text: [Themes: sci-fi, science fiction]
  
  "I'll stick with you two," you say, walking over. Destiny shrugs her shoulders in response but otherwise ignores you.
  
  James is a bit more vocal. "Are you fucking kidding me? Why in the hell would you want to team up with me?"
  
  "Believe me," you tell him; "it wasn't you I was hoping to team up with."
  
  James' eyes go big for a moment and he laughs. "Wait, you actually think you have a chance with her?"
  
  "Enough," Dr. Verrukt says. James stops laughing, just shaking his head at you. You look over at Destiny who is smirking at you, giving you a quick up-and-down look. You glance back at Christie who is glowering at you for some reason.
  
  You shrug your shoulders and focus on the doctor's instructions as he gives each unit direction. You are going left with James and Destiny, due to return here within half an hour. "Right this way then," Destiny says with a crooked smile. She is the first to step out of the room.
  
  James shoves you forward. "C'mon," he says. "Move."
  
  James is such an asshole, you think in frustration as you make your way to the door.
  
  You step outside to find Destiny walking casually up the hall to where the trash cans are supposed to be standing. Instead they are scattered on their sides a thick layer of dust covering everything. Destiny leads you around them swaying her hips seductively and you follow paying less attention to your surroundings as you probably should. You can hear James' heavy steps behind you.
  
  The three of you walk through the school, your feet making fresh prints on the carpet of dust covering the floors. Everything is unsettlingly quiet. It's as though the place has been abandoned for some time.
  
  "Where is everyone?" Destiny asks, her voice echoing down the hall.
  
  The classrooms you check along the way are all deserted and covered with dust, textbooks and pencils still in place on desktops. In the back of one of the classrooms is the sticky remains of a pool of blood with drag marks leading back toward the door. Destiny shines her flashlight on it and gives James a wide-eyed look.
  
  "This place doesn't look like a lot of fun," James says. His voice echoing eerily in the silence.
  
  "How long have we been exploring?" Destiny asks.
  
  You glance at your watch. "Fifteen minutes," you answer.
  
  "Maybe we should get back," Destiny suggests.
  
  "We still have time," James argues.
  
  "I don't know," she says. "I don't like this place. It's giving me the creeps."
  
  James is about to make a counter point when a shrill scream echoes to you from a distant hall behind you. Destiny and James both look a little uncomfortable. Two voices scream this time, followed by what sounds like snarl.
  
  "We need to leave," Destiny said urgently. The two of you follow her back to the fallen trash cans at the abandoned hall. Coming from the other way are Dr. Verrukt and Mike. Another scream comes from further in the school, a series of growls and snarls rising in intensity.
  
  "What is that?" James asks. "Where are Christie and Frank?"
  
  "It doesn't matter," Dr. Verrukt tells him. "Come on, we need to get back to our world."
  
  "No," James says. "I'm not leaving them behind."
  
  "You're being foolish, James;" Verrukt tells him. "They know how to get back."
  
  James bites his lip and nods. "Yeah, well so do I, doc." He runs off down the hall.
  
  Dr. Verrukt shakes his head with disappointment on his face. He looks at the rest of you and says "Come on." He heads back down the abandoned hall to the classroom with the portal on the chalkboard. Destiny follows him, not turning to look back for a second. Mike looks at you and gestures for you to follow as he jogs to catch up with Destiny and the doctor.
  
  > catch up with James
  You run after James, following him down the hall in the opposite direction of what you'd explored. He stops at the end of the hall, where the only option is to turn left down the history and social studies hall. You come to a halt beside him. Following James' lead you see about ten disfigured people walking. On the other side of them are Christie and Frank, trapped between this group and another larger group.
  
  Filtering in from the dusty windows, pale sunlight illuminates the scene enough that you can see something is off about these people. Their skin is loose and in some cases covered with gaping wounds. You swallow hard. They're dead.
  
  "Zombies?" You ask. "How is that even possible?"
  
  "Would you shut up?" James mutters from over his shoulder. "Come on, we need to help them."
  
  With more stealth than you can believe a guy of his size is capable, James moves quietly down the hall toward the undead. He walks up behind the nearest one and smacks it in the back of the head; knocking it face down to the ground at Christie's feet.
  
  "Nice one," Frank says; sticking it in the skull with the blade of his knife.
  
  The zombies start to turn around to face you as James takes another one down. "Are you going to help or not?" James growls, striking a zombie in the face so hard its jaw rips off of its face.
  
  "I don't have a weapon," you say.
  
  "Why the hell are you out here without a weapon?!" he asks incredulously.
  
  Frank stabs another one in the skull and it drops to the ground. Christie stabs the one beside it to the same effect.
  
  "Frank," Christie said; "Toss Charlie one of your knives." Frank nods and tosses a knife over the heads of the remaining zombies to you. You shrink in fear of being stabbed and it clatters to the ground. The blade is not out, of course.
  
  "Pick it up you idiot," James tells you, smacking the bat into another zombie.
  
  You pick the blade up and struggle to open it up. There are only a few zombies still standing between you and the others. Frank stabs the jawless zombie dead, James knocks another one down, and you begin to grow frustrated with the knife as one of the zombies steps past James and toward you.
  
  "The big group is getting closer," Christie warns.
  
  The stray zombie is nearly upon you. "How the FUCK do you open this damn knife?!" You scream.
  
  "There's a button down on the handle!" Frank tells you.
  
  You push the button, a three inch steel blade pops out. Strong fingers grip your shoulder and pull you in. You scream and stab at it with your blade over and over again, finding the skull softer than you expected. Your zombie falls to the ground and you see James, Christie, and Frank standing beside you; the rest of the zombies scattered in black blood and gore around you.
  
  "Nicely done asshole," James says. "Now let's get out of here."
  
  The rest of the zombie hoard is drawing near.
  
  "Let's move," Christie says.
  
  James nods. "Go. I'll bring up the rear."
  
  The others nod and start moving down the hall, Christie taking your hand and pulling you along while Frank runs along beside you. As you make the turn on the hall toward the hall you hear Christie swear.
  
  "There's more up ahead," she says. "If we hurry we can make the hall and move to room 413."
  
  "Lets do it then," you say.
  
  "We need to move," James says. "No more jogging. Run!" He breaks into a run to the abandoned hall. You and Christie try to keep up, keeping a wary eye ahead and praying that you are able to beat the zombies to your destination.
  
  As you reach the toppled trash cans, the zombie hoard is closing in. You try to make the turn hard and end up slamming your shoulder painfully into the wall. James trips over one of the trash cans and you hear a terrible snap as he goes down.
  
  "FUCK!" he screams, clutching at his leg. You can see the bone of his shin pressing awkwardly against the skin.
  
  "Go!" he tells you. "There's no time. Save yourselves."
  
  Frank and Christie nod. "We'll leave a circle on the board for you," Frank says. The two of them rush to room 413.
  
  You take a moment to stare down at James, then to the closing hoard of zombies. They're just outside of spitting distance, growling and moaning in their approach.
  
  "What are you doing?" James asks, trying to prop himself up against the wall. "Go."
  
  > Go.
  You follow the others back down the hall to room 413 where the chalk drawing of a rune framed portal remains on the black board. Christie draws four circles over the arc with her chalk. She takes a quick glance over her shoulder at you and Frank and steps through. You watch as her circle disappears.
  
  "Come on," Frank says. "I don't like this any more than you do, but we have to go to stay alive." He steps through, his circle disappears. Taking a deep breath you step through as well.
  
  Stepping out of the board on the other side you find everyone waiting for you. Mike is chewing his fingernails nervously. Dr. Verrukt is pacing. Destiny is sitting on the floor with her head in her hands. Christie and Frank are explaining what happened to the others.
  
  "Now what do we do?" you ask.
  
  "First we wait," Dr. Verrukt. "If James steps through the portal in the next ten minutes, then good. If not, then we do our best to go back to our normal lives."
  
  "I don't know how that's possible," Christie says in a quiet voice.
  
  "Let's just wait," Verrukt says evenly.
  
  You wait in silence. The seconds stretch into long minutes. Five minutes go by. Ten. At twenty minutes Dr. Verrukt says what no one wants to say.
  
  "At this point," he tells you; "it would be foolish to assume James will be returning. He was a good kid and he will be missed." You feel numb. Mike, Christie, and Destiny sob. Frank swears and pushes over a stack of chairs, sending them crashing to the ground on the far side of the room.
  
  Dr. Verrukt slips quietly away while the rest of you are preoccupied with your grief; the door makes only a subtle click as it closes. He is gone the next day, his office and house emptied of content and cleaned spotless.
  
  James never returns. He is assumed to be a runaway, another teenage statistic, but you know better. He's back in that other world, walking around with dead eyes and eating the flesh of the living. You left him there to die.
  
  The guilt weighs on you for the rest of your life.