The morning light crawled through the cracked windowpanes, dust particles swirling lazily in its glow like forgotten memories.
Arin Vale sat motionless at her desk, hands folded over an untouched textbook as if the words inside could shield her from what was coming. Her classmates chattered and laughed around her voices like a distant storm, meaningless and faded.
The bell was supposed to ring five minutes ago.
But the silence stretched, thick and unnatural.
Arin's eyes flicked to the clock. The second hand hung stubbornly at 7:45 AM.
She swallowed, her throat dry.
There was no mistaking it this time.
Something was wrong.
The classroom buzzed with a strange nervous energy, a hum beneath the usual schoolyard noise. Phones buzzed incessantly screens glowing with frantic messages, rumors, warnings. But no one really looked at them. Most were too caught up in their own world, trying to pretend nothing was happening.
Zara sat at the front, like she always did. Perfect hair, perfect smile, the kind of girl who could command the whole room without speaking. But today, her smile was too tight, her eyes flicking toward Arin like a shark circling.
Arin's heartbeat quickened.
She didn't want to meet Zara's eyes, but she did.
There was a coldness there she'd never seen before, sharp and calculating like the memory of a knife twisting deep inside her ribs.
She still remembered the poison.
The cold slide of metal against her skin in the school bathroom.
The bitter taste in her mouth.
The way the world blurred and darkened before she collapsed.
How Zara's voice had been so soft, so cruel as she whispered,
"Goodbye, Arin."
That moment haunted her like a ghost she couldn't shake.
"Hey, are you even listening?" a voice snapped.
Arin blinked and saw the girl beside her, loud and impatient. "You're spacing out again. Snap out of it!"
She forced a smile, but inside, her thoughts were racing.
Because the truth was, she had already died once.
And the world was about to end.
Suddenly, the classroom door rattled violently.
A muffled scream echoed from the hallways outside.
Phones fell silent. The buzzing stopped.
The air turned cold, sharp.
The bell still did not ring.
The teacher's face went pale. "Everyone, stay calm! Lock the doors!"
But calm was a lie no one could believe.
Arin's mind snapped into focus, every sense screaming.
She didn't know what had started, but she knew what was coming.
Her hands clenched the edge of her desk.
Her heart pounded louder than the distant screams.
Because this time, she would live.
A strange voice whispered inside her head not loud, not robotic, just a quiet pulse of calm she hadn't felt before.
Focus. Survive. One step at a time.
No flashy pop-ups. No cold commands.
Just a steady presence, like a shadow guiding her through the storm.
As the first infected burst through the hallway doors, chaos exploded.
Screams, running, shouts, the smell of blood and fear—
And Arin?
She stayed silent.
She moved like a shadow between desks, eyes sharp, breathing slow.
Because she wasn't going to die this time.
Not without a fight