" Sarah said taking off her shirt, leaving only her white sports bra on her body.

Emma couldn't hide her surprise at the defined torso of Sarah.

"feeling a little bi-curious?" Sarah said making an indecent expression and slapping Emma's ass.

"f-f**k off Sarah!!" Emma said turning red with embarrassment "you are way too fit for a sixteen years old!"

"Years of training" she replied winking at her and flexing her muscular arm.

Emma took off one extra piece of clothing leaving her only with a black tank top, in the brief moment her waist was visible when taking off the shirt on top Sarah's eyes caught a glimpse of something that caught her attention.

"Is that, a tattoo?."

Emma looked at her behind and nodded towards Sarah with a shy expression.

"Yeah, I did a year ago."

"Let me see it well!."

Making a defeated sigh Emma lifts her tank top to show Sarah a rather simple but pretty tattoo of a green butterfly on her waist.

"That is very pretty. Did your parents knew?."

"They didn't know at first."

Emma remembered for a brief moment her father looking at her with anger and then turning to shout at her mother, both soon screaming and yelling as they blamed each other.

"But they didn't like it."

Sarah noticed the subtle change in Emma's tone and quickly did something to change her attention.

"I have one too!."

She turned around and lifted the back part of her bra, showing hidden underneath a few words in black.

"Veni, Vidi, vici" Emma said while tracing the words with her index finger.

"I came, I saw, I conquered, Julius Caesar said those words, I wanted to use them as my phrase if I made it big in the boxing world" Sarah said letting go of the bra and letting it return to its place.

"coming from you, that sounds fitting" Emma said smiling joyfully at Sarah.

"Enough is enough, let's do some warm-ups shall we?" Sarah stretched as she spoke, flexing her muscles.

"Honestly, did you ever used juice?" Emma stared at her six-pack feeling threatened.

"I was in the boxing team, not the football team Emma" Sarah raised both arms and threw a couple of punches to the air.

"So, after warming up what do we do?" Emma tried to imitate Sarah's stretches as best as she could "keep in mind I never was one to excel at sports alright?."

"If you want to use that as an excuse, you should have run away with Luca" Sarah's face turned menacingly into a grin.

For the next hour, Sarah worked out with Emma alone in the room.

Sarah was a motivating yet unforgiving trainer as she guided Emma through example, they both trained hard until Emma couldn't take it anymore and Sarah finally felt spent for that day.

Emma collapsed on the floor like a starfish and stared at the roof while battling with trying to not run out of air.

"That was amazing Emma! You almost didn't completely have a respiratory failure" Said Sarah staring down on Emma by standing next to her head and leaning down.

"Shut up, you have been doing this all your life" Emma said lifting her right hand as if waving away a fly.

Sarah sat next to her and hugged her legs as the cold air made her sweaty body shiver.

"A couple more weeks and maybe I will be able to go over seventy push-ups- Emma said while gasping for air."

They both laughed for a brief moment as Sarah rested her head on her knees and stared at Emma.

"What? Do I look that bad?" Emma moved the few hairs on her face, her hair was tied into a bun.

Sarah's relaxed self faded away slowly as the seconds of silence grew, she then frowned as her mouth opened to speak.

"How did you do it? At the dining hall."

Emma felt confused and with the little strength she could gather she raised her body from the ground to sit.

"What do you mean? The lockpicks?"

"I froze in fear Emma, I couldn't move."

She recalled how Sarah had fallen unconscious while trying to secure the dining hall a couple of days ago.

"I even lost consciousness at some point. I was so afraid that I couldn't stop shaking and crying" She grabbed her pants with great strength "And I was the one who messed up by slipping on the damn floor."

"hey, don't think about it that way" Emma placed her hand on her back.

"How else can I think of it? I was almost useless, If I had stayed back with Adam I don't think it would have made a difference. I think it could have made things better."

"Everyone was afraid Sarah, even I was unable to move or think in some moments. We could have all died back then."

"What if I freeze up again? Tomorrow? Mr. Landon needs our help and only we can go for it. Did you saw the faces of everyone when we formed up a line to wash our clothes?" Sarah's eyes got watery as Emma recalled the experience.

Everyone used the boy's bathroom to clean the clothes that day, and since they are only two sinks in each bathroom, Mr. Landon, Sarah, Mathew, and Emma stood outside in a line while Mason and Jose cleaned their clothes.

She could see the faces of her classmates filled with disgust and horror at the mere thought of facing one of them.

"Do you think those are faces of people that wouldn't freeze up? That they would go out and come back alive?."

"What about Mathew then?" Emma responded with a firm voice, taking Sarah by surprise.

"I guess you are right, what the hell happened with Mathew anyways? Has he always been so brave?."

Emma wondered the same, where did Mathew get that sudden courage and determination to go out with everyone else and what's more, to react so fast and effectively when even Mason, his brother, the one that always kept calm and led everyone, was incapable of saying a single word?

"I don't know, but as long as we are stuck in here with them, I'm sure many of us will discover parts of ourselves that we didn't know."

"What if I'm a coward then?."

Emma stared at the defeated face of Sarah and angrily slapped her back.

"Don't say stupid things Sarah, you are as brave as you are ridiculously fit."

Emma smiled at Sarah and after a while she returned the smile, cleaning her eyes Sarah then stood up from the ground and helped Emma on her feet.

"You think freezing up and being scared means you are a coward, but the fact that you even decided to try and go with everyone proves you are not."

"I was being dumb Emma, I simply imagined that I was gonna go out and crush skulls with my bare fist" Sarah stared at her hands "but they wouldn't stop shaking."

"Neither did mine, do you remember that moment the lockpick broke?"

"Oh how to forget" Sarah rolled her eyes and punched Emma's arm.

"Ouch! Jesus what was that for?!" Emma shouted while stroking her arm.

"You should have let us know you had more than ONE of those, If I had any pee at that moment I would have added liquid to the floor right there and then."

Sarah snickered while Emma pouted stroking her arm faster.

"I didn't think about it alright?."

They stayed in silence for a brief moment while they walked to a wall near the door where their clothes were thrown.

"Mr. Landon" Sarah whispered after picking up her clothes.

"I'm sure he will be fine, especially after we get him some antibiotics tomorrow."

"I'm sure too but" once again concern returned to Sarah's face "do you realize how much he carried us the last time?"

Emma did notice how without him, it's unlikely they would have gotten to the kitchen, or maybe even secured the second floor.

"The infirmary is one hallway away from the main entrance, on the first floor" Sarah said the last words louder "Emma, there is a sea of them down there, without Mr. Landon, what are we gonna do?"

Emma stayed in silence for a moment, until she thought of something good enough to calm Sarah.

"they can be tricked, when I and Mason went out he used a ball to break a window and all of them who heard it followed it" noticing Sarah's eyes widened with the information she went on "If make sound and remain hidden, we can sort of guide them away for long enough to sneak inside the infirmary and grab what we need."

Sarah pondered on Emma's words for a moment and seemed to relax.

"We will go, we will see, and we will conquer!" Emma raised a fist to the air in support and she complained of the pain right after.

Sarah then finally let go of her anxious face and meet Emma with a broad smile.

"Of course! We will f*****g do it!" she too raised her fist to the air.

They laughed together again and opened the door to the hallway.

"COME ON!!."

"PLEASE GOD!!"

The yelling coming from the lab made both girls jump, then look at each other in confusion.

"Those were Jason and Brook right?" Sarah leaned over and looked in direction of the lab.

"Sounded like them, I stumbled upon them earlier today carrying the bunch of laptops we found in the lockers."

"Oh my God Emma" Sarah stared at Emma and firmly grabbed her shoulder.

Taken by surprise Emma instinctively tried to move away but Sarah's grip was too strong.

Sarah's face was dead serious and her stare was stone cold.

"W-what?."

"Thank you for the protein powder~" Sarah said squeezing her shoulder with force.

"Y-you are welcome, but you should thank whoever owned that locker."

Sarah let go of her and cleaned imaginary tears.

"I don't think that's likely to ever happen."

They both walked up to the girl's bathroom but before Sarah could enter she halted and looked back at Emma.

"Do you want to go in first? I suppose you don't fancy the idea of washing together" Sarah said raising an eyebrow with a mischievous smile.

"I would rather not, I already feel too intimidated by your upper body" Emma replied staring at her suspiciously.

Sarah had a hearty laugh and then moved her head in the direction of the door.

"It's all yours then, I will come back in twenty minutes."

Sarah waved at her before turning around and walking away.

Emma placed her hand on the handle but the shouting voice of Sarah made her look back in her direction.

"Thank you for the words of encouragement, Emma."

"Thank you for making me regret skipping sports class for years, Sarah."

Sarah laughed one more time before leaving the hallway.

Emma entered the bathroom smiling, however that was fleeting.

As she looked inside the bathroom she was meet with Annie washing her hands on a sink and staring at herself in the mirror.

"What's the problem? come on in."

Annie said moving only her eyes to meet Emma's irritated stare.

Emma step in and closed the door behind her.

"I have something to ask you Annie" She said dropping her clothes on the sink near Annie.

"And what could that possibly be?."

They remained in silence for a moment while Emma gathered the courage to speak, knowing full well that Annie could make the whole topic very uncomfortable for her.

As if it was not already.

"The teachers who went out, two weeks ago" Emma stop as Annie turned her body to face her "You knew they died, you saw it too right?.

Annie's sly smile formed on her face.

"Yes."

A simple and direct answer that somehow managed to strike hard at Emma.

"Why didn't you say anything?."

Annie's smile grew larger.