Meanwhile, back at the high school, Zach Jones huddled with two other students (a boy and a girl), out of sight. He saw what looked like a normal-looking girl wandering down the hallway, then whispered to her to come over by him. She hesitantly did, then found to her relief that Zach and the others hadn't been changed.
"I thought I'd never find anyone who hadn't been changed like me," the girl said. "After what happened to my friend ..." She started to tear up. "That Athena girl. All she did was read something out of a book and then my friend Wendy ... she ... she became like one of those Goths. All dressed in black and fishnets and heavy boots. She'd never wear something like that. I know Wendy. We've been friends for years. But after it happened, she was totally fine with what happened to her. And she went off with Athena as though they were friends." The girl began to cry.
"Listen, you gotta pull yourself together," Zach said. "We're getting out of here, you hear me? We've gotta tell someone about what's been happening here. The police or whatever. They might not believe us, but we have to at least try. At the very least, we won't be changed by ... one of them," he said, gesturing towards the general location of where the major groups of cliques were currently fighting (the Jocks, the Goths, and the Preps).
"So what the hell are we waiting for?" asked the boy standing behind Zach.
"I wanted to wait a little more to see if there are any more like us. The more people we have with us, the better chance we have to get help," Zach said. He may have been a class clown, but he wasn't stupid. He was smart enough to formulate this plan, which wasn't really all that intricate, but it was a plan nonetheless, one that had a good chance of working.
"Well, can't we do it somewhere else? Somewhere a little less ... cramped?" the girl behind him asked.
"Okay, fine," he said. "We'll head over to the forest to the east side of the school. The trees should give us enough cover, but we'll be able to spot anyone who hasn't been changed yet and help them."
The guy and the two girls nodded, then the four of them slowly and carefully made their way out of the school.
