continued
"We weren't supposed to ever know about the weapons in case we got any ideas," Piper guesses, and I'm pretty sure she's right. The shooting had been started by a couple kids who came in to school with guns and went on a rage, killing a lot of other students and a couple teachers. It was tragic. We stand, closing the drawer again. Piper slips the gun into her pants where she can get it quickly if she needs to. "Did you find anything in the closet?" I ask. She shakes her head with a frown. "Not much. Some soda, but if looks flat. I can't imagine why they'd have soda, but who knows? Oh, and some breath mints," she says, holding out a small container of mints. I can't help but let out a shaky laugh. Ridiculous in our current situation, but I can't help it. It's not even that funny. "What?" Piper asks, arching an eyebrow at me. "What's so funny?" Shaking my head I say, "Soda. Mints. Sounds like a really bad science experiment." Even she giggles a little. We leave the soda and take the mints. So a gun, scissors, and mints. And the half-eaten lunch. That's what we have to show for our exploration. Better than nothing, though. "Ready to go?" Piper asks, and I nod. We turn to the door, and start to leave the classroom when a growl sounds from the hallway. One of the freaks - looking a little like the geometry teacher - is wandering around and now that she's seen us she's coming after us. She makes a gurgling sound in her throat. Excited by the thought of an easy meal, she begins to chew her lower lip and to my disgust she chews it away entirely and eats it. Gagging, I grab Piper's hand and we stumble back into the classroom. The door doesn't stand much in the way of the freak. She breaks the glass and comes crawling through, pieces of glass catching on her clothes and into her stomach. Her stomach rips open and she lays there, half-in-half-out of the room. It would be comical if it weren't so disturbing. Her weight leaning in makes the door swing open, and her head bounces off the wall. She remains there, unable to get herself unstuck no matter which way she tries. But we're not safe. Another freak follows, stumbling in through the now open door. Piper shrieks, grossed out and terrified. In our haste to get away from the freaks, we dropped our bats by the door, and now the freak is blocking our way. I grab Piper's hand and pull her behind the teacher's desk with me, hoping it'll at least stand in the freak's way. It just turns and drags itself in our direction, flopping over the desk. I have an idea as I watch the pencils rolling over the desk. My hands shaking, I grab one and hold it up at the freak. Its eyes watch me uncomprehendingly, and its mouth opens and closes as if it can bite me from this distance. With a shriek, I pull my arm back and then slam my hand toward it, stabbing the pencil right into the freak's eye. It lets out a yell of pain and rolls back a little, though it won't stop it for long. These things are practically superhuman in the way they resist pain. "Piper!" I scream, trying to get her attention. I need her to finish him off. The pencil didn't go far enough to hurt its brain. She drops to the floor, sliding over to where the bats lay. She grabs one in her fists and holds it threateningly. The freak doesn't even look her way as it stands again and comes for me, the pencil still sticking out from its eye socket which is now oozing red and black. With a grunt of effort, Piper swings the bat as hard as she can and suddenly the freak's head flies off away from me to the other side of the room. The body drops, and when I look down at myself I'm spattered with specks of blood. Gross. But not as bad as being eaten. Over on the floor, the head is practically mush, crushed at the impact. I suppose she could've shot the freak, but why waste the ammo? I rush over to Piper and we hug each other. "Thank God!" I exclaim, my heart pounding in my ears. "You killed it!" She gasps, catching her breath. "You stabbed it first," she points out. "What's going on? What happened to you guys?" comes Ronan's voice, pounding in from the hallway. He takes one look around the room, specifically at the living freak still stuck in the door and the headless body slumped on the floor. "Why are you guys in here?" Piper and I step away from each other and recollect our bats and the new things we found. "We came to look for supplies. And survivors," she explains, giving him a defiant look. "You should've said something before wandering off," he snaps, glaring at both of us. I'm not fooled. He's angry because he was worried. He already lost his mom today, and he could've lost his best friends. I feel bad, but we had to look. "You're right," I relent, "But we knew you wouldn't have let us. Plus, we found some stuff." Piper shows him the gun, and his eyes bug out. "How did you-?" She waves him off. "We'll explain later. For now we better just get out of here." He nods and we go back into the hallway where the group is waiting for us. I'd say they stayed right where we left them, but a quick glance shows that they've found more stuff too. "We've been hitting lockers," Ronan explains. "It's not easy to get in anyone's but your own, but if you fight hard enough you can break some others open." He flips a pocket knife in his hand a couple times before slipping it into his pocket. From the way he looks at it before dropping it in his pocket, I'd guess that it's his, though I've never seen him with it before. The school doesn't allow knives. "You guys should check your lockers for things we can use," Ronan advises it, and, nodding, I head for her my own locker. Piper's is right across the hall from mine. I find my bag and find my things. My iPod. Definitely taking it. It may not be essential, but who cares? My phone, in case they start working again. Some candy bars. A pack of gum. Pencils (apparently they are good for something). A bottled water. My pocket knife. I decide to just take the whole bag with me to save me from having to carry it all. Then I grab my sweatshirt from the hook and slip it on. I close my locker and Piper appears with her own bag. She shows me what she has. Matches, a knife, a flashlight, batteries, her phone, non-perishable snacks. It's like she knew this would happen. Then I remember how she always planned for this, and realize she had this stashed in her locker for a while just waiting for this to happen. Oh, I'm so glad I have such weird friendst.