Abigail's Story: Chapter 01

It was raining, but then it was always raining. Abbie stood with her gaze outside the glass front doors of the school. The quiet after the school day was eerie. No children running in the halls, no sounds from the class rooms down the hall. It felt as if someone had simply shut off all of the activity and put the building to sleep. The only sound was that of the rain against the walls, and the occasional shrill ring of the reception telephone. The cold of the quiet finally got to be too much for her and Abbie pushed back from the doors and turned to the reception desk. Louisa, a young woman with pixie cut black hair, was behind the desk. She arched an eyebrow at Abbie, but was otherwise engaged with the phone. Fishing her key-frob out of her coat pocket Abbie unlocked the door attached to reception and let herself back into the main part of the school.

Now that she was past the safety-glass infront of the reception desk she could hear Louisa's conversation. The receptionist was miming wrapping the telephone cord around her neck and hanging herself with it, as she said patiently into the phone, “No, ma'am. The school is closed tomorrow, you won't be able to bring in your child's homework then. If you can get here within the next hour we're still open until...” Louisa picked up a pen and mimed stabbing herself with it, “Yes, ma'am, I'm very sorry for the inconvenience, but if you can come within the next hour we can make sure it gets placed into the teacher's mailbox..”

The conversation ended abruptly with Louisa dropping the phone onto the cradle with a huff. She turned to Abbie and put one hand to her forehead for dramatics, “Really? These people! Tomorrow is a national holiday, do they really think the school is going to be open just so they can drop off homework?”

Abbie shrugged and shuffled her feet back over to her desk. A small laugh escaping her lips as she looked over her shoulder to say, “Well. Yes. We provide a service, and they think that service is catering to their every need.”

“Harrumph.” Louisa complained as she shut down her computer, and started to pack up for the evening. A glance in Abbie's direction and she says, “Well, my dear. It's your turn to deal with the crazies for the rest of the evening. I figure the rain will keep most of them away, but you may get a few phone calls still.”

“Oh, boy.” Abbie said sarcastically, before waving a hand. “Don't worry about me Louisa. I've been here by myself countless of times. I think I can handle it.”

“Have a nice week!” Louisa said as she pushed over the door and bounced out, “See you Monday!”

With a schnick of the door closing and a click of the lock settling into place the silence once more settled around Abbie. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She had an hour to kill, an hour to deal with the deafening stillness of an empty school. To waste time she logged into her email and went through it. One parent wanted to know why their volunteer hours hadn't been posted yet. Another parent wanted to know if Abbie could get their friend's neighbor's child a spot in the school. Lastly there was an alert to all parents about the school being closed the next day, and for everyone to have a great long weekend! The two emails from the parents were responded to within five minutes and she still had most of an hour left. The silence was going to drive her just a little bit batty.

With nothing else to do she kicked her foot against the floor, shooting her chair across the office to the computer monitor that housed the security cameras. She spun about and dropped her elbows onto the counter infront of the monitor, leaning in she stared at the empty, empty hallways. Her foot tapped to a song in her head, something bouncy and lively to contrast the silence she was surrounded with. The place wasn't completely empty, she was sure. There was always some teacher still in their classroom; grading papers or trying to clean up or get some other work done so they wouldn't have to take it home. Idly she reached for the phone at one of her coworker's stations, intending to find out if any of her more friendly coworkers were still in the building.

KA-BOOM!

Thunder seemed to explode right over the building, making Abbie jump. At the same time the power flickered, and for a brief moment Abbie thought she saw a misshapen shadow in one of the hallways on the monitor right before the lights went out. Oh, god. A moment she could hear the sound of the backup generator humming to life. She dropped the phone immediately, and stared at the cameras in horror. The screen was blank for a moment and then the start-up screen loaded, followed by it the log in one. Abbie typed the username and password in as fast as she could. Creeeeee.... Abbie turned away from the computer at the sound of a door opening behind her. She whirled toward the small clinic off of the reception desk, and tried to find what had happened. Standing in the doorway on the other side was a shadowy figure. Abbie screamed.

The figure screamed too. A loud, girlish sound of shock and surprise. It was vaguely familiar.

The emergency lights from the generator finally clicked on and in the slightly brighter lighting she could see it was a slender redheaded woman. Sarah Smith. Second grade teacher. Abbie relaxed into the counter behind her and said, “Oh god! I'm so sorry. Don't sneak up on me like that! Get in here before your eaten by a zombie or something! And shut the door.”

“What?” Sarah sounded dumbfounded.

“Just get in here and shut that door!” Abbie insisted, turning back to the computer and turning the monitor back on.

“What?” Sarah repeated, but she complied with Abbie's demand. She stepped into the clinic and shut the door behind her. She scurried the rest of the way over, and peered at the monitor over Abbie's shoulder. “Is there really a zombie or something in the building? I thought that … we had like anti-zombie protective wards or something.”

“We do but … I don't know- THERE!” Abbie hissed through her teeth. On the monitor was a shuffling figure toward the back of the building. It was low to the ground and seemed to be four legged; but its back was arched in an unnatural manner and its head twisted to the side. She tapped the figure on the monitor and says, “What hall way is that? Fourth grade? Do you know if any of the four grade teachers are still here?”

Sarah wrapped her arms around herself and took a step back from the monitor to look around the room. “Are there more of the … whatever that is?”

“I'm not sure. Go lock the doors. The clinic door and the door that leads to the administrative hallway.” said Abbie as she reached over and grabbed the telephone again. She waited for Sarah to get moving before punching in the code to make an all-call. With a shaking voice she said into the phone, “Attention all staff, if you're in the building right now … please be aware that a creature of unknown classification has been spotted in the building. It is currently in the fourth grade hallway. Please lock your doors and stay in your room. Do not investigate any noises or open your classroom doors unless the All Clear is given.”

Sarah returned a moment later, while Abbie was making a call to the local police. She didn't waste time with them, she asked for the Para-Unit and said that they were a school and that they didn't know what they were dealing with, but she described the creature. The entire time she was on the phone, she watched the thing on the cameras. It shuffled outside of a specific classroom door. It walked around in a circle, its twisted head going to the ground and pushing along it before lifting up into the air. The creature lunged at a classroom door and rebounded off of it, before attacking again. Abbie couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard someone screaming in terror. A shudder ran down her spine and she looked at Sarah.

“What do we do? What if it gets in there?” Sarah asked, softly.

Abbie bit her lower lip and looked around the office, trying to find a weapon she could use. Anything. Her attention fell onto an umbrella and she bit her lower lip just a little bit harder. It didn't really look particularly sturdy, nor very good as a weapon... But if the thing was undead, and the knot in the bottom of her stomach said it was, she could turn it into a weapon against the creature. It was one of her very special talents. She took a deep breath to screw up her courage and snatched up the umbrella. Abbie lifted her chin and said, “Lock the door behind me, Sarah. And don't open the door for me, okay? Even if you think it's really me on the other side. This thing could have mimic abilities. Don't open the doors until the cops get here. The door there is a blind spot on the cameras so you won't be able to see if it's really me. So don't open the door.”

“Okay...” Sarah said, wrapping her arms around herself. “I won't open the door Abbie but … I don't like this.”

On the monitor the creature lunged at the door once more, and they could see it starting to bulge inward. The metal door bending and beginning to give. Abbie thought she heard another scream of terror. She unlocked the clinic door, certain she was walking into a trap, and stepped through it. She let her magic out, let it uncoil from inside of her like a great flood of warmth and let it flow into the umbrella in her hands. She took the first step down the hallway cautiously muttering to herself, “Just call me Abigail, the Umbrella Wielding Terror to the Undead.”