Craig looked around at the gathered people. “Ok. Thanks Ern. There are a bunch of windows. So, how about we split up and do one each?”
“What about the noise though? Won’t the noise of lowering the shutters attract that thing? Or what if that thing sees us?” Rachel Collins had a good point.
“That’s true. Ok. We need to find it and, um... destroy it first. We’ll need to do it quietly.” Craig responded. “More importantly, we need to close that gate.”
Keith spoke up from the back of the group. “I’ll go.”
Craig looked past the turned heads at Keith. “Thanks Keith, but I think we should send more than one person out to do this.”
He looked around at the group. “I’m with you. Who else is going to help?”
John spoke up instantly. “Me.”
“I will.” This came from Jack.
Before Craig or Sarah could argue with their son, Ethan Collins volunteered as well.
“The hell you are!” Was Joe’s response. Sarah also piped up, telling Jack he was not going out there. The group started arguing amongst themselves at that point, and despite everybody still speaking in low tones, it started getting noisy.
“Bloody hell, stop it!” Emily’s angry comment cut through the noise. “You’re practically inviting the thing in here with your jawing.” That stunned the group into silence.
She continued. “Look, I have military training, so I’ll go with Keith and John. You blokes” –she pointed at Ethan and Jack– “are still kids. You got bollocks, but let your dads do this.”
“Now wait just a minute! I never said I’d go!” Joe was outraged.
Rachel gave him an ugly look. “Well, you’re not sending our son!”
Craig stepped in with hands raised. “Ok. Keith, John, Emily and I make four. Can we get one or two more volunteers please.”
“Yeah. I’ll go.” Track suit girl was standing near the classroom door, leaning against the wall. She said it as if she were offering to run down to the corner store for some milk.
“And me makes six.” Mel said. “John, you’re not going anywhere without me.” She stepped up to stand beside her husband and grabbed his left hand. The two exchanged a quick smile.
Craig nodded. “Ok, John. What are you thinking?” He invited the former soldier to speak.
John was ready. “We need to have somebody volunteer to be our lookout. From this floor, for a better field of view. How about you be the lookout?”
He pointed at Ethan, who immediately nodded his assent.
“We also need one person to man the door. Close immediately after we’re out and open when we’re back. “Jack, can you man the door for us?” Jack agreed right away.
“I want four of us to take out that thing. The other two close the gate.” John continued. “Mel and I have military experience. It’s been a while, but we can still kick ass.” He turned to Mel and they smiled at each other. “Count us in for zombie smashing.”
“We’ll take a couple of guns but should only use them as a last resort. Noise attracts them. So, we need to find some suitable weapons.”
After a short discussion, it was decided that Keith and Craig would join John and Mel, while Emily and track suit girl would go close the gate. Emily and Mel would carry a sidearm.
Joe had pulled the rest of the group out into the hall to organize for ‘shutter duty’, while John gave his team a quick tutorial on squad tactics. He used one of the tables and various classroom objects to show the team their path of approach, the spacing between squad members, and how they needed to respond if the zombie was discovered.
They all met in the hallway a couple of minutes later. Everybody was set to start when Craig put up his hand. “Sorry guys but I need to ask something.” He turned to track suit girl. “Hey. So, I think you’re the only person in this group of whom I do not know their name. I keep thinking of you as ‘track suit girl’ but would rather call you by your actual name...”
Shelley had to laugh. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one that had labeled her ‘track suit girl’.
The girl moved from foot to foot, her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “I’m Nat. Natalie. ... Call me Nat.” The girl blushed as she said this.
She really does have a pretty face. Especially when she’s blushing. Shelley felt for the girl, so stepped up to Nat and extended her hand. “I’m Shelley, Nat. Nice to meet you.” Nat took her proffered hand and shook.
One addition was made to the plan. Bill would join Jack at the door. He was armed. He would be shooting left-handed, but that didn’t sound like it would be an issue for the him.
Every team member had armed themselves a few minutes later. Emily and Mel had pistols in addition to their melee weapons. The group had an assortment of weapons ranging from a shovel and the long handle of a mop to short lengths of pipe, and a fire axe. Keith had his hammers.
The fear was palpable. John recognized this and delayed a few more minutes for some basic weapons training and taught them some hand signals so they could communicate quietly. Several minutes later, John figured that they were as ready as they were going to be. Everybody else got into their positions at the windows downstairs and on the main floor.
Craig looked at the gathered team and nodded at his son. “Jack...”
Jack pulled the lever that pulled up the sliding steel bar out of its secure position in the ground. John pushed on the center bar. Light poured into the school as six men and women quietly filed out of the door.
Chapter Twenty-eight
John
The sun had risen, and rays of light lit up the driveway and parking lot in front
