Bowie V. Ibarra (6 page)

But before he could continue his parent ass-kicking daydream, the scream was heard again from the 300 as well as a clear cry for help. George recognized the voice as Keri Lawrence, one of the Eighth-grade Language Arts teachers.

He breathed, “Goddammit.”

As much as he just wanted to run, he couldn’t let one of his friends be eaten alive, or whatever was happening to her.

Taking a deep breath, George bolted down the hallway to the 300 hallway. When he got to the windows he hit the floor, and, as swiftly as he could, crawled his way past the glass. It didn’t take him as long as he thought, and he bolted around the corner into the 300 hallway.

He knew exactly where Lawrence’s class was. And sure enough, the door was open.

But what the hell am I going to do?, he thought, I don’t have any weapons.

He continued to sprint toward the door, dreading that there might be too many ghouls to face unarmed. When he reached the doorway, he was somewhat relieved to see that there were only two. Keri was crouched in the corner of the room with a Language Arts book in hand. She had apparently held her own, keeping the two advancing cadavers at bay, but she was looking exhausted.

The light blue room was lined with inspirational posters. Crap like, ‘You can do it!’ and ‘The Future is in your hands’ and ‘Respect is earned, not given.’ The walking cadavers had knocked over several desks and torn several posters off the wall. One of the torn pictures showed a small kitten hanging from a rope, the caption reading, ‘Don’t give up now!’

Taking another heavy Language Arts book in hand, George darted towards the nearest zombie, running down an aisle of desks, and clobbered it with the flat side across the skull. It wasn’t very graceful, but it worked. The zombie collapsed.

Then, as Keri noticed George, in a tone of voice that sounded relieved and at the same time shocked at just who her rescuer was, she gasped, “Mister Zaragosa?!”

As the first zombie fell, stunned, the second zombie turned toward George. Perhaps it was the particularly bad stench of this one, or maybe it was seeing all the maggots crawling in and out of its nostrils, but this time George threw up on the floor. He couldn’t help it. Recovering, he drew a deep breath and held it, waited for the creature to amble closer, then cracked it in the nose, breaking its face. The creature slowly fell to the floor, but not before George smacked it twice more on the head for good measure.

Keri Lawrence had already begun to stomp the first zombie in the back of the head and neck with her knee-high, heeled boots until it stopped moving. The rancid odor had a disgusting effect on her nervous system. After her fifth boot stomp, with the flesh and blood of the cadaver moistening the bottom of her light brown boot, the stench of decay overtook her senses and she vomited on the now unmoving corpse. She ran to her desk away from the body.

George, trying to finish the job on his adversary, picked up a desk and dropped it with authority on the back of the head and neck of the second beast. The sound of bone breaking and blood splattering was heard as George stumbled away from the reeking dead body. He joined Keri at her desk as they both caught their breath.

Keri had the trash can under her face as she sat behind her desk. Another regurgitation of disgust ensued as George tried to hold his instinct and not join Lawrence in the veritable vomitapalooza.

Taking a swig from her water bottle, Keri wiped her mouth and gasped for air. George caught her eye as he kneeled at the front of her desk. Taking deep breaths and making the visual connection, a smile grew across Miss Lawrence’s face. George smiled, and the two began to giggle.

Knowing George had also vomited, Keri offered the bottle. “Want a swig?”

“No thanks,” replied George, quickly glancing around in case there was more trouble. “You left floaties in there.”

A deep and happy laugh emanated from Keri, as George joined her. “You asshole!” she said with a smile. “Just rinse out your mouth in the very least.”

George accepted and took a swig, swished the water around in his mouth, and spit it out on the floor.

“Hey,” Keri joked, “That’s my classroom your spitting all that water in.”

“Aw, fuck this school,” replied George. “Like anyone’s going to give a shit tomorrow.” It was then that George took notice of what Miss Lawrence was wearing. She had a simple white top on, with a light, summer type skirt. She was also wearing those high-heeled boots.

Heels…, thought George. Nice.

“You’re a bad boy,” said Miss Lawrence. “I’m going to have to write you up.”

“As long as it’s lunch detention with you,” George boldly replied. He was surprised he even said it. Another aspect of his personality was forced to the surface by the new world forming around them. There was a vague sexual tension and, perhaps, desire between the two for close to two years. There was something about her hair when she let it down that just set George on fire. But there had never been anything to come of it but an awkward glance now and again.

But her hair was down now. George was smoldering. Both of them felt it. For a moment he wanted to be chivalrous. He wanted to help Keri to her car and tell her to get someplace safe.

But there was no chivalry, and that moment soon passed.

There was only hunger.

It took only an electric second, an awkward silence, for George to pounce on Keri. There was no resistance on her part. She accepted his advance and their mouths began a passionate transaction of excitement and delight. George then started caressing her legs and hips and setting forth on her neck and shoulders with his lips. Her hands were working up and down his back as he began to nibble on her ear. A brief moan of ecstacy exited her mouth as George worked on the crook of her neck.

As he returned to her mouth, George began to fondle her breasts. Zombies walked around just outside her classroom window, oblivious to the reckless passion being unleashed just yards away from where they were stalking.

George continued kissing, but also worked his hand under her shirt and began to stroke her nipples with his thumbs. An ecstatic moan exited her mouth as he lifted her shirt, her hips shifting toward his hips. As his mouth began to stroke her breast and nipples, Keri wrapped her legs around his waist.

His ardent passion guided his tongue around her breasts, and before he knew it, she was calling his name. After a few moments of continued attention to her breasts, she pushed him away and aggressively switched places with him and put him on the desk. She reached for his belt, unbuckled it, unbuttoned his pants, and released the zipper. Pulling down his pants, she quickly noticed his excitement hiding beneath his underwear and pulled them down even quicker.

She immediately grabbed his member and began an enthusiastic oral endeavor. With her hands near the bottom of his shaft close to the genitals, she began a phenomenal motion of bobbing and worked him. After several minutes of fellatio, George couldn’t wait anymore. He pulled her up and leaned her back over the desk. There was no resistance.

Grabbing her hips, he lifted her skirt, pulled the crotch of her lacy underwear to one side, and entered her. Their bodies began moving, colliding feverishly to the rhythm of their lustful hearts.

Night wrapped its black pall over the small town of Koehl and the after hours lights of the school illuminated areas of darkness around Branton Junior High. It was a good thing too, because the sparkle of the stars were playing hide and seek in the clouds.

George and Keri held each other, legs and arms comfortably entangled, as they lay together on a bed in the nurse’s office. Several candles found around the office illuminated the room. Flickering reflections of flame licked the walls and massaged their bodies.

They were safe for the moment.

The evening had been an apocalyptic dream. George had forgotten his keys, but Keri hadn’t. After their first passionate exchange in her classroom, they decided to see if the snack machine in the teacher’s lounge was stocked. Sneaking through the school, they unlocked the lounge and stocked up on bottled water, snacks and some sodas.

George checked his 200 hallway door. It was still closed.

The couch in the lounge provided another convenient venue to unleash their lust. The tables where they ate lunch in the “old” world with their colleagues was also a fun alternative, with the pillows from the couch providing some comfort and support for their energetic engagement.

Deciding they were getting kind of sticky, they checked the hallways and unlocked the P.E. hall just down from the lounge. The locker rooms were open and clear. No threats. Busting open a locker or two, they found enough soap, shampoo, and towels to take care of themselves for a while.

George walked to the girl’s locker room where Keri was already bathing. Watching the water and suds slide down her back, down her firm behind and towards her legs brought that pleasant feeling back again. George called her name so as not to scare her, then joined her under the spray of cleansing water and began kissing her again. After a few moments she put her hands on the wall, ready for action, arching her back enough to suggest how she wanted it. George obliged, and they both discovered how many ways it could, indeed, be done standing. This was important as neither one of them wanted to touch the shower floor with anything other than their feet.

After drying off, they discovered a large rolling basket filled with clean athletic clothes by a washing machine. Socks, shorts, shirts. Finding a gym bag, George put the soap and shampoo inside along with two extra pairs of shorts, shirts, and several socks. He put on a pair of shorts and shirt that fit, as well as some socks, and put the clothes he was wearing earlier in the washing machine.

“Who knows when I’ll get a chance to wash them again, eh?”

Keri put on a pair of shorts, shirt, and socks. No underwear, as her originals had been ripped by George’s eager hands and there weren’t exactly any more to be found. The socks were knee-highs with several blue and red stripes along the top. Very nice. But the gray athletic shirt fit her best, revealing her toned stomach and making evident the current cool temperature.

Keri remembered there were beds in the nurses office and figured that would be the best place to spend the night. George didn’t argue. They embraced.

“Oh, my, Mister Zaragosa,” Keri teased with a smile. “Do we need to go to the principal’s office and address this brazen harassment?” She was referring to the very prominent erection that was hiding behind his blue athletic shorts. She felt it against her in the embrace.

“I don’t know who’s harassing who here, Miss Lawrence,” smiled George as they embraced again. With several slow, meaningful kisses, they snuck to the office area, where the principal and the nurse used to work in the days gone by.

Laying together, Keri started to giggle.

“What are you laughing at?” asked George with a smile.

“I can’t believe we just had sex on the principal’s desk,” Keri said with a sigh.

“And her chair, don’t forget the chair,” George said. They spent some time on the desk, but ended the session in the chair. They both giggled. Keri placed a kiss on his lips.

“You made me feel, like, so good today. You are so good.” Keri moaned and stretched her body. “In all this craziness, it’s nice to feel good. At least for a while.”

“It takes two, you know. I’m only good because you…”

An awkward silence ended George’s sentence. They rested for a moment in silence. No words were spoken. They both gazed into the quiet light of the flickering flames dancing across the walls.

Keri looked at George, who was still staring blankly at the ceiling. She gently kissed his cheek and tightened her embrace. George returned the loving hug. A tear formed in his eye.

“It’s so weird sometimes,” George began, “Life, you know. I came here to get this.” He lifted the gold crucifix dangling from his neck. “Esparanza gave it to me. I just had to have it before I went home.” He paused. Keri rested her head on his chest.

“So I get it, fight to get it,” George continued, “And then I end up here with you. Ironic, isn’t it?”

Keri nodded. She knew the Esparanza story and sympathized with George.

“I came here to secure Esparanza’s memory,” George went on. “The memory of the woman I love and who loved me like no other. Yet I spend the remainder of the same day fucking like a porn star.”

“What’s wrong with that?” asked Keri.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, what’s wrong with ‘fucking like a porn star?’ We’re friends, right?”

“Right.”

“As a friend, you care about me, right? I care about you.”

“Well, yeah.”

“I obviously felt the same way you did. You didn’t force me to do anything. I wanted to. I didn’t say no. To anything and everything we did today. It’s not hypocritical to want comfort when and where you can get it.” She paused and smiled. “And I am certainly glad we did. Wow!”

George couldn’t help but chuckle, but became solemn again. “I just feel, you know, guilty about the whole thing.”

“It’s alright to feel that way. You loved her. Or should I say, you still love her. There’s nothing wrong with that. I have those feelings for other people I dated throughout my life. But they’re all gone now, George. Far away from here. A different time, a different place. The love that we have for them, and our family, our friends, will always be in our hearts. And that’s the truth. They will always be in our hearts.”

George closed his eyes. Keri was an eloquent speaker, and her words were very comforting. He listened more intently.

She continued, “That’s the past, George. It’s gone. It doesn’t exist anymore. All we have is now. And with the way the world is going, we need to learn that. All we have is now. A chance to share this passion that we’ve always had. A chance to love each other. A chance to be human. To love, to fear, to care. That’s being human. Look at the world around us. There’s never been a more important moment to be here, to be now, to be human, than in this moment.” She stared blankly at the wall and added, “We have to. We have to.”