The plan played in my head again as we climbed down the stairs to the bridge.
"Distract the infected and lead them to the cafeteria, run straight through, and get rid of the infected. Then, find the principal, try to make sure the building is safe, and find a form of communication between the buildings. Once that's done, come back to the gym with rations."
Nico and I held pieces of rebar. Miguel had his broom-spear. Mina had her chained-up table leg. Mr. Tomas had a nailed bat. The concrete and claustrophobic backstairs made our steps reverberate. Miguel broke the silence, "Reminds me, my aunts always said I'd be the first to die in a zombie movie.
"..."
Suddenly, a thud echoed from below. "You just had to say that, huh?" Nico snarkily remarked. "Shut up. Both of you." Mina said. Mr. Tomas motioned to keep moving.
As we made it down, a peculiar sight was shown to us. "Hey, Nico, check this out…" We peeked out of the stairwell, looking at the bridge. "It's… Empty? Mr. Tomas, you said it was swarming with them… Right?" Nico asked him. "Someone must've lured them out." He responded. "Well, that's pretty lucky either way, I won't complain." Miguel joked. Suddenly, Mina pushed me out of the way. "Hey… What is it?" I said.
She stayed silent and moved near the gate of the bridge. She saw something hanging by the handle of the gate: a school ID. "Wait… This is…"
Suddenly, a shout broke through the silent air. "Hey! You kids! Follow me!" Mina looked at who it was and motioned for us to follow. "I'm not a kid…" Mr. Tomas joked as he started running too. Miguel bolted off, while I tugged at Nico's hand to follow as we ran.
"Let go of my hand." He glared at my arm. I let go of his hand, panting as we still ran. I passed by the gate and looked back at Nico as I descended. He was looking at the ID that hung at the gate and wasn't looking forward, "Nico!" I shouted.
He looked at me and fell.
His eyes stayed glued to me as if time froze. He couldn't dare to look down. Then, he closed his eyes. A thud, then the sound of metal clanging. The sharp, metallic scream of the rebar came to a slow end as it rolled down each step.
"Nico!" I shouted at him. "Wake up!" His left eye opened as a streak of blood streamed down onto his right eye.
He didn't answer, or maybe I didn't hear him. My chest was pounding.
"Hey!" The voice from earlier shouted at me, but closer. I looked back and saw a woman in a ragged and bloody nurse's coat. "Get his legs! Let's go, now!" We ran to the other side of the bridge to cross over to the main building as I heard groaning sounds and a meandering crowd of footsteps following.
I looked back and saw blood on the steps of the bridge.
Then, I saw them.