"Don't worry dad. You taught me good. I can handle myself." Father and son looked deep into one another for several long seconds.

"I know you can."

Frank accompanied them up the ladder to the sealed and locked pressure door. Sharon had at least agreed that someone needed to stay near that door to unlock it when they came back. He sealed the large black door behind them, spinning the wheel tight, and throwing the locking lever into place.

Zack took the lead up the stairway, his flashlight probing the darkness above. Emptiness. Before long they found themselves in the same storage room they had come through to go down into the shelter. The engulfing darkness seemed even more menacing with the utter silence.

"Quiet as a tomb." Zack said softly.

"Bad joke." Matt said sourly. "Real bad joke."

"You guys would make terrible hunters." David said. "You make to much noise."

Zack turned off the flashlight, and he peered out into the hall. To the left was the east wing. At the end of its long length were two sets of swinging double doors and a single zombie stumbled about. The light pouring in from outside was dim and hazy, seeming to add to the shadows instead of dispel them. Dusk was approaching. Zack peered to the right, which was west. Twenty feet away the corridor made a T-junction with the main hallway, which was the way they had first entered the school. It too was cast with the same hazy light from the main doors just to the north. A trio of zombies stumbled about through the intersection. Luckily only one was facing their direction, and Zack quickly pulled his head back into the storage room before he could be seen.

"There are three of them out there right around the corner," he whispered, pointing for emphasis.

"Did they see you?" Matt asked.

"I don't think so, but we're going to have to fight to get past them."

"Great." Matt said.

David listened to the banter between the two men, wishing he had their confidence and bravery. His heart was doing a marathon in his chest, and his breath was coming in short quick gasps. He knew if he didn't calm himself, he was going to hyperventilate.

"You wait right here." Matt said, patting his shoulder. "Me and Zack will take care of this."

"I can -" David began to argue in protest but Matt cut him off.

"Your dad told you to listen to us. Right?"

"We have automatic rifles anyway." Zack added. "We can shoot them easier."

"Don't worry," Matt finished." you'll get your turn."

"Lets do it partner." Zack said. They stepped out the door and into the hall, taking quick aim at the three creatures. The roar of the guns was deafening inside the empty hallway. The zombies crumpled to the ground.

"I hope there aren't many more in here. We could run out of ammo real fast."

"How much do you have?" Matt asked.

"I got two full clips with me. You?"

"What's loaded and one extra. We still have that box of fifty down stairs."

"That won't last long." Zack said flatly. Sensing David staring at him, Zack quickly shifted his mood. "Which way to the office?" he asked.

"North down the main hall." They moved quickly and silently to the large double Plexiglas main office doors. Zack tried to pull them open.

"Locked!" he exclaimed. "It figures."

"Step aside." Matt said. Zack moved and Matt took aim at the lock. He squeezed off two quick rounds and the Plexiglas starred halfway up its length, but the door swung open a few inches.

"We're getting to make this a habit." Zack said.

The main office was large and spacious with windows wrapping around the west and north walls. Drab brown drapes were pulled halfway down, but enough light spilled in from outside to make the office bright enough to see without the flashlight. The office was meticulously clean; the desk's all nice and tidy, the floor vacuumed, the waste bins emptied. It looked like it would on any normal evening after the cleaning staff had gone home. Only the wilted plants and flowers gave away the illusion, indicating that the office had not seen a cleaner, let alone any human habitation for several weeks. They moved behind the main counter and began inspecting the desks.

Matt picked up one of the phones and listened... Dead silence. He went back to his rummaging.

David moved over to the window, peering under the blinds. Beyond was the vast expanse of main lawn at the northwest corner of campus. There were at least fifteen zombies stumbling aimlessly across the grass. The main intersection beyond was cluttered with a handful of wrecked vehicles, long abandoned by their owners. There too the dead walked.

"Look at all of them." He said, more to himself than anyone else.

"Don't think about them right now." Matt said. "Start searching these other desks. I'm going to see what's back here." He headed down the south wing of the office, down a narrow hallway. By the time David pulled himself away from the window, Zack had searched all of the desks.

"Not a radio to be found." he muttered.

"The lockers." David said.

"What?" Zack asked.

"The lockers. The last day of school was like a normal day. We all went home, expecting to come back the next day. But then all of our parents got a call. And they broadcast it on the news that all the schools had been shut down for an undetermined time. That means the lockers are still full. And a lot of students had radios in their lockers."

"Good thinking David." Zack clapped him on the shoulder. "Hey Matt! Lets go!"

Matt came back down the hallway. "Just a conference room back there. No radio."

"No worries. David here has solved the problem." Zack repeated what David had told him.

"But how are we going to get in the lockers?" Matt asked.

"Leave that to me." David said. He went over to one of the large desks and turned the power onto the computer. The screen flashed to life, casting an eerie glow across David's face.

"What are you doing?" Matt asked.

"I'm accessing the schools database. I can get a printout of all locker combinations."

"How do you know how to do that?"

David smiled up at them. "I was an office assistant. I used the system everyday." He turned back to the computer. "Besides, computer's are my Thing."

He waited a moment while the system booted before his fingers began to move rapidly across the keyboard.

"Got it." The printer on the small table beside him kicked to life, and began rapidly printing out the information displayed on the screen.

"Where would we be without you?" Zack asked. David smiled with pride.

"Try and log onto the 'net." Matt suggested.

David clicked the appropriate icon and after several seconds an UNABLE TO CONNECT message popped up.

"No good. It's down."

"Lets get checking those lockers." Zack said.

They began at the lockers just outside the main office. It took them fifteen tries, but at last they found a radio. A small transistor tucked up on the top shelf of the locker. Matt pulled it down and turned the power knob. White noise burst through the speakers. He turned the dial up and down the FM band. Every station carried the whistle of the Emergency Broadcast System. AM was the same thing.

"At least they're sending a signal." Zack said. "They have set broadcast times."

"Let's get back down to the shelter." Matt said.

They moved quickly, Zack leading, David in the middle and Matt bringing up the rear. Back into the storage room, and down the stairs to the sealed pressure door. Zack banged the pre-arranged signal with the palm of his hand and a few seconds later the door opened, and Frank stood pointing his rifle at them.

"That was quick." Frank said.

"Thanks to David. We'd still be up there knocking our heads together if he hadn't been with us." Zack clapped his shoulder again, and recounted the tale to Frank while he closed and sealed the door.

"Good work, son." Frank said, smiling at his boy.

The radio signal became garbled with static as the door was sealed, but still audible. After they had descended the ladder and were back into the main shelter, the reception was almost nothing.

"Is that all you can pick up on that thing?" Frank asked.

"Every station up and down both bands." Matt said. "And with this shitty reception, we'll be lucky of we pick up the transmission when they do broadcast."

"Dad you should have seen all of those things out there." David's voice was filled with disgust.

"How many were there?" Frank asked.

"I didn't get an exact count but there was at least twenty. Just on the front lawn."

"Jesus." muttered Frank.

"It's like we were saying earlier. There's more and more of them every day. And we're just waiting in here to die." Zack said solemnly. They all remained silent, hanging on Zack's words...

Chapter 4.

Thursday, June 21, 2001 Salt Lake City, UT 10:13 AM.

Four days had passed, the four longest days of all their lives. They did little besides eat, sleep, and huddle around the radio, listening through the static for change in the Emergency Broadcast System which continually looped the conditions of martial law, turning in the sick and dead, and established rescue stations.

It was on the fifth day that the power went out. They had been huddled around the radio, as usual, a breakfast of soup and water in their hands when the lights flickered and went out, plunging the room into darkness.

"Oh shit." Frank muttered. "I knew the power would go out eventually."

"Where is the flashlight?" David's voice came from the darkness.

"I got it. Just a minute." Matt said. He fumbled under his bed and found the flashlight. The beam sliced the darkness, casting all of their faces in shadows.

"What are we going to do?" Sharon asked. "How are we going to get the power back on?" They could all hear the edge of panic creeping into her voice. Frank reached out in the darkness and took his wives hand.

"I think it's just about time to leave this place." Frank said. He felt her hand tighten, and he could sense her about to protest, but he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and she remained silent.

"I don't know if I can face those things again."

"Sharon you've got to be strong now." Frank's voice was low, but there was no masking the seriousness. "You've got to. All of our lives depend on us looking out for one another. This is no time for weakness. I know it's hard, but you've got to stay strong." He hugged his wife tight, trying to feel the strength he portrayed.

"Load up with cans of food." Zack said. "Who knows when we'll see another chance to resupply?"

In the feeble light provided by the flashlight, they loaded their packs with spare cans of Spam, soup and pork and beans. Frank had been smart enough to bring a trio of canteens and he filled them with fresh water from one of the barrels. With that accomplished, they gathered their weapons, and left the safety of the bomb shelter, into the lurking danger of the school above...

Zack opened the storage room door a crack and peered out into the dark hallway. At the west end daylight poured in from the doors on the south wall, the hallway was quiet as a tomb and just as empty.

"The coast is clear." he whispered, and emerged into the hallway. As everyone moved into the hallway, Zack crept towards the main hall T-junction. To the right were the main offices, and one creature was stumbling in circles near the main doors. To the left, down the long hallway at the south end of the main hall three more zombies roamed and beyond them was the doorway they had first come into the school. Zack crept back and relayed the information.

"We need a bigger vehicle." Frank said. "One we all can ride in and make it easier to defend ourselves."

"What about those school buses?" Zack asked.

"Good idea." Frank piped up. "There were three of them out by the driving range. We can pile into the wagon and drive over there. I can hot-wire the bus and we can get the hell out of here."

"A bus will plow through those deadfucks like bowling pins." Matt said.

"Lets move." Zack said. They charged down the hall, killing the three creatures long before they reached them. Matt reached the door first and peered out the windows, being careful not to be seen by the creatures outside.

And there were creatures aplenty. The nearest was several feet from the doors, but just a few steps from the station wagon and 4x4, which still sat undisturbed where they had parked them.

"OK, now remember the plan! No matter what happens!" Zack said. The plan had been formulated during the three days of tranquil boredom. The plan was simple. Reach Rainbow Lake, where there was refuge at their friends cabin. They had told Frank and his family how to find the lake and exact directions to the cabin just incase they became separated. In that event, Rainbow Lake was to be where they regrouped with one another. Matt flung the door open, stepping out into full view, attracting the attention of every zombie within two hundred feet. Zack and Frank joined him out on the concrete landing, and they began blasting away at the creatures near the vehicles. Over a dozen zombies went down in a hail of bullets and they moved towards the station wagon.

Frank unlocked the drivers door with shaky hands as Matt and Zack killed the few straggling zombies that wandered towards them. Once everyone had piled into the wagon, (and it was quite a tight fit) Frank had them rolling across the lot. When they reached the row of yellow buses, Zack was out of the wagon before it even stopped rolling. The nearest zombies were at least one hundred feet away, but steadily advancing. Matt kept watch while the Young's pulled their luggage and food from the back of the wagon. Zack tried the door of the bus.

"Its locked!" he screamed. But wasting no time, he moved ten feet down the side of the bus and smashed out one of the passenger windows with the butt of his rifle and pulled himself up into the bus. He ran to the front of the vehicle and pulled the lever to open the door open.

While his family carried their luggage and supplies aboard the bus, Frank clambered beneath the wheel to hot-wire it while Zack and Matt stood guard outside, watching the zombies who were now only fifty feet away.

The bus engine roared to life. "Let's hit the road!" Frank called from the drivers seat. Zack and Matt hurried aboard, Frank closed the door behind them and got under way...

Chapter 5.