They made it safely down the corridor from the fourth floor.
But just a few steps down the stairwell, Kasumigaoka Utaha suddenly froze.
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 twisted awkwardly toward them. Her lifeless face was frozen in terror. Her chest cavity had been ripped open, blood pooled beneath her like spilled ink. A zombie crouched over the body, digging into her with its hands, stuffing chunks of flesh into its mouth.
Utaha's knees buckled, and she collapsed onto the steps. Her stomach churned violently, bile rising to her throat. She forced herself to remember 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 quietly nodded in 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. Utaha'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.
Utaha struggled 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, worried Sosuke might be planning to hurt someone. These days, young people had no limits. If someone got killed, he'd get dragged into it.
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 Utaha, standing beside him, could feel it a suffocating aura of cold, calculated aggression.
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, recalling knowledge from his previous life.
Utaha's breath caught in her throat. Even now, he was calmly analyzing the enemy.
The zombie turned, half-chewed flesh still clinging to its lips. The moment it spotted them, it 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 chaotic swings in the classroom fight, his strike was perfectly precise. A single blow sent the zombie flying.
It landed with a sickening thud, blood pooling beneath it. It didn't get back up.
He flicked the blood off the bat and strode ahead.
Utaha glanced back at the body just to make sure it wasn't moving again, then quickly caught up, 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 a surprise inspection.
The people inside had clearly drawn their attention.
But Sosuke had no intention of helping.
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 broken through yet, 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 Utaha about what he'd seen. He simply gestured for her to keep moving.
As they descended to the second floor, the stench of blood grew heavier. Torn school uniforms, severed limbs, and gore were scattered everywhere. The halls had become a living nightmare.
They moved as quietly as possible. Even the slightest sound 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.
He'd seen her just after his confession to Utaha blew up half a year ago. She was the one who had been whispering about it, the one who'd probably spread the story around school in the first place.
He hadn't cared back then.
But seeing her now, gnawing on human flesh, stirred a strange feeling in him.
He pressed himself against the corner and quietly observed the scene.
The hallway ahead was completely blocked. Forcing their way through would be suicide. He might make it, but Utaha definitely wouldn't.
If it came to that, they'd have to retreat and find another stairwell on the third floor.
Just as he was about to fall back, a loud crash echoed from the far end of the second floor.
Then came the sound of shattering glass.
Sosuke peeked out. A group of students had just burst out from one of the classrooms. Judging by the footsteps, there were quite a few of them.
"When I say go, stick close," he told Utaha.
All that noise would draw every zombie's attention.
He didn't know why they'd broken cover, but their panic would create a perfect opening.
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.
A boy's scream pierced the chaos, 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 reckless move.
Consumed by terror, he scrambled over the stair railing and jumped.
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, his legs are probably shattered."
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 prove that point, the boy's screams were abruptly cut off.
Sosuke turned to Utaha.
And with that, they sprinted down the bloodstained corridor.