Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Breakdown of Society
While Zane was scavenging for supplies in the cafeteria for the second time, the surviving members of his class were hiding elsewhere on school grounds. Those with any semblance of intelligence had fled to the school’s roof and barred the door from the outside.

Though they were exposed to the elements, it was better than being trapped in a school full of undead waiting for their miserable ends. Luckily for them, the night sky was clear, and a full moon was shining above. But this was not the primary source of illumination for these surviving students on this dreadful night.

Rather, the fires in the city’s background ensured that they had all the light they would need. Echoes of gunfire erupted every few minutes, along with the screams of those who suffered at the hands of the relentless hordes of undead which now infested the city, and perhaps even the entire world.

Lexi’s eyes were puffy, having clearly cried after sacrificing her best friend for her own safety. Or so she believed. After all, she was already gone by the time the homeroom teacher, one Miss Olivia Bennett, saved Elean from an attacking Walker.

Though Lexi felt bad about betraying her friend, it was less so remorse, and more of the fact that the boys in her class, or at least those survived, blamed her for Elena’s death. She was, after all, the one who caused Elena to be “eaten” by those dreadful monsters, and the crimson-haired beauty was without a doubt the most popular girl in school.

There were only a handful of students on the roof, twelve at the most. And a particularly handsome, and charismatic young man wearing a letterman jacket was currently in control. He and his fellow teammates from the high school’s varsity football team had assumed control.

Seizing whatever resources they managed to escape with, while sending the other boys, who were not as popular or fit, to go search the school grounds for more supplies. Lexi’s stomach felt like it was eating itself. She had never gone this long without eating before. But now she would literally do anything for some food, and some water, now that she thought about it.

While Lexi was crying in the corner about how hungry she was. Ryan, who was the captain of the football team, and the leader of this ragtag team of young adults, was watching the news on his phone, and witnessing a Speech made by the President of the United States, who was hiding in the Presidential Bunker.

The old man, who was well beyond the years of someone which one might consider reasonable for such an important position, struggled to get through a sentence as he proclaimed the continuation of the ongoing state of national martial law, and that the Government would be doing everything within its power to maintain law and order, despite the ongoing “riots.”

That’s right, despite this clearly being a global pandemic of some kind, the government refused to admit to this fact, and continued to assert that these were merely global riots that would be quelled in the coming days.

Of course, he ended his speech by once more affirming the need to stay indoors, and to barricade yourself inside any kind of shelter. Ryan, who had previously scoffed at Zane’s attempts to warn the class about the collapse of society, was now starting to believe that loner piece of shit was actually right.

Thus he scoffed, before turning off the broadcast, and proclaiming what he just heard to be a bunch of hogwash.

“Unbelievable! Are we really supposed to believe these are just spontaneous riots? We’ve seen what those things are, and what they are doing to people! This is just like that show…. About the animated corpses that eat people. What was it called again?”

The rest of the survivors either did not know what Ryan was talking about, or simply did not want to speak up while the young man was thinking. In the end, Ryan sighed and shook his head before stating their goal.

“Whatever, fuck the government, they’re nothing but useless anyway! If we’re going to survive this, then we need to form some kind of hierarchy. I nominate myself for the position of leader. Anybody disagree?”

Despite the fact that a form of hierarchy already existed among these students, Ryan decided to state it outright, simply to make it official. After all, the other boys, who were not his lackeys, were currently scouting the school grounds for food.

Either they returned with some much needed supplies, and earned a place in the group, or they died, and thus were no longer just another mouth to feed. Regardless of this, or perhaps because of it, nobody rose their hand in opposition to Ryan, and thus he smirked before officially declaring himself the leader of this group.

“Alright good, it’s settled then… I’m the leader from now on, and you all have to do what I say, alright?”

The group silently nodded their heads in agreement. Until Lexi’s cries from a nearby corner were overheard.

“I’m so hungry! Please, does anybody have any food to spare?”

The rest of the group glared at Lexi. As previously mentioned, they were all very displeased with her for sacrificing Elena for her own survival. Especially Ryan, who was now the official leader of this group. For years, Ryan had a crush on Elena. After all, she was the most beautiful girl in school, and as the Captain of the football team, he felt that he was the only one deserving of her attention.

But Elena had always rejected any attempts that Ryan made to get close to her, keeping him in the Friendzone. In fact, she did this to every boy who remotely tried to curry favor with her. For whatever the reason she remained single, in an age where everyone who could was getting themselves a boyfriend or girlfriend.

Because of this, Ryan was quick to raise his voice at the young woman while glaring daggers at her.

“Will you shut the fuck up? Your bitching is going to attract the dead!”

Lexi, however, was desperate for food, or at least mentally she was. Physically, she could go quite a bit longer without actually eating. But she did not have the willpower to resist the hunger. And thus, refused to shut up and instead begged Ryan for the bag of chips he had in his backpack.

“Please… I’m begging you, can I have just one chip? And a sip from your water bottle? That’s all I’m asking!”

Ryan, however, was reluctant to part with the only source of calories he had outside of a few power bars he had previously hidden from the group. And he was getting annoyed with Lexi’s crying, thus he was quick to shout at her once more.

“Fuck no! Until those losers come back, that is our only source of food! Fuck off!”

Seeing this as her chance to curry favor with their new leader, one of the other girls in the group wore a wicked smile as she posed an idea to Ryan that he found interesting.

“Ryan, our fearless leader. If she’s so hungry, then why don’t we put her to work? How about we send her out into the school to go scavenge for food like those nerds? She can keep a share of what she finds!”

Ryan and the other Jocks thought this was an amazing idea, and were quick to agree with the little vixen and her cruel proposal.

“That’s an excellent idea Stacy! Yes! That’s right, Lexi, as a punishment for betraying Elena, you will have to go out and scavenge for supplies like those useless fucking nerds! If you manage to bring some food and water back, we will happily let you keep a share for yourself, and welcome you back into the group with open arms!”

Lexi’s entire body trembled as she fell to the floor, no longer in control of her footing. She cried profusely and latched onto Ryan’s leg, begging him to spare her such a cruel fate. It had been hours since they sent the nerds out to get supplies, and nobody had heard a peep from them.

She feared more than anything that she would be eaten alive, like Elena had been. Or so she thought, and thus, she begged and begged, and while doing so, said something she probably shouldn’t have.

“Please Ryan! Don’t send me to die out there like the others! I’ll do anything!”

This remark caused Ryan’s brow to raise as a sinister thought appeared in his mind. It was the apocalypse, wasn’t it? I mean, Zane was a good for nothing loser, and was most likely already some chew toy for an undead monstrosity, but he was right. Society was collapsing, and anarchy would soon take place.

As the leader of this group, didn’t that give him the power to do whatever he wanted? With this in mind, Ryan reached out and grabbed hold of Lexi, lifting her to her feet, as his hands made their way up her shirt, and towards her mounds. He whispered something frightening into her ears, as he proposed an “alternative method” to gain access to what little food the group had.

“You will do anything? Well, Lexi… I think you and I can work out some form of agreement, that is, if you are willing?”

What happened next was something that only those on the rooftop bore witness to…

—

After his encounter with the Stalker, Zane had made his way to the cafeteria, where he filled another backpack full of supplies. The more food and water he could carry with him back to the nurse’s office, the better he would be.

Zane may have temporarily scared off the Stalker, but it was only a matter of time before the creature realized he was not a threat. And when that happened, he may not survive his next encounter. Thus, Zane was particularly cautious as he made his way back to the nurse’s office.

But throughout his journey, he only saw ordinary Walkers. Wherever the Stalker had absconded off to, Zane doubted it was still in the school. Or at the very least, it was no longer on the path he had taken. Eventually, Zane forced his way inside the nurses’ office.

First, by taking off the backpack and leaving it outside the door. And then by crawling through the narrow gap he had created earlier to prevent a Walker from getting inside. After doing this, he removed the barrier he had made and opened the door entirely to retrieve his bag.

Once Zane had done this, he once more barricaded the door to find that his former Homeroom teacher Miss Olivia Bennet, and his childhood friend Elena Pryce, both of which were sleeping on their own bed. In fact, Zane was quite exhausted himself. And the fact that the nurse’s office had so many beds inside of it was a major plus, because he honestly did not know when the next time he had an actual bed to sleep in would occur.

Thus, Zane laid down his bag next to his gun belt, and stripped out of his clothes until he was in his underpants, which was the way he commonly slept, before crawling into one of the empty beds, and passing out from exhaustion.

While the man’s eyes slowly closed, and his sight disappeared behind his eyelids, he thought of how it was about a fifty-fifty chance that he woke up the next day to see the light of day. After all, it was the end of the world, and anything could happen while he slept…

—

The Stalker had indeed fled the school to regroup and strategize. It had no idea what kind of being Zane was. On the one hand, the black-haired young man had the stench of death surrounding him, and he had mercilessly slain a member of the living. But… He looked like a member of the living.

Perhaps because it was a Tier IV undead, the Stalker was intelligent enough to understand that Zane was an anomaly, and because of this he presented an unknown level of threat to its existence.

Thus it had fled the school and went back to the opposite side of the street, where it once more scaled the building where Zane had first spotted it resting on. At the top of this building, the Stalker witnessed a peculiar sight.

The group of students comprising Ryan’s Gang, all of which were huddled together for warmth beneath the cold night sky. With a devilish grin on its face, and a lick of its lips, the Stalker effortlessly leaped across the gap between the two rooftops in an attempt to hunt some fresh meat.