Junior High of the Dead: Chapters 1-6 - Rough Draft

[JurassicTimes]

Posted below is the newest chapter. I've tried to follow the suggestions given to a degree. I want to finish writing the story before I do a major overhaul in revision because editing bits and pieces when I feel like it is one of the contributors to the reason why the story can be choppy. I've mainly tried to focus this chapter on increasing the reader's knowledge of the characters as well as the drama factor. I've also put a bit of effort in clearing up the use of past and present tense but the transition between the two in this chapter is really crappy and due for revision. Beware, contains adult language and violence, oh yes. lots of gore.


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Liam had continued walking through the soft mist-like rain. Sure, Heather and the others were following him, and occasionally they'd shout for him to stop or slow, but he didn't. He ignored them entirely. Why should he? Liam had stabbed someone in cold blood and left them. He likely would've killed him too, but the man wasn't worth it. He wasn't worth a damn nickel of Liam's time. All he proved to be was annoying, but he couldn't help but notice what he brought out from Liam. A dark sort of evil that Liam had been shutting away almost his entire life. The evil he tried as a kid to say never existed when in reality it was always within him.

What was Liam capable of? Sure, he missed Trinh, she was his friend. But he didn't even cry when she died nor afterwards. Nobody in the group had time to let out the tears and words for all their friends and family that were now dead, all because he kept them going, because his lack of caring and empathy had made him carry on when the others couldn't and they followed him because of that, they never would've followed him if things had stayed normal, they all would've continued to shun him away for the social wierdo he was, for the strange erratic behavior and hyperactivity which was Liam's only way of dealing with anxiety and filtering out the pain.

Liam felt dragged down, he always viewed himself as nothing, whenever anybody at school would insult him, he'd shake it off by agreeing with them, and he got bullied constantly at Chippewa. It was just much less noticeable when he focused on his friends instead. His friends? Did he really have any? Liam had spent the past year of his life curled up in his apartment, eating takeout and playing video games. For a full year he had no life and gained weight massively over that period. The only company he had was his abusive father who he kept such a distance from in that small house, it was like he didn't exist. Then there was his cat, who he loved dearly.

The cat was the only thing he saw as alive after being kicked out of school. He felt so alone, that for him hearing the cat's breathing and it's heartbeat was the only thing that convinced him than anything was real. Liam had taken the time to recollect on his life ever since he jumped off that bus, he thought about the furthest memories he had, the ones from when he was only two or three years old, how his father abused his mother and how it affected him, turned him into a dominant and violent child around other kids and occasionally his teachers. The "gangster" type attitude he'd show all the time, then the "sweet and innocent" image he'd portray around his family. Then his dad returning from being away half his life, and living with him. The life he had led thus far --- though what stood out the most for Liam in his thoughts were those of a girl; Kyana Kovacs.

The most agonizing part for Liam was the fact that he didn't even bother to look for her when they went to Evelyn Harrison, Devin had mentioned her and he still let it slip. He tried to block out what he could about her even though he used to love her and other than his best friend Jared, she was really the only helping hand for him in that god forsaken school. It seemed as if everybody else either ignored him or bullied him.

Was it worth it? He thought about all he did afterwards, the crush on his step-cousin, the obsession with gore and pornography that followed. The aftermath of his expulsion had caused Liam to enter a mode of temporary insanity that he was able to shut out of his head with the idea of a new start at a new school, then the helping hands of Judie and his friend Lindsay over Facebook. Then on the first day at his new school he met Joslyn, Amy and Trinh, they came into his life and changed everything. He had a group of friends who he could talk to, who protected him from any insults, and he didn't have a damn care in the world. Right when he thought that his entire life being surrounded by pain was over. He saw his friends leave him, it was the last day of school and up until everything went to shit because of the undead, the only person who had said a single word to him was one of his schoolmates Monica.

Joslyn and Amy didn't even acknowledge him until he burst into the dance floor screaming like a maniac. Everybody else tried to help him, but his mouth remained shut. This was his life, his curse, to lose everything at the drop of a hat. He looked down, his hands were still bloody from what poured onto his hand out of Devin's chest but with each drop of rain it seemed to wash off. His fists were clenched tight for warmth, It had been hours of walking without a single rest and his legs ached. They were already halfway downtown now, which wasn't much of a shock considering how much walking they had done in how much time it had taken.

Liam was slightly surprised that he hadn't caught a cold or worse from the weather, but that wasn't truly what concerned him nor what actually grabbed his attention. Instead, what had confused him was the fact that they hadn't seen a single zombie. "Not a damn one." he thought to himself. It didn't make much sense, even if his theory of zombies "migrating" for more food did, this didn't. There would've been survivors left, there would've been zombies left. But there was nothing, just smashed windows, cars that had been left with the doors opened or flipped over. He paused, and looked up at the now close skyscrapers of the city, was there anybody trapped in them? He instantly shook his head and looked down at his feet, it still wouldn't matter. They'd be on their own. Liam had to focus on himself, It was just him now and nobody else.

That's when he heard the steps of footsteps coming from behind him. He didn't expect to, but as he listened it was almost as if the person was running. Liam turned around ninety degrees and saw Heather, finally catching up to him. He was about to turn his head away when she grabbed his arm. He struggled to break free of her grasp and run off, but before he could, she had pulled him in and kissed him on the lips.

Liam pauses and stands still almost frozen as the rain begins to pick up again. Heather pulls back from his face.

"Are you going to stop running away now?" she jokes, before stretching out her arms and hugging him. Liam still remains frozen. His mouth struggling to move so he can speak. He notices that Heather is soaking wet from the rain, her skin is ice cold and her clothes are drenched. He rests his head on Heather's shoulder and whispers into her ear.

"I stabbed him.. I..."

"It's alright," she tells him, pulling back from the hug and smiling. She takes off her glasses and lifts up the bottom of her shirt to try and defog them. Liam however notices David and the others have finally made their way over. David mouths the words "Are you okay?" to which Liam nods, turning his attention back to Heather. Who puts her glasses back on and smiles at Liam. Liam tries to make her feel better by doing a cheeky half-smile to which Heather takes off her blue fishing hat and places it on Liam's head, she laughs and he smiles. Liam turns to the display glass of the store next to him and looks at himself in the reflection, The hat fit's his head and hides the grease-ball of a head he has. Kurt walks up to Liam and extends his arm for a handshake. Liam shakes his hand, smiling.

"Glad to have you back" he remarks. Liam gives a soft laugh, Kurt smiles and walks back over to Sara, there is a sudden tone of seriousness between the two and they take a seat down on a nearby bench. Kurt and Sara begin conversing but Liam doesn't hear what they're talking about. Instead he decides to do what's right, and finish the train of thought and talk about what was on his mind all this time. He walks over to Amy who's sitting on the street corner alone. He doesn't want to scare her but he still walks up silently and sits down next to her, she has earphones in, and is seemingly unaware of her presence. He observes her for a few seconds then he pokes her in the shoulder in hopes of getting her attention. She takes out one of the earphones.

"Are you alright?" he questions.

"I guess." she answers, keeping her solitude and seemingly apathetic attitude. She looks down at her converse sneakers then back at Liam, he coughs into his arm then looks at the road in front of him, picking up a small pebble and throwing it before opening his mouth to speak again.

"Things have been bad between us... I get that and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything that's happened, I'm sorry for today. Even if it's not my fault, Part of it has been. The way I was acting these past few weeks, the strange behaviour, It's only been because I was afraid of losing Joslyn, I was afraid of losing Trinh, I was afraid of losing Monica, and I was afraid of losing you and now, I don't even know what I'm afraid of anymore, all I know is that you're all I have left, and I need you to be here. Even if you're not a hundred-percent with what I'm saying."

"Monica told me about you and-- heck the whole school probably has. If anything, I already know what you're about to say and... I can't tell you if I feel the same way. " Amy responds, turning her head away. Liam looks at her confused. She knows what he's going to say?

"Then tell me." he comments.

"You're going to tell me that you love me or whatever." Amy responds, Liam's face instantly turns a beet red, he turns away from her and takes a few seconds to recollect himself. He turns back over.

"No. You're wrong. What I was going to say is that it doesn't matter what is going to happen, or has happened because you're still my friend. I owe you as much as to make sure you get out of here alive. Even if we never speak again afterwards I have to make up for my mistakes and I failed with Joslyn and Trinh, I let them down. I never should've done that. I'm not asking for forgiveness or anything, I've made my mistakes and I pay for them. I just want you to know that I'm not going to fail you, you're getting out of this alive. That's a promise." Liam gets up off of the ground and brushes himself off, wiping away the dirt and such that had gotten on his track pants He looks at Amy and considers patting her on the shoulder, but decides against it and walks away. Leaving Amy to sit on the curb thinking for a few seconds before she puts her earphones back in and shuts out the world again.

Liam's attention turns over to Judie, who wanders around before sitting down up against a street pole. She pulls out her cellphone. The message "NO SERVICE" continuously appears on the screen. Liam looks over at her and the thought of guilt crosses over his mind. He had hoped that she had forgotten about what happened at the school, but he knew that wasn't likely at all. He stares at her noting her unique blonde hair and deep blue eyes, though she pays not even the slightest bit of attention to him. He sighs and takes the fishing cap off of his head, looking at it and paying attention to the detail, he walks over towards her but stops halfway when she begins talking;

"I don't expect that you'll ever be able to make this right, or that I'll ever forgive you. But, I can't blame you for this forever. Because it's not really your fault. You did what you could and I can at least thank you for that." she says, still staring at the phone, with a blank expression on her face. Liam looks at her again, placing the fishing cap back on his head. He thinks of something to respond with but his mind is blank.

"Liam," a voice calls from behind with a tapping on his back. Liam turns around and see's David who holds out the knife that had been used to attack Devin and places it in Liam's hand, he looks down looks at the knife and shakes his head, handing it back over to David.

"I don't want it, You can have it if you'd like, but I refuse."

"You sure?" David questions, Liam nods in confirmation. David shrugs and slides the knife between his pants and belt as a temporary holster.

"Liam, David, can you guys come here for a second?" Kurt asks from the bench. David and Liam nod and they both walk towards Kurt and Sara.

"What's going on?" Liam questions. They look at him, Kurt however is the first to answer.

"Sara's injured, she pulled a muscle in her leg."

"I'm fine." Sara comments. Kurt looks back and nods his head in disagreement. Liam pats Kurt on the shoulder. The last time he heard someone say they were fine, they actually weren't, and that person was now probably part of the ranks of undead that had torn the guts out of this city literally.

"It just hurt's a bit to walk. That's all. I can prove it."

Sara stomps on the ground to try to prove that she's alright, but the results aren't as she expects, as the tremor sends a ton of pain through her leg she instantly jumps in pain and curls up on the bench holding her leg, tears erupting from her eyes. David assesses the situation, he looks over at Liam who's trying to think of a solution to the issue at hand.

"We got to come up with some sort of strategy here Liam. It's not as simple as just getting ice and a good massage, we're out in the open in the urban part of the city, staying here is ringing the dinner bell for the zombies."

"You're right, it's not an option, we need to find a place, some shelter from the weather and these things. Where we can settle down. It's going to be getting dark soon. We can search for some supplies this evening, go back to this safe house, set up a signal to let other survivors and the military that we're alive, then go back out tomorrow and repeat." Liam replies, coming up with a strategy, he's not a fan of waiting to be rescued, and would much rather take action, but at the moment, the only action he can really take is finding a place to sit and wait.

"I think there is some warehouses nearby, maybe a few blocks from here. The windows are really high up and the doors and walls are pretty much made of iron and steel so nothing could really get through them." Kurt inputs.

"Good thinking. We should get going then. I don't think staying here much longer is a good idea either. Are we all in agreement?" Liam smirks. The three nod. Liam turns around towards the others.

"Alright people, listen up. We should get moving, we're going to find a warehouse and hole up there. There's a small industrial district probably only a few blocks from here, but I want everyone to stay close. Alright?" The group nods and Liam starts walking; Heather, Carly and David behind him. Kurt helps Sara up onto her feet, Amy and Julie lift themselves off the ground and they follow his lead.

The group continues the trek for minutes, passing various abandoned stores and vehicles. It's almost as if the whole city just disappeared in a flash without leaving very much of a trace. They continue down the long street, watching for any zombies but not noticing any. Liam stops the group as they turn an intersection to the scene of a bloody struggle that in turn didn't end well for anybody, Liam notices that the smell of decay is worse. They've smelt it all day long, but here it reeks. The street is filled with dead bodies, where people have been torn in half, their guts spilt on the side of the pavement.

Upon looking at the scene, the majority of the group turns and looks away Carly and Sara gag at the sight. Liam continues to look around keeping an eye out for any zombies or items of use. Instead he finds a slightly large alleyway halfway down the street to the next intersection. If they cut through, they could avoid having to step over the bodies of the dead and in total walk around the gruesome scene. The group follows him towards the alleyway, but when he turns the corner, the his jaw drops, as what he see's is not at all what he expected. Hundreds of undead crowded in the alleyway, pushing and shoving for a meal that's probably long gone now.

"Go Back! Go Back!" Liam shouts to the others, the attention of the zombie mob turn towards them and the zombies all begin shambling towards the group, snarling and moaning, the massive numbers make it seem like there's an endless flow of them pouring out from the alleyway. The group starts running down the street towards the intersection, ignoring the dead bodies below them and only hoping that none of the bodies attempt to snatch at them.

Thankfully, the group is fast enough to outrun the undead, Liam stops halfway to do a body count, he counts Kurt right behind him, followed by Heather, Carly, Judie, David and looks over to see Sara who is the last, he shouts at her to hurry up, but she's still limping. Liam tries to run over to help the slow and limping Sara who is only a few feet away, but he isn't fast enough as, one of the undead lunges out and grabs hold of Sara's long hair and pulls making her tumble down onto the road. The undead falls on top of her, biting her on the arm as she tries to fend it off. Liam knows that it's too late for her now and doesn't want to have to deal with putting her down the way they did with Trinh, Kurt however stops at the front of the group and rushes back to get her, only to be stopped by David who rushes in to hold him back.

"No! Let me go! David let me f'ing go! Sara! Sara!" Kurt screams, kicking and flailing as David struggles to hold him back. Liam rushes over to help David deal with Kurt, when he looks over at Heather, Carly, Amy and Judie all of whom are frozen in shock, he searches around and notices the warehouse is just down the street.

"Run to that warehouse, now!" the few can barely stand to watch the scene but the undead are already right on top of Sara and are closing in on the rest of them. Kurt watches, eyes wide open as the undead begin their feast, tearing away at her flesh as she screams in agony. He can't bare but struggle against David and Liam as Sara is virtually eaten alive by a whole group, one of them tearing a chunk from her leg, the other from her side, and another ripping apart her clothing, throwing the torn remnants of her shirt and bra and tearing a chunk out of her left breast. Kurt watches the tears pouring out of her eyes before a fourth zombie kneels over and bites down into her cheek with its teeth, the scene has instantly became a blood bath as another five zombies join in, this time tearing off her pants and beginning to feast on her legs, one of the dead manages to fit into the mess and rips into her exposed stomach, pulling out a long string of her intestines. The screaming from her voice has long since turned into a gurgling growl as David can count already over ten zombies ripping her apart, he gags at the sight. Liam just watches disturbingly, while Kurt still fights against them, still under the belief that he can save her. That's when David's attention changes elsewhere. To the large number of zombies not attacking her, but instead moving in on them. Kurt continues to flail, shouting out various obscenities and crying out for Sara, his voice has become incredibly dry from screaming and shouting.

"Liam, we got to go now!" David shouts to him over Kurt's voice, as the zombies move even closer to them. The two try to move as fast as they can away from the scene, but it's nearly impossible to drag Kurt with the way he is struggling. Liam sighs and David looks at him. Liam decides there is only one thing he can do and using his elbow bashes Kurt in the back of his head, rendering him unconscious. David and Liam instantly jolt towards the warehouse, dragging the now knocked out Kurt. They turn the corner to find zombies beginning to flood there as well. Kurt and Sara's screaming has attracted nearly every zombie in the area. Liam looks at David and then at the zombies in front of them.

"I'll carry Kurt to the warehouse, I want you to cover me. Alright?"

"Deal." David responds, he pulls out the knife and gets ready to attack any zombies, Liam lifts Kurt over his shoulder and drags him along to the warehouse, they reach the door just in time for three zombies to make it there as well. Heather holds the door open, and Liam instantly throws Kurt to the ground inside, pulling and shoving David inside and slamming the front door shut, moving various objects in the way of the door.

Liam parks himself against a wall in the warehouse, he looks around at the items inside and doesn't find much useful and slides down to the floor, sweating and breathing heavily. He hears the snarls of the undead as they pound against the front door. He lifts himself to his feet and tries to stand straight but he wobbles like a piece of overcooked spaghetti. He closes his eyes and tries to think of something that will take his mind off the death of yet another member of their group but he can't think of anything. Instead he leans over on his side and falls almost sound asleep.