Episode 4
James stood at the window, looking out but his eyes were distant. Lily went over to him, “You okay?” She asked softly, James appeared as though he hadn’t heard her. “Your hand…”
He moved his hand up slightly and looked down at it, the knuckles were cut and blood had dried up there.
Lily sighed sadly, “You’re not okay. I don’t want to be the one to say it, and I’m sorry, but you have to be strong.”
“Don’t comfort me. You’re not good at it.” James muttered, putting his hand but still staring at his feet.
She ignored him, “Mary was the most important person to me, and just thinking about the fact that she’s gone makes me feel like I’ve lost my whole world.” She said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Peter has to be out there somewhere.” James said, looking at all the zombies out on the field. Lily hummed, nodding slightly, also turning her head to look out the window.
A helicopter flew by above them, flashing a light, causing the zombies below to chase after it. “I wonder if things are okay outside.” Lily said.
“Your dad’s a firefighter, so I’m sure he’s fine.” James said, “My mum and dad should be at the restaurant, probably serving tacos to zombies right now.” He laughed with no humour.
Lily laughed lightly too, “Peter and Sirius talked about them a lot, I’ve always wanted to try it.”
“Let’s have some,” He sighed, “Once this is all over and we get out of here.” Lily placed a hand on his arm with a small smile and James finally looked at her, he smiled back slightly and nodded at her. She left him and went back to her chair next to Alice at the table.
Everyone else had gathered around the table, apart from Remus and Sirius who sat on the small shelf opposite the table and Regulus in the corner. James moved to sit next to Sirius, “I didn’t hear anything.” He said aloud. They all looked over at him.
“Like what?” Sirius asked.
“After Bellatrix left, and after McGonagall left. I didn’t hear anything.” He answered.
“You mean like, screaming?” James nodded.
Barty frowned, “Maybe they didn’t die then, they wouldn’t have been silent if zombies were biting them.” No one responded as they pondered this, he sunk lower into his chair, “Why won’t you guys respond? No one ever responds, I’m always talking to myself.”
“I think you’re right.” Remus said.
“Forget it.”
Remus rolled his eyes, “I didn’t hear anything either.”
“Me too,” Lily agreed, “I was scared, I didn’t know how I’d feel if I heard them screaming.”
“No, neither did I.” Frank said.
“Then I’m right. They’re alive, right?” Barty asked, nodding at Frank. Frank looked at him and nodded back.
Alice exhaled sharply through her nose, “Should she be?”
Everyone turned to look at her, “What do you mean?” Evan asked.
She looked up at him, “She’s a murderer. She killed Peter and walked out on her own, nobody forced her to do that. Is it right for her to be alive?”
“What about Professor McGonagall? Should she have died too?” Evan argued back. Lily’s eyes glazed over as she thought of McGonagall.
“Is that our fault?”
“Well it happened because of us.”
“What?” She asked angrily, “What did we do? Bellatrix killed someone and played the victim and then left.” She shook her head, “Because we didn’t listen to her? If no one’s on your side, it’s just okay to kill? McGonagall kept talking as if we were in the wrong. We didn’t tell Bella to go out there. We didn’t tell McGonagall to go out there either. Why should we feel bad?”
Barty curled his bottom lip into his mouth and a tear fell from Lily’s eyes. James took a deep breath and looked out the window again. Frank put his head down onto the table and Sirius shifted uncomfortably, standing up and crossing his legs at the ankles.
“Hey, I’m not sure if I should say this-“ Sirius said to the group.
Remus reached a hand to push his stomach back, “Then don’t say it.”
Sirius groaned as Remus did and released a strained breath, “Doesn’t anyone else need to go to the bathroom?” Frank lifted his head from the table as realisation dawned and Remus looked around to see if anyone else agreed. “Is it just me?”
Barty raised his hand slightly, “No, me too.”
“I have to go too.” Frank said quietly, “But we can’t leave.”
“Do you guys mean like number one or two cause I’m feeling the latter.” Barty said, head rocking back and forth, his mouth a straight line as he smiled awkwardly.
Lily deadpanned at him, “Are you kidding me?”
“What?” He exclaimed, “Don’t blame me! Sirius is the one who brought it up. It’s not a crime to need to poop.”
“It’s not a crime… but-“ Evan started.
“But what? Don’t you need to go?”
“Sure I do!” He agreed, “But I don’t need to poop.”
Barty scoffed at him, “James, what about you?”
James was rubbing his sore knuckles and looked up, a little confused, “Um, I don’t need to poop either.”
“Don’t you need to go?” He asked, pointing at Alice.
Alice’s eyes widened for a split second before narrowing into a glare, “Why are you asking me?”
“Why are you snapping at me?”
“What are we supposed to do? We can’t go out anyway.” She rolled her eyes, and Lily nodded, forcing a tight smile.
Barty jumped up, “I have an idea.” He approached the window. “First, boys and girls will take turns.”
“Where?” Lily asked.
“Here.” He answered, grabbing the pole frame in the between the two windows, facing them again.
Evan raised an eyebrow at him and Lily shook her head, looking away, “He’s lost his mind.” She muttered.
James frowned at him, looking away from the window. “Cut it out.”
“What?” Barty asked, “Girls can wait in there, and the guys can pee out the window.”
“What about poop?” Evan snorted.
“Poop.” Barty pointed a finger at him in thought, “Well, you can pull down your pants and hang out the window.” He grabbed the frame and squatted on the windowsill, his arse facing them. “Like this. See? But outside.” He got down and turned to face them again, “Like you’re taking a dump at the edge of a cliff.”
“What kind of reaction is he hoping for?” Frank whispered as even Regulus turned to face him, unimpressed, his eyebrows creased. “How will you wipe?” Frank asked aloud.
“We’ll wipe each other.”
Remus and Sirius sighed, leaning on each other’s shoulders, “What an idiot.” Remus said.
“Let’s just hold it in.” Alice said, “If the rescuers come-“
“It’ll take a while for them to come.” Lily interrupted, “It may be the same outside of the school. I don’t know how long we’ll be here, but my dad told me to always separate the bathroom from where you sleep if you’re ever isolated.”
Remus nodded slowly but Alice frowned, “Where do we make a bathroom? And how?”
“Over there.” She pointed at the recording room. She stood up and walked to the centre of the room, “Regulus and you guys, look for something to cover the window.” She said, gesturing to Evan and Barty.
The three of them got up from their chairs and started looking in the filing cabinet. “Sirius and James, make something that can absorb urine and faces to us as a toilet.” The two of them got up and looked in the back cupboards.
James found a plastic tray of cotton balls in one of them and pulled it out, “Sirius.” He called him over, Sirius found the end of two mops and brought them over with him.
“The rest of you…” Lily said, “A screen?”
“A screen?” Frank asked.
She nodded, “To block the view.”
Remus, Frank and Alice were moving a few cabinets from the broadcast room to the recording room. Barty had found a stack of old CD’s and Evan found folders at the top of the cabinets, Regulus had a pile of papers and tape so Lily joined them and began sticking those things to the window.
“This is so much work, the bathroom is right there.” Barty said, pointing to the window. Evan snorted before hitting his arm and handing him another piece of tape.
James laid the mop heads down on the table and Sirius started scooping cotton balls in between them. “Wait, why don’t we just put this on top of the basket?” James asked.
“Oh yeah, okay.” Sirius laughed. They put the cotton balls back in and then put the mops on either side of the tray. “Look what I got.” He pulled a neck pillow and put it on top. The two of them laughed more. James added a towel underneath the tray and the two of them high-fived.
“That should be good.” James said. Sirius picked up the entire thing and brought the entire thing to the recording room. Frank and Alice had lined three cabinets near the back of the room to create a stall shape and Sirius put it down in the middle.
Remus, Barty and Evan came in to look at the toilet, “How do we use this?” Barty asked skeptically.
“Use the pillow for poop and remove it to pee.” James answered.
Sirius nodded, “Yeah, now get the fuck out.”
“What-“ Remus hesitated. Sirius picked up the pillow and started pushing them out.
“Get out, get out, get out.” He kept repeating. He pushed the four of them in a line, them all laughing and stumbling as Barty at the front tried to push them backwards. Once they were out of the room, Sirius immediately used the bathroom.
They all took turns, lining up outside the bathroom. Currently, Frank was in line while Barty was inside. Everyone else had already gone and were sitting, in a circle near the window.
“At least there are cops and soldiers out there.” Lily said.
“But in the movies,” Evan said, “Cops and soldiers are helpless too.”
Barty came barging out of the bathroom and Frank sighed in relief, he pushed past him, “Take the toilet paper.” Barty said, handing it to him.
“I just need to pee.” He muttered, running into the bathroom and closing the door.
Lily immediately scrunched up her face as Sirius and Remus both pinched their noses. Alice fanned the air in front of her and Evan coughed, “Fuck’s sake, Barty. Just stay inside next time.”
“What? Does it smell?” He asked, confused, pulling a chair next to Lily and joining the circle.
Frank came running out of the bathroom and straight to the window. “Holy shit.” He said.
“Stop overreacting.” Barty drawled, “It does not smell.”
“Sit somewhere else.” Lily said as Frank took deep breaths of fresh air out the window.
Regulus had his arms crossed, looking out the window. “There’s nobody out there. There are no lights on in the stores and apartments.” Everyone else started looking out the windows too, “They all either fled or died.”
“What are you saying?” Remus asked.
“I’m saying no one is coming to save us.” Regulus answered.
Alice spun her head around to frown at her and Frank sighed, “Don’t be so pessimistic.”
“Don’t you know my mother?” He asked, tilting his head, “She would’ve torn the school apart to look for me, and yet she isn’t here.”
“Well what do you want to do?” Alice asked angrily.
“I’m just pointing out the facts.”
“We all know no one’s coming.” She said, “Let’s just discuss what we’re going to do.”
“We have to wait to be rescued.” Lily said. “We shouldn’t leave safety to go somewhere dangerous.”
“And what if no one ever comes?” Regulus asked her.
Lily turned to look at him, “We haven’t waited that long yet.”
“Then how much longer?” He raised his eyebrows, “Do you want to wait until we die?”
“No.” She answered quickly, “I’m saying let’s wait for as long as we can. We can’t go out right now anyway.”
“It’s probably cause it’s nighttime,” James spoke up, both Lily and Regulus looked at him, “I’m sure somebody will come in the morning. There are a lot of helicopters flying around. Let’s just wait until morning.”
Lily nodded her agreement and Regulus exhaled through his nose before turning and leaning back against the wall. Everyone else relaxed into their chairs again. Frank took a deep breath suddenly and pulled his sweater up to cover his mouth and nose before speed walking back to the bathroom.
* * *
Narcissa flushed the toilet as she came out, going to the sink to wash her hands. Marlene was sitting on the floor opposite that stall, leaning against the wall of another one, flicking her lighter on and off.
The sun had long set and Pandora sat opposite her, blinking her eyes as she fought sleep. She was closer to the back wall where Dorcas stood, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. “Do you know where McGonagall’s class is?” Pandora asked.
“I don’t know.” Marlene answered, “They’re all zombies. It’s not like they’d stay in that classroom with their classmates.” She stared into the flame as she spoke, extinguishing it and relighting it again, clicking each time.
Dorcas sighed, closing her eyes tightly, “Stop that. You’re driving me insane.”
She let go of the flame with a final click and sighed. “It’s dark out now, right? Let’s go.” She said, standing up. Narcissa walked back over to her after drying her hands.
“Let’s just leave tomorrow.” She whined, sitting down, “It’s too dark to see anything, we won’t be able to see the zombies coming.”
“You’re the one who said we should go at night so the zombies don’t see us.”
Narcissa rolled her eyes, “People can change their minds.”
“Shut it and stand up.”
“No, I’m not going.” She said, almost like a toddler throwing a tantrum, crossing her arms.
Marlene sighed, “For fucks sake. Forget it then. Hey, grab your bow and follow me.” She said, to Pandora and Dorcas.
“Shut up.” Dorcas replied, “Don’t do anything.”
Marlene sighed again, “That bitch.” She mumbled, “Spoken like a true athlete.”
“What?”
“Doing nothing is your specialty.” Marlene retorted, turning to face her. “You do nothing but shoot arrows, but you get to go to college and make money. You have an easy life, so you sit on your fucking arse and wait.”
“Who said shooting arrows gets you into college?” Dorcas said, venom on her tongue.
Marlene raised her eyebrow, “Doesn’t it?”
“Stop making it obvious you’re stupid and sit down.” She snapped, “You don’t know anything.”
“You bitch.” Marlene said, walking up to her until she was inches from her. She pushed the side of Dorcas’ lightly with two fingers, “What did you say?” Both Pandora and Narcissa scrambled to their feet and Marlene did it again, “How did you know I was stupid?” She asked, pushing her again. “Tell me? Was it posted online?”
Narcissa walked towards her, “Stop it. Let it go.”
“Why the hell should she let it go?” Pandora said to Narcissa. “Don’t hold back, Cas.”
Dorcas stood up straight, no longer leaning on the wall, pushing Marlene backwards. She took off the holster that was holding her arrows, “Ow, bitch.” Marlene said, having been knocked, she took a step forwards toward her and she slapped her clean across the face.
Marlene touched a hand to her cheek, “You little-“ She reached forward but Dorcas grabbed her again, pulling her hair back, she switched hands as she prepared to swing with her right hand but Marlene blocked it and punched her in the side with her other hand, causing Dorcas to stumble backwards into the wall.
With the distance between them, Pandora immediately ran forward to block Dorcas and Narcissa wrapped her arms around Marlene to hold her back. “Come at me, bitch.” Marlene yelled, struggling against Narcissa.
“That’s enough.” Narcissa yelled back repeatedly. Dorcas was also trying to push past Pandora and all four of them, yelling loudly. Marlene finally fought Narcissa off and stomped forward, pushing Pandora away and going up to Dorcas again.
* * *
The sun had begun rising and shone through the window, causing a light glow to fill the room. James had slept sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, using his jacket as a blanket. Barty was in the middle of the room, with his arms sprawled out, Evan slept on Barty’s right arm, using it as his pillow and Frank using Barty’s left arm. Evan woke up with a groan, tossing Barty’s leg off his and rolling over to the other side.
“It’s cold.” He muttered, curling his legs up into his chest.
Alice was in the corner of the room, she sat on one chair and put her legs up on another one. Regulus, Lily and Remus were all at the table, Regulus on the opposite side of them with his head down on the table. Sirius was in a chair nearby, sleeping with his head back.
Someone was snoring but the birds had begun chirping outside and Sirius woke up, lifting his head up and rolling it side to side. He got up and immediately went to the window, the sound woke Regulus up and he sat up straight in his chair, face scrunched up in pain, rolling his shoulders.
Remus also woke up and stood up from his chair, going to Sirius at the window, looking out of it too. The zombies that were wandering around on the front lawn were still there and he sighed, “No one came.” Sirius said.
They both looked up as a line of helicopters flew through the sky past them.
* * *
“This is driving me crazy.” Marlene sighed, watching the same line of helicopters through the tiny window, this time on Narcissa’s shoulders.
“Really? Nobody came?” Narcissa said, voice strained.
Marlene shook her head, “Okay, okay, put me down.” Narcissa slowly started crouching down, groaning about her back the whole time.
Dorcas watched with an unimpressed look as Narcissa fell to the floor once Marlene had gotten off her shoulders. She stood up and put on her holster again, “What do you wanna do?” Marlene asked her.
“We need to leave.” Dorcas answered, looking straight ahead, “No one’s coming to save us.” Pandora woke up and rubbed the spot on her shoulder where Dorcas had slept, she also stood up and buckled her holster on again.
Marlene grabbed the two broomstick-weapons she made and handed one to Narcissa, “All the zombies will see us right now.” Narcissa said, not taking it, “Let’s go at night.”
“Okay,” Marlene said sarcastically, nodding at her, “You can stay right here.” She turned away from her, “Let’s go out back and leave through the back gate. That’s the fastest route.”
“We’re going to the second floor first.” Dorcas said, fixing her ponytail.
“Why?”
“My brother’s in McGonagall’s class. I need to check if he’s there.” Pandora answered.
Marlene deadpanned, “Would a zombie sit and wait at his desk in his classroom?”
Dorcas turned to glare at her, “Did you see him turn?”
“He may have. There’s no guarantee he didn’t.”
“You little-“ Dorcas murmured.
“Why are you guys arguing?” Narcissa asked. “Just fight some more.” They both glared down at her. She closed her mouth quickly, looking away. Marlene hit her leg lightly with the broomstick and she finally grabbed it, standing up.
Pandora grabbed their bows and handed Dorcas her one. “Come with us if you want.” Dorcas drawled, she grabbed an arrow and started preparing it, walking away, Pandora following her.
Marlene stared at her with her head tilted, “She’s so cool, damn it.” She whistled, looking away and shaking her head, “So annoying.” Narcissa frowned at her confused as she started walking away. She scoffed and followed her too.
* * *
Everyone had woken up and sat down at the table but James who stayed sitting on the floor. Evan was yawning every few seconds and Barty fell asleep again on the table. Alice was standing at the window.
“They’ll come for us eventually.” Lily said.
“How long do we wait?” Remus asked.
“Until they come.”
He sighed, “We don’t even know if they’re coming, Lils.”
“So? Do you want to go out there?” She asked sadly.
“But even if they come,” Alice said, turning to face them, “They can’t find us if they don’t know we’re here.”
“We can put a signal for help.”
“How?”
“My dad taught me a signal that’s used internationally.” Lily answered.
“What is it?” Evan asked.
Lily furrowed her eyebrows together looking up, trying to remember the posters on her wall in the living room. “It was red and blue arranged together, to create some sort of pattern.” She said unsurely.
His face showed he was extremely confused and Remus smiled tightly, “We could just write ‘SOS’ on the curtains?” Lily offered.
“Yeah.” Remus nodded, “Let’s do that.” She looked down sadly, frowning as she tried harder to remember it.
“We can’t last long anyway.” Regulus spoke up, “Three minutes of no oxygen, three days of no water, three weeks of no food.”
Alice had taken a seat on the floor next to James, “What’s that?” He asked Regulus.
“How long a person can survive.” He said back.
“It’s only been a day.” Remus said, “We have to try the best we can.”
Regulus turned to look at him, “We’ll show signs of dehydration after today. And we won’t be able to move by tomorrow.”
“What are you getting at?” Remus snapped. “Are you saying we should go? Or are you we’ll die anyway, so we shouldn’t bother doing anything?”
He didn’t reply, looking away. “I don’t know.” He said quietly.
“Then don’t say anything.” Alice sighed.
“I think Regulus means we should just consider all of our options.” James offered. “Right?”
“No.” Regulus answered.
“No?”
Regulus looked up at him, “I mean, we know nothing. We need to know more to think and make plans-“
“What do you mean?” Alice asked impatiently.
“What he means is-“ James tried.
“You don’t know what he’s saying either.”
James closed his mouth and looked downwards, “Right.” He muttered.
Sirius pursed his lips, “Are you saying we need to grasp the situation before taking action?”
“Yeah,” Regulus nodded slightly, “Something like that.”
“I agree.” He nodded, “We need to know more to decide whether to wait, or run, or go out.”
“How can we do that right now?” Frank asked.
“We can go online if we have a phone.”
James looked up over at him, “But we don’t have one.”
“In the teacher’s office.” Sirius answered. Remus sighed a deep breath as Sirius got up from his chair and went over to the window, climbing up onto the windowsill.
Remus got up, following him, “Sirius, stop being so stubborn.”
He spun around, holding onto the window frame, “The teachers’ office is two rooms across and one floor down.” He said.
“Don’t go.” Remus said, glaring at him.
“I’ll come back if I can’t make it all the way. Don’t worry.” He shrugged.
“I’m not worried about you.” He shook his head, “I’m mad.”
Sirius frowned, “Of course. Why would you worry about me?” He turned around again and stood up, starting to shuffle down the windowsill. James sighed and stood up, putting his jacket on. He also climbed onto the windowsill, ducking his head to leave.
“James.” Remus said.
“I’ll be back.” He glanced over him at Regulus, before standing up and following Sirius. “Careful Sirius.”
Barty got up, walking to the window, “That James is a man of loyalty.”
Frank chased after him and pulled him down, right as he started climbing. “Get off.”
“What why?”
“You can’t go out there.” Evan yelled, “Clumsy as you are, annoying prick.”
Barty turned around and glared at him, “How dare you, I am not clumsy.”
* * *
“I appreciate you following me James but I’d rather you stay safe.” Sirius said as they walked.
James snorted, “If you wanted me to stay safe then you’d stop putting yourself in dangerous situations.”
Sirius shook his head with a smile, “Stay close.” They crossed one room and Sirius reached over the pillar that stuck out, he made it over and ducked down, looking in the window.
“Can we go in?” James asked. Sirius shook his head. “Okay, come back then.” James shuffled backwards and Sirius reached back over. “What are you going to do?”
“Well, we could hang by our hands and go down.” Sirius answered.
“No,” He laughed, “I mean about Remus. I heard he told you he likes you. You gonna go out with him?”
Sirius' face went white. “Who told you that?”
“Are you going to go out with her?”
“Is that really important right now?” Sirius asked, pushing James forward lightly.
James gasped, holding on tighter. He pushed Sirius too, “I’m not asking because it’s important. I’m just curious.”
Sirius looked away, “Should I go out with him?” He asked softly.
“Why are you asking me?” James grinned. “Do whatever you want.”
“I’m asking you what you think.” Sirius frowned, kicking his foot. “Just go.”
“You go.”
He huffed and reached over again, once they were both over the pillar. They crouched down and hung onto the windowsill with their fingers, slowly climbing over another room before sliding down the pipe and making it outside the teachers office.
All the teachers in there had turned into zombies too, Sirius opened the window as quietly as he could, there was a sudden noise at the door and all the zombies ran over there. The two of them took this opportunity and climbed in as quickly as they could and went towards the back of the room.
They both stopped when they heard a repeated banging noise, “What is that?” James whispered.
“I don’t know.” Sirius answered, whispering, “Let’s go see.”
They continued crawling forwards but much slower, until they were at the edge of a table, a girl had laid all the phones onto the floor and was destroying them, using a brick and cracking the screens.
“What the hell.” Sirius whispered, eyes wide.
Her bones cracked as she stood up and started using the brick to break the phones on top of another table. She put her hand on top of another phone and broke her fingers accidentally, but she barely flinched. She hit a pile of phones and it scattered everywhere, one landing close to Sirius and James.
They shared a silent look and Sirius placed a hand on James’ shoulder, they both nodded as Sirius slowly moved forward to reach for it.
The girl dropped down again, returning to the phones on the floor, Sirius grabbed the phone, making some noise as he picked it up. She dropped dead in her tracks and glared at Sirius instead, “I’ll kill you!” She screamed at him. She crawled towards him and grabbed the floor, trying to wrestle it out of her hands, “Give it to me, fucker! I’ll kill you!”
The screaming was causing the zombies nearby and ones outside to start approaching them. James quickly got up and pulled her off of Sirius, pushing her to the wall instead. James pulled Sirius up off the floor since he hadn’t moved from the shock.
James went to the nearest window and opened it, climbing over the shelves in front of it onto the windowsill, Sirius looked down at the phone in his hands and it was completely cracked. “Shit.” He said. He put down the phone and ran forward to grab another one.
Sirius narrowly avoided one zombie, sliding under the table. James jumped back down and kicked one zombie in the chest who ran at him. He grabbed the one phone that wasn’t cracked and then pushed a chair at the zombies coming towards him.
A crowd of zombies separated the two of them, “Go first. I’ll catch up.” Sirius yelled to James. Sirius fought off a few zombies and then ran out the door, James sighed and got back up onto the windowsill, leaving the teachers office.