The word hung in the cold air like a bad punchline.
"Zombies."
Leo stared at Krystian, "What are you talking about?" Leo said, his voice dripping with disbelief and panic. The server room's constant humming suddenly felt louder, pressing against his skull. The air smelled of hot metal and old dust, mixed with the faint coppery tang coming off Krystian's blood-stained shirt.
Jay let out a nervous laugh that cracked halfway. "Come on, man. Zombies? Like… brain-eating, walking-dead zombies? You hit your head or something?"
Krystian didn't smile this time. His eyes — usually bright and cocky during basketball practice — looked hollow. His shirt was still stained with dried blood from the classmates he'd fought earlier. "I'm dead serious. I didn't see them with my own eyes, only through the security cameras. There's a huge crowd of them surrounding the entire school. Just standing there… staring at the building like they know we're inside."
Leo felt his chest tighten so hard it hurt to breathe. His mind instantly flashed to his little sister. Layla wasn't even in school today — she was at home, sick but excited for her birthday party that Leo had hyped up so much. She had been making invitation cards with glitter and stickers all week, constantly asking Leo what color balloons he thought her friends would like best.He spent so much time making sure her 11th birthday was perfect — the cake, the decorations, the silly playlist she loved. All of it.
Now that future felt like it was slipping away.
A heavy wave of panic and sadness crashed over him. His heart started racing, pounding so hard it hurt. His eyes stung with unshed tears. Everything was falling apart so fast. The thought of never seeing that goofy smile again hit him like a punch to the gut
Jay paced the tiny space between the server racks, breathing fast. "This is insane. We're actually living in a damn zombie movie. My mom's gonna kill me if I don't come home tonight."
Leo forced the image of Layla out of his head and tried to focus. "Krystian… the server room has a heavy steel door. It's safe. Why the hell do we need to leave right now instead of waiting until things calm down outside?"
Krystian wiped sweat from his forehead, looking more scared than Leo had ever seen him. "Because it's not safe for long. The cooling system is already struggling with the three of us here. Our body heat is making the servers overheat. Another twenty or thirty minutes and the air's gonna get thick and hot. We'll start feeling dizzy, then we'll suffocate. Trust me."
Jay stopped pacing and turned to Krystian, eyes wide with panic. "Wait, so we're choosing between dying from zombie bites or dying from breathing hot server air? That's our options? This is so fucked up."
Leo's heart hammered against his ribs like it wanted to escape. His palms were sweaty, and a heavy sadness sat in his stomach ; the kind that made him want to curl up and cry even though he knew he couldn't. Everything felt unreal. Just this morning they were joking about basketball practice, and now they were talking about suffocating or getting eaten.
Krystian grabbed a heavy wrench and a long screwdriver from the toolbox near one of the shelves, stuffing them into his bag. "Look, I know it sucks. But staying here is a slow death. We need to move while we still can."
Leo stared at the baseball bat in his hands. It felt heavier than before. He wasn't ready for this. None of them were. But sitting here waiting wasn't going to save them either.
"Fine," Leo said, his voice coming out shakier than he wanted. "We go. But we stay smart. No running around screaming like idiots. We move quietly, we stick together, and we head straight for the exit. We just move around the things outside because we can't stay in the school forever."
Jay picked up the aluminum bat again, testing its weight with trembling hands. "If I die because of your stupid server room science, I'm haunting both of you forever."
Krystian gave a weak, nervous laugh. "Shut up, Jay. You're the one who always says 'live fast, die young' during games."
"That was for basketball, not actual dying!" Jay shot back, voice cracking a little.
Leo looked at his two best friends. Jay was trying to joke through the fear, but his eyes were glassy. Krystian kept glancing at the door like he expected something to break through any second. They were all just scared teenagers pretending to be brave.
"Ready?" Leo asked quietly, swallowing the lump in his throat.
Both nodded.
Leo cracked the heavy steel door open just an inch.
The hallway outside was completely dead quiet.
Too quiet.
The emergency lights cast a pale, sickly yellow glow over the scattered papers and open lockers. No voices. No footsteps. Nothing.
They slipped out one by one, staying pressed against the wall. Their sneakers made soft squeaks that sounded way too loud in the silence. Leo's heart was pounding so hard he could hear it in his ears. Every breath felt difficult.
They made it a bit down the corridor without anything happening.
Then the noises started.
First, a distant thud — like someone bumping into a locker far away.
Then a low, wet gurgling sound echoed from somewhere behind them.
Leo froze mid-step. Jay's grip on the bat tightened until his knuckles turned white. Krystian's breathing grew quick and shallow.
Another sound followed — the slow, dragging scrape of shoes on the tiled floor. Then a soft, broken moan that didn't sound fully human.
"They're inside," Krystian whispered, voice barely audible.
The boys picked up their pace, moving faster but trying desperately not to run. Running would make noise. Noise would bring more of them.
As they turned the corner toward the gym hallway, the sounds grew clearer. A girl's terrified scream suddenly ripped through the building from upstairs — high-pitched and desperate. It cut off with a sickening, wet crunch.
Jay flinched hard, eyes wide with fear. "Shit… that sounded like someone we know."
Leo's stomach twisted with sadness and panic. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, but he blinked them away angrily. He couldn't break down now. Not when his friends needed him.
They reached closer and closer to the exit at the back of the school, Leo could see the staircase to the Upper floor now. The way out was close.
But right before they took another step, Krystian suddenly grabbed Leo's arm.
"Wait," he whispered urgently. "Look."
Further down the main hallway, something moved in the dim light.
It wasn't like the violent, screaming classmates Krystian had escaped earlier. This one moved differently — slower, jerkier, its head twitching at an unnatural angle. One arm dragged along the lockers, leaving a dark smear behind.
Even from this distance, its eyes looked cloudy. Wrong.
Leo felt ice crawl down his spine. His heart raced even faster.
"That's not normal…" he muttered.
Krystian's voice came out shaky. "No… it's not. That's one of the ones I saw on the cameras."
The thing hadn't noticed them yet. But more sounds were building — distant growls, more dragging footsteps, and another faint scream echoing from somewhere deep in the school.
The three boys stood at the front of the stairwell, weapons ready, breathing fast and uneven. Panic, fear, and sadness churned inside all of them.
They were as prepared as they could be.
It was time to get out.