Chapter 43 – Between Silent Ceilings
The moment Miss Selena's final announcement came to an end, an unsettling silence settled over the entire school.
It was the kind of silence that felt heavy enough to suffocate the air itself.
Only the distant echoes of uneven footsteps, the dull thuds against glass, and. the mournful whistle of the wind drifting through the corridors disturbed the stillness.
Several classrooms away from where Adam and Jinjin were hiding, a lone student stood inside another classroom.
He looked no older than seventeen.
His school uniform was stained with dust, his breathing was uneven, and beads of sweat trickled continuously down his forehead.
Before him stretched an enormous glass wall.
Beyond that transparent barrier...
Thousands of zombies wandered aimlessly across the school grounds.
Some staggered back and forth.
Others repeatedly slammed themselves against the glass, as though driven by an uncontrollable instinct.
The boy remained perfectly still, silently watching them.
Then his eyes shifted toward the barricade he had built himself.
Nearly every desk and chair in the classroom had been dragged across the floor and stacked from the ground almost to the ceiling, forming a makeshift wall in front of both the glass wall and the classroom door.
Perhaps...
Even if the glass shattered...
The barricade would buy him a few precious moments.
Moments that could mean the difference between life and death.
He took a deep breath.
"I have to get ready," he whispered to himself.
Without wasting another second, he opened his backpack.
One by one, he removed all of his textbooks and tossed them aside.
Then he walked toward the classroom window and grabbed one of the heavy curtains.
Pulling a small utility cutter from his pocket, he carefully sliced the fabric into long strips.
The soft tearing sound echoed through the silent classroom.
A few moments later, he tightly wrapped the strips around his forearms, wrists, and lower legs, creating a layer of protection as if preparing for the worst.
His gaze then fell upon a sports bag lying in the corner of the room.
It belonged to one of the school's hockey players.
He rushed over, unzipped it, and pulled out a sturdy hockey stick.
Holding it firmly in his hands, he examined it for a moment before securing it against his waist with his belt, positioning it so he could draw it instantly if necessary.
The panic that had filled his face only moments earlier had begun to fade.
In its place was cautious determination.
He slowly surveyed every corner of the classroom.
His eyes stopped at the door first.
Through the narrow glass panel beside it, countless zombies wandered restlessly in the hallway.
Some pressed themselves against the wall.
Others repeatedly struck the glass with relentless persistence.
He immediately looked away.
"No..."
He slowly shook his head.
"I can't go through the door."
His attention shifted toward the large window at the back of the classroom.
He cautiously walked over and unlocked it.
As he slid it open, a rush of cool wind swept into the room.
The breeze tossed his silky black hair across his forehead.
For a brief moment, he simply stood there, letting the fresh air brush against his face.
Then he carefully looked down.
His heartbeat nearly stopped.
He was on the fourth floor.
The ground below seemed impossibly far away.
Even worse...
The courtyard beneath was filled with wandering zombies moving in every direction.
Escaping that way was impossible.
He immediately shut the window.
Leaning against the wall, he let out a quiet sigh.
"The door won't work..."
"The window won't either..."
"So... how am I supposed to get out of here?"
His voice was filled with helplessness.
After a long moment, he slowly lowered himself into a corner of the classroom, buried his face in his hands, and remained motionless.
Silence returned once again.
Then suddenly...
A faint mechanical hum echoed above him.
Almost absentmindedly, he lifted his head.
His eyes remained fixed on the ceiling for several seconds.
Then...
A spark of realization flashed across his face.
He shot to his feet.
"If I can't leave through the door..."
"And I can't escape through the window..."
"Then there's only one way left."
Without hesitation, he dragged a desk beneath the ceiling vent and climbed on top of it.
Stretching upward, he carefully removed the square metal cover.
The moment it came loose, a long, dark ventilation shaft revealed itself.
It was wide enough for a person to crawl through comfortably.
The boy leaned forward and peered inside.
The passage extended far into the darkness.
It appeared to connect multiple classrooms and floors throughout the entire building.
For the first time since the outbreak began...
A faint glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes.
But then—
A deafening crash erupted from below.
The entire classroom trembled violently.
Startled, he looked down.
The zombies outside had begun throwing themselves against the massive glass wall with increasing force.
Thin cracks spread across the surface.
One...
Then another...
Then dozens more.
Within seconds, the entire glass wall resembled a giant spiderweb.
The boy froze.
"No..."
The next instant—
The glass exploded.
The deafening sound echoed throughout the building.
The zombies surged into the classroom in a relentless wave.
Fortunately, the towering barricade of desks and chairs blocked their path.
For a few precious moments...
It held.
But the boy knew it wouldn't last.
He immediately pulled the ventilation cover back into place.
Then, dropping onto his hands and knees, he crawled into the narrow shaft.
His heartbeat thundered in his ears with every movement.
Several minutes later...
He reached the ventilation opening above another classroom.
Carefully pressing one eye against the narrow slits in the metal grate, he looked below.
His breathing stopped.
That classroom had already been overrun.
Zombies filled nearly every corner.
He quickly pulled away and continued crawling through the darkness.
A short distance later, he arrived above another classroom.
This time...
The scene below was completely different.
A teenage boy and a girl were crouching beside a low concrete wall beneath the large glass windows.
Fear was clearly written across both of their faces.
Neither of them dared make the slightest sound.
Beyond the glass wall outside...
Thousands of zombies wandered aimlessly.
Fortunately...
None of them had noticed the two students yet.
Perhaps that was why...
They still hadn't begun slamming themselves against the glass.
Watching the scene unfold below, the boy quietly released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
But deep down...
He knew that this fragile silence would not last forever.