Chapter 56 — The Road to the Second Floor
It was already 1:40 a.m.
Yet unusually, the night air carried more than just a chilling cold.
The horrible stench of rotting bodies had spread everywhere.
Under the golden glow of the streetlights, large patches of blood could be seen scattered across the roads.
Two days ago, these streets had been packed with traffic.
Dozens of cars had been waiting impatiently for the traffic to clear, their passengers completely unaware of the storm that was about to descend upon humanity in the form of the Z-Virus.
But now...
Those same roads had become a graveyard.
The cars that had once been carrying people toward their destinations were now abandoned, broken, and scattered chaotically across the streets. Some had crashed into one another, while others had been left with their doors hanging open.
Several vehicles contained the decaying remains of people who had never reached their destinations.
Other cars stood completely empty, abandoned as if their owners had simply vanished from the face of the earth.
Many of the streets lay deserted beneath flickering lights, resembling lifeless deserts in the middle of the night.
And the few humans who could still be seen wandering through those streets...
Were no longer human.
They had become bloodthirsty zombies, stumbling aimlessly through the darkness.
The stores that had once been crowded with people buying food and drinks had also become victims of the outbreak.
The customers were gone.
The employees were gone.
And now, the very places where people had once gone to satisfy their hunger had become hunting grounds for creatures that hunted humans.
The hospitals were no different.
Places where doctors had once worked day and night to save lives had now become places of horror.
The very doctors who had once dedicated themselves to treating patients had become infected themselves, attacking people instead of saving them.
Everywhere...
There was destruction.
Everywhere...
There was death.
It seemed as though humanity itself was slowly approaching its end.
And yet, somewhere in the middle of this collapsing world, a small spark of human life still remained.
──────────────
International School of Geneva — Switzerland
Meanwhile, on the third and second floors of the International School of Geneva in Switzerland, signs of life still remained.
A few humans were still alive.
Their existence itself gave rise to a small, fragile hope that perhaps humanity had not completely disappeared.
But alongside that hope came another terrifying thought—
How long would that humanity survive?
Inside the men's washroom on the third floor, everyone stood together with fear and anxiety written clearly across their faces.
Ms. Selena's announcement had just ended.
Sad looked toward Hasnain with a confused expression.
"Why did Ms. Selena say that the people from the fourth floor had already reached the broadcast room when Jinjin and Chen Zheyan are here with us?"
Ghani immediately offered an explanation.
"Maybe there was someone else on the fourth floor... and that person managed to reach the second floor."
Chen Zheyan immediately shook his head.
"No."
His voice was firm.
"There were only three people on the fourth floor—me, Jinjin, and Adam."
He paused before continuing.
"I checked every classroom by looking through the ventilation shields. I saw zombies inside every single classroom."
The moment Chen Zheyan mentioned Adam's name, Jinjin's already-red eyes became moist once again.
A tear gathered in the corner of her right eye.
It slowly slipped down her cheek before disappearing beneath the collar of her clothing.
Afra and Sana, who were standing beside her, immediately held her firmly by the shoulders.
They did not say anything.
There were moments when words had no value.
Sometimes, simply having someone beside you was enough.
Chen Zheyan's words had barely ended when Hasnain spoke in his usual serious voice.
"I think Ms. Selena lied."
Everyone turned toward him.
He continued,
"She probably did it because of us. She must have thought that if we found out that nobody from the fourth floor had reached the second floor, our courage would collapse."
No one answered.
His words made perfect sense.
One by one, everyone fell silent.
Then Sad finally broke the silence.
"Come on, guys. We shouldn't waste any more time. This is a matter of life and death."
Afra immediately looked frightened.
"We're already scared! Don't make us even more frightened by saying things like that."
Sad blinked.
Then he smiled innocently.
"Hey, don't be scared. I was just saying one of my favorite movie dialogues."
He grinned as though he had done nothing wrong.
A few people gave him amused looks despite the tension surrounding them.
Then Chen Zheyan raised the makeshift weapon he had brought from the fourth floor.
"I already have a weapon. I brought it with me from the fourth floor."
He held up a broken chair leg.
"This is all I have."
He looked around at everyone.
"All of you should find something for yourselves too."
Hearing that, everyone immediately began looking around the washroom for anything that could possibly be used as a weapon.
Barak eventually picked up a toilet-cleaning brush.
The moment Sam saw it, he stared at Barak in disbelief.
"Dude... what the heck did you pick up?"
Sad immediately joined in.
"Seriously? Are you planning to protect yourself from zombies with a toilet brush?"
He laughed.
Barak gave him a small, amused smile.
"Hey, something is better than nothing. A toilet brush is still better than having nothing at all."
He pointed toward them.
"And you two should worry about yourselves. At least I have this."
He looked at Sad and Sam.
"You don't have anything."
Sad shrugged casually.
"Relax. My fists and legs are more than enough for these lousy zombies."
Barak burst out laughing.
"Oh, sorry, brother. I completely forgot that you're a national-level boxing champion."
Sad immediately straightened proudly.
He rolled one arm dramatically, then bowed slightly like a prince accepting praise.
"Thank you for the compliment, my friend."
That was enough to make Barak, Sad, and Sam burst into laughter.
On the other side, Afra stood beside Sana and Jinjin, trembling with fear.
She looked at the three boys as if they had completely lost their minds.
"These people are acting like they're going to a wedding!"
She rubbed her trembling hands together.
"Meanwhile, the moment I hear the word 'zombies,' my legs start shaking!"
Sana gave her a reassuring look.
"Afra, don't be so scared. Nothing will happen."
Jinjin, however, spoke in a quiet but painful voice.
"Don't be too carefree either."
Sana looked at her.
Jinjin's expression darkened.
"Have you forgotten Adam?"
Her voice trembled.
"You two didn't see him in the final moments..."
She swallowed hard.
"But I did."
Her eyes filled with tears again.
"The moment he fell through the ventilation shield, countless zombies jumped onto him."
Her voice became increasingly broken.
"They started attacking him... tearing at him..."
She could no longer hold back her tears.
"And eventually... he became a zombie himself."
The words shattered whatever emotional control Jinjin had left.
She began crying.
Sana immediately moved closer and held her, trying to calm her down.
Jinjin buried her face slightly as tears continued to fall.
No one laughed anymore.
The memory of Adam had changed the entire atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Ghani was running around the washroom, desperately searching for something that could be used as a weapon.
He eventually reached the sinks.
There, he found a dry bar of soap.
An idea suddenly occurred to him.
He wet the soap with water and then began rubbing it over his clothes.
At first, everyone simply stared at him in confusion.
Sad finally walked over.
"What are you doing, Ghani?"
Without stopping, Ghani answered,
"Did you forget what Ms. Selena said?"
He continued rubbing the soap across his shirt.
"She said zombies are attracted to human scent."
He rubbed the soap across more of his clothing.
"And all of us must smell like sweat by now. So I'm rubbing this soap on my clothes to remove the smell from my body."
Sad stared at him in disbelief.
Ghani rubbed the soap across his entire shirt and then started moving toward his pants.
Sad quickly grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him backward.
"What are you doing?! There are girls here!"
Ghani froze.
He looked around.
His face immediately turned red with embarrassment.
"Oh... sorry, sorry!"
He quickly stopped.
Then, still holding the soap, he extended it toward Sad.
"Here. You should rub some soap on yourself too."
The others immediately started laughing.
Everyone except Afra.
She looked increasingly annoyed by Ghani's ridiculous behavior.
A little later, Hasnain noticed a small door above them.
From the outside, it looked like a tiny storage cabinet.
He looked at Sad.
"Come here."
Hasnain positioned Sad beneath the small door and climbed onto his shoulders.
Using Sad's support, he reached the small door and opened it.
To their surprise, they discovered that it was actually a small storage room.
Inside were extra supplies meant for the washrooms, including soap and other cleaning items.
Hasnain searched through the supplies.
He found two insect-killing sprays and handed them to Michael.
Then he found a long cobweb-cleaning brush.
He also discovered two thick steel pipes.
Finally, he found two wipers.
Hasnain climbed back down and looked at everyone.
"These are the only things here that can actually be useful to us."
He handed one of the wipers to Ghani.
Michael took both sprays.
One of the steel pipes was given to Sam.
Hasnain extended the second pipe toward Sad.
But Sad immediately shook his head.
"I don't need it. I'll fight the zombies with my bare hands."
Hasnain's expression instantly hardened.
"That's not an option."
Sad looked at him.
"This isn't a boxing match."
Hasnain's voice became firm and serious.
"This is a matter of everyone's lives."
He stepped closer.
"And I don't want to lose any of you."
His eyes moved across the group.
"I want every single one of you to stay alive and make it out safely."
He forced the steel pipe into Sad's hand.
"So take it."
Sad stared at the pipe for a moment.
Eventually, he had no choice but to accept it.
Hasnain kept one of the wipers for himself.
Then he looked at everyone seriously.
"Now listen carefully."
His voice immediately caught everyone's attention.
"We're going to leave this room in pairs."
He pointed toward Michael and Chen Zheyan.
"Michael and Chen Zheyan will go together. You two will help each other whenever you encounter danger."
Then he continued assigning everyone.
"Ghani and Afra."
"Sam and Jinjin."
"Sad and Barak."
"And Sana will go with me."
He looked at all of them one final time.
"And listen carefully to what I'm saying."
"We will help one another whenever we encounter danger."
His expression became firm.
"I hope all of us will make it from here to the second floor alive."
"Understood?"
Ghani immediately walked over and stood beside Afra.
With a grin, he gave Hasnain a playful response.
"Yes, boss!"
Afra immediately puffed out her cheeks the moment Ghani stood beside her.
She clearly wasn't pleased with being paired with him.
One by one, everyone formed their assigned pairs.
Hasnain stood near the door.
Reluctantly, Sana moved beside him.
Then Ghani and Afra stood together.
After them came Sam and Jinjin.
Then Sad and Barak.
And finally, Chen Zheyan and Michael stood at the back.
Everyone was now ready.
But there was one person whose thoughts were very different from everyone else's.
Michael.
He hated every single thing Hasnain said.
In fact, just looking at Hasnain's face was enough to bring back a painful memory.
A memory he could never forget.
His girlfriend.
That moment kept replaying inside his mind like a scene from a movie.
He remembered the moment Hasnain had noticed the bite mark on her foot.
There had been no time to think.
No time to hesitate.
Hasnain had immediately pushed her away from the window.
Because she had been bitten, Hasnain believed she was already infected.
The sudden push meant that she had no time to save herself.
She fell from the window and died.
Hasnain had done it to save everyone else.
He had also saved Michael's life.
But Michael had never been able to accept it.
Instead of feeling grateful, he had allowed hatred to grow inside his heart.
That hatred had continued growing until it became something much darker.
Deep inside his heart, Michael had sworn that one day, he would make Hasnain pay for what he had done.
And whenever Michael looked at Hasnain's face...
That entire scene returned to his mind as vividly as if it were happening right in front of him.
The memory.
The window.
His girlfriend.
Hasnain's decision.
Everything.
And every time it replayed in his mind, Michael's blood boiled with anger.
His grip tightened around his weapon.
He silently stared at Hasnain's back.
While everyone else was preparing to survive the night...
Michael was carrying something far more dangerous with him.
Hatred.