That swing landed hard.
The zombie flipped over violently from the impact, but Kitahara Sosuke didn't relax. The creature let out a few raspy groans, then, wobbling, slowly stood up again. Its twisted mouth from the bat strike didn't seem to bother it at all.
"It's still alive! She's not dead!" Koga shrieked in horror. The others in the classroom were just as panicked, none daring to step forward.
"Keep it down. You trying to bring more of these freaks here?" Sosuke shot him a fierce glare, and Koga immediately clamped his hands over his mouth, frantically shaking his head.
The zombie lunged again.
This time, Sosuke was ready. He swung the bat again with full force, aiming straight for the head.
Crack!
The bat slammed into the zombie's skull. Blood splattered in all directions as the rotting stench burst out from the blow, an odor Sosuke was all too familiar with. Even though Matsuda Yuko had only just turned, that unique scent of death was already there.
The zombie's skull split open. It collapsed limply to the ground.
This time, it was really dead.
"Finally…" Koga slid down to the floor by the classroom door, exhaling deeply, his whole body limp from the shock.
Kasasaka Shiko, still pale from fear, tiptoed over to Sosuke. "Kitahara, did you... kill her?"
"If I hadn't, she'd be the one killing us next," Sosuke replied casually, shaking the blood off his bat.
Shiko opened her mouth, struggling to find the words. Even though that thing was clearly not human anymore, to see someone who'd just been alive beaten to death right in front of her was something she couldn't emotionally accept. She had lived in a peaceful world until now.
After taking a few deep breaths, she looked up with determination. "If the police come, I'll testify for you. I'll say it was self-defense."
Sosuke shook his head. "I get what you're thinking, but listen... that girl was already dead before I even swung the bat."
He turned and pointed at Koga. "Hey, you. You saw what happened downstairs, right? Tell everyone what's really going on."
The other students in the room had all seen Sosuke kill someone, and his sheer presence made them too afraid to speak. No one wanted to be the one to trigger him.
But when Sosuke redirected attention to the boy by the door, everyone turned to listen. He'd been the one screaming about infection earlier, using words most of them hadn't understood.
Now, they were ready to hear what he had to say.
"Me?" Koga blinked.
At first he shook his head, but when he saw Sosuke's deepening frown, he nodded immediately. No way was he going to anger that guy.
"Honestly, I don't know everything. When we were following the crowd downstairs, some people suddenly lost their minds and started biting anyone they saw."
He pointed at the zombie corpse on the floor. "Just like what Yuko did earlier. My friend Roku... his neck got torn open, and a few seconds later he dropped dead. I was scared shitless and ran, but the hallway was packed. It was chaos. I could barely move."
His voice began to tremble as he spoke. "Then I looked back, and do you know what I saw?"
"Get to the point," Sosuke said with a dark look. "We're not here to listen to a bedtime story."
"R-right! Sorry!" Koga stammered. "Roku... he stood back up. Like, actually got up! And his eyes were this cloudy gray. Just like Yuko's. He started biting people too!"
"That's when I remembered... those survival games I used to play. This is just like them. A virus. If you get bitten, you turn. Just like that."
As he spoke, his eyes slowly shifted toward Tomioka Izumiyama.
Everyone else followed his gaze.
Just now, Izumiyama had been bitten.
"Stop it, Koga! I'm fine! It's just a little blood, that's all. I feel totally fine. My hand doesn't even hurt anymore," Izumiyama shouted. He clenched his fist to prove it, but the moment he did, more blood oozed from the wound.
That forced smile of his only made things more unsettling.
"You saw it too, Izumiyama. You were downstairs with us," Koga argued while subtly scooting further away.
"Shut up!" Izumiyama roared, eyes fixed on him like daggers.
He wanted to explain himself to everyone else, but the moment his gaze swept across the room, all the other students instinctively backed away. None of them wanted to be the next one bitten.
After all, they were just ordinary Japanese high school students. Everything happening was so far beyond what they could handle.
"Tomioka, for everyone's safety... maybe it's best if you stay over there by yourself," a boy named Nakano Shin spoke up hesitantly. A few others immediately nodded.
"Yeah, no offense, but no one really knows what's going on yet."
"There's a first aid kit in the storage room. I'll get you some bandages. Just... just stay put, okay?"
"If you really are going to turn, it'll be obvious soon enough. We'll have time to react."
One after another, everyone began offering their thoughts, their suggestions. But no one noticed that Izumiyama's jaw was clenching tighter and tighter, his face twitching, his head sinking lower.
"Fine! Fine! FINE!!"
Izumiyama suddenly burst into laughter, slowly raising his head, sweeping his eyes across the room. There was madness in his glare. Then his gaze stopped first on Sosuke, then locked onto the nearest person: Koga.
"If I'm going to turn into a monster like Yuko, then none of you bastards are getting out of this either!!"
Koga barely had time to react.
Izumiyama suddenly lunged with a roar, tackling Koga to the ground and aiming for his neck.
But Sosuke had been waiting.
He stepped forward and swung his bat in a wide arc.
Smash!
The blow hit Izumiyama square on the head. His body went limp and crashed down on top of Koga.
"Aaaaaaah!! I'm gonna die! I'm infected! I'm so screwed! Mom, I'm still a virgin!!"
Koga's panicked screams filled the room as he kicked and thrashed, trying to shove the body off him like his life depended on it.