[Emergency Civil Defense Broadcast – Standby Override]
> "...This is the Emergency Civil Defense Network. Repeat: this is not a test."
Our blood froze.
> "A new pathogen, unofficially dubbed the Crawler Plague, is spreading across multiple sectors at an alarming rate."
> "Symptoms will begin within hours of exposure: fever, convulsions, and extreme joint dislocation... followed by severe neurological distortion. Infected individuals become highly aggressive and exhibit unnatural locomotion crawling or twisting toward uninfected targets."
Someone gasped behind me. A strangled sound. Another teacher, pale and trembling, began to mutter a prayer under his breath. The kind spoken only at funerals.
> "Do not attempt to aid anyone or restrain infected persons. Avoid all contact. They are no longer human."
The broadcast crackled violently. The words blurred into static.
Students froze. Heads turned slowly toward the open windows.
Then came the scream.l
A distorted, unnatural shriek, ripping through the air like metal tearing against bone.
[Static intensifies. A low growl or distant scream can be faintly heard in the background.]
"...If you are receiving this message, shelter in a safe place. Barricade all entrances. Destroy bridges or tunnels if possible to cut their route of exposure in other areas. We repeat—containment has failed. This is a full biological threat classification Omega."
"...May God help us all."
[Transmission cuts to static.]
The datapad went dark. So did the lights.
Silence fell for a single beat. The kind that makes you feel as though the entire world is holding its breath.
Then all hell broke loose.
Screams erupted outside the council tower. Footsteps thundered down the hallway. Holographic screens flickered and died as the emergency power systems failed one by one.
Someone was shouting for students to stay calm. Another voice shouting lockdown protocols. Nobody heard them. Panic drowned everything out.
Our teachers led us into the old Student Council room, which is housed in the central tower and is the closest protected area. Analog locking systems, independent filtration, and reinforced walls. It was meant to be secure.
Even my breathing felt strange, ragged and shallow, and now I stood close to the back wall, my heart hammering against my ribs as I struggled to keep it together.
Whatever was happening... this wasn't just a disaster anymore. It was something worse.
Our chemistry teacher, Mrs. Yamamoto, had her hands clasped together in silent prayer, her makeup streaked with tears.
Mr. Ishikawa tried to speak "Students, please remain calm" but his voice cracked on the first word, and his hands shook so bad he dropped his tablet. Nobody even looked down at it.
I opened my mouth to assume command, to give orders, to bring back that natural control that had always characterized my existence. My blood turned cold as a sound ripped through the hallway before I could say anything.
A scream ripped through the silence.
Even from a distance, it cut through the walls like a knife. The kind of fear that twists a person's voice into something you barely recognize as human.
Everyone in the council room went rigid. Nobody dared to breathe. Every head snapped toward those heavy double doors like they were all connected by the same string.
Then came another scream. And another.
Boys' and girls' voices were now mixed together. Some are low and guttural, while others are high and sharp. Names were being cried out. Some simply screamed, begging for help hoping for someone to hear them.
That's when the footsteps started.
There was only one person at first, running down the hallway as if their life depended on it. The sound of their shoes hitting the tiles was audible, with each stride piercing silence
The problem is that the rhythm was completely off. They appeared to be unable to fully control their bodies as they were stumbling, dragging their feet, and veering around corners.
Then—WHAM. A body crashed into the wall right outside their door with sickening force. You could hear the choked gasp that followed.
It was the wild, uncontrollable rush of someone racing toward our doors as if their survival depended on getting there.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Someone pounded on the outer entrance, fists hammering reinforced steel with dying desperation. "HELP! PLEASE! SOMEONE HELP US! OH GOD, PLEASE!"
The voice was young. A student. Maybe first-year by how high the terror pitched it.
I found my voice, cold and controlled as always. "Everyone stay calm. Don't—"
The screaming outside suddenly changed. What started as a human cry twisted into something else entirely... something so wrong that my brain couldn't process it. Every single hair on my neck shot up. The voice became this wet, animal thing as it twisted and stretched. It felt like someone choking on their own blood in excruciating pain while simultaneously drowning and being torn apart.
The pounding stopped.
The screaming stopped.
The silence came back, but now it was different.
"We need to help them," Aoi whispered beside me. Sweet, innocent Aoi Tanaka, my junior council member, who still believed in fairy tales and happy endings. Who volunteered at the animal shelter on weekends and cried over injured birds.
"No," I said, but my voice had lost its usual bite. "We need to wait for—"
A sudden flicker of movement across the hallway made me turn. Through the narrow glass panel in the door, we could see the security office across the hall its reinforced windows are dark, the interior shrouded in flickering emergency lights.
No guards. No voices. No orders coming through outside.
The security office showed no signs of life through its reinforced windows.
We were alone.
Aoi stood up, face pale but determined. "There might be survivors. We can't just—"
"SIT DOWN!" I snapped, my composure finally cracking. "You will not move until I—"
Once more, there was an outside sound. However, there isn't any screaming. This was worse. Much worse. Like a heavy object being pulled along, a damp, dragging sound slithered across the concrete. The dragging ceased. directly outside our doors. Then the knocking began.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Like someone with broken fingers trying desperately to signal for help.
"Please," a voice called through the steel. But it was wrong. The words were human, but the throat making them wasn't. Like someone talking through a mouthful of blood and broken glass. "Help... me... please..."
Aoi's face crumpled with sympathy. "They're hurt. We have to—"
"That's not human," I whispered, but she was already moving toward the door.
"AOI, NO!"
Her hand reached for the emergency release, the one that'd unlock our sanctuary and let in whatever nightmare waited outside.
The lock hissed open.
The door cracked three inches.
And Hell crawled through.
The thing that forced into our pristine hallway used to be human. I could see pieces of what it was, a school uniform, though it was so soaked with blood and worse that the colors had gone brown and black. Hair that might've been blonde before it got matted with gore. But everything else...
Its left arm bent backward at the elbow, the joint snapped and twisted so the forearm dangled behind its back. Bone stuck through the skin in white splinters that caught the flickering light like broken teeth. Its right leg dragged behind, the foot turned completely around so it walked on what used to be its ankle.
But the face. God, the face destroyed what was left of my sanity.