It was now 9:00pm, the moon fully illuminating the city and reducing the darkness that had blanketed it to something slightly more bearable. In the school cafeteria ,also softly lit by the moon's unusually bright glow , Shadrack and Samuela were having a quiet conversation as they packed away the cleaning equipment that had been used earlier.
To Samuela's surprise, Shadrack with a gentle and unexpectedly romantic touch reached over and grabbed her hand, asking her to be his girlfriend. At that moment Samuela didn't think too deeply about his request. She felt that having a strong guy by her side was all that mattered in a world like this so she put on a convincing smile, accepted his proposal and kissed him passionately not long after.
As the two entered the classroom where the rest of the exhausted students sat recovering from the intense cleanup, Felix, ever the observant one noticed the way Shadrack and Samuela kept stealing glances at each other. With a wide grin he announced in a teasing tone, "I smell love in the air, gentlemen."
"Why am I not surprised by this?" Mary said with a slight smile but then without warning, an image flashed in her mind. It was her and Thomas. She quickly looked away.
"Congrats my man," Richmond said, clapping Shadrack on the back.
"Wait a minute," Isaac said, his brow furrowing. "I thought you two just went to pick up the last of the cleaning materials?"
"Yes, that's true," Shadrack replied.
"Then where did this come from?" Isaac added, genuinely puzzled, sending the entire room into laughter at his expense.
"Why aren't you happy for them?" Christabel asked, turning to Francis who had been sitting silently in the corner, simply observing.
"Ah, nah I just genuinely don't know what to say," Francis replied, placing his hand on his forehead with a bewildered look.
Just as the mood began to lift and the room edged toward something resembling celebration, the sound of the school's main gates grinding open cut through the air and in the blink of an eye every student in the room had grabbed their weapon. Axes were raised, stances were taken and the joyful atmosphere evaporated instantly, replaced by something tense and razor sharp.as they prepared to confront what confront whoever had mad it into the school,a car hastily pulled into the compound and parked.
The tension in the room eased slightly, though they were still cautious, still wary, half expecting bandits to pour out. But then Thomas stepped out of the car, followed closely by the other three boys .The moment they were recognized, weapons dropped and the room erupted as everyone rushed to meet them.
As the crowd came out of the school,Thomas swiftly left the area behind and met with Isaac directly.
"Isaac, things are slowly getting out of hand," Thomas said with a serious face that meant business.
"Why Thomas,what happened out there?" Isaac asked his face filled with confusion.
"The zombies are slowly mutating. They now make smarter, faster and stronger moves and I think it's only a matter of time," Thomas explained as he slowly handed Isaac a katana.
"I see. So we have to strengthen the base's defences," Isaac said thoughtfully.
"Yes, but that aside, we brought enough food, medicines and some weapons, along with a diesel generator and fuel to be used," Thomas added, pointing to the open trunk of the car.
"Won't the noise made by the generator attract more zombies?" Isaac asked, confused.
"Just put it in the basement the one with proper ventilation and wrap thick blanket around it to absorb the noise" Thomas stated waving his hand as he turned around and started walking towards the car.
"And where do you think you're going?" Christabel said angrily, her face making it abundantly clear that she still held a deep grudge against him.
"None of your business," Thomas said as he held the door handle of the car.
"Thomas , are you leaving?" Mary asked, concerned, as everyone's attention turned to him.
It turned out that Thomas, during their expedition, had found a clue to the whereabouts of his childhood crush Veronica.
A gust of wind blew as a dark cloud blocked the moon's light and at the same moment Thomas, without looking back, got into the Mustang and dashed off before anyone could try to convince him otherwise things would get complicated. Seeing this,a large satisfied grin appeared on Richmonds face, as the thought of him having Mary all for himself surfaced
As the black mustang quickly approached the gate,out of nowhere,the ground shook violently as if an earthquake had occurred.
Then it appeared.
Seven feet of pure terror a mutated zombie unlike anything they had encountered before. Its muscles were grotesquely oversized, bulging beneath pale, cracked skin like boulders straining against a thin shell. Its eyes were pitch black not the dull, lifeless black of a regular zombie, but a deep, endless void that seemed to absorb the moonlight around it. It landed directly in front of the Mustang with a thunderous crash that cracked the concrete beneath its feet, sending a shockwave rippling across the compound.
Thomas immediately slammed the brakes. The Mustang skidded to a drifting stop just meters away.
"That's not good," Isaac muttered from the school entrance, his voice barely above a whisper as he stared at the colossal figure blocking the car.
For a moment nothing moved. The air itself seemed to hold its breath.
Then Thomas stepped out of the car his blue handle katana in hand, expression unreadable, his voice cracking through charlse walkie talkie with urgency. "Everybody battle formation! NOW!"
Despite the fear coursing through their veins, the students grabbed their katanas and poured out of the school forming a wide arc around the creature. The moonlight caught the blades, casting pale silver reflections across the compound walls.
Then it moved.
Not toward Thomas. Not toward Isaac.
It moved toward Christabel.
There was no warning. No sound. Just a blur of motion so fast it defied the size of the creature and then a sickening silence as its gigantic hand came down on her head and crushed it like a tomato with ease, shocking all the students to point of losing their footing
"Christabel was gone" matin muttered his eyes widened with fear as he watched Christabel fall but before he could react, the zombie, like a gust of wind, appeared at his side and ripped of his upper body from the lower one.
Richmond, standing at the back of the group, watched with wide eyes as his two companions Christabel, and matin fell within less than 30 seconds after the zombie's arrival and For a brief moment something flickered across his face, something that might have been shock, or even grief. But just as quickly as it appeared, it vanished, replaced by his usual cold expression as he slowly took a step back.
The realization hit everyone else like a delayed explosion. First the stillness, vomiting then the screaming. Students stumbled backward, some dropping their weapons entirely. Others simply froze, their minds refusing to process what their eyes had just witnessed.
"It's too fast for its size," Isaac said, his entire body trembling, his voice hollow.
The zombie's black eyes swept the compound slowly deliberately before locking onto Isaac. In an instant it was airborne, covering the distance between them in a single monstrous leap, crashing down directly behind him.
"NO!" Charles's voice tore through the compound as he broke into a sprint legs pumping, heart hammering knowing with every step that he wasn't going to make it in time.
Then Thomas without a moments hesitation moved.
In one fluid motion he closed the gap, swung his katana downward with perfect form, the timing precise, the angle clean, the force behind it probably enough to split stone but the blade upon connecting with the zombie's arm snapped clean in two.
Thomas stared at the broken blade in his hand. His eyes widened, and full of disbelief"Huh?" He said but before his mind could process what was going
The zombie turned to face him and smiled,a slow, deliberate smile that revealed rows of black, rotten teeth. Then it swung.
With pure instinct Thomas sensed the claws a fraction of a second before they connected and threw himself backwards but it wasn't enough. The impact sent him skidding across the compound floor, the broken katana still clutched in his fist. Before he could recover, the zombie was on him again a relentless barrage of fists and razor sharp claws raining down with the force of a wrecking ball. Thomas blocked what he could, dodged what he couldn't but each hit that landed carved deeper, left more damage, drew more blood.
He was breaking. "Darn it" Charles muttered his fist clenched as he helplessly watched Thomas fight alone while he coward fear along with the others.
Cut after cut opened across his body. His clothes hung in tatters. His breath came in ragged, wet gasps as cracked ribs ground against each other with every movement. Still he stood. Still he fought his expression never once showing fear, even as the blood dripped freely from his chin to the cracked concrete below for he knew that he had to meet Veronica at all cost.
The zombie, almost amused with Thomas' persistence, pulled back and then drove a kick into Thomas's chest with catastrophic force.
The impact like a cannon shot threw backwards through the cafeteria wall the concrete exploding outward around him and crashed into a steel cabinet at the far end of the room, bringing it and everything on it crashing down on top of him. The sound of it echoed through the entire building.
Silence.
Then the zombie turned back to the remaining students walking toward them slowly, deliberately, like a predator that had already decided the outcome. Its footsteps shook the ground with each step. Students backed away, some tripping over each other, all of them searching desperately for any last trace of courage.but then a loud
BANG was heard,
A single gunshot split the cold, silent night.
The zombie staggered backwards for one of its black eyes destroyed and a dark almost identical to crude fluid streamed down its face.
From across the ruined cafeteria, barely visible through the dust and debris, Thomas leaned against the collapsed steel cabinet battered, bleeding, his clothes destroyed, the shotgun he had taken from the mall raised in one trembling hand. Every breath was a visible effort. But his eyes were sharp. And his lips curved into something between a smirk and a grimace.
"I'm not finished with you," he said.
The zombie roared a sound so deep and resonant it rattled the windows,made the air tremble from its intensity and in a fury it turned back to Thomas, crossing the room in two massive strides. It raised its right fist above him —clenched, colossal and brought it down.
The building shook.
Dust rained from the ceiling. Cracks spiderwebbed across the floor. The shockwave knocked two students off their feet entirely.
"IT'S GOING TO KILL HIM!" Felix screamed, breaking into a run followed instantly by Charles, Francis, Kingsley and Mary, all of them sprinting toward Thomas despite their fear to try and save their comrade
But before they could engage their consciousnesses, along with those of the other students, were pulled from their bodies and taken to a completely different space.
THOMAS POV
(It hurts, too painful, how did I end up in this predicament)All these thoughts crossed my mind at once as the gigantic fist landed straight to my body. I don't remember how long I stayed on the floor as every part of my body winced with pain but as my consciousness slowly faded away, the only thing I could think aboutwas how I was unable to confess my love to Veronica and with that I lost consciousness. For a while, floated in a dark empty void with no color in sight but then unexpectedly, the scene switched to large grassy field, the sky clear with the stars visible as the moon which seemed to emanate something like energy no matter how long I watched burned in a deep, impossible crimson.
laying there on the ground, unable to move a single inch, all I could feel was indescribable pain radiating from every corner of my body like I had been run over by an eighteen wheeled truck. Twice.
It once again began getting colder. And colder. And in that moment,as the feeling like my life was beginig to slip quietly out of my hands, I began to think that death wasn't so bad as I lay in the silence that would have been torture for any normal person. But since I'm not, it was perfect. Realizing that all my problems and all my pain were finally, mercifully, no more I actually started to smile.
But then, as usual, my haunting companion Problem decided to show up like an unwanted side quest, completely unwilling to be resolved easily.
I suddenly felt my heart beat faster than normal, my body temperature spiking abnormally. It lasted only a few seconds and then disappeared again just as suddenly leaving me speechless for a moment