Bang!
The shot cracked open the air.
All the screams cut off at once.
The bullet whistled through and drilled cleanly into the zombie's brow. Rotten flesh and black blood burst apart.
The corpse froze mid-bite.
Its lipless mouth was still open; the meat in its jaws "plopped" to the floor. The hands clamping Yuko's severed arm slowly loosened.
Before anyone could react, Aiden lifted his wrist and fired again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!!
The gun thundered.
The second round hit the temple of the one just pushing through the gap.
The Colt Python's brutal stopping power blew half that skull clean off.
Glug, glug…
White brain matter sprayed out with black blood.
The third shot punched up through a lower jaw,
the round tearing through the neck.
The hoarse screech died on the spot.
The body swayed twice and collapsed bonelessly outside the door.
[Player "Aiden" has slain an infected zombie. +1 point!]
[Player "Aiden" has slain an infected zombie. +1 point!]
[Player "Aiden" has slain an infected zombie. +1 point!]
Three kills in a row finally bought everyone a breath.
Aiden's gun hand stayed rock-steady—no tremor, no glance at the stunned crowd.
He strode forward, grabbed Yuko by the back of the collar, and yanked her away from the door slit.
Her right arm was gone from the elbow down.
Blood gushed from the stump, soaking her uniform skirt.
Her face was paper-white, eyes unfocused,
murmuring "monsters" in a fading loop as her body shivered with cold from blood loss.
"What are you standing there for? Barricade the door!"
Aiden kept shooting, popping the heads of the infected still trying to force their way in.
That finally snapped the boys out of it.
Taisuke was first to move, calling two kids to heft the podium and slam it against the door. The metal groaned under the pressure.
The others forgot their fear and started piling desks.
Even Makoto scrambled up, hands shaking as he braced a desk leg.
The girls clustered around Yuko, fumbling to bandage her stump.
Bang! Bang! Bang!!!
Impacts kept hammering outside, but the stacked barricade held. The gap went no wider.
"Haa…"
Aiden drew a deep breath and thumbed in fresh rounds.
His hands tingled faintly.
The Colt Python's recoil was vicious.
Firing strings like that—an ordinary person wouldn't just drop the gun; they'd wrench a wrist.
Good thing—
his gun skill finally leveled up.
[Basic Marksmanship: (10/10)] → [Elite Marksmanship: (0/50)!]
At the instant of promotion,
Aiden felt his vision sharpen—edges cleaner, details crisper, even the faint dust in the air visible.
At the same time,
his grip, motion, and stance adjusted on their own, micro-corrections slipping into place.
Ballistics, mechanics—he could read them at a glance.
"Perception up by 0.1?"
He flicked open the panel and saw his [Perception] tick from [1.0] to [1.1].
So improving gunplay fed his base stats—
a big win.
Pushing down the surge of satisfaction,
he wiped black blood off the Python's frame—
and looked up into a roomful of stares.
Shock. Aftershock. But above all—awed respect.
His calm trigger work, surgical aim, and decisive rescue had branded themselves into everyone's minds.
They held their breath, too scared to make a sound, like any noise might set this ruthless boy off.
Yuko lay on the floor.
The dizziness from blood loss was dragging her under.
She still forced her eyes open,
gazing at the boy who'd saved her.
In the dim light, Aiden's profile looked carved from ice, expressionless.
Yet when everyone else gave up,
he moved.
…
Moments later,
Hayato stepped up to Aiden, jaw tight.
Fear still rode his face, knotted under a forced calm.
In a low voice edged with blame, he asked, "Why?"
"Why what?"
Aiden stared back, puzzled.
"You knew… you knew something like this would happen. Why didn't you stop them?"
"How?" Aiden's tone was flat. "Talk them down? You think that works?"
People don't learn from lectures; they learn from pain.
He wasn't going to be a free babysitter for panicking students.
Reality teaches fastest.
"…"
Hayato's face twisted.
Confronted like that, he had no rebuttal.
Aiden stepped past him toward the corner—
where Yukino was huddled against the wall, one hand to her chest, the other over her mouth, fighting the urge to retch.
Even she, always so cool, now had disbelief and horror blowing her pupils wide.
At the end of the day, she was still just a young girl.
"My suggestion: finish her. If she turns, it'll get ugly."
He looked at Yuko lying there, life or death uncertain,
and dropped a line the room could not accept.
"No!"
"Whatever happens, Yuko is our classmate!"
"Exactly… you're being way too heartless!" Midori shot back, furious.
Her best friend had nearly died moments ago.
"No. Listen to Aiden. It's time you faced reality."
Hayato raised his head, eyes veined red. "Don't you get it yet?"
"This isn't a peaceful society anymore."
Seeing mild, courteous Hayato show such a grim edge shocked everyone.
But once the spike of fear ebbed, silence spread.
They were modern kids, raised on an ocean of media.
Almost all of them had seen zombie movies.
In those stories, even a scratch meant death without a vaccine.
Yuko had lost almost an entire arm.
Turning was only a matter of time.
Right then, Yuko's limp body let out a slurred moan.
Midori's expression changed. She stumbled back a step, fear snapping her taut.
"All boys—belts off. Tie her down!"
Hayato finally showed a reliable side.
He picked a compromise.
Making these kids kill a classmate was too much—yet letting her turn was worse.
At his order, the boys stripped their belts and strapped Yuko to a chair.
(End of Chapter)
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