TAZA

It was Chandler who first spotted the school first. He handed his binoculars over to Nico so that he could have a look himself.

“It looks like some sort of academy,” said Nico in surprise.

“All the way out there?” Seong said. “It’s miles from any town.”

“Probably some sort of fancy private school,” Chandler remarked. “Either way, with it being so remote, chances are good that no one else has hit it up yet.”

The group turned to look at Nico. Nico tried not to let his nervousness show as he considered the option to scope out the school. He’d become the group’s de facto leader since he was ex(?)Military, and generally tasked to keep the group alive, but he rarely felt up to the task. “We’ll do it this way. We’ll head that way and establish a temp camp some distance from the school. Then we’ll have a scouting party to go check out the school and make sure it’s clear. It could be overrun.”

Or worse, it could be inhabited by a hostile and territorial group. Live humans were just as dangerous as the dead ones.

Seong and Jae volunteered to scout (of course), but Chandler insisted on coming too. “I’m the one that spotted it,” he argued. “I should get first pick at it too!”

Nico knew that Chandler would just tail them if he made him stay back, so he grudgingly agreed. “Fine, but you’ll have to stay near one of us at any time. Like I said, we have no idea what’s in there.” Chandler muttered some snide comment that Nico didn’t bother to reply to.

Jae, who was the stealthiest and the quickest, took the point position. He entered the grounds first and frowned as the leaves under him crunched with every step. He hesitated, listening intently for the sounds of anything else moving through. He eyed the windows. Through some of the murky windows he noted a few dark shapes moving sluggishly. There were probably still some zombies trapped in the corridors. Jae signaled the rest of the group to move forward.

“It seems fairly quiet, but there’s definitely some Z’s moving around.” Jae said. “Let’s try the door.”

Always have people at the windows. It’s smart right? So it didn’t take long for the inhabitants of this school to catch figures moving towards their beloved safe haven. Whispers so quiet you had to have your ear centimeters away from the lips.

“Something’s coming.”
“Too quick, gotta be the living.”
“Warn the Wardens.”

Moving carefully to not be spotted, the members spread the message across.

Holly Paige was aware before the message reached her. The alarms they’d set (which were just leaves and twigs) let her know of that much. She moved quickly, ducking under windows to avoid being spotted. She reached the geography classroom, where a blond boy sat talking to other members.

“We have company.”
“Undead?”
“Worse, adults.”

The other students murmured.

“Defense formation,” the blonde boy said firmly. Just like that, everyone scattered.

“Get Victoria, I’m heading to the main door.”
“Holly-! No!”
“I’ll be ok, Alistair! Just be fast.”

Alistair couldn’t argue, because Holly was already out the classroom door.

They’d practiced a million times. There was no way it could fail. Yet Alistair couldn’t help getting nervous as he sprinted to the chemistry labs.

We’ve had drills, everyone knows their positions, Holly will be fine.

He repeated this in his head over and over as he pushed open the door and found a girl with a neutral yet concentrated expression mixing chemicals. She had brown eyes and black hair in a ponytail. Despite her uniform being bloodstained and stained with dirt, she still looked proper.

“Intruders," he breathed.

The girl calmly set down the beaker in her hand and turned off the burner she was using. She stood up and pushed vials in her book bag, grabbing her crowbar.

“Let’s go before Holly does something rash.”

Jae paused. He felt suddenly apprehensive about what was behind the door. It was improbable, but he swore he could have heard the faint rustling sound of something or someone moving quickly within. He looked back at Nico.

Nico nodded at him and took up a ready position with his gun pointed at the door. “Don’t knock it this time. We have no idea how many could be in there,” he said. Chandler scurried behind him, but Seong took up a position slightly to the side of the door.

Jae slung his crossbow over his shoulder and drew his hunting knife instead. He tested the door to see if it was locked (it wasn’t, fortunately), and pushed it open as quietly as he could.

He was immediately met with a girl whirling into position in front of him with a chainsaw pointed some distance from his chin.

“Checkmate. Drop the knife and get lost,” said the girl. She had orangey hair tied into low ponytails, her blazer tied around her waist and a very bloody chainsaw.

The group froze immediately. Of all the things in the world to expect, pretty much the last thing Jae would have expected was to be greeted by the business end of a very gorey chainsaw. He stepped back, slipping somewhat on the copious amount of leaves scattered on the doorstep.

“Freeze!” Nico called out, careful to keep his voice authoritative without yelling (and possibly alerting nearby undead). He raised his gun but hesitated somewhat when he realized the person holding the chainsaw was a schoolgirl, most likely a high schooler. “Do not turn that on.”

“Nice chainsaw,” Seong said cheerily.

Chandler peeked around Nico. His eyes went wide at the sight of Holly with the chainsaw. “That’s… fuckin sweet,” he breathed.

“Don’t tell me what to do old man!! And freeze!? What are you a cop?” Holly narrowed her eyes. Her voice shook a little, her gaze falling on the gun. If something happened, could she disarm him in time before anyone died? When the guy with the gun told her to let them keep the knife, she scoffed.

Seong snickered lightly as Holly asked if Nico was a cop. To be fair, shouting at someone to freeze was pretty cop-like.

Nico shot Seong a sharp look then quickly snapped his gaze back to the girl in the doorway. “We don’t want trouble any more than you do. Let my friend there keep his knife and he’ll back up. We just wanted to look around for supplies.”

“Yeah sure... you’re not the first group who’s said that. We ended up with two dead last time," her voice was bitter.

Her eyes then switched to…another teen? He had a huge backpack on and Holly made a disgusted face.

“They’re making you carry all their stuff!? If society still existed I’d say that’s child labor," she glared at Nico and Jae before turning back to Chandler. “Blink twice if you need help.”

“As if,” Chandler snorted. He patted his backpack fondly like a pet. “This is all my stuff, dude. I get to keep most everything I find. Except the food.” Not that he didn’t have his own secret stash in that massive backpack. “I got everything anyone could ever need in this bad boy.”

Jae, who was still the closest to Holly, and uncomfortably close to the chainsaw, took another careful step backwards, raising his hands up peacefully as he did so. “I’m just going to put my knife away,” he said calmly, as he slowly moved to do so.

“You might have a chainsaw, but you’re all alone right now. Why don’t you listen to the big guy with the big gun?” Seong snarked. She twirled her machete impatiently. “Even if you’ve got buddies, your odds aren’t looking too swell right now.”

“All alone?” Buddies?” Now it was Holly’s turn to chuckle. “Believe what you wanna believe.”

A group of four students walked into the hallway from the left and right, drawing back bowstrings.

“They are in the archery club, and uh, they don’t miss. And there are more on the way.” Holly kept twirling the chainsaw string in her fingers. There was no way they could lose, right? If she died or got shot that’s less ammo for them, plus the football players had their spears-

“HOLLY!!”

Alistair and Victoria arrived at the scene, with Alistair motioning for the archers to lower their weapons.

“What’s going on here,” he asked her.

“They’re threatening us," Holly scowled.

Alistair made his way towards Holly, taking a stand next to her. Slung on his shoulder was his bow and quiver. In his hand, was a musket. “Why are you here?" he asked level-headedly. It seemed like Alistair was the low tempered one.

“No one’s threatening anyone,” Nico protested, shooting Seong a glare to shut up. She did, but mostly because four bows leveled at them in close range was a pretty nasty threat, even if Nico had his AR.

“We were just checking things out,” Nico calmly. Despite the weapons pointed at them, he kept his at the ready… just in case. Though they were now the outnumbered ones, technically they still had the upper hand with firepower with his AR. The musket was … interesting. He wondered if it was actually capable of firing. “Like I said to your friend before, we were just hoping to find supplies. We didn’t know anyone was here. If you let us go peacefully, we’ll leave you well alone.”

Jae had backed up out of the immediate range of the chainsaw by now but unfortunately he was still well within range of the bows.

“Are you guys all kids?” Chandler asked curiously. 

 “Supplies,” Alistair repeated. He listened to Nico and nodded. Then turned his attention to Chandler. 

Holly answered for him. “Yeah we are. Too many adults have tried to take advantage. We’re up to here with it," she scowled, turning to Alistair. “Which is why I’m having a hard time believing they’ll back off. How do we know they’re telling the truth? How do we know they won’t come back?," she demanded.

Alistair sighed, Holly was right. This wasn’t the first time someone promised false peace and good tidings.

He looked at Nico.

“We’re willing to trade.”

“Alistair!!" Holly complained.

Victoria watched idly behind Alistair.

“Holly, if we give them what they want they’ll more likely leave us alone.” He turned back expectantly towards the trespassers, eyeing Nico’s gun. “Well?”

The trade offer caught their attention. They might have been short on food, but Chandler had a plethora of other supplies that the kids (if they had been trapped this whole time in a school) might be interested in. 

Chandler, sensing the threat to his stockpile, whined. “Now I see why you let me come around. This is my stuff!” 

“We had no idea anyone was here,” Jae rebutted. “You’re the one who carries that bag everywhere you go.” 

Nico noted Alistair eying his gun. He lowered it. “I’m not giving a gun like this to a bunch of kids. Even if you’ve survived yourself up to now.” Nico said. “But we –well, mostly Chandler– have other things we can trade.” He shot Chandler a stern look. 

“Fine,” Chandler huffed. “But you guys better have some good shit. Where are we going to do this? I need room to unpack this baby.” 

Alistair gave Holly a look and she groaned, lowering the chainsaw.

“This is a horrible idea.”

“We can go to the geography classroom, it’s where we make the bigger decisions," Alistair suggested.

“Alistair!" Holly shouted. “That’s too far in the school!”

“If they try anything they’ll be surrounded anyway,” he responded, then motioned for Chandler to follow. “Come on.”

He led them through mud and blood stained halls. Writings on the wall, marker graffiti and dead bodies were strewn around the place. Some kids were dragging the bodies and throwing them out windows, but most stared at the group with worry and paranoia.

As they made their way through the school, the group couldn’t help looking around curiously. Jae personally felt uncomfortable going so deeply into the territory of a group that they’d just encountered, especially one this big. It didn’t matter that they were all teens. One had just pointed a freaking chainsaw at him. 

Upon entering the geography classroom, desks had been pushed together to make a big table, and Alistair motioned for Chandler to enter.

“You,” Holly pointed her finger to the rest of the group. “Can’t come in. Only he can because he has the goods.” She turned to Victoria.

“Watch them.”

“Okay.”

Holly walked into the classroom and shut the door. Victoria stared at the rest of the group with a blank expression, crowbar resting in her hands.

Nico was a little hesitant letting Chandler into the room by himself. He felt quite certain the sly and selfish Chandler would have no problems negotiating a fair trade, but Nico didn’t know if they could trust them not to hurt him. There was nothing stopping them from just straight up killing Chandler and taking his loot free of charge. 

Seong turned to look at Victoria and her crowbar. “I used to have one of those too,” she commented casually. “Man, how do you guys live here with all these dead bodies stinking up the place?”

 “We do our best to clear them out," Victoria responded. Also janitorial products help a lot”

She nodded her head. “As for this, it’s all I could find, it’s lighter than a bat so I prefer using it. Normally I am within the chemistry lab.”

“That’s the one genre I’m pretty sure Chandler doesn’t have,” Seong snorted. “No use for bleach on the road. I’m Seong, by the way. What’s your name?” 

Nico eyed Seong. Making friends was a good idea. The kids here seemed to be more friendly towards those that looked closer to their age. Of the ones left outside, Seong was definitely closest to them. 

Back in the room, Alistair propped his hands on the table.

“We can offer rations, a wide assortment of weapons, hygienic products, and medical supplies. Armor too, if that’s your thing, but we don’t have much of it," Alistair offered.

Chandler had put his bag by the table and was having a quick rummage to refresh his memory of the contents. “Rations and weapons, huh? Those are good. We don’t need armor though. At least, not for our heavy hitters.” He peered into his bag.“Let’s see. I’ve got medicines in here – heavy duty shit, real antibiotics, prescription level painkillers, and–” he squinted at the bottle. “Birth control,” he grinned. “I’ve got a pretty decent stash of this shit–” Chandler scooped out a bunch of cans of dry shampoos, deodorants and… “check this out– no rinse body wash. Cool, eh? Hit up an REI one time, almost didn’t make it out alive. I’ve got some snacks, nutrient tabs, chocolate–” he dumped it out onto the table. “Rope…useful for everything, zip-ties, great for making impromptu shelters– solar power banks, multitools… and – nothing else is for trade.”  

Medicine and hygienic products, both extremely tempting. Alistair nodded as he considered his options.

“The solar power banks could light up the place," Holly murmured. “Would help the computer kids set up those electronic traps they keep mentioning.”

Alistair had to step up his game. “Rations? We’ve got instant noodles, canned food, water, and a garden but that’s a work in progress. As for weapons, we’ve got bows, spears, bats, and our Crown Jewels, made by Victoria," Alistair placed vials on the table. “Acidic and incendiary. Throw these at an undead and they’re gone. Brought to you by the stuff in the lab. We’ve also got gasoline we stole from cars in the lot. And a working car we found the keys to but that’s not up for trade, nor is it here anyway.”

Chandler’s eyes lit up with a gleam seeing the vials. “Now that is interesting.” As much fun as the acidic ones sounded, the incendiary vials were probably more useful overall. “You guys make those?” 

“Don’t want it anyway, there’s thousands of cars abandoned on the highways,” Chandler said. And they were filled with gas that could be siphoned. As tempting as the gas was, it would just end up being a fire hazard overall. He rubbed his hands. 

“So out of your offerings, I’m willing to go for rations– the canned stuff preferably and those incendiary vials.” He shuffled his own wares around, rearranging them to hopefully make them more tempting to the others. “But would you want in return?” Chandler had a few more bits and bobs in his bags, but mostly outdoor survival kits and navigational materials. If these kids were settled in, they probably weren’t too keen on those other things. 

Alistair nodded satisfactorily. No medicine to be traded? Good. “Yeah the rations are in the cafeteria and as for the vials they’re in the lab, we’ll take you to them,” he nodded. “Victoria will distribute.”

He watched Chandler arrange his goods and Alistair weighed his option, but his mind had been set on something else a while ago.

“While we might take some of those hygienic products-“

“-and solar power banks," Holly added. Alistair ignored her interruption. 

“I actually have something else in mind. A favor, and don’t worry it has nothing to do with your supplies," the boy had his arms crossed, a serious expression. Even Holly looked at him with anticipation. 

“A favor,” Chandler repeated. He stared at Alistair as he considered what favors one would even ask in a post-apocalyptic world. On one hand, the only real favors anyone asked of others was a nigh impossible task, like fetching rare supplies from a dangerous locale, but on the other hand, being able to keep more of his own stash. “Well I don’t speak for the grown ups, but if it's reasonable, we maybe can consider it. What did you have in mind?” 

 “My name is Victoria Leigh. I’m in charge of mending wounds and making chemical weapons," she responded. Victoria seemed to be either reserved or genuinely not very talkative. She herself hadn’t asked any questions. Very much a speak if spoken to kind of gal.

“Chemical weapons?” Nico said, with some concern. Chemical warfare? At a school? “To use on the walkers?” 

Seong’s eyes lit up with excitement. “What kind?”

“That’s correct," Victoria nodded. “I’m the only one who can make them. I use the chemicals in the lab.”

She turned to Seong. “Acidic and incendiary," she answered. “If I plan to use the flammable vials in a closed space I carry a fire blanket.”

Alistair felt slightly relieved. Chandler would hear him out. He moved towards the window, pointing to a neighboring building.

“See that building? It’s our dormitory. We’ve cleared out most of it but there are still zombies around and our main scouts aren’t here. We also have students recovering from our last..um..encounter,” Alistair said as he paced. “We’d like to ask your group if they can help us finish clearing it out.”

Holly’s eyes lit up. So that was Alistair’s game! Those dorms were important to clear out. None of the students have raided it yet because of the hidden zombies.

“So, will you help?” Alistair asked, leaning against a wall.

Chandler looked. From there he could see a few figures shuffling around in the windows. He shuddered slightly as he realized that in this setting, most of those zombies would probably be kids his age. “Killing zombies? Our group’s pretty decent at that, but you’d have to talk to Nico about that. He’s the one in charge.”

Chandler gestured at the door. “Want me to go get him?”

Holly and Alistair exchanged looks. Alistair sighed.

“Let him in," he averted his eyes from Holly who glared at him.

She got closer to him and whispered how it was a horrible idea and that he could shoot them both and now they know where the food and vials are.

“Listen I know the risk and I know it’s a huge gamble but high risk high reward right? Imagine taking the dorms back," he countered. Holly couldn’t argue, if the group actually respected their word and helped them clear out the dorms, it’d be a huge asset, maybe even game changing.

“Yeah whatever let him in,” Holly muttered as she rolled her eyes.

Chandler scoffed. Don’t know why she was so paranoid. She was the one with a chainsaw. Chandler popped open the door and stuck his head out. “Hey Nico–” Chandler suddenly realized they had never exchanged names. “This guy wants to talk to you about something. Come on in.”

Both Jae and Seong also started to follow him in. 

Holly stiffened when the whole group walked in but she decided to stay quiet, since Victoria had followed them in.

“Alright, your, uh, ally has agreed on the goods we will be giving you all which are rations and incendiary vials.” Alistair twirled the vial he’d previously shown Chandler. “These set zombies on fire like that” He snapped his fingers at the word ‘that’. Victoria nodded behind the visiting group, as if she’d been expecting this.

“In exchange,” Alistair moved towards the window again. “We’d like for all of you to help us finish clearing out these dorms.”

Victoria didn’t smile, but her eyes gleamed. She liked that Alistair had thought to ask for help, even including the risks.

Nico gave Chandler a look. By now he had returned his main gun to its stowed position behind his shoulder. “So you want to barter for our services rather than trade supplies? We’re willing to try, but before I can risk the lives of my group, I think we’ll need a bit more information about the scope of that task. Let’s talk.”

Nico held out his hand to Alistair. Even if he was a kid, he was clearly the leader of this band. “I’m First Lieutenant Nicholas Honma. You can call me Nico. These are Seong, Jae, and you’ve met Chandler.” He gestured to each as he introduced them. 

 Alistair nodded. That was fair. He took Nico’s hand.

“My name is Alistair Cole, former heir of my family name. The aggressive girl with the chainsaw is Holly Paige”-Holly stuck out her tongue at him when he introduced him-“and that’s Victoria Leigh, our medic and chemist.”

Victoria gave them a small nod and raised her hand in a wave.

“As for the dorms, we’re having trouble because our more versatile fighters are busy. The cheerleaders have taken our only vehicle to look for supplies and the football players were too exhausted to finish killing all of the infected," he explained. “Holly, Victoria and I would go but the dorms are big and there’s a lot of places for rogue zombies to hide. Whether it be a bedroom or the bathrooms.” Alistair bit the nail of his thumb, he really hoped the other group wouldn’t back down.

“The numbers of zombies in there were definitely significantly brought down," Victoria finally spoke up. “I don’t think it’s too risky if we all of us in this room go.”

Nico considered it. “If it’s overrun, Chandler’s staying somewhere safe. He’s too easily distracted, and not much of a fighter either. We’re just the forward scouts of our group. I can bring in more – and better equipped– fighters if you’re willing to let us in. How big are the dorms? Do you have any idea of numbers… what was the population of your school body before?”

Jae gave Nico a look. “Slow down there, Nico. This isn’t the military.” 

“Chandler can stay with the kids in the cafeteria it’s where most kids lounge around, the infirmary if he wants to lay down, or he can hang out with the gardening kids since they’re pretty docile,” Alistair answered. “As for the prior student body population, 2000, our group is made up of 122 survivors.”

“Our group used to be 150, but there were incidents the first weeks,” Holly frowned, leaning her head on her knee.

“The dorms are four stories,” Victoria added. “About 400 rooms if I’m correct since the students roomed with each other, but most were escorted here everyday.”

Nico was astonished. “So you’re telling me there could be well over a thousand undead in those dorms? That’s a hell of a task to do with a group this small.” He looked around the room. “Especially not in one day.” 

“I’m down,” said Seong brightly. 

Alistair shook his head.

“More than a thousand no, I assure you. Most of the zombies were in the school when the epidemic reached us. But I can’t assure you the number is below at least 500," he sighed.

“Doesn’t have to be in one day," Victoria nodded. “I could make accommodations in the infirmary once you get too tired.”

“Not to be rude or anything, but you’re military right? Aren’t you guys supposed to go on for weeks? At least that’s what’s world history teacher told my class," Holly scratched her head.

Seong burst into laughing at Holly’s comment, causing Nico to give her an exasperated look. “Okay kiddo…” he said. “While I appreciate your history teacher’s estimation of our military forces, the rest of these guys aren’t military. And even a disciplined military force would be hard pressed to fight endlessly against waves of hostile that don’t need sleep or nourishment.” 

“Five hundred … is still considerable, but I think if the corridors are narrow, it’ll be doable. My main group is camped not far from here. Since clearing out the dorms is going to be a multiple day mission, I’d need to go back and let them know, and gather some supplies, weapons, and fighters. Chandler and I will do that, and in the meanwhile, I think it's best if you take Seong and Jae to scout out the dorms; that way they can give me their opinions about whether this task is worth the risk.” 

Jae looked at Nico. He could tell from his determined expression that Nico had already decided to go on with the task for the sake of helping the kids, even if the risk was very high.

Alistair gave a relieved smile.

“Thank you, this is a big help,” he nodded before turning to Victoria. “Well everyone, they mean no harm for now. Holly, escort the visitors to the door and Jae and Seong to the dorms.”

“Aye aye captain," she said with sarcasm and Alistair smacked her arm lightly with the back of his hand with an annoyed grin, Holly just snickered and picked up the pace towards the new group.

“Well? Follow me out," she pushed open the door.

The students practically hung their breath when Victoria broke the news.

“Without the cheerleaders?”

“One of the dudes is military, he’ll be like those guys in the movies!”

“You’re such a dork.”

All excited and nervous murmurs about the new settlement, students swarmed Victoria and Alistair with questions.