ZERO HOUR

The Recap

No one dared to talk, we're all in a state of shock and confusion. The fear of dying anytime lingers in each of our minds.

We saw our lives flashed against our eyes few moments ago, it was a grotesque scene that for sure will hunt us in our dreams. A nightmare that has come to life where death is the only way to escape.

Jiselle was the first one to recover from shock, "What the hell is happening?!" She cried, " We woke up from being unconcious for god knows how long! Everyone else is dead- no, they turned into zombies!"

I peered on the window as the school bus drove along downtown's deserted roads.

Things became out of hand ever since we woke up after the meteor shower, phones are down and communication's been cut off. 'Twas a horrendous sight straight out of a movie, there were blood splatters, severed bodies and decapitated parts everywhere.

Barb and I sat near the driver, I barely noticed the trembling hands he tried to conceal by slipping them inside his sweater's pocket.

I tapped his shoulder, "You okay?"

He glanced at me with a troubled face, "I'm worried about my parents."

"Don't worry, we'll go find them." I replied, trying to ease his tension.

My parents are long gone, both of them died in an accident. While Barb's parents live two cities away.

"Shelton?! What's happening?! Shelton?!" Someone shouted,

It was a student at the back of the bus, he was convulsing on the floor while everyone else near him is panicking.

"What's the fuss?" The driver asked,

"Shelton!"

"Crap! Was he bitten?!"

"You let an infected on the bus?!"

His face went purplish, greenish veins appeared in his face and his pupils turned white. They all flung away from him, scampered in different directions. He caught a student by the arm and bit her neck, toring and chomping her flesh.

Blood gushed out of it, cascading down her white uniform which almost turned red with so much blood, "Aahhh!!!Faye!!!"

Everyone was ill at ease, they tried getting out of the moving bus by jumping out of the window. The panic and tension caused chaos inside as the driver lose control and the bus crashed.

72 hours earlier

"How boring," I strerched my legs and laid against the chair, yawning for the nth time, "let's go check out the new gaming cafe later."

My friend who's sitting next to me acted as if he's listening attentively to the teacher's discussion but replied in a low voice, "Sure, let's skip afternoon class."

I was about to agree when I remembered the chocolate bar under my desk, "Nevermind what I said. I have something to do."

He snickered, "You're going to confess today, aren't you?"

I gave him a slight nod and buried my face on the desk, making my arms as my pillow.

"But are you certain about that? Not that I don't believe in you but dude, Jiselle is a school beauty. She's too famous and arrogant, besides she has so many suitors."

"Hmm, I know but still... "

He sighed, "Well, it's your decision."

"Ouch!"

I raised my head in annoyance, squinting my drowsy eyes, trying to know who smacked my back. It was Barb, he glared at me and faced the teacher who's standing in front of us.

"Mister Esquivel, just because your grades are exceptional doesn't mean you're allowed to act arrogantly! How dare you sleep in my class!"

I sat straight, " Sorry ma'am."

The teacher tsked and flipped the pages of her biology book, "Hmp! Now answer this question," she continued,

"Our world has encounted few viruses that posed a threat to our world's population. What are those rates that we need to consider to identify if the certain virus is a threat?"

It's not in her discussion earlier, but who cares. I crossed my arms and relaxed my back,

" These rates are infectivity, fatality, and lethality. The speed of transmission and means of transmission are evaluated to determine the infectivity rate of a virus, the fatality rate is the degree or magnitude to cause harm," I took a deep breath, talking is damn tiresome. " and lastly, Lethality rate is to measure how deadly the virus is"

There's a hint of embarrassment in the teacher's eyes after I flawlessly explained my answer. "V-Very well, you may take your seat."

The bell rang not long after, everyone else went out to have their lunch. While I remained in my seat, clutching the box of chocolate, procrastinating.

Will she really reject me? I just hope she'll hear me out

.

Barb was waiting at the doorway,

"Stop spacing out and do what you gotta do! I'm hungry!" He snapped,

"Go have lunch, I'll catch up." Said I,

I tightened my grip on the box of chocolate and waved at him. "It's now or never."

I have planned to confess my feeling to her before the semester ends. Jiselle's known for her beauty, she's very popular especially among boys. She has many admirers, including me.

My hands trembled the moment I stepped down on the ground floor where her classroom is, I can feel beads of sweat rolling down my temple as I reached her classroom. She was there, laughing with her friends. I never felt this nervous in my life, I tried so hard to compose myself as I approached her.

"Hey," I called, "for you."

I handed the chocolate over and gathered all of my courage "I've always liked you, since middle school until now." I scratched the back of my neck, "can I court you?"

She stared at my hand for quite sometime before snatching the box and throw it in the ground, " Oh my god, Gideon! You have the nerve to confess to me? You're just a nobody, look at yourself!" The raised her brow and glared at me with disgust. " You'll never be my boyfriend, you're a trash-"

She was cut off upon noticing the crowd, they were all looking at a direction. There was an explosion few miles away,

"Look!"

"Is that a mushroom cloud?!"

"s**t!"

"Wow! It's so pretty!"

"STOP DAWDLING AND RUN!"

I raised my head to look at the gray cloud form, a beautiful but sinister view indeed. Strangely, the sunshine is dull and it wasn't blinding at all. That's weird because it's noon.

"s**t! The shockwave's gonna reach this place!" Everyone started panicking. I mean, who wouldn't? A nuclear bomb like explosion can cause mass destruction.

I grabbed Jiselle's wrist, " let's go, it's not safe!"

"Let go of me!" She screamed, " I'm not going with a trash like you!"

I have no choice but to let go, I'm not in the place to care for her anyway.

Barb dragged me to the nearest classroom, " Let's go hide somewhere!"

I sat on the dusty floor, "We should be safe here in the first floor-" the ground started to shake.

Barb fell from his feet as a sudden tremor occured, "s**t! What the hell!" He complained, " could this day get any worst?!"

The earthquake finally stopped, we remained anxious and waited for the after shocks before settling.

Barb yawned and stretched his arms, "Why do I feel sleepy all of a sudden."

"Yeah? I feel sleepy as hell." This is strange-

I tried so hard to resist the sleepiness but my eyelids feel very heavy. Everything went blurry, like my mind is shutting down and my body feels so tired. The last thing I saw was Barb falling in the floor and everything went black.

Few minutes before

the accident

Argh, my head hurts.

I felt my cheeks pressed against a cold, dusty surface, " What the hell?!" I squinted my eyes and flung from the floor. "Why am I in a classroom?"

Seeing Barb unconscious on the floor brought me back to my senses, I remembered falling asleep after the earthquake.

"Barb, get up!"

I kept nudging him untill he woke up and sat with his eyes still closed, "Ma, five more minutes."

I slapped his shoulder in annoyance, "You're not in your house, dummy."

He stood up with a jolt, eyes widened.

"Dude?! What happened?"

"I don't know either, I just woke up."

We're not alone in the room, there were 10 more students in slumber. Barb was brought to consciousness and walked to the door. Wondering, I stood up and followed him as I brushed the dust off my uniform.

"Aaahhh!!!"

"Stay away from me!!"

"s**t!!"

"Help!!"

We stopped upon hearing the screams from outside, "I think there's trouble outside."

Barb seemed petrified upon gawking in the window, "Dude what's going on?" I shoved him aside to see what made him startled,

"What the f**k?!" I exclaimed,

Everything is in chaos, the blood gushing from dead bodies pooled in the concrete, there were piles of cars that clashed and people were scrambling from left to right. Some weird looking students were walking ponderously, they were in groups and were chasing after those screaming students.

They seemed to be attacking them, one girl was caught up with those weird students and they all gathered to her direction. It's hard to see what happened to her.

Don't tell me-

"f**k! Are they killing each other?!" Barb screamed,

I took the mop and removed it's head, leaving the pole for self defense. "Something's wrong with those people."

He nodded and took the baseball bat on the table, " Is it possible? T-That they were,"-He shivered by the thought-, " no, they're not zombies... no way..."

Strange things has been happening, we can't neglect the possibility.

"What if they are?" I said, " We should be ready, I should've known those movies can come in handy."

"Gideon," he called,

I was trying to turn my phone on bit it won't though it was fully charged the last time I checked. "Hmm?"

"Dude, what's happening to Frank?"

I turned to see what Barb meant, Frank was one of our classmates who also went to hide in this classroom and was unconcious a while ago.

Barb was hysterical, "Oh no, this doesn't look good."

Frank was convulsing violently on the floor, his face turned purplish as he spurted white foam, his iris turned white, "Don't f*****g tell me he's turning into some crap."

We slowly walked to the door, "Let's get the hell out of here before everyone else become like him."

Just like what I predicted, everyone else started convulsing like him, they crawled untill they were able to stand up and launched themselves to us.

"f**k it, run!" I pushed Barb out of the door, "Lend me your bat."

Frank was the first one to attack but I smacked his head with the bat, "What?! H-How did I-"

I was able to crush his skull in one hit, his brain scattered and blood squirted from his severed head. The guy fell on the ground, dead!

"Gideon! Let's go!"

We ran through the corridor without looking back, I'm sure the remaining zombies are after us.

Barb and I halted and gasped for breath, we almost reached the exit of the builing. In a distance was a figure before the glass door, desperately waving at us. "Here, faster! Come with me" We quickly followed the student outside, "to the bus!"

There were few tudents mounting the bus in a haste, "Fast! Before those zombies reach us!" those zombies approaching from the hallway aren't far.

We hopped to the moving bus but the student was left outside, "f**k! The zombies are here!"

"Close the damn door!"

"Let's go! Step on the gas!"

The zombies arrived before he could get to the bus, he tried to fight them but he's outnumbered. "s**t! Let's help him!"

Someone suddenly hauled me in with the bus door closing. "Let's get out of here!"

"Are you nuts ?! What about that guy?!" I exclaimed,

"It's his fault for being slow!" Jiselle shot back,

Barb stood up from the car's floor and grabbed me to sit on one of the bus seats, but I remained firm. "We could've saved him!"

Jiselle averted my gaze and crossed her arms,

"What's the use? He's dead now for sure!"

I just stared at her, dumbfounded. How could I fall for such evil woman?

10:46 AM Present

The downtown is the most populated area in this district and the least place you want to crash a bus. Who knows how many zombies are around?

We managed to get out of the bus immediately, "Let's get the hell out of here!"

The zombies are nearing the bus, the screams and the noise of the crash attracted them.

Fortunately, Barb and I are fast runners. We're quite ahead and are leading them to a safer place.

"Faster!" Barb shouted, pointing at the rolled-up garage door. "To the store's garage!"

"Get out of the way!" It was Garett who fiercely shoved him aside, he fell on the ground and scraped his leg in a shard of wood.

"Damn it! My ankle!" He complained, clutching his legs, shrieking in pain. "We're being left out!"

I helped him stand and anchored myself to him as we struggled moving. Everyone else reached the garage door while we scampered to reach them in time.

"The zombies are here! Faster!"

"Close the damned door!"

"What?! How 'bout them?!"

"It's their fault for being too slow!"

"Just close it! I don't wanna die!"

"Dude, you have to let go of me. We're both gonna die if this continues," He said, pushing me away. " I'm injured, I won't last that long even if I survive now."

I shook my head, reproaching his notion.

"There's no way I'm leaving you."

He's a s**t for thinking I'll abandon my sworn brother!

They rolled the garage door down before we could reach it, "Damn it! Let us in!"

I kicked the door, but they remained silent.

Shit! These people are selfish!

I grabbed his arm and dragged him away, "Let's go before the zombies come, we'll find a better place to hide."

He stopped and pulled his arms back, facing me with a smirk despite his eyes brimming with tears. "Just go, buddy. I'll die anyway."

"Are you nuts?! No way!" I exclaimed,

"I'll just burden you! Can't you f*****g see that?!" He shot back,

The zombies are closing in, we have no time!

"Let's just go! They're here!"

He just shook his head and remained standing, "Sorry, I can't go with you," he said, "I'll hold those zombies off. You run, okay?"

They're too many. Even if I fight back, there's no guarantee I'll live.

"I can't leave you!"

"But you have to! Please Gideon, just go!"

I have no choice, even if I'm against it. "I'm sorry, Barb. I'm sorry."

He smiled, "Do your best to survive buddy, live in behalf of me."

Barb grabbed a steel rod from a distance and turned his back from me. He could hardly walk but he manages to stand firm, "Another thing," -he turned his glance- "go find a girl friend, don't you dare die a virgin!"

Coward

How can I be so useless?!

"f**k, this really sucks."

I pulled the bat from the crushed head of a zombie I encountered

Thankfully, there were few of them in this area. I have vented my anger and frustration on every zombie that gets in my way, killing them all.

Luckily, I found another store with a garage.

After making sure there were no zombies left inside, I grabbed a steel pole and barricaded the glass door.

The sky is turning dark, it was only that time I felt the exhaustion as I sat on the floor crestfallen.

"I'm deadbeat."

After hours of running away, I have felt the soreness in my toes and my head throbbing from the shock I cannot absorb until this moment.

I threw non-perishable foods on a camp bag I found, together with flash lights, batteries, ropes, knives and bottles of water. Now my bag is filled to the brim with supplies, I headed to the stores backdoor where the garage was.

As I entered the closed garage, my nose wrinkled with the strong smell of crude oil and unknown junk, there were hardware supplies and a Porshe settled in the middle. I stretched my hands to the car door only to know it was locked,

"The key must be here," I uttered to myself,

Turning around, my eyes wandered from the pile of boxes, steel table and to a locker. On the table, there scattered a steel rod, couple of screws, an unopened root beer, and a key!

I scampered to the table to grab the key, hoping it could unlock the car door. This car would be very useful in escaping,.or maybe there's good stuff in here. "I need this car, damn it."

It fits! My breathing went ragged as the key entered the key hole, "Please open up, please open up!" I prayed,

As if on cue, I heard a click. Almost jumping out of joy, I remained silent but a triumphant smile carved on my lips.

"Jackpot!"

Inside the Porshe was a semi-automatic pistol, a few bullet magazines, a walkie-talkie, and a bag of men's clothes. I was really lucky!

I planned to leave this downtown by dawn, this place is too dangerous with so many infected hovering around. Now I wouldn't mind getting arrested for driving without license, the road is free as long as I can survive.

"It should be alright to spend a night here," the zombies nearby were all taken take of by me anyways-

"Ack!" This is?!

My whole body hurts like hell! It's as though my nerves are gonna explode!

Tormented, I tried reaching for anything that might ease the pain but to no avail.

"S-someone..." I clutched my chest as I felt a sudden excruciation that restricted my breathing.

My eyesight went blurry, the world seems to turn faster as I got dizzy from the agonizing pain.

"H-Help...me, "