Fidget Vs. The Zombie Apocalypse: Part 2 (2017)
On Friday, October 13, 2017, Barbara sat in the passenger seat of her dad’s car. She responded with one-word answers as her dad attempted forced conversation through leading questions. It was not that she disliked her father, she just loathed her new school. She found all of her classmates dull. The only acceptable topics of conversation included the latest fashion trend, the latest single on the radio or the latest YouTube craze. Anything else simply did not exist. All the things Barb wanted to talk about lived in the “does not exist” category so her classmates banished her there along with her thoughts. It did not help that she was new to the neighborhood her junior year of high school and none of the cliques had room for new kids, especially one who looked and dressed like Barb. She had glasses, but not the cool kind, they were the affordable kind her parents picked out for her and her clothes came from second-hand stores, but again, not the cool ones. Barb’s family was not poor. They were just practical. Her father liked to remind her of this when she complained about her classmates picking on her. Her mother told her to just be herself and the right people would be friends with her. Barb had no idea what that meant. Everyone seemed like the “right people” when you had no friends.
So there Barb sat, staring out the window of her father’s very practical, gas-efficient vehicle in her clothes that looked like something her grandmother might have worn. They pulled into the school parking lot and her father kissed her on the top of the head and said something about a good day. Barb cringed inside. She had no idea what a good day looked like. She slammed the car door and stood on the curb as her dad drove away. She watched all the kids talking together with their friends, spinning their fidget-spinners. That was another thing that pushed Barb to the fringe of the school’s social hierarchy. Her parents refused to buy her a spinner. They called it a waste of money and since she was not allowed to get a job “because it would distract from her studies” Barb stood in front of the school friendless and spinner-less.
Barb started to walk inside when she saw a group forming in the parking lot. She watched from a comfortable distance as Brett bullied the kid everyone called Fidget, the only student with a more unfortunate social life than her. At least in anonymity, even bullies ignored her. Barb walked inside, uninterested in watching the latest chapter of Brett’s desperate attempts to prove his feeble masculinity to the student body. Barb walked straight to her first period classroom and claimed her favorite desk in the back corner. She sat there with a notebook on the desk in front of her. She pretended to write something so no one would bother her. The teacher walked in a few minutes later with a cup of coffee in her hand. She did not even acknowledge Barb’s presence. The teacher organized her desk as students trickled into the room. They dropped into desks and pulled out their spinners. Everyone loved to show off their spinners during class because the teacher could not take them away since they allegedly helped students focus. Barb knew for a fact that no one in the room suffered from ADHD but they had spinners anyway and they would sit there and flick them during the entire class, staring at them mindlessly, like zombies.
The late bell rang out, indicating slackers needed to stop by the office for tardy slips. As the last vibrations of the bell died down, everything became very still. You could hear a pin drop. It felt like even the air slowed. Every student in the room sat at attention and held their spinners in the air. The plastic toys glowed. Everyone stood in unison and flicked their spinners. The spinning objects glowed more intensely and the students stared at them with unblinking eyes. Suddenly the glow faded and everyone let out a screech. They redirected their attention to the teacher. Their eyes had faded with the glow of the spinners and were now dull and milky white as if their souls had been sucked from their bodies. They walked toward the front of the room still spinning their spinners. Those at the front of the mob grabbed the teacher and pulled her over her desk. The teacher struggled but she was no match for a room full of teenagers.
Barb barely had time to react. She watched as the students dragged the teacher to the ground and began pawing at her with their free hands. The teacher then let out a blood-curdling scream. Barb froze. She could see the students begin biting and ripping at the teacher’s flesh. Fear flooded through Barb’s body. There was no way she could overpower her classmates. She quietly slid out of her chair and hid under a table in the back corner of the room, trying to make herself as small as possible. The teacher’s cries filled the room and mixed with the students’ screeches. They sounded inhuman, almost demonic. Barb began to cry and prayed this was all just a bad dream. Shame flooded her mind. She felt paralyzed. She always thought she was a good person but now, in the moment, she realized she was a coward.
Suddenly the door to the classroom flew open and Fidget stepped into the room. He held a spinner above his head and fiery blades materialized out of thin air. Barb watched as Fidget proceeded to cut through all of the students to save the teacher. Barb knew it was too late though. Her cynicism was confirmed when she saw Fidget split the teacher’s skull in half. When Fidget left the room Barb was alone again. She slowly crawled from her hiding place and looked at the carnage that littered the room. The smell made her nauseous. She vomited on the floor and stood for a minute dry heaving. That was when she heard screeches from the hallway.
Barb steadied herself and opened the door slightly. She saw Fidget getting pulled between Damien and David, the insufferable “Double D’s”. Determined to not repeat her previous cowardice, Barb looked around the room for a weapon. There was nothing readily available and she needed to move fast so she picked up the severed limbs of her classmates. They felt cold and limp in her hands. Barb swallowed the bile she felt rising in her throat and burst of the room. She flung the limbs at “The Double D’s” and let out the most intimidating yell she could muster. Without checking to see if her plan worked, Barb ran back into the room and grabbed more limbs. Adrenaline flooded her system as she threw arms, legs, and heads as hard as possible. When she stopped long enough to see if her plan worked, she saw Damien and David running at her. She yelled at Fidget and hoped he would be able to stop the bullies. Luckily for her, Fidget cut down “The Double D’s” before they reached her.
In a state of panic, Barb grabbed Fidget and started to run. They needed to find a safe place. That was what they always did in the movies. They established a base of operations where they could safely come up with a plan. She led Fidget to the gym where they quickly barricaded the doors. She was thankful to be safe. In the safety of the gym she looked Fidget over. He was covered in blood and brain matter but under all of that he looked liked a scared kid. Barb tried to sound more confident than she felt when she talked to Fidget. After watching him kill all of those zombies she wanted him to know she could handle herself.
They only got a short reprieve, though, before the zombies started to mob the doors. Barb felt glad to know that even though they were trapped she was not alone. Joss was her first real, human interaction since she transferred to this school. She hoped they did not die so they could hang out under more normal circumstances. Barb laughed at the absurdity of this thought as the zombies’ screeches filled the gym. On the way to school today she thought it was going to just be a normal day. She had been very wrong about that.
“The hell are you kids doing?” A voice called out.
Barb and Joss both spun to see Coach Jenkins run out of his office at the back of the gym. He approached the students with his standard grimace.
“You kids should be in….” Coach Jenkins paused as he drew closer to the kids. They were both covered in blood and what appeared to be brain matter.
“What happened to you?”
Barb and Joss both tried to explain simultaneously but everything came out in broken phrases as they tripped over each other’s words and pointed frantically to the zombies outside.
“I don’t know what kind of practical joke you kids are trying to pull but you can’t block the doors. It’s a safety hazard.”
Coach Jenkins walked to one of the doors and started to roll the sports equipment away. Barb and Joss both rushed him but it was too late. As Coach Jenkins moved the sports equipment the zombies pushed with a fresh vigor at the prospect of snagging a meal. One of the students managed to shove his arm through the double doors and grab the coach by the hair. The zombie screeched in victory as he pulled his prey by the scalp toward the door. Coach Jenkins screamed as more arms shoved through the widening gap in the doors and tried to pull him through it.
Barb and Joss ran at the door. Afraid he might accidentally cut Coach Jenkins, Joss left his spinner in his pocket even though he could feel it burning. It wanted to be used. The coach screamed as the duo grabbed his hands. They tried to pull him away from the mob of zombies. Their attempts proved futile, however, as a student managed to squeeze through the gap in the doors and bite the back of Coach Jenkin’s neck. The coach screamed and then there was a snap and a tearing sound as the zombies pulled the man’s head off and through the doors. The coach’s body slumped to the ground, its neck spouting blood into a pool on the waxed, gymnasium floor.
Invigorated by the prospect of more food the zombies pushed harder on the doors. The broom handles keeping the doors shut started to snap. Barb and Joss slammed their bodies into the doors. They pushed as hard as they could. The zombies swiped blindly at Joss and Barb. A few got their hands on Joss’s head but could not get a grip because of his short hair. Joss had never been so thankful for his awful haircut.
Realizing they could not overpower hundreds of hungry zombies, Barb and Joss decided to ram the door again. On the count of three, they backed up and threw both of their body weights into the doors. They slammed shut. Bones crunched and zombie arms flopped to the floor. They crawled around for a few seconds trying to grab at anything before they fell lifeless at Barb and Joss’s feet. Joss breathed a sigh of relief but was quickly thrown back as the zombies pushed against the doors again. The broom handles snapped and the doors flew open. Barb and Joss backed away as a horde of zombies flooded into the gym. They looked hungry.
“Aren’t zombies supposed to be weak and decayed?” Joss asked, hoping Barb was not as terrified as him.
“They’re fresh,” Barb replied, trying to remember every zombie movie she had ever seen. “I guess their muscles haven’t atrophied yet and since they’re running on no inhibition they seem superhuman.”
“So they can’t get tired?” Joss asked.
“Not necessarily. Their brain just won’t stop them.”
“So they’ll run until they collapse,” Joss said aloud. Barb shrugged in response. It sounded right to her.
The spinner burned more intensely in Joss’s pocket. It wanted to be free. Joss pulled it out and spun it as hard as he could. Flame burst out in every direction and engulfed Joss but they did not burn him. He charged the horde of zombies, blades spinning. Fire leaped across the blades setting any student that touched them ablaze.
Barb watched as Joss charged the zombies in a fireball. Burning bodies fled the wrath of Joss’s spinner in every direction. Barb looked for something to use as a weapon and found a lacrosse stick on one of the racks of athletic equipment. As she grabbed it, the zombies smashed the windows on the other gym doors. It would not take long for them to break through as well. Barb charged at the zombies that Joss missed, swinging the lacrosse stick like an axe. She bashed skulls and sent heads flying. She was surprised at how strong she was under the influence of adrenaline.
The zombies screeched at every door of the gym then stopped. Silence fell over the room. It was as if the zombies acted with a hive mind. Joss and Barb paused for a moment to see what made the zombies stop moving. Suddenly there was a loud crash and a large zombie broke through the doors on the far side of the gym. Its skin was tinted green and its muscles rippled across its body. It let out a roar of triumph as more zombies spilled into the gymnasium. Joss and Barb were surrounded now. They readied their weapons as the large zombie lifted its head and looked at them with its vacant eyes. It was Brett. Even as a zombie he still wore a smug look across his face that was only accentuated by his dead eyes and bleeding, cracked face. His teeth poked through tears in his lips as he charged the two living students. Barb tried to stop him with her lacrosse stick but he swatted her away like a fly. He wanted Joss.
Joss raised the spinner over his head and swung at Brett. Brett dodged the blades and kicked Joss who fell to the ground. Rage filled Joss at the sight of Brett. He would not be defeated by his worst enemy, even if he was a zombie. Joss got to his feet and spun the blades on his spinner. Fire leapt in every direction, consuming anything near him. Zombies screamed and ran from the fireball that was Joss.
Barb watched as everything in Joss’s path was set ablaze. She needed to stop him or the entire gym would burn to the ground with them in it. She swung at the zombies too stupid to escape and ran through piles of charred bodies and pools of blood.
Joss ran at Brett in a blind rage. He swung the spinner like a maniac. Brett easily dodged each attack and landed another punch to Joss’s ribcage. Joss kept swinging though, too fueled by adrenaline and the power of the spinner to notice the pain he was in or the carnage he was leaving in his wake.
“Joss, we have to leave!” Barb yelled, but he did not hear her over the whirr of the blades.
The fire started to lick its way up the walls of the gym. Pieces of plaster and rubble fell, crushing students. Barb ran through the smoke and debris headlong at Brett. Luckily he was too focused on Joss to notice Barb running full tilt at him with the lacrosse stick raised above her head like a battle-axe. Barb let out a yell and swung with all her might. The lacrosse stick landed right in Brett’s side below the ribcage. The stick snapped in half and Brett let out a yell. He turned to Barb who was holding a fragmented half of a lacrosse stick. Acting instinctively, Barb shoved the jagged edge of the pole into Brett’s chest and pushed as hard as she could. Brett hit the ground, the lacrosse stick stabbing through him.
Joss stopped when he saw Brett go down. He looked at Barb who was standing over him covered in blood. The fire on the spinner died down but the blades remained out. Joss looked at the damage he caused and realized the gym was about to collapse in on them. Brett swiped at Barb with a limp arm but Joss kicked him in the ribcage. Just before he could finish him off the gym shook and debris fell from the ceiling. Barb shoved Joss to the side just in time. A large piece of concrete fell right where he had been standing. He thanked Barb and they ran from the gym. Barb grabbed a baseball bat laying on the floor by the door and together they fought their way out of the school hacking and slashing any zombie brave enough to stand in their path.
As the duo was about to reach the front doors, a zombie knocked Barb to the ground. Joss turned to see Cindy standing over her in her stilettoes. Her clothes were ripped and she somehow looked even more like a bitch as a zombie. She screeched and a horde of zombies grabbed at Joss. He swung at them with the blades but he was outnumbered. They pushed him out the front doors of the school. Joss could see Barb fighting Cindy with her bat over the top of the horde but he could not get to her.
Blood and body parts flew in every direction as Joss cut down any zombie that got too close but they were closing in around him and he was losing room to move. He needed to retreat but he did not want to leave Barb behind. When he reached the parking lot he got an idea for how he could help Barb.
Back in the school Barb swung her bat at Cindy but she was too fast. Even in stilettoes Cindy could move.
“Why couldn’t you be like the zombies in Night of the Living Dead?” Barb yelled as she swung the bat again. Cindy dodged again and laughed. She held her spinner in one hand. The LED lights in it lit up and glowed in the smoke that now filled the hallway.
Barb charged at Cindy and slammed directly into her. They both hit the ground. Cindy grabbed her hair and pulled. Barb screamed in pain as Cindy pulled a chunk of her hair out of her scalp. She could feel the blood trickle down the side of her head as she jabbed the end of the bat into Cindy’s gut. Cindy flinched and coughed blood onto the floor, allowing Barb to scramble to her feet. She took the opportunity to take another swing at Cindy, hitting her in the shoulder. She heard the bone snap. Cindy kicked out and pushed herself to her feet. Her broken arm hung limply at her side. Barb watched as Cindy ripped her broken arm off her body and ran at Barb swinging it like a bat. Barb blocked the attack and hit Cindy in the side of the head, sending her reeling. Barb pulled the bat back for a knockout hit when she felt someone grab the bat from behind her. She turned to see Brett standing there, the lacrosse stick still protruding from his chest. He was covered in burns and blood.
Brett pulled the bat away from Barb and grabbed her by the arms. She kicked and flailed but could not break free from Brett’s grip. Cindy screeched and pulled one of her stilettoes off her foot and staggered to Barb. She was so close she could smell the blood on her breath. Cindy leaned in and dragged her bloody tongue up the side of Barb’s face. Barb resisted the urge to vomit and swallowed the bile building in her throat. Cindy licked her cracked and puss-filled lips and smiled in anticipation of eating Barb. She dragged the stiletto heel across Barb’s throat until she found a spot on the side of her neck. Cindy pulled her shoe back like a knife. Barb closed her eyes, ready to be impaled by Cindy’s stiletto when a crash and the screech of twisted metal emanated through the smoke. Barb turned to see Joss’s tank of a car barrel through the front doors of the school. Brett released Barb and jumped back. Barb did the same. Cindy was not so fortunate. Joss’s car ran over her, crushing her. Her head popped like a cherry under the weight of the car’s tires. Her blood and brains splattered down the side of the car.
“Let’s go!” Joss yelled to Barb as he threw the car into reverse.
Barb ran toward the car but Brett grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back. He lifted her off her feet in a chokehold. Barb could feel his grip tightening as he crushed her windpipe. She tried to scream but could not. Her vision started to blur when Brett dropped her. She hit the ground and watched as Joss charged at Brett with his spinner.
Brett represented everything Joss hated in his life. He bullied him for every insecurity he had about himself. He believed no one would ever love him because of his abnormal behavior and Brett proved that side of him right. No matter how much Joss wanted his cynicism to be incorrect Brett was always there shoving him into lockers and beating him in front of the entire school. Barb was the only person who had ever been nice to him and was not going to let Brett take her away.
Joss charged at Brett with every ounce of energy he had left. Anger filled him as fire arced from the spinner. The blades glowed with a black light as they spun like a buzz saw. Joss hacked through everything in sight. Pieces of the ceiling, lockers, and floor tiles flew in every direction. Brett backed off, waiting for a chance to land a punch but none came. Joss let out a yell and swung. His blade severed Brett’s head from his shoulders. The body slumped and the head rolled to the ground. Joss was in such a blind rage that he did not stop. He kept hacking at Brett’s body until it was just a mangled pile of flesh. Blood sprayed everywhere, caking the walls and Joss until he could no longer see.
Barb watched as Joss finally stopped. He turned to face her, blood covering every inch of his body. The blades on the spinner retracted and he limped toward her. She ran forward and caught him as he started to fall and dragged him to the car.
“I’ll drive,” Joss insisted and Barb let him drop into the driver’s seat.
Once Barb climbed inside, Joss threw the car into reverse and tore a path through the zombies outside the school. Joss pulled the emergency brake and the car spun in the parking lot. He always saw people do that in the movies but never knew it was possible. Guess he had his answer now. He smiled as he smashed the gas pedal into the floor and drove away. He watched the school burn in his rearview mirror as he wiped blood away from his eyes.
“What now?” Barb asked.
“We find the fucker that started this,” Joss said as the car roared to life and they barreled down the road away from the school.