5:01 PM.

“No response…” I muttered to myself as I pressed my phone close to my ear.

It seemed weird that my parents wouldn’t pick up my call at this time. Sure I had to take into account the riots and collisions, yet it seemed illogical to reason that a car somehow hit every cellular network line in the country.

I stood outside the meeting room, with the chatter around me finally residing with the few students from inside the council room leaving. The meeting went decently well, although some of the members were mysteriously absent.

It’d be a shame if they ran into a collision since the casualties in the recent collisions had started to rack up today by a significant amount.

Walking down the hallway, my eyes wandered to the side, noticing the room empty, the board filled with the words “Make-up Test, Japanese”. I nonetheless continued my walk down the stairs.

Once reaching the first floor, I noticed a small group of students all rushing into a classroom, their voices unanimously sounding shaky as if they’d witnessed something. Curious, I leaned close to the wall, peeking at the door. About 8 or 9 students were all huddled around the table.

“Someone get the nurse!” A voice came.

“They’re closed, you idiot! What do we do?” Another voice followed

“Do we call an ambulance Kyo-kun?” A girl backed away from the room, reaching for her phone.

At that point, I had to do something instead of just standing there. I approached the group, negotiating through the tables which had formed a tight corridor blocked off by the group of students.

Perhaps I have to try and look over the group I thought to myself.

“Someone gets a teacher!” Someone shouted amongst the group.

“Call an ambulance first, Kyo-kun. Getting a teacher is a second priority"

I motioned my hand towards the girl on the phone, her face visibly shook by what she had witnessed.

“Tanaka-kun! We have an issue" A female student turned over.

“I know. What happened to him?”

“I don’t know. I saw him fall onto the ground close to the side entrance to the school with a wound"

“Do you know how to do a tourniquet?” I reached for a first aid kit over to the side.

“I’m making one!” A girl shouted from the other side of the table.

“Good. I’ll get a teacher"

“Wait up asshole!” I felt someone grab onto my arm.

“What is it?”

I turned over, noticing a boy named Kyo.

He seemed to be physically on par with the most athletic students of this school, yet his mindless and offensive demeanor often pissed me off.

“Are you gonna run off or something?”

“You think I’m like that?”

“Do you even know where the teachers are? They probably all left by now you idiot"

“And leave us here unsupervised? No wonder why people look down on you”

“What’d ya say, you bastard?” Kyo grabbed onto my shirt.

In a situation like this, I had the urge to knock him out.

“Knock it off you two!” A male student ran over, separating both of us.

“I know what I’m doing. Go tend to your friend"

“Don’t take too long”

Running out of the hallway, a sense of unfound dread creeped into my mind. A completely foreign feeling, for me. Everything that has built up, every event I’ve witnessed. It had to be connected… somehow.

“Wait! He’s twitching! Wait wait! Hey! Are you alright?” Kyo’s voice shouted from across the room, followed by a sudden gasp of shock.

I stopped, running back inside the classroom to witness the boy extend his hand out towards Kyo, who stared at him.

“Haru-kun?”

A sudden glance at Haru's face, as he reached for Kyo, made me freeze.

Haru dug his teeth straight through Kyo’s shoulder, sending a stream of blood flying out of his shoulder. The room turned into something out of a horror movie, with Kyo wrestling with Haru across the tables around us.

“Haru-kun! What the hell are you doing?” Another student ran over towards him, pushing him towards the window and giving a corridor for the female student to run out of the classroom screaming.

“Someone stop him!” I shouted before running towards Kyo, his arm creating a considerably large puddle of blood.

“What the hell do we do!” The boy shouted as he continued to press his hand over Haru, pinning him into the corner.

“Get a table and knock him out!”

“Are you crazy? You’ll kill him!” He responded, his face looking away from Haru

Haru lurched himself towards the student’s arm, digging his teeth into his flesh.

“Agh! Dammit! Get the table!”

I crashed through the small table barricade, feeling the blunt trauma of the wooden tables despite how light they were. Staring at Haru and Kyo, I charged towards him, raising my right leg.

“Get off! Get the hell off!” The student shouted before his voice turned into screams as Haru continued to sink his teeth into his arm.

“The hell is your problem?” I shouted, shoving Haru away.

“Aagh! Dammit!” He screamed in agony as Haru recoiled, tearing a part of the skin.

“Hey! Get up!” I placed my hand over the student, dragging him away as Haru tried to reach for his leg.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Kyo screamed at Haru, kicking him straight in the face.

“Everyone get out!” I shouted towards the group of students who had cornered themselves at the other side of the room, “Move!”

While we hastily vacated the room, I slid the classroom door shut, holding onto the handle while Haru scratched his fingers over the door. I backed away, pushing the front door away as well.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Jeez… what the hell is wrong with you…” I mumbled towards Haru, before running towards the entrance.

I hadn’t seen something like this. Some sort of corpse or body ending up into some cannibalistic predator.

Was there some sort of reason for this?

No time to think.

Rushing towards the front entrance, I hastily ignored the group of students I had met earlier, knowing that they had mixed themselves into small groups of students.

As I reached the opening, I stopped, noticing a nearby student walking inside.

“Get inside, please! There seems to be an emergency"

She continued walking down, her head still lowered. As I got closer, my eyes caught the attention of the wound over her leg paired with her hands swinging as she got closer.

Oh crap.

The student lurched forward towards me, revealing her disfigured face behind the modest hairstyle she wore. I sidestepped over, pushing the student towards the stone wall through a single kick through her arm, before reaching for my satchel.

“Get the hell back” I barked, throwing my satchel towards the gate as a way to keep my hands free from any unnecessary grabbing.

A few confused mutters came from behind me, almost as if I’d shouted a bit too loud. Yet, I knew it wasn’t the time to consider what people would think.

The student lurched towards me, two of her hands grabbing onto my school blazer. She did a quick growl, before continuing to reveal the corpse-looking face she had, only mitigated by the hairstyle and remaining makeup over her face.

This was no human.

She was slow, almost unreactive to anything around her as if she was in a trance similar to Haru. I could’ve easily taken her down without any issue if it were not for whatever remaining senses she had kept her from groaning or stopping in pain.

I thrusted my palm towards the person’s shoulder, pushing her upwards and avoiding any bite towards me. Before she could even try to wrestle against my strength, I gripped my left hand over her shoulder, followed by a sweep.

As she fell on the ground, I raised my leg, almost being stopped by the restricting school pants and shoes that hindered my movement. I released my heel straight towards her face, feeling my shoe thrust dig into her head followed by a crack.

Even despite my small victory, my sense of dread continued inside of me.

I turned over, my eyes instantly widening at the sudden group of students that had started swarming the entrance from all sides. Their bodies were filled with scratches and bite marks that indicated they weren’t returning for anything good.

Screams suddenly burst across the field as more of those things started to swarm into the field. I turned over, looking at the student that I had just knocked out, noticing her struggle to reach for my legs.

I grabbed onto my satchel, sprinting through the bushes. While fleeing towards the entrance, I could hear the chaos from outside almost catching up to me.

Kyo, who lay close to the wall after his bite wound, got up, trying to extend his hand towards me with a groan under his voice.

I continued nonetheless, hearing his final screams as I continued down the first hallway entrance.

And I don’t need to explain my actions. I’m just not a hero.

Running up the stairs, I made a quick detour towards the nearby horticulture club, grabbing onto a shovel that was leaning off of the lockers, before making a run for it. In the distance, I could see several students running for their lives into the classroom.

An explosion rocked the school, making me fall face-first onto the stairs as dust started to settle onto the floor. I coughed for a moment, looking up at the stairway. Salvation laid a few flights up, yet I didn’t want to run blindly at it.

What am I thinking? Do I even have a choice at this point?

As I arrived at the rooftop door, I fiddled with the doorknob, which was completely stuck in place. Staring through the glass panes, several unknown figures were on the rooftop, their faces indistinguishable from the blurry glass texture that had covered up the door.

“Open up Wakasa-san! I know you’re out there!” I shouted through the door, almost cutting off mid-sentence as I tried to gather my breath. The figures through the window turned over, staring at the door in horror.

What the hell are you doing…

“I don’t have time! Please! Open up!”

The figures on the rooftop had slowly approached the door, yet at the same time, they had that sense of hesitation and distrust within their movement.

“Hey! I can see whoever is out there!” I backed away from the door, lurching my foot towards it with a kick. Despite the sheer amount of power I had exerted, the door remained shut.

“I’m not one of whatever they are!”

A figure approached the door, making me slow down at my banging on the door. She extended her hand towards the door, before stopping midway.

As I continued to bang on the door with desperation, I noticed a tall purple-haired figure standing close to the group, watching the door while equally paralyzed as the others on the rooftop.

“Sakura-sensei! I can see you through the window. It’s me! Ryu Tanaka!”

While banging on the door, the figure gets close to the window before unlocking it. The door swung open, making me fall over. I planted my left hand onto the ground, only making the back of my head feel the brunt of the floor.

Ow.

I opened my eyes, staring at the vast orange sky in front of me. The screams from the field were drowned out by the sound of ringing in my ears.

How foolish of me…

“Ryu-kun?” Yuki looked over at me, her voice sounding as if she had just asked me something but I only heard the last part.

“Hold on!” Sakura raised her hand towards Yuki, stopping her.

I looked up, noticing an odd collection of faces staring at me. Yuuri, Yuki, Kurumi, Sakura-sensei, and some boy from the track and field club resting on the railing.

It seemed awkward falling in front of a bunch of students, even in a desperate situation like this. Yet, the headache continued to sting at my head to the point where I couldn’t get up. Was I infected somehow?

Muffled voices followed across my ears, followed by a sudden bang as if someone else was knocking on the door.

I opened my eyes towards the door, noticing Sakura approaching it before briefly stopping herself.

“Wait…” a voice echoed through my left ear, followed by someone putting their hands over my back as if I were an elderly person.

“I’m fine…” I said, almost unable to hear my voice.

I looked over at the door that Sakura stood in front of, my ears barely able to distinguish anything due to the constant ringing. As I got back up, several hands emerged through the glass pane, all trying to reach for Sakura.

Even as I started to regain my bearings and hear the groans of the students past the door, I could already tell we weren’t safe.

Yet, I didn’t want to just rush up towards the door and try to keep them away. That’d just be suicide. Especially when I could barely distinguish what Yuki was saying while being over me.

Sakura quickly ran towards the side, pushing a nearby metal locker towards the door.

As she struggled to fight back against the tide of hands, Yuuri ran over, helping Sakura overpower the group of students. I got back up on my feet, almost falling back down close to the garden bed, before thrusting my arm towards the locker, finally ensuring that they wouldn’t be able to get through.

“Takeya-san! Push that washing machine over there”

As I gave way to Takeya who struggled to push the machine into the door, I kept my hand over the locker. If I even released my hand for a moment, there was no way this barricade could hold against 5-6 students on the other side.

“Ebisuzawa-san!” Sakura screamed, almost making me lose my hold over the locker.

I turned over, noticing the boy reaching for Kurumi’s hand. It was clear that he had already turned, yet I was foolish enough to believe he would turn this instant. I looked at the garden bed, noticing a shovel beside it.

Could I make a run for it? I thought to myself.

I can’t risk it. Even with me, it was hard to keep the locker barricade up. Even if we let the barricades do the work, there was the question of the door giving in to what seemed to be four to five students at the other side trying to reach for us.

Kurumi looked at the boy with confusion, before squealing, causing her to fall over onto the ground.

As she groaned in pain, she quickly snapped back to her senses, staring straight up at the boy. He continued to move slowly, his hand attempting to reach for Kurumi. She kicked herself away.

“Ebisuzawa-san! Run!” Sakura-sensei screamed.

Kurumi screamed, before grabbing onto the shovel I dropped on the ground. Holding onto both hands with the shovel, Kurumi continued staring at him.

Someone do something!

After what felt like an entire hour of her trying to keep her distance from what I assumed to be her boyfriend, Kurumi swung the shovel at the boy, striking immediately hitting the neck.

For a moment, there was complete and utter silence the moment the shovel landed on the boy’s neck. The boy stopped for a moment, blood coming out through the shovel and spattering into Kurumi’s face.

Kurumi pulled the shovel out of his neck, before thrusting it towards his head repeatedly before he could even get back up. With every strike into the neck, the shock of everyone else multiplied until the boy stopped.

Nobody spoke a word as Kurumi stared down at the body of what was her Senpai. Her eyes were still in shock. I felt the urge to say something, yet I felt it wasn’t the best time for me to say it now, especially with the sound of banging right behind us.