Overconfidence Undermines Us

"I'm staying here Matt."
"What?"
"Me too."
"You can't be serious?" spluttered Matt.Zhen and Nick looked deadly serious.Matt was at a loss. After returning from the failed raid with news of William the group of students finally decided to leave the school. Now Zhen and Nick were refusing to venture out from what had been their safe haven for half a year.Matt tried to persuade them, "Look, I know you guys aren't fighters but without you two we'll be lacking two of the biggest brains I've seen. You two had come up with so many ideas to help us survive. We need you." Despite Matt's pleading, the two boys were adamant on staying.

"The school, or at least this classroom is pretty defensible. Most of the teachers had already been driven off or killed. With only the two of us, we don't need much of supplies either. If anything goes bad, we can always run." Zhen argued. "Run how and where dammit?" retorted Matt. Zhen tried to protest further but Matt cut him off, "Look, if you two hole up here and the grown-ups break in, how will you run? Take a dive through the window and plunge four stories down? What about supplies? Neither of you will be able to fend for yourselves if you go on a raid." This time Nick replied by setting his face and crossing his arms. Zhen looked apologetically at Matt and said, "Sorry Matt, you have to do this without us. Good luck and be safe." Matt refused to shake their hands as he walked out of classroom 4/4.

2 Weeks Later...

"We should have gone with them Zhen."
"Don't start on me Nick I know what I'm doing."

Zhen and Nick had barely survived the past two weeks, scavenging what little number of houses that had not been picked clean by the rest. More times than they could remember, they had to run for their lives when chased or ambushed by grown-ups. Now they were trapped in classroom 4/4 as the remaining teachers pounded on the doors that seperated them form their prey. Zhen held a garden rake while Nick wielded a length of iron. They stared uneasily as the doors rattled with alarming intensity as the teachers threw themselves against the blocked up doors. Nick said, "They're gonna get in." Zhen snapped, "They haven't got in for six months, they won't do so now." Nick could hear the uncertainty in his friend's voice, and that only worried him more. Zhen looked in disgust at his friend and sighed. "Alright I'll see what i can do to reinforce the doors." As he got up, the rattling stopped. Zhen crept closer to the doors and heard footsteps tromping away. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Nick. "You see Nick? Nothing to worry about." Too late did Zhen hear a sudden rush of footsteps towards the door.

With a mighty crash, two large boil-covered arms smashed through the doors and grabbed Zhen by the throat. It pulled, trying to force Zhen through the hole. Nick cried out in fear and started forwards, iron bar in hand. Before he could reach the struggling Zhen, another crash sounded and more teachers broke through the second set of doors. Nick glanced frighteningly at Zhen and with a grunt, smacked the bar on the diseased arms. The arms pulled back and released Zhen. Zhen fell gasping and looked up. Through his blurry vision, he saw Nick tearing into five teachers, preventing them from getting to him. As his vision cleared, Zhen saw Nick get bitten in the arm by one of the teachers. He lost his grip on his weapon and the teachers wailed and fell upon him. Nick's screams cut through Zhen's blurred senses. Zhen watched as another teacher reached for him. Zhen closed his eyes and thought, I am a fool. The school had finally fallen to the grown-ups.