Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

Chapter 21: A Sudden Betrayal

Ryan and Mr. Diaz left the shelter that they had built in the school's gymnasium behind, and when they did so, a sense of dread had overtaken the survivors. None more so than Ryan's friends, who suspected that their fearless leader was about to make his joke a reality.

But none of them moved to stop Ryan, nor warn Mr. Diaz about a potential betrayal from the man next to him. Instead, the gym teacher and the captain of the football team rushed through the undead infested school grounds and towards the main building where the cafeteria was.

Surely if they could make it to the cafeteria, then they could snag some much needed supplies, right? There was just one problem, for whatever reason, the route between the main building and the gymnasium was infested with far more undead than it had been just a few hours prior when Ryan and his gang made their way to safety.

Ryan had no idea what had happened, or why there was a sudden increase in the undead. But He swung with all his strength, using his aluminum baseball bat to crack the skulls of the Walkers who got in his way.

Of course, Ryan had no idea they were called Walkers. In fact, nobody did aside from Zane and the girls, as they were the only ones who had been daring enough to dig through the skulls of the undead, and consume the blood crystals.

But this was neither here nor there. Instead, after much strenuous effort, Ryan and Mr. Diaz made their way to the main building. Where they were shocked to find that the doors to the facility had been blown off their hinges.

Mr. Diaz was quick to ask Ryan how this had occurred, only to find that the young boy was just as mortified as him.

"Is this why you fled the building? What the hell could cause so much damage to the entrance?"

Yet Ryan's jaw was completely dropped. He and the others had escaped through an intact doorway. Just what the hell happened in the time between then and now? He did not know why, but he suddenly felt as if he were covered in goosebumps, and as if his spine has frozen into a block of ice.

Nevertheless, Mr. Diaz reassured the kid why they were there and placed his hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"Whatever horrors await us inside, there is no going back now. You understand? We need those supplies, or it won't be long before all hell breaks loose…."

Ryan swallowed the Saliva that was pooling in his mouth and nodded his head in agreement with his former gym teacher's words. Strengthening his grip around the baseball bat, and along with it his resolve, Ryan took a step forward into the school only to find that it was completely different from he remembered it.

Not a single classroom door was barricaded. In fact, they all had the doors blown off their hinges just like the entrances to the building. But the worst part was that the scent of blood and decay was significantly stronger than it had been before.

All the survivors who clung to hope that the government would come and rescue them were now dead, or at least Ryan presumed they were. But just what the hell had caused so much damage in such a short amount of time?

Whatever was responsible for this, Ryan did not want to find out, and thus he quickly and covertly led the Gym Teacher to the cafeteria, where the two of them stockpiled on food and water.

They had brought several bags with them, which they planned to carry a large portion of supplies with. And once they had finally filled up the majority of them, Mr. Diaz grabbed hold of Ryan's shoulder and pointed to the second floor where the nurse's office was located.

"We should get some medicine too while we are at it. Hurry, I get a feeling something is terribly wrong here…"

Ryan silently nodded his head and followed Mr. Diaz up the stairwell. Both of the two men were completely unaware that a pair of lifeless eyes was following their every movement. Watching and waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Eventually Ryan and Mr. Diaz made their way to the nurse's office, where they were surprised to find that much of its supplies had already been ransacked. Especially the most critical supplies. Mr. Diaz couldn't help but curse as he spoke his thoughts aloud.

"Shit! It looks like we weren't the only survivors. Strange though, I haven't seen any undead since we first entered this building…."

It was only after the man said this that he felt a cold breeze on his neck, along with a smell so putrid he nearly threw up on the spot. He was, of course, not the only one to feel this, and Ryan looked over his shoulder in horror to see an absolute abomination smiling at him with a sadistic grin on its hideous face.

Beneath the decaying flesh, and the bite wounds, was a face eerily reminiscent of the fat bastard who had caused disaster to befall his classroom. And Ryan couldn't help but exclaim in shock as he witnessed what his former classmate had turned into.

"Keith?"

The giant monstrosity immediately reached out and tried to grab Ryan, but Mr. Diaz had pushed him aside and got the two of them just out of the path of the attack. Once the two had gotten to their feet, Mr. Diaz spoke in panic as he helped Ryan rush out of the nurse's office.

"What the fuck is that thing!?! You know what? I don't care. Let's get the fuck out of here!"

And just like that, the two of them ran as fast as they could towards the stairwell, hoping to escape from Keith's path of destruction. For whatever reason, they appeared to have escaped from its pursuit after they rounded the corner.

It was only then that Ryan finally come to his wits and realized that his best chance of escaping was by enacting his initial plan. Thus, he grit his teeth, finding the resolve to do the unspeakable, and swung his bat with all the strength he could muster.

A loud crunch resounded in the air, followed by a cry of agony as Mr. Diaz fell to the floor. His knee was completely shattered by Ryan's sudden attack. The gym teacher couldn't help but believe Ryan had attacked him by mistake and was quick to question the man.

"What the hell are you doing? Help me!"

A loud thud appeared as Ryan spotted Keith following after them. He was slow due to his massive size, and that was perhaps the reason it had taken the monstrosity so long to catch up to them. Ryan stared straight into Mr. Diaz's eyes before reaching out his hand.

Yet it was not a gesture of help, but rather to take the bags that Mr. Diaz had strapped to his body. Mr. Diaz struggled, trying to grab onto Ryan for help, but the man simply hit him with the bat again, this time breaking the man's arms.

After retrieving the bags of supplies, Ryan turned away, saying goodbye to his former gym teacher in a ruthless display of betrayal.

"I'm sorry it had to be this way Mr. Diaz… But there can only be one leader of our group, and I don't intend to follow anybody in this new world…"

After saying that, Ryan ran down the stairwell. With Mr. Diaz screaming bloody murder at his former student, all while Keith picked him up in the air and ripped him in half.