The scream ripped through the room, demanding the attention of all that heard it. It conveyed a depth of fear that I've only ever experienced once before. It was the scream of someone who believed they were about to die.

  Heart racing I scurry to get out from underneath the desk only to freeze in place. My mind races trying to comprehend the sight before me.

  Mrs. Hernandez has Lilly wrapped in an embrace, her aged skinny arms pinning the slim nerdy girl against her. Lilly's scream as Mrs. Hernandez opens her mouth showing blood-coated teeth. My heart sinks at the sight, my stomach flips, and my blood runs cold.

  Mrs. Hernandez attacks, biting down into Lilly, tearing a chunk of flesh free. Lilly stops her screaming and struggling, falling limp in the old teacher's arms. Mrs. Hernandez chews the flesh before swallowing. Then she goes for another bite and another.

  I can vaguely make out other screams in the room but I can't take my focus off the scene of my teacher eating my classmate. Each bite sends a new spray of blood into the air. The carpet beneath them is coated in the red liquid draining from Lilly.

  The scene only ends when Mrs. Hernandez goes for another bite and stops before completing her attack. Mrs. Hernadez presses her nose against the small girl and takes a deep breath in. Her face contorts, almost as if disgusted before she drops the girl.

  I can't tear my gaze away from Lilly as she collapses on the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Her glasses break on the fall, revealing a pair of lifeless brown eyes. She's dead. I know this to be true but I can't rectify this fact in my mind. How can she be dead? She was alive not even five minutes ago.

  This can't be real. I must be dreaming again. This is all just a nightmare brought on by an over-taxed brain. None of this is happening, I just need to wake up.

  "GET AWAY FROM ME YOU FREAK!" Someone screams next to me, bringing me back to the chaos.

  Turning to where I heard the voice I find a classmate named Kevin backpeddling from a boy named Ben. Kevin throws anything his hands can find at Ben, to no success. Ben shambles forward, reaching out for Kevin. Ben latches onto Kevin pulling them both into an embrace that sends a spray of blood arcing through the air. Kevin's white dress shirt turns red instantly as the two fall to the ground.

  What the fuck is going on? All around me, my classmates turn on each other. Some trying to get away from those who apparently have taken a liking to human flesh. My stomach churns at the scenes, threatening to empty itself of its contents.

  "AAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

  A scream breaks the trance that the chaos has upon me. A scream from a person I know well. A scream I never wish to hear again. For it contained a depth of fear only a person who believes their death is imminent can harbor.

  My blood boils as I turn to where I heard Abby's scream, my legs already moving to carry me to her. Who the fuck dares attack Abby? Kind, caring Abby? The Abby that would never hurt a fly? Who has the fucking audacity?

  I find Abby trying to free herself from Mrs. Hernandez who has her slim wrinkled fingers wrapped around Abby's forearm. Mrs. Hernandez tries to pull Abby's hand towards her open bloody mouth.

  "GET AWAY FROM HER!" I roar as I leap towards them.

  Where does a teacher get off on hurting a student? Their job is to mentor and guide the next generation. Not eat them. Yet here Mrs. Hernandez is, already having killed one of her students. Is she not stratified with murdering and eating one student? No, now she's trying to eat my best friend.

  I want to make Mrs. Hernandez pay. I want to make her scream. To hurt her like she has my friend, like she did to Lilly. No that wouldn't be enough. I want more. I want Mrs. Hernandez to experience pain beyond anything she could comprehend.

  Heat surges through me, burning me from the inside out. Pressure fills me, threatening to cause my body to explode, yet it doesn't. Instead, I feel a strength I've never experienced before. It feels as if every cell in my body has come alive, with the single focus of making Mrs. Hernandez pay for her atrocities.

  My hand reaches out grasping Mrs. Hernandez by her outstretched arm. Squeezing with all my might I feel something in the old bat's forearm snap and part of me derives a glee from that feeling, knowing that it had to of hurt. Yet when I look to Mrs. Hernandez to see her response I'm met with the emotionally dull eyes of something dead.

  Her eyes remain unfocused. Harboring no emotion or thought behind them. The usual twinkle of life that I expect to see is not there. Instead, they remind me of a set of blue eyes that haunt my dreams. Eyes that I don't get to see anymore. Eyes that when I last saw them lost their twinkle of life right before me.

  Mrs. Hernandez pulls her arm towards her mouth, letting go of Abby in the process. I quickly realize that she's trying to bite my hand. To consume my flesh. Before she can I let go, pulling back just in time to avoid her biting into me. I hear her teeth crash against each other with enough force that a her teeth crack.

  Not finding her prize in her mouth Mrs. Hernandez turns to me. She bares her bloody teeth before lunging for me. In response I shove her back, sending her surprisingly light self flying back. She slams into a wall with a wet thud before falling to the ground.

  What the fuck? How did I do that? I've never been the strongest person around, I'm barely even willing to call myself average. Even with how light she is how the fuck was I able to throw her back into the wall?

  Blood coats the wall where Mrs. Hernandez collided with it. She lies beneath the dripping blood unmoving. Fuck, did I kill her?

  My mind reels at the sight. I murdered her. I'm a murderer. A monster. They were right about me.

  Mrs. Hernandez twitches. Her body spasms back to life as she slowly stands back up. Her dead eyes lock onto me and something twinkles beneath them. A carnal desire for something, a hunger.

  Mrs. Hernandez lets out a blood-curdling scream. One that reminds me of a beast about to pounce on their prey. She lunges, sending herself flying across the room back at me. She crashes into me sending the both of us to the ground.

  In the struggle, my head smacks against a table sending static through my thoughts. As I collect myself pain explodes across my shoulders. Opening my eyes I find Mrs. Hernandez's blood maw flying towards my face.

  My hands race up, but is impeded by Mrs. Hernandez's steely grip on my shoulders. I watch in horror as the teeth grow closer faster than I can react. Then they stop inches before my face.

  Looking past the cannibalistic teacher I find Abby holding Mrs. Hernandez by the hair. Only barely saving me from having my face chewed off. Our eyes meet and it's almost like I can read her mind. Abby can't hold Mrs. Hernandez back forever and she's scared of what will happen when her strength fails her.

  Her fear reignites the brewing furry in me. With a roar, I break free from Mrs. Hernandez. My hands wrap around her throat, pushing her further away from me.

  At the sudden release of tension, Abby falls back, letting go of Mrs. Hernandez as she does so. I want to stop and help her up but the teacher before me steals my attention. Demanding that I not let her go.

  "Please stop this!" I plead with her. "I don't want to hurt you!"

  But I do. I want to make her apologize to Abby. I want to banish the memories she's reminded me of. I want her to pay for the pain I feel in my chest at those memories. But I want to be better than that.

  My English teacher ignores my pleas. Her mouth opens and closes as if she's still trying to eat me. My heart sinks as I realize that she's not going to stop. Not until she gets what she wants or someone stops her.

  What should I do? I don't know how to stop her. I already almost killed her. I can't let my anger get the better of me like that again. But how do I stop her from hurting Abby or myself?

  Another scream steals my attention, forcing me to watch as a classmate I barely recognize as a girl named Hazel struggles with Abby. Hazel's jaw opens wide, almost too wide. In a moment the skin at the corners of her mouth tears, letting her jaw open wider than the human body was designed to do. Almost like a snake, her jaw unhinges itself as she leans in to bite my friend.

  Abby tries to hold the girl off but it's clearly a losing battle. Abby reaches for a book and forces it into Hazel's open maw. Her panicked eyes find mine and they plead for help. Her arms shake with the strain of keeping Hazel from biting into her.

  In that instant, I lose myself. The world turns red. Strength fills me as my body burns in an unbearable heat. Mrs. Hernandez is sent flying again as I toss her aside. No longer the focus of my furry.

  Abigail Walker knew many things to be true. She knew that she should have tried harder to convince her father that she was actually sick this morning. She knew that she shouldn't of given Jason the silent treatment after the interaction with Derrick. Lastly, she knew she was about to die and would never get to tell Jason how she truly felt.

  Abigail watched in horror as the sweet girl she knew as Hazel chewed on an English textbook. Blood seeped from Hazel's mouth as the skin at the corners of her lips was torn when Hazel opened her mouth. Abigail couldn't hold the girl back forever and knew that it was only a matter of time before Hazel won their contest of strength. From there, Hazel would tear into Abigail, ending her life in a cannibalistic feast.

  Abigail could accept that she would die. She knew better than most that death came for all eventually. Abigail even thought that she had come to terms with this fact. Yet as she stared at the face of her death in its dull eyes she couldn't stop the amount of regrets filling her.

  She regretted not having told her father that she loved him more. Regretted not showing how much she loved him. She regretted not cuddling with her cat even longer this morning. For refusing her fat tabby another snack. She regretted having spent the day ignoring Jason.

  If only she had known her life would of been ending she would of spent her last few hours being honest with her friends and family. She would of told Jason the depths of her feelings. She would of hugged each of her friends one last time. She would have skipped classes to give her father one last hug.

  Yet she didn't know. She made her choices and now she is about to die. She felt the tears welling in her eyes. She wanted to refuse them freedom as that would just show her killer that they had beaten her both physically and emotionally. Abigail may lose in a match of strength, but she would not let herself lose a match of wills.

  The weight pressing down on Abigail vanished. Hazel's clacking jaw no longer threatened Abigail. The quickness with which her imminent death vanished left her reeling and in a state of confusion.

  "What the fuck?" She asked no one in particular.

  Sitting up she found a sight that brought more questions and conflicting emotions than she could process. Before her, Abigail found the boy she has a crush on staring daggers at Hazel. His usual calm demeanor was nowhere to be found. In its place a vissage so consumed by rage Abigail almost didn't recognize him. His brown, nearly golden eyes were dark orbs that promised violence. His usual easy-going smile was replaced by bared teeth. His frame usually appeared so skinny and slim, but as Abigail stared at him she could swear that he was larger than even life.

  Jason leaped over to where Hazel lay in a single bound, clearing nearly fifteen instantly. He looked down at the mousey girl before sneering and planting his foot against her chest. Abigail could have sworn that she heard something crack in that instant.

  Hazel reached up grasping at Jason's ankle. A grimace took over Jason's expression for only a moment. Something on the floor next to them catches his attention causing him to reach down and retrieve something Abigail couldn't make out from her viewpoint.

  Jason swings his arms faster than Abigail could follow. The area before Jason explodes into a red mist as gore paints the carpet and wall next to Hazel. Then he attacked again sending another guiser of blood and grey matter to paint the wall. Blow after blow Jason rained his powerful attacks against the girl who surely had to be dead at this point.

  Abigail watched in horror as the boy she once saw captured a bug and released it safely outside to the protest of an entire class viciously attacking an already dead girl. The boy she knew would spend countless days sleep-deprived to work on other student's homework so that he could help his aunt financially stood above a corpse and sneered at it like it was dog shit on the bottom of his boot.

  Abigail was scared. She knew this. She couldn't stop her body from shivering. She couldn't force her lungs to draw breath smoothly. She was paralyzed to the spot watching as her friend attacked the thing that almost brought her death.

  Mrs. Hernandez's bony fingers grasped onto Jason's ankle eliciting a quick breath of pain from the boy. He turned his murderous furry to Abigail's English teacher. Abigail could now make out the hammer in his hand. A pink-handled tool that Abigail watched Mrs. Hernadez use to put together furniture.

  With a roar Jason kicked out at the old teacher, sending her crashing back. Stalking after her he kneeled down, and grasped the teacher by the collar of her shirt. He lifted her slightly as he brought the hammer back for an attack. Then as if it was routine for him Jason brought the hammer down in a stomach-churning attack.

  Abigail had to hold the vomit back as she watched Mrs. Hernandez's face cave in. Brain matter and chunks of bone were sent flying. Mrs. Hernandez's body fell limp and Jason let it fall to the ground. Blood pooled beneath their English teacher.

  Jason turned back looking panicly for something. His dark eyes fell onto Abigail sending a shiver down her spine. In an instant the rage monster that took her friend over disappeared, replaced by an expression of worry more in line with how she remembered him.

  "AAAAAGGGGGG!! GETOFFOFMEYOUSICKFREAK!" Abigail heard Sandy, the head cheerleader scream.

  Abigail found the blond girl pinned against a desk holding off another student. The male student pinning her down drew closer and closer until his teeth met the flesh of the cheerleader's throat.

  Jason appeared neck to the boy, the pink hammer slicing through the air as if it were a bullet. The hammer crashed through the boy, sending his body flying back. Following the boy Jason latched onto the boy and rained a series of blows down that would ensure any creature would never be able to stand back up.

  Jason's shoulders heaved as he rose from the boy's body. Blood dripped from his now empty hand, void of the pink hammer. Abigail watched him look around for a moment before turning his focus to his blood-smeared hands.

  His face fell. His shoulders sagged. His body went limp and he slumped down to the floor, his eyes never leaving his bloody hands.

  Abigail was still scared. She was terrified of what she just witnessed. She was still processing the near-death experience. Yet as she watched her friend pull in on himself and spiral she couldn't help but feel sympathetic pain fill her.

  He saved her. There was no doubt of that. He saved Sandy as well. But he was so vicious with his attacks. He was like a rabid dog. No, Abigail knew that was the wrong comparison to make. He was like a lovable dog pushed to violence to protect its human and now it shook in the corner of the room, terrified by its own actions.

  At this realization, Abigail knew she couldn't sit idle while her friend lost himself in guilt and fear. She couldn't let the fear still inside of her prevent her from helping him.

  Despite how scary he looked. How savage he was. Abigail stood and walked through the bloody classroom, being careful not to step on anyone lying in puddles of their own blood. She reached the think-shivering boy muttering to himself so quietly one might almost not realize he was talking.

  Kneeling down she wrapped her arms around him, embracing her shivering friend. His body stiffened at the touch but Abigail did not pull away. He smelled strongly of copper and she could feel her clothes grow damp from the blood caking him. Yet she did not care. All she was worried about was her friend.

  "Why?" Jason asked.

  His words were barely a whisper, yet Abigail heard them. The single question broke her heart. The pain and fear evident in his tone tore at her heartstrings. It reminded her of how her father acted after her mother gave him the divorce papers.

  Blood. My hands are covered in the sickly viscous red fluid. It's sticky and refuses to come off of my hands. It stains everything I touch and fills the air with a copper scent so strong it makes me want to vomit.

  What have I done? This isn't my blood, it's the blood of my teacher, Lilly, and a third student I didn't take the time to recognize. God, what kind of monster am I? An indiscriminate killer?

  Holly fuck I bashed their skulls in. Their fucking skulls. This isn't just their blood coating my hands. I see strands of hair mixed within. Chunks of flesh and gore stick to me.

  Fuck, what have I done?

  Warm arms wrap around me bringing me into a tight embrace. The arms are thin but surprisingly strong. Following them, I find Abby kneeling before me, wrapping me in this sudden embrace.

  Why is she holding me? Isn't she scared of me? I just murdered three people in a fit of rage. I'm still covered in them for fuck's sake. So why is she here? Why is she holding me? Why would anyone be willing to get so close to a monster?

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Faint memories of a conversation I overheard threaten to be brought to the forefront of my mind. I try to refuse them purchase but the harder I focus on them the more clear they become.

  "Why in the hell would we take that thing home? It's father killed our daughter. Your sister for Christ's sake!" A gruff voice asked.

  "Exactly Dad. His father killed my sister, not him. Jason did nothing wrong. He's as much a victim of his father as Tiffiny was." My aunt responded.

  "Just look at him, Sabrina! He looks just like his damnable father. He's a ticking time bomb." My grandfather retorted.

  "I bet he'd do it in the middle of the night. Just take a knife to our throats." An aged feminine voice stated.

  "MOTHER! What is wrong with you two? He just lost his mother are you two seriously not going to take him in? He has nowhere else to go." Sabrina exclaimed.

  "Fat chance we'd invite the spawn of a monster like that into our own home. I don't care what happens to him. He'll grow to a monster just like his Father and there is no way I'd let such a thing into my own home." My Grandfather stated.

  Sabrina sighed at my Grandfather's words. I was waiting for her to agree. Waiting for them to discover me eavesdropping. I was scared. Scared of what is going to happen to me now. Where would I go?

  "You two are shitty people. I can't believe we are related. I'll take Jason and you two can fuck off out of our lives." Sabrina responded.

  "JASON!" a scream breaks the memory forcing me back to reality.

  Abby kneels before me, concern emanating from her as clear as a cloudless sky. Her blue eyes looked between mine searching for something.

  "Sorry. What did you say?" I asked.

  Relief flooded her expression. Her eyes stopped searching and settled. A small smile broke across her face.

  "Are you okay?" She asks.

  How do I respond to that? My gut instinct is to say Yes, to alleviate any worry plaguing her. But another part of me knows that I'm not okay. I am barely hanging on by a thread. But asking for help would be shellfish of me. I don't deserve her kindness and I can't waste her time on me.

  So I answer with a nod. I lie to my friend and it tears something in me apart. Despite that, I know it's the right move.

  My answer doesn't satisfy her. I want to come clean to her and be honest but I know I can't do that.

  "Are you okay?" I ask her to change the focus off of me.

  She scoffs at me. "Am I okay? Jason, you save me! I'm okay because of you."

  "I killed them, Abby. I murdered Mrs. Hernandez and Hazel and a third one. God I didn't even take the time to try and remember him."

  "Jason it was self-defense. If it weren't for you, then you, Sandy, and I would all be dead like Lilly is."

  Is that why she is so willing to be close to me? She doesn't realize how badly I wanted to make them hurt. How much I wanted to see them scream in pain. How I only got angrier when they refused me any response. She doesn't realize what kind of monster I am.

  Do I tell her? Do I explain to her how I felt? The desires I had? That would show her the true me. But would she still stay this close to me? I don't think she would. She would leave just like my Grandparents.

  No, I can't tell her. I can't tell anyone. I got lucky and I can't waste this. I can't lose her as well.

  "FUCK!!! SOMEONE GET THE DOOR!" Sebastian screams.

  From beyond the door, a horde of lifeless-eyed people approach. My heart races at the sight. There are so many of them. How are there so many of them? My body moves on its own.

  The classroom flashes past me as I weave around the sea of chaotically positioned desks. Making it to the door I slam it closed just in time to prevent the tide of those freaks from getting in.

  BANG!

  The door shakes in its frame with such vigor I fear that it'll be blown clean off its hinges. A second powerful strike sends the door rattling again. Then another bang followed by another and another.

  I brace myself against the door, knowing that my small frame would be no match for the amount of bodies on the other side. Yet I know that I can't fail here. If they get in then we are all done for, we are all dead.

  "MOVE JASON!" Sebastian barks.

  He, a girl named Hanna, and a smaller boy who I believe is called Michael stand poised to knock over a bookcase to block the door. Catching onto their plan I nod at the tall dark-haired boy. Taking a deep breath I leap away from the door, turning to fight in case the others are too slow.

  The bookcase topples down with an explosion of sound. Books topple to the ground and the sound of wood cracking echoes in the classroom. The door bulges, no longer rattling under the attacks but still being stressed by the weight of the things on the other side.

  We watch in anticipation for the door to be blown off it's hinges. For the bookcase to fail. For the horde on the other side to stream in. Yet none of that happens. We stand for several quite minutes, many of use too scared to even breath in fear of missing the sound of our barricade failing. Yet they hold with no obvious sign of failing.

  I don't know how long we watched in fear but once someone else breathes a sigh of relief the stress vacates my body leaving me heaving for breath. I send a mental thank you to the person who made the bookcase.

  Wait, wasn't Mrs. Hernandez the one who built it? And I'm the one that murdered her. Fuck do I deserve to even be alive right now?

  "Help. Someone, please help!" A voice I recognize but have never heard in such a worried tone pleads.

  Derrick has moved Sandy to an undisturbed section of the classroom. He holds something to her throat but he acts as if he's too scared to actually touch her. It takes me only a moment to realize that she is bleeding.

  Sebastian races to Mrs. Hernandez' large desk and retirees an orange bucket. He rifles through the bucket while racing over to where Derrick and Sandy are. Abby joins the group only moments later.

  "Move." Sebastian commands Derrick.

  I expect the jock to make some half-brained comeback. Or to even deck Sebastian for speaking to him in such a tone. I've seen him wedgie kids for less. Yet none of that happens. Derrick only nodded and shifted out of the way.

  Abby lifts the fabric Derrick was using to try and stem the blood flow. Sebastian has a first aid kit open next to them and has retrieved some alcohol wipes from it. The two set to cleaning the would.

  "What the fuck is going on?" Hanna asks.

  "Do none of you watch horror movies?" Michael scoffs. "It's the fucking zombie apocalypse."

  "Do you ever touch grass? I always knew you were a basement-dwelling incel but I never imagined that you'd be so delusional. Earth-to-space cadet zombies don't exist, dumbass." Derrick retorts.

  "If they aren't zombies then what are they?" Hanna asks.

  "Fuck if I know. It's probably like mass hysteria or some shit. Like that dancing shit in the medieval times."

  "Midevil time? What the fuck are you going on about?"

  "You know. Where all those people started dancing non-stop. People started dying and shit. Whatever is happening is probably something like that."

  Hanna gives Derrick a look that conveys how dumb she finds his response. Her toxic green hair curtains her smoky grey eyes, framing her face. She's on the taller side and if it wasn't for the school uniforms would be more at home in dark gothic clothes.

  "Well I'm not a fucking historian but it happened. Look it up. Besides, do you guys have a better explanation?" Derrick asks.

  "So you believe this is some mass episode of hysteria affecting an entire school?" Hanna asks Derick but before he can respond she turns to Michael. "And you think this is some zombie apocalypse. So how do with of you explain this?"

  Hanna thrusts an onyx stick before her. Wait, that's not a stick, it's a fucking spear. One end flairs out slightly before returning to a blood-stained tip. Where the hell did she get that? There's no way security would let something like that into the school.

  "You know Derrick I stabbed one of them in the stomach four times while it attacked me. My attacks did nothing to deter it. I saw no expressions of pain. No panic or hesitation. Fuck I even stabbed the bloody fucker in the heart and it didn't stop coming for me. I had to stab this through its fucking skull before it stopped. How does mass hysteria explain that Derrick? How does a zombie apocalypse explain this spear or that fucking tutorial Michael?" Hanna asks.

  Her body shivers slightly as she speaks. Her eyes latch onto each of us as if one of us will the answers she's looking for.

  "No, whatever is going on more than a zombie apocalypse. It's more than mass hysteria. Did none of you have that tutorial?"

  I almost forgot about that in the wake of the attacks. Her admitting to having her own tutorial eases part of me I didn't realize was tense. At least I'm not crazy.

  "I did." I answer.

  "What was your like?" Hanna turns to me to ask.

  "Whatthefuck!" Sebastian exclaims before I can answer. "What did you just do?"

  Sebastian kneels next to Sandy but he is no longer working on cleaning her wound. His attention snaps between Abby and the motionless girl lying on the ground. Disbelief and confusion wash off of him in waves.

  "I think I healed her." Abby responds.

  "You did what!" Derrick asks while staring at Sandy. "How did you do this? What did you do to her?"

  "Well, I got this from that tutorial." Abby says holding up an onyx bracelet.

  The bracelet appears to be many tiny square-like stones lined next to each other, tethered together by an unseen string. One of the stones has a small charm dangling off that resembles a teardrop.

  "With it I can use my technique on other people."

  "Technique?" Derrick asks.

  "Yeah, didn't you all get one from the tutorial? Mine lets me heal myself and with this bracelet others."

  "So you used some shady, bullshit magic? What the hell were you thinking? What if you just infected her with some fucking disease or something? Fuck we don't know what this shit is."

  My heart beats in my ears as I watch the large jock berate my friend. Demands for violence and reperations whisper in my ear. My fists clench and it takes everything I have to not deck the ass.

  "Lay off her Derrick. Whatever she did she stopped the bleeding and that means that she just saved Sandy. Or would you of rathered we choke her to death to stop the bleeding?" Sebastian asks.

  "What?" Derrick asks.

  "Dude I'm not a doctor or anything but Sandy was bleeding out. I think her jugular or something got cut. None of my medical knowledge covers what to do when someone's jugular is severed. All I know to do is pack the wound, apply pressure, or apply a tourniquet if the bleeding is too bad. None of which I know how to do on the neck. Whatever Abby did she saved Sandy from bleeding out or being choked to death in our attempts to stem the bleeding." Sebastian explains.

  "If she dies it'll be your fault." Derrick angrily points at Abby.

  "No it's not Derrick. Stop being an asshole." Hanna butts in. "So then we all had a tutorial?"

  "I did but I didn't get a healing skill." Sebastian answers.

  "Same here, tutorial but different skill and sacred item." Michael adds.

  I nod again but wonder why I didn't get a skill or item. Did only my tutorial bug out?

  The group focus turns to Derrick. Actual gazing at him I realize that he has a black glove on one hand now. It's bulky and the glove stretches his arm, ending at the elbow. Whatever material it's made out it's thick, almost like leather.

  "So what if I did?" Derrick shrugs.

  "It mean that we all experienced the same thing and that this System thing is real."

  "Do any of you guys read fantasy books?" Michael asks.

  "Do I look like I have time to waste on that nerd crap?" Derrick annoyingly asks. "For a nerd, you're pretty fucking clueless. Aren't you guys supposed to be the smart ones?"

  "I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR SHIT DERRICK!" Michael explodes.

  Michael thrusts a black stick towards Derrick. Michael marches towards Derrick with a sneer plastered on his face.

  "I'm sick and fucking tired of you always picking on me. Well, guess the fuck what Derrick. I'm not scared of you and if you keep pushing me you're going to realize that I'll fight back." Michael stops ten paces from the jock, his right arm extended to point a stick no longer then a foot at Derrick.

  "And what are you going to do with a stick? Poke my eye out? This is not the time to be LARPing dude." Derrick scoffs.

  I feel something in the air shift ever so slightly. As it does a stone like mass appears from the tip of the black stick. As it seeps out of the stick it forms a dart like mass. Then it disappears from sight.

  An explosion across the room rings out, sounding as if someone just broke stone. Turning to the wall behind Derrick a crater the size of a softball is missing from the concrete wall.

  What the fuck just happened. Was that Michael's doing? Is that stick some kind of magical gun? What the fuck.

  "Next one is going through your head." Michael slightly adjusts the stick in his hand.

  "What the fuck are you two doing?" Hanna demands. "With so many things out there wanting to eat us alive how stupid do you both have to be to fight amongst each other? Derrick stop being an Ass or I might just let Michael shoot you. And Michael, drop the edge lord act. Derrick is a dick don't let him get under your skin. Now please, what do fantasy stories have to do with our situation?"

  The tension in the air holds thick for a moment. Michael glares daggers at Derrick while Derrick revels in the attention. I want to smack Derrick across the back of his head myself for being a dick. But as I watch him enjoy the state he's pushed Michael to I know that's just what he wants.

  Michael scoffs and turns away. The tension dissipates and silence falls on the room, aside from the moaning coming from the other side of the barricaded door.

  "There's a sub-genre called progression fantasy. It's a common trope in those stories that games like mechanics take over the world, causing an apocalypse. With the System, the tutorial, and now the zombies I can't shake the feeling that we are living through something similar." Michael continues after letting out a breath.

  "So what? Are we like in the Matrix or something and they turned on nightmare RPG mode?" Sebastian asks.

  Michael shrugs. "I don't know. But it's the closest thing to an explanation I can come up with right now."

  It just seems so fantastical. I mean we've all imagined how the world would end. How we would react and survive. Yet the most fantastic apocalypse I ever thought about was a run-of-the-mill zombie apocalypse.

  Yet with all this System shit it feels like I've been thrown into some fantasy game. Abby is healing people while Michael is conjuring stone bullets. I can't refute those facts. We all experienced a tutorial. We all have those floating boxes. So who am I to argue the fantastical nature of Michael's theory?

  "I think I get what you're saying. But it just seems too magical." Hanna says.

  "Of course, it seems too magical. Mikey over there is delusional." Derrick scoffs.

  "Derrick if you have nothing constructive to say then shut the fuck up. Do you have a better idea?"

  "I don't fucking know. What if it's some kind of attack? Like from some foreign nation?"

  "And what kind of attack would this be Derrick?" Hanna asks.

  "Fuck if I know. It could be China or some shit. Some kind of biological weapon in conjunction with holograms. Those float boxes and these items are probably here to try and trick us into fighting our own people. Just spreading the bio-weapon in the process."

  "Derrick, no offense but that seems like one of the dumbest ways for a nation to attack us." Sebastian stands from the unconscious Sandy. "Anyways, as far as I can tell she's going to be okay but she has lost some blood. So it may take a little bit for her to wake up."

  "How long?" Derrick asks.

  "No clue, I'm no doctor."

  "Pretty useless for a Boy scout." Derrick retorts as he turns his attention to Sandy.

  His eyes soften as he looks at her. He gently caresses her cheek and for a moment I feel like I'm intruding on something personal. How can someone so mean care for someone else so much?

  "Anyways, what does it matter why all of this is happening? If we are going to figure out what to do next then we can't sit here and theorize why all of this is happening. We need to figure out what we know to be true and work within that." Sebastian continues while moving towards the window in the classroom. "Has anyone tried calling the police or anything? My phone is in my locker so I haven't been able to check."

  "No service, I think phone lines are down or something." Hanna explains.

  "Did you try calling emergency services. Any active carrier in the area is suppose to cover calls to emergency services." Sebastian continues his trek to the window.

  He moves with the gait of someone who just finished a growth spurt, still uncertain of their own pace. His dark, nearly black hair is cut short fashioned so that his bangs form curtains. He's a wiry man built more for agility then strength.

  "Yeah I tried 911. The call wouldn't connect." Hanna explains pulling her phone out from her pocket.

  She dials something and raises the phone to her ear. A moment later she shakes her had and starts fiddling with the screen.

  "No dice, I think what ever is going on is affecting WIFI too. Not even being on the school's internet lets me browse the internet." Hanna pockets her phone and turns her attention to Sebastian who has made it to the window.

  Light floods the room but not the mid day light that it should be. No this is the late evening light. The fading light of day no longer provides heat and warmth to the world. This is the cooling light that soothes the world into night.

  "Guys." Sebastian says staring out the window. "Come look at this."

  Standing we make out way over to the window. Through it's frame we take our first look at the world outside our classroom since all of this has started. While I can't speak for the others about how they feel in this moment I can say that I'm terrified.

  The school grounds have remained relatively the same. Expect now bodies spuractically dot the landscape. I can still make out people running and people chasing. I watch one person be lunged on and attacked, sending a spray of red mist into the air. It takes a moment to trear my eyes away from that scene and continue up.

  The school is suppose to sit right on the skirts of a resedential area of the city. Once you're off campus you are practically in someone's front yard. So why is there a forest in place of where the houses and homes are suppose to be?

  The forest streches on for a few miles. It defiently streaches past where the down town was. So where the fuck is the apartment? Where is Sabrina's shop? Where is Sabrina?

  I have to go. I need to go find Sabrina. I can't loose her. I can't be alone.

  "What's that?" Hanna asks pointing to something on the horizon.

  With the setting sun it's hard to make out what she's pointing at. But it's thanks to the setting sun that I can actualy see it. An orange glow not belonging to the setting sun.

  Just beyond the treeline the silloutes of tall, rectangular buildings stand. Within them a warm organge glow, sending pillars of black to the sky. The city is still there, just much further away then it should be, and its on fire. Fuck.

  "I need to go." My words slip unintentially.

  "What do you mean?" Abby asks.

  "I have to go. Sabrina is there." I answer.

  "How do you expect to get out of here?" Hanna asks. "Are you going to fight your way through the school?"

  Looking back at the budling door I waiver. Can I kill more of those things? Zombies or not they were once my classmates, my teachers. They were and still may be human. Do I have the right to end their time on this world?

  Does it matter? They will kill me and anyone else if given the chance. People or not they are a threat. Will I let that threat stop me from getting to Sabrina? Will I let them make me loose her?

  No I won't. I can kill them. I know that I can. The question of if I should or shouldn't doesn't get to be questioned at this moment. I can worry about all of that later. Right now I need to get to Sabrina. I need to get out of here. What ever it takes.

  "If I have too." I answer Hanna's question.

  "What about us?" Abby asks.

  "I don't know. I won't place you in danger but I can't sit ideally by while I lose my only family. I need to get back to the city."

  "I'll go with you. I have family there as well." Sebastian adds.

  I find his dark eyes locked onto mine. Something behind them resonates with me. A determination to do what ever it takes. At least I'm not alone in that sentiment.

  "I also want to get out of her, but we can't just rush out there without a plan. We open that door right now and we die. Simple as that and you can't protect anyone if you're dead." Hanna says.

  "So what do you sugest?" Sebastian asks.

  "I don't know yet but we need some kind of plan."

  "Why are you guys even talking about leaving? Help is on it's way. All we have to do is wait for it." Derrick chimes in.

  "And how do you know help is on the way?" Hanna asks.

  "Duh, we are the largest school in the state. We're the target of domestic attack, of course local police will be aware of this and on their way to help. If not them then surly the miliarty will be swooping in."

  "Derrick take a look. This is happening everywhere. If anyone is going to help they'll need to deal with their situations first. Besides in all of the zombie movies the military will sweep through and kill us all to prevent the spread of the disease. Or if they haven't already send some missile to blow us all to smitherines." Hanna exclaims.

  "You're starting to sound like the incell over there. Those are movies, this is real life. They won't just kill us, they will be trying to save us. Besides, all else fails my Father is the chief of police. Regardless of what is happening out there he has two sons in this school. He will be on his way."

  "Either way there isn't much we can do while a horde of those things are locking us in." Hanna turns from the window and surveys the room. "We'll need a solid plan on what we will be doing."

  "So what do you suggest for now? I don't know how long I can wait." I ask her.

  "For now we quite down. Maybe those things are drawn by our noise. They may loose interest if they don't hear us. We should also move do something about the bodies. It feels wrong just leaving them where they are." Hanna whispers to the group.

  "Isn't it illegal to touch a body?" Michael asks.

  The group turns to Derrick for an asnwer. His father's carrerr making him the most likely canadate to answer this question.

  "Don't look at me dickwads. I'm not a laywer." He answers our gaze.

  "Illegal or not, if we are going to stay here then we'll need to make this place more livable and staying so close to rotting corpses isn't good for our healths. If we leave then we'll likely need to fight our way out of here. We'll need space to do so. So I suggest we set asied a chunk of the classroom to lay them out." Hanna states.

  She has a point but I don't like how wishy washy she is on our plan. It doesn't matter what the others will end up doing. I'm getting out of here as soon as I can. However, Hanna is right that I can't just walk out of this classroom. That would just end in my death and probably the death of everyone here.

  "Alright, lets do this." I say turning to her. "Where should we put them?"

  "I think lining them against that wall will be the best place for them." She points to the wall adjacent to the door. "That way no matter what we choose to do they will be out of our and we won't distrub them with whatever we do."

  It's not much of a plan. Wait and see, but it's better then nothing. I know the moment I see a chance to escape this school I'm taking it but I worry about Abby. I can't protect her if I'm not near her. But I can't wait, expecting someone else to ensure that Sabrina is safe and okay. Maybe I can convince Abby to come with me. That way I can protect her but also get back to Sabrina.

  Looking back at the orange glow of the city I can't help the myriad of dark throughts from flooding my mind. Sabrina could be in any number of dangerous situation and I'm all the way over here, none the wiser.

  A warmth on my chest reminds me of the trinkent Sabrina made me put on before I left this morning. A smile creeps across my face as I hold the charm. If anyone can make sense of this System stuff it would my aunt, the self proclaimed greatest Witch of the Pacific Northwest.

  With my heart more at ease I join the others in their work. It's going to be a while before I can get to my aunt, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything I can do in the mean time.