427

You step past the broken glass of the observatory window and rush to the hole in the ceiling. A hatch door lies open, and dried blood dots the wooden edge.

"Jaime!" you yell with no hesitation, despite the possibility of more zombies in the area.

"Luth!" Jaime calls from above, then his head pokes through the hole. "Damn, dude, took you long enough."

A ladder slides through the ceiling, and Jaime climbs down from the roof. The cool night wind blows in with him, and you enjoy the rush of freezing air. As Jaime hops off the ladder, he turns and gives you the strongest embrace of your life. He laughs and swings you in his arms, and in that moment, you feel a powerful sense of relief.

"What happened? Where's Dillan?" he asks, pulling away from you and glancing around the room.

You now notice that his shirt is torn and blood coats his forearm, and a blood-soaked rag is wrapped around his hand. "I'll tell you the details later, but Dillan's in the hallway. He's no longer a threat. What happened to your hand?"

Jaime ignores the question and marches out of the observatory, and you follow. You can't help but eye the blood dripping from his hand and the slight twitch to his walk. Given the last few days, you can't help but look for signs of infection.

As you reach the end of the hallway, you spot Dillan struggling to rise, but he's still lying in a pool of his own blood, and all color has drained from his face.

Jaime stops a foot from the dying bandit, tears in his eyes, mouth twitching. "I told you this is how it would end," he says, staring down at Dillan. "We were safe. We had everything. The things you did, the people you hurt…what you wanted us to do. And now look at you, food for the dead."

"Jaime, we need to go," you say. You need to find Woody and the twins, escape this zombie-infested school, and get back home.

"Go ahead downstairs. I'll catch up in a minute. Somethin' I have to do first," Jaime says as he bends over and lifts Dillan's submachine gun.

Listen to Jaime and head