"If you want to die—then die! But if you want to live—then damn it, live!"
Rian's voice ripped through the air like a blade, sharp and burning. The auto service room fell into stunned silence for a moment as his anger echoed off the concrete walls. Grease still clung to his sleeves, and fresh bruises marked the side of his face—proof of the fight he'd just survived. But his voice, his stance, refused to falter.
"Why is it that every time something goes wrong in your lives, you all blame time or the world around you!? Like hell! You'd be better off donating your brains to someone who actually knows how to think than wasting them on useless blame!"
He was seething now; fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white. His eyes scanned the room—at the stunned faces, the confused stares—but he didn't back down. He didn't flinch.
"You're all so quick to point fingers, but none of you ever stopped to take a damn look at yourselves."
The silence cracked under his fury. Someone moved to speak—perhaps to calm him—but he raised his voice again, louder this time, voice ragged with frustration.
"So what if I'm just a student!?" Rian barked. "I've only ever wanted to study properly! To live a life that's mine, like everyone else! Is that too much to ask? Do I not even have the right to fight for myself anymore!?"
His voice trembled, not from fear—but from the weight of being unheard, unprotected.
"Rian—!"
"What now!?" he snapped, spinning toward the person trying to stop him. "Did I say something rude again? Is that all it takes to be labeled disrespectful? Saying the truth out loud when everyone else is too scared to?!"
His gaze cut like steel toward Principal Duran, who stood nearby with his jaw clenched, arms folded like a wall too proud to crumble.
"You know what real disrespect is? Letting someone twice my size punch me in the face because he's older! Letting him treat people like garbage because he's a man! And you—you didn't even let me fight back! You didn't even ask what happened. You just took his side—because he's your same age, right?"
His boss next to him froze, his lips parting but no words forming. The shame in his eyes said more than anything she could have spoken.
But Rian wasn't done.
His voice dropped just enough to shake the room.
"Everyone here wants to live—especially now. But even in a place like this, even at the edge of death, there's still a damn hierarchy. Still people who get to be first, and the rest of us? We're just the sacrifice."
Principal Duran's brows furrowed. "What exactly are you implying?"
Rian stepped forward, slow and steady, like a fire building into an inferno.
"I'm saying that because of your plan—students died."
Duran's expression darkened. "You think I wanted that? You think I control the monsters outside? I don't have a watch that tells them when to attack."
"No, but you had a choice!" Rian's voice rose, trembling with rage. "You knew about the chopper—that's why you're so desperate to fix this damn vehicle. Not because of your family. Not because you care about us. But because the chopper's waiting—and you didn't want anyone else to know."
He took off his bag, ripping it open to pull out a book—the logbook, the record. Without hesitation, he hurled it across the room. It smacked against the principal's chest and hit the floor with a heavy thud.
"Go ahead. Tell them again how that was 'for us, for your family.'" Rian spat. "Tell it to the ones who burned in the hall. To the ones who never got out of the gym. Tell them your plan worked."
And while the principal remained silent, one by one, the others stepped forward to look at the logbook. It was there that the truth finally unraveled—he had lied. His urgency to leave the campus had nothing to do with saving them neither to check his family. The real reason was clear now. A chopper was waiting… but it wasn't for them.
It was only for him.
"I found the log sheet near the garage exit door—the one you didn't think anyone would check. It listed one evac slot. Just one. Not for a group. Not for students. Just for you. And you only want us to come along to secure your safety by letting us become the bait. No wonder you didn't save the student who was begging for you to notice her. Instead, you used that moment to distract those f*cking monsters."
The room seemed to freeze. The clanging tools, the muttered side conversations—all of it stopped.
"You've had a ride out of here this whole time," Brian continued, eyes locked onto Duran. "A chopper. Not even scheduled for the school—just waiting for you. I know what a private call tag looks like."
Duran's face didn't move. But his silence screamed louder than any denial.
Brian's voice cracked—louder now, not with rage, but something close to heartbreak.
"You were never planning to save us. You were just buying time. Keeping us all in line. Holding onto control until your one-way ticket showed up."
Duran's lips thinned. "If you want to call that selfishness, go ahead. But without me, most of you wouldn't have lasted the first night."
"And without you," Brian snarled, "maybe we would've had the chance to fight for ourselves, instead of being treated like pawns in your damn exit plan!"
Light snapped back at Rian, tired of the relentless bickering—but the argument only escalated. He was about to walk away and let them wear themselves out, when something strange caught his attention. A faint tapping sound above the ceiling, shifting to the walls.
At first, he thought it was just a rain.
But when the pounding grew louder—more forceful—his gaze swept the room with growing unease. And then he saw it.
A blood-red eye staring at him through a cracked wall.
"ARGHH!! AARRRGHHHH!!"
The creature's chilling shriek tore through the air—but it blended too well with the shouting between Rian and the others. No one heard it. No one noticed.
"E-everyone—they're h-here!"
Light's voice trembled as he shouted, but it was drowned in the chaos. The girl beside him turned her head, confused by his sudden tension. She followed his gaze, and her breath caught in her throat when she saw it too—a furious, clawed creature trying to squeeze through a gap in the wall.
"Ah—mmph!!"
Summer's scream was muffled when Light clamped a hand over her mouth, signaling her to stay quiet.
"If we panic now, we're all screwed," he whispered, firm but gentle. "Summer—swear to me you won't scream."
She nodded quickly, terrified but trying to stay strong. He slowly lifted his hand from her mouth.
"You want to be a famous artist, right?"
His eyes didn't leave the monsters clawing at the wall. The barrier wasn't going to hold much longer.
"Y-yeah," Summer whispered.
"Then I'm ordering you—find something, anything, that you can use to fight."
"W-what about you?" she asked, worried when she noticed him stepping away.
But Light only gave her a crooked smile and pointed to the group still caught up in their argument.
"It's time someone ended their drama. Now it's time for action."
BLAAG—
He cracked a grin with the remark, enough to earn a reluctant smile from Summer before they split off in different directions.
BLAAG—
As Light approached the others, frustration burned in his chest. The banging grew louder—monsters trying to break in—but Rian and the others were still at each other's throats instead of working on the shuttle bus that was supposed to be their way out of this hell.
BLAAG—
"Can you please stop it already?" Light snapped, stepping between the two of them.
BLAAG—
They turned, ready to argue, but he cut them off with a raised hand.
"Did you all hear that—loud and clear?"
Another crash echoed across the concrete. Then came the growl.
BLAAG!!
"Arrghhh!!"
BLAAG!!
"Th-that—"
"Yeah," Light interrupted grimly. "They're here. And thanks to all your noise and whining, they're coming straight for us."
"A-ah—"
"Don't you dare scream," he warned. "Unless you want to invite more."
Everyone froze.
Even Rian, who had been the loudest, stood rooted in place. Fear etched into their faces.
Light slapped a hand against Rian's shoulder.
"If you want to live—then live. That's what you said earlier, right? So, I assume you know what to do now?"
Rian shoved his hand away with a glare. "I know!"
"Good. Then if you all want to live, don't just stand there—find your weapons! And anyone who can help fix the shuttle bus, stop waiting for a miracle and move your asses!"
Light's shout thundered across the room like a whipcrack, snapping everyone out of their trance. The stunned crowd suddenly scrambled into action. Even Light jumped in to help with the shuttle repairs.
After all, it wasn't just about surviving anymore. Thino had entrusted him with the responsibility of preparing a route—a plan to escape.
Earlier, Light had nearly lost hope. But something about the people around him outburst had shaken him awake.
It reminded him of something vital: that their future wasn't going to be handed to them by fate. They had to claw toward it with everything they had—until the path was finally theirs to take.