Susan knew healing Jenny had cost her severely. She’d know it as she was pouring her soul into the light, the rainbows twisting and spiraling and encasing Jenny before seeping into her skin. She’d been squeezing Jenny’s heart, and she swore she could still feel her fingers wrapped around it, desperately trying to keep her best friend alive.

And she dreaded to think what might've happened if she hadn't increased her stamina before finding Jenny. Susan kept replaying that moment in her head. Those empty eyes. The gruesome holes in Jenny's side and leg. Her teeth missing, and those desperate pained whispers as she begged Susan to leave her to die.

Jenny's transformation, and the look on her face when she'd dragged the Wretched Angels over for Susan to butcher. What was her best friend turning into?

Susan felt like she was walking underwater. Like her feet each weighed a ton. Her muscles burned from the effort as she followed Mrs. Monique through the heavy blue door, exiting the ruined physics wing, away from Jenny. The babies scurried through.

Pressure accumulated on her eyeballs. It hurt to blink. It hurt to turn her head and look at anything. She was thirsty and hungry and exhausted all at once; all she wanted was to climb into a comfy bed, rest her head on a pillow and pull the blankets over her face. She didn't care how filthy she was. She just wanted to sleep.

Hell, she could lie down in this section of the hallway. It was a small open space that the Muslim Student Association club used for prayers sometimes, a part of the school that was often forgotten. On the opposite end was an emergency exit, and to their right was the stairwell. There weren’t any bodies here, but the walls and the door were stained with bloody handprints and smears.

The orange potion Jenny had made seemed to help. Susan dismissed the notification and drank it, not caring what it was, only that Jenny had made it for her. It tasted sweet and warm and delicious, and Susan almost wished she'd kept the empty flask just to sniff it. But it had restored her strength to some degree. Her heart had steadied. Her body felt denser somehow, and breathing didn't make her head spin as much anymore. Though she was exhausted, she could at least move.

> Susan Brown

>

> Human (stage ii) (Level 10)

>

> Age: 6,870 days

>

> Stats:

>

> Power: 10 (+10)

>

> Durability: 10 (+10)

>

> Stamina: 30 (+10)

>

> Agility: 11 (+10)

>

> Stat points available: (0)

>

> Energy Available: (182)

She could walk without leaning on Mrs. Monique. Which was better than being a complete burden. And it gave them more of a fighting chance if they ran into anything.

While the boosted stats felt somewhat good, there was a notification alerting her that it would be temporary. She didn’t care. Even with the potion warm in her belly, she was still exhausted. But at least she was a little bit stronger, so that in a worst-case scenario, she wouldn’t be totally helpless.

She hated having to separate from Jenny again. She kept seeing Jenny near death, eyes completely white, bleeding all over, buried under a pile of angels. Over and over, the thoughts attacked her, and she had to remind herself that she'd saved her best friend.

But Jenny was... Jenny was...

Susan couldn’t understand what Jenny was. She'd only just begun to get a grip on their situation, the flesh-hungry angels, the school ripped away from the world, and all her dead friends and teachers. But now even the dead were assaulting them? The other students were up and foaming at the mouth and trying to kill them too?

This was too much. Too much. She should still be with her best friend. Should still have her back. Why was she running away and leaving Jenny to fight them all alone?

"Third floor," whispered Mrs. Monique from ahead. She'd taken the lead once they entered the stairwell. She took each step slowly and carefully, as though the stairwell might crack open at any moment like an egg and drop them into the basement below.

That was where that monstrous thing Jenny described was waiting. Echoes of hissing and screams rose from the stairs leading to the basement, and Susan tried her best to ignore them. But her heart was beating so loudly. Surely that Desecrated Angel or whatever could hear it too?

She focused for a moment on the babies, pausing halfway up the stairwell to catch her breath. They were freaking her out less and less, and Jenny had been the one to ask them to protect her. Somehow that made her feel better. She remembered the fierce determination on Jenny's healed face.

Okay, she told herself. She had a job to do now. Find Miriam and get her to the library. If Miriam was still alright. Susan didn't want to delude herself.

Miriam always seemed sickly and out of it. For a while, Susan thought Miriam was a snob who pretended like she was better than everyone else, but then realized the poor girl was so used to being picked on and harassed, that she preferred to keep to herself. Which Susan felt sorry for. But still, it was a miracle Miriam was alive. Maybe Jenny found her and kept her safe.

Or maybe Miriam had gotten really strong somehow? Anything was possible with this system in their heads. But then why wasn't Miriam with Jenny or the others? Susan hoped the girl wasn't injured or anything.

She thought about Oliver and his legs. The stumps swinging as the larger boy carried him. She sighed, grabbing the guardrail and pulling herself up. She was too weak. She wouldn't be able to heal anyone else for a while no matter how much she wanted to. She tried to focus and bring out her light again.

But the most she managed was a tiny sparkle, a little tease of a glow that tickled at the tip of her nose and across her teeth, and she knew she was completely burnt out.

The babies seemed to notice her discomfort. One touched her hand, and she almost flicked her cattle prod on. They were tiny. Like little toddlers, but caked in so much dust and dried blood they looked like little monsters. She remembered them moving through the rubble and how they seemed indestructible. Nothing hurt them. She’d seen one bounce off an exposed metal rod without injury. She wondered if that was a biological thing. A natural defense mechanism for infant angels.

Roughly a dozen of them accompanied her. She wasn't sure about the exact count. They kept moving. They waddled up on all fours, climbing quickly and then waiting for her to catch up. Most of them led the way. Two of them held back and stayed right beside Susan. Three or four of them stayed further behind, bringing up the rear.

Angel babies, she kept thinking. Why weren't they trying to eat her? Would they grow into Tarnished Angels?

Somehow that didn't make sense, and she thought about the angel in the library. About how its pupil had shown up and how all these babies had pupils. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

And why were they listening to Jenny? They'd seemed strangely attached to her. Was that because of what Jenny had done? Were they her babies?

No way. That was an insane thought, even considering how insane everything was. But she couldn't help but remember how that red stuff had burst out of Jenny's navel the same way the angel in the library had transformed into a Wretched Angel.

"Fuck," she whispered, and Mrs. Monique rushed back.

"Do you need to rest?"

Susan looked into Mrs. Monique's one eye and knew the librarian was only asking out of sympathy. She must look terrible. She shook her head. It was clear Mrs. Monique wanted to continue as quickly as possible, and Susan couldn't blame her. They don't want to get stuck in a tight stairwell if something strong attacked.

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As soon as Mrs. Monique turned away, the babies screeched and rushed ahead. Then they heard footsteps. Lumbering heavy footsteps and thuds.

One of the babies beside Susan gurgled softly. Mrs. Monique clicked on her flashlight and turned the corner, the sudden light surprisingly bright. Mrs. Monique swore under her breath.

The wails that echoed down the stairwell were much worse than the hissing and screeching of angels. Because at least the angels were living things. The bodies of the other students and teachers? Their eyes glowing blue. The familiar faces she’d seen every day for years... that was a horror she couldn’t wrap her thoughts around. How was she supposed to face that?

Mrs. Monique passed her the flashlight and then rushed ahead with the babies. The sounds of violence echoed all over the stairwell, and Susan squeezed the flashlight and her cattle prod tight. It was like they were all Jenny. Beyond dead. Their bodies torn and falling apart. Driven forward by some desire that made no sense. No notifications. No levels. No way to discern them other than their blue eyes.They were actual zombies.

Susan climbed and turned the corner to see Mrs. Monique spear a student through the throat. A boy. Probably a year or two younger than her. His face was already torn, his cheek flapping as he struggled. He clutched the spear feebly, blood gushing down his chin. The blue glow faded from his eyes and he went limp.

The babies dragged the next person down, an adult that Susan didn't recognize, and they bit through their neck. Susan flashed back to seeing Mrs. Rivera get chewed up in front of her.

She felt useless as they worked their way up the stairwell. Susan kept the flashlight ready in case an angel appeared. Her cattle prod on if anything got passed Mrs. Monique or the babies. They passed by the second-floor door, and Susan couldn't bring herself to look through the shattered window. They continued climbing.

They ran into four more students and another teacher, a large woman who Susan recognized as the new assistant principal for the Biology Department. She’d only started this year, and Susan didn’t remember her name. She’d been wearing a suit, but an angel had ripped through her chest and her neck.

Mrs. Monique gutted the sobbing woman, swiping the sharp end of the spear horizontally. The former assistant principal screamed in pain as her stomach split open. Glistening intestines spilled out, and she was still trying to grab Mrs. Monique who struck her again.

The woman stumbled backward until her head smacked against the wall. Clutching her sides and gasping for air, crying, she slumped down. Her intestines spilled over her thighs. The blue glow faded from her eyes and she lay still. Susan thought the assistant principal had a kind face that was once rosy and full of life.

She knew it was pointless to feel guilty. They were already dead, but their screaming sounded too real. Their pain seemed too real. And if she could just use Valescent Light, she was sure they'd knock out instantly. That's what happened with the angels on top of Jenny, and she didn't want them to feel any more pain. She especially hated their screaming as the babies chewed and ripped them apart, and she cringed at the sounds of the babies chewing and swallowing. She’d almost forgotten they were monstrous.

When they climbed the final flight of stairs, Susan almost slipped on blood and trying not to look at the girl who Mrs. Monique silenced with a thrust through the heart, her breath caught in her throat.

Right next to the doorway leading into the biology wing, a body dragged itself across the floor. And Susan had to scream for the babies to stop just as they were about to set upon the boy. Just as Mrs. Monique wrenched her spear free and was about to attack as well.

Miraculously, the babies listened. They tripped and scrambled and one of them rolled into the boy on the floor then scampered away. Mrs. Monique held her breath, looking ready to strike, and Susan placed the flashlight on the floor.

The boy's eyes were glowing. His long brown hair, the hair Susan had stroked out of his eyes so many times, covered his face. His muscular build clearly visible through his torn and stained varsity jacket. A chunk of flesh was missing from his shoulder. His legs were chewed up in a nasty way, to the point she swore she could see his bones. His thighs were shredded to bits.

He clearly couldn't stand, and he was trying to move forward on his arms, leaving behind a trail of glistening blood. One of his arms was bent the wrong way, the muscle of his forearm flapping against the floor. His other hand had no fingers. It was Kevin, and he was sobbing.

Mrs. Monique said something franticly, but Susan wasn't listening. Her feet moved on their own, bringing her closer to Kevin. She clicked on her cattle prod. The static buzzing snapped soothingly in her hand. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do. But she kept thinking about that angel in the library, kept wondering if people were trapped inside these undead bodies. Maybe she was just hoping. Maybe she was just stupid. But she was going to try.

This was the stairwell that she and Kevin used to sneak off to during free periods together. Where they'd hold each other and he'd whisper in her ear and his lips would find hers. He'd been so warm and confident and comforting...

This must've been where he and Leslie were hanging out when the survival challenge started, and she tried not to picture them together. Tried not to picture Leslie letting him feel her up.

The babies watched her curiously. Mrs. Monique touched her shoulder, but Susan dropped to her knees in front of Kevin, staring into his glowing blue eyes as he lifted his chin off the floor. His eyes were supposed to be brown and soft.

She felt the tickle in her belly as she prepared to send electricity through the prod. It wasn't the same pull she felt with Valescent Light. This seemed to draw on her stamina only, but she knew she couldn't overdo it. Passing out here would be even stupider than what she was about to do.

“I don’t think it works like that,” said Mrs. Monique softly.

“What if it does?” whispered Susan. “What if I can bring him back?” But she was speaking mostly to herself. She’d already made up her mind about trying.

Dumb thoughts kept surfacing. How she insisted on waiting till graduation before they got intimate. How she thought she might've loved him. How she hated the perverted jokes he and his friends would make about Jenny and other girls. How she was stupid for thinking he was the best guy ever because he'd been sweet to her.

How she was stupid because all she ever wanted was to be held and told she was loved.

She jammed her cattle prod into one of his glowing blue eyes. It burst, and he screamed, and she was pretty sure she screamed too. Liquid rushed down his cheek, and there was a squelch, and the prod slipped deeper inside his skull until she felt a rubbery resistance and let loose.

Lightning burst from the back of Kevin's head, frying his hair and striking the wall. Blue bolts flashed and crackled and sent shadows dancing all over the stairwell, and Susan stopped screaming as Kevin jerked and convulsed. She held on until she knew she'd collapse, trying to pour as much as she could into the attack, hoping beyond any reasonable amount of hope for another miracle. Maybe she could save others too. Maybe nobody else had to actually die and suffer.

Just before she passed out, she released her attack and let go of the cattle prod, and the lightning stopped. The stairwell darkened. Burnt hair and flesh stung Susan's nose. She was breathing hard, staring, trying not to cry. Kevin had gone rigid, his head still in the air, his back arched.

The blue light faded from his remaining eye. It was brown again. He blinked, and for a second it seemed like he was about to say something. His eye widened; Susan's prod was still buried in the other socket. His lips twitched. Tears and the mess of his ruined eye ran down his cheeks.

Mrs. Monique gasped, stepping forward to help and Susan was just about to touch his face when Kevin collapsed. He hit the floor with a terrible bang, hammering the cattle prod deeper through his brain, and went still. No notification had come up at all. The stairwell was as silent as death.

Susan bit her lip. She'd expected as much. She raised his head, thinking how this would now be the last time she'd ever hold his head, and she held him by the forehead as she wrenched her cattle prod free. It was glistening and gooey, and his other eye seemed to follow her, but it was a trick of the flashlight. He was dead. And there really was nothing she could do about it.

"I'm sorry," whispered Mrs. Monique who helped her stand.

Susan shook her head. At least she knew for sure now. Whatever these undead things were, they were completely gone. There was no way to bring them back. A hollow sadness settled in her chest. Somehow this would all end, and everyone she once knew and cared about would be dead... if she didn’t die as well. There was no point in mourning anyone yet. For now, she had to survive. Then she could mourn.

The babies left Kevin's body alone, and Mrs. Monique held the door open into the third floor. The veil seemed thicker somehow, swirling like mist. An eerie quiet hung over their heads. The flashlight beamed around, revealing bloody stains and chunks of flesh and limbs. There weren't any more bodies, and they quickly moved down the hall, expecting something to burst out of the bio labs any second. Susan’s breathing grew increasingly ragged, and she was worried now that the potion would run out and she’d collapse. But she didn’t make a sound. She marched forward.

Every once in a while, she thought she saw movement in the corner of her eyes, but it was the light bouncing off one of the babies. One of them picked up an arm and chewed the torn fleshy end, the fingers dragging on the floor. Susan asked it not to, and its eyes widened before it stopped sucking. Then it dropped the arm and waddled ahead.

Anxiety filled Susan's chest. Something felt off in a way she couldn’t quite explain. This was the floor Jenny and Susan had started on, on the other side of the building. She was trying not to think about Kevin, trying to think about Jenny, and trying to focus on crossing to the other stairwell and getting downstairs to find Miriam.

At the end of this hallway, Mrs. Monique slowly pushed one of the double doors open with her shoulder and froze. "Something's moving out there," she said in a hushed tone. She’d pointed the flashlight at the floor, but slowly she raised it.

With the door open, Susan thought she heard wind shushing through the halls. She strained to listen. The babies quieted as well, and then she heard what sounded like a faint wail. Followed by whimpering.

“Fuck,” spat Mrs. Monique.

Susan stepped past the librarian to get a better look. A bubble of green light shimmered on the other end of the hall, near the stairwell they'd planned on taking down to the chemistry wing. It was right in front of the music room. The green light seemed to collapse and expand, as though constantly being generated and absorbed. Susan had to squint to see properly, but she saw someone in the midst of that bubble. When the green light faded for a moment, she recognized the pink helmet. The one she’d given Jenny.

She was sure of it. How many other pink helmets could there be in the building right now? It was on a girl's head. A girl wearing a denim shirt. She was on all fours, hunched over a body and... It looked like she was feeding. A notification burst through Susan's thoughts as she grabbed the door for balance:

> Human (Level 16) (stage ii)