Infection: Dying Days

Although, Desmond left the kitchen...

AHH!

The infected he set of fire continued to roam. Some even caught other infected on fire as they brushed past each other. 

But they didn't care, they couldn't feel it anyway. The only thing on their mind was to find their next meal, which was human flesh!

However, despite them not being able to feel anything, they still dropped like flies. 

"Aa..gh!"

One infected in particular, dropped dead next to the table Desmond and Faith were previously on and knocked the blow torch to the floor, causing it to roll extremely close to a batch of flames.

Due to Desmond thinking that the sprinklers would activate the moment the flames got to high, he didn't bother to take it with him. 

' It's not very useful other than setting infected on fire.' 

Is what he thought.

But how could've he known that the day before yesterday, due to a lunch lady noticing a leaking sprinkler, that the school would disconnected the cafeteria's sprinkler system in order to replace it with a new one?

Who would've though that this unintentional oversight would cause the entire Pelican Soar Academy to become nothing but cinders?

=========

"Ugh, despite the principal saying how clean this school is, it's really dirty in here. All this dust is killing me."

I grumbled as I slowly fumbled through the ventilation shafts. 

I've been crawling around in here for about ten minutes now and I must say, it hasn't been easy. It's tight, uncomfortable and awkward trying to make turns in here. 

I honestly can't understand how spies in the movies crawl through these things. They have my respect.

What makes this two times harder is that I'm doing this in pitch black darkness!

I can't see anything! Not even the hands in front of me.

But despite me temporarily losing my eyesight, I can hear. 

And I hear everything.

I can hear the muffled m.o.a.ns of the infected below me as they walk around in a daze, searching for their next meal and I can hear the small squeaks and movements of rats as they run around in here trying to find food.

Hearing all these noises combined with the pitch black darkness I'm currently in, It's a little unsettling.

It would be a great time to have a phone right now. Why did I have to sacrifice mine? So stupid! 

"I wonder how Marco's doing?"

Too keep my mind off the tragic loss of my smartphone, I asked myself this question.

As for who Marco is, he's my pet dog, a German Shepherd. I've had him since I was nine, dad gave him to me.

And knowing how Marco is, he's probably hiding somewhere in the house, ready to attack any unsuspecting intruders.

"...Or he's probably still playing with his newly bought chew toy."

Sad to say it, I wouldn't put it past him. 

Last week, I bought him a brand new chew toy in the shape of a ham because his old one finally broke and he's been playing with it ever since. No matter whether it's breakfast, lunch, or dinner, he's always chewing on it. I think he loves it even more than his last one. 

I know I should be happy considering that he likes the new chew toy but under these circ.u.mstances, I'm filled with worry.

I don't know if those infected like any other type of meat that's not human. What if they take a liking to Marco and try to eat him? Although, he's received training to be sn attack and patrol dog, he can't stop anything that has no response to pain. If the infected wanted, they could grab him with their inhuman strength and make a quick meal out of him.

Marco...

"When I get out of here I'll need to go check up on him. Hopefully, Faith didn't let me down and managed to get help. I'll need their help to get out of...here."

Putting my crawling to a stop , I just realized a problem.

How do I tell them I'm up here crawling in the ventilation shafts? Don't they think I'm still in the cafeteria kitchen!

Oh no! Why didn't I think about this earlier? I could've left a message or something to tell them I was safe.

Sigh, what shou-

BOOM!

"What was tha-"

BOOM!

RUMBLE!

"Hot! Hot! Hot!"

After hearing two loud booms, the latter one followed by an aftershock come from behind me, a gust extremely hot of wind suddenly brushed against my half n.a.k.e.d body.

And that sh*t was hot!...I think I lost a few more leg hairs.

"Whatever that explosion was, I'm glad I'm not near…"

CREAK!

"...it?"

I just felt the section of ventilation shaft I was on give way a little.

CREAK!

…Oh no!

"No, no, no!"

With the fastest speed I could crawl at, I try to move off the collapsing section of ventilation.

CREA~K! POP!

But alas, I wasn't fast enough...

"F*ck!"

Feeling a momentary sense of weightlessness, I, along with part of the ventilation shaft crash through the ceiling and fall to the floor.

CRASH!

"!!?"

The moment I hit the floor, all the air in my c.h.e.s.t was pushed out. That fall knocked the wind out of me! I can't breathe.

While gasping for air, I slowly crawl out of the ventilation shaft.

"Aah!"

And the thing that met me the instant I crawled out was an infected.

"Aah!"

Correction, two infected. The sound of me falling out off the ceiling attracted their attention.

Good thing they can't see me, otherwise, I'd be f*cked.

...What ever did I do to get this much bad luck? Rob a leprechaun in my past life?

Not having the energy to fight them, I, like a turtle, silently stuffed myself back into the ventilation shaft. Hopefully, they'll ignore me.

"...Aah!"

With unsteady steps, one slowly walks past me.

"Aah!"

Followed by the next one. I wait a few seconds to make sure they were gone.

"..."

"...Aah!"

"...Aah!"

And I hear them a ways behind me. It should be safe enough for me to come out. But for safety's sake, I'll crawl out cautiously.

Luckily, after those dodging those two infected, I didn't see anymore.

Getting up from the ground ridden with ceiling debris, I brush myself off and look at my surroundings.

It turns out I landed inside a science lab. The classroom door was broken, there were tables knocked over, bloodied papers scattered, and shattered glass from beakers and tubes on the floor. 

It was a real mess.

"I wonder if there's something I can use as a weapon in here?"

Needing a weapon to fight infected with, I begin my search. I looked in the cabinets that held the chemicals, I looked under tables that weren't flipped over, I looked everywhere. 

Except…

"The storage room?"

At the very back of the classroom, there's a slightly opened door that has the label 'storage' placed on it.

There's gotta be something I can use in there.

Walking up to it, I put my hand on the knob and slowly opened the door. And as I did so, I stood behind it.

That way, if there was an infected hiding in the storage room, I could see it clearly while also staying undetected.

Silently, I wait for a few seconds.

"..."

Don't hear or see anything.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

I lightly knock on the door to see if it would attract anything from within, out.

"..."

I still don't hear or see anything jumping out from within the storage room. 

The coast is clear.

However, not wanting to go in there blind, I flick the switches to turn the lights within the room on.

BZZT! B-BZZT!

But the result was disappointing. The lightbulbs kept on flickering, only showing bits and pieces of the storage room. And from what I saw, the storage room is about half the size of the classroom. It had shelves lined up in rows filled with various containers, probably supplies.

Staring at the flickering lights.

"Sigh, great. Now the fear factor rose a little."

I released an irritated sigh and carefully walked into the storage room; my vigilance on max level. I can't rule out the possibility of an infected still lingering in here. 

It doesn't hurt to be cautious.

Being mindful of my surroundings, I begin searching a few of the containers. 

"Sulfuric Acid? Nope. Caustic soda? Nope. Hydrochloride? Nope...Is this teacher another Walter White?"

Because in every container I looked through so far, all of them either had these or some other chemical in them.

There was no sign of anything I could use as a weapon.

"Sigh, I guess that's to be expected. This is a chemistry lab after all...Should I try to make a bomb?"

There's probably enough chemicals in this room to create one.

"But the question is, how do I do it?"

I know I'm not gonna try it by randomly mixing chemicals together, that's for sure. After all, I love my hands! Also, I'm not the smartest when it comes to chemistry, I can score a C in it at best. 

"I'll need to continue searching. If I can't find anything in the next five minutes, I'm leaving...Eh?"

All of a sudden, I felt a wet and sticky substance under my left foot. Looking down, I saw my foot standing in a pool of dark red blood, it was starting to coagulate.

"Tch, these are my favorite socks!"

With a disgruntled face, I pull my foot from out of the blood puddle. Ugh, I can feel the blood in between my toes. It feels weird.

"Where the hell did this blood come from? Woah!"

Following the puddle of blood to its origin, I become slack jawed. Because laying on the floor were two corpses.

One was a middle-aged bald man sporting a goatee. He had a big portion of his throat and shoulder bitten off, he had severe burns on his arms and two fingers missing.

The second one was a similarly aged female teacher who unfortunately became an infected. Her appearance was horrendous.

Her entire face was disfigured. It was as if she kissed a blow torch! Her eyes were practically goop as they were hanging out their sockets, her nose was gone, leaving only bone, and the skin on her face was partially melted off so much that I could see the muscles underneath it!

It was absolutely disgusting!

As for her body, although it wasn't as damaged due to her clothes providing protection, it still got her. She had a few patches of melted skin on her stomach and c.h.e.s.t.

"Bleh!"

Unable to hold it in anymore, I turned around and vomited. 

"Okay, I should be fine now."

After vomiting, I look back at her...

"Bleh!"

And vomit again.

I thought I could handle it after throwing up one time but no, I couldn't.

She was too horrific!

Despite me enduring the smell of burning flesh and seeing tens of half eaten corpses, this one took the cake.

Her disfigured appearance is seared into my brain!

"...Let's not look at her anymore."

Standing hunched over a pile of vomit that was on the floor, I made a firm decision.

Straightening my hunched back, I turned back towards the two corpses. More specifically, the middle-aged bald man. I put all my focus on him.

"Hm? Is that a knife in his pocket?"

Inside his left pants pocket, a clip that appears to belong to a knife was hanging out.

I need that! 

But to get that knife, I need to walk through that puddle of blood. 

…

"F*ck it! I need that knife. What's a little blood gonna do?"

It's not like I can become an infected just because I touched the blood. I mean, I already have dried blood on me.

However, before I go over there…

"Is that water next to him?"

That question needs to be asked.

Right beside the middle-aged man, there's a bunch of broken glass and a small puddle of clear liquid. 

Is that water or some other chemical?

"I'll use this just to be safe."

Lifting up part of my blazer to cover my mouth, I gather up my courage, and step onto the blood.

"Ugh, it's between my toes!"

Hating this feeling, I put some pep in my step. When I walked over to him, I used my free hand to take the knife. While doing so, I notice a broken piece of glass on his shirt. It had a label on it, it read.

'H2SO4'

No wonder she looks like that, this guy actually threw acid in that teacher's face! Talk about brutal.

As for the knife I'd gotten…

CLICK! CLICK!

"It's better than nothing."

It was a foldable box cutter. I'm not complaining though, it's better than nothing.

My socks on the other hand.

"Guess I gottta get rid of them." 

In a somewhat sad voice, I take off my Elmo socks which had dark red blood on them and drop them to the floor.

I love these socks. Especially since they have Elmo on them, he was my favorite character out of the whole show.

Sigh, I'm going to miss them.

"I should get going. I need to find David and the others. They might be fighting right now."

Gripping the foldable box cutter in my right hand, I leave the storage room and then the science lab.

However, I met with another major problem.

With black smoke stinging my eyes, I say in exclamation.

"What the...cough...hell? The school's on...cough...fire?!"