Chapter Text
One nice and peaceful day on a Thursday, the class of 2A was riding in a large bus, taking them bowling. The bus was full of everyone’s excited talking. Suddenly, out of the blue, the bus skidded.
The bus was now full of terrified yells and screams from the students. The bus flipped onto its side and crashed, throwing all the students into unconsciousness.
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“GAH!”
Someone woke up amongst the ruins of the wrecked bus. They were the only one who had worn the school uniform to the trip. It was Bryan. “What the heck happened…oh right. The bus crashed. But where is everyone?”
He heard a groan from his right. He turned his head and saw someone else waking up. It was Ethan, a tall boy and his fellow classmate.
“Ethan! Where’s everyone?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know? I just woke up! Wait, is it just the two of us?”
“I think so…Wait, I see someone there!”
Both of them headed over to the other person, and found that it was not one person, but two. Their classmates, Megan and Kaden. Bryan shook them awake.
“What the hell…The bus crash!” Megan exclaimed, suddenly sitting upright. “What happened? Where is everyone?!” Kaden exclaimed, panicking.
“Calm down, you two! We both also don’t know as well!” Bryan exclaimed. “Wait, both…” Megan trailed off as her eyes landed on Ethan. “That’s just great.” she grumbled. “Together with the girl the class dislikes…” Ethan grumbled as well.
“There’s no time to argue. We should search the wreckage and find whatever we can. There doesn’t seem to be anyone else here other than us.” Kaden said. Reluctantly, Ethan and Megan agreed. After some searching, they found their bags (only Bryan, Ethan, Megan and Kaden’s bags) and their phones (same with the phones). Everything else was gone, their classmates’ bags and phones. And Kaden had been right; there was no one else except for the four of them.
All of them had attempted to call their teachers and their friends, all getting no response whatsoever. They also couldn’t get to their parents. It was 1.32 pm and they all realized they had been out for hours, so-
“We either try to find our friends, or save ourselves.” Bryan said. “I rather we save ourselves. For now. I mean, there’s only us here. We don’t know what happened to our friends and who or what may have taken them. We should move, if we stay here to search the area for our friends, there’s a chance we’ll end up like them too.” Megan said. “Alright,” Ethan said reluctantly, “let’s go.”
They had some money with them except for Megan, as she brought her own food to school every day and had no reason to bring money. They then decided to attempt to hitchhike and stood alongside the highway. “It’s strangely deserted… I don’t like this.” Kaden muttered.
An hour passed and no cars appeared. After a while, they were tired of waiting. “Urgh…I’ve had enough, let’s just walk there ourselves.” Ethan sighed. Two hours of walking later, the four of them were exhausted and hungry.
Just then, Kaden called out, “I see a car!” Everyone immediately waved their arms out to signal the driver to stop. The taxi pulled up alongside them and the driver poked their head out. “Where to, kids?” “To (insert bowling place location here), as quick as possible.” Kaden said.
Soon enough, they arrived. They then told the driver to wait for them as they went inside. The lights were on and it gave a warm friendly atmosphere, but there was no one inside the place at all. “Where is everyone?” Kaden said. “We should go get ourselves some self-protection. I’m really not having a good feeling about all of this.” Megan said. Just then they heard some strange noises. “The…fuck is that sound?” Megan said. Ethan and Kaden turned to look at her, their mouths open. “OOOHHHHH YOU SWORE!” both exclaimed. Megan looked pissed. “NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO GO ‘OOOHHHHH’ ON MY SWEARING!” Megan shouted.
At that moment, someone came around the corner. It was the taxi driver, but something was wrong. Their eyes were black with white pupils, and then, a bunch more random strangers came out of nowhere, with their eyes similar. They looked hostile to the four fourteen-year-olds.
“What do we do now?” Bryan said. Megan said under her breath, “Hey, you talked-” before being cut off by Ethan. “I think we should…fi-” but was cut off himself by Kaden screaming, “START RUNNING!”
Kaden then booked it, and the rest just followed him and ran as fast as they could to the car. Ethan got into the driver’s seat, Megan got into the front passenger seat and Bryan and Kaden got into the back seats. They then sped off out of the stadium. After they safely got out and were driving smoothly on the still deserted road. They stopped by the side of the road to process what just happened, still breathing heavily from running to the car.
“What…the…fuck…” Ethan breathed. “That was…AMAZING! It was just like my AU’s!” Megan exclaimed. The three boys looked at her. “What now?” Megan shook her head. “Never mind, where should we go now?”
“Our best bet is to just drive towards the school. Well, everyone’s out, so I guess that’s a safe point. From whatever the hell those things were.” Kaden said while the car moved smoothly on the deserted roads. “Alright, let’s go.” Ethan said, turning the GPS on.
Much later, they eventually reached the school. Ethan checked the time. 4.39 pm. He turned around to look at the rest. They were all sleeping, exhausted. Ethan blared on the horn as loud as he could to wake them up, which worked. “God damn it, Ethan, you really didn’t have to do that…” Kaden muttered under his breath.
The four of them entered the school, only to find no students at all, just as Kaden had said. “Alright, I suggest we split up into two groups; two people will search the school and check for anything dangerous, the other two will leave the school, and try to get us some food from the nearby stores.” Bryan said. “We’re gonna have to draw straws.” Ethan said, coming from the direction of the drinks store with a handful of straws.
They drew straws, and Megan was paired with Kaden to go and get food from outside. “Are you serious? Why do I have to go with Megan? She won’t be able to fight and she’s useless to have as a partner!” Kaden harshly said. “Why you little-!” Megan said, angrily shoving him onto the floor and punched him hard, leaving a black eye.
Ethan pushed Megan off Kaden in an attempt to stop her. “STOP!” Bryan suddenly yelled, taking all three of them by surprise. “We don’t have any medical supplies at the moment, we don’t need any further injury than Kaden’s black eye!” Seeing Bryan’s point, the three stopped and set off, Megan and Kaden not making any conversation due to the fight.
Bryan and Ethan went to explore the first floor first, listening intently in case they were attacked. Nothing at all. They then went up to the second floor, then the third floor, and then to the fourth floor of the classroom block. Nothing there too. They then went over to the science block and checked the science and food labs, looking for intruders. “We should go check the indoor sports hall next then.” They were about to head up when someone jumped out from behind the door.
It was a student, however, they had black eyes with white pupils, just like the people back at the mall. Both boys panicked and beat the crap out of the student using the hockey sticks that they took from the mall until they realized what they were doing. “What the hell…how did…whatever this is reach our school so fast?” Bryan said.
“Well, we should probably get rid of them.” Ethan said, and upon seeing Bryan’s face having a ‘WTF?!’ look then he said, “Just get them out the back gate, I didn’t mean murder them!” So they did that, and Bryan said, “Should we go check the Design and Technology labs just in case?” “I-” Ethan started to say when more students suddenly jumped out of nowhere. “Looks like we have to fight some more.” Bryan said, holding his stick at the ready.
Meanwhile, both Megan and Kaden were walking to the nearby McDonald’s in silence. Mainly because they were still mad at each other. Megan was still mad at Kaden for calling her useless, and Kaden was mainly because of the black eye Megan gave him. Both of them eventually made it to the McDonald’s and looked around the place, to find no food at all. The ice cream machine was still working though, so they got some ice cream and sat down.
“Hey…I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have punched you in the face.” Kaden looked up at these words and saw Megan looking at him. Kaden sighed and lowered his head. “I should be the one apologizing here. I called you useless when I hadn’t even seen you fight before. I shouldn’t have made sudden assumptions.” he said. Megan then said, “I should’ve known. Being your classmate for a year, I adopted the fact that you sometimes spoke out of turn.” Kaden laughed. “I guess I do do that. And I didn’t take you seriously because you kept making those empty threats in class. Come on, let’s go back now.” He stood up and Megan followed suit. “We should raid the convenience store, just in case.” Megan said. “Alright, let’s do it.” Kaden said. After they did that, they went back to the school, only to hear a scream that sounded like it came from Bryan. “Oh no. I think they’re in trouble.” Kaden said. “I think it’s coming from the sheltered basketball court. Let’s go!” Megan said.
Both of them ran over to see unconscious infected students on the floor, and Bryan bending over Ethan, who seemed to be unconscious too. “What happened-Oh my god.” Kaden said and Megan gasped. Ethan had a long slash over his right eye. “Get him to the general office! Quick!” Megan said, taking charge. The three of them carried Ethan to the general office and put him on a long brown couch there. Then they went and cleared the infected students out of the school before returning to the office. Bryan was scared and confused, he didn’t know what was going on due to his confusion. Kaden, however, looked towards Megan. “Megan, you’re the one who knows all about infections like these. Will Ethan be infected?” he frantically said.
Megan said with some panic in her voice, “If he was injured by whatever the heck those were, there is a chance. However, we don’t know how this…erm…thing is probably different from the ones I read about. Despite that, a wound is still a wound. We need to patch him up. If I remember correctly, behind that mirror are some bandages.” She slowly calmed down through the sentence. The two of them took the bandages, and then went to patch Ethan up. “Wow, Megan, you’re good with bandages.” Kaden said. “Thanks. Being in the Girls’ Brigade taught me a few things.” Megan said.
After the two of them were done with that, they went to calm Bryan down. “Wait, did you two find anything?” Bryan asked the both of them. Megan and Kaden then unloaded the whole stash of food they had gotten from the convenience store. “Sweets, chocolates, sandwiches, any food you could find in a convenience store, we got them all!” Kaden exclaimed. Just then, Ethan woke up. “Ugh, what happened? Last I remember was that thing scratching me across the face.” he said. “It’s okay Ethan! You’re fine now.” Megan said. Ethan looked into the mirror and saw the bandage covering his eye. “Huh.” Ethan said. “You most probably won’t lose your vision.” Bryan said. “That’s probably fine.” Ethan said. “Anyway, let’s eat some instant noodles for dinner. I’m starving.” Kaden said. “Same here.” Megan said. After they ate them, they decided to sleep in the general office for tonight.
Kaden woke in the middle of the night. He couldn’t sleep at all. “Ethan, you awake? I know you’re injured, but I can’t sleep-” He noticed that Ethan was gone. “...at all.” Kaden peered out of the door. “Ethan?” Kaden was starting to get worried, so he left the office to look for Ethan. “Ethan? Where are you?” Kaden called out as he walked. He hadn’t walked a few metres when he saw a figure standing in the hallway passing the music room and the entrance to the library. Kaden slowly approached, as he didn’t know what that thing was. Just then, he tripped and fell, alerting the figure. Before Kaden could say anything, the figure went up to him and pushed him by the neck against the wall. “Oof!” Kaden exclaimed. Kaden looked at the figure, and what he saw made him gasp.
Kaden saw that the figure looked like Ethan, but completely black, a single pitch-black eye looking at him (the other one was covered by his hair) with other claw like things on his back as well. Kaden’s mind immediately thought of a kinda racist joke, but he couldn’t really make a joke right now, he was frightened beyond comprehension. He mentally prepared himself for his death as Ethan’s hand tightened around his neck.
‘BANG!’
The sudden loud sound echoed through the hallway. Both Kaden and Ethan turned their heads in the direction of the start of the hallway. Megan was standing there, a starting pistol in her hands, pointing directly at Ethan. “Put him down.” she said as firmly as possible, which probably failed because Kaden could see her hands trembling. Megan was trying really hard to not panic, Kaden could tell.
Ethan dropped Kaden and looked towards Megan. Megan held the pistol ready, even though she knew that a starting pistol only fired blanks, so it wasn’t much of a weapon. However, instead of attacking her, Ethan only went in the opposite direction, towards the stairs at the end of the hallway.
Megan hurriedly ran up to Kaden. “Are you okay?” she said. “I-I’m alright…” Kaden stammered. Megan’s eyes fell on the staircase Ethan went up. “Wait by the stairs. I’ll go after Ethan.” Megan said. “WHAT? You saw him too! I don’t think that’s safe.” Kaden said. “I’ll be fine.” Megan insisted. She then ran up the stairs and saw nothing but an unconscious Ethan on the ground. “Hey, Kaden?” Megan called down the stairs. “What is it? Is it safe up there?” Kaden asked. “Uhm, Ethan’s unconscious. I need your help to carry him back to the general office.” Megan said. Kaden’s head appeared from the staircase. “Oh wow, you’re right.” he said. Both of them grabbed Ethan at different ends. “One, two, three!” both said and hoisted Ethan up. “Alright, let’s move.” Kaden said. “I’m still uncomfortable about this.”
The two of them went back to the general office, to see Bryan awake. “I heard the ruckus. What happened exactly?” he asked. Both of them started explaining as fast and as accurately as they could. Bryan put his hand to his chin. “I’ll be thinking about this. Anyway, you two should go back to bed, it’s one in the morning.” Both Megan and Kaden followed this and went back to bed. However, Bryan lay awake, thinking about what Megan and Kaden had experienced. He was now both scared and cautious. “Something’s wrong. Very wrong.” he mumbled to himself. He eventually drifted off to sleep.