Chapter 4: The Return

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BANG. BANG. BANG.

The sound of the guards smashing against the metal walls rang out in tandem with the sound of John’s falling footsteps. He ran to the Principal’s office which was located near the front doors. As he went around the hall, he saw a couple security personnel make their way to the door, attempting to open it, seeing that it was the other security guards that were outside.

“STOP. Don’t open the door!” John shouted while running to stop them.

However, they did not hear this in time, as one of them already had opened the door, while looking back at who was shouting. He didn’t see the guards outside lunging at the distracted guard. Pushing through the door, the first guard grabbed ahold of the other’s shoulders and proceeded to rip the flesh and muscles from the back of his neck.

The remaining guard pounced on the neck of the last guard and ripped out his trachea with his bare hands, munching on the string of muscle from the now dead guard.

John hardened his resolve and continued running towards the guards. Quickly, he unbuckled the gun of the dissected guard and jumped back out of the reach of the infected on top of the guard who had stopped eating the guard and had reached out his hand to grab at John’s hair. Just barely escaping the infected man’s hand, John took several steps back.

With shaking hands, he raises the gun point to the head of the man.

**click**

Cursing under his breath, John fumbled to undo the safety while the guard, now aware of his presence, slowly stood up from the corpse of his coworker. John finally flips the safety and lifts the gun up to the head of the man. He hesitates.

Can I really do this? I’ve never shot anyone before. I would be a murderer. With doubts in his mind, he hesitates which gives the guard enough time to have arrived at John, lifting his hand and swatting the gun out of John’s grip.

The man grabs onto John’s wrist and lifts it to his mouth. John attempts to release the grip but the man’s vice-like hold on his wrist shows no signs of releasing him. John, thinking fast, lifts his foot, slamming it into the knee of the man, causing a sharp **SNAP** as his leg breaks.

The two fall down together and John using his arm, locks it underneath the man’s neck away from his mouth and holds his head just inches from his face, gnashing wildly. John looks to his side and sees the gun, using his other hand, he reaches for the gun and fumbling to reposition it, he finally puts his finger on the trigger, lifts it to the temple of the man, and pulls.

BANG.

A spray of dark crimson blood seeps out of the gaping hole. The man’s eyes roll up in his head and his body goes limp, slumping over John. With effort, he pushes the man’s body to the side and stands up with unsteady legs. He looks to the other guards and is not surprised at what he sees.

The other guard had stopped attacking and looked up, attracted by the sound of the gunshot. He started moving towards John, but John would not give him the chance.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Three more shots rang out in quick succession. Each shot had entered each of the heads of the three remaining guards, killing the one while preventing the others from getting back up. He knew the sounds would have been heard throughout the school, as he now just noticed the screaming and commotion on the opposite side of many of the classroom doors. No one left the rooms as it was a code red and people were too scared to go outside after hearing the shots. Without wasting any more time,

John went over to the three guards, checking that they were indeed dead, and retrieved their guns and ammunition. In total, he now had four Beretta 92’s and 57 rounds of 9mm bullets. Gathering them all up and shoving them into various pant pockets, he quickly ran to the science hallway, entering an empty biology classroom.

He quickly went to the drawers and opened them. After sifting through the various biology utensils, he retrieved several scalpels that they used earlier that year to dissect pigs. After the close quarters encounter with the infected man, he did not want a repeat. As he left the classroom, he grabbed a lab coat and protective glasses to prevent any blood or fluids from going onto his body or eyes and infecting him. Donning the lab equipment over his dark blue jeans and black button-down shirt, he checked the hallways before making his way towards the classroom.

This virus is much more deadly and serious than anything the news had told us. Shit’s hit the fan and I need to be prepared for the fallout. He’d watched enough shows to understand what type of pandemonium would come with news of an outbreak that turned people into crazy cannibals.

Riots, panic, and everything in between would break out all over the city, if not the nation if this went out. If he ever faced another one of those things again, he wanted to be prepared to save himself.

At that thought, he suddenly stopped, is his family safe? He remembered just this morning talking to his family over the breakfast table.

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He lived in a small town house in the middle of a sprawling suburb and enjoyed a simple life with his family of four. Eric, John’s father, had recently received an award for his stellar service in the health industry working as a neurosurgeon and the Rider household had been celebrating with a full continental breakfast. For a family that usually didn’t spend much time or thought on breakfast, they had gone all out to celebrate the big occasion.

“I heard you got first in yesterday’s spelling bee. I’m so proud of you, Jacob.” Their father commented on the younger son’s recent achievement.

“It wasn’t anything big. Your award is a lot cooler, dad.” Jacob said while scratching his nose, poorly trying to hide his satisfaction at being complimented.

Everyone in the family had the same traits, dark brown hair and eyes that seemed to change shades in different lighting. John and Jacob had both decided to pursue medicine in the footsteps of the father they looked up to and they tried hard to achieve academically to prove their achievements and desires to their father.

“That thing? No, speak nothing of it. You, young man, shine much more brightly than this old fart.” His father said while deflecting the compliment and shooting it right back at his son.

“Of course it’s big, honey. You boys take so much after your father… Humility is good but sometimes you have to take pride in your achievements.” Their mother, Jessica Rider, said to Jacob and her husband. Jacob nodded happily and resumed eating his breakfast.

The parents looking at Jacob’s shy attitude laughed lovingly. John, seeing this love filled atmosphere, smiled warmly and also continued to work on the pile of pancakes in front of him. To John, family was everything, and he would in a heartbeat give his life for any of them.

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He suddenly became very scared at the thought of what might happen to his family in such a situation. His father was a strong willed man so he could fend for himself and his wife but Jacob.... Jacob was still young, only recently turning 11, he was too weak and young to know what to do. John knew that he had to get to Jacob as fast as he could, but he couldn’t do it alone.

He quickly made his way back to the classroom. On his way back, more gunshots could be heard. In total, there were 6 guards on campus at any given time so the other two must have met some trouble.

The sounds of gunfire had transformed the once peaceful school into a battleground and the sounds of sirens could be heard from out in the city. More and more smoke could be seen rising in the distance and if you listened closely, the sound of cars crashing and windows breaking could be heard. The students and teachers hid in the corner of the room. Sam and David were there as well, huddled underneath a couple of tables.

“You think it’s a terrorist attack?” Sam asked David.

“Maybe. Could be the sickness.” David replied. Sam tensed up at the mention of the sickness.

“Why the sickness? That just makes people mildly violent and they’re supposed to die soon after. There’s no way it’s gotten so out of hand.” Sam argued, trying in small part to retort to David’s claim but in larger part to calm himself.

“I don’t know. Wait, where’s John?” David asked as he looked around. Sam also looked around the classroom and, seeing no John, crawled over to the teacher who was also sitting with her legs tucked in underneath her, huddled in a corner.

“Ms. Potts, John isn’t here.” Sam whispered to the teacher. The teacher who seemed shell shocked, didn’t respond, whether she ignored him or simply didn’t hear, Sam didn’t know, so he tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped at the sudden contact, and looked up from her musings.

“What? John? I believe he went to the bathroom. He should have went to the nearest classroom when he heard the announcement. Don’t worry about it and sit back where you were.” The teacher told Sam. Sam, seeing as there was nothing he could do, returned to his place next to David. Just then, a banging could be heard from the other side of the wooden door.

BANG. BANG.

Everyone in the room froze, hold their breath. The silence was only broken by a voice from the other side of the door.

“It’s John. John Rider. Let me in, hurry!.” John’s muffled voice could be heard from the other side of the door. The students, recognizing the sound of the voice, calmed somewhat but did not move to open the door. For all they know, terrorists could be holding him at gunpoint to convince the students to open the doors. Sam, not even considering that possibility, ran to the door and opened it. There John stood with his lab coat and protective glasses in the door-frame. John pushed his way in, closing the door.

“John, where the hell have you been? Do you know what’s happening?” Sam asked, worry clearly evident in his voice. David scurried over.

“Does he know what’s going on?” David asked Sam.

“We need to leave. Now. People are going crazy out there. I think it’s the virus.” John quickly retold what he had gone through outside of the classroom. Hearing that the sound of the shots originated from John and that he even killed people, Sam and David’s faces paled and a hint of fear was in their eyes as they looked at John.

“You killed them?” David asked.

“There was no other choice. It was either me or them.” John tried to argue. Sam and David seemed to have a moment of internal struggle. They looked at John’s eyes and then looked to each other and nodded.

“We get it. You did what you had to do.” Sam said while giving John’s shoulder a pat. John looked over the shoulders of his friends and looked at the other classmates. They were looking at them in confusion and were whispering amongst themselves. John passed by his friends and went over to the teacher.

“There’s been an attack on the school grounds. I saw several of the security guards try to contain a man that seemed to be infected with the virus. Tasers and bullets didn’t work on him and already four guards are dead. More seem to be coming and the situation will only get worse. We need to get the students out of the building and somewhere safe.” John calmly tried to explain the situation and convince the teacher.

She seemed to be dazed as she replied. “Safe...? Safe? This place is perfectly safe. The police will come and the authorities will handle it. You children don’t need to worry about it. Let’s all wait here until help arrives.” She said frantically, pulling him to sit down. John pulled her hands off him and moved back to his friends.

“It doesn’t seem she understands the full magnitude of the situation.” John told them as he glanced back at the teacher who had now wrapped her arms around herself, rocking back and forth slowly. He frowned and scanned his eyes over the others.

He then spoke loud enough for the rest of the students to hear. He explained the situation to them the same way he did with the teacher.

“If you want to stay alive, come with us.” He told the students. The students hesitantly looked over at their peers and glanced at their teacher who made no movement or said a word. She simply rocked back and forth ever so slightly. No one made a move. Listening to authority and adults had been ingrained in their minds that they could not leave.

John looked at the unresponsive students, stopping his gaze on the black haired girl who was looking directly at him with an unwavering gaze. He felt his heart jump as their eyes met but calmed down. This wasn’t the time nor the place to be having teenage thoughts.

“Are you coming?” He asked her directly. She hesitated, but then stood up and went to them.

“If I did go with you, where would you even go?” She asked. The boys were stumped. They understood that they had to leave the death trap of a school but they hadn’t thought of where to go afterwards.

“I need to stop by the elementary school near here to make sure my brother is safe and then we’ll leave the city. Get as far away from here.” John said resolutely.

The two other boys, suddenly realizing their families may be in danger, agreed with worried expressions. She silently looked at the three boys and nodded.

“Alright. Lead the way.” She said to John.

He nodded and left the room with the other three. As they left moved towards the door, the teacher grabbed John’s left hand, twirling him around.

She hissed, “You will do no such thing. You all will stay here and that is an order.”

John narrowed his eyes at her and shook her off. Growling in a low voice, he said, “We’re leaving. That’s final.” He turned around and patting David’s shoulder, he turned to the others.

“Let’s move.” He moved past the others and opened the door. Behind them they could hear the teacher shouting at them.

“You’re all going to be in so much trouble when the principal hears of this! I’ll have you all in detention for the entire week!”

Shaking his head at the teacher’s foolishness, he ignored her and left the room with the others in tow.