Chapter 2: One Hint

Bayu look around, trying to find a way to escape from the terrifying creatures chasing him. Their speed was neither slow nor fast. However, their presence triggered a strong sense of panic and fear.

'Over there!' Bayu spotted the entrance to the first corridor, a glimmer of hope. He glanced at Syafina, still following him from behind.

"Faster!" Bayu shouted as he reached the entrance. With trembling hands, he tried to open the door.

Unfortunately, the door was locked.

"Dammit!" Bayu tried again to open the door, trying to force it open.

Unfortunately, Bayu forgot that his body was weak. No matter how hard he tried, his physical condition made it impossible to break the door open.

'Damn body, everything's a mess.' Bayu cursed his weak condition. He hated himself for being like this.

Bayu turned around, the creatures were getting closer. Along with the increasingly stronger stench of blood mixed with decay, his stomach churned relentlessly.

"No choice, this way!" Bayu ran again, now heading toward the back of the school. If he remembered correctly, there was another door leading to a corridor that was usually ignored.

"Bayu!" Syafina suddenly called, tapping his shoulder to get his attention. "This way!"

Syafina suddenly turned towards the entrance to an old storage room, which was now just a place to store sports equipment.

"What are you doing?!" Despite his confusion, Bayu followed her.

The iron door to the storage room stood there, looking old and rusted. Bayu and Syafina finally reached it.

Using all his strength, Bayu tried to force open the door. It was a little easier since it wasn't locked, but still heavy because it was an old, rusted iron door. Syafina didn't stand by idly, she helped him force the door open.

The creaking sound from the rusted iron door didn't break their focus. Once the door was open wide enough, they immediately ran in to escape the terrifying creatures.

Bayu quickly closed the door and locked it from the inside. It might not be useful, since the creatures could break it down, but it was better than nothing.

Bayu's body trembled, his breath was ragged, and his chest felt tight. This was why Bayu never liked running; his body didn't support it even for short distances.

"Bayu! Over here!" Syafina called, trying to move a wooden cupboard that was slightly decayed.

Though puzzled, Bayu walked over to help. The cupboard was definitely no harder to move than the storage room door, but still heavy.

The cupboard was successfully moved aside, revealing a door in the same condition as the storage room door, but slightly worse.

"What... door is this?" Bayu asked. His curiosity flared as he noticed the door. It felt like he had never seen this door before.

"This leads to the corridor," Syafina explained as she opened the door.

Sure enough, once the door opened, the main corridor was revealed. Bayu and Syafina quickly exited the storage room and entered the corridor.

"How did you know about this?" Bayu asked. A bit of suspicion arose—how did Syafina know about this door?

Syafina didn't answer, her expression uncomfortable.

Bayu stayed silent, understanding the meaning behind Syafina's expression. She wasn't comfortable discussing it. So, he didn't push her for an answer.

'Everyone has their own problems.' Bayu thought while continuing to run, 'I have no right to force answers.'

The corridor was no better than the yard, blood pooled everywhere, some even dripping from the ceiling. The difference was, there were no lifeless bodies scattered here.

Bayu glanced at the classroom sign, '10-1.' He then looked ahead again. 'I need to get to the third floor.'

With shaking steps, Bayu continued his journey to his destination—Classroom. For now, resting was too risky, even though his body might need it.

'I hope nothing gets in the way this time.'

Bayu and Syafina managed to reach the classroom without major obstacles, though there had been a pile of human corpses that had been an obstacle. However, most of them were fine.

Bayu immediately grabbed his bag, opened it, and searched for the mask he usually carried. He hoped he hadn't forgotten it this time.

Fortunately, he had it.

Bayu quickly put on the scuba mask he brought, giving one to Syafina as well. After all, Syafina had helped by showing the shortcut.

"Where do we go after this?" Syafina asked, already wearing the mask Bayu had given her. There was visible exhaustion in her eyes, but she didn't complain.

Bayu thought for a moment, "We have to leave."

"Are you sure?"

Bayu nodded. "It's better to act than to stay here and die. Maybe, fate hasn't written our death yet if we go out." He explained, then grabbed his phone that he had left in the bag.

"You not take anything?"

Syafina shook her head. "I only took my phone."

"Okay."

Bayu turned on his phone, various notifications had piled up on the lock screen. He wondered why this happened. He felt like opening one of the notifications, but he couldn't focus on his phone right now.

Bayu quickly put it back in his pocket, looked around the classroom before looking at Syafina in front of him. "Let's go."

They immediately walked out of the classroom. The foul and bloody stench still lingered, but it wasn't as piercing as before. The mask helped block the smell.

Bayu and Syafina retraced their steps through the corridor they had come from, intending to leave the school through the main corridor entrance, which had been locked earlier. Hopefully, the creatures waiting outside had reduced in number.

Wait. Bayu stopped.

An unfamiliar sound, like a small, high-pitched scream, could be heard. But it wasn't as painful to the ears as the screams from the previous creatures. A sound of scraping and water splashing could be heard simultaneously, and it felt close.

"... Scraping, splashing water," Bayu murmured.

"What's wrong, Yu?" Syafina asked, confused by Bayu's sudden stop.

Bayu didn't answer. He instinctively looked up at the ceiling. Something was strange—since when did the school ceiling turn purple—

Realizing something was off, Bayu quickly grabbed Syafina's hand and ran away from part of the ceiling that had turned purple.

"Bayu! Wait, what's going on?!" Syafina asked, more confused by Bayu's actions. "Yu, explain!"

After a moment of running, Bayu stopped and looked back. He noticed how the ceiling, which was supposed to be white, had turned a deep purple, like decaying flesh.

He saw it slowly swelling, pulsing like a sack filled with something alive. Then, with a disgusting tearing sound, the contents spilled out.

Leech-like creatures fell from the ceiling holes, leaving slime in their wake. They had no eyes, but sharp teeth.

"Ah, so that's why the ceiling turned purple," Bayu shuddered, imagining being covered in their slime.

"They... leeches?" Syafina took a step back, feeling the hairs on her neck stand up.

"Could be, but worse." Bayu turned, ready to continue the journey.

But the bad news—there were leech-like creatures blocking the end of the path they wanted to take.

"We're trapped," Syafina said, her voice weak and trembling. Almost losing hope of surviving.

Bayu stayed silent, watching the creatures slowly move toward them. Panic surged again, his head felt empty, unsure of how to act.

[Bayu!]

A mechanical voice distracted Bayu, the sound unnatural, like a cold whispering wind calling his name.

'What is that?' Bayu looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

[Bayu!]

"Bayu, what do we do?" Syafina asked, looking at the leech-like creatures closing in from all directions.

"We—" Bayu's words were cut off when he saw a gleaming light in the air.

The light was dazzling, spinning in the air until it formed the silhouette of a sword. Then, the light vanished and dropped a sword.

Bayu reflexively caught the sword, admiring its beautiful design, glowing at the tip.

'How could this be?' Bayu stared at the sword closely. Was this an illusion?

The weight of the sword felt so real, its blade emitting a faint, beautiful light. The hilt felt cold, but soft and comfortable to hold.

"Bayu!"

Syafina's voice immediately snapped Bayu out of his thoughts, and he looked around. Reflexively, he kicked one of the leech creatures near his feet away.

'Since it's here, might as well use it. I'll figure out why this appeared later.' Bayu thought, gripping the sword tightly.

Taking a deep breath, Bayu stomped his foot, immediately launching forward. His hand lifted, gripping the hilt of the sword.

With confidence, Bayu sliced through some of the leech creatures, cutting them in half. He watched as the sword effortlessly cleaved through the creatures.

Bayu controlled his breath, looking at his hands, now tense. Perhaps it was because this was the first time he used a sword. After all, he had never actually held one, just seen and studied them.

"Bow down, Bayu!"

Hearing Syafina's words, Bayu immediately bowed down. He could hear the sound of something slicing through the air, like something speeding past his head.

He returned to his initial position, looking at Syafina who's suddenly held a bow on her hands. Where did she get that? Well, actually also the same question he had about the sword on his hand.

Bayu then glanced at the other side, one of the leech-like creatures was pinned to the wall with an arrow on his head. The creature let out a scream that sound slightly pitiful but disgusting at the same time before finally dying.

"... Is that all?" Bayu asked, now glancing at the creature he slayed earlier.

"Yeah, that's all." Syafina answered, her hands gripping the bow tightly.

Hearing Syafina's answer, Bayu glanced behind her. Sure enough, all the leech-like creatures were dead, arrows stuck on their head. Syafina is the one who did it.

"I didn't expect you could use a bow," Bayu said, eyeing the bow in Syafina's hand. It was white, not too big but not too small. And if you look closely, there's a small details like carvings.

"The same question for you and that sword," Syafina said. "And.. Bayu, do you hear that.. Strange sound?"

Sound?

Oh yeah, Bayu almost forgot about that.

"You mean, that mechanical sound that suddenly appeared?" Bayu asked, Syafina nodded in response. "I heard it too."

"Where is it coming from, I wonder.." Syafina pondered. "The sound is strange, cold, with a mechanical tone... It mentioned a sentence I couldn't hear clearly."

'Sentence, huh? Mine's only name. My name, specifically.' Bayu thought. 'I'm also curious. Why is there a voice and where is it coming from?'

"For now, we better get focus on getting out of here first."

---

Bayu and Syafina walked down a blood-stained corridor; it was really covered in bloodstains everywhere, even the floor soaked in it.

There some human body parts everywhere, it seemed like the remaining people had been slaughtered mercilessly by those horrific creatures.

'Where did they come from?' Bayu wondered, it didn't seem possible that these creatures just appeared out of nowhere. And, why is there so many of them?

They reached the main entrance of the corridor they're walking through, the one Bayu had tried to break down earlier but failed because it was locked from inside, and his physical condition didn't up to it.

Bayu stared at the door, a feeling of nervousness began to rise in him. If he open that door, would the creatures immediately attack him right away?

Bayu gaze at Syafina, as if asking her opinion. Syafina, realizing the meaning of Bayu's gaze, immediately nodded in agreement.

'I hope there's nothing,' Bayu unlocked the door, pushing it slightly open. He peeked around, there were no horrific creatures in sight.

Feeling safe, he opened the door wide.

A quiet atmosphere greeted them as Bayu and Syafina stepped out of the door. The smell of blood and decay still lingered, but it was.. Silent.

Something felt wrong.

Bayu scanned the surroundings, the creaturs that had chasing them earlier were now corpse; they were all dead. Moreover, they were all cut up or sliced in half.

Who.. Who did this?

Bayu and Syafina exchanged glances, both of them had a same question about what was happening right now. It felt strange, and somehow eerie.

[ Bayu! ]

Bayu jumped, quickly looking around. That voice again! He's sure he heard it very clearly, ".. Who are you?" He murmured.

"What?" Syafina turned around, "Did you say something?"

"No, I didn't." Bayu sighed, his gaze were now on the beautiful blue sky. It was such a contrast to the ground beneath his feet.

"Let's go."