Everyone in the classroom quietens at the sound of an alarm going off. Unlike the fire alarm, this one is more monotone, like a siren. Immediately, Tahira gathers her books and pens into her rucksack.
The teacher, Mr Geldhorn, sighs and shuts down his computer. "Masks on everyone. Get home as fast as possible. Don't go into any shops or other houses. You might contaminate them."
Tahira reaches into her pocket to pull out her spotty black face mask. It's nothing special, not branded or made to stand out like some others that people wear. She prefers to fade into the background, and not having a bright mask helps her to do just that. She drowns out the complaints of her classmates and stands up, ready for the teacher to escort them out. He's wearing a simple black face mask with the school's logo on the front, and two red and green triangles with a star in the middle. He taps his foot while waiting for everyone to pack their stuff up.
"I'll see you all again in two to three weeks. Remember, do not leave your house for any reason unless it's a hospital emergency. We need to all be careful. This virus won't go away if everyone keeps doing whatever they want."
Tahira sighs at his little speech. Every time the school goes into lockdown, they get the same drivel. They had barely been back in school two days before the infection alarm went off. She just wants to learn before she sits her exams in the summer. She doesn't want to get her predicted grades when she knows she can do a lot better.
"Are we getting homework?"
The whole class groans. There's always one who reminds the teacher about homework.
"I'll set you some on the online portal. No more questions. Now, please, I'll guide you to the gates."
The class forms a messy line as they file out of the classroom into the hallway. Tahira glances over her shoulder to see if her brother's class has left yet; their door is wide open.
You'd better wait for me, Seth.
Mr Geldhorn suddenly stops, causing a domino effect on the students behind him. Each crashes into the other and mutters under their breath.
"Why have we stopped?" someone from the back calls out.
Muffled screaming answers the question. Everyone goes silent as the panicked screams seem to drag out forever. Blood roars in Tahira's ears at the sound, but she's unable to lift her hands to muffle it. Her entire body is frozen.
Mr Geldhorn finally gathers himself. "Back into the classroom. We'll go through the fire door."
The ones at the back of the line, now the front, retreat into the classroom, their eyes wide.
"Does this mean the rumours are true?"
"A virus can't make you eat someone!"
"Didn't you see that video? That guy bit his wife's finger off!"
"It's fake. The blood didn't even look real."
Tahira shudders at the thought of the rumours that have swirled around the world since the virus was discovered four months ago. None of the names people have come up with for it has really stuck, so it’s just the virus for now. When the virus reaches the peak of its infection, it makes the infected person violent. They attack anyone around them and pull the skin from their bones. Any news outlet that reports on it is immediately shut down, which has led to conspiracy theories that this virus has created zombies. Tahira has never bought into that mumbo jumbo; however, she believes the virus affects the brain. Maybe it could make people violent.
Once everyone is back in the classroom, Mr Geldhorn slams the door shut behind him. The screams are louder now, as if they have made it out into the hallway.
Please be okay, Seth.
He jogs to the other side of the small classroom, dodging the plastic barriers that are supposed to keep everyone apart. He then fiddles with the handle on the fire door and swings it open. Every classroom in the science block has fire doors built in, as these are the places where fires are most likely to occur. A blast of cold air rushes into the classroom, along with the sound of more screaming.
"Everyone, make your way to the gates. Be careful."
Most of her classmates need no further prompting. They stampede out the door, clutching their bags and coats. Tahira hangs back to wait until the chaos has died down. The last thing she wants is to get crushed while trying to go home. She glances at Mr Geldhorn, who seems to have aged beyond his years in the past few minutes. His forehead is creased in worry, and his skin is as pale as a sheet. Her heart thrums, knowing even the teachers are freaking out.
By the time the exit is clear enough for her to go through, the students are attempting to pile back in. Someone scrambles through the door, the front of their white shirt covered in blood. Everyone left in the room begins to scream as they collapse onto the floor, their hands flailing in the air.
"Oh God!" Mr Geldhorn rushes to their side with a coat.
He attempts to drape it over their chest, which Tahira can now see is the source of the blood. The student whacks it away, however, and lets out a pained groan.
"What is happening?"
"What's wrong with him?"
"Is he going to be okay?"
Mr Geldhorn is unable to answer the barrage of questions as the student starts to seize. Their eyes roll into the back of their head, and pink foam erupts from their mouth.
"Everyone outside, now!" Mr Geldhorn booms.
While the others stare at the student flailing on the floor, Tahira runs for the door. Outside the classroom isn't any better than inside. Students are running in all directions, some screaming and others crying. The tarmac ground outside of the PE hall is full to the brim with people. They've locked themselves inside, hoping the tall chain-link fences will keep anyone from climbing over. For a few seconds, she's unable to do anything. She can only watch in horror. A flash of silver catches her eye, but by the time she turns around, it’s gone.
I need to find Seth.
Their mother had made them come up with a plan if they were ever separated like this during hysteria. They were to get out and meet in the field outside the school grounds. The two of them had always thought it was a stupid idea, but now it was the only thing on her mind.
A group of students rush past her, casting panicked looks over their shoulders.
"Don't stand around!" one screeches at her. "Run!"
Tahira isn't sure what she's running from, but she does so anyway. She knows that panic won't make her think rationally, but at this point, it's too late. She's been sucked into the collective panic of her peers.
"Tahira!"
She stops only briefly at the sound of her own name. When it isn't called again, she continues running. She dodges clusters of people to head towards the school entrance. Unfortunately, nearly everyone has the same idea, and the pathway towards it is flooded with people. Some are attempting to scramble over everyone else to reach the front, while others are violently shoving each other aside. She joins the back of the crowd but is unable to penetrate the barrier of people. A scream rips through the air, making her blood run cold.
"He's infected!"
"He's changing!"
A few feet in front of her, the crowd thins out, backing away from someone writhing on the floor. Like the student in the classroom, they're seizing and foaming at the lips like a rabid dog. Just as quickly as it started, however, the boy falls still. Sobs wrack the air as his eyes fly open, his irises gone. All that remains inside his eye sockets are two black blobs, which stare unblinkingly at the crowd around them. For a few agonising moments, no one moves or even breathes. Then the boy reaches for the nearest person, a girl a few years younger than Tahira, and sinks his teeth into her ankle. The girl screams, and the crowd reacts by going into another frenzy. Tahira doesn't even think before running back the way she came. Fear is the most prevalent thing in her mind, and it's consumed all her rationality.
All the fire doors along the science block are wide open now. Some are covered in bloody handprints, while others have smashed glass. Pained screams and crashing sounds overwhelm her ears as she picks a random door to go through. Luckily, this classroom is empty. She shuts the door behind her and sinks into the nearest seat, trying to calm her beating heart and suppressing the urge to urinate. Eventually, her breathing slows, and she can think more clearly. It's then she notices the blood smeared all over the whiteboard in front of her, and the sound of slurping hits her ears.
There's a knock on the door. "Tahira!"
Her head swings around at the sound of her brother's voice. His dark hair is ruffled, as if he's been constantly running his hands through it. His brown eyes are wide and slightly damp.
"Seth!"
She stumbles towards the fire door and pushes it open, allowing her brother to rush in. One of his friends, she thinks his name is Jack, follows, considerably more panicked than Seth.
"What's going on out there?" she asks, unable to keep the tremble out of her voice.
Seth opens his mouth to answer, but Jack beats him to it. "Zombies! There are fucking zombies!"
She glares at him. "This isn't funny."
"I'm not joking!"
Seth shakes his head. "He's right. I think those rumours are true."
"It's just a conspiracy theory, Seth," she snaps. "Like aliens in Area fifty-one and microchips in sandwiches."
Jack presses his hand against the glass, pointing to the carnage on the playground. "Look outside! This isn't a fucking conspiracy, it's real!"
For the first time, Tahira really takes in her surroundings. Outside, the cobbled playground is a lot less cramped than it was before since most of the students have run away. The pavement is covered in red stains, some browning under the sunlight. The people inside the chain-link fences have trapped themselves. Someone climbs over the barrier, falling onto the crowd below, and Tahira can only gape as they launch themselves at the nearest person and take a chunk of their arm.
"See?" Jack hisses. "Zombies."
"We have to get out of here," Seth mutters. "This place is a death trap."
Tahira freezes as she suddenly remembers the slurping sounds from earlier. With both boys quiet, she can no longer hear it. Before she can open her mouth to say anything, a figure rises from the teacher's desk. It's Mr Geldhorn, no longer wearing his mask or signature bottle glasses. He slowly chews on something pink and slimy before letting it flop onto his blazer. His lips are stained red with blood, and his eyes are a dark abyss.
Jack is the next to notice. "Shit."
The three of them move closer together as Mr Geldhorn climbs over the desk, knocking over a Bunsen burner and a tripod. As they clang to the floor, he's momentarily distracted before turning his attention back to the three teenagers.
"What do we do?" Seth hisses, unable to take his eyes off the zombified teacher.
Tahira grabs a tripod off the nearest desk and holds it above her head, trying to look threatening. Jack gets the same idea and grabs a pair of tongs, though he doesn't look happy with his weapon.
Mr Geldhorn lurches forward, catching himself on a nearby table. One of his feet drags behind him limply, somehow broken. Tahira takes a step back with each step Mr Geldhorn takes forward. His dark eyes lock on Seth, who looks frozen at the sight. Tahira reaches out to pull him back, but Jack yanks him backwards.
"What do we do?" she hisses.
"You bash his brains in," Jack retorts. "I've watched the movies. It's the only way to kill 'em."
"Me?"
"You have the better weapon."
"Then you take it!" She tries to pass it to him, but he nudges it away.
"No way, you get him!"
Her eyes are back on Mr Geldhorn, who is now uncomfortably close. Although his movements are slow, she can tell he is biding his time to strike. Gingerly, she steps towards him, shuddering at the wet growl that escapes his lips. The tripod shakes in her hands, and she isn't sure she can do it. A flash of silver catches her eye once more, distracting her momentarily. Mr Geldhorn notices this and lunges immediately. His weight comes crashing down on her as she screeches. His teeth sink into her neck, causing a river of blood to spurt from her wound.
"She's done for!" Jack screams, scooping up the discarded tripod. "We need to go!"
Seth's eyes meet hers, and she silently begs him for help as the skin is torn from her body. Bouts of pain shoot through her body, and she feels the urge to vomit.
Seth looks away from her. "Let's go."
She screams as they both run out of the room into the hallway, leaving her to get eaten alive. Mr Geldhorn rises from the floor and stumbles away, a strip of olive skin hanging from his lip. She rolls onto her stomach, watching warm blood stream down her neck onto the floor. When she thinks she's going to throw up, she instead collides with the hard floor. Her body starts to stiffen and seize, and she gurgles helplessly. Her vision slowly darkens, and she can feel tears staining her cheeks. The last thing she sees is a silver paw dart towards her face before everything goes black.
***
"Tahira, don't go too far!"
"I won't!" she replies.
With a sigh, she halts in the middle of the path to wait for her mother to catch up. No longer constrained by time, her mother now looks to be in her early twenties. Her previously greying hair is now a vibrant chestnut. The laughter lines around her face are now gone, replaced with moisturised skin.
"I'm not as young as I used to be." Her mother puffs, bouncing the backpack strapped to her back.
Tahira rolls her eyes. "You can't use that excuse anymore. You're young for eternity."
The afterlife hadn't been anywhere near as bad as she thought. Even though she hadn't believed in anything, it turned out there was something for everyone. A beautiful pristine white city with all the houses, shops, and entertainment you could ever ask for. Beyond is just miles of golden sand, split in half by a river with water so clear you can see right to the bottom.
At first, she hadn’t believed it, thought it must have been some sort of trick. But then she felt a pull towards a certain direction, upon following that feeling, she found her mother. The two of them had cried in each other’s arms for hours before it sunk in for Tahira. This place is real. This afterlife is real.
"Very funny. I'm still your mother."
"I know that, it's still weird though. You look too young."
Her mother scoffs. "We all grow old."
"Not me!"
Tahira rushes ahead of her mother once more, eager to get over the dune they had been climbing. Some dunes were lined with cobbled paths that never seemed to have a grain of sand on them. On the other side is one of the best views of the city—according to a few explorers anyway.
Her muscles ache with each stride up the dune. The climb makes her lungs burn, but she can't wait to see what's on the other side. The last time she and her mother went exploring had been months before the virus. She has been in the afterlife for almost a year, and they've done nothing but explore since. Her childlike curiosity had never disappeared. Seth didn't like their adventures, but she loved them.
"How much further?" her mother asks.
Tahira just about reaches the top before her knees collapse underneath her. A few seconds later, her mother flops next to her, and they both take in the view. The sun is setting behind the city, illuminating all the buildings in a pale orange. The sky is streaked with reds, oranges, and pinks as the sun slowly disappears.
Her mother clasps her hands together. "I'm ready to eat."
Tahira nudges her backpack off her shoulders, relishing in the lack of weight. She pulls out a few sandwiches wrapped with cling film and a shared packet of their favourite spicy crisps. Before she can open the packet, a drop of blood falls from her forehead.
"Oh," her mother says, wiping the blood away with her sleeve. "You'd better see what's going on."
With a sigh, Tahira says, "Fine. But I bet I'm eating someone again."
Before her mother can reply, she closes her eyes. When she next opens them, the sound of inhuman growls fills her ears, and the smell of rot assaults her nostrils. Her zombie self, along with several others, is attacking a girl. She looks no older than fourteen, with blood-stained hair and a wild look in her eyes. She clutches a metal bar in her hands, which she uses to strike the nearest zombie. Although they crumple to the floor like a piece of paper, they soon climb to their feet again. No matter how much damage their body takes, they always get back up.
"Fuck's sake!" the girl hisses, taking another swing. "Just die, already!"
Tahira feels her feet move towards the girl, quicker than the others. For once, she's the least rotten of all of them, which makes her the fastest. Her arms reach out and pull on the girl's hair. She barely has a chance to scream before Tahira lunges. She closes and reopens her eyes.
"Well?" her mother asks expectantly.
Tahira unwraps her sandwich, a tomato and pesto combination with cheese. "Eating someone. Well, about to."
"We don't eat them."
"Yes, we do."
"I've seen it. After they're infected, we get up and move on like nothing happened."
"I find it hard to believe that zombies would just leave a tasty meal after catching it."
Her mother shoves some crisps into her mouth. "Maybe they prefer the thrill of the hunt."
"Whatever it is, it's disgusting."
Tahira had only popped into her zombie body a few times, each time wishing she hadn't. It always seems she's hunting someone or about to kill them. The zombies never stop. She brushes her fingers against her neck, which is perfectly fine. Yet, she still feels Mr Geldhorn's teeth ripping at her flesh whenever she closes her eyes. He'd managed to track her down and apologise. When she asked him how he managed to find her in such a vast place, he explained that anyone could be found by thinking about them when moving. The feeling she felt when she found her mother would return until they found the person they were looking for. She appreciated the gesture, but it didn’t stop the nightmares,
"Have you ever tried talking?" her mother blurts out.
"Hm?" she answers, with a mouthful of sandwich.
"In your real body. Have you ever tried to talk?"
Tahira gives her a strange look. "No. I can't say I have."
"I've tried. It just comes out garbled, I think anyway."
"Why do you want to talk as a zombie?"
She shrugs. "Just to see if I could, I suppose."
The two of them watch the sun completely disappear, and the silver edges of the moon start to rise. Tahira finishes her food much slower than her mother, ignoring the oncoming chill in the air.
"I hope your brother is okay." Her mother sighs. "I just hope he's happy."
Tahira watches the rim of the sky darken. "I hope so. I haven't seen him around anywhere. Zombie or here."
"He's a fighter. He won't go down easily."
Despite how long it's been, she can't help but feel a twinge of resentment towards her twin. He just left her to die, to turn. He didn't even look back as he ran.
But there was nothing he could do anyway. I was infected.
Those thoughts do nothing to make her feel better. She still sees the look on his face before he leaves. The sound of his footsteps as he runs away. And the overwhelming fear of being left to die alone. She only hopes that he's okay wherever he is and that they can meet again one day.
Her mother stretches her arms. "I guess we'd better head back."
"We only just got here!" Tahira whines as she glances over her shoulder at the long walk home.
"I think they overhyped it. The view is cool, but there isn't much else to do."
With a groan, Tahira slings her now much lighter backpack over her shoulder. As she does, she glimpses something running across the sand towards the city. Animals aren't rare around here; people can reunite with their pets again by inviting them to stay in their houses. But this animal is free.
Her mother follows her gaze, but the animal disappears behind a dune. "What are you looking at?"
"I dunno. A wild dog, I think."
Her mother crinkles her face. "There aren't wild animals around here. Apart from that elephant a few doors down from us. How they tamed that thing, I have no idea."
Tahira watches the dune the creature disappeared behind, but it doesn't reappear. "I guess I'm imagining things."
"You're probably tired. Your zombie self must have taken quite the bashing."
She nods dismissively, unable to take her eyes off the dune until they walk too far for her to see it anymore.
***
That’s it for this week, I hope you enjoyed reading! See you next week.
PS; don’t forget to check out these book bundles before they go…
