A mother, who had just given birth a few hours ago, had a pale face, and cold sweat soaked her bangs. But looking at the wrinkled, soundly sleeping baby beside her, her eyes were full of the soft radiance of a new mother.
Her husband held her hand tightly, his other hand clumsily stroking the baby's swaddling clothes, his face overflowing with undisguised happiness and excitement. This should have been one of the most beautiful moments of their lives.
"Roar—!"
An inhuman roar from the next bed broke the tranquility.
The fellow patient who had been chatting and laughing with them yesterday now had bulging eyes and green-gray skin. He lunged from the bed in a twisted posture, aiming straight for the baby!
"Get away!" The husband's reaction was amazingly fast. Almost instinctively, he grabbed the IV pole nearby and swept it across with all his might.
The fragile metal stand hit the "fellow patient," temporarily knocking him back, but the other party immediately let out a more manic roar and pounced again.
In the struggle, the husband's arm was cut, but he stood firmly in front of his wife and child. At this moment, the soaring adrenaline gave the man the illusion of invincibility.
But just a glance at the ward door instantly extinguished this surging hot blood.
In the corridor outside the ward, dense banging sounds, roars, and screams came from far to near. The glass window on the door was instantly filled with several twisted, greedy faces!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The door panel trembled violently under the impact, and the lock was already groaning under the overwhelming burden!
Looking at his terrified and helpless wife and the baby who started crying from the loud noise, the despair in the husband's eyes began to burn, replaced by a desperate madness.
He suddenly ripped off the small baffle installed on the hospital bed used as an overbed table. This small baffle wasn't even enough to cover his whole body, but together with him, it was enough to cover his wife and child.
"Ahhhh—!!!"
Holding the small baffle like a crude shield in front of him, his eyes red, he let out a beast-like roar at the hellish scene outside the door!
He was prepared to ram a path to survival with his flesh and blood!
Just the moment he was about to rush out—
Sizzle—
A searing white light flashed, and the heavy ward door, along with the crowded zombies outside, was neatly sliced open and vaporized!
A figure wearing a City of the Future style combat suit and tactical goggles appeared at the door like a ghost, the afterglow of the energy blade in his hand not yet dissipated.
It was Joachim.
His calm gaze swept across the room, instantly assessing the situation.
"Well done!"
This praise was crisp and sincere.
"Follow me, keep quiet." His voice had no fluctuation, but there was a hint of relief in his eyes.
His voice carried an unquestionable power. A sci-fi looking pistol appeared in his hand at some point. He raised his hand and fired a few precise shots, piercing the heads of several zombies attracted by the noise at the far end of the corridor, clearing a small path.
The husband, holding the bed board, froze in place. The huge shock of surviving the disaster left him unable to react for a moment. Instead, the wet and sticky feeling in his crotch suddenly brought him back to his senses.
The new mother, who had already climbed down from the bed, completely ignored the embarrassing state of her husband who had wet his pants in front of her. She held the child in one hand and tightly pulled the clothes on her husband's back with the other, her heart filled with relief that everything was still there.
—On the other side.
A young male teacher clutched his bleeding arm, leaning against the monitoring console with a pale face.
There was a blurry bite mark on his arm, which filled Teacher Li's heart with despair.
Who didn't know the infamous thing called "zombie"? Who didn't know the consequences of being bitten by them?
And he didn't have the courage or opportunity to cut off his own arm. He could only let the students who came with him tie him up tightly after finding temporary safety in this monitoring room.
Beside him were a few "problem students" who usually gave him headaches—it was precisely because they were caught climbing over the wall to skip class and were being talked to in the office that they luckily avoided the first wave of the most chaotic impact.
At this moment, these students became life-saving straws.
They were familiar with every corner of the school, especially those "blind spots" and "secret passages."
"Teacher Li! Look at camera three! There are still a few people at the back door of the cafeteria!" A boy with spiky hair pointed urgently at the screen.
Enduring the severe pain, Teacher Li leaned close to the broadcast microphone, his voice trembling due to blood loss and nervousness: "Students at the back door of the cafeteria! Listen to me! Run left, go through the bushes, there's a maintenance tunnel door with a broken lock there! Quick!"
With the students' varied supplements and guidance, the few survivors on the monitor screen narrowly avoided waves of wandering zombies and temporarily found a hiding place.
However, luck seemed to have run out.
On another screen, a group of zombies seemed to be attracted by something and began to frantically bash the side door of the gymnasium, inside which several huddled figures could be vaguely seen.
"It's no use... we can't get over there... the door won't hold for long..." A girl said with a sobbing tone.
Looking at the group of zombies desperately pounding on the gymnasium door on the screen, and then at his own body which he could hardly protect, a deep sense of powerlessness seized Teacher Li.
He had tried his best, but human strength has its limits.
Desperate silence filled the monitoring room. The children had turned their heads away unbearably and began to sob in despair.
Just then—
Boom!!
A big hole was suddenly blown open in the roof of the gymnasium!
Amidst the flying debris, an armored figure with black, purple, and green colors, smooth lines, and a sense of power, bathed in the eerie purple light pouring down from the hole, landed like a god descending to earth!
Arahato!
Inside the armor, Kallen's gaze locked onto the dense group of zombies below, and the composite weapons on her arms unfolded instantly.
"Don't be afraid! I'm here to clear the path!"
The mechanically processed voice was exactly the same as in the tokusatsu drama, the magnetic voice carrying a sense of security that made everyone lose their minds.
She rushed into the enemy group like a whirlwind, her punches and kicks carrying immense force. With every swing, zombies were knocked flying and smashed.
The energy weapons fired precisely, eliminating the fish that slipped through the net and tried to approach the gymnasium door one by one.
In the monitoring room, everyone was stunned.
Those "problem students" who suddenly looked back opened their mouths wide, their eyes round, almost screaming—not out of fear, but out of extreme excitement and disbelief!
"It's... it's Arahato!!" The spiky-haired boy was the first to react, incoherent with excitement. "It's the real Arahato! Exactly the same as on TV! No! Cooler than on TV!!"
Arahato is real! There really is light in this world!!
"A superhero... really came..." Another girl murmured, tears gushing out instantly.
Looking at the figure on the screen moving through the zombie horde as if entering an unpeopled land, Teacher Li's taut nerves suddenly relaxed. He slid to the ground weakly, but a smile mixed with pain and relief appeared on his face.
"No need to worry anymore."
Arahato stood at the school gate that had been cleared, turned back, and gave a very tokusatsu-style nod to the few survivors who were equally dumbfounded.
"Because I am here."