The world cracked apart in an instant.
A force unlike anything they had ever felt gripped their bodies, yanking them from the stadium and hurling them into oblivion. It wasn't like falling or flying—it was like being ripped out of existence itself. Elio couldn't breathe, couldn't scream, couldn't think. His mind was a blur of white noise and pressure, and then—
Impact.
He slammed into the ground with a force that rattled his bones. A deafening silence followed, then gasps, then panicked cries.
Where the hell am I?
Elio groaned, blinking hard. The world around him swam into focus—except it wasn't the stadium anymore.
They were inside their school.
Or, at least, a version of it.
Lucian staggered to his feet, helping Aria up. "Are we dead? What—"
Before he could finish, a collective gasp swept through the students as they took in their surroundings. The entire school building was intact, but outside the windows—nothing. Just an infinite white void stretching in every direction.
"Where the hell are we?" Ren muttered, his voice unusually tight.
Elio tried to steady his breathing. "This... this isn't possible. We were just in the stadium. How did we—?"
"I don't know, but I'm freaking the hell out," Aria whispered.
Other students began to panic, voices rising, some running to the exits only to find that the doors opened into more of that unbearable whiteness. A few tested stepping outside—only to recoil in pain as a blinding light seared their eyes.
Then, without warning, a sharp electronic chime rang through the air.
A massive digital board materialized in the sky above the school, its black surface flickering to life with glowing red letters.
ROUND 1 - THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE BEGINS.
Silence fell.
Then, the screaming began.
Chaos Unleashed
SWITCH
Something was wrong with the bell.
Elio Ren sat in his chair, staring at the clock above the whiteboard, waiting for the final class of the day to end. His fingers lazily tapped against his desk, a steady rhythm against the wood. Three seconds left.
Two.
One.
The bell rang.
But it sounded off—like it was ringing from the bottom of a deep well. The usual sharp chime was stretched, warped, sluggish. It groaned through the speakers in a way that made Elio's skin crawl.
A strange buzzing filled his ears. He blinked, shaking his head, expecting someone to complain or laugh about the weird sound.
But the classroom was silent.
Not just quiet—dead silent.
No chairs scraping. No students chatting. No one packing their bags or stretching like they always did when class ended.
Just nothing.
Elio's fingers curled. A weird sensation crept up his spine, a tightness in his chest, like he had missed something important. He turned to his right, where Ren Nakamura usually sat.
Ren was completely still.
His hands rested on the desk, palms down, his dark eyes locked forward, staring at nothing. His breathing was too slow.
He wasn't blinking.
Elio swallowed. His gut told him to say something—anything—but a strange pressure settled over him, making it hard to even speak.
He looked around the classroom.
That's when he noticed—
No one was moving.
Elio's chest tightened.
Every student in the room sat motionless at their desks. Some had their heads slightly turned, like they had been mid-conversation. Others had their mouths open, as if caught mid-laugh.
But no one moved.
Not a single person breathed.
Elio's heartbeat pounded in his ears. His hands clenched the edge of his desk, knuckles turning white.
Then—
A chair creaked.
The noise shattered the silence like a gunshot.
Elio's head snapped to the left.
Lucian Carter had moved. His hands twitched, his chest rising and falling in quick, shallow breaths. His usual lazy smirk was gone, replaced with something unfamiliar—something uncertain.
"Yo," Lucian muttered. His voice was quiet, but in the stillness of the room, it sounded loud. "Why the hell is everyone—"
Then—
The lights went out.
Total blackness.
Elio's breath caught in his throat.
The entire school was swallowed by darkness in an instant—so sudden, so absolute, it felt unnatural.
The air changed.
It felt thicker, heavier, wrong.
Like something had seeped into the atmosphere, pressing against his skin, crawling into his lungs.
Then—
A sound.
A slow, wet, cracking noise.
Like bones snapping in the dark.
It came from somewhere in the room.
Elio's heartbeat thundered against his ribs. He felt his body tense, every nerve on fire, but he couldn't see anything.
He tried to speak—but his throat locked up.
Then—
A breath.
Right next to his ear.
A sharp exhale.
Something was there.
Then the bell rang again.
The same warped, broken chime.
And the lights flickered back on.
Elio's stomach dropped.
The entire class was gone.
The desks were still there. The bags, notebooks, and books all remained untouched.
But the students were missing.
Elio's blood ran cold. His breathing quickened, his fingers trembling as he gripped his desk.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Only five people were left in the room.
Elio Ren.Ren Nakamura.Lucian Carter.Aria Vaughn.Noa Williams.
Lucian was already standing, his eyes darting around the classroom, his hands clenched into fists. His breathing was sharp, uneven, like he was trying to force himself to stay calm.
Aria's face was pale, her knuckles white as she gripped the desk. She turned, scanning the room, her expression unreadable—but her shoulders were tense, and her breathing was too controlled.
Noa just stared at the empty seats, her hands pressed against her thighs, her jaw clenched. "This… isn't fucking funny," she muttered, voice shaky. "What the hell is this?"
Elio forced himself to move. He turned to Ren, his gut churning.
Ren was still in his seat, his eyes dark, his face blank. He hadn't said a word.
"Ren," Elio said quietly. His voice felt too loud.
Ren blinked.
Then—
The intercom crackled to life.
A voice spoke through the speakers.
Distorted. Fractured. Not human.
"Welcome, participants."
"The first game will now begin."
A heavy silence settled over them.
Then—
Screams.
Bloodcurdling, inhuman screams.
They echoed from outside the classroom.
Loud. Panicked. Endless.
Lucian moved first, his body reacting on instinct.
He grabbed the classroom door handle—and froze.
His breath hitched. His muscles locked.
Elio saw it.
Through the small window of the door.
Out in the hallway.
A figure was standing there.
Their back hunched.
Their head tilted at a broken angle.
Not breathing.
Not human.
Then—
It turned.
Fast. Too fast.
And its eyes—
Were completely white.
Lucian didn't move.
His body went rigid, his hand frozen on the door handle. His breathing was shallow, barely there.
On the other side of the glass, the thing in the hallway twitched.
Its body was wrong—its arms hung limply at its sides, but its joints seemed loose, unstable. The way it stood, slightly swaying, reminded Elio of something barely held together—like a puppet with its strings tangled.
And its eyes.
Those horrible, milky-white eyes stared straight ahead. Unfocused. Empty.
Then—
Its head snapped toward them.
Fast. Too fast.
Like it had been yanked by something invisible.
Lucian's fingers tightened on the door handle.
A single, low breath escaped his lips.
And that's when the thing moved.
It didn't walk.
It lunged.
One second, it was in the hallway.
The next, its entire body slammed against the door.
BANG.
The force rattled the frame, shaking the glass.
Lucian stumbled back, eyes wide.
Then came the snarling.
A sound so raw, so guttural, it sent a sharp spike of cold terror through Elio's spine.
The thing clawed at the glass, its nails scraping against it, leaving deep streaks.
And then—
It opened its mouth.
Too wide.
Far too wide.
Its jaw cracked as it stretched, revealing a gaping maw of blackened gums and shredded lips, teeth broken and jagged.
Then, it screamed.
Not human.
A noise like a dying animal, choked and filled with rage.
Aria's chair scraped back as she stood, her hand gripping the desk so tight her knuckles went white.
Noa's lips parted, barely breathing.
Ren was still sitting. Still silent.
Elio couldn't think.
His heartbeat slammed against his ribs, his instincts screaming at him to move. To run.
But run where?
Lucian snapped out of it first.
"FUCK THIS," he hissed, backpedaling. "We need to—"
Then—
A second bang.
Elio's breath caught.
More figures were appearing in the hallway.
One. Two. Four. Ten.
More and more, their bodies jerking, twitching, crawling into view.
Some were missing skin.
Some were missing entire limbs.
And all of them had white, empty eyes.
No escape.
No teachers.
No rules.
Just the dead.
And the five of them, trapped inside.
The first window shattered.
Glass exploded as one of the creatures lunged through, its body collapsing onto the floor in a heap of limbs.
It was a girl. Or had been.
Her uniform was soaked in blood, her left arm missing entirely from the elbow down. Her jaw hung loose, unhinged.
Then, she twitched.
And moved.
Fast.
Straight for Noa.
Elio barely processed what happened next.
Noa reacted on instinct. She grabbed the nearest chair and swung.
CRACK.
The chair collided with the girl's head, sending her sprawling backward.
Noa's breath came in ragged gasps.
Then—
The girl's body convulsed.
And she started getting back up.
Noa took a single step back, her face pale.
"That's not—" she choked out. "She's not—"
The girl lunged again.
Faster. Unstoppable.
Her teeth sank into Noa's forearm.
Noa screamed.
A sound so raw, so full of horror, that it sent ice through Elio's veins.
Blood spilled down her wrist, dripping onto the tile.
Lucian moved before anyone else.
He grabbed one of the broken desk legs—jagged, splintered wood—and in one fluid motion, he brought it down on the girl's head.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
With the third impact, something inside her snapped.
And she finally stopped moving.
The room fell dead silent.
Noa staggered back, clutching her bleeding arm, her breaths shaky, uneven.
She was shaking.
Lucian let go of the broken desk leg, his hands covered in blood.
Elio's stomach twisted.
They all knew.
They had all seen enough movies. Read enough stories.
A bite.
A fucking bite.
Noa met their gazes.
Her breath came out in a short, broken laugh.
Then she whispered, "I'm dead, aren't I?"
Noa's blood dripped onto the tiles.
Each drop landed with a quiet, unforgiving sound.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The air felt thick. Heavy. Suffocating.
Elio couldn't stop staring at the wound.
It wasn't just a bite. It was deep. Skin torn. Muscle shredded.
Lucian's jaw tightened. "We have to—"
BANG.
Everyone jumped.
Another body slammed into the glass door.
And then another.
And another.
The hallway outside was a sea of the dead.
Bodies pressed against the windows. Hands clawed at the glass. White, soulless eyes peered inside.
They were trapped.
And Noa was bleeding out.
"We have to lock the doors!" Lucian's voice cut through the silence.
Aria moved first.
She grabbed the heaviest desk she could find, shoving it against the door. Elio followed.
They stacked whatever they could—chairs, cabinets, anything.
Ren just stood there.
His gaze was fixed on Noa.
Expression unreadable.
Aria snapped at him. "Ren! Move your ass!"
He blinked.
And then, finally, he helped.
Elio's breathing was shaky. His arms felt weak.
None of this felt real.
One second, they were in class. The next—
His stomach twisted.
This wasn't a dream.
It was a game.
And Noa had already lost.
Noa sat on the floor, back against the desk.
She was pale. Too pale.
Her breathing was uneven.
She lifted her arm slightly, studying the bite mark.
Then, she laughed. Quiet. Bitter.
"Well," she muttered, "this fucking sucks."
Lucian shot her a look. "Noa—"
"I know," she cut him off. "I know what happens next."
Silence.
It settled like a weight on their shoulders.
Noa knew.
They all knew.
Lucian clenched his jaw. "We're not killing you."
Noa raised a brow. "No? What, you gonna hold my hand while I turn?"
Lucian's fingers curled into fists.
Ren finally spoke. "We don't know if you'll turn."
Noa snorted. "Oh, come on, Ren. We all saw what just happened. She bit me. She bit me." She gave a small, humorless laugh. "Maybe I'll grow fangs and join them."
Nobody laughed.
Not even Aria.
Elio swallowed. His throat was dry.
Noa sighed, tilting her head back. "Y'know, in every zombie movie, there's always some dumbass who thinks a bite doesn't mean anything."
She looked at Lucian. Then Aria. Then Ren.
Her gaze landed on Elio last.
"I'm not gonna be that dumbass."
The pounding on the glass grew louder.
Fingers scraped against the walls.
Shadows moved outside the windows.
They had minutes. Maybe less.
Lucian exhaled sharply. "We are not killing you, Noa."
"Then what's your plan, genius?" Noa shot back. "Wait until I start foaming at the mouth? Let me tear your throat out?"
Lucian's hands shook.
Aria shifted uncomfortably. "We could— we could tie her up."
Noa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and when I get strong enough to break out? Then what?"
Silence.
No answer.
Because there was no good answer.
Elio's hands were clammy.
His heartbeat thudded in his ears.
No—
Noa was already dead.
Elio felt it before it happened.
The air changed.
Something snapped.
Lucian moved.
No hesitation. No warning.
He grabbed a metal pipe from the broken desk—
And swung.
Straight at Noa's head.
The sound was sickening.
A wet, heavy crack.
Elio flinched.
Noa's body slumped.
Her head lolled to the side.
A single gasp escaped her lips.
And then—
Nothing.
Nobody spoke.
Not for a long, long time.
Lucian's grip on the pipe was tight.
His shoulders rose and fell with each shaky breath.
Aria's eyes were wide. Staring.
Ren's lips were pressed into a thin line. Unreadable.
Elio's chest felt hollow.
The dead screamed outside.
And inside, Noa was gone.
The body was still warm.
Lucian's grip on the bloodstained pipe tightened. The metallic scent of Noa's blood mixed with the rotten stench of the undead outside.
Nobody spoke.
Not even Aria, whose eyes were locked onto Noa's motionless form, her breath coming out in uneven, stifled gasps.
Elio felt like he was floating. His ears were ringing. His mind refused to process what just happened.
Ren stood in the corner, his face completely unreadable. A sharp contrast to the turmoil in everyone else's eyes.
A human had died. Not a monster. Not a zombie.
One of them.
And they had done it.
No—Lucian had done it.
BOOM.
The glass shuddered.
Hands pounded on the windows—dozens of them, filthy and bloodstained. More of the undead pressed against the entrance, their teeth gnashing at the air, their nails scratching against the doors.
Aria snapped out of her trance. "That thing isn't gonna hold."
Lucian wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand. "We need to move."
Ren finally spoke, his voice eerily calm. "Where?"
For a moment, nobody had an answer.
The school was huge, a labyrinth of hallways, staircases, and dead ends. But every room could be a trap. Every hallway could be swarming with them.
Elio felt a pit in his stomach. "We need to find weapons."
"Yeah?" Aria scoffed. "And where do you think we're gonna find those? The school store? Oh no, wait—" she spread her arms dramatically, "this is a prison disguised as a school. They don't even let us bring scissors longer than three inches."
Lucian ignored her. "We go to the gym."
"The gym?" Elio repeated.
Lucian nodded. "There's sports equipment. Metal bats. Maybe even tools." His eyes flickered toward the cabinets. "And the janitor's closet might have something sharp."
Ren exhaled through his nose. "Then let's move."
And just like that, the plan was set.
But before they could take another step—
BANG.
The glass shattered.
The first zombie crawled through the broken window.
A student. Or… what used to be one. The remains of a school uniform clung to its body, its stomach ripped open, intestines dragging behind it like a grotesque tail.
It snapped its teeth at them, gurgling something that almost sounded like words.
More began to climb inside.
Lucian didn't hesitate. "RUN!"
And then—
Chaos.
Elio shoved a desk over, blocking one of the zombies for half a second before sprinting after the others.
Aria kicked over a chair, but it barely slowed them down. The infected moved too fast. Too hungry.
The four of them bolted out of the classroom, skidding onto the empty hallway.
Empty… for now.
Ren grabbed the door and slammed it shut behind them. "That won't hold for long."
Lucian was already moving. "We take the stairs. Now."
The school was a maze.
Desks had been flipped. Blood smeared across the lockers. A body lay twisted in the hallway—a girl with half her face torn off, her eyeball hanging by a thread.
Aria gagged. "This is so fucked up."
Lucian didn't slow down. He grabbed her wrist, pulling her forward. "Keep moving."
They took a sharp turn—
And froze.
A cluster of zombies.
At least seven of them standing in the middle of the hallway, twitching, groaning, heads snapping toward the sound of their footsteps.
Elio swallowed hard. "Shit."
Ren was already scanning the area. "There's a storage room—left side."
Lucian made the call. "GO."
They sprinted to the door.
Elio slammed into it first, twisting the handle—
Locked.
His heart plummeted. "It's fucking locked!"
The zombies were charging.
Aria screamed.
Lucian grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall—
And swung it full force at the doorknob.
CRACK.
The knob snapped.
The door flew open.
They shoved themselves inside, barely making it in before Ren slammed it shut.
Aria was panting. "Please tell me they can't open doors."
Outside, the infected shrieked.
And then—
BAM.
They slammed against the door.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Ren exhaled. "...It won't hold."
The room was small. Cramped.
The only light came from the dim emergency bulb flickering in the corner.
Shelves lined the walls, filled with cleaning supplies, broken chairs, and dust-covered equipment.
Aria's hands shook. "We almost died."
Lucian ignored her, digging through the supplies. "Look for anything useful."
Elio ran a hand through his sweat-soaked hair. "We're dead if they get in."
Ren was silent.
Elio turned to him, frustrated. "Ren. Say something."
Ren finally looked at him. His voice was quiet. Too quiet.
"We need to kill them."
Elio blinked. "What?"
Ren pointed to the vents above them. "There's a way out."
Elio followed his gaze. A small, rusted vent cover sat above the shelves.
Lucian narrowed his eyes. "You wanna crawl through there?"
Ren shook his head. "Not all of us."
Aria frowned. "Then who—"
Ren grabbed an old, rusted screwdriver from the shelf and tossed it to Elio.
"You're the smallest," he said. "You're going."
Elio's stomach dropped.
He looked at the screwdriver in his hands.
Then at the vent.
Then at the door—
Where the infected were still pounding.
Elio swallowed hard. "...And if I don't make it?"
Ren's expression didn't change.
"Then we all die here."
Elio stared at the vent.
It was barely wide enough for someone his size to squeeze through. The metal edges were rusted, jagged. If he wasn't careful, he'd slice himself open just trying to get inside.
This is insane.
But the pounding at the door wasn't stopping.
BAM. BAM. BAM.
The undead were relentless. The thin wooden door wouldn't last much longer.
Lucian turned to him, eyes dark and serious. "No time to hesitate."
Elio exhaled sharply and hoisted himself up.
His hands gripped the dusty shelves as he pulled his body into the vent, twisting his shoulders to fit. Tight. Cramped. The metal groaned beneath his weight.
Aria winced. "Are you sure it won't break?"
"Shut up," Elio hissed. He forced his arms forward, dragging himself inch by inch. It was so damn narrow.
His breath hitched. Too tight. He could barely move.
Calm down. Breathe. Keep going.
The others below watched as he disappeared into the darkness.
Lucian's voice followed him. "Find a way to open the door from the other side. We'll hold them off as long as we can."
If there even is another side, Elio thought bitterly.
He pressed forward.
And forward.
And forward—
Until he heard it.
A sound.
Something breathing.
Inside the vent.
Ahead of him.
Elio froze.
The air turned thick. Stale.
The vent was too dark to see anything, but he could hear it.
The slow, wet breathing.
Shhhhhh. Hhhhhhhh.
It was right in front of him.
Elio's heart slammed against his ribs. His fingers curled against the metal. He didn't move.
He couldn't.
His whole body was trapped in this tight space. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide.
He squinted. Shapes. A silhouette ahead.
A face.
No. Not a face.
A mouth.
Wide. Open. Too many teeth.
Elio's breath caught. His stomach twisted.
The thing in the vent tilted its head.
And then—
It lunged.
Elio jerked back as something slammed into him.
Teeth snapped inches from his face.
FUCK.
His back hit the metal. No room. He couldn't dodge. Couldn't fight properly.
The thing clawed forward, dragging itself through the vent.
Elio kicked out, his foot colliding with its face. The impact made a sickening crack. The creature reeled back, snarling.
Elio didn't stop.
He raised the rusted screwdriver.
And stabbed.
The tip plunged into flesh.
The thing let out a horrible, wet shriek.
Elio pulled back and stabbed again. And again. And again.
Warm blood splattered across his arms.
The creature twitched.
And then, finally—
It went still.
Elio's chest heaved. His arms shook.
His face was covered in blood. His fingers slick with it.
He just killed something.
And it wasn't human.
Not anymore.
He crawled past the motionless corpse.
Didn't look at it. Didn't stop.
Just keep moving.
The vent stretched ahead, turning sharply downward. Light flickered through the grates below.
Elio pressed forward and reached the end.
A grate.
He squinted through it. A hallway.
Empty.
He let out a breath and braced himself.
Then, with all his strength, he kicked the grate open.
It crashed onto the floor.
Elio dropped down, landing hard.
His legs buckled.
His arms trembled.
But he was out.
He staggered to his feet. No time to waste.
The others were still trapped.
Elio scanned the hallway. There.
A fire extinguisher mounted on the wall. A glass case.
He grabbed a metal stool from the side and swung it.
CRASH.
The glass shattered.
He grabbed the extinguisher.
And ran.
Inside the storage room—
The others were holding the door shut with everything they had.
Lucian pressed his back against it, teeth gritted.
Aria and Ren pushed against desks and chairs. Trying to reinforce it.
But it was futile.
The undead were winning.
Cracks splintered through the wood.
And then—
The hinges snapped.
The door burst open.
A flood of hands and teeth surged through.
Lucian barely had time to react before—
FOOM.
A blast of white foam exploded into the room, covering the zombies.
They reeled back, shrieking.
Lucian's eyes widened.
Elio stood in the hallway, fire extinguisher in hand.
"MOVE!" Elio shouted. "NOW!"
Lucian didn't hesitate.
He grabbed Aria's wrist and ripped her away from the barricade.
Ren followed.
The three of them sprinted through the gap before the zombies could recover.
Elio threw the extinguisher aside.
They ran.
Their feet pounded against the floor.
Zombies screamed behind them.
They sprinted past shattered windows, overturned desks, and blood-streaked floors.
Ren's eyes locked onto the sign ahead.
GYMNASIUM.
He pointed. "There!"
Lucian grabbed the handle and yanked.
Locked.
"FUCKING—" he cut himself off, looking around frantically.
Ren spotted something. A dead body.
A teacher's corpse.
And around its neck—
A key.
Elio gagged. "Nope. Not doing it."
Lucian didn't argue.
He knelt down, yanked the blood-covered lanyard off the body, and shoved the key into the lock.
Click.
The door swung open.
They burst inside.
Lucian shoved the door shut. "BLOCK IT."
Ren and Aria grabbed benches, chairs, anything.
They piled everything against the doors.
Elio collapsed onto the floor, panting.
Lucian wiped the sweat and blood from his face.
And then—
Silence.
For the first time since this nightmare started—
They were safe.
For now.
The hallways were soaked in blood.
Bodies ripped open, organs spilled out like butchered livestock. The stench of rotting flesh clung to the air, thick and suffocating. Limbs were scattered across the tiles, twitching as if they hadn't yet realized they were detached.
Down the corridors, students were being ripped apart.
A girl, trapped under a collapsed bookshelf, screeched as a horde of undead tore into her stomach. Her fingers clawed against the floor, trying to drag herself away even as her intestines spilled out behind her.
Another student—a guy in a soccer uniform—sprinted down the hallway. His face twisted in desperation as he hammered on a locked classroom door. "LET ME IN! PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF—"
CHOMP.
A set of rotting teeth sank into his shoulder.
His scream turned into a wet gurgle as more hands grabbed him, pulling him down into the swarm. Flesh was peeled from his bones, his eyes bulging in terror until a hand shoved into his mouth, ripping his jaw off.
His spine cracked.
His skull caved in.
And then he was gone.
Inside the gymnasium, the surviving students were catching their breath.
The room was massive, the high ceiling looming above them like a cavern. The bleachers were pulled out, rows of empty seats stacked against the walls. Basketball hoops hung overhead, their nets torn.
Ren clutched his knees, panting. "Holy shit… Holy shit."
Elio wiped blood—none of it his—from his face. His eyes flicked to the barricaded doors. The pounding hadn't stopped.
Lucian took a step forward. "We can't stay here."
"What?" Elio shot him a look. "The hell else are we supposed to do?"
"This isn't a shelter," Lucian said. His voice was low, controlled. "It's a death trap."
As if on cue—
BAM.
One of the barricades splintered.
The pounding grew louder.
Some of the weaker students flinched.
"We're surrounded," Lucian said. "If those doors give in, there's no way out."
A deep silence settled over the group.
And then—
Screaming.
From inside the gym.
The group whirled around.
A girl collapsed onto the floor, her body convulsing. Her skin turned a sickly gray. Her veins blackened, spreading like cracks in glass.
One of the guys next to her stumbled backward. "Oh—oh my God—"
Aria's eyes widened. "She was bitten."
The girl's body twitched. Her mouth stretched open.
Then—
She lunged.
Her teeth sank into a student's neck.
Blood sprayed.
The infected girl ripped her head back, taking a chunk of flesh with her. The victim let out a strangled gargle before his legs gave out, crashing onto the floor.
And then he started turning.
Chaos erupted.
The infected student sprang onto another person.
And then another.
And another.
A boy in a baseball jacket grabbed a fire axe from the equipment rack and swung wildly. The blade lodged into a zombie's skull, splitting it open like a rotten fruit. But before he could pull it free—
Hands grabbed him.
His own weapon was yanked from his grasp and buried into his stomach.
He vomited blood.
The others scattered.
Screams. Blood. Death.
Lucian's mind raced. Too many. Too fucking many.
He turned to the others. "WE NEED TO MOVE."
Aria snatched a hockey stick. "WHERE?!"
Elio's eyes darted across the gym. His gaze landed on the back storage room.
"There!" he pointed.
Ren didn't hesitate. He grabbed Noa's wrist and sprinted.
Elio saw her and thought "was her death just an illusion?"
Yes, noa wasn't dead. And nobody knew how, But neither did they had the time to discuss it.
Lucian and Aria followed, dodging between the chaos.
Students were falling left and right.
A boy tripped over a body—his ankle snapped under his own weight. Before he could even scream, a zombie pounced on him, biting deep into his throat.
A girl tried climbing the bleachers—she slipped, crashed down onto the floor, and cracked her skull open.
By the time Elio reached the storage room, only 39 students remained.
He yanked the door open.
The surviving students shoved inside, slamming the door shut behind them.
The door slammed shut.
Darkness swallowed them whole.
Panting. Shaking. Someone was crying. The room was cramped, barely large enough for all of them. Shelves lined the walls, stuffed with sports equipment—bats, hockey sticks, javelins, weight plates.
Lucian pressed his ear to the door. Outside, the sounds of tearing flesh, gnashing teeth, and dying screams filled the air.
Too many dead.
Too fast.
His grip tightened on the blood-streaked metal pole in his hands.
"We lost over ten people in less than five minutes," he muttered.
Noa leaned against the shelf, rubbing her temple. "Yeah, no shit. Thanks for the math, Einstein."
Aria was still catching her breath. "Those things—they turned way too fast. A bite, and then—bam. Seconds later, they were fucking monsters."
Ren wiped his face with his sleeve. "This isn't normal. It's like those things are rotting us from the inside out."
Silence fell over them.
Elio broke it first. "We can't stay here."
Lucian exhaled sharply. "No, we can't." He scanned the storage room. "But we can fight."
Elio ran his hands along the shelves. "Weapons. We need weapons."
Ren grabbed a baseball bat, testing the weight in his hands. "I played baseball back in middle school. Should work."
Noa pulled out a javelin. "Yeah? I did track and field." She gave a wicked grin. "Let's see if I can still impale shit."
Lucian grabbed a metal dumbbell bar, swinging it. It was hefty, blunt—good for crushing skulls.
Aria slung a bag of tennis balls over her shoulder. "I'll—uh—distract them?"
The others just stared at her.
She sighed. "Fine." She grabbed a hockey stick. "Happy?"
Elio found a pair of fencing swords in the corner. "These could be useful."
Noa snorted. "For what? A medieval duel?"
Elio twirled one sword in his fingers. Fast. Precise. Deadly. "For survival."
Lucian gave him a nod. "Alright. We move."
They cracked the storage room door open.
The hallway was quieter now. Not silent. Just... quieter.
Corpses littered the floor, their bodies mauled beyond recognition. Blood streaked the walls, splattered in handprints and smears. Some students had died crawling, leaving thick red trails behind them.
The lights flickered—half the hallway plunged in shadow.
And then they heard it.
A slow, wet chewing sound.
The group froze.
Down the hall, a lone zombie crouched over a corpse. Its teeth buried deep in a student's stomach, tearing out chunks of flesh.
Ren swallowed hard. "Jesus..."
Lucian signaled for silence. One zombie. They could handle that.
But before they could react—
A second one limped out of a classroom.
Then a third.
Then a fourth.
One by one, the undead crawled from the shadows.
Until at least twenty of them stood in the hallway.
The zombies hadn't noticed them yet.
Lucian's grip tightened around the dumbbell bar. "We take them down before they see us."
Elio nodded. "Fast and quiet."
Ren adjusted his bat. "You better hope I haven't lost my swing."
Lucian made the first move.
He crept forward, silent as death. The nearest zombie—**a girl missing half her face—**gnawed on a severed hand, her back turned.
Lucian lifted the dumbbell bar.
CRACK.
The impact caved her skull in, sending a spray of bone and brain matter across the wall. She crumpled instantly.
Ren whistled under his breath. "Nice shot."
Elio took the next one—his fencing sword slashing across a zombie's neck.
The head hit the floor before the body did.
Noa hurled her javelin into a zombie's chest, impaling it to the wall. It thrashed, clawing at the spear sticking out of its ribs before going still.
Aria swung her hockey stick, knocking a zombie's legs out. As it collapsed, she smashed its head in with a stomp.
Ren grinned. "Alright. My turn."
He stepped forward and swung his bat full force.
The zombie's jaw flew off.
It hit the ceiling.
Blood poured from the shredded mouth, but the thing kept crawling. Ren clicked his tongue. "Persistent little fucker." He brought the bat down one more time—caving its skull in completely.
The hallway was silent again.
For now.
Lucian wiped his weapon against his sleeve. "We need to find a real safe zone. This school's a fucking maze."
Elio adjusted his grip on the sword. "Where's the best place to hide?"
Aria frowned. "Library?"
Ren shook his head. "Too many windows."
Noa snapped her fingers. "What about the faculty armory?"
Elio raised an eyebrow. "The what?"
Noa crossed her arms. "Teachers confiscate weapons from kids all the time. Guns, knives, brass knuckles—you name it. If we're lucky, it's still locked up somewhere."
Lucian's expression darkened. "And if it's not?"
Noa shrugged. "Then someone else has them."
That wasn't a comforting thought.
Lucian turned to the others. "We head for the armory. Fast. We stick together. No splitting up."
Aria nodded. "If we're lucky, we get something better than sticks and swords."
Elio sighed. "And if we're not lucky?"
Lucian didn't hesitate. "Then we fight with what we have."
Ren twirled his bat. "Sounds like a plan."
They moved.
Stepping over the bodies.
Deeper into the school.
Deeper into hell.
The deeper they went, the worse the air became.
The scent of rotting flesh, blood, and bile clung to the hallways like a sickness. Every breath tasted like death.
Lucian led the way, his dumbbell bar dripping with gore. The others followed, their weapons ready, their steps light and careful.
The school felt different now.
Like something was watching them.
Like the building itself was alive.
The fluorescent lights overhead buzzed weakly, some flickering, some shattered entirely. The shadows stretched long across the walls, twisting and shifting as they moved.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Elio whispered, "I don't like this."
Ren muttered, "Yeah, me neither."
They turned a corner—
—and froze.
The hallway ahead was a massacre.
Blood pooled in thick, blackened puddles.
Bodies—**students, all of them—**had been ripped apart, their organs strewn across the floor like discarded trash.
Some had clawed at their own throats, their faces frozen in expressions of pure agony.
Others had been half-eaten, their rib cages cracked open like eggshells.
A few still twitched.
Noa's breath hitched. "What the fuck did this?"
Aria covered her mouth, eyes wide.
Ren stepped forward, prodding a corpse with his bat. "These aren't like the others...they didn't just turn."
Elio frowned. "Then what happened to them?"
Lucian scanned the room. Something wasn't right. The way the bodies were torn apart—this wasn't normal.
Then he saw it.
At the far end of the hallway, a door was ajar.
And inside—
A dark shape shifted.
Something was in there.
And it was watching them.
A low, wet growl echoed from the room.
Not human.
Not like the zombies.
Something else.
Lucian took a slow step back. "We need to move. Now."
The others didn't argue.
They turned—
SLAM.
The classroom door burst open.
A shadow lunged.
Lucian barely had time to react—a blur of rotting flesh and jagged bone crashed into him, sending him sprawling to the floor.
Something huge.
Something wrong.
His body hit the ground hard. His weapon skidded across the floor, out of reach.
He looked up—
—and his blood ran cold.
The thing above him wasn't a normal zombie.
It was bigger—twisted.
Its body was bloated, swollen with infection. Razor-sharp bone spikes jutted from its shoulders, its mouth split open too wide, lined with jagged teeth. Its fingers had fused together into long, sharpened claws.
Its eyes weren't human anymore.
Just empty, black pits.
It wasn't just undead.
It was evolving.
And it was hungry.
Lucian barely had time to roll aside before its claws slammed down, carving deep gashes into the floor where his head had been.
"FUCK!"
Ren reacted first.
He swung his bat with all his strength—
CRACK.
The impact shattered the creature's jaw, sending black, putrid blood spraying across the floor.
But it didn't stop.
It turned to Ren, its mouth hanging loose, bones snapping as it realigned its jaw.
Noa hurled her javelin, aiming for its chest—
The thing caught it mid-air.
Then it snapped the spear in half.
Elio's fencing sword slashed across its back, cutting deep. The creature lurched, twisting unnaturally, its black eyes locking onto him now.
It moved too fast.
It grabbed Elio by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
Elio choked, kicking wildly. His fingers scrambled at the creature's grip, but its claws dug deep, crushing his windpipe.
His vision blurred. Black spots danced in his eyes.
He was dying.
Then—
Lucian lunged from behind.
He grabbed his dumbbell bar from the floor and drove it straight into the creature's skull.
A sickening crunch.
The monster shuddered.
And then its grip loosened.
Elio dropped to the floor, gasping.
Lucian didn't stop.
He swung again.
And again.
And again.
BAM. BAM. BAM.
Until the skull caved in completely.
Until the creature finally stopped moving.
Until the hallway was silent again.
Lucian staggered back, chest heaving. His arms shook from the effort, his weapon drenched in black blood.
The others stared at the creature's ruined body.
Ren muttered, "What the hell was that?"
Noa wiped her mouth. "I don't know, but I think we just fought a fucking boss battle."
Elio sat up, coughing violently. "It wasn't normal." His voice was hoarse. "It was changing."
Lucian swallowed hard. "We need to move before more show up."
They didn't argue.
The fight had drained them, but they couldn't stay here.
They stepped over the blood-soaked bodies, moving deeper into the school.
The halls stretched on before them.
And in the shadows—
Something else was watching.
Waiting.
And it was hungry.
The screams started all at once.
A chorus of terror.
From every hallway, every classroom, every floor— the school had erupted into pure hell.
Lucian, Ren, Elio, Noa, and Aria barely made it a few steps before the sound of running footsteps and shrieking filled the air.
Then—
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Someone was pounding on a nearby door.
"PLEASE! HELP! THEY'RE COMING!"
The group turned just in time to see a boy desperately clawing at the classroom door, his hands bloody from how hard he had been slamming against it.
Behind him, a wave of the infected surged through the hallway.
Not just one or two.
Dozens.
Their bodies were battered, torn, twitching as they sprinted forward with unnatural speed. Some were still in school uniforms, their faces barely recognizable under the gore. Others were missing limbs, dragging themselves forward with relentless hunger.
And they were fast.
The boy at the door turned—
A pair of hands grabbed his shoulders.
His scream was cut short as teeth tore into his neck.
Blood sprayed across the lockers.
Then they ripped him apart.
"RUN!" Ren shoved Aria forward.
Noa didn't need to be told twice. She sprinted ahead, dodging past overturned desks and broken lockers.
Lucian and Elio took the rear, weapons ready, but even as they ran, the horde was catching up.
"STAIRS!" Aria pointed.
A few students were already ahead of them, racing toward the stairwell at the end of the hall.
One boy tripped—
The zombies swarmed him instantly.
His screams didn't even last three seconds.
Ren jumped over his corpse and barreled into the stairwell door, shoving it open.
The group stumbled inside.
A few other students—a mix of familiar faces and nobodies—had made it too.
Then—
A girl screamed as a zombie tackled her from behind.
Her head slammed against the wall.
She struggled, kicking wildly, but the infected on top of her wasn't alone.
Three more grabbed her, their teeth sinking into her arms, her legs, her stomach.
She shrieked in agony.
Noa locked eyes with her—
The girl's mouth opened, desperate, pleading—
And then a zombie ripped out her throat.
Her eyes rolled back.
Noa looked away.
Lucian didn't waste time. He grabbed the stairwell door and slammed it shut.
BAM. BAM. BAM.
The undead threw themselves against the door, clawing and snarling.
Lucian locked it.
Then he stepped back, breathing hard. "That's not gonna hold for long."
Elio wiped blood off his cheek, swallowing thickly. "Then we go up."
"Fuck," Noa muttered. "I hate this school."
They raced up the stairs, passing another group of students who had no weapons, no plan, no hope.
Some were crying.
Some were praying.
One girl sat on the landing, hugging her knees, whispering, "This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real."
Lucian didn't stop.
Neither did Ren.
Or Elio.
They reached the third floor and burst into the hallway.
What they saw stole the breath from their lungs.
The entire corridor was covered in blood.
The walls were smeared with handprints—some large, some tiny.
Bodies littered the floor, some half-eaten, some still twitching.
And the worst part?
Some of them were standing back up.
Turning.
Aria swallowed down bile. "Where the fuck do we go?!"
Ren scanned the halls, his mind racing.
The gym? No, too open.
The library? No, too many windows.
Then—
The rooftop.
"THIS WAY!" Ren bolted toward the emergency stairwell at the end of the hall.
The others followed, dodging past corpses, jumping over pools of blood.
One student—a guy they barely knew—tried running with them.
Tried.
A hand shot out from a locker, yanking him inside.
His screams echoed down the hall.
And then—
Silence.
Elio didn't even look back.
They burst through the rooftop door, stumbling into the open air.
The night sky stretched above them, the city in the distance still untouched, still normal.
Like none of this was even happening.
Lucian bent over, hands on his knees, breathing hard. "We can't keep running forever."
Noa wiped blood off her arm. "Yeah? What's your big plan? Hope this is all a dream?"
Elio clenched his fists. "There has to be a way to—"
BAM.
The rooftop door shuddered.
The undead had found them.
"Shit—barricade it!"
They scrambled, grabbing benches, desks, whatever they could find.
But it wouldn't hold forever.
Ren exhaled sharply. "We need to think. Fast."
Aria pointed to a fire escape ladder. "That could get us down."
Elio frowned. "And if there are more downstairs?"
"Then we keep moving," Lucian said, gripping his weapon. "Or we die."
The door shook again.
A screeching, inhuman wail ripped through the air.
Then—
BANG.
The barricade splintered.
A rotting hand burst through.
They were out of time.
Lucian took a deep breath.
And then he ran for the fire escape.
The others followed.
The fire escape rattled under their weight as they climbed down in a frenzy.
Lucian went first, his hands slick with sweat and blood, gripping the cold metal bars so tightly his knuckles turned white.
Ren followed close behind, his breath sharp, his jaw clenched.
Elio and Noa helped Aria down, their movements frantic but coordinated.
The rooftop door was breaking apart behind them.
They could hear it—wood cracking, metal bending, the guttural snarls of the undead pushing through.
The last thing Elio saw before he fully turned away was a pair of soulless eyes peering through the splintered barricade—hungry, rabid, inhuman.
Then—
The rooftop was gone.
All that mattered now was getting to the ground before the infected reached them.
One of the other students—a random guy named Jordan, someone they barely knew—was below them, climbing fast.
Too fast.
He was panicking, his hands slipping.
His foot missed a step—
He screamed as he lost his grip.
For a second, he dangled—
Then—
He fell.
Noa's stomach twisted as she watched his body slam into the pavement below.
A disgusting, wet CRACK.
Jordan lay still for a moment, his arms bent at unnatural angles.
Then—
He twitched.
His fingers curled, spasmed—
And then, like a puppet being yanked upward, he moved.
His head snapped toward them.
His eyes, now cloudy and bloodshot, locked onto them like a predator spotting prey.
The fall should have killed him.
It didn't matter.
He wasn't human anymore.
And he wasn't alone.
The street below was crawling with the dead.
They gathered around Jordan's broken body, growling, sniffing, hungry.
Some were schoolmates.
Some were teachers.
Some were things that should've stayed buried.
And all of them were looking up.
Elio cursed. "We can't go down."
Lucian clenched his jaw. "Then we find another way."
A gunshot echoed through the school.
Everyone froze.
The zombies turned toward the sound—
And then they ran.
Not shuffled. Not staggered.
Ran.
Like predators who had just found fresher meat.
They disappeared around the corner, leaving the path below momentarily clear.
Ren exhaled sharply. "That's our chance."
They jumped down one by one, landing as quietly as possible.
Ren helped Noa down. Elio grabbed Aria's hand. Lucian scanned their surroundings, keeping his weapon tight in his grip.
For now, the street was empty.
But the city beyond them?
It was on fire.
Buildings burned.
Cars were flipped over.
And in the distance, they could hear it.
The sound of civilization dying.
'
They weren't alone.
A small group of other survivors had made it outside as well—maybe ten of them.
Among them was Aaron, a senior. Tall. Strong. Cocky.
He was holding a makeshift bat—stained with blood.
"Hey!" He called out, approaching them. "You guys made it too, huh?"
Lucian kept his grip on his own weapon. "For now."
Aaron grinned. "Then you should come with us."
Ren narrowed his eyes. "Why?"
"Because this shit ain't a game, man. We need numbers. And let's be real—" Aaron smirked, giving them all a once-over. "Some of you aren't gonna last long."
Noa scoffed. "And what, you're offering to babysit?"
Aaron chuckled. "Nah. I'm offering you a chance to pick the right side before things get messy."
Aria crossed her arms. "And what exactly does 'your side' do?"
Aaron's smirk didn't fade.
But his eyes darkened.
"We survive. No matter what it takes."
Behind him, one of his guys shifted uncomfortably.
Elio noticed.
The guy wasn't looking at them.
He was looking at something behind them.
Elio turned.
And his blood went cold.
They hadn't heard them coming.
They should have.
But the zombies were learning.
They weren't just running anymore.
They were hunting.
Elio barely had time to shout a warning before the infected slammed into them.
Aaron's group scattered.
Lucian swung his weapon—cracking a zombie's skull open.
Noa shoved one back, her heart hammering.
Ren grabbed Aria's wrist and pulled her behind him.
Elio saw one of Aaron's guys trip—
The zombies pounced on him instantly.
His screams lasted seconds before they tore him apart.
Aaron?
He didn't even look back.
He ran.
His whole group left the weaker ones behind.
Elio gritted his teeth. "Fucking coward."
But there was no time to be angry.
The infected were everywhere.
And then—
One of them bit someone.
It happened too fast.
One of the survivors—a girl, maybe a sophomore—screamed as a zombie's teeth sank into her shoulder.
Her body convulsed.
She fell to her knees, trembling, sobbing.
Lucian knew what came next.
Everyone did.
The infection spread fast.
It felt like all of this was happening again and again and again.
She had maybe a minute.
Maybe less.
She looked at them—eyes full of terror.
"...Please…" she whispered.
But nobody moved.
Nobody wanted to do it.
Then—
Aaron's group was gone.
And so was their gun.
Lucian's grip tightened on his bat.
She was crying now.
Noa clenched her fists.
Aria looked away.
Ren didn't hesitate.
One swing.
The girl's head snapped to the side—her body crumpling instantly.
Silence.
Just like that, they were one less.
Ren's shoulders rose and fell.
He didn't say anything.
Nobody did.
They just kept moving.
The moment they pushed into the second-floor hallway, the smell of death thickened. The air was humid with sweat, iron, and something rotten—like meat left out in the sun. The fluorescent lights above flickered, casting long, jagged shadows that made every shape look like a moving corpse.
And soon enough, they were.
"Go, go, go!" Aria yelled, shoving a student forward.
The stampede of bodies pushed through the hall, their footsteps slamming against the floor like a drumbeat of panic. Lucian stayed at the back, gripping a bent metal pipe he'd picked up earlier. Noa kept a switchblade in her shaky hands. Elio was dead silent, his breathing uneven.
And Ren Nakamura?
He wasn't panicking. He wasn't hesitating. He wasn't running blindly like the rest.
He was watching.
Watching how the zombies moved. Watching how they reacted to sound. Watching how fear killed people faster than the infected did.
The First Collapse
A group of six students reached the staircase to the third floor, but that was when it happened.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
The doors at the end of the hallway suddenly exploded open, and a wave of bodies came crashing in—a mix of the living and the dead, tangled together in a writhing mess of screams and gnashing teeth.
One of the girls in front—the one with a pink ribbon in her hair—tripped.
She reached for help. No one stopped.
She tried to scream. A hand **clamped over her mouth—**not to help, but to stop her from attracting more.
She was dragged into the wave.
Her pink ribbon landed on the floor. Her head landed a second later, rolling.
The horde didn't stop. It surged forward.
The Choices That Matter
"Fuck, fuck, fuck—back, back!" Lucian yelled, shoving Elio out of the way before a zombie clawed at his arm.
The students turned to retreat down the hall—only to realize that the way they came from? Blocked. The staircase they just ran up from was now flooded with the dead. They were trapped.
"FUCK!" Noa screamed, her voice cracking. "Where the hell do we—"
"Left. Classrooms," Ren said, already moving.
"What?!" Aria snapped. "Are you—"
"Move or die."
Ren didn't wait for a discussion. He grabbed Elio—who was still frozen in shock—and shoved him toward the nearest door. The rest of the group followed because there was no other choice.
The students crashed through the door of Class 2-B, a half-lit classroom with rows of desks, a blackboard smeared with old chalk, and a window leading to the outside balcony.
There was no time to think.
Noa slammed the door shut. Lucian pushed a bookshelf against it. Aria checked for openings.
Elio? He was still shaking.
And Ren?
Ren was at the window. Calculating. Thinking.
"We can get out through here," he said.
"The hell are you talking about?" Lucian panted.
Ren grabbed a desk and hurled it through the glass. The window shattered. A cold breeze rushed in, carrying the distant echoes of sirens and screams.
The school was burning in the distance.
"The ledge outside leads to another classroom," Ren explained, already climbing up. "We go now, or we don't go at all."
A second later, the barricade behind them started to break.
The Second Collapse
CRACK.
The bookshelf holding back the infected splintered.
Someone screamed—maybe Noa, maybe someone else—but Ren didn't turn to look. He was already halfway across the ledge.
Lucian was next, moving fast, practically grabbing Elio by the collar and forcing him forward.
Noa hesitated. She glanced back—maybe at the students who weren't fast enough, maybe at the ones who were about to die. But hesitation?
It was a death sentence.
One of the zombies reached through the crack in the door and grabbed her by the hair.
"NOA!" Aria yelled.
Ren moved without thinking.
In a blur, he twisted his body back inside, grabbed Noa's wrist, and yanked her forward—
—right as the door blasted open.
The infected swarmed in. The students still inside? They never made it out.
All that was left of them was the sound of ripping flesh.
The Balcony Decision
The five of them collapsed on the ledge outside, panting, shaking. Ren let go of Noa's wrist. She was trembling, but alive.
"You—you just—" Noa looked at him like he wasn't human. "You didn't even—"
"They were dead the second they hesitated," Ren said flatly.
Noa swallowed hard.
Lucian wiped his forehead. "How many do you think are left now?"
"Less than forty," Aria muttered. "Definitely less than forty."
Ren didn't say anything. He just stared at the school below them.
It wasn't a school anymore.
It was a graveyard.
The five of them crouched low on the narrow ledge outside the shattered window of Class 2-B. The cold wind whipped at their faces, carrying the distant echoes of sirens, screams, and the wet chewing of the dead.
Ren Nakamura was the first to move. He didn't hesitate. He didn't need to. His mind was working through the situation like a puzzle, each step planned before his feet even hit the ground.
Lucian Carter was next, his breath shallow, his grip on the metal pipe tightening like it was the only thing keeping him alive.
Aria Vaughn followed quickly, her hands trembling, but her legs steady. She had no time to be scared—she had seen too many people die already.
Noa Williams hesitated. Just for a second. She still wasn't used to this—this absolute fucking nightmare. But when she saw Elio still frozen behind her, she knew she had no choice.
She grabbed his wrist and pulled.
"Move, Elio!" she snapped.
Elio Ren stumbled forward, nearly losing his footing on the ledge, but he forced himself to keep going. He had no choice. None of them did.
The ledge led to another window, half open. Ren reached it first and peeked inside. Class 2-C.
Empty.
For now.
He slipped in first, landing silently. Lucian followed, then Aria, then Noa, then Elio.
The room was dark, but the smell of blood was thick.
Noa stepped forward—and something wet squelched beneath her foot.
She froze. Slowly, she looked down.
There was a severed hand on the floor.
And it was still twitching.
The Butcher's Room
Aria was the first to see the rest of the body.
A boy, maybe fifteen or sixteen, sat slumped against the teacher's desk. His stomach was ripped open, his intestines spilling onto the floor like ropes. His arms were clawed to the bone, his face barely recognizable.
And yet, something was off.
No bite marks.
No torn throat.
Just... butchery.
"This wasn't the zombies," Lucian muttered, stepping forward. He crouched beside the body, his expression darkening. "This was done by a person."
Ren stared at the walls.
There were knives pinned to the whiteboard. A bloody desk covered in tools. A makeshift workbench.
And, written in smudged, bloody handwriting:
"IT'S SAFER TO BE A MONSTER."
A chair creaked at the back of the room.
Everyone froze.
Then—a sound.
A long, slow inhale.
And from the darkness beneath the teacher's desk, something moved.
The Thing That Lived
Elio was the first to step back.
And that was a mistake.
The moment his shoe scraped against the floor— the thing lurched out from under the desk.
It wasn't a zombie. It wasn't even fully human anymore.
It was a student. A boy in a blood-soaked uniform, his eyes wide, his pupils blown out like he hadn't seen light in days. His teeth were stained red.
Because he had been eating.
He had been cutting up the bodies.
And eating them.
"WHO THE FUCK—" Lucian started, but the boy lunged.
Ren didn't hesitate.
In one motion, he grabbed a chair and swung it forward.
The wooden legs slammed into the boy's ribs, sending him sprawling back. But he didn't scream. He just giggled.
Noa's hands were shaking. "He's—he's not turning?"
"He was never infected," Ren said, his voice eerily calm.
The boy on the floor grinned up at them, blood dripping from his teeth.
"The dead are stupid," he whispered. "The living are worse."
Then, without warning—he grabbed a knife from the floor and lunged again.
The Kill
Lucian reacted first. He stepped forward and swung his metal pipe.
CRACK.
The sound of bone breaking.
The boy collapsed to his knees. His head snapped back at a sickening angle, but he still twitched.
Noa moved before she could think. She grabbed the closest thing—a pair of scissors from the desk—and drove them into his throat.
A wet, gurgling sound.
The boy choked, his grin finally slipping.
He stared at Noa.
And he laughed.
Then—he stopped moving.
Noa let go of the scissors.
She stepped back, her hands covered in blood. Her breath came in short, broken gasps.
Elio was staring at her.
No one spoke.
Then—a crash.
No More Hiding
The door to Class 2-C burst open.
And they came in.
A flood of bodies. The dead. The infected. The wave of horror that had been following them since this nightmare began.
There was no time.
Ren grabbed Elio. "MOVE!"
The group turned and ran.
No time to breathe. No time to think. Just run.
They barely made it to the hallway before the infected swarmed the room behind them.
Noa turned back just in time to see the cannibal boy's corpse disappear under the weight of the horde.
She should have felt relief.
She didn't.
Because for the first time since this started—
She realized that the zombies weren't the scariest things in this school.
The survivors were.
Elio was hyperventilating. The blood. The screams. Everything was happening too fast.
Ren grabbed his collar. "Focus. We have one way out."
Lucian was already moving toward the edge of the roof. The fence.
"We climb," he said. "Now."
Noa hesitated. "Are you insane? We'll fall!"
Lucian's eyes were cold. "Then stay here and get ripped apart."
She shut up.
They scrambled toward the fence.
Aria went first. "Fuck, fuck, fuck—" She pulled herself up, fingers slipping against the cold metal.
Lucian climbed after her. Fast, efficient, not wasting a second.
Noa followed, her hands shaking so bad she almost lost her grip.
Ren pushed Elio toward the fence. "Go."
"But—"
Ren didn't give him a choice. He grabbed him and threw him up.
Elio's fingers caught the metal. He gritted his teeth and pulled himself over.
Ren turned.
There were five other students still on the roof.
And they weren't gonna make it.
Kaito Yamashiro was one of them.
He wasn't climbing. He was frozen, staring at the door.
"My sister's still inside," he whispered.
Ren grabbed his arm. "She's dead."
Kaito shoved him back. "FUCK YOU!"
He ran toward the door.
Ren didn't stop him.
Because he knew what was waiting.
The moment Kaito stepped through the doorway—
A zombie tore his face off.
Blood sprayed across the walls.
Ren turned away. Didn't even blink.
Three students had climbed over the fence.
Ren followed, gripping the bars and swinging himself down. His feet slammed onto the second-floor balcony, rolling to absorb the impact.
He looked up.
One student was still at the top. Haruto Maeda.
His hands were slick with blood.
His grip slipped.
And he fell.
A second of weightlessness—
Then he hit the ground head first.
The sound it made was sickening.
Ren exhaled.
The Courtyard Chase
They ran.
Down the second-floor hall.
Past the shattered windows.
They could hear screaming behind them. The zombies were still following, pouring down from the rooftop, crawling over each other to get to them.
More bodies than they could ever hope to fight.
Lucian yanked open a door. "Stairs. MOVE."
They flew down the staircase, practically leaping over steps.
The first floor was worse than they expected.
The front entrance was gone. The walls were painted in gore.
And the zombies—
There were even more of them now.
Aria nearly collapsed. "Fucking hell—"
Noa grabbed her. "Keep running!"
Ren pushed forward, scanning for an exit.
Then—
A door.
The back exit. Still intact.
But there was a problem.
A crowd of zombies stood between them and freedom.
Lucian didn't hesitate.
He grabbed a chair, swung it, and caved in a zombie's skull.
Ren moved with him. Fast, precise, breaking bones and dodging bites.
Elio's hands were slick with sweat. He wasn't a fighter. He froze when one of the undead grabbed his wrist.
Its mouth opened wide.
Noa tackled it from behind, stabbing a broken mop into its neck.
It spasmed, falling limp.
She looked at Elio, eyes dark. "MOVE, OR DIE."
He didn't hesitate after that.
The Final Sprint
The doors were right there.
Aria kicked them open. "OUTSIDE! GO!"
They pushed through, spilling out into the cold night air.
Lucian turned, grabbing the metal doors—
And slamming them shut.
For a second, there was only silence.
Then—the pounding.
The zombies threw themselves at the doors, howling.
Lucian stepped back. Breathing hard.
They were outside.
Alive.
They turned, looking at what lay ahead.
And what they saw sent ice down their spines.
Smoke choked the skyline. Sirens wailed in the distance.
And on the streets below—
More of them.
Not just dozens.
Hundreds.
Elio's mouth was dry.
But then
SWITCH
"where am I"
"ELIO WAKE UP!"
"SEE GUYS HE'S AWAKE"
"Guys are we out of the apocalypse ?"
"Yes we are but, as much as we discussed with each other..."
"We were not together when the apocalypse was happening"
End of Chapter 2-B.