In the high school cafeteria.
The pain in his arm throbbed with every beat of his heart, a sharp reminder of his carelessness. Alex watched the third zombie, the one he had kicked, rise clumsily, its dead eyes locked on him. It was about to attack, but Alex stopped.
His ears, already accustomed to the dull thud of the horde, caught a sharper sound, the dragging of hundreds of feet across the cafeteria floor. The zombies that had been drawn by the noise of their confrontation were getting dangerously close. It was a slow maelstrom of rotting flesh. Alex made a decision. Instead of staying and being overwhelmed, he launched himself into a quick jog toward a distant corner of the cafeteria.
As he ran, he made sure to make noise, moving trays, toppling tables, anything that would attract more attention. The sharp screech of metal and the crash of falling wood echoed in the space, a cacophony that beckoned death.
His mind, in full survival mode, was a tactical map of the space, a chessboard where every piece mattered. His objective was now clear: to lead the horde through the cafeteria to relieve the pressure on the group holding the door. The thudding, which had been a constant pressure, became less and less frequent, and the groans of the horde were less intense.
He stopped for a moment, falling silent, listening to the quiet of the cafeteria. A sound he didn't expect, a soft thump, came from the back of the cafeteria. He spun around quickly. Two zombies, just like the previous group, emerged from the gloom. Alex dispatched them in an instant, his knife moving with precision, and both fell lifelessly to the floor.
But his victory was temporary. The horde that was following him was turning back to the door where the others were still holding out, and he knew he couldn't keep running. He had to do something that would attract them all, something that would make him the sole target.
He raised his gun, his heart hammering in his chest. For a moment, he thought of the consequences. The noise would alert every zombie in the high school, but the group at the cafeteria door desperately needed help.
He took a deep breath, aimed at the head of a nearby zombie, and fired his weapon for the first time. The blast echoed everywhere, a sharp, brutal sound that made him stagger. A sharp, deafening ringing filled his ears, a physical pain that nearly brought him down.
The shot's echo faded into the silence, but the result was immediate. The sound of banging on the cafeteria door ceased completely, and a portion of the horde at the door turned and headed toward him. An intense shiver ran down Alex's spine.
The pressure was now much greater, and he had to move fast or he would be overrun.
He wove through the tables and chairs of the cafeteria, using every obstacle to evade the zombies. They were a slow but relentless maelstrom of bodies. Alex was a point of agility in a sea of death, his movements a whirlwind of grace in the chaos.
His breathing became more and more erratic, and his lungs burned. He wondered when it would all end. It had started with a group of fifteen zombies around him, but now it had nearly doubled. He had killed ten, but the noise and the previous shot had drawn in more.
He didn't know how much time had passed. The world had been reduced to a blur of bodies and groans. He moved with a single thought in his mind: survive. Just when he thought he couldn't go on, he saw the cafeteria doors.
They suddenly swung open, and a beam of light filtered into the space. Alex, with what little strength he had left, lunged for the doors. The light outside momentarily blinded him. The fresh air was a relief, but his body couldn't handle the change. He collapsed to the floor, his body trembling with exhaustion.
Breathing in ragged gasps, Alex noticed someone approaching him. Emily's face bent over him, her eyes full of concern. Alex felt a pang of relief. He had kept her safe.
"Thank you so much, Alex. You can rest now. We'll take care of the rest."
Emily's voice was soft and filled with an emotion Alex couldn't recognize, but the relief on her face was evident. Her clothes were stained with blood, her body exhausted, and her breathing erratic.
Alex, worn out, looked at Tim, Marlon, George, Louis, and the rest of the group surrounding him. He felt relieved not to be alone, to have people by his side, to have a team. Alex smiled, just a little, and closed his eyes.
"I feel exhausted," Alex thought as sleep overtook him.
A good while later.
Alex woke with a shudder, the cold of the tiles beneath his back contrasting with the warmth of his body. The ringing in his ears had disappeared, replaced by an unnatural silence broken only by the soft murmur of irregular breathing.
The first sensation that washed over him was a deep ache, a weariness that seemed to have taken root in every muscle. He opened his eyes and saw the familiar ceiling of Emily's classroom, the afternoon light filtering through the windows, casting long shadows on the floor.
The stench of blood and dust from the cafeteria was gone, which calmed him for a moment. He sat up cautiously, his eyes scanning the room.
A teacher sat in a corner, her leg bandaged, her face lined with exhaustion. Near her, one of Emily's classmates, with a cut on her leg, lay on the floor, her body shaking with chills. Farther away, other students slept, their bodies moving uncontrollably, as if they were puppets in a macabre dance of nightmares. Alex felt a pang of guilt, a pain that stabbed his chest like a knife. The cost of survival was high, and he was, in part, responsible for all their lives.
Instinctively, he pulled his phone from his pocket. The screen, a window to a world that no longer existed, shone with the afternoon light.
The time: 1:19 PM.
A shiver ran down Alex's back. He had slept for more than an hour, and worry settled into his mind.
What if the horde had gotten out of control? What if Tim hadn't been able to hold the line?
Disaster scenarios swirled in his head: zombies invading the hallway, the sound of screams, and the broken barricade.
He got up cautiously. His legs felt heavy, but urgency drove him to the stairs. And he stopped dead. The barricade of chairs and tables the group had made hours earlier had disappeared. Alex's heart raced.
What had happened? Had Tim's plan failed, and now the zombies had invaded the building?
With his knife in hand, he went down the stairs. The courtyard greeted him with a sight that took his breath away. A group of students and teachers were moving, their faces dirty but with a grim determination. Some were dragging the bodies of the zombies they had killed toward the high school entrances. Others, with improvised bags, were coming out of the cafeteria, and Alex assumed they had managed to clear it. And others, sitting in the shade, looked at their phones, their faces full of worry or tears, trying to contact loved ones.
The scene, in its brutality, was a sign of progress. Tim had managed to hold the line, and now the group had come together and was organizing. Alex smiled a little.
"Looks like they made it," Alex thought with relief.
Alex moved through the courtyard, the pain in his arm replaced by a pang of relief. Around him, the atmosphere was a strange mix of relief and worry. People moved with a purpose, but in their eyes, you could still see fear and sadness.
As he walked toward the cafeteria, several people greeted him. Some faces were familiar, from the rescue and clearing groups, and others were new, but they all looked at him with a mix of respect and curiosity. It was a strange feeling for him.
On his way to the cafeteria, Alex ran into Louis, Marlon's friend. The boy looked at him, and a smile appeared on his face.
"I'm glad you're okay. You gave us a good scare when you passed out."
Alex felt a pang of embarrassment. "Yeah, sorry. I just got exhausted. What happened after that?"
Louis leaned against a wall, his voice lower and more conspiratorial.
"Emily... she helped us. She was with the rest of the group who were supposed to stay on the second floor, but when she saw we were exhausted, she ran down, along with several classmates and teachers who were eagerly waiting to help. Out of nowhere, she appeared with a group of 15 people, and that relieved the pressure at the door." The astonishment in Louis's voice was evident. "It was incredible, the way she appeared."
Alex was speechless. Emily had risked everything to help. Alex felt guilty for his distrust. Now that he thought about it, she was brave and strong, even if she didn't show it.
Louis paused and then pointed toward the cafeteria.
"It's better if Emily tells you everything, she'll give you more details. She's at the cafeteria entrance, organizing a group of people to check the bodies."
Alex looked in the direction Louis was pointing.
There, stood Emily, her posture now straight and confident, her voice firm as she gave orders. This was not the Emily Alex had known before, the one who stayed in the background—this was a leader, a survivor. The way her classmates listened and responded to her orders showed that her authority was natural.
"Ron will surely have problems with her at his shelter," Alex thought with irony as he approached the cafeteria entrance.
Alex stood in front of Emily. The girl, who had been directing her classmates with a natural authority, looked him directly in the eyes. The previous concern had been replaced by genuine relief at seeing him again, and a light of determination shone in her eyes.
Alex looked around. The inside of the cafeteria, which had once been a hell of bodies and blood, was now clean. Several students were moving the zombie bodies, and others were tidying up the chairs and tables.
"Are you okay, Alex?" Emily asked him, her voice soft and full of concern. "You passed out."
Alex nodded.
"Yeah, I feel better. What happened after that?"
A minute of silence passed between them. Emily bit her lip, her eyes fixed on the floor, but her posture remained straight and firm. Alex felt a pang of guilt. He had been hard on her, he had judged her. But the girl he had considered fragile now stood with a newfound determination.
Emily began to tell him everything, her voice no longer a whisper, but a confident echo in the large space of the cafeteria.
"I was on the second floor, looking out the window. I was worried. I felt guilty for not having done anything, and seeing you at the cafeteria entrance, I felt like I had to do something. I saw how tired you were, and I knew that if I didn't help you, you would all die." She paused, her gaze returning to Alex.
"I knew Tim couldn't hold the line alone, and you had gone deep into the cafeteria to draw the horde. I was worried. So, I went down. I couldn't just stand by and watch. I couldn't just do nothing."
"You should have stayed inside, where you were safe," Alex told her, his voice a little harsh but with a pang of concern in his tone.
Emily interrupted him, her voice filled with determination and a new authority.
"It's everyone's duty to help, Alex. You can't do it alone. I can't stay on the second floor with my hands tied while my friends are dying," she said firmly, a spark of fire in her eyes.
"So, I convinced some of my classmates. Minnie, Sophie, and others. They took the spears and other items that had been left in the barricades, and we went to the courtyard. We helped everyone deal with the zombies, and that relieved the pressure at the door. Then we heard the gunshot. And I... I thought you had been killed."
Alex looked at her, his mind processing the information. The Emily in front of him was a completely different person. She had risked herself for his sake, and for the sake of her classmates. A sense of respect and admiration settled in Alex's chest, replacing the guilt.
"What about the rest?" Alex asked, his voice soft.
"Tim led us," Emily continued, her voice full of admiration. "He devised a plan to kill the zombies coming out the door, and once the horde inside dwindled, we went in. We killed them all, and we rescued a lot of people who were hiding in the inner sections and in the back of the cafeteria. Some of them were injured, and we helped them. We checked and no one was bitten."
Alex smiled. Despite the chaos, the fear, and the brutality, humanity still had a chance. They had united; they were adapting. It was a small step, but it was a step in the right direction.
A few hours later.
The afternoon sun filtered through the windows of the high school cafeteria. The place was full of people. You could hear the murmur of conversations, the dull sound of footsteps, and the occasional muffled sob. Alex and Tim were in a corner, away from the others, their voices a whisper. The calm was a heavy blanket covering the chaos of the day.
"We have to go," Alex said, his voice low and tense. "By tomorrow morning at the latest."
Tim nodded, though his face showed doubt. "Yes, we have to take Emily to Ron... He must be worried."
"Are you worried about those who stay here?" Alex asked him.
Tim sighed, the worry palpable on his face. "We can't leave them alone. If we go, they'll feel hopeless. They'll have internal problems. People will get scared and start acting irresponsibly," Tim replied, analyzing what might happen after they left.
Alex looked at him, and in Tim's gaze, he saw the same concern he felt. It was the concern of a leader.
"We can say we're going to get reinforcements," Tim suggested cautiously. "We'll say we're leaving the city, that there's a meeting point with more survivors, that we need a safe place for everyone. And that we'll come back for them. That they must defend the high school for us."
Alex remained silent, his mind processing the idea. It was a half-truth, since the meeting point was actually the shelter that Ron had built following his and David's instructions. And the reinforcements would only come if Ron kept his word.
"Though knowing Emily, I'm sure she'll convince him," Alex thought, smiling at the scene of Emily convincing Ron.
"You're right. It's a good idea... We'll leave them something to defend themselves with," Tim continued. "The car we came in yesterday was one of the ones you guys prepared for this catastrophe. There were some weapons and supplies. We could leave it for them so they can defend themselves while we come back. That way they'll have hope that we're going to return."
Tim nodded, his face full of determination. They looked at each other, and in their eyes, the fear had disappeared. It had been replaced by conviction.
They had survived a hell, and now, they were going to survive the apocalypse.
.
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[A/N: CHAPTER COMPLETED
Hello everyone.
I hope you enjoyed the episode.
By the way, I want to clarify that Alex has been sleeping very poorly for several days. Since he killed that woman in the park, he hasn't been able to sleep. He also hadn't slept the night before, and he'd eaten very little in the last 24 hours.
This is why he faints after just a few minutes.
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Read my other novels
#Vinland Kingdom: Race Against Time (Chapter 79)
#The Walking Dead: Emily's Metamorphosis (Chapter 22)
#The Walking Dead: Patient 0 - Lyra File (Chapter 8)
You can find them on my profile.]