“I’m sorry, little miss, but I don’t think we can hold on here for much longer,” the policeman said in a low voice while keeping his eyes and muzzle still on the group ahead.
“But we don’t really have anywhere else to go, do we?” Nadia muttered, fighting off her newfound desires in order to maintain the clarity of her mind.
Everyone who followed Mathew before ended up on the topmost floor of the school. Yet, by destroying all the staircases, they locked themselves out of the ability to run anywhere else.
‘Sure, it was a good idea to stop zombies from swarming us…’ Nadia thought, bitting down on her lips. ‘But now, this gaping hole only serves to remind us that we cannot escape any further.’
“That might be the case here,” the policeman whispered before taking a step forward.
“Back off!” he shouted, pulling the hammer of his gun back with his thumb.
It was a tiny threat, especially for those who didn’t really understand it. But in the era of movies, shooting games, and a general glorification of the gun, hardly anyone could fail to understand the policeman’s meaning.
“Fine, fine!” the leader of the student group finally came forward, his hands raised in the gesture of defeat. If anything, only his girlfriend still cuddling herself into the man’s raised arm made him look strange.
Once ahead of the entire pack, the burly young man brought his hands to the sides as if he wanted to embrace the air ahead in a bear-hug. Yet, rather than going forward, he pushed backward instead, using his spread-out arms to force the rest of his group along.
Strangely enough, though, he didn’t seem to be perturbed by the death of one of his classmates just now.
“We backed off. Are you happy?” the young man shouted over, alternating his eyes between the old officer in the middle of the room and the other policeman by Nadia’s side.
“Back off,” the younger officer repeated his words.
‘Huh?’ Nadia shrugged a little when she raised her eyes and noticed a small peculiarity.
The officer’s hands… were sweating.
‘He sure knows how to put on a bravado,’ Nadia thought, her facial muscles tensing up.
Sure, his understanding of tactics against mob might be great, but…
‘Compared to his senior, he is an amateur,’ Nadia thought, sending a quick glance at the other officer.
“Peter!” the policeman shouted over. “Get the supplies and head for the nearest staircase!”
The sound of the old man’s voice filled the floor. And for different people, this message bore different meanings.
For the students that wished to do away with the police supervision, it was a dream come true. Since officers wished to retreat without a fight, there was no use and any real point in stopping them from doing so.
Yet, the supplies thingy…
Given the current state of the world, it was debatable whether getting rid of the police was worth the cost of then snatching the precious little resources the group had!
‘What’s the reason for this move?’ She racked her brains, desperately attempting to see through the strategy of the senior officer. ‘Weren’t all the stairs blown up?’
For the policemen, retreating was likely the only option. They saw the hell and the bottom floor. They saw the hell that nearly reached them all the way up there.
But contrary to what one could expect, it wasn’t the zombies that were the greatest threat to them.
It was the unruly students.
The situation right now proved it. Sure, they managed to handle it so far, and it appeared as if a single shot was enough to convince the young ones about the futility of their attempts…
But it was only a matter of time before the shock of what happened would pass. And in a world ruled by an apocalypse, people would strive to grow more and more resistant to the sight of death, indicating the officers had only a little time.
Because once the push would come to shove, they barely had enough bullets for the first wave of the students. If anything were to happen, if either of them were to fall to an ambush…
“We need to run right now,” the younger officer whispered, his forehead sweating just as much as his hands. “The stalemate will crack any second now,” he warned. The officer then rubbed his fingers against the handle of his gun, shaving away the slick sweat to ensure his grip.
“Excuse me…” a voice from behind felt like a hammer for Nadia.
She was so focused on the events ahead that she didn’t pay even the slightest attention to what was on her back!
‘Fuck!’ Nadia cursed under her breath, rapidly turning her head around. “It’s on me!” she uttered on half of a breath, hoping to stop the officer from looking to the back as well.
But it was too late.
“KILL!”
This time, the students didn’t hesitate.
With the younger of the officers no longer paying close attention, they only had the older of the two to be worried about.
‘Too quick,’ Nadia thought, looking at the face of the remarkably cute student and likely her boyfriend that approached her. Even though she moved her eyes away, she could somehow sense the events happening in the back of her head.
The students rushed forward, all eager to get the situation over with.
The other officer raised his hand.
Nadia could see it clearly despite not looking, as if the rushing blood in the officer’s veins produced some sort of information that the girl’s subconsciousness could somehow process.
‘I can’t see the gun,’ Nadia thought, realizing the limits of her strange, new ability.
BANG!
The officer fired his first shot.
Alerted by the exploding sound, the younger of the two turned his attention back to the fight, fixing his grip and raising his muzzle back towards his desired target…
And then, he simply stood in place, watching how four more students fell to the ground, only for the rest of the group to tear the older officer apart.
“I’m sorry…” The officer’s face turned into a snotty mess. Tears appeared in his eyes. And yet, all he could do was utter the words of apology with his trembling lips.
“Move!” Nadia shouted, some sort of force pushing her into action. She reached out and grabbed the two that approached them. She then squeezed out her thigh, sending a kick towards the officer’s butt.
‘What’s happening!?’ Naida screamed out in her mind, her eyes widening beyond their healthy limits as shock filled every last nook and cranny of her soul.
Yet, her lips moved again, uttering a quick, simple shout.
“MOVE!”