They had made it safely down the corridor from the fourth floor.
But just a few steps down the stairwell, Kasasaka Shiko suddenly froze.
"Kitahara…"
She clamped her hand over her mouth, her entire body trembling.
Lying on her back in the hallway of the third floor was a girl in a school uniform, her head tilted awkwardly toward them. Her lifeless face was frozen in a look of terror. Her chest cavity had been ripped open, blood pooled beneath her like a burst ink sac. A zombie crouched over the body, digging into her with its hands, stuffing chunks of flesh into its mouth.
Shiko's knees buckled, and she collapsed onto the steps. Her stomach churned violently, bile rising to her throat. She tried to suppress the urge to vomit, remembering Kitahara Sosuke's warning not to make noise. Clutching her mouth, she fought it back with sheer willpower until tears welled up in her eyes.
Sosuke saw it all and nodded with quiet approval.
Most people would break down completely in the face of such hellish horror. The mind might resist, but the body had its own instinctive reactions. Shiko's initial response was normal, but the speed at which she regained control said something else she was adapting.
"You good? If so, get up quickly."
Sosuke gripped his bat tightly. "Listen carefully. Whatever happens, never fall in front of a zombie. You'll die horribly."
He raised the bat and peeled off its sheath. The cover slid off smoothly with minimal noise, revealing the full weapon underneath.
Shiko got to her feet and noticed something strange. "Huh? Kitahara, your bat looks… different. The head's bigger than normal."
"It's a collector's edition," he said casually.
In truth, the bat's head had been reinforced. Sosuke had convinced a hardware store owner to modify it before the outbreak. The man had refused at first, thinking Sosuke planned to hurt someone. These days, young people had no limits. If someone got killed, he'd be dragged into it too.
But after Sosuke slapped down two crisp 10,000-yen bills, the man changed his tune. Maybe the kid was just playing around.
Now, as Sosuke held the bat in both hands, his entire presence shifted.
Even Shiko, standing beside him, could feel it an overwhelming aura of aggression and cold brutality.
Five meters.
Four.
Three…
At exactly three meters, the zombie paused, as if sensing something behind it.
"Zombies can only see about three meters in daylight. They rely mostly on hearing," Sosuke whispered, repeating knowledge from his past life.
Shiko's breath caught in her throat. Even at a moment like this, he was still analyzing the enemy.
The zombie turned, half-chewed flesh still clinging to its lips. The moment it saw them, it stood and lunged, snarling with the manic excitement of a baby spotting its mother's milk.
Sosuke's expression didn't change. He stepped forward, bat raised.
This time, unlike the classroom fight, his swing was precise. A single blow sent the zombie flying.
It landed with a sickening thud, blood spreading beneath it. It didn't get back up.
"Let's move."
He flicked the blood from the bat and strode ahead.
Shiko glanced back at the body just to make sure it wasn't getting up again, then quickly followed, sticking close.
The third floor was already infested. It was only a matter of time before the fourth floor was overrun too.
As they rounded a corner, Sosuke spotted two zombies leaning against a classroom door, peering inside like nosy teachers during an unannounced inspection.
No doubt, the people inside had attracted their attention.
But Sosuke had no plans to save them.
He didn't have unlimited stamina, and he wasn't some hot-blooded fool charging at every zombie in sight.
If the undead hadn't forced their way in, that meant the door was barricaded from the inside. Those people were safe for now.
Right now, his top priority was escaping the building. Detours could get them both killed. Besides, he couldn't be sure there weren't infected among those inside.
He said nothing to Shiko about what he'd seen. Just gestured for her to keep up.
As they descended to the second floor, the air grew thick with the stench of blood. Torn school uniforms, severed limbs, and gore were scattered everywhere. The floor had already turned into a living nightmare.
They moved as quietly as possible. Even the slightest noise might alert a zombie. Sosuke had already spotted several wandering the halls. Some of the male ones had grotesquely swollen bellies, like two-hundred-kilogram sumo wrestlers.
Near the next stairwell, several zombies were hunched over fresh corpses, gorging themselves. One female zombie looked… familiar.
Sosuke narrowed his eyes. Yeah, that was her.
She was the girl he'd seen just after getting rejected by Shiko half a year ago. He had bumped into her right after the confession incident blew up around school.
Come to think of it, she was probably the one who leaked it all in the first place.
He hadn't cared much then.
But seeing her like this, gnawing on human flesh, he couldn't help feeling a bit strange.
He pressed himself against the corner and quietly observed the scene.
The hallway ahead was completely blocked. Forcing their way through was suicide. He might make it, but Shiko definitely wouldn't.
If it came to that, they'd have to turn back and find another stairwell on the third floor.
Just as he was about to retreat, a loud crash echoed from the far end of the second floor.
Then came the sound of breaking glass.
Sosuke peeked out. A group of students had just burst out from one of the classrooms. Judging by their footsteps, there were quite a few of them.
"When I say go, stick close," he told Shiko.
All that noise would draw every zombie's attention.
He didn't know what had made them break cover, but their chaos would give him a golden opportunity.
Sure enough
The zombies blocking the stairwell suddenly froze, then turned in unison like sharks catching the scent of blood. They abandoned their half-eaten meals and shuffled toward the disturbance.
"Help! Help me!"
A boy's scream rang out, shrill and desperate.
Sosuke spotted him limping into view, clutching his bleeding arm.
Judging by the blood leaking through his fingers, he'd already been bitten.
"Idiot. Shouting like that will call even more of them," Sosuke muttered.
Before the words had even left his mouth, the boy made a wild move.
Consumed by terror, he scrambled over the stair railing and jumped.
"Ahhhhhh !"
His scream tore through the air.
To everyone's horror, a few tall zombies followed suit, tumbling over the railing after him.
"He made it out," Sosuke muttered, "but the second floor's over four meters up. Even if the fall doesn't kill him, he'll probably shatter his legs."
He shook his head. The kid's panic had overridden all logic. It was the worst possible decision.
And even if he hadn't jumped, he would've died anyway.
Just as if to validate that cold truth, the boy's screams were cut off in the span of a few heartbeats.
"This is it."
Sosuke turned to Shiko.
"Now's our chance!"
And with that, they sprinted down the bloodstained corridor.