The hallways were soaked in blood.
Bodies ripped open, organs spilled out like butchered livestock. The stench of rotting flesh clung to the air, thick and suffocating. Limbs were scattered across the tiles, twitching as if they hadn't yet realized they were detached.
Down the corridors, students were being ripped apart.
A girl, trapped under a collapsed bookshelf, screeched as a horde of undead tore into her stomach. Her fingers clawed against the floor, trying to drag herself away even as her intestines spilled out behind her.
Another student—a guy in a soccer uniform—sprinted down the hallway. His face twisted in desperation as he hammered on a locked classroom door. "LET ME IN! PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF—"
CHOMP.
A set of rotting teeth sank into his shoulder.
His scream turned into a wet gurgle as more hands grabbed him, pulling him down into the swarm. Flesh was peeled from his bones, his eyes bulging in terror until a hand shoved into his mouth, ripping his jaw off.
His spine cracked.
His skull caved in.
And then he was gone.
Inside the gymnasium, the surviving students were catching their breath.
The room was massive, the high ceiling looming above them like a cavern. The bleachers were pulled out, rows of empty seats stacked against the walls. Basketball hoops hung overhead, their nets torn.
Ren clutched his knees, panting. "Holy shit… Holy shit."
Elio wiped blood—none of it his—from his face. His eyes flicked to the barricaded doors. The pounding hadn't stopped.
Lucian took a step forward. "We can't stay here."
"What?" Elio shot him a look. "The hell else are we supposed to do?"
"This isn't a shelter," Lucian said. His voice was low, controlled. "It's a death trap."
As if on cue—
BAM.
One of the barricades splintered.
The pounding grew louder.
Some of the weaker students flinched.
"We're surrounded," Lucian said. "If those doors give in, there's no way out."
A deep silence settled over the group.
And then—
Screaming.
From inside the gym.
The group whirled around.
A girl collapsed onto the floor, her body convulsing. Her skin turned a sickly gray. Her veins blackened, spreading like cracks in glass.
One of the guys next to her stumbled backward. "Oh—oh my God—"
Aria's eyes widened. "She was bitten."
The girl's body twitched. Her mouth stretched open.
Then—
She lunged.
Her teeth sank into a student's neck.
Blood sprayed.
The infected girl ripped her head back, taking a chunk of flesh with her. The victim let out a strangled gargle before his legs gave out, crashing onto the floor.
And then he started turning.
Chaos erupted.
The infected student sprang onto another person.
And then another.
And another.
A boy in a baseball jacket grabbed a fire axe from the equipment rack and swung wildly. The blade lodged into a zombie's skull, splitting it open like a rotten fruit. But before he could pull it free—
Hands grabbed him.
His own weapon was yanked from his grasp and buried into his stomach.
He vomited blood.
The others scattered.
Screams. Blood. Death.
Lucian's mind raced. Too many. Too fucking many.
He turned to the others. "WE NEED TO MOVE."
Aria snatched a hockey stick. "WHERE?!"
Elio's eyes darted across the gym. His gaze landed on the back storage room.
"There!" he pointed.
Ren didn't hesitate. He grabbed Noa's wrist and sprinted.
Elio saw her and thought "was her death just an illusion?"
Yes, noa wasn't dead. And nobody knew how, But neither did they had the time to discuss it.
Lucian and Aria followed, dodging between the chaos.
Students were falling left and right.
A boy tripped over a body—his ankle snapped under his own weight. Before he could even scream, a zombie pounced on him, biting deep into his throat.
A girl tried climbing the bleachers—she slipped, crashed down onto the floor, and cracked her skull open.
By the time Elio reached the storage room, only 39 students remained.
He yanked the door open.
The surviving students shoved inside, slamming the door shut behind them.
The door slammed shut.
Darkness swallowed them whole.
Panting. Shaking. Someone was crying. The room was cramped, barely large enough for all of them. Shelves lined the walls, stuffed with sports equipment—bats, hockey sticks, javelins, weight plates.
Lucian pressed his ear to the door. Outside, the sounds of tearing flesh, gnashing teeth, and dying screams filled the air.
Too many dead.
Too fast.
His grip tightened on the blood-streaked metal pole in his hands.
"We lost over ten people in less than five minutes," he muttered.
Noa leaned against the shelf, rubbing her temple. "Yeah, no shit. Thanks for the math, Einstein."
Aria was still catching her breath. "Those things—they turned way too fast. A bite, and then—bam. Seconds later, they were fucking monsters."
Ren wiped his face with his sleeve. "This isn't normal. It's like those things are rotting us from the inside out."
Silence fell over them.
Elio broke it first. "We can't stay here."
Lucian exhaled sharply. "No, we can't." He scanned the storage room. "But we can fight."
Elio ran his hands along the shelves. "Weapons. We need weapons."
Ren grabbed a baseball bat, testing the weight in his hands. "I played baseball back in middle school. Should work."
Noa pulled out a javelin. "Yeah? I did track and field." She gave a wicked grin. "Let's see if I can still impale shit."
Lucian grabbed a metal dumbbell bar, swinging it. It was hefty, blunt—good for crushing skulls.
Aria slung a bag of tennis balls over her shoulder. "I'll—uh—distract them?"
The others just stared at her.
She sighed. "Fine." She grabbed a hockey stick. "Happy?"
Elio found a pair of fencing swords in the corner. "These could be useful."
Noa snorted. "For what? A medieval duel?"
Elio twirled one sword in his fingers. Fast. Precise. Deadly. "For survival."
Lucian gave him a nod. "Alright. We move."
They cracked the storage room door open.
The hallway was quieter now. Not silent. Just... quieter.
Corpses littered the floor, their bodies mauled beyond recognition. Blood streaked the walls, splattered in handprints and smears. Some students had died crawling, leaving thick red trails behind them.
The lights flickered—half the hallway plunged in shadow.
And then they heard it.
A slow, wet chewing sound.
The group froze.
Down the hall, a lone zombie crouched over a corpse. Its teeth buried deep in a student's stomach, tearing out chunks of flesh.
Ren swallowed hard. "Jesus..."
Lucian signaled for silence. One zombie. They could handle that.
But before they could react—
A second one limped out of a classroom.
Then a third.
Then a fourth.
One by one, the undead crawled from the shadows.
Until at least twenty of them stood in the hallway.
The zombies hadn't noticed them yet.
Lucian's grip tightened around the dumbbell bar. "We take them down before they see us."
Elio nodded. "Fast and quiet."
Ren adjusted his bat. "You better hope I haven't lost my swing."
Lucian made the first move.
He crept forward, silent as death. The nearest zombie—**a girl missing half her face—**gnawed on a severed hand, her back turned.
Lucian lifted the dumbbell bar.
CRACK.
The impact caved her skull in, sending a spray of bone and brain matter across the wall. She crumpled instantly.
Ren whistled under his breath. "Nice shot."
Elio took the next one—his fencing sword slashing across a zombie's neck.
The head hit the floor before the body did.
Noa hurled her javelin into a zombie's chest, impaling it to the wall. It thrashed, clawing at the spear sticking out of its ribs before going still.
Aria swung her hockey stick, knocking a zombie's legs out. As it collapsed, she smashed its head in with a stomp.
Ren grinned. "Alright. My turn."
He stepped forward and swung his bat full force.
The zombie's jaw flew off.
It hit the ceiling.
Blood poured from the shredded mouth, but the thing kept crawling. Ren clicked his tongue. "Persistent little fucker." He brought the bat down one more time—caving its skull in completely.
The hallway was silent again.
For now.
Lucian wiped his weapon against his sleeve. "We need to find a real safe zone. This school's a fucking maze."
Elio adjusted his grip on the sword. "Where's the best place to hide?"
Aria frowned. "Library?"
Ren shook his head. "Too many windows."
Noa snapped her fingers. "What about the faculty armory?"
Elio raised an eyebrow. "The what?"
Noa crossed her arms. "Teachers confiscate weapons from kids all the time. Guns, knives, brass knuckles—you name it. If we're lucky, it's still locked up somewhere."
Lucian's expression darkened. "And if it's not?"
Noa shrugged. "Then someone else has them."
That wasn't a comforting thought.
Lucian turned to the others. "We head for the armory. Fast. We stick together. No splitting up."
Aria nodded. "If we're lucky, we get something better than sticks and swords."
Elio sighed. "And if we're not lucky?"
Lucian didn't hesitate. "Then we fight with what we have."
Ren twirled his bat. "Sounds like a plan."
They moved.
Stepping over the bodies.
Deeper into the school.
Deeper into hell.
The deeper they went, the worse the air became.
The scent of rotting flesh, blood, and bile clung to the hallways like a sickness. Every breath tasted like death.
Lucian led the way, his dumbbell bar dripping with gore. The others followed, their weapons ready, their steps light and careful.
The school felt different now.
Like something was watching them.
Like the building itself was alive.
The fluorescent lights overhead buzzed weakly, some flickering, some shattered entirely. The shadows stretched long across the walls, twisting and shifting as they moved.
It was quiet.
Too quiet.
Elio whispered, "I don't like this."
Ren muttered, "Yeah, me neither."
They turned a corner—
—and froze.
The hallway ahead was a massacre.
Blood pooled in thick, blackened puddles.
Bodies—**students, all of them—**had been ripped apart, their organs strewn across the floor like discarded trash.
Some had clawed at their own throats, their faces frozen in expressions of pure agony.
Others had been half-eaten, their rib cages cracked open like eggshells.
A few still twitched.
Noa's breath hitched. "What the fuck did this?"
Aria covered her mouth, eyes wide.
Ren stepped forward, prodding a corpse with his bat. "These aren't like the others...they didn't just turn."
Elio frowned. "Then what happened to them?"
Lucian scanned the room. Something wasn't right. The way the bodies were torn apart—this wasn't normal.
Then he saw it.
At the far end of the hallway, a door was ajar.
And inside—
A dark shape shifted.
Something was in there.
And it was watching them.
A low, wet growl echoed from the room.
Not human.
Not like the zombies.
Something else.
Lucian took a slow step back. "We need to move. Now."
The others didn't argue.
They turned—
SLAM.
The classroom door burst open.
A shadow lunged.
Lucian barely had time to react—a blur of rotting flesh and jagged bone crashed into him, sending him sprawling to the floor.
Something huge.
Something wrong.
His body hit the ground hard. His weapon skidded across the floor, out of reach.
He looked up—
—and his blood ran cold.
The thing above him wasn't a normal zombie.
It was bigger—twisted.
Its body was bloated, swollen with infection. Razor-sharp bone spikes jutted from its shoulders, its mouth split open too wide, lined with jagged teeth. Its fingers had fused together into long, sharpened claws.
Its eyes weren't human anymore.
Just empty, black pits.
It wasn't just undead.
It was evolving.
And it was hungry.
Lucian barely had time to roll aside before its claws slammed down, carving deep gashes into the floor where his head had been.
"FUCK!"
Ren reacted first.
He swung his bat with all his strength—
CRACK.
The impact shattered the creature's jaw, sending black, putrid blood spraying across the floor.
But it didn't stop.
It turned to Ren, its mouth hanging loose, bones snapping as it realigned its jaw.
Noa hurled her javelin, aiming for its chest—
The thing caught it mid-air.
Then it snapped the spear in half.
Elio's fencing sword slashed across its back, cutting deep. The creature lurched, twisting unnaturally, its black eyes locking onto him now.
It moved too fast.
It grabbed Elio by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
Elio choked, kicking wildly. His fingers scrambled at the creature's grip, but its claws dug deep, crushing his windpipe.
His vision blurred. Black spots danced in his eyes.
He was dying.
Then—
Lucian lunged from behind.
He grabbed his dumbbell bar from the floor and drove it straight into the creature's skull.
A sickening crunch.
The monster shuddered.
And then its grip loosened.
Elio dropped to the floor, gasping.
Lucian didn't stop.
He swung again.
And again.
And again.
BAM. BAM. BAM.
Until the skull caved in completely.
Until the creature finally stopped moving.
Until the hallway was silent again.
Lucian staggered back, chest heaving. His arms shook from the effort, his weapon drenched in black blood.
The others stared at the creature's ruined body.
Ren muttered, "What the hell was that?"
Noa wiped her mouth. "I don't know, but I think we just fought a fucking boss battle."
Elio sat up, coughing violently. "It wasn't normal." His voice was hoarse. "It was changing."
Lucian swallowed hard. "We need to move before more show up."
They didn't argue.
The fight had drained them, but they couldn't stay here.
They stepped over the blood-soaked bodies, moving deeper into the school.
The halls stretched on before them.
And in the shadows—
Something else was watching.
Waiting.
And it was hungry.
The screams started all at once.
A chorus of terror.
From every hallway, every classroom, every floor— the school had erupted into pure hell.
Lucian, Ren, Elio, Noa, and Aria barely made it a few steps before the sound of running footsteps and shrieking filled the air.
Then—
BANG. BANG. BANG.
Someone was pounding on a nearby door.
"PLEASE! HELP! THEY'RE COMING!"
The group turned just in time to see a boy desperately clawing at the classroom door, his hands bloody from how hard he had been slamming against it.
Behind him, a wave of the infected surged through the hallway.
Not just one or two.
Dozens.
Their bodies were battered, torn, twitching as they sprinted forward with unnatural speed. Some were still in school uniforms, their faces barely recognizable under the gore. Others were missing limbs, dragging themselves forward with relentless hunger.
And they were fast.
The boy at the door turned—
A pair of hands grabbed his shoulders.
His scream was cut short as teeth tore into his neck.
Blood sprayed across the lockers.
Then they ripped him apart.
"RUN!" Ren shoved Aria forward.
Noa didn't need to be told twice. She sprinted ahead, dodging past overturned desks and broken lockers.
Lucian and Elio took the rear, weapons ready, but even as they ran, the horde was catching up.
"STAIRS!" Aria pointed.
A few students were already ahead of them, racing toward the stairwell at the end of the hall.
One boy tripped—
The zombies swarmed him instantly.
His screams didn't even last three seconds.
Ren jumped over his corpse and barreled into the stairwell door, shoving it open.
The group stumbled inside.
A few other students—a mix of familiar faces and nobodies—had made it too.
Then—
A girl screamed as a zombie tackled her from behind.
Her head slammed against the wall.
She struggled, kicking wildly, but the infected on top of her wasn't alone.
Three more grabbed her, their teeth sinking into her arms, her legs, her stomach.
She shrieked in agony.
Noa locked eyes with her—
The girl's mouth opened, desperate, pleading—
And then a zombie ripped out her throat.
Her eyes rolled back.
Noa looked away.
Lucian didn't waste time. He grabbed the stairwell door and slammed it shut.
BAM. BAM. BAM.
The undead threw themselves against the door, clawing and snarling.
Lucian locked it.
Then he stepped back, breathing hard. "That's not gonna hold for long."
Elio wiped blood off his cheek, swallowing thickly. "Then we go up."
"Fuck," Noa muttered. "I hate this school."
They raced up the stairs, passing another group of students who had no weapons, no plan, no hope.
Some were crying.
Some were praying.
One girl sat on the landing, hugging her knees, whispering, "This isn't real. This isn't real. This isn't real."
Lucian didn't stop.
Neither did Ren.
Or Elio.
They reached the third floor and burst into the hallway.
What they saw stole the breath from their lungs.
The entire corridor was covered in blood.
The walls were smeared with handprints—some large, some tiny.
Bodies littered the floor, some half-eaten, some still twitching.
And the worst part?
Some of them were standing back up.
Turning.
Aria swallowed down bile. "Where the fuck do we go?!"
Ren scanned the halls, his mind racing.
The gym? No, too open.
The library? No, too many windows.
Then—
The rooftop.
"THIS WAY!" Ren bolted toward the emergency stairwell at the end of the hall.
The others followed, dodging past corpses, jumping over pools of blood.
One student—a guy they barely knew—tried running with them.
Tried.
A hand shot out from a locker, yanking him inside.
His screams echoed down the hall.
And then—
Silence.
Elio didn't even look back.
They burst through the rooftop door, stumbling into the open air.
The night sky stretched above them, the city in the distance still untouched, still normal.
Like none of this was even happening.
Lucian bent over, hands on his knees, breathing hard. "We can't keep running forever."
Noa wiped blood off her arm. "Yeah? What's your big plan? Hope this is all a dream?"
Elio clenched his fists. "There has to be a way to—"
BAM.
The rooftop door shuddered.
The undead had found them.
"Shit—barricade it!"
They scrambled, grabbing benches, desks, whatever they could find.
But it wouldn't hold forever.
Ren exhaled sharply. "We need to think. Fast."
Aria pointed to a fire escape ladder. "That could get us down."
Elio frowned. "And if there are more downstairs?"
"Then we keep moving," Lucian said, gripping his weapon. "Or we die."
The door shook again.
A screeching, inhuman wail ripped through the air.
Then—
BANG.
The barricade splintered.
A rotting hand burst through.
They were out of time.
Lucian took a deep breath.
And then he ran for the fire escape.
The others followed.