They walked forward, and didn't look back. Behind them was the grave of the lunch lady, Martha Miller, which disappeared from view with each step they took. It was time to move on.

They walked through the snow, shivering as the cold winds of the blizzard hit their bodies. Their bodies were cold, but their hearts were warm. Praying to the grave seemed to give them peace, rejuvenating their exhausted minds and souls. They walked further along the wall of the right-wing building until they were in front of their next destination, the auditorium.

They pushed the two large doors open, luckily, they weren't locked this time. They had encountered numerous doors in their journey, and most of them were locked. They were quite surprised when the doors didn't take much effort at all to open.

They cautiously walked inside. The room was dark. It felt eerie and dangerous. They didn't know who or what could be hiding behind the shadows, waiting for them to walk in further and ambushing them when they were vulnerable. They slowly walked in, the doors closed behind them. They couldn't leave them open, as the doors automatically close when left unattended.

They traversed through the darkness. They didn't have anything to light the way, no phones, no flashlights—they had nothing. All they could do was take out the metal rods from their backs and wield them, readying themselves for what was to come.

Suddenly, the lights opened. They could now fully see every corner, every detail of the auditorium. It was large. There were only two colors that decorated the entire room. It was fully closed off, the walls and ceiling, even the floor was white. The entrance, where they stood, was the highest point of the room since the structure of it was sort of a downward slope.

There were three groups of chairs: left, middle, right, with the side groups only having five columns and twenty rows, while the group in the center had fifteen columns and twenty rows, with each row of chairs slightly below the others, forming the downward slope.

On the opposite side of the room, at the lowest part of the auditorium, lies the stage. It was fully lit up. A large flat screen TV was displayed at the top of the stage, it looked quite expensive as this was the largest TV they had seen in person. The curtains and backdrop of the stage was black, almost no light was reflected from them, it looked like a void.

"Holy shit! Is that... food!?" yelled Caden as he pointed towards the stage. He quickly rushed down the flight of stairs and reached the stage. He climbed the steps, and he was now standing on the floor of it.

"Caden, wait!" yelled Josh as he walked down the stairs. The others followed, with Gerald and Serenity holding hands as they went down together, being cautious of their footing as falling from that height and rolling down the stairs would amount to some serious injuries.

Josef followed from the very back, with Avery in front of him. She glanced back a few times at him to see how he was doing. His head was slightly down, and his face tried not to show any emotion, but it was blindingly obvious that he was bothered by something, although he remained silent the entire time.

Caden was amazed. On the stage was a long table, and on it were a lot of things that they badly needed. There were backpacks, toiletries, walkie-talkies, flashlights, and new uniforms, but most importantly, food. There was a lot, and this time, Caden didn't think twice and ripped open a wrapper that had a yellow M sign, which signified the fast food chain that it came from. It revealed a large burger that had two layers of patties and a lot of ingredients.

"Caden, don't!" yelled Matt. But before he could even get close to Caden, he had already taken a large bite out of it.

Caden chewed while the others nervously awaited his reaction. Matt thought of the worst, he thought that the fast food wrappers were only a distraction and the actual meat was still human flesh.

"Holy shit! It's beef! It's real beef!" exclaimed Caden. He happily took another bite, and another, and another, until the large burger that was once in his hands was now reduced to crumbs on the floor from his sloppy eating.

The others watched him eat the entire burger. They were extremely hungry, and watching Caden eat the juicy, mouthwatering burger made their mouths water.

"Are you sure it's real?" asked Josh.

"Yeah, I'm sure." said Caden. "Go ahead, eat!"

Josh reached over and grabbed a sort of bucket that had red and white stripes with a face of a sophisticated man on the front. He took out the lid, and inside were eight pieces of plump chicken legs and wings. He grabbed a chicken leg and nervously bit into it. The skin was crispy, every chew gave off a satisfying crunch, while the juicy meat made his mouth smile from satisfaction.

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The others joined in. There was so much food on the table—a mountain of fast food, candies, chocolates, bentos, salads, cereal, and even drinks. It looks like it would last them a while.

Josef grabbed a chocolate bar and bit into it. It was deliciously sweet, but his face didn't say otherwise, as he was still busy thinking about his shortcomings.

Suddenly, the TV opened. It did open, but all it displayed was static, a mixture of pixels that was predominantly gray. It gave off an ear-piercing noise that forcibly grabbed everyone's attention. The volume gradually lowered until the noise couldn't be heard, but it was replaced with something else, a voice.

"Everyone, are you enjoying yourselves?" said the voice. It was distorted, it allowed them to hear what the voice was saying, but they couldn't infer who it was or even if it was a he or she.

"Are you all satisfied with the food?" the voice asked.

"Who are you!?" exclaimed Avery.

"Who else do you think I am? I am the one who sees all, I control everything and everyone, I am your final challenge, for I am the principal."

"Why are you doing this!? Are you responsible for everything!?" yelled Serenity.

"Yes. Yes, I am. The reason why I am doing this... You will find out soon."

"Why is everyone dead!?, Why are we the only ones who survived!?" exclaimed Matt.

"Some of you survived thanks to sheer luck, while some of you survived because you were needed, the others were disposed of because they simply didn't serve a purpose, they were useless to the equation."

Josef walked closer. "Then if the useless was disposed of, why am I still alive?" he asked.

The voice laughed. "It's because you are special. You are no doubt the most special individual in this entire room, no, the entire school, and even the entire world. You are in the center of this phenomenon, right next to me. You are the main piece in the puzzle, and you are the one who's going to complete it."

The others were speechless, so was Josef. He was confused, it took him a moment before he could speak again.

"Me? Why me? I haven't done a single thing to help everyone! I've only been dead weight this entire time! I couldn't even protect the one I love even when I was holding her in my arms! I'm the most useless one here! I'm weak, frail, useless, and I deserve to die with the rest of the dead students!" he yelled, while frustrated tears flooded his eyes.

The voice laughed even louder this time. " You don't know how special you are.. Josef? was it? You are indeed weak, and you may think you are useless, but that is only temporary. Don't focus on the present, try to remember your past and look forward to the future. You will be the one to change everything, you will lead this world into a new generation. You will open the.. door.. to a new era."

"Door.. what do you mean!?" Suddenly, he remembered the door from his vision. "You! Do you know something about it!? What was that door that I saw!?"

"You'll find out soon, very soon."

He was still confused.

"Anyways, let's get to today's agenda. Congratulations to everyone who has survived so far. You are the challengers. You will be the ones to face the horrors that I have created."

"What do you mean!?" exclaimed Josh.

"Don't interrupt me when I am speaking!"

Josh took a step back out of nervousness.

"Anyways. You may have encountered the virus, I suppose. You may think there's only one, but there are a few variations of it. The main virus was the one injected into all the school staff and teachers, it allows me to control them at will, and turn them into murderous fiends. The other virus, the first one, was scattered throughout the entire school, it has already invaded your brains, but don't worry, it only makes you unable to leave the school campus. And of course, I have more variations to show you in the future."

They were all shocked. They finally knew the strange phenomenon that stopped them from leaving the school. Before they could say anything, the principal continued to speak.

"During your stay here, you will face many educators along the way. Defeat all of them, pass all their tests until you reach me. Grow stronger and find out more about yourself, unearth your hidden potential and reach me. I shall give you all the answers you want to know if you succeed. Now, are you ready to accept my challenge?"

They didn't speak. As much as they wanted their questions answered, they couldn't formulate any thoughts out of shock and confusion, except for one of them. Josef was bursting with anger as he looked down on the floor, clenching his fist.

"Why was the principal toying with the lives of his students? Why am I special? What makes me superior to everyone else?" He frustratedly asked in his mind.

He didn't have a single clue as to what the potential answers could be. He wanted answers, but he could only get them if he reached the principal. It will be difficult, it will be painful, and the road ahead is filled with uncertainties. He didn't even know if he could survive in the first place, but even so, Josef was now determined. He wanted to know what was in store for him on this blood-soaked path.

He walked closer to the TV. He took out the revolver from his pocket and pointed it at the TV with a fierce expression.

"Fine, I.., we! will face you, and I promise that I will be the one to end your life! For the sake of every life you toyed with, to get revenge for every innocent soul you trampled on, we will bring you down!" yelled Josef. While pointing the revolver at the TV, he took a bite out of the chocolate bar that he held with his other hand, accepting the principal's challenge.

"Very well. Use everything that you can see on the table, it's a little gift for all of you. Wait here for three days, then head into the left-wing building where you will face the next challenges." instructed the principal. "I shall be seeing you soon, especially you, the child of darkness. I wish you the best of luck." The TV closed, leaving silence in the room.

Josef was still pointing his revolver, but this time, he noticed that he wasn't shaking as he held it, it was as steady as a rock. He retracted the revolver and looked at it, then he glanced back at his friends, who were all looking at him with confused and shocked faces. With a smile on his face, he placed the revolver back into his pocket, and cemented a promise in his head.

"This time, I will protect everyone."

Beneath the never-ending blizzard, a life-or-death battle was about to unfold.