My school day begins like any other. You may get off the bus and go through the high school gate but I live in my school. The students and I all have to wear a prison like uniform; its dull grey is horrid but we have to wear it or be banished.

In my underground school we have streams that decide where your place in life is. The higher the stream the more important you are. If you aren’t in a high stream then you are usually the last to eat, last to go to your room and you are bullied by both teachers and students. Well, who can you complain to if there is no one else in the world? We learnt that one hundred years ago the whole world went in to the atomic age where cities from everywhere dropped atomic bombs on everyone except us and that now the remains of the dead people rule the outside world as demons and zombies.

In school we learn maths, English and history with teachers who are as old as dust and as grumpy as the street cats. Today is no different, history is first and we are learning about Japan and how they were the very first to be bombed and completely obliterated. Walking to history I saw cat that was like black ink with a white tip on its tail. She looked me straight in the eye and then turned around and bounded up the stairs to the outside world. I started to follow her when the bell went signalling the start of class. I had to go or stay for an extra hour. So I ran.
After history, my friend and stayed in the hallway.

“Where have you been lately, Jess?” Maddie whispered.
“Around.. I need to tell you something” I whispered “I’m thinking of leaving”.
“What! You can’t do that. What about the zombies?” She yelled suddenly.

Then I saw the black cat again.

“I’ve got to go” I said to her as I started walking towards the cat. That was the last time I ever saw Maddie.

Following the cat past the guards until we got to an iron door, where there were no guards luckily or it would have made getting out a lot harder, I pushed it open with a thud and walked out of my school where iron spikes swarmed the ground. I stepped carefully through them until I got to the barbed wire and hid where the guard couldn’t see me. How could I get out now? There are guards everywhere. Just then, the cat ran to the iron door, the guards from my gate followed her. This was my chance. I sprinted over, flipped the lock and opened the gate. Wait! What was I doing? All those rumours of zombies and demons... I was going to die. I looked around outside, there was nothing but an old abandoned car. Suddenly a head popped out from behind the car. The dark limestone eyes told me he was just as surprised as me. All at once the pieces of the puzzle started to come together. Seeing him made me realise that I had been lied to. We were told there was nothing for us beyond the school. This world was full of new possibilities and dangers. But there was more hope and freedom than there would ever be inside the school. It was beautiful. I had no school to control my life anymore. No worry over bullies or rules. I had escaped the nightmare that I didn’t even know was happening.