Anchor PROLOGUE “Oh hey look, it’s Sammi.” Jayden chuckled. Jasmine turned around to look at me. “Where the hell did you come from?!” she yelled. I laughed and pointed at the door coming from the girl’s locker room. “And here come the populars…” Jayden sighed as Destiny and Natalie walked into the gym. “Alright, everybody!” Mr. Goldstein hollered, walking to the half-court line. It’s weird to think that us 13 and 14 year olds are actually learning archery. “Alright, so since we’re with a good group, we’ll need to count off to who shoots at what time.” Mr. Goldstein ordered, “We’ll count off to four. We’ll start over here.” He gestured to the right end of the line and started counting everyone off. I stood between Jayden and Jasmine and couldn’t wait to shoot again. “Two,” Mr. Goldstein said to Jayden, then moved to me, “Three.” He finished off counting and called the ones up to grab bows. Everyone started their steps to shoot properly and the three of us laid down on the gym floor and started talking. “Twos!” Goldstein boomed. Jayden hopped up and went to go get his bow, “I call Dayanira’s row.” The group at the shooting line shot their three arrows and returned. It was my turn to go up. “Sammi, I believe in you..!” Jasmine said in her cutesy voice. I got my bow and began shooting. Mr. Hernandez saw me miss my first shot and began lecturing me in a positive way. A little too positive. I shot again and later finished my rounds, then returned back. Jasmine was up. Her group was fast at their shot rates. It was only a few minutes until four, and we were going to leave soon. “Yumi let me pick you up.” Jayden said excitedly. “Ugh. Fine.” She grumbled. Jayden went over to her and lifted her up. “I can pick her up bridal style. Ha. I win.” Jasmine boasted happily. “I bet I can too.” Jayden replied. He went over to Yumi and she jumped up into his arms. “Damn Yumi, you’re so light.” He laughed. I started laughing hysterically and Jayden approached me. “Jasmine, if I could lift Sammi up, I win.” He smirked. “W-wa-wa-wait. No.” I stuttered. “Come on Sammi.” Jayden whined. “Ugh. Jesus Jayden. If you weren’t… Jayden, I guess, I wouldn’t let you do this.” I growled. He put his right arm behind my waist and the back of my knees. He lifted me up and started walking around. “Agh.” He said under his breath. He almost dropped me and I started laughing. “Free to go everybody!” Mr. Goldstein said. I ran over to get my back pack and got the soda from it, then carried it over to where Jayden and Jasmine stood. “Sammi don’t run away from your ride!” Mayra laughed. “Hurry up.” I giggled. The five of us, Jayden, Mayra, Jasmine, Yumi and I started walking out the door. “Wait you have soda?” Jasmine asked. I started laughing and opened the can for it to start overflowing. “JASMINE HELP. DRINK IT PLEASE.” I yelled. “Ooh let me have some.” Jayden suggested. I handed him the can and he started to drink some. “Agh it went in my shirt!” he squealed. I broke out laughing and took the soda back to start drinking it. “Wait where’s mine?” Jasmine whined. “Here. Jeeez.” I sighed, chuckling. Jasmine swallowed loudly and I took back my soda. The five of us started walking to the school’s entrance again. “You know what would be crazy?” Jayden asked. “If a zombie apocalypse happened when we walked out that door?” Jasmine answered with a question. “Yeah.” Jayden laughed. We finally got to the entrance and saw a wasteland in the parking-lot. Cars had been abandoned with bloody, cracked windows; we saw bodies of some of the sixth graders and worse, Natalie, Dayanira, and Destiny. “Oh my god…” Yumi whispered. Mayra started gagging. I whispered, “We’re going to need the bows…” The five of us ran back to the gym, Jasmine began hyperventilating and we all started freaking out. “Mr. Goldstein, we… we have trouble outside. There’s… they’re dead… everybody…” Jayden stuttered. “Mr. Hernandez! Where are you?” Yumi called out. “Jayden, what happened? Take a breath.” Goldstein replied. “There’s dead people everywhere! They’re getting up and walking around! We need to protect ourselves.” I blurted out, “Mayra get Jasmine’s inhaler.” “Is there any lefties..?” Goldstein asked. “No. You can have that bow.” Yumi answered. “What’s happened?” Goldstein wondered. I was about to explain when a dead person walked through the open door. “WHO LEFT THE DOOR OPEN?” Jasmine screamed. Jayden took a bow and launched an arrow at the dead person, hitting it a bit over the right eye. “Sammi get the door!” he ordered. I nodded and ran to the door, slamming it shut. Jayden retrieve the arrow and Mr. Hernandez appeared out of the boy’s locker room. He looked at the body and widened his eyes, then moved it out of the gym. “What the hell happened?” he asked. “It’s a lot to explain…” Mayra replied quietly.