"H-Huh?" 

    Everyone was woken at the same time, and they all had the same look of confusion.

    "God dangit...where are we?" Noelle whispered. It seemed that they were still in the cafeteria; there was a steel mesh that blocked the cafeteria doors. All the windows/doors were covered with it.

   They were sitting ducks, trapped in the cafeteria. 

   "Isn't it splendid? The whole group is together!" Jevil said from somewhere inside. "Too bad you'll all have to die! Such a shame the world excreted idiotic children like you!"

   The lights above them turned on, however, they emitted a violet light instead of a white or yellow one. They could see the zombies along the opposite wall, and next to them was the snack station. The door was closed, however, the window was only boarded up by the mesh, and behind it sat Jevil.

   Everyone stayed quiet, as not to attract the zombies that could easily take them on and win, might one add.

   "Such fools! Your parents, your siblings, your family members are all DEAD!" Jevil shouted. Kris tried all that he could to hold in his anger. Jevil leaned back and grabbed a chip bag off the wall, the popping sound attracting a couple of zombies.

   "Kris, don't listen to him!" Ralsei whispered. "Your dad is fine! He's just trying to get you to yell back!"

  "It's such a shame that your dad died. He seemed like a nice guy--"

  "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY DAD?" Kris screamed, too late to stop himself. Jevil cackled as all the zombies turned around and looked at the group. Everyone gasped and got up, grabbing their weapons and getting ready to bash some heads in.

  "This shall be fun to watch!" Jevil whispered. The runners came first, bolting at the group and jumping high into the air. Kris quickly swiped the top of his weapon against the side of the zombie's face.

 "Let's do this!"

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 Martha had run back to the cafeteria doors, trying to find a way to open them. She realized that they were locked and that something was holding the doors in place. She banged on the doors, trying to get the attention of someone.

 "HELLO? CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?" Martha shouted into the crack between the doors. Luckily, she was met with a reply.

 "Martha? Is that you?" came a voice. Based on the sweetness and high pitch, Martha deducted it was Lancer's.

 "Yes! It's me!" Martha answered. "What's there blocking the doors? Maybe I can find a key or something!"

 "There's a steel mesh in front of them. A large combination lock is on the doors itself, and there's a keyhole right in the center of the mesh." Lancer looked back in worry, seeing the rest of the group attacking the zombies. "Did that help?"

 "Yes, very! Now go and help the others quick, before you get bit! I'll bang on the doors once I got it!"

 Martha ran back down the hallway towards Jevil's office, because if anywhere was going to have it...it would be his office. After a few twist's and turns, she eventually came across the familiar wooden door she dreaded entering. She pulled the door open and closed it behind her.

 "Now where would he hide a secret mesh key?" Martha said to herself. She ran to his desk and opened up each drawer that she could. The first had only a stack of papers, the second a couple of inanimate objects, the third had some weird picture of Jevil and a brunette smiling in front of a waterfall. 

 "Guess you weren't always an insane creep," Martha thought. She had gone through every drawer that was in the desk, and no key or combination lock code! Well...there was one drawer that she didn't open, but in order to open it she would need a key.

 Martha sighed and swiped everything off his desk in hopes of something breaking and revealing the location of it. But there was nothing. Martha clenched her fingers and growled.

 "Goddamnit!" Martha banged her fist onto the desk, knocking over the picture of him and the blonde woman. Martha frowned and picked up the picture, turning it around and looking at the picture of them together.

 "I just want it all to go back..." Martha mumbled. She felt around the back of the frame and felt something a bit odd, almost like a gap? Her face was struck with confusion, and she turned it around and noticed that there WAS a hole. Inside of it was a small orange key that looked just about big enough to fit inside the keyhole on the drawer.

 "YES!" Martha exclaimed, removing the key and placing it into the hole. She gave it a couple of turns until there was a light click, and she could finally open it and look inside. There wasn't much, but on the bottom, she could see a little-faded piece of paper. She grabbed it and ran back outside towards the group. 

  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

Kris wrapped the curved part of his candy cane around the neck of a zombie and flew it into another. Kris and the rest of the group were having a tough time trying to kill the zombies, but they weren't giving up. Lancer whacked a zombie hard in the face with the foot of his mannequin leg. Ralsei kicked a zombie to the ground and slammed his bat onto the top of his face.

"I-I don't know if I can keep going!"

"Martha will be here soon!" Lancer encouraged. Jevil had left during the chaos, and none of them could do anything because of the zombies. He had shut the mesh on the other door while exiting and locked the cafeteria doors on his side. He turned a song on the overhead speakers, that didn't quite fit the mood.

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https://youtu.be/j7q9jkpWArw

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 "I don't know...what if she's gone? What if she left without us?" Noelle mumbled.

 "She'll come! I know she will!" Lancer said with a voice full of hope. "I-I mean...I hope she does!"

 And then came the loud banging on the doors behind them. Lancer gasped and ran back to them, trying to see through the gap; on the other side was Martha.

"I didn't find the mesh key, but I found the combination lock code!" Martha told them. "It's 4-5-2-9-3."

Lancer pushed his fingers through the mesh and rotated the numbers down and up until all 5 parts of the code corresponded with what she said. There was another loud click, and with a simple tug, the lock came undone and fell to the floor.

"Does anybody have any ideas on how to open the mesh door?" Lancer asked. He tried grabbing onto the bottom and pulling it up, but it could only go up a few inches before it stopped. Kris looked back at the door and thought for a moment. He noticed that the mesh door could be slightly pushed up, leaving a wiggle room to escape the cafeteria. But how would they make it big enough to crawl through?

"Hold on, let me have a try at it!" 

Kris ran back to mesh door and placed his hands under the mesh door; he pulled it up with all of his might until there was that few inch gap. He proceeded to place the end of his weapon inside the gap, releasing his grasp, and pressed the top of the candy cane to the floor. 

"It's working!" Noelle exclaimed. Ralsei dropped to the floor and looked up to see how much of his body he could fit. He squeezed his leg through, then fit his body through, and then finally pushed the rest of his body out the other side of the mesh. Once he was, he stood up and tried opening the doors...and they opened!

"YES!" Ralsei exclaimed. "Guys come on!"

Susie came next, who tried forced every bit of her body through the tiny crack. One she was through, Kris ducked under next. Lancer went next, and while it was a bit of a struggle to push through, he eventually made it through to the other side. Leaving just Noelle to crawl through.

"Noelle! Hurry up!" Susie shouted.

"I-I'm coming, just give me a moment! It's hard to fit through it!"

"Hold on." Susie grabbed the mesh and pulled it up for her. Noelle began shimming through, getting her top part in and leaving her torso out.

"N-Noelle! I can't hold this up much longer!" Susie grunted and slowly lost her grip, the mesh slowly coming down. "You gotta hu--"

And then it happened, just an accident. It was supposed to be an accident and she didn't mean it. A zombie had crashed into the mesh suddenly, throwing her off guard and sending her back. And then the mesh fell right onto Noelle's torso.

"AHHHHHH!"

The mesh indented into her fur, like a hot knife leaving a scar on skin. The zombie looked down as Noelle screamed.

"NOELLE YOU GOTTA HURRY!" Susie screamed, kneeling down to her level. She grabbed her arms and began pulling, while Kris tried holding the mesh up. But it was too late, the zombie reached under and grabbed her leg and pulled back. It was a game of tug of war, that they knew they'd lose.

The zombie leaned forward, opened their mouth, and then finally there was a loud chomp. And then there was screaming and pain.

"NOELLE! NO!" Susie cried. Noelle was just frozen, as the zombie hoard caught up and arrived at the mesh. Kris pulled Susie back and saw the color drain from Noelle's face as she slowly began to die.

"Susie..." Noelle cooed, reaching a hand out to her. "Get out...get out now..."

"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU!"

More zombies slowly piled on Noelle and ate her legs like they were chicken wings. Taking bite after bite and scratch after the scratch. Noelle looked pale now, almost dead, and her voice became a coarse whisper.

"Go...now...get out before I turn...please"

Susie crawled forward and placed her hands on her cheek. They both cried and cried; Susie didn't mean it, and now she was watching her girlfriend die. Susie kissed Noelle once more, and slowly got up.

And then finally hit death, which forced her eyes into the back of her head and her head to fall onto the ground. Warm blood trickled from her mouth and down onto the ground, as the group watched the zombies bang on the mesh.

"Susie...we need to go," Martha said. She placed a hand on Susie's shoulder and shook her. "Like, now...we need to go now."

Susie didn't move and just stared at the body. It happened so fast, she didn't know what to do and still the pieces of how she died were coming together. 

"Just give me some time...i'll come eventually. Just...give me time!"

Kris signaled for the others to run off and find Jevil, while Susie stayed behind and watched as her girlfriend slowly turned into a zombie.

"JEVIL! WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY DAD?" Kris screamed off in the distance.