A is for Ani

You're sitting in class. The teacher's voice echoes around the classroom, reaching into your ear and flying right out the other. Your eyes can't help but stray to the window, which is just above the monitor that the Professor uses to display the lecture's lesson. The wind softly sways through leaves on a tree right outside the window, their branches waving at you in the distance. "Ani," the Professor begins, "do you have any thoughts?" [["Yes, I agree with what you were saying!"]] [["Sorry, what's the question again?"]]

"Sorry, what's the question again?" You ask. "I was asking what your favorite part of the writing process was when writing the last essay," the Professor says with a laugh. You aplogize and feel heat rush to your cheeks. You say, [["I really liked doing the research portion."]] [["For what it's worth, I do think Hamlet is overrated."]]

"Yes, I agree with what you were saying," you mutter. "I see." The Professor pauses for a moment. "So why do you agree that Shakespeare is overrated?" //Uh oh.// you think. You fight back the urge to roll your eyes. //How do I even respond to that?// "Ummm..." You start to stutter, and suddenly there is a lump in your throat that is blocking any words from coming out. "I'm just kidding," the Professor starts with a smile, "I was asking what your favorite part of the writing process was when writing the last essay." Some kids in the class chuckle softly. //Thank God that was a joke,// you think. You say, [["I really liked doing the research portion."]] [["For what it's worth, I do think Hamlet is overrated."]]

"Glad to hear it," the Professor finishes, He looks to another student, asking "what did you like about the assignment?" You sit back in your chair, and once again focus on the swing of the tree outside. For a moment, you swear that the tree is laughing at you, too. You look beyond the tree, and a struggling student catches the attention of your eye. He seems to be fighting off his peer, and the attacker moves slowly but strongly towards the boy. [[You watch more closely.]]

You raise your hand, ignoring the fact that another student is sharing their answer to the question. Your Professor looks at you and raises an eyebrow, as if to signal for you to wait your turn. You can't help but worry about if the teacher will be upset with you for your ongoing lack of focus. "Thank you for sharing," the Professor says to your peer, "and Ani, did you have anything to add? //I hope people don't think that I'm crazy... maybe this was a bad idea.// "I just wanted to say..." you start, [["When will we get feedback on the assignment?"]] [["I think there is something dangerous happening outside."]]

"For what it's worth, I do think Hamlet is overrated," you joke. "Interesting take," starts the Professor, "but I worry that my future students wouldn't appreciate a discussion about pre-1800 literature's relevancy in contemporary society being added to the syllabus." The class laughs a little louder this time. "They don't even know what they're missing," you start with a smile. "When I was writing the assignment," you add, [["I really liked doing the research portion."]]

//What in the world is going on out there?// You think. You watch as the attacker slugglishly steps closer to his peer, and suddenly, with all his might, he leaps toward the other boy. The boy starts wrangling, shaking his limbs in the middle of the public sidewalk. He manages to push the attacker off of his body, and starts to run away after dropping his backpack. As he escapes a couple feet away, he stops and stands still. And then he turns back to his attacker, and walks by his side. You look around the classroom and notice that the whole class has diverted their attention away from anywhere outside. //How is no one else seeing this?// You wonder. [[You get your Professor's attention.]] [[You stay quiet.]]

You pull out your phone to text your best friend. Your fingers begin to craft a message before your mind can catch up. ''"heyyyy C. i just saw the weirdest thing happen in my english class... i think i might be going insane. wtf is going on at this school?" '' As soon as you hit send, you hear the door to the classroom open. You see a boy walk into the classroom, as if he stumbled blindly into the wrong lecture. The Professor looks towards him, and the boy looks pale and tired. [[You notice something about the boy's face.]]

Everyone directs their gaze outside the window, including the Professor. They look exactly where you were looking before, on the sidewalk next to the patch of grass on campus. Except... now there's nobody there. "I don't see anything," the Professor gets out with a sympathetic frown, "but please let me know if you feel that anyone is in danger." You feel your heart sink into your chest, and you wonder if you'll be the first person to ever die from embarrasment. //I need some reaassurance from my friend.// [[You pull out your phone to text your best friend.]]

"When will we get feedback on the assigment?" You ask. "Likely in a couple of weeks," the Professor responds, moving the class along after your answer. //Good thing I bailed on trying to explain,// you think, //I bet no one would've believed me anyways.// [[You look back out the window]], and the two students seem to be gone.

//It's the same boy!// You think. You can't help but feel nervous, as if his being in the same room as you is a bad omen of some kind. //I wonder if he's asking for help... at least now I know that I didn't hallucinate what I saw.// "Are you alright, sir?" The Professor asks the boy. He opens his mouth and a throaty groan comes out in response. You notice that his eyes are red, and his teeth are cracked and yellow. As you look around, you see other students' jaws on the floor. The boy almost topples as he painstaikingly puts one foot in front of the other, and suddenly he approaches the teacher with vigor. "Brains," the boy groans under his breath. The room explodes with shouts exlaiming "zombie" and "run" as a crowd of people run to the door. [[You step in to save your teacher.]] [[You run towards the door.]]

You run towards the door, where a crowd of people are lined up. In the middle of the crowd, you look back at your Professor, who managed to wrestle the zombiefied boy off of him after the boy bit his flesh. You're at the back of the crowd, and the zombified boy and Professor start to walk towards the door. [[You try to push through the crowd of students.]] [[You look around the classroom.]]

You walk towards the zombified boy and, with trembling hands, jab him in the head with a pair of keys to your dorm room that you luckily had in your pocket. He falls onto the Professor's feet, and makes a thump as he hits the ground. Your Professor turns white as a ghost, and starts to approach you. "Professor, please!" You plead, but it is quite clear that he doesn't hear you through his infected ears. [[You attack your zombified teacher.]]

You use all your force to try to move through the hoard of people at the door, but the pushback of the mass causes you to lose your balance. As you try to get up, you continue to be pushed down. The zombies are gaining on you, and you soon become the only one left in the room. The frantic crowd begins to block the door, to contain the two zombies at your expense. //Soon I'm going to become the third zombie!// [[You fight the zombies.]]

You look around the classroom. //Maybe there's something around here that I can use for a weapon, or there's another escape plan?// You look at your desk, and remember that there's a window that's right next to it. You climb onto the desk near the window as fast as your body can take you. You attempt to open it, but it's locked. After scanning the classroom, you note that there are only two other windows in the whole space. //I wonder if one of them will be unlocked?// [[You sprint towards the window to your left.]] [[You sprint towards the window to your right.]]

You remember that you have your dorm key in your pocket, and you strongly poke the zombified boy's head with it. After he falls to the ground, your zombified teacher knocks the key out of your tight grip. //There's no way I'm geting out of this one,// you think. You begin to flail your weaponless fists at whatever entity they're closest to, but the force of your zombified opponent becomes too powerful. You notice blood from your arm begin to drip down to your fists, and you see a fresh bite mark on your arm. You feel panic move from your arm to all over your entire body. //I'm infected.// The last thing you feel yourself think is, [[was there any other way to get out of this?]]

''You've become //infected//! Click the back arrow to go back to your previous choice. //Can you find the way to escape?//'' //Creator's note...// Thank you for exploring my piece of E-Lit! This //Choose Your Own Adventure// style piece includes different options... only one of which leads to an ending where you do //not// become infected.

You begin to maul your teacher with your keys, using them to stab any part of your attacker's limb that jabs at you. After gaining some space in the room and backing away, you look down at your sore arm. You notice blood from your arm begin to drip down to your fists, and you see a fresh bite mark on your arm. You feel panic move from your arm to all over your entire body. //I'm infected.// The last thing you feel yourself think is, [[was there any other way to get out of this?]]

You sprint towards the window to your right and desperatley try to open it. Even after shaking and slamming it, it doesn't budge. //There's no way I'm geting out of this one,// you think. You walk towards the zombified boy and, with trembling hands, jab him in the head with a pair of keys to your dorm room that you luckily had in your pocket. He falls onto the Professor's feet, and makes a thump as he hits the ground. Your Professor turns white as a ghost, and starts to approach you. "Professor, please!" You plead, but it is quite clear that he doesn't hear you through his infected ears. [[You attack your zombified teacher.]]

You sprint towards the window to your right, and push on it desperatley. With a rickety creak, it opens just enough for you to slide youself out of it. //Wow, that was lucky,// you think. After taking a breath of relief, you find yourself [[on the sidewalk outside of the building.]]

You look around and see hoards of zombified students in the distance. Being grateful to be alive, it hits you that some people might not have been so lucky. As you think about how unlucky your Professor was, you decide to [[text your best friend again]].

The message is sent before you can even think of the right words to say. ''C, i can't believe there's a zombie infection going around the school. so much for weirdness in my english class. please text me, i need to know that you're OK.'' While you wait for her response, you know you need to go to a safe place. [[You head to your dorm.]] [[You head to your campus' convience store.]]

You head to your dorm, and find the whole place to be abandoned. You grab some clothes, snacks, and any other loot that you can find. You put the goods in a backpack and keep your key in your hand as you open the door to your room. You walk out into the hallway, and see a swarm of zombies on both sides. //I'm toast,// you think. You try to fight the zombies, but the masses are able to overpower you. You start to feel too tired to keep resisting, and you notice that your limbs start to feel numb. You notice blood from your arm begin to drip down to your fists, and you see a fresh bite mark on your arm. You feel panic move from your arm to all over your entire body. //I'm infected.// The last thing you feel yourself think is, [[was there any other way to get out of this?]]

You enter the convience store, which is deserted for the most part. You grab anything that you can find, like some food stored in the fridges, any weapons, and money from the cash register. You put it in plastic bags as you see a zombie heading your way through the main door. [[You try to fight it.]] [[You leave out the side door.]]

You use your key to knock the zombie in the head, but you see a swarm of zombies marching towards you in its place. You try to outrun them, but some of the zombified crowd made its way to the second door before you could reach it. //They're blocking both exits,// you start to think, //I'm toast// You try to fight the zombies, but the masses are able to overpower you. You start to feel too tired to keep resisting, and you notice that your limbs start to feel numb. You notice blood from your arm begin to drip down to your fists, and you see a fresh bite mark on your arm. You feel panic move from your arm to all over your entire body. //I'm infected.// The last thing you feel yourself think is, [[was there any other way to get out of this?]]

You sprint to the side door, and see a swarm of zombies surrounding you from all sides. You're able to escape succesfully. //I left at just the right time,// you think. You stand on a nearby field of grass next to the sidewalk to catch your breath and think about your next move. You feel your phone buzz in your pocket, and you read the text message that you got. ''Ani, you don't know how good it feels to get your text. meet me at my dorm, i know it's safe here.'' You feel a laugh escape your mouth. //I'm so grateful that I'm not alone,// you think. [[You run to C's dorm]], having no idea what's coming next on your journey to safety.

**//Congratulations!// You've succesfully escaped the zombie apocalypse! **//Creator's note...// Thank you for exploring my piece of E-Lit! This //Choose Your Own Adventure// style piece includes different options... only some of which lead to an ending where you are //not// infected. Did you win on the first try?

You look back out the window, and the two students seem to be gone. //I wonder what that was all about.// You finally begin to feel your pent up stress release itself, and but a slight headache plagues your body. //I need some reaassurance from my friend.// [[You pull out your phone to text your best friend.]]

You check your phone to distract yourself, noticing that it's only halfway through class. //Today feels like a really weird day...// you think. Even after briefly scrolling through a couple social media apps, you can't seem to find any posts about any fight that was going on. //Someone must have known something,// you start to think, //maybe I don't have the right connections.// [[You look back out the window]], and the two students seem to be gone.