Violet had never ran so hard in her life, everything in her body ached, every muscle screaming at her to stop. She clutched her phone so hard in her hand that she had to shove it into her pocket to stop herself from breaking the already smashed screen. The field was so quiet compared to the chaos she'd just left behind, all she could hear was her blood pumping in her ears and her feet hitting the damp grass as she ran. Instead of going through the glasshouses like they had when they made their way to the cemetery, she ran straight through the middle of the sports field actually hoping someone would see her this time, but nobody seemed to be about.
"Help!" she screamed out as she got close to the school building, "Help! We're all in danger!" but still nobody appeared. She sprinted over to the courtyard, not even a faraway torch light in sight, where were all the patrolling teachers? This wasn't normal, nobody ever lasted this long without getting caught out of the dorms. Something was wrong.
*
Laura was terrified, the rotting corpses got closer, she had no idea how she was going to protect herself, let alone get back to Maggie. Her back against the wall, praying for a gap to make a break for it. Closer and closer still, Laura felt like she couldn't breath, closer and closer yet. Their empty eyes stare her down, she reaches into her pocket and wraps her fingers around her protection charm. They stop, Laura looks around fearful of what might happen next, but they do nothing, only stare. She pulls her protection charm out of her pocket, and holds it out towards them. Some of them take strangled steps backwards. Laura nervously steps forward, they step back again, another then another. They don't reach out for her, only look as she makes her way through the crowd. She doesn't dare let out a breath, as if it alone could break the spell protecting her. Laura keeps going until she gets to the bench where Aaina and Maggie had been but they are nowhere in sight, have they fled? Laura looks around the scene of the crime, Maggie's blood still wet on the floor. She can feel the eyes of the dead burning into her skin, they haven't torn their eyes from her. Laura cautiously lets out a rattled breath.
"Laura, up here." Laura jumps. She looks over to her left, a tree branch sways. Getting closer she suddenly see's Maggie's feet come into view.
"Maggie, I've come to get you out of here!" she calls up, but Maggie shakes her head.
"No, no. I can't. I only just got up here in time," her voice trembles, "why aren't they hurting you?" Laura holds up her charm.
"My charm I made. You can't stay up here all night, you're hurt." The blood from Maggie's hand is dripping down the branch she's perched in. "Maggie please, if we hurry we can make it." Laura sees her take a deep breath before muttering okay. With a jump, Maggie hops down next to her, as she stands her body sways and Laura starts to panic, Maggie must be losing a lot of blood. Laura quickly glances at her hand, the bandage she had tied was now crimson red, she reaches out and steadies her.
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"Ready?" Laura asks.
"Ready." They put an arm around each other, Laura desperately trying to hold up the far smaller Maggie without lifting her from the ground.
"We'll have to go further to the left, to use the gate" Laura tells her, knowing Maggie isn't strong enough to climb the wall. Maggie becomes heavier on Laura's side, she tries to pick up the pace a little.
Laura's mind is going a million miles an hour, what is going on? She tries not to look up into the faces of the dead, but she can feel their eyes on her. They can't be evil, can they? Laura thinks. They were once alive just like everyone else, being dead doesn't turn you into a monster. Where has Aaina gone? What is she actually planning to do, Maggie must know but she is hardly in a state to be interrogated. Laura guides Maggie along the path, as the mass amount of holes from the open graves to fall into isn't worth the struggle to make the distance shorter. The gate is finally insight, it's huge looming metal doors that are usually kept shut have been pushed open. Looking around Laura realises that the dead are on the move again, straight out the gates.
*
Violet pulls back her arm, the rock she's holding tightly in her hand is launched through the window to one of the classrooms. Glass smashes everywhere, immediately an alarm begins to sound. Not enough, she thinks to herself. Carefully she climbs through the smashed window, glass crunching under her shoes and picks up the rock that she'd thrown. It's dark and hard to see, but finally she spies the small red box on the wall she's searching for. She holds up the rock again, and as hard as she can, hits it against the small square of glass. It smashes everywhere, reaching in she presses the small button and sounds the fire alarm. Now every student has to get out of bed, and go to the fire emergency meeting place outside the dorms. Violet jumps back out the window, away from the deafening alarms. Violet starts running again towards the dorms when something stops her. A dark feeling in her stomach, without doubting herself she scrambles into the shadows and hides behind a tree to look out. Around the corner comes Aaina, she's marching forwards with such a hungry look in her eye that nothing could ever fill it. Violet covers her mouth to stop herself letting out a yelp. Behind Aaina, are the walking corpses, following her to what seems to be the direction of the dorms. Aaina holts and the dead follow suit, she turns to them and says something but it can't be heard over the sirens. Aaina points in Violet's direction, and two of the dead start stumbling towards her direction. Violet's eyes feel like they're about to burst out of her skull, she stumbles backwards until her back hits the wall of the building behind her, smacking air back into her lungs. She makes a break for it through the smashed window, and blindly starts running through the empty halls. But she can hear them, they are coming.