Samuel woke before the others.
The classroom was dim — sunlight didn't directly hit their windows yet, but the heat was always there, waiting. Students were sprawled in corners, using backpacks as pillows, too weak or too afraid to leave.
He moved quietly.
He slid his two notebooks into his bag, followed by three pencils, his canteen, and the last of his military rations. He wrapped the peach can in an old shirt and slid it into the middle of the pack — protected, hidden.
He double-checked it.
Then zipped the bag closed and slung it onto his back.
It was heavier than it looked. Not from weight.
From what it meant.
He looked around the room one last time.
Then stepped over the barricade and walked out.
---
By the time the others woke, Samuel was gone.
Whispers spread. Fast.
"Did he leave?"
"He took everything with him."
"Even the peaches?"
And when Big Mike heard the last part — that Samuel took the peaches with him — he stood up without a word and walked to the front of the class.
"Alright," he said, loud enough for all to hear, "here's the deal."
He held up a can of soda — a rare one, the kind he usually never gave away — and then held up two small chip bags.
"Whoever brings me those peaches… gets all three."
Eyes widened.
The reward was massive — in this classroom, it might as well have been a gold bar.
"But," Mike added with a smirk, "I don't want the kid. Just the peaches. You want to knock him out? Fine. Just don't break the can."
Some students laughed. Others just nodded.
And one by one… a few got up.
They grabbed what little they had, grouped up, and slipped out the same door Samuel had taken.
---
Samuel was already a few halls away.
The school was eerily quiet, but not dead. Somewhere in the distance, a locker creaked open… or shut. Pipes groaned overhead. The air smelled of smoke, melted plastic, and something worse — the scent of things that shouldn't be moving.
He didn't care.
He had a goal now.
He needed to find a way out.
Or something better than waiting.
But what he didn't know, as he walked into the hot, flickering halls…
Was that he wasn't walking alone anymore.
The hunt had already begun.