Zombie High (Eldrithe, LadyYuna, Rauk, Raze, Riven)

'What the hell is going on?' That was the only question that was running through the mind of young Victoria Valentine at that moment. The day had started off so normal. She had woken up early, as she always did and had a normal breakfast. She had gone to her World History class that morning, taken an early lunch, and gone to her advanced mathematics class that afternoon. After that, she had headed off to the college gymnasium for cheer leading practice. It had been a normal Monday for her.

Now, however, she was cowering in the sports utility closet with a Louisville slugger that she had found in the baseball section of the large walk-in closet. To make matters worse, she wasn't even in her street clothes. Before she had noticed that something was horribly awry, she had already been to the locker room and changed into her cheer leading outfit. She had been in that closet like that for the better part of an hour and a half now, stunned by what she had seen and locked in a sate of complete disbelief. This kind of shit did not happen in real life. This kind of shit only happened in the horror movies that her friends were always trying to drag her off to see. If she was being punked then she was going to take this bat upside somebody's head.

Unfortunately, young Tori was not being punked. The San Romero University had been in the area that had been affected by an accidental weapons discharged by the local military sciences base of the United States government. This weapon was a biological spore that was designed to enter the body through the respiratory system, at which point it would become dormant. Only through death would the spore begin to affect the host body by jump-starting the central nervous system and returning the host corpse to an non-sentient and hyper-aggressive form of animated cadaver with an insatiable hunger and drive to consume living flesh - or 'zombie' in laymen terms. The government, of course, would not admit to have caused such a disaster and now San Romero, California, was becoming a den of zombies. That still wasn't even the worst part. This spore had been distributed to multiple military bases worldwide and it was proving highly unstable and difficult to contain. Many other sites had been infected across the globe.

Tori didn't know any of this, of course. She had been going about her normal Monday routine; none-the-wiser that the world around her was about to start falling apart. When she crawled out of bed this morning and took her morning shower, she would have never guessed that she would have seen three of her cheer squad peers attack and start to eat their coach alive. It was an eye-opening experience. Victoria had always joked that she'd be the first to die in the zombie apocalypse but here she was with a bad and a drive to survive. She was more of a fighter than she thought! of course, given the current situation, that was not nearly as comforting of a thought as it should have been.

Drake, scared out of his mind, has found himself inside the ventilation shaft connecting the chemistry building to the university gymnasium looking down into the men's bathroom. "What the fuck is happening...." he keeps repeating through his head as he simultaneously worked to devise a plan of where he should go. From his position in the ventilation shaft, he could hear the groans of these monsters, and the screams of innocent people less fortunate than himself. The terrifying sounds throughout the campus were driving him insane. Drake rolled over onto his back, and cupped his ears shut, as he closed his eyes remembering the past events that lead up to now.

.....It was Monday morning, and he had been anticipating the exam in his bio-chemistry course to be easily aced as he had studied more than anyone would really need to. In fact, at this point, he was reading his text books for entertainment and fun, being the odd one that he is. After eating breakfast, and showering himself he sat off for class. The exam was easier than he expected, and he finished within 10 minutes acting insulted at the difficulty. He felt that the material contained within the course's syllabus was non-challenging, and that his time was being wasted. However, this was a course he must take to satisfy the requirements for his program.

What he did not expect, was that after the exam, his life as well as everyone else's, would change forever. Being done so early, most other classes in this particular building were still in session, as he was walking down a lonely hallway making his way toward the cafeteria. Suddenly the silence was broken by a scream. A girl running out of the women's bathroom being chased by a staggering mess of a person, that did not look like a person at all anymore, but something more sinister and even decayed. He started to run toward them to break the fight up, but before he could get to the scene, the unfortunate young girl screamed her last breath as the strange person held her down and preceded to make a gory meal of her at the neck. "WHAT THE..." he half yelled, as he slapped his hand over his mouth holding himself back from becoming sick, and making a mad dash for the men's bathroom across the hall. As his first instinct was to get to a safe place, he locked himself in a stall. Soon there were more screams outside, as he realized more and more people were falling victim to these horrible creatures. Looking up, he noticed that the ventilation shaft was accessible, and stood on top of the toilet, to remove the cover. Crawling inside, Drake hid until he could collect himself and comprehend what the hell was happening. Was this all just a horrible dream? Was he going to be alone?

After collecting himself for a few moments after the flash back of recent events, he decides to crawl through the duct work, in an attempt to find a place to take refuge in, or possibly find someone and try to assess the situation and figure out what's happening.

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Ring! Ring!

A low groan elicited from Trinity's lips. Needless to say, the sound of her cell phone going off, so abruptly at that matter, was not something the twenty-four year old woman had expected. She'd graduated from the San Romero University a few years ago. So she hadn't set any alarms to wake up and avoid being late for classes. That being said, why in the hell was her phone going off at such an early hour?

Ring! Ring!

"Alright, alright ... " she murmured, fumbling around before finally finding it and hitting the "Send" button, thus accepting the call. "Hello?" she murmured sleepily, sitting right up as the voice on the other end registered as one of the colonels who had been one of her best friends from her Army days.

"Hold on ... what the hell?! When were you all doing this and why didn't you say anything to me?! This is a fucking joke, right?!"

In a matter of moments, Trinity had gone from exhausted to pissed off and wide awake. Her empty left hand was trembling in anger. Her teeth gripped her lower lip in annoyance as she listened to all of the details. This felt so ... unreal. Was this seriously happening?

According to the colonel, the answer was yes. And to make matters worse, the college she had graduated from seemed to be one of the most infected areas.

"I see. I'll be over."

Were it not for the fact she needed her cell phone, Trinity would have eagerly tossed it and let it impact against the wall. She was infuriated. She'd done her time in the Army and now, because of their mistakes, she was having to 'serve' them yet again.

"Stupid dumbshits .... " she murmured, getting out of bed and grabbing a new outfit. Slipping out of the nightgown, Trinity soon clad herself in her combat boots, a pair of blue jeans with holes around the kneecaps, a leather top with a strapless bra concealed under it and - her proudest possession - her dog tags she'd earned. Trinity may not have gotten any major medals or whatnot but she'd always been told it took people with tons of nerve to not only apply to the military branches but remain there and avoid going AWAL or daring to run from their obligations.

And given her experiences, she'd seen this to be true.

After a brief walk around through her house, Trinity grabbed her faithful pistol and a pouch full of spare bullets. She'd need all the ammunition she could take with her. True, it tended to be really, really risky to fire at zombies. But they were some of the best weapons, too.

However, Trinity hadn't forgotten terms like 'stealth' and 'calm'. Oh gods no. She'd apply both to herself to head to the college first. Hopefully, she wouldn't need to use many, if any, bullets on the way. Or if she had to, it would be something she could try to keep to a minimum.

Thankfully, Trinity lived about a block away so getting to the college was easy. Getting in, clearly, was another issue. She had to blink several times just to make damn well sure she was really seeing everything before her eyes properly. A few more blinks later and the horde of zombies didn't go away from sight.

Her heart raced and finally, Trinity forced herself to shake her head and snap herself from her thoughts. "Back door ... " she murmured to herself, slowly making her way towards the rear entry. Usually, that tended to be the least guarded entrances. Hopefully that would hold true for her now. Otherwise, it'd be a real pain to shoot her way inside.

Still, it would be doable. And if nothing else, it'd be a good way to make sure Trinity hadn't lost her touch from not having been active in the Army for two to three years now.

Sara was at the athletic center practicing for the next Taekwondo tournament that she was set to attend next month. Sweat spilled down her face as she continued to forcefully punch the air to perform a forefist. She had to get everything perfect; loosing was not an option. As she continued her training she heard the door to the athletic center make a sharp creak as it opened and closed. Damn it, she was hoping that she would be the only one at the athletic center for the afternoon. With a sigh of disappointment, she turned around to see who had interrupted her training.

Shambling toward her were three guys covered in blood. Sarah couldn’t help herself but laugh at how stupid they looked. She knew that the guys at her father’s dojo liked playing pranks on her, but this was a little too much. “Haha, your so funny.” She mocks, “You better tell me who you are before I beat it out of you.” But the guys continued their pursuit toward her. “Alright, have it your way.”

Sara quickly closes the gap between her and her opponents and proceeds to attack the guy closest to her. Once she’s within attacking distance she quickly pivots on her left foot and delivers a roundhouse kick to the closest guys torso, effectively launching him toward the other side of the blue padded room. She then lunges into a jump kick sending one of the two remaining guys to the mat and as she lands she finishes off the last opponent with a flawlessly executed tornado kick.

Once satisfied with what she had accomplished she dusts herself off and places her hands on her hips. “I warned you.” As she revels in the glory of winning the fight she takes a deep breath and smells something horrific. She quickly cups her hands over her nose. “Holy shit, you guys smell. What did you do, roll around in dog shit and cake yourself with animal blood all for the sake of pranking me?” she then uses her had to fan away the stench.

Before she realized it, all three guys are back on their feet lumbering toward her once again. “Uh… you guys want another round of ass kicking I see.” She taunts while using her right hand to punch the palm of her left hand. Getting into her fighting stance she begins to soak in the image of the three guys in front of her. The guy she had roundhouse kicked was limping on a broken ankle that jutted awkwardly out to the side as he walked. His shirt was torn around the stomach and Sara could see his intestines falling out through a jagged hole where his bellybutton should have been. The guy she jumped kicked was the worst looking of the bunch. Half his face had looked like it was torn to pieces by a savage animal; chunks of meat, bone and brain matter hung loosely around his face and in his once blond hair. His left arm was missing and the rest of his body was a nest of deep gashes and teeth marks. The last guy only had a festering bite mark on his left calf.

In a state of shock and disgust, Sara violently vomited on the floor in front of her. What the hell are they? Is this a dream? What’s going on?! The grotesque sound of rotting intestines slapping the floor mat brought her back to reality. Without hesitation, she darted toward the bathroom. Stealing a glance behind her to see what those hideous monsters were doing, she was frightened at the sight of one of them chasing and gaining up after her; she realized it was the guy with the bite mark on his leg. Once she reached the bathroom doors to the girl’s restroom she forcefully flung the door open and rushed inside. With trembling hands she managed to lock the door as a heavy object started pounding on the other side violently. Scared out of her mind, Sara huddled in the corner of one of the stalls and wept.

Being locked up inside of that closet by herself while the world outside fell straight to hell gave Tori enough time to decide on a couple of things. Though she was a pretty-girl, a cheer leader, and jock to her peers, there was just a splash of nerd hidden deep inside the back of Tori's mind and every nerd had a zombie survival plan. Sadly, Tori's plan had kind of been laid out back in her hometown. Here, in San Romero, she did not have the slightest idea if her plan was even viable. That only left the redhead with her backup plan - survive. Okay, it wasn't much of a plan, but it was better than hiding in a closet. Yes, hiding there meant safety but there was no food or water. Staying in this closet was not an option if Victoria wanted to live and if this was going to be the day that Tori died, she was not going to die in this skimpy little slut-suit! The only option in her mind was to make it to her dorm-room. She didn't feel comfortable going back to the locker room to change considering what was going on.

It was with a great deal of caution that Tori reached for the door handle with one hand. her other held the grip of her baseball bat tightly; ready to swing should anyone - no - anything come shambling toward her. Fortunately for the redheaded cheer leader, she discovered that the gymnasium was now empty. The only sign that anyone had been there was all was blood that was pooled over where she had witnessed the cheer coach fall. The coach'es corpse, however, had either been fully eaten or it had walked off. Neither one of those thoughts was particularly comforting, so Tori did not dwell on it. Instead, she slipped out of the closet and bolted across the gymnasium toward the large double-doors that would open to the outside world.

"This can't be happening," Tori whispered aloud to herself when she reached the doors. She could see out the small windows on each of the large wooden slabs that the campus was crawling with these creatures. To make matters worse, there still had to be at least four of them inside of the Gymnasium somewhere. They weren't here on the basketball court, obviously, but the gymnasium had several parts for several different sports and activities. Unless these things were smart enough to open doors then the zombie cheerleaders and the coach had to have shambled off into the deeper parts of the sports center. She was damned if she did and damned if she didn't.

That was when Victoria heard the voice echoing from another room of the sports center. She couldn't make out the words, per se, but the voice was definitely feminine. Regardless of who it was, it meant that someone else here was alive. Though with the sounds of thuds and bangs that followed, it was hard to tell for how long. Without a second thought, Tori darted back across the basket ball court towards the hallway that connected the separate parts of the gymnasium.

Due to the way that the building was designed, it was hard to really tell where the sounds had come from and... were still coming from! At first she thought they were coming from the right, but as she turned her head to look in that direction, the acoustics suddenly changed to sound like they were coming from the left. "Fuck!" Tori shouted at herself under her breath. Running on nothing but intuition, Tori hung a left and headed down towards the indoor pool.

At the pool, Tori realized that she had clearly made a wrong turn. The pool was the only thing that was down this particular hallway, save for a utility closet or two, and this place seemed to be completely empty. To make things worse, that was when the sounds stopped. For several moments, Victoria stood still as a statue, but heard nothing. "Double fuck!" she spat out again.

The redhead turned around and began to make her way back down the hall, sprinting past the basketball court and handing the next left. The gymnastics room was down this hallway. It was the room that was the most padded, so there were a lot of clubs that used that room; the cheer squad used it to practice pyramids and aerial stunts, the gymnastics team obviously used it, and the martial arts clubs all used it, to name a few. As Tori made her way down the hall, she heard the sounds resume; sort of. This time, all she could hear was a constant hammering sound like someone was slamming a door over and over again. It sounded like it was coming from dead ahead of her, too!

When Tori made it to the gymnastics room, she knew that she was on the right track. There was blood everywhere and... vomit? That was a good thing, right? Zombies didn't puke did they? Someone had to be alive!

The hammering continued and it seemed to be coming from the corridor to the right... "That bathrooms," Tori said to herself under her breath. She tightened her grip around the bat and made off in that direction. Victoria followed the sounds of the hammering down the cooridor and around the corner towards the girl's bathroom. She could see a zombie at the end of the hall slamming itself against the door to one of the stalls. Well that explained the hammering.

Tori didn't bother to slow down as she neared the bathroom, or as she ran through the entrance. She merely pulled her bat back over her shoulder and threw everything that she had into one swing - both her muscle and her momentum. The end of her bat made contact with the zombie's head and sent the walking corpse flying back against the wall. Its head was utterly destroyed by the impact. "Take that you grotesque bastard!" Tori shouted as she stood over the zombie's motionless figure.

It was most likely the stench of these foul creatures, wafting through ventilation system to cause Drake to turn green. He was not feeling well, and new he had to think of something quickly. It was surprising to himself, how after just a few moments of being in a state of panick, he switch over to complete survival mode. He knew it was fully possible that he was the only survivor left on campus, though desperate to not give up hope on finding someone. In a situation like this, anyone with a right mind would know that the rational thing to do would be to stick with a group, for safety.

As the green eyed, brown haired, determined geek hummed to himself to keep his mind off of the fact that he could die at any moment, he made his way through the ductwork into the gymnasium. This time of a day, he thought, there shouldn't be many people there. Less crowded areas were sure to be safer, he whispered to himself as suddenly the quiet whimpering of a young woman caught his ear.

Drake stopped dead in his tracks, and froze solid. Is there someone alive down there!? He whispered out loud to himself as he slowly creeped up to the edge of the plastic grate, peering down. Gasping, and turning beet red in the face, he realizes that he is looking down into the lady's restroom. If there's someone down there trying to use the restroom, and I show myself, they will kill me! Drake told himself in his mind. As embarrassed as he was, he didn't want to leave, in hopes that maybe there in fact was someone down there, and he didn't want to leave them alone.

Sometime, after a few moments of listening to the horrible slow banging sound coming from somewhere in the bathroom, Drake wonders if maybe that is what the young girl is hiding from. He couldn't just stay up there and hide, while she needed his assistance, he thought. What kind of man would he be, if he didn't save her! After all, from the sound of it, she seemed to be pretty scared. This was no time for his lack of confidence with girls to get the better of him, so he battled with himself to try and make the decision to climb down. Though, what was he going to do once he got down there? He was not a fighter, and had nothing with him to use as a weapon. Eyeing down into the empty stall, where the grate lead down to, he saw nothing but a empty toilet seat, and a canister of toilet paper. What am I going to do... TP the damn thing? he cursed at himself.

Suddenly, the petrified student hears the quick footsteps of an intruder. All he could catch a glimpse of, from his viewpoint was white leggings with a red ankle-warmer just above white tennis shoes. As he stepped further onto the grate, to try and squeeze a better look, he felt it begin to rattle and become unstable. Just as he positioned himself to take a peak, the sound of a baseball bat connecting with the head of the zombie, spraying the contents all over the stall door, and the subsequent screaming of "Take that, you grotesque monster!" made Drake jump, and unfortunately he lost his balance, and plummeted through the plastic grate down into the recently vacant stall. Hitting his head on the toilet seat, he flopped out of the door, and landed on his back just outside the stall.

"Jesus... FUCK. Son of a bitch!" He yelled in a painful tone as he clutched each side of his head, clenching a handful of his dark brown hair with each hand. He laid there, stunned for a moment, as he slowly cocked his head to the side, and saw two sets of legs outside the stall where the zombie had been hammering it's head into. There were two red haired ladies standing there, with the exact same pissed off looking expression on their faces, holding a baseball bat. Soon, his vision came back properly and he rubbed his eyes as he now correctly saw only one female standing there.

"Ahem, please excuse m-my entrance, ma'am." Was all he could say as he hoped and prayed she would decide to not bash his skull in right then and there. He laid on the ground, trying to collect himself as he struggled to get up, having difficulty as he seemed to have sprained his ankle.

"D-don't kill me! I'm not one of.... them." he said quietly, in a very nervous un-confident voice.

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So far, so good ...

Trinity had been able to navigate her way around and was almost to the back entrance like she'd wanted. However, it wasn't as empty as she had hoped for. It was only one but common sense and the few zombie movies she had seen made the former Army member know it could still be dangerous. The answer was obvious and simple in concept; take it out with a bullet. Simultaneously, doing so would no doubt attract all the others she had worked so hard to keep herself hidden away from. Worse off, they'd try to get in the school. Her teeth gripped her lower lip as she stared at the undead from a distance, trying to think of a good plan before actually doing anything. If she was going to pull the trigger, she wanted to make it count for one. Two, if there was some way to make the shot quieter, she'd do so to keep from gathering too much unneeded attention.

The only thing that Trinity could find with the second possibility, however, was her leather top. "Fuck that!" she hissed lowly, shaking her head no. Her clothes were already a bit of a hazard in themselves. She had tons of exposed areas and it made her easy to try to bite. But that was also the difference between what-if scenarios and reality. She intended to focus more on the latter, resorting to possibilities when those bridges arrived. Her gaze shifted from the ground to in front of her as footsteps approaching caught her ears.

Unfortunately, they weren't friendly ones either. The damn zombie had finally noticed her and began to move.

Well, so much for that ...

Taking a deep breath, Trinity finally pulled her pistol out. Her ankles tensed as she aimed right for its head. After a brief countdown from three, she pulled on it. Without waiting to see how many had heard and were coming this way, she ran past the now permanently dead corpse and through the door, finally entering the university.

God-fucking-damnit!

Her eyes darted quickly from side to side as she looked for something, anything to barricade the door. If there was such an object, it wasn't in immediate sight. After some hesitation, she licked her lips before letting out a loud, long whistle. There was no way she was the only person here, right? Well, that'd definitely be one way to find out. And if so ... well ... she may have just set up her own death trap.

Until she was proven right, wrong, or otherwise however, Trinity stayed with her back against the rear door, gun firmly held in her right hand. If push came to shove ... no, no. She wouldn't dwell on those thoughts until they truly came up. Besides, she didn't want to use the firearms on an actual person, not unless it couldn't be helped. She'd already been forced to do that back when she served. If she could help it, Trinity wouldn't repeat those days again.

Breathe in.

A firm twist squeezed around the doorknob before the door was thrown open. Quick scan: Janitor's closet. Useless. Useless. Useless. Bleach - tripping agent. Ladder, metal; sturdy enough to serve as an obstruction. There was no time to apply the bleach properly, only enough to open the bottle and let it spill on its own. He couldn't run with the ladder for too long, either. Too bulky. Focus on the short-term.

Breathe out.

Short, blonde curls sat with a rugged, unkempt look. The tie was uncomfortable, the slice of teal fabric getting thrown around by the wind like a ragdoll, flailing in panic. The tightly bound, black shirt was less of a hassle - such are things you grow accustomed to from use. In a way it was better than the baggy nonsense a lot of guys came in. The fashion of wearing something that could fit a hippo was lost on Desmond. Fork in the path - ballcourt or teacher's lounge. No point trying to fortify at this point, he'd need company for that. For now, stay mobile. Go with the biggest space with the least chance of getting cornered. Ballcourt it was. Turn left, keep going. Keep moving.

Breathe in.

A deep, guttural groan could be heard as one of the abominations stumbled out of an open classroom door. No time to think. A crude swing of the ladder later Desmond could hear the snap of breaking bones and a softer groan from the crumpled mess, hands grasping the thing that had caved its skull in with the tightness of rigor mortis. No time to pull it away. Leave the ladder, keep moving. Pool, acrobatics center... not enough openings, bad ground, spaces too tight. Keep moving.

Breathe out.

It was becoming harder to maintain his pulse - things were getting stranger by the second, threats assaulting him from every possible angle. He couldn't panic. Nothing came from panicking. He wouldn't panic. He just needed information. Something to process, something to build on, something to give him a goal of some kind; a way out. But he'd need to understand the problem before he could understand any possible solution. Someone who could shed some light on this.

Breathe in.

A loud battlecry of some sort could be heard from a room not far off. Unless the freaks had somehow developed working speech, it was undoubtedly human. The door was ajar, and behind it mirrors and sinks. A bathroom - single door, no windows; pretty much the worst place you could hole up in. From his angle he couldn't see into the stalls, and he would have tried to recognize her if her face was turned his way, but for now being human was enough. "Hey! You! Get out of there. There's only one way in or out, and you get cornered and it won't matter how hard you can swing." he hollered, beckoning her out of the deathtrap.

The banging just wouldn’t stop, why couldn’t it just go away? “Please go away, please go away, please go away.” She silently repeats. Plugging her ears with her two index fingers helped dull the noise, replacing it with the hard thuds of her heart beating rapidly. How long as it been? Teen? Twenty? Forty minutes? Is this a dream? She closes her eyes willing the creature to go away, to just leave her alone. A new set of sobs start wracking her body, sending her into a course of uncontrollable small jerks. “I… don’t… want… to… die…” she hiccups in-between each intake of breath. Sweat and tears cascade down her face, dripping down onto her legs.

The banging stops, its so quite, but there is a knock on the door and she hears voices coming from the other side. They can’t be real, nothings real anymore. Sara squeezes her eyes tighter, trying her best to block out the voices that she thinks are in her head. Finally gaining the courage to open her eyes once more, she sees blood pooling underneath the bathroom stall door and slithering its way through the tile cracks to where she was sitting down. She emits a blood-curling scream and stands up as fast as she can while trying to avoid touching the red coagulated puddle. Another urgent knock resonates off the door and this time she can hear a girl ask her if she’s ok.

Calming herself down, she slowly approaches the stall door and unlocks the latch. “Hey! You! Get out of there. There's only one way in or out, and you get cornered and it won't matter how hard you can swing.” Sara flinches at the voice and starts to wonder if she’s hallucinating again. ‘No, i’m not. They are real people.’ She thinks to herself as she throws the door open, ready for whatever happens to her on the other side.

Standing on the other side of the stall was a red haired cheerleader holding a bat covered in gore. There is a young woman outside 'Is she checking to see if I’m hurt?’ There is a rustling noise to her left and a young man comes crashing threw the ceiling into the stall next to the one she was hiding in. In a fit of panic she slips on the creatures blood as she dashes back inside the comfort of the stall.

“D-don't kill me! I'm not one of.... them” stutters the man. ‘Why do I have to be such a klutz sometimes?’ Once she was standing again she peered down at herself to survey the damage to her training uniform; no rips or tears, just a pool of blood caked to her left thy and buttocks. After things had settled down, another young man cautiously opens the bathroom door and positions himself in the doorway. This must be the man that she heard talking earlier.

Feeling that she is now one hundred percent calm she surveys the small group. ‘I don’t know any of these people,’ she realizes. Straightening her back she puts on her authority persona, “My name is Sara Malark. Does anybody here know what the hell is going on?”

Everything that followed Tori's heroic strike seemed to happen all at once and it was a little overwhelming as her mind reeled at it all; especially considering that she had not yet fully come to terms with the days happenings. Sure, she had temporarily collected herself, but Victoria was always good at keeping cool under pressure that would make most people break down. It would all hit her later like a runaway semi-truck. That's how high-stress situations always seemed to work for the redhead.

First, there was the girl that had been crying in the stall. A few moments after the zombie fell into a heap on the floor and blood started to gush from the fallen body, the girl came shuffling out of the bathroom stall. While normally, Victoria would have taken a good long look at a woman with a figure like this girl had, today hardly called for Tori's normal deviant thoughts. The world was falling apart around them and sex was the last thing on Tori's mind, despite the raging hormones of her 'confused' mind. Yes, Tori was not of the... 'normal' female persuasion. She'd been raised Catholic and had been taught that homosexuality was terribly wrong. Liking boys was 'normal' and even though Victoria wished that she could be 'normal', she'd never take a look at a boy and had anything in her body or mind spark a hormonal want. other women on the other hand... Well, let's just say that Tori found a great appreciation in aesthetics of the female form.

Just as Tori was about to open her mouth to introduce herself, the ceiling came crashing down and a green-eyed, brunette boy came falling from the duct work. How long had he been up there? Was he going to just hide up there while this gorgeous specimen of a young lady got eaten alive? What kind of spineless excuse of a fucking man did that? She was a god damn cheerleader - a 'frail' sex symbol to the majority of campus. Despite this, even she had stepped in to save her fellow students.

Again, she was about to speak, though this time it was going to be a berating outburst as opposed to a kind greeting. Again, she was interrupted before she could do so. Even worse, the words that interrupted her, that warning that she was standing in a death trap, was absolutely bat-shit ignorant. Being a history buff and majoring in archaeology, Tori quickly remembered the Battle of Thermopylae in which the three hundred Spartans, along with a small number of allied soldiers from nearby city-states, were able to hold the Thermopylae pass for three days against an invading Greek army that was at least eight thousand strong. How? By utilizing pincer tactics as well as the Thermopylae Pass's natural bottle-neck formations. Death trap? If the entire campus had been infected then forcing the zombies into a one versus one bottle neck, such as a lone door, might be the best chance for survival. Once again, she was about to speak up when she was cut off again.

This time it wasn't by words, but by a sharp whistle echoing through the gymnasium. "Someone else is alive," was all that she managed to get out in a relatively excited voice before she darted out of the girl's restroom in search of whoever it was. She assumed that the other three would follow, but even if they did not, at least they weren't alone anymore. They would have each other. This other person might not be so lucky. Tori had to find the source of the noise.

Fucking son of a monkey fucker. That hurt.

The brown haired man lay quiet for a moment, as all the commotion was going on. He took note of the way the girl dressed in the cheer-leading uniform eyed the other female with hungry eyes momentarily, before storming off. He managed to catch a glimpse up her skirt from his ground level viewpoint as she ran past. This was purely accidental, as he turned his view away as quickly as he could, listening to her footsteps as she dashed out of the room.

Christ, my head hurts.

Drake turns his attention to the strange blond haired man that had made his way into the restroom, and then over to the female that had come out of the stall. If his ears did not betray him, he believes she identified herself as 'Sara Malark.' She looked like a nice girl, and very toned as well. She seemed to be a very dedicated athlete, but with a look of innocence and discipline about her.

In great pain, Drake moves himself over, and gets up on one knee, and then pushing himself off the ground stands up slowly. Shaking his head, he rubs the back of his neck with his right hand as he responds to Sara's question, "..My name is Drake... and I have no idea what's going on. It's like everyone on campus started eating each other. Like something out of a sci fi film!"

Drake had definitely taken notice of the beautifully sculpted body the young woman had, and stuttered as he nervously reached his hand out to shake hers. "I-I know we just met, but we should probably stick together. And, why did that crazy girl run out? Irrational thinking before you make a decision like that can get you killed! She won't last two minutes out there acting like that. Even if someone's alive out there, it's no use jumping in, until we formulate a plan."

Looking back, the green eyed nerd cursed himself for not thinking quicker. Why did he hesitate so much, when this girl was in need of help. He decided to himself, that if he were to survive for very long, this fear of women is definitely something he would need to work on overcoming.

Drake turned to the blond haired man, and noticed that he seemed like a dependable person, someone he could get along with before even knowing his name. His breathing slowed to normal, as he turned his gaze from the man, back to Sara.

"So, what do you guys think? I say we stick together. ...and that girl needs our help. If there really is someone else out there, we can't just leave them to die."

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There had been a few times Trinity had been ready to believe she may have simply overreacted with the fear and thought of being followed. Her back relaxed as she started to move away from the door. But the very sudden and harsh banging and slamming against it which soon followed made her push against it once again, wincing and taking quick breaths through her nose. Her eyes glanced around, once again seeking for something to hold the door closed. But once again, nothing that she could immediately reach for. An irked "Tch .. " passed her lips as she continued to keep her back pressed against the door, feeling her breasts bounce a bit from the force and resistance she was giving.

Come the fuck on! You can't tell me I'm the only person here ... right?!

The mere thought nearly made her face try to pale. It was a genuinely horrifying thought, to know she might be the only person here. Her against all of those undead? The odds were god-awful, especially with her limited ammo. It would run out soon and when it did ... no! She didn't want to think about it. Despite all of her strengths, Trinity was still human when all was said and done. She did have fears despite having a 'tough woman' mindset. And right now, they were beginning to emerge.

But a glimmer of hope arrived in the sounds of footsteps. And they were far too fast to be one of the walking dead. So it had to be another person. "Thank fucking gods ... " she murmured, finding a new adrenaline rush that helped give her enough strength to keep the door secure. Licking her lips once again, Trinity let out a second whistle, helping indicate to whomever was on their way exactly where she was.

Few things in life were as brutally obvious as the fact that they couldn't beat the entire horde into submission. Each dead body meant another to their ranks, after all - this wasn't the kind of force you could just hole up and fight. This wasn't a war - this was a hunt. A plague. An extermination. The kind of tactics necessary here were not the kind used by Spartans, but the kind used by runaways and exiles. Contingency upon contingency, and the ability to run away from unending odds without shame. History books might remember martyrs, but unless the brainless, shambling corpses could somehow gain literacy, that wasn't much of an incentive. Full frontal wasn't going to solve anything, here.

A few voices coupled the battlecry as one became three - quite likely all the better. Hopefully, at least. The first one seemed remarkably calm for someone holed up in a bathroom stall, and was responded to in kind, despite the obvious answer. "Clueless as you are, Sara. Part of the reason I'm moving around - I'm not a fan of being left in the dark. Second reason's because I don't want to end up like Yorick over there." he said, cocking his head towards the shattered zombie-skull.

The first girl, however, remained quiet except for a sharp, spoken thought for no one in particular, and only after she turned around did it dawn on Dez that she was wearing... a cheerleader's outfit. Something about that just gave the whole situation a whimsical tone, if only for a moment, running in his direction and past as he silently, awkwardly sidestepped out of her way, just sort of processing the weirdness that she just seemed to generally emanate.

"Uh-" came the response as Drake spoke, still a little off-balance as he tilted his head away from the cheerleader. "Sure. Let's do that." he replied with a slow nod, beckoning the other two through the door behind Tori as he sighed internally, quietly speaking to himself. "Onward and awkward."

Blood on Sara’s white and blue training uniform made her stomach queasy. Her father was going to rip her a new one for this. But this was not the time to worry about it now. A whistle sounded somewhere in the building causing the red haired cheerleader bolting out of the restroom and almost bowling over the blond haired man who was in the doorway. Sara had to know what was going on; both the blond haired man and green-eyed brunet, who called himself Drake, had said that they didn’t know what was happening either.

“Hold on a second.” Sara quickly pulls her short light brown hair back into a half ponytail and starts stripping out of her soiled uniform, revealing her black sports bra and skin-tight black shorts with an elastic lime green band around the waist. “There, much better.” She begins to flex her muscles, “Much easier to run in. Plus I don’t want one of those things snagging at my clothes.”

I ignoring the facial reactions of both men, she quickly ran out of the bathroom toward the locker room where she quickly shoved on her tennis shoes and grabbed a couple of training weapons that she had stashed in her locker. Back outside the bathroom she sees both men. “Hey blondy, Catch.” She says while tossing him a sharp heavy metal Gumdo sword. “Here you go Drake.” She tosses Drake a sharp nine-ringed broadsword she had planned on using at the tournament. Both swords were decorated with a piece of white and blue silk dangling at the tip of the hilts. Sara equipped herself with a metal three-section staff that she folded and strapped to her muscular right thigh.

“Now that you guys have weapons you can do whatever you want. I’m getting out of here.” She announces while dashing towards the exit. As she rounded the corner to the basketball court she discovered that the room was full of zombies. Unlatching the three-section staff she emitted a loud battle yell, which gained the attention of four shambling corpses closest to her. She dashed toward the group of rotting flesh, gripping the end of the staff she swung it as hard as she could at one of the creatures effectively knocking its head clean off it’s shoulders. Blood and maggots sprayed in an arch around the staff drenching the zombie behind it, rogue droplets of blood land on her face.

It was probably a good thing that Tori had taken off out of there like a bat out of hell. A gorgeous woman was her kryptonite; the one thing out of all things that had the biggest chance of breaking her normally focused mind. Sara certainly qualified for this and with her being so comfortable just stripping out of her gi like that... No; Tori needed to stay focused. It was paramount to her survival. The longer she stayed focused, the longer that she could prolong the inevitable breakdown of her mind and spirit after she had had sufficient time to fully digest everything that was happening. She needed to find the other survivor then meet back up with the three from before. Then, together, they might have a chance of reaching the dorms. Once Tori was safe inside her room and out of her skank-suit, then she could break down and cry; not a second sooner. later would be fine f she could find some mental duct tape capable of handling the strain, but definitely not sooner and definitely not in front of anyone!

The redhead noted that she did not seem to be being pursued by the other three. Just as well; they were unarmed. They needed to stick together for safety. At least Tori had a bat. It wasn't a world-class zobie slayer weapon, but it was a weapon.

Left then right; down a corridor then another left. Where the fuck were these whistles coming from and who was back here? It sounded like they were coming from the back of the gymnasium where the rear entrance to the campus was. Surely there were zombies outside. What kind of fucking moron break into a school full of zombies!? Tori's mind likened it to a criminal breaking into prison. Why? Fucking why!? The very question flared her redhead temper. Sure, she was a sweet girl and friendly as can be, but all natural redheads have a trigger to release that special brand of fiery rage. Tori's was blinding stupidity; or what she viewed as such, anyway. Perhaps this survivor would call it bravery. Tori had played enough Dungeons and Dragons to know how that worked. Paladins called in chivalry. Paladins were always the first ones to die, too. Fucking martyrs... Where was this person's survival instincts? Fucking morons! Yes, Tori's mind and mouth could get quite foul when she was upset.

Left then right; another corridor then one more left. That's when Tori saw her - another survivor, another woman, and another smoking hot one at that. As the zombies outside struggled to gain entry, the girl's breasts bounced with each impact. 'Seriously?' Tori thought, 'I'm going to be the flattest-chested survivor aren't I?' Tori didn't actually mind this, of course. She liked her large B-cups. They were a perfect handful without being so big that they were a problem when doing anything that needed agility or athleticism. In her mind, she had the perfect tits, but that didn't mean that she didn't like larger breasts on other girls. No, she loved that, but Victoria did not need the distraction right now.

"What the hell are you doing, idiot!?" Tori spat out as she threw her own body against the door at full speed. It looked like it might have hurt, but after taking so many dives to save from taking a point on the volleyball court, Tori was used to this kind of impact. Tori then made an important decision; a risky one, but she felt it was necessary. Victoria sacrificed her bat as a way to bar the door by shoving it handle-first through the door handles. Thank God that Louisville sluggers were made with the same stellar quality that they always had been. It should hold for a while - not forever, but certainly long enough for the survivors to formulate a plan.

"You don't look like a God-damned student! Did you intentionally fucking walk into this living hell!? What kind of fucking idiot are you!?" Tori shouted as she stepped away from the barred door and turned her attention to the drop-dead gorgeous blonde.

Everything seemed to be happening so fast, that even Drake had a difficult time processing the scene. First the young girl in the skimpy uniform dashed out and disappeared down the hallways, and now the other young lady Sara has run off.

For the moment that Sara is away, Drake turns to the blond haired man as he walks along side him out the restroom door, and says "Yeah. Dude, we need to escape. Why does everyone keep running off----"

Drake's speaking is interrupted by the sound of footsteps sprinting back down the hall in his direction. Sara's back, with an armload of strange exotic melee weapons. As she tossed the nine-ringed broadsword to Drake, he jumped back in fear of it slicing him.

"Jeez! Careful!" He yelled at her, as he then corrected himself.. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell.. Thank you, though I've never used one of these before." Drake knelt down, to pick up the sword by the handle, and gripped it with two hands, slowly swinging it from side to side, eyeing up and down the blade, inspecting the weapon. As the terrifying thought entered his mind that he may actually have to use it, he jerked up to attention as Sara spoke again.

“Now that you guys have weapons you can do whatever you want. I’m getting out of here.” He heard Sara explain, before she dashed toward the exit in hopes of escaping this nightmare. Hearing her say this made Drake thing to himself.

Well, shit. I guess they do have the right idea for now. We have to keep moving. I just really wish we would have stuck together... I hate being alone. Drake pondered as he had to make a quick decision. He glanced at the direction he saw the baseball bat wielding girl go earlier, and then back at the exit where Sara ran off to.

C'mon.. Think think... Sara just left, so she couldn't have gone far, but the cheerleader girl thought she heard someone else. Wait a second... If I can get to my Jeep, I can just escape this entire hell hole all together, and get to my uncle's house, right outside of town. Yeah! Ugh, but my Jeep is in the commuter lot, which is on the other side of the dorms from here. And I'll need to get back to my room to get my car keys...

Drake was lost deep in thought, as he took a minute to weigh the situation. Looking over to the blond haired man, his eyes changed as he has decided to make quite a bold decision which he admits to himself contradicts his earlier view that everyone should stick together. "Hey... I'm gonna go back to my dorm room and get the keys to my vehicle, and get the fuck out of this place. It's in the same direction we saw Sara run, so I'll try to keep an eye out for her. If you want to go with me, you're welcome to, but I understand if you have other plans. And If you are gonna go check on that cheerleader.... Take care of yourself man. Maybe we'll meet up again."

The eerie moans of the undead echoed throughout campus, as he quickly, but tactically sneaked out the exit, keeping an eye out for zombies as he made his way toward the dorms. Pretty soon, he noticed the disembodied head of a zombie, lying on the ground seemingly freshly decapitated. Could Sara be near? Drake was concerned, and wanted to know if she was okay, but as his main objective was to get to his dorm for now, he kept walking alert. Besides, he was no fighter, and she looked pretty damn capable of handling herself.

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Thank fucking gods!

Finally, someone else had heard her. About damn time! She had been getting really annoyed, borderline pissed off in fact. The first words which left the cheerleader's mouth, however, made Trinity's eyes narrow. The selection of what she said hadn't bothered her nearly as much as the tone. Waiting until the bat made sure the doors were secured first, Trinity moved away and placed herself so she was maybe one or two steps away from the other girl. Her eyes stayed in a narrow state as she finally began to reply.

"First and foremost; you can keep that tone with anyone else if you so desire. But that shit isn't sliding with me. Now, to answer your question, no I am not a student. To be more exact, I'm an ex-military. One of my former superiors sent me here to check this place out since it's one of the worst locations with these undeads. Admittedly, I'm not exactly sure what he was hoping for me to find. I doubt a solution is here. That being said, I'm assuming he wanted me to try to clear this place out or something of the like. Disregarding what they want, however, I can say this much. I'm disgusted to be associated with the same people who caused this crap. Really, I am. So did I intentionally walk into this hell hole? Not intentionally, no. But nonetheless, I still have. Now then, I'd say it's my turn to ask something."

Before she went on, however, Trinity took the opportunity for her heterochromic eyes to gaze upon the cheerleader, as if silently studying her up. While she didn't look like much upon first glance, Tori had been able to go against the stereotype of the 'dumb cheerleaders'. Her bat had easily proven that. So maybe, just maybe, there would be a chance if she cooperated with this cheerleader.

"Are you alone? Or are there others here? And do they have any type of weapon, be it another bat or something else?" If the questions to most of these were 'No' .... well, hell. It'd suck but there would still be a chance. If all of the answers, however, were 'No' ... that would be far worse. But she'd give this cheerleader a chance to answer her. More than that, hopefully this woman would realize she hadn't been kidding on the dislike of Tori's tone.

Trinity did understand this situation wasn't at all pleasant. However, Tori's temper had been directed at the very wrong person. And it was one damn good reason she wouldn't accept being spoken to in such a manner. She hadn't let anyone do that kind of crap before and she sure as fuck wasn't about to start now.

Groaning from the remaining zombies in the gym made Sara flinch. She knew that she couldn’t kill all of them, not by herself, but she needed to get out fast. Focusing all of her strength into her legs, she bee lined straight for the emergency exit door. As she approached the door, one of the bloodied creatures managed to grab her ankle as it lunged at her from behind causing her to fall on her face. Panic enveloped her body; muscles screaming at her to get her ass up. Gaining her bearings she had managed to forcefully kick off the zombie as it bit down on the soul of her shoe; broken discolored teeth flew out of its disease ridden mouth. Sara quickly scrambled up off the floor and threw the door open. A loud metallic wining scream echoed around the gym. “Stupid exit alarm!” she screamed while dashing out into the open.

Sara wasn’t prepared for what she saw outside. There were thousands of those things walking around. So much death. “Am I In hell?” Silently breathed Sara as she slowly began to soak in the environment around her. The administrative building was enveloped in roaring flames, people were jumping out of tall buildings hoping to escape the undead horde that had cornered them. So much blood; the grass and walls of the buildings painted bright red. ‘I need to get to my dorm room fast.’

Dodging every zombie she encountered in her dash to her dorm room, she witnessed several students being ripped apart and gorged upon by the living dead. Screams bounced off the concrete buildings as each victim was being eaten alive. Forcing herself not to toss her cookies for the second time, Sara continued towards her destination. ‘I can’t loose, loosing is not an option. If death wants me, it will have to take me kicking and screaming.’

“Almost there.” Whispered Sara as she zigzagged through a group of living corpses, knocking down and killing as many as she could along the way. Kings dorm hall was one of the first dorms established on campus, located in the middle of campus it had easy access to all of the buildings as well as it’s own private parking lot. It was reserved for students whose parents had donated a large sum of money to the school. She quickly and silently rushed to the front door, letting the death screams of her fellow classmates distract the zombies.

“Shit!” she hissed. The main hall of the dorm was packed with zombies, there’s no way in hell she was going to get through there and survive. Students must have taken refuge there after the dead started rising again, the poor bastards, one of the creatures must have gotten in unnoticed. ‘What am I going to do? I can’t just stand out here. I’ll die!’ Sara’s room is on the fifth floor in room 503, which was located on the back side of the building. ‘I’ll climb!’ she enthusiastically thought, ‘How hard can it be?’. Taking precaution, she dropped into a crawl and slithered her way to the back of the building. Two twitching gore covered corpses greeted her on the other side. Without hesitation, Sara jumped up and dispatched both men before a groan could erupt from their cold dead lips.

Happy that everything was clear, she spotted her bedroom window. Kings Hall was made up of colored stone that protruded out of the wall in sharp angles, It was easy to climb if you were willing to take the risk. One cracked stone is all it would take to make her fall and brake her neck. Gripping the wall, she slowly made her ascent being extra cautious of each stone she grabbed. It took her eight minutes to reach her bedroom windowsill and two minutes to break the glass. Climbing through the broken window and trying her hardest to not cut herself, she managed to pull herself through and land on the bed that was sitting underneath it. Once safely inside she grabbed a backpack that she quickly stuffed with the first aid kit she stashed in bathroom cabinet, some clothes, various melee weapons she had locked up under her bed, and whatever canned food or granola bars she had laying around. Loud banging noises erupted on the other side of the bedroom door, causing it to shake violently on its rusty hinges.

“Shit, I have to hurry. Where are my damn car keys and cell phone?” she seethed while tossing the blankets and pillows off her bed. In a small victory squeal she had managed to find her cell phone nestled under one of her pillows, but it was short lived as the door finally gave way to a wave of toppling zombies. In a burst of adrenalin, Sara had quickly hoped up on top of the bed, unlocked the broken window and flung it open. She vaulted both legs over the side of the stone structure and twisted over onto her belly as she exited, using all of her upper body strength to slowly lower her body down to a dangling position. Her feet frantically sought stones she could use to perch on before she could continue her decent. She was too slow. One of the creatures had reached out and grabbed her arm. Screaming, Sara let go of the wall and went tumbling to the ground.

Clearly it was a wonderful idea to launch yourself into an apocalyptic nightmare alone. Dez would have called Sara back, but was too shocked by being thrown a sword for long enough that by the time he looked up she had disappeared. He had caught the thing in a spasm of sorts, despite not paying attention to the woman before she threw it at him. Hands clamped down over the sheath as he looked down to examine what he had, up to find Sara had picked herself up and bolted off in a heartbeat, and then back down again, unsheathing the sword and making a mental note that had the blade been sheathless when he caught it, like Drake's was, he'd be missing about eight fingers now.

As Drake spoke eyes tilted upward to make a note of the man speaking to him. He had seen him before... somewhere. Neuro, perhaps? Some kind of class. Probably Neuro. Dez almost chuckled at mention of the cheerleader. "She's a tempting one, but I'm fairly certain I'm more fond of having my brains uneaten than my arm around a babe's hips. Even that one. We'll go grab your ride. Seems like the most prudent thing to do, anyway." he replied, slapping a hand over Drake's shoulder. "And with a couple swords and no idea how to use them, who could stand in our way?" he smirked, pulling the blade out of its sheathe completely, giving it a once-over as he beckoned Drake to follow.

The hallways were bleak for the most part, blood splattered or sprayed generously but with a remarkable dearth of bodies, the only ones being rather gruesomely torn-up or caved in. Dez had a good knowledge of the layout of the building, including all the special shortcuts that opened from one hallway, through one of the larger, nodal lecture halls, into another, covering distance quickly, eyes darting around in paranoia. "With any luck, flailing like a madman just might cut it. Cut them. You know what I mean."