Inside a third-floor classroom of the school building, over a dozen students were huddled together in fear.
"We're doomed. It's over. He left us behind. He really left us behind…"
Seeing Sosuke Kitahara and the others escape over the wall, Yoshihiko Kamigo, Aki Tomoya's classmate and best friend began to cry. The despair in his bloodshot eyes was palpable. A grown boy sobbing in front of everyone.
The front and back doors of the classroom were barricaded with desks and chairs, but the banging and shrieks of zombies never ceased on the other side.
Despair is contagious. Several girls couldn't take it anymore and broke down, weeping helplessly.
Tomoya Aki was barely holding it together. His fingers dug into the windowsill so tightly his knuckles turned white. Below, a sea of zombies writhed in chaos. He didn't need to imagine what would happen if they fell there wouldn't even be bones left.
In a corner nearby, a boy-turned-zombie lay on the floor with half his skull smashed in. A pool of black blood had soaked into the floor, and the walls and lectern were splattered with it.
That had been one of their classmates.
He'd barged into the room with a bleeding arm, locking the door behind him, breathlessly warning everyone of the horror downstairs. But before they could process his words, he collapsed. Blood gushed from his mouth. Two students rushed to help him and were promptly bitten. Flesh was torn from one of their hands.
They didn't realize he had turned until it was too late. He went wild, biting anyone he could reach, until the others finally ganged up and "subdued" him.
Aki turned his head toward the corner again. One of the bitten students was slumped against the wall, being cared for by his friend. The infected student was drenched in sweat, breathing in ragged gasps. His eyes were ringed with dark circles, like he hadn't slept in days.
Bang! Bang!!
The sudden pounding snapped Aki back to reality. He blinked and turned toward the sound.
"Um… hey, what are you doing?"
"I'm Megumi Kato."
The girl calmly picked up a shattered chair leg, gripping a solid iron rod still bolted to the frame. She gave it a few test swings through the air. The balance felt good. She nodded with satisfaction.
"Didn't that senpai just say it? Those monsters zombies, whatever they are move based on sound. That whistle probably drew a lot of them away. If we can just get out of the school building, we have a chance."
"No way I'm trusting that guy," Kamigou shouted, face red with rage. "Did you not see how strong that zombie was? We barely killed it after all that effort. And now you wanna just rush out?"
He turned toward Aki, eyes pleading.
"Tomoya, don't tell me you're actually buying this. You begged them for help, and they didn't even look your way. We should just wait for rescue. The police will come. The Public Safety Bureau won't abandon us."
Aki walked over to the window again. The moment he looked out, whatever sliver of hope he'd had instantly vanished. God, why him? He was just a regular otaku who liked ACG. Why did he have to be caught up in this?
"But… we did kill that one, didn't we?" Kato pointed at the corpse in the corner with evident displeasure. "Looks like hitting the head works. None of the phones are connecting, not even to the police. I'm not going to sit here and wait to die."
"Huh?"
Her eyes lit up.
"I'm not the only one thinking this. Listen."
Everyone strained their ears.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Footsteps. Dozens of them. Mixed with the thuds were sounds of impact, fists landing on flesh. Students from other classrooms who had chosen not to sit still were charging out in a wave.
At that moment, shouting erupted near their classroom door, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the floor.
The zombies blocking the doorway had been taken down by the first wave of escapees.
"No one else is going?" Kato turned to the others with a baffled expression. "Help me move the desks. If we don't catch up, we'll be left behind and face the zombies on our own. Or are you all eager for a one-on-one death match?"
Two boys exchanged looks and quickly stepped forward. More and more joined in. The blockade of desks and chairs was rapidly pushed aside, revealing a narrow path one called "survival."
This wasn't just happening in their classroom.
In room after room across the school building, survivors who had been hiding burst out and joined the surge. What started as a trickle became a flood, all rushing toward the exit with desperation in their eyes.
If Sosuke Kitahara and Shiko Kasasaka could survive with just two people, then they with far greater numbers could do the same.
By now, Sosuke and Shiko were long gone from the school. They had no idea what was happening behind them. Not that they had time to care.
Outside the campus, the streets were in complete chaos.
Zombies could jump out at any second, and the fleeing crowd was just as dangerous.
Sosuke brought his bat down hard on a crawling zombie's skull. The creature stopped moving immediately. Its legs had been completely eaten utterly horrific.
Honk! Honk! Honk!
A yellow taxi came speeding through the street, horn blaring like a pig being slaughtered. It had no intention of slowing down, even with so many people in the way.
"Watch out!"
Sosuke yanked Shiko back just in time. The taxi roared past them, the side mirror missing Sosuke's face by mere centimeters. Zombies and fleeing civilians were smashed aside like rag dolls. The driver didn't brake, didn't hesitate, just vanished down the street with the horn still screaming.
"Damn it, what is he doing? Rushing to his next life?"
Sosuke cursed loudly, more from nerves than anger. He knew the driver couldn't hear him. He just needed to vent.
But no sooner had he spoken, the taxi slammed headfirst into a reversing Buick with a deafening crash.
The front of the taxi crumpled like paper. The driver slumped over the wheel, unconscious.
A passenger, miraculously alive, pushed the rear door open and crawled out, shaking.
Before they could even stand, three nearby zombies lunged and brought them down.
Gulp.
Sosuke swallowed hard and turned to Shiko with a sheepish expression.
"Okay… that, I didn't see coming."
Kusa.
It was almost like his words had come true.
Maybe he needed to start saying nicer things.
"Where do we go now?" Shiko asked anxiously. "It's chaos out here. The subway's a no-go for sure."
In truth, she was panicking. Her usual calm was gone. She had given full control to Sosuke now. If not for him, she'd still be back there, surrounded by zombies with no hope of escape.
Honk! Honk!
Another horn. This time it was paired with a flashing blue light and siren.
An ambulance zoomed past, not even pausing at the wreckage in front. At the last second, it swerved and disappeared down a side street.
Sosuke's mind was beginning to fog.
The constant fighting had drained his strength. His arms ached. He couldn't keep battling like he had inside the school.
They needed a break.
"We're going over there."
He pointed with his bat.
Shiko followed the direction and spotted it a convenience store across the street, still lit up and apparently open.