Tristan walked to the door and craned his neck out, looking towards the left. He held that position for a while before pulling himself back into the classroom and sealing the door with a stack of tables, the broken down door and a roll of duct tape. Huxley held the contraption in place as Tristan stabilized it with tape. The rest of the class watched, some were still on their phones, talking to friends and family. Some conversations ended as the line drops dead.

Roy walked back to his desk and pulled out his own phone. He swiped away his playlist and dialed his mom’s cell. The phone ringed, and ringed, but no one answered. Then the line went dead and the automatic operator informed him that the other party cannot be reached.

Roy stared at his phone, and then tucked it into his bag. His dad was off in Iraq so there was no way he could contact him. The last time they talked was two years ago, right before his second deployment. Roy hoped that the ‘apocalypse’ was not global, but that seemed like a pipe dream. The only other family he had in Iowa was his younger sister. She was in Des Moines and his call wouldn’t change a thing.

The rest of the class had again reverted to normal, filling the room with hushed conversations. Roy could see Leo near the front of the room tending to John’s wounds. He carefully sanitized and then bandaged a deep gouge on the football captain’s arm. Julia was at her desk and several of her friends were trying to calm her down. With the sound of the rain in the background everything seemed peaceful. Roy took a deep breath and could feel a hand settle over his shoulder. He jerked around to find Tom there, his grin forming a giant crescent.

“What the hell Tom,” Tom was French but he had no fashion sense, a pair of sweatpants and a printed T-shirt was his usual get up. Today his shirt was adorned with the face of ‘Grogbeard,’ his avatar from WOW, a generic dwarf with a large axe and a scar over the left eye.

“Yo Roy, those were some sick moves you pulled on that murlock! Then when yo...” Tom seemed completely unfazed by the apocalypse and his booming voice drew the attention of a few other students.

“Are you crazy Tom, murlocks in real life? You’ve lost you marbles! Those were definitely something cooked up by the Fed in Fort Detrick. There was a leak and now the entire East coast is probably gone, and we’re next!” Lyn’s shrill voice burst into the conversation and soon their debate had become the center of attention.

“Psssht, what would you know, you’re not even one hundred yet, when was the last time you even logged in? You couldn’t tell an orc apart from a troll!” Roy took a step back as Tom turned his attention to Lyn.

“I think the chemtrails are starting to get into your head Tom, who still plays WOW now that there’s DTDW, which is the definitive WOW killer.” She made sure to stress the last bit to Tom’s displeasure.

“DTDW? DTDW is a total rip-off of D&...” suddenly Tom realized that the whole class was staring at him and eerily quiet. Tristan was at the front of the room clearly preparing to address the class. Roy quickly returned to his seat, and realizing that his the chair was covered in blood, sat on the table.

Tom and Lyn scrambled to the back of the room and continued their debate quietly. All that could now be heard was the faint sobbing of Julia.

“Alright everyone, like Mr. Stenson said help is definitely on the way,” he looked at Julia as he said that.

“Ha, you’re kidding right Tris,” Deven stood up from his seat. He was 6 foot 5 and as he stood up he carelessly shoved the table forward.

“Helps not coming today, it’s not gonna come tomorrow, and it ain’t coming ever,” he slowly walked down the aisle, his build an intimidating sight that sent Tristan back a few steps.

“Back down Deven, or I swear!” John stood up, his one hand was bandaged and the other over the shoulder of Alyssa.

“Or else what John? What are you gonna do about it? Come on capt,” Deven snorted as he turned around, now facing the class from the side of the Mr. Stenson’s desk. John lifted his arm from Alyssa’s shoulder and stood up. Tristan was still at the front his hands tightly gripped around the rifle.

Then it happened, everyone sprung into motion. Deven jabbed Tristan in the gut as John leaped out from the seat and charged at Devon. Tristan’s grasp loosened and Deven grabbed the rifle, but John was still too far away. Deven raised the rifle and pressed the trigger; the ring echoed through the room and seemed to hold John in place, before his body slumped onto the ground. His hands covered over his chest as he struggled to breath.

Julia began screaming, which seemed to snap the rest of the class out of their stupor. Alyssa rushed to John followed by Leo and Arnold who had his knife in one hand and Tristan’s bat in the other.

Deven seemed to inspect his handiwork one last time and then walked to the blockaded door, making sure to give Tristan a kick that sent him sprawling to the side. Deven ripped off the tape and toppled the make shift door before stepping out into the hallway, taking the gun and the ammo with him.

Most of the class buzzed around John determined to stop the flow of the blood. Huxley was at the front of the room, slowly he helped Tristan up.

Roy stared, he couldn’t believe what had happened. It had taken what, fifteen minute, since the start of the apocalypse and already people were willing to shoot each other over a gun, if even that. Roy stood up and walked over to the door and took a peek down the hallway to the left, Deven was already out of sight, but there Mr. Stenson sat. As if he was just taking a short break.

His arms were spread open and his head drooped down to touch his shoulder. Roy watched expecting his math teacher to get up any second now and declare that the lockdown was over and they could go home now. Mr. Stenson was pale, his eyes were closed, his mouth was open, and he was dead.

Roy could hear the scramble from inside the room. Leo was shouting orders to the rest of the class as they scrambled to find tape, Ziploc bags, and the first aid kit. Roy watched Mr. Stenson’s unmoving body for some time, the next thing he knew the class had quieted down and Tristan stood beside him.

“Don’t tell anyone Roy, it’s bad enough already. On the bright side, Hux found a vial of liquid on one of the frogs and that was enough to stabilize John,” Tristan walked out and dragged Mr. Stenson down the hallway and around the corner. He looked down the hallway leading towards the gym for a second before heading back into the classroom. Roy followed.

Everyone looked a little worse for wear as they sat in their seats. Tristan was at the front again and this time he was clutching onto his bat. His voice seemed to quiver ever so slightly as he spoke.

“It’s almost three now and I think we’re going to have to make up some plans,” it had been almost two hour now since the timer ran out. Roy looked at his phone and wondered when the electricity would go out.

“Hux called his parents in New York a moment ago and they seem to be facing the same problems we’re having. The government is on the way, that’s for sure, but it might take a while. So I’ve been thinking about how we’re going to get dinner and maybe breakfast tomorrow,” there was some murmuring from the rest of the class; soon there was an all-out debate as everyone’s opinions solidified. Some were for heading to the auditorium where the elevens were having a presentation – the nines and tens were out on a trip. Many others wanted to stay as per Mr. Stenson’s instruction.

“Mr. Stenson instructed us to stay in the class, don’t forget this is a lockdown.” Fahim’s laptop was open and he was on a video chat with his parents.

“Who cares what the Stein says, I’m not waiting here for the toads to come back,” a white blouse, jeans, and a pair of Oakleys. Silvia had Photophobia, but now that the lights were out the pair of sunglasses were extraneous.

“Maybe you should have left with that thug then shrew.” John was leaning against the wall, his wound bandaged and mostly healed by the health potion.

Things were getting ugly and Roy shuffled in his seat, the trauma of the earlier incident must be spilling over and now John was letting his anger follow it over the top. Deven and Silvia used to be a pair, but that was before she took him out with a Taser after he got ahead of himself. No one wanted trouble so the two stayed quiet, then Silvia confided in Alyssa and the information spread like wildfire. Silvia hadn’t been on very good terms since with John and Alyssa.

Roy didn’t use to be in on the gossip, but what Lyn knew, she made sure her circle of friends knew, and that included Roy. No one wanted to stoke old flames so they usually kept quiet about the incident, but now stress had let loose the demon and things were spiraling out of control.

John was starting to get up, Alyssa was making an attempt to keep him down, Fahim’s parents were shouting through the speakers in Dari - somehow Roy could understand every word they spoke, and Silvia had her hand in her bag.

“Sit Down!” Tristan slammed his baseball bat against the chalk board for extra emphasis.

The class quieted and returned to their seats, again the attention was on Tristan, “We’ll settle this with a vote, everyone for staying raise your hands.”

Slowly people began to raise their hands; altogether 13 people had their hands raised including Roy, Roy recognized Leo, Fahim, and Huxley. Apart from the three, most of the girls around Julia had their hands raised, so did a group near the far corner.

“That’s thirteen votes, now who wants to head towards the auditorium, there will probably be staff there.”

Again people began to raise their hands, Tristan waited a moment and then tallied the total, “That’s fifteen votes, fifteen against thirteen, I guess we’re leaving,” Tristan returned to his desk and picked up his bag, Roy watched him return to the front of the room with his bag packed.

”Alright everyone lets go.” Then one of the students from the ground near the far corner stood up, Roy had never talked to this individual before, he had on a T-shirt and sweatpants, nothing out of the usual. He seemed to be reading a book, there was no dust jacket and it looked quite old.

“My friends and I will be staying.” Tristan grimaced and looked towards the other students who had shown no sign of getting up from their seats. Huxley, Leo, and the girls were all packing up, but Fahim, the corner group and a few others were showing no signs of moving.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, we voted on this guys, you can’t stay here there’s safety in numbers, “His message didn’t seem to move the boy with the book at all.

“I can ensure mine and my group’s safety,” then he looked around at the other stayers, “I can’t insure their’s though.”

There were a few murmurs and some more of the stayers began to pack up, Roy felt uncomfortable too but he wasn’t heading out there, not when there were frogs and who knew what else out there.

Tristan was at a loss for words, he messaged his temple, an action Roy frequently saw the boy perform while he was out on the field, “Alright, fine, but make sure the doors are sealed, stay safe.”

The class packed in silence and soon they were ready to leave, Tom walked over to Roy’s desk, he and Lyn were leaving.

“Dude, come on you can’t sit here forever, it’s a whole new world out there Roy!” Tom spread out his arms for emphasis.

“I can’t Tom, just go,” Tom looked over Roy one more time and headed towards the door. Lyn passed by too and stopped for a second.

“I’ll keep an eye out for Lawrence, funny how he left right before everything hit the fan. You know what I like to say, nothing is ever a coincidence,” then she followed Tom and soon most of the class had left. Tristan was the last one out.

“Hey Roy, take care,” then he too was gone, leaving Roy, Fahim, the three in the corner, and two others. Roy didn’t know anyone else except Fahim by name, and even then he wasn’t too familiar with him.

The two who were not a part of the corner group made their way to Fahim and soon the three were making small talk. The corner group was still there, now that most of the class was gone Roy could see the three individuals. They were all reading books; each one was the type the boy was holding earlier. The other two in the group were girls; Roy didn’t recognize any of them.

Roy turned his attention away from the three and focused on organizing his thoughts. Just over an hour ago Roy was in Math class, technically he was still in math class, but he had had a close encounter with death.

Now the only thing he wanted was to head back home and plop himself down in front of the PC with a can of coke. That sounded nice but this was the apocalypse and even if he regretted his earlier enthusiasm things weren’t going to get better quickly. Going by what Huxley had reported, and what the screens were saying.

Roy opened his status. Comparatively, his wisdom was the lowest stat, everything else was approximately equal. The skills, abilities, and traits were empty, which hurt because Roy liked to believe that gaming was an invaluable skill.

HP regen and MP regen were the measure per second according to the information on the screen when he focused on the stat. A HP regeneration that sat at 0.009 meant it would take hours to recover from any significant damage.

Now that Roy though about it, he should have left with the group. He had blundered because of the momentary shock and now he was stuck. There was safety in numbers and leaving the room right now would render him alone. He never soloed in DTDW, he wasn’t going to start now, especially when death was just around the corner. Lawrence had always preferred to go it alone.

How was Lawrence doing? His house was at least a fifteen minute walk from the school, Roy looked outside. The rain was still coming down in buckets and most of the field was flooded. Five minutes in that raging storm, and then ten more after the monsters appeared.

Roy zipped up his back pack and got off the desk. His stomach rumbled; he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. Rummaging through his bag, Roy dug out a granola bar. The color on the wrapper had long since been rubbed off and the contents were a pulp. He ripped open the wrapper and dumped the contents into his mouth, he was fairly certain these things never expired.