“That’s the science room,” Nicole gasped. “That’s where the clinic is. Scott was—”
She didn’t finish.
Nicole shoved past several people leaving and ducked under Nathaniel’s arm as he tried to stop her, bolting back into the school.
“Nicole!” Caitlin shouted, pushing her way back inside.
Booker’s grip on her wrist was like a vice. “Cae!”
“Find Desi,” she told him. “I have to help Nicole!”
Yanking free, she took off.
Run, run, run, as fast as you can…
As she rounded the corner, she nearly tackled a cluster of people.
“Caitlin, what are you doing?” Max asked, voice muffled by the cloth he held in front of his face.
David held Matilda close to his chest, a blanket covering her, and Fancy on her leash with his free hand.
They were alive. Caitlin wanted to hug them.
“Head for the front,” she told them, avoiding Max’s question. “Nathaniel’s helping people get out.”
Taking off again, she heard Max call out, “What about you?”
She didn’t answer.
“Scott! Nicole!” Caitlin shouted through the smoke.
Men’s voices and pounding footsteps gave her some indication of what was ahead.
“Caitlin!”
The glow from the blaze cut through the grey and white clouds.
Several people were chucking buckets of water into the science room, trying to contain the fire. It was keeping the flames at bay but not enough to put them out entirely.
“Nicole?!”
“Over here!” Scott shouted, as he flung water across the floor.
Slipping in a puddle, she caught herself on one of the lockers and kept running.
“What happened?” She asked, gasping.
“I don’t know,” Scott yelled over the sounds of the inferno. “When I got here the whole room was engulfed.”
Rushing over with another bucket of water, Nicole passed it to Scott who immediately dumped it on a blazing desk and chair, barely smothering the fire before more flames took over.
“We need more than this to put it out,” Scott told them as more men arrived with pitchers and bowls—a pitiful attempt to save their home.
Caitlin coughed, tears streaking down her face.
“The sports closet in the girls’ locker room,” Nicole said. “I saw a bunch of fire extinguishers being stored there.”
Scott nodded. “Go,” he urged. “Hurry.”
Caitlin didn’t hesitate, turning on a dime to follow Nicole. Sprinting down the hallway, they continued to shout for Desi, calling out for her through the smoke.
As they turned a corner, she spotted Booker with a rag over his face.
“There are fire extinguishers in the locker rooms,” she told him. “Scott’s with a few others trying to put it out.”
“I’ll tell Nate,” Booker said, taking her hand as they passed for the briefest moment before separating again.
She could hear him still calling for Desi as they ran for the double doors leading to the gymnasium.
More rapid footfalls and a dark shape of a man ran towards them.
Seth, with an armful of fire extinguishers, nearly barreled through them.
“I found these in the cafeteria,” he panted.
Nicole pointed down the hallway. “Take them to the science room, that’s where the fire is.”
The closer they got to the gym, the clearer the air was—a momentarily relief.
Without light, the vast room was eerie and oppressive, like a deep cave Caitlin wanted to escape from.
She pushed onward, running in the direction of the locker room doors.
As soon as they entered the cinderblock stairwell, the silence rang in her ears, a complete juxtaposition of the frenzy above them.
“We gotta stop finding ourselves in creepy basements like this,” Nicole joked, voice barely above a whisper.
“Hey, Nancy Drew would be proud,” Caitlin said, one hand on the wall to steady her as they descended.
The locker rooms had been left mostly untouched by their take over, save for a few of the benches being moved to use as barricades and the addition of a couple hoses and curtains to give them extra shower spaces.
“The closet’s over here,” Nicole said, pointing to the right side of the room.
Jogging over, she yanked on the handle and yelped.
“It’s…” She tugged again. “It’s locked.”
“What?”
In the dark, Caitlin reached for closet door. A padlock hung from the bottom of the handle, clanging each time they tried to open it.
“That wasn’t there last time,” Nicole said.
The narrow windows near the ceiling gave them barely enough moonlight to see the silhouettes of the one row of benches left.
“Here, we can break the lock,” Caitlin said, rushing to pick up one end of the metal bench.
With Nicole’s help, they hoisted it up and aimed the steel edge for the padlock.
“One, two…” Caitlin counted, and they slammed the door on three.
The lock didn’t budge.
“Again,” Nicole urged.
Using the bench as a battering ram, they hit the lock over and over until the hook snapped and pieces fell to the floor.
Relieved, they set the bench to the side, and Caitlin ran to yank open the door.
Arms swung out from the dark void of the closet, fingers grasping at her face.
Caitlin screamed and leapt back, as the undead assailant lurched towards her, groaning.
Hungry and free, the Geek wasted no time closing the distance.
The back of her knees hit the bench, and Caitlin fell, toppling over and knocking the air from her lungs.
“Caitlin!” Nicole screamed.
The Geek turned, suddenly aware it had two meal choices.
It was too dark to see but Caitlin reached for her revolver anyway. Struggling to get to her feet, she yelled for Nicole to run.
She didn’t.
The Geek shuffled closer, reaching for Nicole as she backed up blindly.
“Nicole, duck!” Caitlin screamed, lifting her weapon.
Two shots landed in the Geek’s chest, but they barely slowed it down.
Caitlin fired again, but she missed, and the bullet ricocheted off one of the lockers and hit the
