I Think There's Something Wrong With Him

The roads were packed, with a line of traffic stretching as far as the eye could see. The bus hadn't moved for the past 10 minutes. And Joshua had been blabbing for at least twice as long. Between the traffic and Joshua's chatter, Gray was losing his patience.

『32 minutes remaining…』

~We're running out of time. At this point it might be faster to just walk there, ~ he thought to himself.

A few other students seemed to be having the same idea; as he could hear whispers of ditching the bus.

"..but I guess you already have all of this figured out. Hey, are you listening?" Joshua asked, snapping his fingers in front of Gray's face.

"Sorry, what were you saying?"

"Your journals. I heard rumors they were about surviving the apocalypse. Paired with your new powers, this must be a dream come true for you," Joshua whispered in response.

Gray took a moment to think. Looking back, those were all just childish dreams. Everyone wished for things, but no one actually expected them to happen. Sure, his life was now interesting, but he'd never put much thought into all death involved… all the uncertainty.

Right now, he just wanted to get to the stadium so that he could rest and think more clearly.

"I'm not sure about that anymore. I mean, you saw how half the class was…"

Gray didn't finish that sentence; Jane was still crying in the seat in front of him.

"Right, but apart from that. While everyone else laughed, you prepared. Now look at them," Joshua replied. He looked over his shoulder, before coming in closer. "You know, I don't even think we need the military," he added. He had a smile on his face.

~When did this become we?~ Gray thought to himself as he studied the other boy. 

"Look, I don't know what you're planning b-"

Just then, a loud screech rang through the air; the sound of beating wings followed right after.

~Fuck. Are they done fighting already?~ Gray wondered, rushing to the front of the bus to take a look through the windshield. The bird-monsters had begun to disperse, and a few of them were perched atop the buildings on the side of the road.

He looked back at his classmates, most of them had already gotten up from their seats. There was a lot of whispering and shouting as they stared out their windows.

"Isn't there another road we can use? We aren't safe he…"

The bus jerked, jolting Gray forward. He slammed into the dashboard, and a sharp pain tore through the side of his head. Something hot dripped down his brow.

The world spun, and there was ringing in his ears that muffled everything.

Chaos ensued; his classmates stumbled over each other to get to the front. Those that already were, tried forcing the door open.

~What the hell's going on?~ Gray thought, holding his head.

Joshua pulled him away from the stampede and placed him on the seat beside Ms. Dikinya. He was saying something, but Gray couldn't hear him.

~What?~

The bus doors opened, and the students who had been pushing against it fell onto the sidewalk. Those behind them poured out on top of them. He shut his eyes right as a girl's head was about to be trampled.

His hearing came back to him in little trickles, his vision was taking longer.

"... just need to wait a little. The others will act as a distraction, then we can leave," he heard Joshua say.

The air was drowned by hooting and screaming. The sound of skidding tires and occasional glass shattering was hidden in between.

Another screech and loud flap, then even more screaming.

"What happened?" he asked, finally getting his bearings straight.

"NPCs man. Guy behind us got scared, and tried overtaking, things went crazy after that," Joshua replied, staring out the window with a smile on his face. "You got hit pretty bad, huh? You have any healing potions?"

~Healing potions?~ Gray wondered, as he tried to stand up. His head was pounding, and there was a sizzling pain on the right side. He ran his fingers over it and felt wet flesh. It burned to the touch.

Ignoring the pain; he stared out the windshield. It was chaos. The bird-monsters were swooping in from above and grabbing people. Cars were ramming into each other, and a pile-up had formed just up ahead.

『Warning 30 minutes remaining!』

"We have to leave. Let me just…" Gray's face went numb, and he had to hold on to a nearby seat to prevent himself from falling. His mind was a mess; any thought he tried forming slipped away from him. And it was only when he looked down at his hands, did he realize he was trembling.

"You scared, man? Come on, you already have your powers. Go out there and get some XP," Joshua said, before pushing him aside. He moved to Ms. Dikinya and began trying to roll her over.

"Help me, would you?"

"Right, we can't just leave her here," Gray whispered. However, when he moved to help, he realized she wasn't breathing. A puddle of blood covered the floor beneath her.

Gray's heart sank.

"What, do you wanna take her with us? You have a power that can use corpses?" Joshua asked as he frisked her pockets. He pulled out a cell phone, some gum, and a pack of peanuts. "Take all the loot you can right?" he said, tossing Gray the pack of peanuts.

"Let's get out of here," he said, pulling Gray out of the bus.

The red sun burned his eyes and made his head throb even more. They ran across the road towards the buildings on their right. This was the CBD, so they were quite tall, making them excellent cover.

『Warning 60% of evacuees have been killed. More deaths will result in lower rewards. A death rate of greater than 90% will result in a penalty.』

"This is fun, isn't it!?" Joshua shouted at the top of his lungs; the surrounding chaos drowning it out.