He tries the door handle, but the door is locked, and Tyrone gives him a pissed-off look when the door doesn’t open. There is one more door on the left side further down the corridor; they both hope for better luck there and move on.
The two men breathe a sigh of relief as the door starts to open. Jason takes it slowly though, his rifle aiming into the gap and moving with the door as he swings it open to reveal an empty classroom. As he is about to step into the unfamiliar classroom, there is a definite echoing noise from somewhere inside the school, from the direction of the alleyway door. Swiftly, they both go into the classroom and quietly shut the door behind them.
“I’ll check the windows, see what you can put up against that door to wedge it,” Jason instructs Tyrone.
As Jason approaches the windows, he does so slowly, studying the carpark and grounds outside them; he’s not sure he could handle another Zombie smashing through the glass again. It all looks clear, so he goes over to the only one of the windows that opens, praying that it does open and isn’t locked. With another sigh of relief, the white handle pulls up and the window cracks open, letting a breeze that smells of smoke hit Jason’s face and increasing the sound of gunfire.
“We’re in business,” Jason tells Tyrone in a loud whisper.
“Let’s get outta here then, before we have visitors,” he responds as he finishes putting one of the small tables under the door handle.
Jason, pushes the window wide open, climbs up onto the cupboard in front of the window, stoops and jumps down the short distance onto a small grass verge that is between the building and the tarmac. Tyrone is covering him as he goes. As soon as he lands, he moves to the side and crouches down, his back against the building, his rifle up and scanning to cover Tyrone’s jump.
With them both out, Tyrone pushes the window closed before they move right towards the small road, staying close to the building and using it as cover. At the end of the building, Jason peers around the corner, down towards the playing fields. When he is sure it’s clear, he signals to Tyrone, who immediately runs, staying low across the small carpark to the flowerbed and trees beyond. Tyrone then nestles into the greenery, his camouflaged uniform doing its job and he covers Jason’s run. They repeat this well-trained method, one covering the other like clockwork as they move up the road towards the red gate.
Jason is now one move away from the red gate, covering Tyrone from the side of the road, when he sees it; a Zombie comes out from behind the far side of the school building and onto the road. Shit, it’s too late to stop Tyrone! He’s already moving towards Jason’s position, and Jason holds his breath waiting to see if it sees Tyrone.
For a moment, Jason thinks the Zombie isn’t going to see him, and it looks like it’s looking elsewhere. Jason is wrong; the Zombie does see Tyrone moving and immediately it takes off, sprinting unbelievably fast at him and as it does, it lets off a ferociously loud scream.
Tyrone stumbles as he hears the scream, as if the scream physically jolts him and he nearly goes down, he manages to correct the stumble brilliantly though and he keeps going, not daring to look around. Tyrone races past Jason and is getting near to the gate, but the Zombie is catching him fast. Jason is quite sure that the Zombie hasn’t seen him in the undergrowth, so he waits, surprising himself by how calm he feels, as this female creature tears up the short road, nearing his position. When the Zombie gets within ten feet of Jason, he opens fire on it, shooting a short burst into its legs, which are ripped from beneath it and it goes down hard, its face smashing into the road. Jason immediately breaks cover, stands and shoots the withering creature through the head, he then turns and makes a break for the gate, reaching it in seconds, he jumps, placing one hand on top of the gate to help him glide over the top of it. Tyrone, is already over, with his rifle aimed over the gate to cover Jason’s retreat.
“That was bloody well done, thanks mate, they are so fast, aren’t they?” Tyrone says still aiming over the gate to check no more Zombies are coming. When he is satisfied there aren’t, he ducks down behind the gate to join Jason who has taken a low position against the adjacent wall to cover the Barnard Road and to get his breath back.
“It would be amazing how fast they are if it wasn’t so frightening mate,” Jason replies to Tyrone.
They both go quiet for a moment, taking stock of their situation, which isn’t very inviting. Gunfire and explosions are constantly sounding, it seems from all directions; some of it is far off, but that noise is overpowered by the closer sounds of battle, the majority of which seems to be coming from the direction of the main road where they last saw their squad. Neither of them would have imagined that when they had left their Squad only a short time ago and they saw the poor people stuck in their houses, that they would be now jealous of those people and the relative security those buildings are affording them. The temptation to knock on the nearest door and take shelter is very tempting, especially from their exposed current position. Who knows, they may even be offered
