Pushing Up Gravestones - Pushing Up Gravestones – Chapter 6

Denise backed into the furthest point of the closet, trying
in vain to get away from the frightening moans and desperate clawing and
scratching at the wooden door separating her from dozens of cannibalistic
students waiting to rip her to shreds. She could barely see anything in the
dimly lit space and fumbled around trying to find anything she could use as a
weapon to save herself or block off the door, for she feared her bat would have
limited usefulness. The room looked like one of the janitor’s closets that the
school stored cleaning supplies and other things needed to maintain the
building. There were large shelves that reached up to the ceiling all filled
with cleaners, bleach, rags, light bulbs, and other items but in her time of
need, Denise highly doubted that Clorox would be able to get her out of this
mess. Finding nothing of use, the teenager slumped to the cold ground slowly
and put her face in her hands as an overwhelming sense of hopelessness took
over her thoughts

. Her day had started out so ordinary and mundane, just
another harmless skip day. She regretted wishing for something more exciting
because the irony of her wish haunted not only her, but all of the dead and
infected she had come across. Her neighbors, the zombie she had been forced to
kill, her own best friend, and though she hated to think about it, her parents
could very well be part of the deceased. As she contemplated everything that
had happened to her in the last hour, tears began to fill in her eyes, bringing
along that annoying stinging feeling that she hated and associated with her own
weakness. There was a loud crash that came from one of the zombies outside as
it apparently rammed its body into the barrier separating it from its prey,
leaving a small crack in the door.

The tears that were filling her eyes to the brim suddenly
came cascading down her cheeks as she cried out in surprise and fear. The
zombie threw itself against the door again, this time creating a small hole big
enough for it to stick its gnarly and distorted face through. She recognized
the student as a guy that she used to have a slight crush on, often flirting
with him in between classes, though it never developed into anything more
serious. All of a sudden that attraction was now gone, what with the skin and
muscle on half of his face being torn off, revealing a fair amount of bone. He
tried to force his mouth through the hole he created, snapping his jaws at her
viciously. Denise screamed again and began to panic, once again searching for
something to defend herself with. In her frantic search, something managed to
catch her attention out the corner of her eye. As her eyes shifted to focus on
her finding, she felt a sense of relief and hope. At the top of the closet was
an air vent so narrow, that for a moment she wondered if she’d even be able to
fit in. There was a sound of wood splintering and breaking in half and Denise
realized she didn’t have time to contemplate whether or not the vent would
work, it just had to.

She began scaling the shelves of the broom closet in an
attempt to reach the vent. What should have been a quick and easy task proved
to be slightly more difficult due to her refusal to leave behind the only
weapon she had. After what to Denise felt like hours, she finally made it to
the top of one of the shelves. She paused for a moment so she could steady her
weight to avoid tipping over the shelf and come crashing back down to the
floor. Once she felt confident in her balance, she began prying at the metal
grate covering the ventilation shaft. The grate proved to be more troublesome
than it looked, refusing to yield to the young girl’s desperate efforts.
Against her better judgment, Denise looked down and found herself staring at a
zombie that had managed to slip its grotesque body through the hole in the
door. The undead’s face looked upward and the two made eye contact. The thing,
since it could no longer be considered a person, stared up at her with its
white and cloudy eyes, void of emotion except for its dangerous primal
instinct.

Denise whipped back around and started shoving the handle of
the bat into the grate, grunting with every thrust.  The grate started to become dented, but
otherwise refused to budge from its position. Rather than stop, she just put
more force into her hits, now screaming with anger and panic as she hit the
grate. Her arms began to tire from the repeated thrusts and her biceps felt
like liquid fire was coursing through her veins.  The end of the bat’s handle was now chipping
away as parts of the wood flew off violently. Denise jammed the bat into the
grate once more and squealed with delight as it finally caved in and broke off
its hinges. She quickly began clambering into the metal shaft but was stopped
by a deathly cold hand wrapping itself around her ankle. In an instant she felt
herself being dragged out of the vent. She knew that soon the hand would be
accompanied by a pair of teeth sinking into her leg and making her some
zombie’s dinner. Denise gripped her bat tightly and began swinging aimlessly,
lacking the resolve to efficiently fight against her threat. To her luck she
felt a sickening crack as the bat connected to the zombie. With a slight
struggle, she managed to shake off the hand and crawl all the way into the
vent.

As the sounds of the moans and cries of her assailants
became more distant, the only noise that could be heard was the metallic
ringing sound of her and her bat clanging against the inside of the vent. As
she made her way down the narrow path she came to stop over another vent and
peered down to see where she was. She immediately recognized the area as one of
the main corridors students used to get in between classes. Unsurprisingly, in
the aftermath of the massacre that occurred at the school, the hallway was now
crowded with the infected, all moving around aimlessly. She began to move again
but stopped cold when she noticed one of the zombies look up at her, or rather
in her direction. Denise cursed herself silently as she realized that the sound
she was making was what drew attention to her. Making a mental note, she began
to shuffle much more slowly, attempting to quiet the sounds of her movement. It
seemed to be sufficient enough, as none of the zombies under her seemed to
follow after her or try to reach into the vent.

After a few twists and turns, Denise managed to find a
sector of the school that appeared to be largely cleared out. She used her feet
to kick at the nearest grate and jumped out of the shaft and onto the tiled
floor of the classroom below. The drop sent a sharp pain down her leg but she
managed to shake it off as she got up and viewed her surroundings. The
classroom was abandoned, with papers and school supplies scattered all over the
floor and desks and chairs over turned. The classroom seemed to be evacuated
before the threat could reach them, though she doubted many of the students
fared better once they left the room. She started walking toward the door when
she heard something move behind her. Fear taking over, the high schooler
quickly turned around, bat raised, steeling herself for what was going to
happen next. However, there was nothing behind her, save a wooden cabinet in
the corner of the room. Denise slowly crept over to the cabinet, her grip
tightening on the handle of the bat until her knuckles were white.

Once she was only inches away, she used her free hand to
grab the knob on the cabinet and yank the door open, readying herself to swing
at whatever was inside. Her attack was deterred by a blood curdling scream, one
that was not her own. Looking back at Denise inside of the cabinet was a school
girl, only a year older than her, with bright blue eyes and fiery red locks of
curly hair that draped over her back. Although the girl was kneeling down in
the cabinet and her face was covered in tears and ruined make up, Denise could
clearly recognize her classmate, and what she considered her rival, Ferrah
Daniels.

Though Ferrah stood at a nice 5’10” and could tower over
Denise on any day, she seemed small and young in her current state of cowering.
Ferrah had served as her worst enemy throughout her school career, always the
popular one, always the attractive one, always succeeding and what Denise
couldn’t. They hated each other and for good reason. For a moment a twisted
idea came to Denise’s head; what if she just bashed this girl’s head in anyway?
No one would notice and she’d finally have revenge for all the years of crap.
The idea vanished as quickly as it came. Denise knew she was no killer and as
much as she despised the girl staring up at her with teary eyes, she didn’t
deserve to die.

“Are you alright? Have you been bitten or hurt at all?” As
Denise asked the question, she realized that there might be a chance that this
girl would just be a walking time bomb until she became one of the infected.
Ferrah shook her head, her hair flowing back and forth in sync with her
movements. For a moment it looked as if she were about to speak, but before
long the red head was back to her hysteric crying.  Denise knelt down beside her and urged her to
stop crying before she attracted more of the monsters and got them both killed.
After a few moments Ferrah seemed to regain her bearing and calm down, though
her eyes were still red and puffy.

She began to explain to Denise what happened to her while
she was in the school everything from the initial outbreak to how she ended up
hiding in the cabinet, including how her mom got turned right in front of her
and then proceeded to chase after her. Denise just looked at her as she started
sobbing silently. She couldn’t imagine how traumatizing that event must’ve been
for her, especially to make her confide in someone she couldn’t stand. Though
she doubted it would last for long, and she wasn’t even sure she wanted it to,
Denise found this new behavior a refreshing change of scenery.

“Look, Ferrah, I know you’ve been through a lot but we have
to get out of here. If we don’t then your mother’s death will have gone in vain
and we’re going to eaten alive by those freaks out here. I know we don’t have
the best history, but we have to be able to deal with each other if either of
us is going to have any chance of surviving.”

“Fine, but this doesn’t mean anything. Once we’re safe
you’re on your own, got it?” Ferrah said, trying to sound tough, though her
voice was still squeaky and weak.

“Whatever you say, Ferrah,” Denise said, rolling her eyes.
They both slowly crept out the classroom, looking both ways before venturing
out into the hallway. They crept through the corridor, staying close to the
walls and making little to no noise. The lockers in the hall were splattered
with blood and every so often they would come across a body so completely
decimated that it never even got the chance to reanimate. Denise had to pause
several times to stop from vomiting from the horror of it all.

“Denise, I think the old boy’s gym is coming up soon.
There’s an emergency exit that leads right outside of school grounds. I think
it’ll be the quickest way out.” Denise nodded her head to show that she
acknowledged the comment but otherwise remained silent. The two slipped into
the gym and closed the door behind them, barricading it with old tables that
were randomly thrown in once the gym was closed to the students. They ran for
the exit door and pushed on it with all their might. The moment they applied
pressure a loud siren started ringing, giving away their position to everyone
and everything in the school. They continued to hold the door until the latch
released but by then they could already hear banging coming from the other side
of the gym. As the door swung open the two girls were greeted by several living
infected who wasted no time in sprinting toward them. Ferrah ran, screaming,
and Denise managed to smack one of the ones who got to close with a bat, before
following after the older girl.  As they
headed for one of the gates left open a small horde of undead started limping
their way over to them. Denise and Ferrah stopped in their tracks and turned
around, only to be greeted with a group of infected students that had been
following them out of the gym.

Denise grabbed Ferrah’s hand and ran toward one of the ways
leading out of the school grounds. The zombies moans behind them were
interrupted by human screams coming not too far from their current location.
Denise looked over to see a group of students running outside, apparently
having the same idea as them. They however didn’t fare well as they were
cornered by the zombies and fighting them off rather inefficiently with broom
sticks and yard sticks. As much as it pained her to see them murdered, she knew
she had to use the distraction wisely. She ran past the group of zombies busy
preying on the other group of students and ran out the gate, the rest of the
zombies following behind them too busy paying attention to easier prey to
continue giving chase.

Neither Ferrah nor Denise stopped running until they were a
safe distance away from the nightmare that was once their high school. As they
both looked around it seemed that for the first time since this outbreak
started, they were relatively safe. Taking deep gasps to recover their breaths,
the couple walked down one of the streets, moving past the carnage that was
littered around them as they pondered what to do next.