Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night
Chapter 19: Snake in the Grass

While Zane was establishing dominance over his new group of survivors. Ryan was plotting against he Gym Teacher. The time had finally arrived. Rations were low, extremely low. To the point here they could no longer sustain the population with the variety of vending machines inside the locked gymnasium.

And as the man in charge of this group of survivors, Mr. Diaz felt the need to go fetch food, water, and perhaps even medical supplies. Unfortunately for him, all of the teachers he had sent to go get these things failed to return. Meaning that Mr. Diaz was out of options.

Although he himself was the leader of this group of survivors, he was the last real adult standing. And it was because of this he felt apprehension towards going out personally to fetch supplies. But at the same time, he would never put his students in any form of danger.

Because of this Mr. Diaz was at an impasse. And it was at this moment that a little snake in the grass came to whisper poison into his ears.

"Mr. Diaz, do you have a moment?"

The student was of course none other than Ryan, the former team captain of the High School's varsity football team. It was because of this, that Mr. Diaz had a favorable impression of the student, and broke out into a smile when he saw the young man.

"Ryan… Sorry, I was just thinking about some important matters. What can I help you with?"

Knowing that this was his chance to push the Gym teacher into a suicide mission, Ryan began to speak in an almost anxious tone. It was clear that this was nothing more than a façade, but nonetheless Mr. Diaz bought into it hook line and sinker.

"We have a problem.. Several of the students have begun to fight over what remains of our rations. I think if we don't get more food and water soon, things might get bad… Real bad… I heard from the others that you already sent out the other teachers in advance to go fetch supplies. But if they haven't returned yet, I fear that they are already… Well you know…"

It had indeed been far too long since Mr. Diaz sent out the other students, and it was because of this that he had already begun to suspect that they were killed by those monsters…. This was also one of the major reasons he feared going out to fetch supplies.

But he also knew he could no longer sit idly by and wait for his students to turn on each other. Thus with a heavy sigh, the man stood up, knowing what had to be done.

"Alright… I understand… I'll go get what we need… In the meantime, I want you to keep an eye on things around here for me. You're the only one here with any real experience leading others, and the kids look up to you. Can you promise to keep things under control until I return?"

However, shockingly Ryan did not agree with this sentiment, and was quick to insist on going with Mr. Diaz on his quest to fetch some much needed supplies.

"No can do, Coach. You need at least one other person to help you carry supplies! I'm going with you whether you like it or not, besides I know the danger that those things present, after all, me and the others survived for some time before making our way here to safety!"

As much as Mr. Diaz wanted Ryan to maintain order while he was gone, he also understood the young man's argument. And was actually quite convinced by it. Because of this he sighed heavily and placed his hand on Ryan's shoulder, accepting his young man as his companion on this dangerous journey that they both must undertake for the good of the others.

"Alright… But just make sure to keep yourself safe. If something happens to me, you must go on and get those supplies, no matte what. Don't you dare try to do something foolish like try to save me. As long as one of us make it back to the gymnasium with supplies, then the others have a much better chance at surviving."

Ryan protested this statement, not because he was opposed to the teacher's command, but rather because he wanted to appear as if he had good intentions.

"No way! I'm not leaving you behind, Coach! That's not how I do things, if you're in trouble I will help you, even if I have to carry you back to the gym myself!"

After hearing this, Mr. Diaz was shocked, and wore a bitter smile, accepting Ryan's pledge to aid him, despite it being detrimental towards their goal. Or at least it appeared that he did, because he did not outright reject Ryan's "promise".

"You're a good kid, Ryan… Alright that's enough sentimental bullshit, let's go fetch some supplies. By the way, I think you should trade in the table leg for something a bit more ideal don't you think?"

The teacher then reached towards a bin where he pulled out two aluminum baseball bats which were previously used by the high school baseball team. Mr. Diaz handed one to Ryan with a stern expression on his face.

"We're going to need to protect ourselves from those things… Unfortunately, these are the only things I can think of that might be able to help us. You sure you can handle it?"

Ryan grabbed hold of the baseball bat, and took a test swing. It was light weight, extremely light. Almost like a feather, clearly the school had paid a lot to acquire one of the best bats on the market. Knowing how fast he could swing the thing, and the fact that it was made out of metal, Ryan truly believed he would be able to deal some serious damage with this aluminum bat.

And thus smiled as he confirmed he could indeed handle the weapon.

"No problem, Coach!"

With this said, Ryan and Mr. Diaz had begun the first steps of their plan to scavenge supplies for the good of their group. All the while, the Gym teacher remained entirely unaware that his companion intended to do him harm.