I hate it here. I hate school.
Everyone is uptight. There aren't any people here who smile. This apocalypse has made it worse.
I was in the principal's office at the main building serving detention when it happened. "Mina Delgado. You know why you're here, right?" A teacher walked into the office to interrupt the principal, she was bleeding. "Sir Rivera! S-something's happening in the cafeteria!" She said. Her voice was shaking, her chest puffed in and out.
Then she slumped over the wall.
"No… This is…" I heard the principal mutter under his breath. I looked at his face, he was trembling like crazy. He shouted, "RADIO THE GUARDS TO LOCK THE GATES!"
I didn't recognize who he shouted at, but whoever it was became frozen in fear. He ran over to grab the radio, pushing me out of the way. He picked up the radio and shouted, "LOCK THE GATES! THIS IS THE PRINCIPAL, LOCK THE GATES!"
I didn't know what was going on, but if I had to guess, it was either a bombing or a shooting. To confirm my theory, I decided to check the teacher's wounds.
I turned my head towards her corpse, but she was standing up.
She has white eyes and a bloody foam in her mouth.
"Uh… Are you okay?" I asked her. She groaned while I distanced myself. I glanced at her still bleeding arm, and I didn't see bullet holes or charred flesh.
She was bleeding from a bite.
She charged at me but I dodged away, "Shit!" She kept running, headed for the principal. As I saw the principal look back, he was blocked by the teacher who had frozen up earlier.
"Tomas!" He pushed the teacher out of the way.
While Mr. Tomas fell, that person kept running. The principal curled up his right hand and punched her in the face. As she fell back to the ground, I kicked her in the stomach until there was blood on my shoes.
I took a deep breath.
"Get out of here, now. Run. Hide." I sprinted out of the office and went straight to the bridge towards the annex. As I got there, I saw the cafeteria in chaos.
People were running, but I didn't pay attention to them; I was looking for my younger brother. While he was the kind of person to fight back, I didn't think he was going to be safe for long.
My eyes darted across the cafeteria, but I didn't see him. "Where the hell is he?!" I thought. I looked back towards the entrance to the cafeteria as it swarmed with more people rushing to leave.
I saw someone bleeding, slumped against the wall right by the door. He grabbed a student's leg when he saw the others leaving. "H-help…" He muttered. He begged. "Please… I got bit…" His white button-up polo, which was standard issue, was stained with blood. As it spilled from his neck, his grasp loosened slightly. He collapsed in a puddle of his crimson.
"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit…" I muttered under my breath, holding my stomach as firmly as possible, making sure I didn't vomit. I pushed everyone out of the way to get out of the cafeteria and ran to go up the stairs, but it was blocked off.
I looked back at the bridge, and it was chaos. People were getting bit.
So I ran downstairs instead.
The gate was open, and there wasn't a guard. I ran outside, and there was so much smoke that I couldn't see. I coughed like crazy as I looked for a way to run away, but I knew that I couldn't.
My brother was still here.
Just then, I saw a jeepney's headlights in the distance. I waved my hands to get it to stop. It came to a halt as the car's brakes screamed. "Hey! Get in! We need to evacuate!"
I froze. "U-uh yeah… About that…" I stuttered, I didn't know what to say. My brother was still in the school. "Sorry, but I can't go yet," I said. As much as I wanted to leave, I just couldn't.
"Crap. Well, I just can't leave someone like this." He threw me a piece of wood with a chain wrapped around it. I picked it up. "What's this?" "Something to defend yourself with." "Oh, cool."
I heard his back tires screech as he flew off. "Bye now!" I heard him shout.
"..."
"I didn't even get to say thanks," I said.
As if I would.