Even though there were pieces of furniture serving as a blockage on the cafeteria door, thanks to its both-way opening door he could move into the cafeteria without replacing them much. Before that, he looked inside the cafeteria from the small square windows on its door. In contrast to what he was expecting the cafeteria was filled with zombies and as chaotic as the entrance.

The tables were scattered around, upside-down or broken, and there were also corpses on the ground like the entrance, he could see some of them also belonged to the students, but the number was fewer here. Other than that, he saw that the wall looking at the street had a big hole. Zombies had gathered there and were rushing inside, and it didn’t seem like their number was getting fewer.

At the corner of the cafeteria near the hole, there were two people fighting with zombies. One of them was a man with chestnut brown hair that reached to his shoulders. He was wearing a black shirt with black jeans and overall had a plain look. Although he looked a little lean, he had a fit body.

The other was a woman with long black hair and striking green eyes on her round face. She was wearing a white shirt and black sweatpants. She was medium height and even though not very muscled she was in great shape. While the man looked like he was in his twenties, Kaan thought he was probably from the dormitory or might have come here to visit someone, the woman looked somewhere between twenty-five to thirty.

They were currently cornered by the zombies that were rushing inside from the hole. They were using one of the tables and the corpses of zombies as a wall and created only one side they had to defend. Kaan was surprised at how they could manage to stack up the corpses, but they did.

The man was on the vanguard with a sword in his hand as he was dealing with zombies and holding them back, and the woman was protecting his openings every time he attacked. They were trying to create an opening to run away from there but considering that zombies continued to fill inside to the cafeteria non-stop and the noises they caused while they dealt with zombies on their side, they would not be able to succeed at it if they didn’t have other cards in their hand to play.

Other than these two, Kaan another man on the next corner. He had short ginger hair, brown eyes, a face with a defined jawline and a trimmed beard. He was wearing a grey suit which was in a bad state with scratches on it. Overall, you could probably call him a handsome guy. He was trying to pull to the zombies on his side, but the number he was able to lure his side to his side was too small to create a significant gap between the two, zombies were just too many.

Kaan was thinking of leaving the building through the door of the cafeteria, but it seemed not worth the effort. He thought if he could help the three in any way without putting him in danger and then after deciding what to do, he moved on to the blockage and slowly opened the cafeteria door to jump inside the cafeteria. Because the noises dragged the zombies there were not many wandering around so he just simply walked past to ones standing on his way to reach the guy with the grey suit.

Even though the guy was alone, with every swing of his club he was taking one of the zombies on his path down. Kaan saw one of the zombies trying to reach from the side to the man and hit it on the leg causing it to fall to its knees and then hit it on the head to kill it. One blow was not enough so he dropped the bat until the zombie’ skull was smashed.

The man just glanced his way with a wild and weary look and after seeing Kaan taking care of the zombie he just nodded his way and continued to deal with the zombies coming to his side. He swung the club in his hand towards the zombie that was getting closer to him and tore its arm from its body and then pushed it to Kaan’s side with a kick.

'That was a good hit. He seems even stronger than I thought.'

Kaan was surprised by the suit-wearing guy's strength but quickly gathered himself and finished the job of the zombie on the ground. Then Kaan lifted his head to see that the guy, sent another zombie to the ground. Its body fell to the ground while its head was rolling on the ground.

At that point Kaan was sure that this guy had some kind of skill, maybe something works on hit, or this guy was just absurdly strong. Kaan was careful about his presence while standing next to him, ready to react if he decided to do anything stupid, but still helped him with the zombies coming to their side.

In contrast to Kaan, the man was a little bit relaxed now having a helping hand dealing with these zombies flowing inside, yet still looked worriedly at the two’s side and tried to be faster. He got a little bit closer to Kaan while they held the zombies back and tried to clear their number.

“Are you alright, are they with you?”

Kana pointed with his head and asked what he wanted to know without wasting any more time, he didn’t know how long the two had been holding the zombies back but they already looked exhausted, so they needed to be quick.

"Yes, we’ve been looking for shelter and food in here but then these damn zombies rushed in! Damn it, is there no end to these dead fuckers?!"

He said with an angry and troubled voice and fiercely swung the club and decapitate the zombie getting closer to him. Kaan saw him getting wilder and enraged as he looked at the numbers of the zombies on his friend's side not getting any lower. Kaan also looked around and evaluated their situation to see what the best action would be once again while covering the gaps of the man which increased as he got fiercer with his attacks.

"If you listen to me, I can help you to save them. But we need to be quick, okay?"

When Kaan said it, the guy looked at him with pondering eyes as if he were true to his words and if he could believe in him but then he looked at his friends and seeing that he was not able to do much, he sighed.

"What do you have in mind? I tried to cause noise to draw the zombies away, but it was not enough."

The man agreed to go with what Kaan had to offer, at worst he was just going to go all out to save her from there, whatever it took.

"Firstly, follow me."

Kaan said and fastly walked towards the counter of the cafeteria. The man was not happy that he did not get an explanation, but he followed Kaan closely, not that Kaan minded explaining what he thought, it was just not needed because it was quite simple. Also, they had to be quick or before they even could help them, they were going to die under the zombies. When they reached the counter area of the cafeteria, they saw only one zombie wandering inside.

"Let me handle it."

The suit-wearing guy said and jumped inside the counter area and Kaan quickly went to grab an intact table they could use.

The guy quickly charged at the zombie and swung the bat to its chest. With the power of the hit, the zombies caved in and crashed to the wall a few steps ahead.

Kaan began to gather silverware and plates on placed them on the table. The man had already got the idea when they moved to the counter and so he quickly went next to Kaan and helped him to gather whatever he thought could cause noise which was much in the counter area of the cafeteria. While they were busy with this task Kaan looked at the zombie’s body crashed on the wall.

'I wonder what kind of class he has that comes with a skill like this?'

Whatever it was, it was very handy in the current situation, and Kaan thought it was good to have someone around who could deal with a lot of zombies quickly. Nearly in one minute, they were able to gather a sizeable material on the table from the counter and drawers, enough for what they were going to do.

"Come on, let's head towards the corner but not too close. Let’s be careful not to drop anything."

Kaan said and both lifted the table.

“Just tell me when to stop.”

The guy said and Kaan nodded. He was lifting the table with one hand and with the other hand holding the club tightly as he was in the front. With the man’s absence, the zombies were gathered around the two and he was barely able to see two of them inside the mass of zombies, fighting and pushing them off. They didn't have much time now.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"After we drop the table, we'll run and help them to get rid of the zombies. Don't waste any time with zombies, we’ll go up as they move here and rush their side."

"Got it."

"Good, then push."

Kaan said to him and together they began to push the table to the opposite corner. The table was quite heavy because of the things on it but they did it without a problem. While they were pushing it, it already began to draw zombies.

"Now!'

Kaan shouted and then they flipped the table. The noises of metallic spoons, forks, and knives hitting the ground along with the noises of plates breaking filled the cafeteria; It had caused a higher noise than Kaan had thought.

The guy even shouted as loud as he could to add the noises and then Kaan and the suit-wearing guy quickly ran up before both of them were swarmed by the incoming zombies. As they looked at the zombies gathering, they knew that they had succeeded.

Now that this part was over Kaan looked at the corner and saw two exhausted figures. He tightly held his baseball bat and followed the suit-wearing guy to his friends. Even though they were able to lure many of the zombies there were still quite a number around them but now reaching them was going to be much easier.

Without wasting time Kaan and the man rushed towards the two, the noise was not going to hold the zombies in there much as it was not consistent. It was now time to finish the hard part and get them out of the circle of remaining zombies.

They quickly moved towards the two on the other corner, now seeing a good chance the man was moving enthusiastically towards the two as he destroyed what was on his way. As they cleared the zombies on their way two, Kaan could already see that some zombies began to walk towards them from the opposite corner, but he knew that they could leave before all of them move to this side again.

There were only eight zombies surrounding the two when there were only one or two meters left between them and Kaan. As the zombies' attention was on the two it was not going to be hard to take care of them, especially with the guy next to him one-shot them with his club.

'Yes, it'll work.'

As Kaan thought, suddenly, he felt a hand on his left arm. When he realized the zombie was behind him its other hand was already moving toward his throat.

He quickly raised the baseball bat and stooped its hand reaching to his throat but this time the zombie held the bat and tried to pull Kaan closer to him, opening his mouth with crooked and rotten teeth, ready to tear a piece of fresh meat.

'How was I not able to realise it? Was it because of this chaos?'

Kaan was stunned for a few seconds as he tried to save himself from the grab of the zombie and felt the things getting out of his hand. He kicked the leg of the zombie again and again until it was broken. With its balance off, the zombie slowly fell to the ground but on its way, he grabbed Kaan’s leg to drag him along. Without expecting this action from the zombie, and for his luck this one seemed a little stronger than others, he fell in front of the zombie.

When he was on the ground, he didn’t try to do anything. He just felt... hollow. Did something happened to him when he fell to the ground? No, he didn’t feel any pain or anything. What was he trying to do right now, why did he come here to help those three? Oh, yes, the quest and also it was good to help people and if he didn’t do anything and just passed them, it would probably haunt his thoughts.

Was it really good to help them? if he passed them without helping them, would he be bad, was this his judgement on this matter? He chuckled himself as he felt stupid thinking about this while he should try to save himself from this shitty position, he found himself in but now he just wanted to think about these, think about what he was trying to do. Yeah, surviving, wasn’t it? for the answers he is looking for, wasn’t it? Looking for the people he saw in his visions, wasn’t it?

He sighed wearily as the zombies began to crawl on him. Oh, how scary it was to be under the dead, decaying bodies coming to collect your flesh, to feel the death reaching for his soul. His mind was filled with visions of how they would react to his situation. He saw it, some of them would quickly get up but they had the power, some would decide to use one of the three as a meat shield, it was a common thing one can do to survive, spending others' life, and some would look if it was worth the hassle.

For them, they would just help people if they were worth their investments or they wouldn’t help because they just, simply, didn’t want to bother themselves, wasting their time something unworthy of their time when they could simply save lives. And the last visions were the ones who would just accept what was coming at them. How could someone possibly accept death, he would think one month ago but he saw things worse than death and sometimes death was a saviour for people.

He laughed lightly and looked at the zombie that was getting closer with a wide-open mouth, to bite into his tender flesh and tear him up to feed on his warm blood. Kaan slowly raised his hand towards its side and talked in a calm manner.

“Firebolt.”

The fire began to swirl on his hand and then fuse into a firebolt on his palm, glowing fiercely threateningly as Kaan pushed it into the zombie’s head. As the smell of burning flesh hit his nose, he kicked the zombie that was trying to crawl into his body. Repeatedly, until it let his leg go.

He raised the bat and swung it to the side of the third zombie crawling towards his side and then tried to get up while holding one of the zombies with the firebolt. He saw one of the zombies sneaking on him behind while he was trying to gout up but before he could react a club hit it hard on its head and sent it flying to the side.

Seeing that his back was covered, Kaan grunted and pushed the firebolt strongly making the zombie stagger a few steps back and then swung the bat on its already fractured skull. The impact made his skull caved in and sent him to the floor. Then, he saw the man extending his hand to help him get up, he quickly reached for it and after grabbing tightly finally on his feet again.

Now that he was in a good position, he examined the area again. He saw that the suit-wearing guy had already taken care of the zombies surrounding the two when he was on the ground and came to help him. Then his eyes fell on the swordsman, he was trying to look that he was okay, but one could clearly see he was spent and needed rest. As for the woman, she seemed in a better state than the swordsman, but she also looked but she could still go on if needed.

He then turned his eyes to the incoming zombies and the cafeteria door. Now the only thing left was passing the zombies heading their side with the effect of the noisy distraction was gone.

"Are you okay?"

Asked the suit-wearing guy as he looked at Kaan with a little bewilderment, Kaan saw that his worries were gone mostly gone now that they got the two from their trapped position.

"I’m fine but It's not over yet, let's quickly get rid of these things and get out of here.”

Kaan said with an unaffected voice as he headed towards incoming zombies. His mind was still crowded with thoughts, yet he felt so clear.

Kaan saw that the sword-wielding guy looked a little awkward being next to the couple as the suit-wearing guy talked about how worried he was and other things while she listened with a warm smile which contrasted the situation, they were in. Kaan was not very interested in it, but at least the swordsman had a light smile on his weary face while looking at the two. They cleaned up and followed the lead of the Kaan as he rushed the zombies with an indifferent, emotionless face.

The suit-wearing guy and woman whispered with each for as they headed towards the cafeteria door this time, he thought it was about him and the sword-wielding guy, but he, again, didn't pay attention that much and focused on killing the zombies standing in his way.

He still felt disconnected from himself but also as if he were reached by the many as he desired… it was strange and hard to say what was really happening because he was not sure what this really was. But with his mind in this state, he felt that his reactions were faster as were his movements as he was… them. He used the firebolt as a utility tool and the bat as his main weapon as he faced zombies.

Holding back the zombies while also burning them, which was not too effective but still doing its thing and finishing their job with the bat. But after taking three zombies down he felt that the energy of the firebolt was mostly gone, and its fire got dimmer, so he angled it towards one of the zombies on their path and then shot it towards the zombie's head. It was easier to aim than he thought but it wasn’t that fast, probably because he used it not the intended way for a while, but still stuck in its skull yet was not able to kill the zombie so Kaan swung the bat and then what remained from the firebolt pierced inside the skull, finishing the job.

When they reached the cafeteria door they quickly jumped to the entrance, Kaan and the suit-wearing guy cleared the zombies in front for safety. First was the swordsman as he was the most fatigued one and then the woman followed him behind. The suit-wearing man told Kaan the go first but Kaan, Kaan felt so… thrilled? no, not thrilled but optimised at this moment to stop now. He could see where he should attack and what was the best action as if he was an experienced warrior and wanted to kill as much as he could.

The man waited for a while but seeing that Kaan was not looking like he was going to leave first he sighed and headed towards the door. He kept an eye on the Kaan to react if something happens to him as he looked acted a little strange for a while. After Kaan saw the man leave to the entrance, he raised his baseball bat from the smashed skull of the zombie and shake it a little to clean from the substances on it.

Level up!

There was no voice or anything when he levelled up or something magically appearing before his eyes, he just knew he did.

Well, it was good news, but Kaan was not focused on it right now. He knew something was wrong with him for a while, he was himself but at the same time, he felt like he was in a trance as he acted. It was not something bad, but he didn’t like feeling… he was possessed, yes, it might be the right word here, acting like them rather than his own actions. Seeing that zombies began to swarm around him and heard them calling for him to call, he decided to not lose any more time and followed them inside the entrance.

With him inside they quickly closed the door and pushed the pieces of furniture quickly back to where they were.

When Kaan turned to look at them, he found them also looking at him.

"What are we doing now?"

The suit-wearing guy asked Kaan by coming next to him. When there was no answer coming Kaan felt they were looking at him. He looked at the entrance and then at the three and smiled lightly. It looked like he was going to move with a group at least for a while.