"What the hell do you think you are doing, man? You can't smack our teacher like that! What the fuck is wrong with you?"
These were the words that Gregory spoke before making the worst mistake of his young life. The young boy, perhaps no older than sixteen, had dared to shove Zane after the black-haired youth had bitch slapped his teacher for making a huge mistake, one that could easily cost the group their lives.
Already things were spiraling out of Zane's control. There were more mouths to feed, and unlike Elena and Olivia, these mooches did not have the abilities to fight by his side, or carry his burdens. Worse yet, one of these fools had immediately challenged Zane's authority in this situation.
Nobody knew what thoughts went through Zane's head, or how quickly they had flashed by, but almost immediately after Zane took a step back from Gregory's shove, he did the unthinkable. Raising his bat in the air and swinging as hard as he could down on the teenage boy's skull. Killing the boy in an instant, as his head caved open, spilling blood and brain matter onto the floor.
Zane had struck just in time for Elena to come down the stairs and witness the event. Yet he did not stop with a single strike, as if he were venting years of repressed rage in a single moment Zane struck the deceased boy's skull again, and again, and again, before finally kicking what remained of it. After which he spat on the corpse, before turning his vicious gaze over to the other survivors.
While swinging the bat so that it rested on his shoulder, Zane pushed the bangs out of his eyes that were as dark as the abyss, but somehow lit aflame with a sudden rage as he spoke his thoughts aloud in a tone so chilling all who bore witness could have sworn the temperature in the building dropped a solid twenty degrees.
"Does anyone else have any opinion on how I conduct things around here?"
Neither Olivia nor the students she had saved made a comment. They were scared so shitless; they didn't even notice the screams coming from outside the doors of the building, as the survivors were torn apart by the Walkers that surrounded the campus grounds.
Instead, they were attracted by the blood dripping from the makeshift war club, which coated the steel bands like a sanguine paint job. Even Elena was absolutely stunned by the sudden outburst of anger that Zane had shone in that moment.
And as silence prevailed for several seconds without anyone daring to even take a breath, Zane himself sighed heavily before grabbing hold of Gregory's corpse. The same emotionless expression he was so well known for had replaced the sudden and violent outburst of emotion, almost as if it had never occurred in the first place.
In fact, the only evidence that Zane had lost control of his repressed rage, was the pool of blood that lie where Gregory's corpse fell, along with the streak which followed it, as Zane dragged the body up the stairs and to the rooftop where he intended to dispose of his newest victim.
But just as he was about to turn the corner on the staircase, he looked down at Olivia, Elena, and the other survivors, who still stood frozen in fear. It was then that he issued a warning to them all about the dire circumstances that they now found themselves in.
"Nobody goes in or out of this building… Make yourselves comfortable, because you are now under my roof."
Once Zane had turned the corner, and disappeared from sight, Elena sighed a deep breath of relief, before comforting Olivia, who had fallen to her knees in terror over what she had just seen. The woman struggled to contain her overwhelming emotions as her own student hugged her on the spot.
"That could have been me…. Gregory died because of me!"
Olivia immediately burst out into tears, overwhelmed by fear and guilt, as Elena struggled to comprehend what had caused Zane to suddenly snap. In fact, she immediately interrogated the others, who revealed that Gregory had shoved Zane immediately after the man had slapped the shit out of Olivia for saving them.
Elena was of course not a mind reader. She did not know what Zane was thinking, why he had reacted so violently. But she knew the guy well enough to know that right now he needed his space. And thus, she simply did all she could to help Olivia and the others overcome their current sense of dread.
--
Zane sat in a classroom looking out the window out at the main building, by now all of those classrooms which had been boarded up for the past 48 hours were no doubt broken into by the giant undead once known as Keith, and the Stalker who appeared to be organizing this whole affair.
His hands were covered in blood, and laying next to the desk he sat at was the bloodstained club which he had used to kill Gregory not long ago. But rather than actually clean himself off, Zane found himself doing something peculiar.
In his hands was a book, taken from the personal library of the teacher who once ran this classroom. It was that was not exactly something one would normally find in a high school. But, the history teacher who used to operate out of this classroom was a peculiar man. One who Zane had some respect for, if not simply because of the passion which the man spoke of his subject.
Zane turned the page and pressed his bloody finger against a specific quote in the text. One which he was intimately familiar with after reading this novel several times during his former history teacher's lecture. The passage perfectly exemplified the actions which he had just taken, and the mindset behind them.
"If an injury has to be done to a man, it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared."
A bloody fingerprint was left behind, obscuring the passage in a menacing way as Zane shut the book and left it lying on the desk. He then stood up from his desk without saying a word and grabbed his bat before scaling down the stairs.
Where he once more witnessed the Stalker gazing up at him from the grounds below. With a slight nod of his head, Zane turned his attention back towards the new survivors that he was now forced to look after.
How long he could live like this? Nobody knew, but Zane would do his damndest to survive this troubling times, because at this point in his life, survival was all he knew….
While Zane was establishing dominance over his new group of survivors. Ryan was plotting against he Gym Teacher. The time had finally arrived. Rations were low, extremely low. To the point here they could no longer sustain the population with the variety of vending machines inside the locked gymnasium.
And as the man in charge of this group of survivors, Mr. Diaz felt the need to go fetch food, water, and perhaps even medical supplies. Unfortunately for him, all of the teachers he had sent to go get these things failed to return. Meaning that Mr. Diaz was out of options.
Although he himself was the leader of this group of survivors, he was the last real adult standing. And it was because of this he felt apprehension towards going out personally to fetch supplies. But at the same time, he would never put his students in any form of danger.
Because of this Mr. Diaz was at an impasse. And it was at this moment that a little snake in the grass came to whisper poison into his ears.
"Mr. Diaz, do you have a moment?"
The student was of course none other than Ryan, the former team captain of the High School's varsity football team. It was because of this, that Mr. Diaz had a favorable impression of the student, and broke out into a smile when he saw the young man.
"Ryan… Sorry, I was just thinking about some important matters. What can I help you with?"
Knowing that this was his chance to push the Gym teacher into a suicide mission, Ryan began to speak in an almost anxious tone. It was clear that this was nothing more than a façade, but nonetheless Mr. Diaz bought into it hook line and sinker.
"We have a problem.. Several of the students have begun to fight over what remains of our rations. I think if we don't get more food and water soon, things might get bad… Real bad… I heard from the others that you already sent out the other teachers in advance to go fetch supplies. But if they haven't returned yet, I fear that they are already… Well you know…"
It had indeed been far too long since Mr. Diaz sent out the other students, and it was because of this that he had already begun to suspect that they were killed by those monsters…. This was also one of the major reasons he feared going out to fetch supplies.
But he also knew he could no longer sit idly by and wait for his students to turn on each other. Thus with a heavy sigh, the man stood up, knowing what had to be done.
"Alright… I understand… I'll go get what we need… In the meantime, I want you to keep an eye on things around here for me. You're the only one here with any real experience leading others, and the kids look up to you. Can you promise to keep things under control until I return?"
However, shockingly Ryan did not agree with this sentiment, and was quick to insist on going with Mr. Diaz on his quest to fetch some much needed supplies.
"No can do, Coach. You need at least one other person to help you carry supplies! I'm going with you whether you like it or not, besides I know the danger that those things present, after all, me and the others survived for some time before making our way here to safety!"
As much as Mr. Diaz wanted Ryan to maintain order while he was gone, he also understood the young man's argument. And was actually quite convinced by it. Because of this he sighed heavily and placed his hand on Ryan's shoulder, accepting his young man as his companion on this dangerous journey that they both must undertake for the good of the others.
"Alright… But just make sure to keep yourself safe. If something happens to me, you must go on and get those supplies, no matte what. Don't you dare try to do something foolish like try to save me. As long as one of us make it back to the gymnasium with supplies, then the others have a much better chance at surviving."
Ryan protested this statement, not because he was opposed to the teacher's command, but rather because he wanted to appear as if he had good intentions.
"No way! I'm not leaving you behind, Coach! That's not how I do things, if you're in trouble I will help you, even if I have to carry you back to the gym myself!"
After hearing this, Mr. Diaz was shocked, and wore a bitter smile, accepting Ryan's pledge to aid him, despite it being detrimental towards their goal. Or at least it appeared that he did, because he did not outright reject Ryan's "promise".
"You're a good kid, Ryan… Alright that's enough sentimental bullshit, let's go fetch some supplies. By the way, I think you should trade in the table leg for something a bit more ideal don't you think?"
The teacher then reached towards a bin where he pulled out two aluminum baseball bats which were previously used by the high school baseball team. Mr. Diaz handed one to Ryan with a stern expression on his face.
"We're going to need to protect ourselves from those things… Unfortunately, these are the only things I can think of that might be able to help us. You sure you can handle it?"
Ryan grabbed hold of the baseball bat, and took a test swing. It was light weight, extremely light. Almost like a feather, clearly the school had paid a lot to acquire one of the best bats on the market. Knowing how fast he could swing the thing, and the fact that it was made out of metal, Ryan truly believed he would be able to deal some serious damage with this aluminum bat. And thus smiled as he confirmed he could indeed handle the weapon.
"No problem, Coach!"
With this said, Ryan and Mr. Diaz had begun the first steps of their plan to scavenge supplies for the good of their group. All the while, the Gym teacher remained entirely unaware that his companion intended to do him harm.
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