Room 204 (#OpenNovellaContest2021)

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Not long after the police officers showed up, the parking lot became a blood bath. Parents arrived at the school in droves trying to make it to their children. I watched as pickup trucks with groups of armed men in the truck bed came rolling up just to be stopped dead in their tracks from packs of those...things. Their shotguns and rifles littered the ground after they were mauled. Some victims would rise and start attacking others and some wouldn't. I had no idea how any of it worked yet; it was all too new and too fresh to make any sense. I kept an eye on the parking lot and on my students, making note of any new developments. So far, I had counted at least a dozen long guns on the ground and four pistols, one of which belonged to the first police officer. We probably had over a hundred cars jammed up in the front lot. I had no idea what the back lot of the school was looking like, but I'm sure it looked similar to this one. The radio of the dead officer in the hallway continued to call out, causing quite a stir amongst those creatures roaming outside our classroom. Each new call from the dispatcher resulted in a flurry of activity. I hadn't heard any new screams from anyone alive in the hall for at least two hours, which either meant they were running out of alive people to hunt or that everyone remaining alive had been able to hunker down somewhere. I sent out a mass text to every teacher who's number I had in my phone, hoping that service would be cleared up now and it would make it through. We had no way out of this right now, we would just have to hunker down and wait. I tore my gaze away from the window and watched Emma as she paced around the room speaking in hushed tones to someone on the phone. Her volume was increasing as she frantically tried to dissuade someone from coming to try and get her.

"No Kenny, you don't understand I literally have seen them rip arms off of people. Do NOT come here. You have got to keep Molly safe, okay? Please, please don't come here."

The girl's voice broke as she begged them not to come. Her pleas had gotten loud and our doorway shook with the impact of someone trying to break in. Emma yelped in surprise and I jumped as well. She quickly picked up her dropped phone and I walked over and took the phone from her, quickly explaining to the person on the other line that it was useless to try to get to Emma now. To monitor the situation as best they could from where ever they were, that they were helping her more by being away from all this than risking coming here. The gruff voice of a middle-aged man sighed and I swear I heard his voice waver as he asked me to protect his little girl. I handed the phone back to Emma who said a quick "I love you" before hanging up. She sat down against the wall, silent tears falling down her cheeks. I sat next to her, trying to offer a bit of support, feeling uncomfortable because I felt like I was crossing some sort of student/teacher boundary by sitting with her like this.

"Kenny..." She wiped her eyes as she spoke. "He's my step dad. My dad really. He's the only person I've got left since Mom died. Molly is their kid they had together. He was able to rush over to her day care before shit went south." She swallowed and continued. "He can't come here. She needs him."

"I know, I know. We've all got people on the outside that want to come here. I keep scanning the parking lot hoping that I don't catch a glimpse of my girlfriend's mini cooper in that mess."

"No one's coming for me." Jackson spoke up. He hadn't said much of anything since all this had started. "My parents are on a damn cruise right now, trying to fix their marriage." The venom in his voice was clear and I felt his pain in my gut. My parents weren't around much when I was young either, they didn't take a lot of vacations unless you counted the county jail. My grandpa raised me. The rifle I had taught Jessica to shoot with was one he gifted me. He taught me to shoot and hunt. He taught me to fish and clean my own game. He was the one that got me interested in biology to begin with. Being out in the woods with him, he would quiz me on different plants, on the migration patterns of cranes and the calls of wild birds. He encouraged me to get my teaching degree. I owed him everything and if life really was going to shit today, I'm sure I would use those life lessons to continue to survive. Jackson's eyes were glassy as he fought the emotions he was feeling about his parents. I'm sure they hadn't heard the news or they would've called him by now, but how was I supposed to know. Alex leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder and Jeremy clapped him on the back in a show of solidarity.