The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell by Mira Grant Page A

stored, like they had just been waiting for the chance to return to more familiar environs.
    Ms. Teeter was not entirely surprised when one of the smaller boys veered away from his classmates and hugged her leg, burying his face against her trousers. She looked down at his tousled brown hair, and guessed, “Brian Elkins?”
    The boy nodded, not pulling his face from her leg.
    â€œWhy, look at how big you’ve gotten! We’ve missed you, you know. The class isn’t the same without you.” It was all automatic, the reassurance, the comfort: all part of her training as a kindergarten teacher. But the child seemed to relax, and that was all she’d been hoping for.
    The door shut with a click. Ms. Teeter looked up, eyes narrowed, to see that Miss Oldenburg was now inside the classroom, along with the last of her students. Miss Oldenburg held out her gloved hands, showing that they were free of blood or other contaminants.
    â€œThe blast doors are sealed,” she said quietly, trying to keep her voice soft enough that Ms. Teeter’s class wouldn’t hear. She would have preferred not to let her own class hear, but they already knew, didn’t they? They had been there with her when the shutters came down. “The interior doors are not. That’s how we got out of the classroom.”
    â€œYou should have stayed there,” said Ms. Teeter coldly.
    To her surprise, Miss Oldenburg shook her head. “We only left after I had gone down to the office to see why the alarm kept ringing. There’s been…we have…” She stopped for a moment, looking lost. Ms. Teeter felt a cold surge of alarm race through her veins, chilling her completely. She might not appreciate this woman’s invasion of her classroom, but she did respect her as a fellow teacher; while they had little direct interaction, they’d been in the same staff meetings, the same union Skype calls late at night when the school was closed and they were all safely tucked away in their own homes. Miss Oldenburg ran a tight ship. Everyone agreed that she did. So why was she standing here, in Ms. Teeter’s private kingdom, looking like that?
    Miss Oldenburg suddenly smiled, dropping down into a crouch and putting a hand on Brian’s shoulder. “Hey, buddy, why don’t you go see how your classmates are doing? We’re going to be here for a little while, and I don’t want to hear about anybody fighting with the younger kids, or pushing them around. We need to set a good example. Can you go make sure that’s happening? For me?”
    Brian looked uncertain, and glanced up to Ms. Teeter, as if checking in with his old teacher. The chill in her veins deepened.
    â€œThat would be wonderful,” she said. “I would really appreciate the help.”
    â€œOkay,” he said, and hesitated, looking between the two teachers as if he was unsure which of them he should be treating as the ultimate authority. Finally, he hugged Ms. Teeter’s leg a second time, and then fled deeper into the classroom.
    Miss Oldenburg stepped closer to the kindergarten teacher, pitching her voice even lower as she said, “There’s an actual outbreak. This isn’t a security glitch or an unannounced drill.”
    â€œHow can you—”
    â€œIt started in the office. I heard the moaning. That’s why the alarms have been ringing all this time with no announcements, no calls. We should have cartoons playing on every screen in this school, but we don’t, because there’s no one left to activate the cable. We’re on our own. And I…” She paused, taking a deep breath, before she said, “I lost two students getting here. I think they split off from the group to use the bathroom, and one of the infected was lurking inside. They were both too small to amplify, thank God. That’s the last thing we need.”
    Ms. Teeter was simultaneously stunned and amazed by the