Carrying the boy in his arms, they soon spotted an entrance that led into the seemingly untouched building and walked in.
The place appeared quiet as they moved down the hallway, but that didn't give them any reason not to stay alert.
Most of the rooms in the building were locked, and at one point, Ethan tried checking if there were people inside.
"Hello?"
"Hello… Is anyone there?"
"Can anyone hear me?"
All those inquiries came with no answer, and at a point, he gave up, leading the group up the stairs as they moved to the upper floors.
They didn't stop until they reached the top floor of the Professors' Lodge, the building they knew was one of the safest, if not the safest, on campus at that moment.
It happened to be a Research Lab on the top floor, where most professors gathered to conduct research and hold meetings.
Again, nobody was found there, but they still saw no reason not to settle since they knew there were no threats around.
The room was divided into three sections. One was the lab, another a small study room with tables and shelves of books, and the third a living area that had up to three couches.
There was a wine cellar on the side, with just a few bottles of drinks left.
Ethan wasn't surprised anyway. The professors in New Land had barely gotten their pay these days.
Quickly, Ethan dropped the boy on one of the couches as they dashed into the room.
The boy was already out, having lost a lot of blood due to the brutal bite, but Ethan still believed he could save his life.
He quickly pulled off his clothes and tied them around the boy's bitten shoulder, pressing hard to stop the bleeding.
Ethan believed this was the safest step, and the next thing he tried doing was finding some drugs.
He turned to Anna and the rest.
"Help him apply pressure. I'll be back in no time…" Ethan paused.
"And if I don't come back, don't come looking for me, okay?" he added.
"Ethan…" Anna called, her jaw dropping drastically.
"Don't worry, Anna. I'll be fine," he said before turning to leave, but another voice made him halt at once.
"Let me come with you!"
It was the unfamiliar lady he had just rescued alongside Helen and the guy. Ethan had immediately wanted to turn down her offer until she cut him off with a vital point.
"I'm a fourth-year Medicine student. I know what kind of drug he needs to save his life, and I'll also need some equipment to stitch his wounds," she said.
Ethan thought about it for a moment and realized he had no other choice.
"Okay… Come on," he said.
The young lady followed him immediately, while Anna, Gracie, Mella, and Helen took care of the situation behind.
They soon stepped out of the building and headed toward the Pharmacy Store, a building located not too far from the Pharmacy Academic Building.
There weren't many problems until they reached the academic district, where a considerable number of zombies roamed.
Ethan shook his head before turning to her.
"Stay close. You have to be fast enough to follow my steps, or you might end up regretting why you decided to come with me."
She nodded with a bold look, determination burning in her eyes.
At least it wasn't Anna, who would have panicked at the sight of a group of zombies in the distance.
This lady appeared strong-minded, and Ethan figured it would help the success of their mission a lot.
With the combat knife in her grip and Ethan's baseball bat ready, they made their way forward, with Ethan taking down every zombie that got too close.
[You have killed one Level 1 Zombie. +5 Boyfriend Credits gained.]
[You have killed one Level 1 Zombie. +5 Boyfriend Credits gained.]
[You have…]
He had taken down dozens of zombies before they reached the Pharmacy Store, and when they finally did, they didn't want to waste time.
A considerable number of zombies had already noticed them and were staggering toward their position. The growls began to attract more, and it was only a matter of time before Ethan and his companion got into trouble.
Bashing into the store, a zombie suddenly dashed out from nowhere, but...
BAAM!
Ethan was ready, smashing its head with the bat and sending it flying aside.
The next strike was on a zombie in a lab coat, which Ethan gave a minor hit, and the lady behind him finished it with a combat knife straight through its skull.
"Cool," Ethan said, turning to her with an impressed look.
"Thanks," she responded with a wide smile.
"Okay, here's what we need to get... Antibiotics, gauze, needles… Okay, I'm gonna look for them myself," she said as she dashed toward the shelves.
Ethan waited at the entrance, watching the zombies march toward them in battalions.
"RARRRRR…!"
"RAAAARRRR!"
"RARRRRR…!!!"
The sounds drew nearer as they closed in, but she wasn't done yet.
"Okay, we gotta go now," Ethan said.
"Hold on a little longer. Still looking for the needles," she replied.
"They're already too close. We might die in here!" Ethan shouted, his face turning dark.
"RARRRRR!!! RARRRR…"
"Come on, we have to go now!"
"One second, please… Oh okay… Got it!"
With a sharp grab of the needle pack, she rushed toward the entrance.
But at that point…
It was already too late.
The zombies had reached the entrance, and a large number of them came in packs.
Ethan's jaw dropped in frustration, but he still did what he had to do.
They slammed the door shut at once, but the zombies kept pushing, trying to break their way through.
The sound grew intense, as there were more than a hundred of those monsters trying to attack.
"What do we do now?"
For the very first time, Ethan noticed fear in the lady's eyes. There was no amount of boldness that could hide her fear at that moment.
Ethan didn't respond as he tried to think and figure out how they could get out of this mess.
There was only one entrance point to the store, and that same entrance point was the exit.
This meant the only way to escape was the same way they came in…
That was impossible because there were over a hundred zombies, a mix of Level 1s and 2s.
There was no way he'd be able to get through that with just a baseball bat, right?
****** (Change of Scene)
Meanwhile, three guys were standing about fifty meters away from the chaos happening in the Pharmacy Store.
"Lance! Lance, come have a look at this," one of them shouted the moment he spotted the herd of zombies.
"What the heck is that?!"
With an ugly scowl on his face, Lance stepped down from the bike and joined the other two.
"Those freaks… There are a lot of them," the second guy said.
"Some survivors must have attracted them there. We have to go take a look," the first guy offered.
Lance, who had been calmly observing, gave him a dark frown.
"It's none of our business. The ones who attracted them should be able to sort themselves out," Lance said.
"But… But there are so many of them, Lance. They're really going to need help," the first guy objected.
"I said NO, Karen!" Lance bellowed in anger as he tried to walk back to the bike.
But then...
"What if Anna is among them?"
At that point, Lance halted instantly, his face changing at once as he turned to Karen.
"Anna?" he asked.
"Anna is dead… She would've been dead the very first day all this mess started. A soft pie like her can't survive in this type of world," Lance said.
"Now get your asses on your bikes let's head back to camp!" he added.
Karen and the other guy had their jaws dropped, but they couldn't make a choice for themselves.
With their eyes still fixed on the Pharmacy Store, they mounted their bikes and drove off.
And with Lance overtaking them on the way, he gave a deep, heavy statement that sank their hearts.
"Helping weaklings is not part of our vision, boys. You should know that already. We have no business with the people in this world anymore, including Derek, Noah… and Anna."