We were split into two groups. The group going to the cafeteria had five members, while the group heading to the nursing station had three, including me, Liora, and Jason. The rest of the fighters including Isabella went to the cafeteria. Isabella refused to stay since Victor was going with them.
With everything settled, we all headed out in our respective groups. The nursing station was a significant distance from the auditorium, and I could already see a few zombies that would pose a problem. At this stage, it was impossible to avoid them. They were crawling everywhere.
Jason wielded his katana exceptionally well, cutting down anything that came close to him. Liora was the same, except I could see that she was holding back quite a bit. She and Jason seemed equal in strength but that was far from the truth. It was because every time she dispatched a zombie, she hesitated. It was understandable since the zombies looked partially like students.
But still, a moment’s hesitation could cost her everything. That habit of hers needed to be broken. She needed to kill them without a second thought.
"You’re hesitating," I whispered as I walked beside her.
"What?"
"Your movements are sloppy and slow. You’re playing a dangerous game, Liora."
"You have no right to criticize the way I’m fighting. You would rather watch people suffer than lift a finger to help. You have no idea how hard it is having to..."
She paused and bit her lip, as if about to say something uncomfortable. Why was she like this? She was way softer than before.
"Did something happen in your class?" I asked, to which she clenched her fist and shifted her gaze uncomfortably.
I hit the nail right on the head. Something did happen.
"Tell me what happened. Maybe I can help."
"There isn’t anything you can do to help. Everything that happened, happened. It’s in the past now."
She was being stubborn. When she gets like this, it becomes a pain to convince her of anything, so I decided to leave it. At least for now. At the same time we were talking, I activated my thermal vision, and it immediately confirmed a hypothesis I had. It was something I had noticed and thought couldn’t be a coincidence. It turned out I was right. It wasn’t a coincidence.
For whatever reason, the zombies were more attracted to the persons who had awakened a system. I realized this by analyzing their movements with my thermal vision, and this was the perfect time to do so. While we were in the auditorium, all the zombies in the building were heading there. But as soon as everyone who had a system left the auditorium, they all changed direction. They had no interest in the people currently in the auditorium. Even right now, there was a herd of them slowly moving toward us.
The nursing station was on the fourth floor, just below the roof. The building didn’t have an elevator, so the only way to change floors was through the stairs. If it were to be blocked by the zombies following us then we would be trapped. I doubt Liora or Jason thought that far ahead.
"Such is fate I guess."
We slowly made our way through the school, Liora and Jason working efficiently to dispatch any zombie that crossed our path.
So far, there weren’t many since most of the zombies were on the lower floors. Soon, we arrived at the nursing station. The place was a mess, with cabinets and desks flipped over. We slowly cracked open the door to take a peek inside.
Immediately, we heard a low growl. It was the old school nurse. She had turned. Her jaw was dislocated, with blood leaking out of her mouth like a broken faucet. Her white uniform was caked in blood, and pieces of flesh littered the floor.
Liora gagged at the sight and covered her mouth. Jason visibly recoiled and clutched his katana even tighter. It wasn’t hard to piece together what had happened. It looked like after the nurse died, she turned into a zombie and disemboweled one of the students. Maybe a patient who had come in because of an illness. Whatever was left of the student was scattered on the floor.
From the fresh smell of blood and meat, I could tell that the student didn’t even get a chance to turn into a zombie. Zombies seemed to decompose faster than regular bodies, giving them a strong smell of decay. That was the reason for the strong smell of decay I noticed right after the earthquake. The moment a person dies they decompose faster and turn into a zombie. The only way they didn’t turn into a zombie was if there was nothing left of them after they died.
With a grim look on his face, Jason crept into the room and decapitated the zombie with one swing of his sword. Liora instantly let out a breath as she saw the body fall to the ground. Inside, we gathered whatever medicine and supplies were there.
I found a bag that must have belonged to the patient and placed the supplies inside it since that was my original purpose here. We took our time picking out what we needed from what we didn’t.
While we searched, I decided to take this time to talk to Liora again. She had a somber expression on her face as she read through the medicines.
"It wasn’t your fault. You aren’t to blame for what happened to your classmate," I said.
She didn’t respond; instead, she quietly placed medicine inside the bag. It was after a while that she finally said something.
"If I were stronger, I could’ve helped them. I... It was my fault. When everything happened I froze. If I didn’t I could’ve saved them."
She looked on the verge of tears, so I pulled her in and hugged her tightly. She hesitated from a bit but then slowly gave into the hug. She wrapped her arms around me and buried her face in my chest then slowly started crying.
"It’s alright. You’re already doing your best. The only thing you can do for them now is show them mercy." I whispered as I stroke the back of her hair.
"Mercy?"
"Yes, those zombies are suffering. They were once people just like us. They had families and friends. They had a future that was snatched away from them. They already had a bad death. It’s horrifying to watch them parade around as monsters."
"I... I..." She stammered, trying to get the words out but couldn’t.
"It’s ok,"
Jason saw our interaction, but the look on his face said he couldn’t care less.
With everything gathered, it was time for us to head back to the auditorium. We left the room and walked down the hall at a brisk pace toward the stairs. Liora had a newfound look of confidence on her face. But all of that evaporated when we got to the stairs.
The only way back down was blocked by a horde of zombies, seemingly too numerous to fight off with only two people. Their grotesque snarls echoed non-stop as they crept up the staircase. The only exit we had to escape. We were trapped, plain and simple.
The only other way out was through the roof, which was being circled by blood moths. I turned to Liora whose face was as pale as a ghost. Her breathing grew shallow as she thought desperately to come up with a solution.
What will you do now, Liora?