Chapter 2 – Blood
Jack frowned as he noticed the guard approach the men. Something deep inside him told him it was wrong… everything about what he was seeing was wrong. A sense of deep eeriness crept into his mind.
He didn't know why or how, but he was certain… something was about to happen. Something very bad.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?! Go away!"
The guard yelled as he tapped their shoulders. When they didn't listen, he yanked them back strongly, making them fall. That was when the two people seemed to finally notice him as they looked up.
Jack couldn't see their full faces from that far, but he could tell their expressions were far from normal.
The guard started stepping back as if he were afraid. But before he could even take a step, the two suddenly lunged at him, dragging him violently to the ground.
"Holy shit!" Alex exclaimed, his eyes wide. "They attacked him!"
"Shhh…" Jack hushed him as he leaned over the rails. His eyes widened a little. "They didn't just take him down…"
"AAAAAGH!!"
The cry echoed through the whole school, catching everyone's attention. Down there, near the gate, the guard was being mauled viciously. The two men bit, scratched, and clawed at him like animals, tearing his clothes and sinking their teeth into his flesh, ripping chunks away.
He tried to resist, tried to push them off as blood sprayed everywhere; however, he couldn't. His cries grew louder as the gruesome scene became more and more brutal until… they stopped.
At the same time, several people rushed outside to see what was happening. Cries of horror followed as everyone stepped back in shock at the scene before them. He was dead. Chunks of his body and huge amounts of blood filled the scene and around that, the two men were covered in the gruesome liquid, chewing at the flesh they had just torn apart.
"Oh my god!" Alex clapped his hand over his mouth, his entire body frozen in fear.
Meanwhile, Jack remained completely silent, watching the scene as though the entire world around him had ceased to exist.
The two men looked up, their faces and bodies drenched in blood. Then, like rabid beasts, they rushed into the crowd, attacking without hesitation. Screams erupted as everyone scattered like ants.
One student wasn't so lucky. They were caught and dragged down, ripped apart in seconds. It looked like a scene straight out of a wild documentary, except far more gruesome than any imagery on a camera.
"Jack! What the hell is going on?!" Alex exclaimed, stepping back in panic. His heart was starting to race, and panic was settling in.
But Jack didn't reply. His eyes remained locked on the first corpse—the guard—even as chaos spread through the school and students ran everywhere for their lives.
Something inside him told him he was about to witness something… interesting.
And, as if to prove him right, it happened. The guard's body flinched violently. Then, slowly, it began to move—rising from the ground. His eyes were vacant, devoid of all sanity.
Then, just like the others, he started moving like a crazed beast and rushed into the school after the fleeing students.
The terror spread instantly as students and teachers alike ran, not knowing what was happening.
"Interesting…" Jack muttered, his expression more curious than afraid.
"Jack! We need to go down now! Something's wrong!!"
Suddenly, Alex yanked his shoulder, snapping him out of his daze. "Jack! Let's go!"
Jack blinked, nodded, and chased after him. The two barged through the doors and descended the stairs—only to be met with absolute chaos. Countless people were running through the hallways in every direction, cries and screams filling the entire building.
"Let's go! We have to leave now!" Alex shouted, quickly joining the crowd trying to escape.
But Jack didn't move. He stared at his friend with wide, calm eyes.
Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he turned and sprinted in the opposite direction.
"JACK!!!!" Alex shouted, his eyes widening. "What is that idiot doing?!"
He tried to change course and chase after him, but the flood of students swept him away, pulling him farther and farther.
"Let me pass! Let me pas—AAAGH!"
The bells of the school rang loudly as the microphone blared:
"Please don't rush through the halls! Follow the protocol! I repeat, follow the teachers' orders!"
But even the teachers were running for their lives, just as lost as everyone else.
Jack, meanwhile, rushed through the hallway, down the next flight of stairs—toward where he assumed it had all started.
'From what I saw, those two men bit the security guard to death and then… he started moving again, as if nothing had happened.' Jack frowned. 'That should be impossible. I need to see for myself.'
He wasn't afraid like the others. He was curious. Leaping down the stairs, he passed terrified students rushing up in the opposite direction.
At the bottom, he stopped.
It was a massacre. All kinds of people lay on the ground, being eaten alive by the monsters. Flesh was torn, bodies ripped apart from every angle.
The number of these creatures had already grown to nearly a dozen within seconds, and Jack could see it would only increase from here. It was
"AAAAAAGH!!!"
One of the monsters looked up. It was a student, their entire throat torn out, blood dripping down in streams.
He should have been dead—but he wasn't. His eyes were hollow, lifeless, yet his body still moved. His teeth were coated in blood and flesh as he clenched them tightly and growled like a rabid animal.
"…." Jack locked eyes with him. He felt the threat looming.
'Interesting… really interesting.'
Even though the situation was deadly, Jack only grew more curious. What was this monster capable of? Why did it want to kill him? What made it even turn into such a hideous creature in the first place?
All questions that made Jack think of experimenting rather than running away.
"RAAAAH!"
The monster lunged at him with terrifying speed, far faster than any normal student could move.
Jack ducked just in time, the creature's body flying over his head and slamming into the stairs. But it quickly rose and charged again with even more vigor. Its steps were uneven and its balance was over the place, making it even harder to predict how it was going to attack next.
By then, Jack was already running, sprinting through the hallway with the monster in pursuit.
'It's way faster and stronger than me,' he thought, glancing over his shoulder. 'I can't run for long. I need a weapon!'
Scanning the hall, he spotted a chair. He rushed to grab it.
"RAAAAAH!"
Turning swiftly, he slammed the chair into the monster's face, knocking it to the ground. But the hit barely left a dent. It rose again instantly and lunged with even more vigor as if that hit angered it further.
BANG!
Jack swung the chair again, this time slamming its head down. The impact made it stagger, but only for a second. Roaring, the creature grabbed his leg and dragged him down with ease. The force he felt was far stronger than he expected. It was a crushing force.
"Dammit!" Jack clenched his teeth, hammering the chair down again. The blows barely slowed it. Its hands clawed at him, fingers tearing toward his flesh. Jack struggled, striking its head over and over, denting it further with each hit.
'This won't kill it, clearly.' His thoughts remained calm even as he fought. 'Maybe if I…'
Quickly, Jack shoved a hand into his pocket and pulled out his keychain. He yanked off one of the sharper keys and drove it into the monster's eye, piercing through with ease.
Blood spurted as the monster reeled back. Jack didn't stop. He pulled the key out and stabbed again, forcing it back. Then, seizing the moment, he drove the key into the cracked spot on its skull with all his strength.
The key pierced through—straight into its brain.
The creature froze as if electrocuted. Its body twitched, then collapsed lifelessly.
"Hah… hah… hah…" Jack exhaled heavily. "So the brain is indeed the weak spot… interesting."
He had decided to try that purely based on zombie movies. Turns out, he was right. That was a very quick and rather interesting solution that he came up with on the spot. It was risky as he didn't know if injuries would also lead to him facing the same end. But, even then, Jack was more thrilled about it all than terrified.
But what he didn't expect was what came next.
Out of nowhere, a semi-translucent object appeared before his eyes.
[You have unlocked the Divine Records Blessing.]
[The True Ones know of your existence.]
[You have killed a Level 1 Undead.]
[You have gained 10 experience points.]
[You have gained +1 in Strength.]
Jack blinked at the glowing text boxes, his lips parting slowly.
"What… the fuck?" he muttered.