Scarlet Memories (Book 1) (12 page)

He sat back further into his seat and held his hand underneath his chin.

‘Should we tell them yet?’ Ian asked him. He was on the fence about telling the others. But, they had the right to know.

‘Maybe it’s best we tell them after the dinner.’ Ian said. He didn’t see the point in stressing them all out before they’ve had a proper meal. It just wasn’t right with all that they had already been through.

‘I agree. We would be crusified if we lied to them. I do think we need to find the key to this room. I want to control who goes in and out of here’ Jeremy said.

Although Ian agreed with his point he believed that they had the right to know and persue further news. If Ian had not found this room and been able to upload the video’s…They would never have known what was going on out there. They could have been potentially killed by their own government’s military. This was a crucial piece of information.

‘I mean, people do have the right to find out for themselves..’ Ian expressed to Jeremy.

The color in Jeremy’s eyes flushed red.

‘Don’t you think mass histeria is something we don’t need right now?’ Jeremy asked him, his tone taking a deeper root.

‘I think that after they have  a nice hot meal and socialized, that they might be ready for this information. If they want to look it up themselves who are we to tell them no?’ Ian asked.

He was getting tired of Jeremy bossing him around. He didn’t deem this guy leader of the group. No one else had either. Why suddenly, did he think he could boss Ian around. And want him to be his, ’right hand man?’ Ian had risked just as much as anyone to get here. It wasn’t right for him to take position and decide what was best for the group. This was still a democracy. And everyone had the right to know about the world they would now be, not living in but, enduring life in. This world had changed drastically, withing a small span of time. No one had time to adjust. And they certainly didn’t need a dictator barking orders at them.

‘We are their protectors. And further more their providers too.’ Jeremy said raising his arms and hands up to signify getting the group to the school.

‘I know that we have helped them. But, that doesn’t mean we get to rule them.’ Ian had begun to show his frustrations in his words.

‘Look, let’s just go to dinner, please?’ Ian asked him. He was tired of arguing. They could talk about this later.

‘Ok.’ Jeremy said. He didn’t seem to happy about the conversation. Ian watched as Jeremy got up and started for the door.

‘Find that key. Either way, whether we let them  come in here or not. It does need to be locked until we talk to them. Get me that key.’ Jeremy ordered Ian without hesitation.

Ian definitely did not like what  had begun to be him being Jeremy’s henchmen. Or at least that is what he felt like he was turning into. And he wouldn’t stand for that anymore than anyone else in the group would. So, he would find the key. And he would lock the door. But, he would be the one who decided who got to go inside. Jeremy would not be the boss of him. This game had already gotten old.

Ian walked over to the Janitors closet. He tried to get inside but, it was locked as well. The best place to find those would probably be on that Janitor of the school and not his office. He eventually pried the door open with a tire iron one of the groups people had left at the entrance of the school. Probably one of the ones who didn’t want to fight against the undead in the beginning. Most of them were more than willing to give up their weapons upon reaching saftey.

Inside the air of the Janitor’s closet smelled oddly fresh. Apparently, it hadn’t been that long since he was in here. Ian turned the light to the closet on and found what he had been looking for. It was new door knobs and the brand new keys that went to them. If he couldn’t find the key. He would just change the door knob out. Plain and simple. The upside to doing this would allow Ian to be the only one with the key. And by doing  so would allow Jeremy to believe he had a false sense of authority over Ian. He would give him the key but, when it came down to opening the door he would corner Jeremy and tell him to lay off of his back.

Ian grabbed all of the tools he would need to change the knob out. He put them all in his pockets so as not to alert anyone in the group to what he was doing. He eventually made it to the Multi-Media room and swiftly changed the door knob out. He was very lucky that no one had noticed what he was doing.

When it was all said and done, Ian slipped the new key to the room inside of his pant pocket. He patted at it once he dropped it into his pants. It would be safest with him anyway. He walked away from the door and went to check on his crew.

Susan and Jaime were still in bed. He had imagined that the two would be acting better once they got up for the day. They both seemed better once they got here last night. He had no idea what it felt to be a parent in a world like this. Which led to him thinking about his parents. Maybe later on he would try an email to his mom or dad. That is, if he can get away from Jeremy long enough to. He bet his money that he would be watched from now on. He had the feeling Jeremy had lost trust in him.

He found Sam in the cafeteria eating cereal with Powdered milk. You could see the disgusted look on her face from the taste of the milk. No one here would be used to the powdered milk. He imagined that he would see a lot of reactions just like that here soon, when more of the group got up for breakfast. He walked over to Sam and sat down next to her.

‘How are you doing this morning?’ Ian asked her.

He grabbed a bowl sitting on the table. They were already filled with cereal. Ian was apart of setting up the rationing of this mornings food. There was a pitcher of powdered milk and water next to the bowls. He poured himself some of the milk into his bowl and stirred it up with a spoon that he had found on the table. He was pretty sure it was clean. He dipped the spoon into the bowl and pulled out a spoonful of the concoction. It did have a very off taste. But, he wasn’t complaining. He was very hungry and would eat anything at the moment. Well almost anything.

Sam chewed on her cereal. The taste of the milk was discusting. But, she ate it. Because everyone else was going to. And she was no better than them. Plus, she didn’t want to make trouble for herself here. It seemed that Ian’s friend had taken over here. And she wasn’t exactly sure about him. She saw how Ian changed his whole demenor when he was around Jeremy. It was like he kept himself on guards around him. Whatever it was, Sam was sure that it was escalting rather quickly. Of course, she was on Ian’s side. He had rescued her. Without question she would stand by him. Plus, it seemed like Jeremy was hiding behind something. Like he was wearing a mask around other people. His face said it all. It was hard to explain. But, that toothy grin of his seemed to get him this far. No one really questioned him. It wasn’t like he had done a bad job so far. But, it was beginning to feel like the start of 1984 around here. And she wasn’t one to allow herself to just sit idley by. She would stick with Ian if things went south..He would be there. She just knew it. He seemed comitted to keeping them safe.

‘Listen. I just want you to know. I found the computer room and I downloaded three video’s from the internet. More specifically, the same website that we first watched the breakout video from.’ He told her as he was looking around the cafeteria; no doubt for Jeremy.

‘There is no more government.’ Sam leaned in and narrowed her eyes at him.

‘What do you mean?’ She asked.

She watched as he gave one more quick glance around the lunchroom.

‘The soldiers are just taking over and murdering innocent people. The undead have over run the White House.’ Ian paused.

‘There is no government.’ He repeated.

Ian slammed the rest of his milk down his throat from his bowl. He set it back onto the table and opened his mouth again.

‘This is also the governments fault. One of the other video’s showed them testing on humans. It’s the result of some experiment.’ He watched as Sams eyes hit the floor.

It was a lot to take in so suddenly. She knew that she couldn’t really show much reaction here.

‘What are we going to do? She asked.

After gulping down her first bite, she took another bite from her spoon.

‘I don’t know. But, let’s not talk about this anymore today. I need to think.’ He told her.

He got up and grabbed his bowl.

‘I’ll see you later on.’ He said.

He threw up the hand not holding the bowl to say good bye. And walked out of the cafeteria. He exchanged glances with Jeremy as he went. He decided he would take a shower and let off some steam. They were all stuck here for a while anyway. He decided that he would also have a look at the windows at the back of the school to check what’s back there. Ian had a feeling he might find something of use. The problem was that he needed to break into that side. It was more random offices. And most of them were locked. They had the best view of things back there, so he needed to do it. He would sneak the cro-bar back with him into his office. Ian would wait for them to all fall asleep. If he found anything of interest, he would plead with Jeremy to let him out. They were going to have to do that anyway to get more supplies. And they would have to do that soon. Before most of the shipments of food went bad. Stores would more than likely be losing power soon.

Ian walked back to the Janitor’s closet and grabbed the cro-bar. He hid it underneath his shirt as best he could. As long as no one stopped him, he believed he would be ok. Ian rounded the corner of the landing to the stairs and saw that Susan had finally gotten up. She left Jaime laying where he had fallen asleep the night before. She was probably going to bring him his food. It seemed that being around a lot of people made his aspbergers flare up pretty badly. He knew from now on that he will have to keep an eye on Jaime and Susan. Jeremy is liable to go off on him if he has an episode around him. That’s the impression he was giving by him so far.

And even if he wasn’t going to be trouble, the group had the right to vote on  who led them. After all, they were going to find out sooner rather than later about what was going on in the world. It was better they get to handle it then. Ian made it to his office. He found his bag of clothes and grabbed an outfit out. Ian stuffed the cro-bar into the duffel back. He would hide it in here for now. He found a towel and went to the showers. He heard that Jeremy had opened them up for the time being. That was the best news that he had heard all day. He turned the water on to hot full blast. The school was quite cool inside once the air had time to circulate. He didn’t think it would hurt him to have a nice hot shower to relax his muscles.

After Ian was done with his shower, he changed into his new set of clothes and walked back down to the cafeteria.He had the duffel bag with him. It seemed that they were almost done sorting the various types of food. They would have a better estimate on how long the rations they had here already would last them. Ian walked over to Jeremy and held out a key.

‘Here you go. I found it.’ Ian said with a smile.

He wanted Jeremy to think he had the right key. If he thought for one second he couldn’t be trusted anymore, he would try that key. And then he would find out that it didn’t fit. And then things would not be good for Ian. He needed more people behind him in knowning the truth. He would have to be the one to tell them. He just knew it.

Chapter Eight: Roland

Roland fell asleep underneath a desk in the inner most part of the FFA building. He awoke to see light coming through the windows. They were high up like the schools. He had decided to turn out the lights in the building to draw less attention to himself being inside. It seemed that after a while they would lose interest and go on about whatever those dead people were doing out there.

Roland got up and stretched his body out. It was awfully cramped down underneath that desk. The first thing that he wanted to deal with was his stomach. It was growling madly. He hadn’t eaten since yesterday morning. It caught up with him late last night once the things outside stopped pounding on the door. His mind was able to rest for a moment and then it kicked in. This morning his stomach actually hurt. He went into the break room for the teachers and found a few bags of Ramen noodles and a bowl and fork. He turned the microwave on long enough to cook his meal and then turned it off. He sat in the semi- darkness and ate his noodles. Surprisingly, they weren’t all that bad. It was a nice meal to wake up to. He was used to breakfast burritos and sausage buscuits from the restraunt down the street. He always stopped in each morning to pick up his breakfast.

Roland decided he needed to get out of this place. His food situation was lacking considerably. He literally only had one more package of noodles left. So, he would have to leave by tonight. Roland still wasn’t sure if leaving at night was the best idea. But, he had to try atleast.

Roland sat around all day watching the people outside roaming around. They didn’t seem to have any particular place to go. But, he did notice that they got further and further away from the builing. He snuck up to the front door and peered out at them a little closer. A lot of them had blood on their bodies. An even closer look showed Roland that they were also missing body parts.
How could they be walking around like that and not even flinch
? He thought. He shook his head in disbelief.

If anything, this only confirmed the fact that he needed to get out of this building as fast as he can. He hoped this was just an isolated insodent. He was worried that he was wrong about that though. There were a lot of them out there. Roland left the front door and settled back underneath the desk. He knew that he was safe for now. And that allowed him to ease up a little. But, he was still concerned so he stayed under the desk.

Hours passed by and Roland checks the clock every five minutes. He doesn’t was to be here anymore. He has resorted to shaking from the stress. Roland had gone through several scenerio’s inside his head. The best that he could come up with was to make a break for his truck. He still had his keys in his pocket and he had enough energy from doing absolutely nothing all day long. His confidence level was pretty high. Roland ran the scenerio over in his mind so many times. It almost started feeling like a video game after a while. He just had to get to the next save point. He thought of all of this until he looked up and noticed it was already night. He had missed it’s turning. It was time to leave the building.

Roland grasped his trucks key inbetween his index finger and his thumb. He wanted the keys to already be separated just incase he got hung up at the gate. Roland was either going to unlock it or jump it. He stepped in front of the door. It had been clear for hours now. There were barely any of those people out there now. Or atleast where he could immediately see.

Roland slowly opened the FFA building’s door. It didn’t make a sound.
Thank God!
He stuck his head out and looked in every direction that he could. He wanted to make sure that the coast was clear. Roland only saw one of the people and it wasn’t close enough to worry about. He made a break for it. The door to the building had a slow moving shutting mechanism that didn’t allow it to slam. So, he had a clean break. He was free of the building. Roland’s feet was touching gravel now. It felt good to feel the fresh air on his face. It was a nice change from the inside of that building. He knew if he had to stay in there much longer he would have gone insane. It wasn’t the isolation. It was the people lurking around outside. He had no clue why they were acting the way they did. You add that in with being by yourself. Well, let’s just say it’s not the best combination.

Roland ran passed the building to the road leading to his truck. So far, as he checked all angles around him as he ran; Roland couldn’t see a trace of the people outside. Maybe, just maybe, he had gotten lucky today. He made it all the way to the gate. His breathing was rather heavy because he was a smoker. But, he had left his smokes in his truck. So, he couldn’t smoke all day long. You can add that in to the list of reasons he wanted to just go crazy inside that building.

The was still closed. Roland ran up to it and stopped to put his hands on his knees. He couldn’t run another second without resting for a moment. If felt as though his heart might burst. Roland gasped for air. Slowly, as he took in deep breaths, his breathing became lighter. He opened the gate.

Roland heard a loud cry from one of the people who had finally spotted him. He quickly shut the gate and placed the pad lock back on. Roland turned around and low and behold there was his truck. He couldn’t have been happier to see it. Roland jumped inside and locked the cab doors. He wasn’t taking anymore chances. He didn’t know what those people were capable of. He turned the engine over and skidded his tires racing out of the drive to the FFA building and stables. Eventually, Roland came upon the school. He could see that the interior lights of the school were on.

‘Who the hell is in there?’ He yelled out loud.

There was no way anyone could get passed that system. Even if they made it through the door. Not unless they knew the system or was really good with electronics. He haulted behind the school. More than likely they would have thought someone would come into the front door. But, Roland knew of a short cut. This was his school and he knew every nook and craney. He knew about a window that could be opened from the outside. He had a ladder on his truck that would reach it. All he had to do was climb up there.

He jumped out of the truck and reached for the ladder on the back of the vehicle. He had it pinned down with a chain. Luckily, today he brought the right keyring to unlock it. Normally, he leaves the one he has currenly, at home. He unlocked it and the ladder came lose. He stepped up to the building and extended it towards a window high up on the second floor. Roland knew that this wing was locked down. And they wouldn’t have a key readily available if they broke in. He had those keys in his pocket. Every single door knob he had a key for.

He stepped up onto the ladder. Pressing down as firmly as he could onto the first step, helped steady and press the ladder into the ground for support. Roland began walking up the ladder as steadily as he could. He was a little more than halfway to the window when he saw the same woman who had yelled at him a few minutes ago had gotten out of the gate. She was now quickly making her way towards him. He quickened his pace to the window. It wasn’t too much faster than before. He still couldn’t catch his breath.

The woman had made it up to his truck. Roland had been using his high beam head lights to shine onto the school so he could see the steps on the ladder. Once the woman passed the lights, Roland saw her shadow being cast onto the school. It eerily krept up over his body. At that point he had reached the window. He gave one final glance back at her. She was making her way towards the bottom of the ladder. He could feel her climbing the steps inching her way to him. Dread filled his body. He pressed on the window as hard as he could. If he remembered correctly, it should eventually slide right open. But, it seemed that it was stuck. No matter how hard he pressed on it, banged or tried to slide it, it would not come open. At this point, Roland looked down and saw the woman right underneath his feet. 

Roland could see that one of her eye’s was missing. It looked like it had been ripped out. You could see the bloodvessels hanging out of the socket. Roland couldn’t stand it any longer. That was all that he needed to see to push him over the edge. He clutched at the window once more and gave it a hard push.

Ian waited several hours for everyone to be at the dinner downstairs. Even the guys guarding the front door went. It didn’t seem fair to not invite them too. They needed a good meal. Besides, there had been no action at the front door since Ian had come through.  So, there was no reason to believe that there would be a disturbance now. It was quiet outside.

Ian tip-toed through the upper level halls. He was going to that office that would have a good view of the of the back of the school. The only person that Ian ran into on his way to the office was Jerry the pyrotechnics guy. He didn’t seem to interested in where Ian was going. Jerry was rushing passed him to get to the bathroom. It looked like his dinner hadn’t agreed with him.

Finally, Ian stood outside the door to the office he thought would give him the best view of the back of the school. He took a look around and saw that no one was coming his way. He opened the duffel back and pulled out the cro-bar. He slid the thin metal end into the wedge of the door. He pulled back on the opposite end as hard as he could. The door finally made a loud pop and it cracked open. It made a little more noise than Ian had hoped for. He quickly grabbed his bag and the cro-bar and stepped inside the office and shut the door as best he could. It wouldn’t latch because he ripped through the door. Ian set his bag down and walked over to the closest window. The room was dark so it made it easy to see out them.

Ian saw a road behind the school. From what he could see it went back a ways and ended with a gate. He could make something out that looked like a building too. And possible what looked like stables too. As Ian was looking at the building, he noticed a truck speed down the road. It wasn’t someone in their group. They weren’t missing anyone. He watched as it parked in front of the back of the school. A man jumps out and grabs a ladder.

‘Does he think he is getting inside here with that?’ Ian asked out loud.

He pressed against the window trying to see what was going on down there better. The guy was crawling up the stairs. One of the undead had been tailing him. She was following him up the ladder. Ian saw that the man was coming up for his window.

Ian began to panic. What would the man do? He wouldn’t break the glass would he? If he did manage to break it, the undead would find a way to get in. Even if they knocked down the ladder. Ian did the only thing that he knew that he could do.

Ian unlocked the window and proceeded to pull the man through. He saw the man’s face as the window slid open. He was very surprised, so much that he almost fell off of the ladder. The man was not expecting to see Ian coming through the window to get him.

Roland shouted. ‘Who was this guy? And how the hell did he get through those locks?’

He definitely underestimated him. He’d already gotten through the front door. He stared into the man’s eyes and grabbed hold of his arm. But, Roland felt something grab his leg harder. It was that woman again. She pulled hard on it. He gave his leg a great tug and felt her bite him on the ankle. He wasn’t sure if she got the skin or not. It was through his socks. So, he might be alright.

Ian pulled the man into the window. He fell to the floor with a loud thud. Ian sat up immediately and slid the window shut, just as the undead made it to the window. Her eyes had turned an ominious yellow color. And redness engulfed her iris and around the cornea as well. She was changing further into the undead. She scratched at the window freakishly staring at Ian and the other man. Her teeth were exposed as if she were hissing at the two of them. She had blood trickaling down her mouth and face.

Ian turned to the man. He was holding up the cro-bar that Ian had stashed in his bag on the floor.

‘Woah, what do you think you are going to do with that?’ Ian asked. He backed up towards the window. Suddenly, the undead outside didn’t seem so scary.

‘What are you doing in my school?’ Roland proclaimed. He quickly held up the cro-bar.

‘How did you get passed the security?’ He asked. He edged the cro-bar closer to Ian.

‘I… didn’t.’ Ian said. He held up his hands. He didn’t want to die like this..

‘We work with a movie company. We are making a movie in the area and we happened to have a locksmith with us…Who also happens to be a pyrotechnic. He has interesting ways of opening doors. And is pretty much a genius.’ Ian blerted out.

His legs had begun to shake lightly. He had nothing on him to defend himself.

‘Why are you here then? You didn’t get permission from the school board to film here!’ Roland replied. He swung the bar at him slightly.

‘No, you’ve got it all wrong!’ Ian cried.

‘You haven’t witnessed those things out there. You know?... the woman downstairs who just chased you up a ladder two and a half stories high?’ Ian asked the man. He found it hard to believe that he didn’t know. He was rushing from that road in the back of the school. Surely he ran into some of the undead.

‘I’ve seen them. I didn’t know how wide spread it was.’ Roland said.

He perked up and held the cro-bar firm.

‘You still broke into a school and I am responisble for it. You can’t go just doing things like that!’ Roland cried.

‘I am not looking for trouble. We just wanted to be safe. Someone in our group suggested the school, so we came here.’