After they ate Lunk pulled Sam around to open him up. 

He placed the empty bottles back in with the others.  He thought to himself for a moment, then spoke, "You know, schools have drinking fountains all through them, and bathrooms and even sinks here in the lab.  They must have a giant water heater somewhere in the building.  If we could find it, we could fill our bottles, and more!", but the group wasn't as enthusiastic as Lunk at this point.

They were all wore out and tired.

"I'll tell you what, I will go check the place out, you guys can stay here and rest.” he looked to Tia and Sarah as if to ask if it were OK to leave them alone.  Sarah just looked away, but Tia looked back with a slight nodding.

"I won't be long.  Just a quick look around.", and he pushed Sam over to Tia, as she reached in to pull the blanket and pillow out he stood and looked over at the wall near the closet where there were shelves full of items behind sliding glass cabinet doors.

He walked over to the cabinets realizing that they were full of bottles of all sorts of chemicals and equipment for the lab.  He decided instead of leaving the group to explore, he would take his time looking through the items in these shelves, and maybe try to check out the closet as well.

It was difficult to see by the light from the burners, but he had the lighter which he used periodically to read the labels of the chemicals on the shelf.

Sarah stood and walked over to Lunk, "You need any help?” she sounded as if she was growing tired of Lunk's leadership and was trying to do something to move things along.  She didn't want to come to the school to begin with.  She didn't want to stay another night in the burbs, and she didn't like being told what to do.

"Yeah, there are a lot of things here, and I'm sure we can probably use some of them.  I just don't know what most of these things are?” Lunk sensed her irritation, but who cares?  He thought about the situation and what was best for the group, and there really weren't many options in life.

He was more afraid of moving south at this point and running into the slavers than whether or not he upset Sarah.

They slid the glass open and began to look through the chemicals.

There were many acids and acetones, as well as things he couldn't even pronounce.

He pulled a little box out which was filled with sodium bicarbonate tabs.  “Ooh, take those!” Sarah looked at Lunk as he was just about to place the box back in the cupboard.

“OK, what are they?” Lunk never did well in science.  He excelled in math, but flopped when it came to the periodic tables.

“It’s for upset stomachs, you know, you drop them in the water and they fizz all up.”  Lunk did know, he had a lot of experience with stress related digestion problems from his previous life.

Funny how his body and digestive system had completely acclimated to the present world, yet when he lived as a business man, he spent many sleepless nights, ill from stress.

Could this post apocalyptic world actually be “less” stressful to his system?

He set the tabs aside and continued to dig through the chemicals.

Next to the box he found another smaller box labeled “Antacid tablets”.  “I guess a lot of people had stomach problems in science class?” Lunk said trying to get a response from Sarah, but she just looked at him and, “They are for neutralizing acids.”

He just continued to smile at her hoping to see her break, but she just looked away and continued in their search.

“Here we go!  Water quality and pond test kit!  This will help us identify a clean water source.” Sarah exclaimed and her eyes lit.  So she is interested in finding water and helping us survive, Lunk thought to himself.

“Great, how does it work?” Lunk wanted to understand the test kit while he had her attention and she was in a good mood.

“Well you put the strip in the water, and then read it.”, she looked at him with a blank expression, Lunk simply replied, “Great, set it over here with the other stuff.”, he took the bottle of test strips and placed it with the boxes he had set aside.

“Here is some petroleum ether, it’s very flammable.” Lunk took the medium sized bottle from her hand and set it with the other items.

They continued to dig, shelf after shelf, making sure to check every bottle, every box.

“Ooh, here is another great find, hydrogen peroxide, very good for cleaning wounds and fighting bacteria and infection.  Make sure you leave the lid on tight though, otherwise it turns into water.” Sarah reached passed Lunk and placed it with the other items.

“Good finds, thanks for your help.  I’m going to see what’s in the closet there.” Lunk hoped Sarah was done helping, but also knew he could use her help.

As Lunk walked over to the closet Sarah took the items they had found and placed them in Sam then returned to Lunk.

He moved a chair that had been placed up against the door underneath the knob then turned the doorknob, but it wouldn’t turn.

“Hmm.  Locked.  I’ll go check the desk out again.” Lunk walked over to the teacher’s desk and started digging through the drawers looking for a key.

Sarah reached for the knob, she pushed it in and it turned, “It’s one of those tricky knobs, it’s unlocked now, you just push the knob in and turn, you know, child proof.”, she laughed and Lunk smiled back. 

There were chuckles from the group who had made themselves as comfortable as possible on the floor with the one blanket and one pillow.

Lunk slid the drawer on the teacher’s desk shut and started back over to the other side of the room.  There were whispers coming from the group on the floor as they joked among themselves about the door.

Lunk just smiled as he navigated through the maze of tables and chairs.  He looked up towards Sarah once more, just then the door burst open, and a man dressed in janitorial clothing jumped on top of Sarah and started biting her on the back of her neck.

She let out a screech and with a crunching sound, like that of a twig being stepped on while walking through a fall trail, she fell limp to the floor.

Before Lunk could yell out, he already had his pistol out as the creature stood up from its first victim and looked at the group on the floor who were all frozen in terror.

Lunk jumped up on top of on of the tables to get a better shot at the creature that was already running full throttle towards the group, and was partially hidden behind the tables themselves.

He opened fire, being sure to count his shots, knowing that he only had six, and each one was needed.

The first shot missed completely, hitting the table top and ricocheting off the surface and burying itself deep into the ceiling tile.  The second and third shots hit the beast in its side, throwing it a bit off balance and causing it to run into one of the workbenches, which brought it to a dead stop.

The group were huddled together now, less than 10 feet from the creature still frozen with fear, whimpering with each breath as the creature turned its attention to Lunk who was still standing on the table and aiming, waiting for the next opportunity to shoot.

The creature growled out a loud howl clutching its wounded side, and looking directly at Lunk, then leaped clearing the two stools that were between him and the table Lunk was standing on.

He waited, mind empty, focused.  He tuned out the tears, silenced all but the sound of himself breathing.  He stood steadfast, like an archer taking his aim.

The creature took a second leap clearing the table top and was in mid air, its landing would be on Lunk.

The group paused in unison, forgetting to breathe, they had become one machine, linked together as one mass of fear.

Lunk squeezed the trigger twice before the beast hit him.

They both fell over backward onto the floor.

When he hit, the floor was hard, unforgiving, and the weight of the creature on top of him forced all the air from his body.

His head also hit the floor, and for a moment, he thought the room was somewhat brighter than it was a moment ago, but everything went dark again.

He knew the creature was expired by the dead weight that lay upon his sore body.

He pushed it off, stood, then shot one more time into the head of the beast.

He ran over to Sarah, she lay there not moving.

“Sarah?” he knelt to her side, afraid to move her.  There was a gaping wound on the back of her neck.

She was softly breathing, but the breaths were unnatural, and seemed erratic.

“Sarah?” he put his hand on her head and slowly turned so he could see into her face.

The cold stares that she had once given him were now a look of fear and disbelief.

As she looked at him he couldn’t help but feel responsible.  He shouldn’t have left her, he shouldn’t have let her open the door.  If he was standing there, if he would have been the one to get the door open, this wouldn’t have happened.

She didn’t speak.

As he stared into her eyes she looked through him.

By now the others gathered around her, some looked in horror, while others only glimpsed and looked away; they held each other and cried.

Lunk held her hand as her breaths were shorter, and further apart, until there were no more.

“I’m sorry.” Lunk whispered, “I’m sorry.”