Eggo, who Robbie knew was the leader of Nitsy’s group, joined her at the door.
“Nitsy, what’s going on?” he asked.
Voices went up all around him, and Robbie felt faint. None of this made sense. This was scary movie shit. This wasn’t the kind of thing that happened to teenagers in real life.
“He… uh… he…” Robbie tried to explain when Mrs. Price made her way over to him and grabbed hold of his shoulders.
“Calm down,” she said, “and tell me what happened.”
“He broke his neck,” he finally found his voice. “He broke his own neck.”
Mrs. Price put a hand to her mouth and stared at him. She looked over at Nitsy. “What is he talking about?” She was nervous. “Did someone get hurt?”
“Mrs. Price,” Nitsy took over, and Robbie was so thankful she did because he didn’t think he could explain it in a way that made sense. “Something has happened to the missing kids. They’re… they’re like—”
“Zombies!” Robbie announced. “Elias and Bianca and who knows how many others. They’re zombies.”
One of the wisecracking boys Robbie had never had the pleasure of speaking to was seated nearby. As soon as he heard the word zombie he burst out in laughter and stomped his feet on the carpet in extreme exaggeration. Like he might laugh himself to death.
“Did you hear this kid?” the boy asked. “He said they’re zombies. Zombies, man!”
A few others laughed. Some of the kids in the crowd were afraid. They weren’t saying much. Robbie felt his blood boiling as the boy continued heckling him.
In the background, John F. Kennedy prattled on, speaking proudly to the American people while inside this auditorium, young people were freaking out.
“Will someone please stop the movie?” Nitsy asked.
Somewhere, someone did. The film paused on Kennedy’s face as he raised one finger to explain an important point that wouldn’t make a lick of difference in what was happening today.
“Yo, were these zombies like dragging their feet and stuff?” the wisecracking boy asked.
Robbie snapped. He leaped over an empty chair, grabbed the boy by the front of his T-shirt, and pulled him in close. “Do I look like I’m fucking joking?” he hissed through clenched teeth.
The boy’s eyes went wide and he shook his head. “Nah, man. Nah. You don’t.”
“It’s not a joke,” Robbie declared as he let go of the boy. He looked at the rest of the students. “Something very wrong is going on out there.”
“That’s enough,” Mrs. Price announced. “You, sir, need to sit down.”
She was talking to Robbie.
“Mrs. Price, he’s telling the truth,” Nitsy said. “We need to lock the doors.”
“Wait a second,” she replied. “I’m sure something is going on out there, but I’d be willing to bet it’s a sick joke. It might be a prank by your peers. Don’t you think that’s possible?”
Robbie turned toward her and thought about it. No, it wasn’t possible. She hadn’t seen the way Elias had come after them and how he’d fallen on his neck. She hadn’t seen the room splattered with blood.
“Room 214 is a bloodbath,” Robbie said.
Everyone fell silent. Robbie had never used the term bloodbath before, but it certainly held some sort of power over the staff and students alike.
“A bloodbath?” Mrs. Price asked.
“Let me go check that room,” Eggo said. “Robbie, I’m sure something’s going on. Let me go confirm the things you’re saying.”
“No!” Nitsy interrupted. “Are you kidding? Aren’t you even listening to us?”
“I’ll go,” one of the other male staff members announced as he pushed past Nitsy and exited out the main doors.
“Don’t let him—” Nitsy started but quieted down as she realized he was already gone.
“Nitsy, please find a seat,” Mrs. Price said. “Mr. Dale will be back in a few minutes once he’s assessed the situation. In the meantime, I think we should continue playing the film if for no other reason than to calm everyone’s nerves.”
Robbie couldn’t believe it.
There are zombies outside, and she wants to watch a fucking movie?
“Nitsy?” he said, returning to her side and taking her by the hand. “Can you believe this?”
“I want to get out of here,” she whispered.
“I said please take a seat,” Mrs. Price ordered.
Robbie pulled Nitsy toward two empty seats high up in the auditorium. As they sat down, he scanned the crowd. Most of the kids were fidgeting in their seats. He wouldn’t have expected any less. How could anyone calmly watch an ex-President speak at a time like this? While everyone else kept his or her eyes on the screen, Robbie was busy looking for potential exits. To the right, about halfway between where they were sitting and the front of the auditorium, was an emergency exit.
He wasn’t sure where it would lead, but he thought he’d seen a second floor at the cafeteria. This door might lead that way, which would be fine by him, at least he knew that part of the campus was clear. That was where he and Nitsy had experienced their first kiss.
“What are you thinking?” Nitsy asked.
“I’m thinking this is fucked,” he said. “That guy, Mr. Dale, he’s in trouble.”
The auditorium was silent except for the sound of President Kennedy delivering his speech and spectators cheering at the end of nearly every one of his sentences.
“Do you see the way he commands respect?” Mrs. Price spoke out over the sounds of the film. “Look at the way he—”
The main entrance door, the one Robbie and Nitsy had come through earlier, crashed open with a loud bang.
In stepped the large silhouette of Mr. Dale. His shadowy frame just stood there.
“Mr. Dale?” Mrs. Price asked.
Two more figures pushed through the doors and stood at his side. Robbie couldn’t help thinking they looked like the figures people cut out of paper and hung on their Christmas tree. Three featureless people, side by side, stood inside the entrance as the doors closed slowly behind them, bringing the room back into total darkness aside from the light of the movie screen.
“I see you found a couple of the students,” Mrs. Price said.
“Do you see how they’re standing?” Nitsy whispered to Robbie.
They were hunched over, their shoulders down, and their heads to the side. The same way Elias looked earlier.
“I think we should go,” he replied.
“Well, Robbie and Nitsy, do you feel better now?” Mrs. Price asked as she turned toward them.
Mrs. Price had her back to Mr. Dale and the two others when they stepped toward her.
“Mrs. Price!” Nitsy yelled. “Get away from them!”
Robbie stood and grabbed Nitsy’s hand. It was too late. The things were inside the auditorium. He’d called them zombies earlier, but that sounded too corny. Too cheesy. Too unrealistic. These things were something else.
Nitsy struggled in Robbie’s grasp, trying to pull away, trying to warn the rest of them, but it was too late.
Mr. Dale grabbed Mrs. Price’s arm and the woman gasped. It was like he’d made a sexual comment or said something she found disgusting. That was all. Nothing more than a gasp.
The kids seated near her didn’t move at all. Not at first.
Then Mrs. Price moaned. She fell to her knees and cried out. Her cry turned to a scream as her fingers reached for her scalp and dug in.
It took a second for a reaction from the students. They sat still, caught between watching a movie and trying to understand the scene unfolding in real life.
Over the voice of President Kennedy, Robbie thought he heard something. A sound like insects. Crickets maybe. Or possibly cockroaches climbing over each other. It started over by the door, but then Mr. Dale and the two people with him, two kids still shrouded in darkness, moved closer to the seated students.