The Outbreak    

[Lina]

Everything was seriously wrong. Lina thought and couldn't make heads of what was happening.

First was teacher Henry acting like a crazed monster born from the most demented of her dreams. His severed arms lay motionless on its pool of blood, and desecrated flesh, together with the others' puke and mucus.

Now she was faced with another crazy scene in which two girls were wrestling each other on the floor.

As the two girls grappled in the school hallway, the woman on top held a ghastly, skeletal grip on her opponent. Her skin was a sickly pale shade as if all the life had been drained out of her. Deep, jagged scars crisscrossed her face and neck, revealing the bones beneath.

Her eyes were sunken, empty sockets that seemed to bore into your soul. Her hair hung in greasy clumps, framing her face like a curtain of death. The stench of decay emanated from her body, making the air thick and oppressive.

The other girl cried and thrashed underneath. The crazed woman's grip only tightened. Her fingers were long and bony, like the talons of a vulture, and they dug into her opponent's flesh, drawing blood.

The sight of the woman's gruesome appearance sent shivers down Lina's spine, and she was rooted on her spot, unable to move or utter a word of cry.

The girl underneath her screamed out in fear and desperation. Her face contorted with pain as she tried to push the crazed woman off of her. Her hair was disheveled and tangled, with scraps of torn clothing clinging to her body. She struggled and kicked, but the woman on top of her was too strong, her grip like a vice around her neck.

With a quick snap of her mouth, the woman on top tore a large chunk of flesh from the woman's cheek, her teeth became visible from the gaping hole.

Penny screamed so loud it woke Lina from her daze, and the crazed woman flickered her attention to Penny, the skin she tore dangling from her mouth.

The crazed woman shot to her feet, eyes on her new prey. The woman she left on the ground quickly scampered back against the wall, too shaken to get up while screaming and crying and holding her torn cheek.

"N-no! No! G-get away from me!" Penny said, voice thick with dread and fear. Her legs failed her, and she slumped on the ground, her chance of escaping utterly gone.

There was only less than a meter from her and the crazed woman. One leap, and it would be all over for her.

"Penny!" Lina shouted, urgent voice drowning in the others' screams and cries.

The crazed woman never deterred from the noises like she had seen no one but Penny and heard nothing but her prey's laborious breaths.

Penny froze in terror. A pool of hot yellow liquid wet her skirt and legs. No one had the mind to laugh at the scene as the undead woman loomed over her and plunged her wide mouth to her neck.

But just as she was about to strike, a huge and terrifying figure appeared from nowhere and snatched the undead girl away.

The woman struggled and writhed in Teacher Henry's grasp, but he held her firmly, his grip unbreakable. He let out a deep, guttural growl that reverberated through the hallway before smashing the girl's face against the wall.

The woman's head was flat on the wall, brain matters and blood painted the partition red before she slid to the ground with hollowed skull and skin crumbling around her unrecognizable face.

Lina didn't know what happened next. She was deaf to the scream and cries and blind to the chaos that was happening all around her.

The next thing she knew, Jin was onto Teacher Henry, preventing the monstrosity from entering the room by throwing punches and kicking him away from the door frame. But the big undead didn't feel anything. Not his broken arm nor Jin's punches and kicks.

Against a giant and fat man like Teacher Henry, whose head reached the edge of the frame, Jin seemed like a child.

But there was an advantage to being small. Jin was quick and slippery, holding the teacher by the door and evading his every grasp. Teacher Henry's broken arm was also to his advantage.

It always baffled Lina as to where Jin got the courage to face every danger that got in his way. Not even the gruesome face of the English teacher could deter him. He was pushing teacher Henry from the door bit by bit.

And when Lina thought he was winning, Penny went hysterical and bolted out from the door, pushing Jin towards Teacher Henry. Lina knew it was intentional so the teacher wouldn't chase her while he feasted on Jin.

Penny's plan worked. Jin tumbled, and the English Teacher caught him by the throat.

Lina blanked out.

No . . . not him . . . Lina despaired, throat dry, it hurts to breathe.

Teacher Henry's torn mouth was salivating with blood and pus, snapping at Jin. The only thing preventing him from biting a good chunk was Jin's two hands against his head, pushing the English teacher's snapping jaws away from him.

But he wouldn't last long at this rate. The girl from before with torn cheeks was jerking, her movements erratic. Her skin became ashen and clammy, and her eyes turned a sickly yellow hue.

Before it was too late, Lina found herself grabbing a chair and storming forward. Adrenaline kicking in, she plunged the four posts of the seat against teacher Henry's stomach.

The force made Lina grit her teeth, feet holding her ground when she recoiled from the impact. She felt like she was pushing a hard cushion. The solid backrest pushed back against the bone just above her breasts, not feeling them digging in from the adrenaline in her veins.

Teacher Henry let go of Jin with Lina's help.

Jin was shocked to find her again, but he didn't say anything, and instead, he pulled her and rushed inside the door, slamming it shut behind them.

They heard Mr. Henry pounding on the panel, trying to break through. The peeking glass was shaking from every slam of his fist.

They backed away from the door, and Lina really thought that the glass would shatter.

Jin hurried and tore papers from the teacher's desk and snatched a tape from its drawers. He blocked the glass panel with the papers and taped it before he did the same with the other door.

When that was over, the pounding stopped, and Lina heard heavy footsteps running in the opposite directions. There were screams and then utter silence.

Lina released the breath she held and looked at the others. Lines of horror were still fresh on their faces while none dared to make a noise for the fear of attracting those 'things' again.

As the others huddled together in fear, they could hear strange moaning and groaning sounds coming from outside. They knew that Mr. Henry wasn't the only one – there were other undead teachers and students roaming the halls.

Lina only saw this scene in movies, not imagining that it would really happen one day.

But here they were.

"Thank you."

Lina heard someone say and was shocked that it was Jin. His face was covered in sweat, and his expression was cold, but there was a certain warmth in his voice when he spoke to her.

Lina shook her head. It should be her thanking him. Without his fast reaction to the situation, teacher Henry and the other undead would have entered their room, and who knows what fate befall them if that happened.

What Jin did was bought them time to assist their situation and figure out what was going on.

But instead of words of thanks, Lina's stomach churned. All the memories came back to her in waves, and when the adrenaline stopped, acid roiled in her throat, and she puked over at Jin's shirt.

Lina gasped. Liquid and chunks of breakfast poured out from her mouth. When the hurling stopped, she hurriedly wiped her lips and stared at Jin with teary eyes.

"I'm sorry–!" Another wave of disgust twisted Lina's stomach, and she raced to the window and puked her guts out.

When she recovered, she was weak all over and catching her breath. Jin was beside her, his shirt gone from his body, exposing his bare chest and the lean lines of muscles on his stomach.

Lina wanted to apologize but felt like crying instead. Crying of embarrassment and exhaustion.

There was no sign of revulsion on Jin's face. Instead, he even offered her his shirt.

"It soiled but . . . there is a cleaner part," he told her, face serious. The only betrayal in his expression was the tinge of embarrassment in his tone.

"T-thanks . . ." Lina didn't know what else to say and what else to do but accept his shirt.

Her face twisted in agony when she picked up his clothe, and the shirt fell to the ground.

"What's wrong?" Jin asked, strangely worried.

Lina didn't reply and, instead, opened a few buttons of her uniform and exposed the bruise on the skin above her breasts. The edge of the chair made a print on her flesh, red and turning purple.

Jin opened his mouth to say something but stopped when they heard sudden noises outside.

The sound drew the students to look out of the third-floor French window. The fire and smoke spread through the city miles away.

They heard the eerie wailing in the distance – it was an unnerving sound that made their hair stand on end. It was the sound of the undead, moaning and groaning as they roamed the streets in search of flesh to feast.

Sirens blared through the air as ambulances and police cars raced through the streets, their lights flashing wildly.

Explosions were heard in the distance, followed by bright flashes of light that illuminated the orange sky. The fires had started, and they were spreading quickly, engulfing entire buildings in flames in the distance. Smoke billowed up into the air, creating a thick haze that obscured the view.

Everyone was terrified.

As they watched in horror, they saw people running through the campus, screaming in terror as the undead chased after them. It was a nightmare that came true.

It was a bleak and frightening scene outside, and Lina knew that their lives would never be the same again.

She snatched her phone from her table and didn't have time to check her messages. She went to the news directly. Jin behind her in a heartbeat.

Lina saw and heard on the news what she already feared she knew. Undead. Chaos. Explosions. Survival. And then nothing. The signal was dead, and she knew that they were trapped in the school and cut off from the rest of the world.