They walked up to the school, staying cautious as they approached the door. Both Dante and Tate took the lead, heading in first to aim their guns down the hallway as soon as they entered.
The environment hadn’t been kind to the building, with all sorts of dead grass and leaves as well as trash blowing down the long corridor. There were lockers running along both sides of the hall, the ones closest to the door showing signs of significant rusting as they were close enough to get rain when the wind was blowing.
As they walked, they made sure to check every classroom, most of which were empty, however some desks remained. There was graffiti on most of the walls, and signs of squatters and drug usage littered about.
“Looks like quite the party spot for the local teenagers,” Lily said dryly.
Maddox shook his head. “Doesn’t surprise me,” he replied. “Cops don’t give a shit about this place. Came out here a few times when I was in school. Hell, pretty sure some of this graffiti is mine.”
Lily looked to her left and found a large painting boasting Iron Maiden Rules! with a crude drawing of their mascot. “This can’t be yours,” she drawled. “Not only is everything spelled correctly, but it’s also great taste in music.”
He opened his mouth to retort, but there was a loud moan. Everyone froze at the noise, except for Francis, who stepped forward and smacked a locker with his open palm. The thin metal crushed inwards, sending a loud echo down the hallway. The moan intensified, followed by footsteps pounding the floor.
A moment later, a zombie tore out of a nearby classroom, heading straight for them. Francis stepped a few yards away from the group, readying himself as the others watched, transfixed.
The ghoul raced straight towards him, and he reached out with his large hand, grabbing the creature by the throat. He picked it up off of the ground, its limbs flailing about, before grabbing its waist and pile-driving it straight into the ground.
The zombie’s head completely vanished, shattering into a thousand pieces, coating the floor with blood and brain. The giant straightened up, swiping his massive palms against each other, a smug smile on his face.
“Told you he was worth rescuing,” Maddox declared.
Ace nodded, eyes wide. “You weren’t fucking kidding, brother.”
They continued to the end of the hall where the gymnasium was. They looked through the windows into the darkened room, with some stay beams of sunlight piercing through the skylights.
“So much for natural sunlight,” Maddox muttered.
Ace grinned. “Maybe we can have big fella here punch some holes in the wall.”
Francis glared at him, and the redneck shrank away.
“I’m sorry,” he stammered, holding up his hands.
The giant smirked and clapped him on the back, shaking his head.
“Well, let’s go check it out,” Maddox said, and pushed open the door. As soon as the door scraped across the dirty floor, moans and a chorus of footsteps echoed towards him.
“Shut the door, shut the door!” Tate screamed.
Maddox quickly pulled the door shut, and a few seconds later, a dozen or so creatures crashed into them.
“Jesus, where the hell did they come from?” he gasped.
Dante peered over their heads, spotting an exterior door that was slightly ajar, held together with a chain. “Look like the back door,” he said. “They got in a chained it shut.”
“And what, they just sat in the dark?” Maddox asked, throwing up his hands.
Tate shook his head. “Probably had a camping light or something,” he replied, but then waved his hands in front of his face. “Doesn’t really matter, though. We just gotta figure out how to clear ‘em out.”
“I’m sure as hell not opening the door again,” Maddox replied. “As soon as they get a handhold, they’re gonna throw it open.”
Dante tilted his head back and forth. “Just getting it open a little would be good enough, though,” he said. “We have the ammo, so we could shoot through the cracks and take them out one by one.”
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to get that close to the door and have them be able to grab me,” Maddox replied. “Or hell, pull me ion.”
Ace shrugged. “Why don’t we just shoot through the glass at them?” he asked.
Tate leaned in, looking close and knocking on the pane a few times. “Safety stuff,” he said sullenly, shaking his head. “It would take a lot to punch through it, then we have the problem of getting them to line up in front of them. With the door open, they’ll be trying to get in, but we could be waiting a while.”
As they talked, Lily looked around, spotting an exterior door about fifteen yards away, with a long chain wrapped around it to keep the swinging doors locked together. She politely tapped Francis on the shoulder, and he looked down at her, following her, pointing to the chain.
He smiled and nodded before walking over to it. The others trailed off from their conversation as they watched him grab onto the chain, putting his foot on the door and pulling hard. It took a few moments, but finally the release bar on the door cracked, breaking away, and then it snapped completely free.
“Which door do you want?” he asked as he approached.
Dante nodded. “Middle?” he asked.
Francis nodded and put the chain through the metal release bar on the door, stretching it several yards back and wrapping it around his wrists, holding tight.
Bracing himself, he gave Dante a nod. “Whenever you’re ready,” he said in his gruff voice.
Dante pulled out his handgun and walked to the door. “Here we go,” he said, thankful for the awesome giant on their side. He hit the release, and Francis let a little give on the chain so the door could open a few feet.
As soon as the zombie arms jetted through the opening, he tightened his hold to make sure that the door held
