Outnumbered

In the morning Gerard and I awoke at exactly 5 AM to sneak out, but not without leaving a note on my mat. The note explained that Gerard and I were off to search for more food and weapons and that we'd be back before sunfall. The note asked specifically for Charlie to stand guard at the back door of the school and what for six knocks to let us in.

I swiped Charlie's keys on the way out and told Gerard we were taking his truck. It was good that all the weapons were unloaded. We couldn't risk anyone coming by and thieving any of our supplies, but Gerard and I brought our weapons in case and extra ammo stuffed in our pockets. When I started up the truck, I idly pressed play on dashboard radio and a Limp Bizkit CD began playing. Gerard and I sang along to the music as I backed out of the school garage and took off in the direction of the biology lab. On our long drive, we sang along to the music and blasted it as loud as we could, as if nothing was wrong with the world. Just a couple of rowdy, rebellious teenagers driving on both lanes of the street to dodge the wrecked cars and dead bodies in the way, driving way over the speed limit. Yep. Nothing unusual going on in the barren farming state of Kansas. And it was at this moment of the day that I was unaware of the danger we were really in. Not just us, but the entire world. The uninfected would have to go on with their life were oxygen masks, latex gloves, and quarantine suits. It's a scary thought.

Gerard and I strapped on our mouth coverings, pulled on latex gloves, readied our loaded weapons and did a quick ammo check. We crawled through the window we came in before, which looked even more trashed than before. Now, papers were shredded and torn, the metal legs of the autopsy table were viciously ripped off and had dull teeth indentions in them.

"Is that a dead zombie in the hallway?" Gerard asked in disbelief, moving toward it.

"Well, yeah. They die. Ew-- don't go touchin' it now!" I whisper-yelled.

"I just wanna poke him and make sure he's dead." he chuckled.

"Gerard, we're not here to poke at dead bodies! We've gotta find--"

"I know, Marcie, I know. Okay, we'll search every room, take every camera, and watch them in the janitor's closet tonight and find Bobby's. Easy peasy."

"Fine! Let's go, then."

We crept out of the room after taking the tape in the camera and checked the room across from us. This room looked just as hell-bent as the last. After collecting five tapes in empty rooms, we finally came across an occupied room. As in zombie occupied. Gerard and I cocked our guns and readied them. The zombie's back faced us, it was slumped over a man's body, making a strange crunching noise. Gerard and I exchanged horrified glances and held our breath as we crept in behind it. I didn't watch my steps and suddenly slipped on some papers, pulling the trigger on my rifle on accident and sending a bullet right into the window above the zombie. Gerard called my name as the zombie slowly turned and growled at me. It began crawling toward me, baring teeth that were bloodstained and had bloody meat stuck between them.

"Marceline, run!" Gerard called, grabbing at my shirt as I sat up. He pulled me away from the zombie and shot it twice, once in the chest which caused it to roar in pain and stumble to it's feet. Then he shot it in the head, blowing rotted, cold flesh all over the walls and our bodies. I screamed and shook in fear, using my covered hands to wipe the zombie bits off my face and clothes and arms. Gerard stared down the hall horrified, frozen stiff. I looked down there and saw shadows approaching in our direction. "We need to go. Now!" He grabbed my forearm before I could speak and pulled me toward the fire escape.

"Wait, Gerard--"

"No, Marcie, we have to go! No more hanging out in the biology research lab. Say goodbye to Bobby once and for all because we cannot save him! Everyone else that we've known and loved is dead now! Time to go!" He explained in a shout as we got in the truck. This time, he drove. I wiped more zombie flesh bits off my body and pulled it out of my hair as we drove, crying to myself. Gerard didn't bother wiping himself clean. He sat there with his gloves and mask on and stared at the road ahead of us.

When we made it back to the school, Gerard walkied Charlie, telling him we were coming in and knocked six times. Before we went inside, we disposed of our gloves and mask outside. Gerard and I took showers in separate locker rooms to wash off the zombie flesh. Afterward, we gathered in the cafeteria for lunch, eating in silence. Selene bitched at Gerard in a separate room about leaving with me. The doors may be made of metal, but they were hollow enough to hear through. And Selene didn't like me one bit at the moment.

"She's such a bad influence on you, Gerard! Why do you let her get you into dangerous situations?! You could've been killed!" Selene had shouted.

"But I wasn't. So, get over it." he said indifferently.

"Ya know, I don't know what you see in her, but whatever it is, it won't last long. You'll finally realize she's no good for you, and when you do, I will be a happy mother."

"Mom, just shut the fuck up, okay! I love her! And if you can't seem to understand that--" The rest was muffled when Athena cleared her throat and said, "So, Marcie, what kind of supplies did you and Gerard come up with?"

"Well, we didn't get any food or weapons. But we did get some surveillance tapes from the biology research lab." I admitted. Selene and Gerard had entered as I spoke.

"Ran into some zombie bitch while they were there." Selene said in disgust.

"Mom, we're not invincible. You can't pretend that they're not out there and that they're not gonna touch us." Gerard retorted.

"You could be infected!" Lance said in terror.

"We feel fine." I replied.

"Marcie's still hung up on Bobby." Gerard said begrudgingly after a long awkward silence and rolled his eyes.

"Ya know, you had a choice to stay or go with me. And you went with me, no matter the reason. It seems like you're just as hung up on Bobby as I am." I explained rudely. "Like you said, say goodbye to Bobby once and for all. Everyone we've known and loved--" I cocked my rifle barrel and stood to me feet. "is dead now." Then, I stalked off to my station to keep watch.