The One Who Got Away    

[Shizu]

Trash littered the hallway of the school, discarded papers and empty soda cans scattered about, forgotten in the chaos of the struggle.

The fluorescent lights overhead flickered and buzzed, casting an eerie glow over the gruesome scene in the canteen. It was a terrifying sight, one that would haunt the school for years to come.

Shizu was hiding inside the steel cabinets, eyes peeking through the small gap. She was curled inside, didn't dare to close that small gaping slit, afraid the noise of the hinges would give her location and the man-eating the serving staff meters from her would come to her next.

W-what's going on? What's happening? Shizu was so lost. She left her phone inside her bag back in the classroom. She couldn't ask for help nor know what was going on.

One minute she was lining up to pay for the drinks Kelly and the others ordered her. The next thing she knew, there were screams, cries, and

. . . and zombies?

Zombies were supposed to be stuff for horror movies. Bedtime stories used to tell to naughty children at night. They were the stuff of fantasy . . . but here they were, roaming the cafeteria for food.

"I must be dreaming," Shizu heard herself say in a small thin voice.

Her breath caught in her throat when a woman stumbled near from where she was hiding. An undead man was unto her in a heartbeat. His hair was the color of corn, his fat face sunburnt and peeling. Skin that burst and blackened, his eyes that ran like liquid down his cheeks. His cracked skin oozed fluid, and fearsome blood blisters rose from his arms.

Shizu's bowels had turned to water. Fear filled her gut like a meal she could not digest. Her voice had abandoned her. She groped for words that did not come.

The girl underneath the undead man began to scream, a high wordless scream of a human facing death. She kicked and twisted, whimpered like a dog, and wailed like a child. The sound she made when the zombie tore out her guts was like nothing human.

Her feet hammered a frantic beat against the dirty floor, slowed, and then stopped. Her eyes then found hers. She looked at her with desperate hope.

Shizu felt a sudden chill, and gooseflesh pimpled her bare arms that, made her flesh crawl. She armored her heart against the mute appeal in the woman's eyes. She brushed away unfallen tears with the back of her hands before she pushed her hands against her lips to seal her mouth.

The bitter taste of bile was in her throat. If she gagged now, the undead man would surely know, and that would be her death.

Teary eyes, Shizu swallowed back the bitter acid again and again while closing her eyes shut. She concentrated on her breathing. 'Inhale, exhale, don't look. Inhale, exhale, don't look,' she repeated like a mantra inside her head.

Staring would only make her puke – worse, she might fell unconscious and opened her eyes to a scene of being eaten by those monsters.

It was dark and hot inside the cabinet. Shizu felt like she was roasting inside, but she didn't dare to move to ease her discomfort. She curled there, silent and unmoving like a corpse.

Not until the screams and cries and marching of feet receded did she open her eyes. By then, she felt like she had taken a bath in her sweat. Her clothes were so wet she pinched water off them. Her hair was sticky and clinging to her face while her body was burning. She was getting delirious from the heat.

Her skin was visibly red and flushed. When she scratched the itch, her nails scraped some layers of her skin like they were melting. Salty sweat tickled on her raw wound and she gasped.

Tears filled Shizu's eyes, and she bit her lower lip tight to push back the scream of the burning pain. Her skin was so hot, and it was itchy. She saw some patches of blisters on her arm from the light slipping through the small gap.

The blisters were so itchy she wanted to scratch them or slap them to stop that prickling sensation.

It took all of Shizu's willpower to stop herself. She pulled her handkerchief from the pocket of her skirt and tied it tightly around her bleeding arm. It didn't stop the itch, but it lessened somewhat.

Exhausted and uncomfortable, Shizu's throat was so parched. The drinks she bought for Jennie and the others were very enticing. Saliva watered her mouth.

She didn't know that she carried them with her when she hid in the cabinet. But she was thankful that she did. Her throat was screaming to drink it, but the fear lingering in her heart told her otherwise.

If Jennie found out that she drank it . . . but . . . Shizu stopped and thought . . . 'maybe they were eaten already.'

Shizu smiled despite herself. She liked that prospect very much. She snatched the strawberry milk, popped the straw over its cart, and drank it all in one sip. The smooth water gliding in her throat was a relief like hot water poured over an itch.

The prickling sensation on her arms also stopped, but the fear lingered. Besides that, she recovered a bit of her pride when she defied Jennie by drinking her milk. And now she would defy the others by consuming their drinks.

Shizu smiled with tears in her eyes.

Despite everything, Shizu didn't dare go out. No. She wouldn't. Nothing could make her go out of her hiding spot.

Nothing.

A low growl made Shizu fling her eyes open, and her gaze went to the gap in the cabinet door without her control. She found her lying there, in her pool of blood, bloodshot eyes fixed on her. Her body was torn in half, flimsy spine connecting what was left of her lower half and torso.

Shizu didn't dare to breathe. The cold fear of death gripped her throat.

'She's dead. She can't see me. She can't hurt me. She's dead. She's dead.' Shizu wanted to believe that she was, and then the woman blinked, and her mouth curved in a smile that went up to her ears.

Shizu gasped. Her fingers were quick to seal her mouth. A hobbit that she had grown accustomed to ever since Jennie and her gang bullied her. Jennie didn't like it if she screamed or attracted anyone's attention. Who knew that it would save her now . . . somewhat.

The girl that was supposed to be dead tried to get up, snapping her mouth at her. Shizu watched in horror when the woman rolled to the side in wild abandon, shattering her spine, breaking her bones to break free from her useless legs, and crawled to her, jaws snapping wildly.

Shizu couldn't hold the scream after that. She kicked the cabinet door open and bolted out without looking back. Sooner had she taken her first step that fear caught her in its jaws.

The school cafeteria was chaotic and filled with debris and blood. Tables and chairs were overturned, and food and utensils were scattered on the floor. The windows and doors were broken and smashed, and there were scratches on the walls. Blood and other bodily fluids splattered across surfaces. The air was thick with the smell of decay and ammonia.

There were dead and dying students and staff lying on the ground, and those who survived the attack were already walking corpses.

The living were crying, screaming, and asking for help in the field while Shizu found herself shaking in the cafeteria, surrounded by undead on all sides.

Shizu was filled with panic and fear. The zombies were closing in, and her heart was pounding in her chest as she searched for a way to escape.

The woman crawling to her grabbed her feet. Hot greasy hands gripped it tight. Shizu shrieked so loud she snatched all the other undeads' attention.

"L-let me go!" Shizu's instinct to survive kicked in, and anything she could grab, she threw on the woman.

But the undead wasn't flinching, its mouth snapping at her feet, landing purchase at her shoe, and locking on it like a pitbull with locked jaws.

Shizu felt her bite behind the leather, and she grew panicky, her movements erratic, and she fell to her butt. The woman didn't let go of her feet, and Shizu kicked her on the face repeatedly while screaming and crying.

The other undead were gaining on her in every direction and with a stroke of luck, a powerful kick sent the woman back with her shoe in its mouth.

Despite feeling weak and feeble, Shizu stumbled to get up, grabbed a nearby chair, and swung it at the approaching zombies, hoping to keep them at bay. She then sprinted towards the door, dodging the undead as they lunged at her.

Her movements were clumsy and uncoordinated, but Shizu was driven by a powerful instinct to survive. She stumbled and fell several times, but each time she picked herself up and kept moving forward.

After what felt like an eternity, Shizu burst through the door and into the daylight. She collapsed onto the open field, gasping for breath but relieved to have made it out.

She struggled to rise, slipped, and fell heavily again. The impact took her breath away. She pushed herself up and ignored the chaos and terror. Students were screaming and running in all directions, trying to escape the clutches of the undead.

The air was thick with the sound of panicked voices and the pounding of footsteps as students tried to outrun the zombies. Some were tripping and falling in their haste, while others were pushing and shoving each other in their desperation to get away.

Shizu lost count of how many times she was pushed, trampled, and tripped face first, scraping her knee open on a stone and smashing her fingers when her hands hit the hard-packed earth. She broke her nails, dangling on the bleeding and raw wound on her fingers, but the adrenaline didn't let her feel the pain.

She ran and ran and ran without stopping. Out from the open field, out from the gates, out from the campus, and into the open streets.