Infection: Dying Days

In the middle of the gym floor, an hour after groups 1,2, and 4 left, me and two other people are sitting down at a plastic folding table. We're nearing the end of an intense poker game. 

"All in. Do you seriously think I can't beat you?"

Pushing over a can of peaches and a bag of snack-sized chocolate chip cookies, I tauntingly said and stared at my opponent with eyes filled with confidence. With this powerful hand, I'll take everything he's got!

"Pshh, yeah right. What makes you think you can beat me? I'm going all in on this one!"

As my opponent said this, he heroically pushed forth his precious can of peaches and untouched vanilla flavored protein bar.

What a brave man! But sadly, he's going down!

Believing in my hand, I concentrate on the dealer as they placed down the final card. The moment it touched the hard gym floor, me and my opponent show our hands.

"Four of a kind!" 

"Royal Flush!"

"Sh*t!"

Feeling distraught over how much I lost, I angrily said. I was so damn close! The protein bar! The cookie! All of it could've been mine!

"Desmond, don't be like that. I can't help that I have more luck than you. Here, if it makes you feel better, I'll give you my can of beans."

Wanting to show pity, Andy offered me his can of beans. I would've accepted Andy's offer but when I saw his smug face as he slowly pulled my chocolate chip cookies and can of peaches his way, I couldn't. I didn't want his losers pity!

"Tch, fat ass!"

"Hmph! I don't want to hear the ramblings of a sore loser... As for you, I'll give you the chocolate chip cookies."

Saying this, Andy turned his gaze towards Amanda (who was the dealer by the way) and tossed her the bag of cookies. Caught unawares because of the sudden toss, Amanda scrambles to catch the bag.

"Ah! Thank you!"

"No problem."

"Amanda, can you give me some? Y'know, sharing is caring."

Cuffing my hands towards Amanda, I shamelessly said. Witnessing this, Andy had a face covered with amazement.

"Wow, you're sad."

"I don't care! Those were the only bag of cookies I could find. So there's no way I'm giving those up."

For coming up with such a good plan, I decided to reward myself. So, I went towards the storage room. When I found out it was locked, I had to beg Big Sis to give me the keys since she was the one Mr. Braxton gave them too. Once I got access to the storage room, I searched through the food packages very hard looking for something sweet and found those cookies. It was like finding a ruby amongst a pile of rocks! Therefore, I'm not giving them up!

"Amanda, would you please give this poor boy some cookies!"

"S-since you put it that way, I don't mind sharing them with you."

"Thank you."

As expected of God's masterpiece, she's an angel!

"What are you guys doing?"

Turning my head to the right, I see Big Sis gazing at us with a bewildered expression. Getting up from off the floor, I stretch legs and say.

"Nothing. Just playing some poker. Did you get any news about them reaching the buses yet?"

"No. we're still waiting. Many of the students here are starting to get worried."

"Sigh, the only thing we can do now is wait. Until then do you wanna play some poker? It's not like we're going anywhere."

"Okay, I'm pretty good at it."

Grabbing a random chair not to far away from us, Big Sis takes a seat and we begin to play another round of poker.

====================

"Haah...haah...finally, we made it!"

Taking haggard breathes, I happily said as I stared at the large grey door that was the only obstacle between us and the buses. 

"Man, who would've thought that a walk that would usually take fifteen minutes ended up taking two hours!"

Marvin, the boy who I saved earlier said with a wry smile. Many of us here felt the same. Who would've thought that on our original path of making it here, we would encounter a mid sized group of infected feasting on the numerous dead bodies of our classmates. It was a gruesome and haunting scene. Seeing that group of infected was way too much for any of us to handle, we decided to take a large detour around them. 

Which was a good thing since the smell of the dead bodies drawn in the majority of the infected from the surrounding hallways, giving us a little bit of breathing room. However, I didn't let my guard down,I cautioned everyone to stay alert and proceeded to slowly head towards the bus garages.

And miraculously, two hours later, we arrived at the bus garage!

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go in."

A girl from group 2 suggested as she went to grab the door handle.

"Don't just open the door. What if there's an infected on the other side of the door? Let me open it."

Marvin cautioned while he grabbed her hand. Giving an awkward smile, the girl said.

"Ah, sorry. I got a little excited."

"Don't worry about it. Hey, Reginald, can you peak out the door while I open it a little to see if there's anything in there?"

Marvin asks as he grabs the door handle and gets ready to open. In reply to his question, I shake my head, walk towards him and say with a small smile.

"How about I crack open the door and you peek through it? It's much safer that way since your stronger than me."

In other words, if an infected is on the other side of the door, I won't be the one getting bit. He will. Which in my book is the safest way to handle this! 

"Alright, let's do that."

Oblivious to what I was thinking, Marvin solemnly agrees.

KCHACK!

With a low and almost inaudible sound, I opened the door a little. On the opposite of me, Marvin has his javelin in hand and is warily looking through the small opening of the door.

"Do you see anything?"

"No,the opening is too small. Open it a bit more."

"Okay."

Hearing his request, I opened the door a bit more.

"What about now?"

"The coast is clear. I don't see anything."

"Great!"

With Marvin's okay, I fully opened the door and let everyone go in. Once everybody was in, I quietly closed the door behind me. When I turned around, I surveyed the garage. It had all the standard equipment a mechanic shop would have, like the vast assortments of hand tools and the heavy duty vehicle lifts...I can confidently say that if this school wanted to, it could actually start it's own mechanic shop. That's how much money the school spent on this garage.

As for the buses,well, they're your stereotypical old yellow ones. Quite a disappointment considering this school should have some deep pockets.

"Does anybody know where the keys are?"

"I don't."

Somebody asks and another one answers. Leading everyone in the garage to quickly search around, except for Mr. Braxton. He enters one of the buses, sits in the driver's seat and plunders around for a little bit before showing us a set of keys in his hands.

"Keys are usually in the cupholders. If it's not there check the glove compartment."

"Are you one of the drivers?"

Not able to hide my curiosity, I asked.

"Yeah, I'm one of the drivers. Right along with Mr. Cole."

Shrugging his shoulders, Mr. Braxton replies as he puts the key to the bus in the ignition and turned it. This in turn, caused the engine to make a few sputter sounds before stopping.

Having on a solemn expression, Mr. Braxton exits the bus and pops open its hood. And the moment he did so, black smoke appeared. Causing many of us to put on faces filled with dread. That smoke could only mean one thing and one thing only.

One of our buses was out of commission!