Young Writers Society

A bright yellow school bus made its way through the calm and busy streets of the Pelham, New York. The town was only a few miles from city, but it would have been hard to tell. A dozen miles and such a different atmosphere, especially in the streets. It was the first day of school, the first in a long series of bus rides to school. The bus driver had learned in previous years to pay little attention to the kids sitting behind her. She ignored a sixth grader in the fourth row who was giving his sleeping seatmate a wet willy. The other boy jerked awake and stuck his tongue out at his hysterical friend.

“You freaked out,” said the boy, giggling and gasping for air. “You should’ve seen your face! Funniest thing.”

The sleepy boy grumbled a few choice insults at the laughing boy and began to fall asleep again. The other boy stopped laughing. He slumped into his seat and sighed in exasperation.

“You know, Charles,” he said, “you can be so boring sometimes. I have no idea why everyone thinks you’re so cool.”

“Well,” he mumbled, “you could argue that it’s interesting to people how boring I can be. I mean all people can’t be as boring as I am. Take you for example. If you weren’t interested in my boringness, would you really still be talking to me?”

“I was being sarcastic.”

Charles smiled. “I know.”

The bus stopped in front of Pelham Middle School and the doors opened. Students filed onto the sidewalk one by one. Charles grumbled as he followed his seatmate off the bus.

“Maybe I’m so boring because I never get a decent amount of sleep. I would probably entertain you more if you’d let me take my morning nap instead of trying to clean my ears out.”

Charles’ friend rolled his eyes and led the way into the school building. The boys were about the same age and were both starting middle school, but Charles was a grade above his friend. He had been given the opportunity to skip sixth grade at the end of the previous year. At first he had been hesitant, but his twin sister, Veronica, had finally convinced him that it would be best for him. They’d still be able to hang out. Veronica caught up with the boys as they pushed their way through the clogged hallway.

After greeting them she made a face. “I don’t get why boys and girls can’t sit in the same seat on the bus. It’s so unfair. It’s sexist.”

“Maybe they’re afraid we’d start making out,” said Charles’ seatmate, making kissy faces at Veronica.

“Oh, you are such a fifth grader, Paul,” said Veronica. “Why would I be making out with my brother anyway?”

“I just meant generally,” said Paul. “And in case you’ve forgotten, we were all fifth graders a few months ago.”

Veronica snorted. “Yeah, and the difference between you and I is that you still act like one.”

Paul looked as if he was going to protest, but before he could, Veronica turned to Charles.

“The bell’s gonna ring soon and I’ve gotta get this idiot to homeroom.” She smiled. “Have fun in seventh grade.”

Charles nodded and waved, watching as Paul and Veronica walked to their homeroom class arguing. Then he turned around to ascend the staircase to the second floor, where the seventh and eighth graders had most of their classes. He didn’t really have any friends in seventh grade. He had left them all behind in sixth grade. All meaning Paul and Veronica, of course. Even though it had only been a month, and he still hung out with her at home and in their Spanish class, Charles could feel himself drifting away from his twin already. It made him sad because they had always been so close, but he felt there was nothing he could do about it.

Sometimes he regretted his decision to skip sixth grade. He might have been on the same academic level as most of the seventh graders, but socially he was far behind them. He had not had as much time as they had to gain social experience. In that way he was still a sixth grader. That’s what set him apart from from every other student in the seventh grade.

Charles sat through homeroom silently. He was surrounded by older kids, all of whom were in the middle of conversations. A pair of boys were talking about the last football game. A pair of girls were discussing their love lives. Charles listened to a particularly interesting conversation about a toad someone had set loose on their sister as a practical joke. The story included the girl’s reaction and the unfortunate fates of both the toad and the girl’s brother.

Charles’ first period class science passed in a similar fashion, although he had work to distract him from loneliness. His Algebra teacher lectured the second hour class on the Pythagorean Theorem. There was almost no conversation, so Charles didn’t have to think about Veronica and Paul and how much they were enjoying themselves on the floor below. Even better was the fact that he didn’t have to think about how little he was enjoying himself without their company.

When the bell rang for third hour, Charles practically jumped out of his chair. His third hour was Spanish, the only class he had with Veronica. He raced down the stairs, leaving the monotony of his first classes far behind him. The Spanish classroom was tucked into a small corner of the lower floor and right next to the sixth grade English classes. Veronica, who had English second period, always arrived first, so Charles was not surprised when she jumped out at him as he entered. She’d been doing this for a week already in an attempt to get the better of him. After the first couple of days he had grown to expect it and therefore adopted the most bored expression he could find.

“Hey Niki,” Charles sighed.

Veronica frowned. “Can’t you at least pretend to be scared?”

“Are you sure that would be better than my honesty?”

The twins smiled at each other and took their seats at the front of the room. The bell rang almost as soon as they sat down. The classroom was full of talkative children, but silence fell when their teacher, Senora Gonzales crossed the threshold. Thirty students stared blankly at the thin, gray-haired, dark-skinned woman. She was an imposing figure, one that demanded respect, and that’s what made her students sit quietly and obey her orders.

"Let's get started," said Senora Gonzales. "We will be taking a unit test tomorrow. Today you will partner up and help each other study. If there is any unrelated discussion, you will be studying with me after school. Vamos. Get to work."

Charles and Veronica had just begun to quiz each other when a sharp noise blared over the intercom. The vice principal's voice was heard soon afterwards.

"We are having a lockdown. This is not a drill. We ask that all teachers follow standard lock down procedure. I repeat this is not a drill."

Senora Gonzales directed her students to a corner of the room that could not be seen from the door. They all sat down with their backs to the window and Senora Gonzales locked the door and turned off the lights then came to sit among the students. One of the students closed the blinds. Charles and Veronica stared at each other, startled. Veronica pointed at the window. They both turned towards it and peeked through the blinds. Senora Gonzales, who was trying to get another student to settle down, didn't notice.

They could see a dark figure stumbling in their direction. Charles slowly looked up into the face of the figure. It's Misty eyes bored into him. They seemed to Pierce straight through to his brain, freezing him in place. He was sure the figure, the creature, whatever it was, hadn't seen him, but he couldn't seem to move a muscle. He could hear her starting to choke. All of a sudden, Senora Gonzales' voice snapped them out of their trance.

"Charles Brooks! You get away from that window right this minute," she said, looking furious. "If someone sees you, I don't want to imagine the consequences we would all have to face."

Charles and Veronica dropped the blinds and scooted away from the window. Veronica quietly gasped for air and stared at her twin in amazement. Charles was staring at the in confusion at the window.

"Charles," Veronica whispered, "what was that?"

Charles didn't answer; he just kept staring at the window. After a few minutes he broke his gaze and looked back at his twin.

"If a gunman was here, why would we sit in wait for him to attack us?" He asked.

Veronica pointed at the door. "He won't be able to tell if we're in here because he can't see us from the door."

Charles shook his head. "Where do students usually go on weekdays? To school. To class. Anyone with a brain would know lockdown procedure, so the gunman would already know we're sitting here, in this exact corner.

Veronica stared. "Does it matter? That obviously wasn't a gunman."

"It reminded me of something, but I can't remember..."

"It looked human and inhuman at the same time. How is that possible?"

Charles glanced curiously at his twin. "Maybe it's a magical creature. You know, like from Harry Potter or Fablehaven?

"The only thing that it resembled from Harry Potter," said Veronica, "is an inferius. Like a zombie.

Charles closed his eyes and reviewed the image of the creature he'd seen. The blind eyes that looked like thick fog, the shambling feet, the pale skin, the dark circles under the eyes, the wrinkled lips, the clumpy hair. The nose had looked almost normal and so had the ears. The arms had just hung at the creature's sides, swinging back and forth as it moved. The creature had strangely excellent posture, like a child learning to walk. There was no way Charles could really be sure of this, but it had also seemed to have an acute sense of hearing and smell.

Charles opened his eyes. "That's not how I'd picture a zombie, but I guess it's possible. I mean when has anyone ever actually seen a real zombie? It's not as if the creators of plants vs. zombies or Minecraft would've been able to make an accurate representation of something they'd never seen."

"It did look kind of like how I'd imagine inferi and it looked similar to the Warm Bodies zombies."

As the danger presented by the existence of zombies finally dawned on them, Charles looked at Veronica grimly.

"I guess now is the time to ask ourselves if we're ready for the zombie apocalypse."