No one said it aloud, but everyone felt it—the Main God had lifted the protection.
"I'm not playing any death game. I'm going home!"
"I want out—let me out right now!"
Suddenly, a short, plain-looking girl screamed and bolted for the door, shouting as she ran.
"All of this is fake, right? You're all lying, right?"
"Yuko!? What are you doing!?"
A ponytailed girl—her friend—cried out and rushed after her, grabbing her hand in worry.
"Midori, you believe their lies too? This has to be some prank… They even brought real guns—hah, they're really going all out to fool us!"
Yuko sneered, tore her hand free from Midori's grip, and kept going.
Aiden watched coldly.
Sometimes,
under crushing pressure, people snap.
This girl was one of them.
Just the thought of not seeing her parents for a month, of facing a cruel apocalypse alone—
instinct told Yuko to run, to convince herself this was just a dumb stunt show.
They struggled for a bit,
but Yuko finally wrenched free.
She hurried to the door
and started lifting one of the chairs piled there.
She pulled too hard, stumbled back several steps, and nearly fell.
"…."
Yuko stared dumbly at the chair in her hands—then her eyes flashed with anger. "So it can move after all! You people are in on it with the show, aren't you!"
Taisuke's jaw dropped. "Impossible!"
Refusing to accept it, he strode over and tried grabbing a desk.
To his shock—it worked.
He froze, then whooped with delight. "The desks can be moved! Everyone, give me a hand! Makoto, you too!"
"R-right!"
Makoto, who'd been spacing out while staring at a few pretty girls, snapped to and hurried over to help his friend clear the barricade.
Seeing how easy it looked, several other boys joined in.
With more hands, the pile dwindled fast.
Soon, only the teacher's podium remained at the door.
Yuko was straining to push it aside,
but she was just a small girl—no matter how hard she tried, the podium only rose a few millimeters.
"Hey! What are you zoning out for? Help me move this podium!" Yuko snapped.
Prank or variety show or whatever—
she wanted out.
Her words had just fallen when—
Bang!
A booming impact hit the door, opening a hairline crack.
Bang!
Another heavy slam,
like someone—or something—was pounding the door from outside.
Then came a rapid barrage of hits.
"...What?"
Who was out there?
While everyone hesitated, Yuko shouted excitedly, "Move the podium! It's the show staff—they can't keep up the act!"
"Hahaha! I told you it was a stupid prank. You didn't believe me!!"
Bang!
Another strike.
The force splintered the wall around the frame with a long crack.
The iron door itself buckled, revealing a dark gap—fifteen centimeters wide.
Overjoyed, Yuko reached out. "Hey! Let me out!!"
The next instant—
she screamed, raw and hysterical.
She tried to yank her arm back, but something outside clamped down and dragged hard, pinning her arm tight in the gap.
Yuko's whole body was plastered to the door slit, unable to move.
"Yuko?"
Midori stared, baffled, at her friend's sudden frenzy, not knowing what to do.
"Midori! Pull me—monster! Help me! Aah!!!"
"They're eating my hand—aaah! Midori! It hurts! Help me! Please!"
Midori panicked.
She grabbed Yuko's other hand.
They pulled together—
dragging whatever was outside halfway through the gap.
A pair of withered, rotting hands clutched Yuko's forearm.
A dark gray head with only a few hairs dangled forward through the slit.
Like it had been bathed in acid, the face was twisted and grotesque.
Lips gone, its jagged teeth tore mouthful after mouthful of red flesh.
Rrrrip.
With a wet snap,
a tendon-laced chunk of meat came free.
Blood spurted in a red jet,
splattering across Midori's stunned face.
"Gluu… glu…"
The lipless mouth chewed madly.
Minced meat and blood leaked from the corners,
trickling down its jaw and pooling on the floor in a black-red smear.
Worse was its throat—
the skin and trachea were gone, just a hollow, ruined hole.
When the mush slid down, half of it spilled back out through the hole, like a fine drizzle of meat and blood.
"Let go! Let go of me!"
Yuko thrashed, nails digging into rotten flesh, only to scrape away sludge-like tissue—the grip clamped tighter instead.
Her forearm was down to stark white bone, blood threading through the seams.
Each bite made her convulse, her screams guttering into breathless whimpers.
Only Yuko's shrieks filled the room.
Midori was already broken by terror, frozen in place, hands still going through the motions but with no strength.
The moment she loosened up, Yuko was yanked back again, crushed against the door gap.
"Monsters… I'm being eaten… h-help me…"
"AAAAAH!!!"
Faced with the horror, everyone finally reacted.
Girls screamed in chorus.
The boys at the door shook all over, legs turning to jelly.
Thud!
Makoto collapsed and crab-walked backward until he hit the wall.
Panic, terror, shrieks, and helplessness—nothing else remained.
Everyone shoved backward,
desperate not to be grabbed next.
Bang! Bang!!
With no one holding it, the gap widened.
Aiden could now see more shapes crowding the hallway—more zombies emerging.
The classroom door warped further with every blow.
More than one had squeezed through.
The first one gnawing on Yuko's arm still clutched her stump in a death grip, while two more fetid heads shoved in from behind, hissing wetly.
Aiden snapped up the Colt Python, right index finger steady on the trigger.
His gaze went cold as ice. He cut through the chaos,
and locked onto the zombie closest to the gap.
It had its head bent over Yuko's arm—dark gray skull bobbing slightly—
exposing a rotten breach in its crown.
(End of Chapter)
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