The Absurdium

Clayton wrenched the door open and pushed Alicia through, back into the school. Her singlet was dirty and torn in several places, and her right arm, chest and the fronts of her thighs were caked with dirt and bleeding from several scrapes, cuts and small tears. He gushed admiration after her.

Turning back outside, Clayton saw Lyle doubled up, vomiting into the gravel at his feet as one of the zombies rushed, jabbering towards him.

Clayton cursed loudly and ran out to him. Lyle was still staring dumbly at his oncoming assailant and Clayton hollered, “Move, stupid!” as he roughly grabbed Lyle’s shirt and threw him most of the way towards the doors. A moment later the zombie reached him and Clayton met it with a right hook that lifted it clean off its infected feet and sent it flipping backwards through the air as its momentum carried it past him.

The other zombies leapt up and Clayton made it back to the doors just in time.

“What is wrong with you?” Clayton yelled at Lyle over the sounds of pounding and slapping on the metal doors.

“Did you see that? Oh my God. They were like, eating that guy…” Lyle was speaking to no one in particular in a quiet, distant voice. After a few moments he snapped back to reality, blinking. He seemed not to have noticed Clayton.

“Alicia! Incredible! Those reflexes, we owe you our lives!” he said excitedly.

Clayton voiced his consent and grunted, “And you owe me yours, nerd.”

Ignoring Clayton, Lyle continued, “Oh hey, you’re bleeding by the way. And I think you’ve got some gravel in your skin,” he offered, pointing at her legs. “Ugh, my throat hurts,” he added.

Suddenly Clayton grabbed the front of Lyle’s shirt and pulled him towards him.

“You almost got us killed, Pointdexter,” he growled menacingly. “I think you’d better thank Alicia right now, buddy.”

“I just did, let go of me,” said Lyle quietly, but Alicia spoke over him. “Clayton let him go, its okay, its not his fault. We all ran out there without looking first.” She paused for a moment and looked down at her bleeding legs, “Holy Hell this stings.”

Abruptly Clayton looked up, and his eyes widened and pushing Lyle aside he rushed at Alicia yelling, “No!”

Clayton had clearly lost his mind and Alicia only had time to cringe as he closed on her. To her confused relief he barreled right by her and she unclenched her eyes in time to see him reach the doors. A young boy with dark hair and a torn t-shirt was trying to push the doors open and was screaming for Clayton to let him in. After a moment’s hesitation Clayton obliged and pulled the boy in before slamming the doors just as a slavering mob of cloudy-eyed and blood-soaked students and teachers crashed against them.

Clayton roared and threw his back against the doors, fighting to hold them both shut. The boy screamed hysterically and ran for the doors that led outside. Alicia and Lyle both stepped into his path and struggled to hold him, trying vainly to tell him that it wasn’t safe outside either.

The groaning mob was slamming against the doors, jolting Clayton’s 200 pound frame. His feet began slipping. He twisted around quickly and with one hand on each, leaned into the doors with all of his strength and weight. His feet slipped further on the carpet and as he struggled to hold back his own death he thought of how similar this was to some of the drills they did at football practice.

“I… can’t… hold this alone!” he growled through gritted teeth.

Just a few metres away Alicia and Lyle were both struggling to hold the young boy and trying desperately to calm him down, just as he was desperately trying to fight his way through them to the back doors. The pounding and scratching coming from those outer doors had only intensified and the combined noise coming from both entrances to their safe haven was more terrifying and depressing than any sight could have been.

Alicia was fighting as hard as she could to hold the dark-haired boy back. She recalled seeing him before in the school but didn’t know who he was. He was surely in ninth grade, but still he was strong and he was slowly dragging her and Lyle towards the doors. She knew that if he reached them they would all die, but still she could not halt his advance. Lyle was bleeding from the mouth where the boy had hit him and he too was straining as hard as he could to control the younger boy, but his slim body was being thrown about with surprising ferocity. Alicia cried out as she saw Lyle stumble and fall against the wall, his glasses knocked ajar on his face, and the boy pushed hard, driving her back quickly. Tears were streaming down her face now from the effort and the fear that gripped her whole body. She was exhausted and her arms were shaking. The boy too was crying and yelling and over his hysterics she could hear Clayton groaning as the far doors bulged open for a second and she distinctly heard him yell and slam them shut again. Her back foot slid into the middle post of the door frame behind her. She pushed against it hard and the boys straining fingers were now inches from the handles that would open their metal shields.

“Help… meeee!” she screamed as Clayton roared the same plea from the other side of the stairwell. Lyle stood horror-struck, his eyes twitching back and forth between both struggles. He was frozen in indecision again. The doors jolted open once more despite Clayton’s weight and Lyle knew then that they were about to die.